Chapter 406 405: Helping Condense Inner Strength

Chen Dingshan's heart pounded in his chest.

He remembered his crushing defeat at Mu Lin's hands. At the time, he'd assumed it was because his own skills were simply not up to par.

But thinking back now, he realized Mu Lin must have been holding back.

If Mu Lin had attacked with his full power, Chen Dingshan suspected he wouldn't have survived more than two or three rounds.

There was no other reason, and that in itself was the reason.

Mu Lin's gaze fell on Yuan Zhen, who was standing behind Chen Dingshan.

'What a pity,' Mu Lin thought. 'This young man's talent wasn't half-bad, but now his future has been compromised. I'm afraid he won't be able to continue down his current Martial Dao path.'

Mu Lin glanced at Yuan Zhen and said, "You have a solid foundation. Master Chen has clearly put a great deal of thought into your training. It's admirable."

Hearing this, Chen Dingshan's face flushed, and he said with some embarrassment:

"Not at all, not at all. This is all the result of Yuan Zhen's own hard work and ambition. It has little to do with my teaching!"

Yuan Zhen, feeling both excited and guilty, quickly interjected, "It's all because Master is a great teacher! Without him to guide me, I never could have achieved this!"

"Let's dispense with the pleasantries. I can help you condense your Inner Strength. Are you willing?"

Yuan Zhen trembled upon hearing those words.

He thought he had misheard, but after replaying the words in his mind, he knew it wasn't a mistake.

'It's true!'

He immediately moved to kneel and kowtow, but Mu Lin stopped him. "I consider your brother a friend, so it's only natural that I'd help you. There's no need for such formalities. Come with me. I'll help you condense your Inner Strength."

Overflowing with gratitude, Yuan Zhen followed Mu Lin to a quiet room. A short while later, he emerged, looking invigorated and full of life.

"My apprentice, how do you feel?"

"It's incredible! Thank you so much, Brother Mu!"

Chen Dingshan visibly relaxed, filled with deep gratification. Yuan Zhen was his most prized disciple, and he had finally stepped through the gates to the realm of Inner Strength.

It was the fulfillment of a long-held wish for him.

Mu Lin then turned to Chen Dingshan. "Master Chen, you've been stuck at the Inner Strength realm for a long time yourself. I can help you break through to the Grandmaster realm. What do you say?"

Chen Dingshan was taken aback, not expecting the offer to be extended to him as well.

"Grandmaster Mu, this... Thank you so much!" He couldn't stop himself from moving to kneel, but Mu Lin once again stopped him.

"Don't be so quick to kneel. I have conditions. Hear me out first. If you still think it's appropriate after, it won't be too late to kneel then."

"Please, tell me!" Chen Dingshan said hastily. "I will do everything in my power to fulfill them!"

"If Yuan Kun's family ever faces a crisis, you must step in and help. Even if you get injured, as long as you're not dead, I can bring you back."

"Furthermore, if the Li Group in Anhua faces a crisis, you must also go and provide support. My requests aren't too difficult, are they?"

Chen Dingshan replied with grave sincerity, "I will remember!"

Mu Lin then applied needles to Chen Dingshan's body. A moment later, Chen Dingshan's aura underwent a dramatic change.

The realm he had been stuck in for so long had actually loosened. In an instant, Chen Dingshan's aura grew immensely powerful.

It was growing as fast as bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Chen Dingshan carefully sensed the changes in his body. Everything felt new, from head to toe. The sensation was deeply satisfying.

"My God, I'm a Grandmaster! Is this what it feels like? This is incredible!"

Mu Lin smiled faintly. In truth, he had merely given him a little push.

Chen Dingshan's power had long been sufficient; he had simply lacked the right catalyst.

Mu Lin had easily provided it, allowing Chen Dingshan to break through naturally.

It was still incredibly impressive that Chen Dingshan had been able to get this far on his own.

Chen Dingshan took aim at a punching bag and sent it flying with a single kick. The bag soared high into the air, tracing a beautiful arc before flying over a suspended beam and wrapping around it several times before finally coming to a stop.

The master-and-disciple pair of Chen Dingshan and Yuan Zhen bowed deeply to Mu Lin, who just gave a magnanimous wave, indicating there was no need for such formalities.

Yuan Kun heard the loud commotion from the training room and came over to investigate, only to see Chen Dingshan and Yuan Zhen bowing to Mu Lin.

"What's going on? Why so serious?" Yuan Kun asked.

Yuan Zhen looked up, his voice filled with excitement. "Brother! I have Inner Strength now! Brother Mu helped me!"

Yuan Kun's eyes widened. "Brother Mu, you helped him? What do you mean?"

Mu Lin said, "I saw that Yuan Zhen had a good foundation. It seemed like a waste for him to be stuck, unable to advance, so I gave him a hand."

Yuan Kun scratched his head. "But won't that stunt his growth? People say forcing a breakthrough like this can damage one's future prospects."

Mu Lin chuckled. "It depends. First, you have to consider the Martial Artist's foundation, and Yuan Zhen's is clearly excellent. Second, it depends on who is performing the procedure and how. With me at the helm, there won't be any problems."

Yuan Kun's eyes lit up. 'Of course! Brother Lin is so amazing, there's no way anything could go wrong. It's completely foolproof.'

In truth, Mu Lin was also quite surprised. He had originally thought the procedure would affect Yuan Zhen's future prospects.

But upon completing it, he found that Yuan Zhen's potential was completely unharmed.

Since that was the case, he had nothing to worry about. He went ahead and did the same for Chen Dingshan, and the results were just as good.

'Perhaps this is a unique characteristic of Chen Dingshan's martial arts lineage,' Mu Lin mused. He felt it was difficult to say for sure, so he didn't comment further.

"Brother Lin, words can't express my gratitude. From now on, my life is yours!"

Mu Lin said, "What are you on about? All this talk about your life being mine makes you sound like a mountain bandit."

Afterward, Mu Lin brought Patriarch Xu and Shi Huiguang back to the Qiao Family Villa.

When Qiao Canhua saw Patriarch Xu, he froze, thoroughly stunned.

Although Xu Jishan was still the one calling the shots for the Xu Family, he was getting on in years, and no one knew when something might happen to him.

Ultimately, everything would fall into his son's hands.

'So building a good relationship with Patriarch Xu now is definitely the right move.'

He immediately instructed the chef to prepare a grand banquet, telling her to make a vast array of dishes. Tonight, no one was going home sober.

Mu Lin said he had important matters to attend to and wouldn't be drinking. He scarfed down a few bites of food and then hurried back to his room.

No one found this particularly strange. 'How did Mu Lin get so powerful, anyway? Isn't it precisely because he's cultivating while everyone else is drinking and feasting?'

Besides, a stronger Mu Lin was beneficial to everyone at the table.

Mu Lin closed his door. He had acquired three supreme techniques and two arrays from the Celestial Dragon Temple that day.

The supreme techniques were the Primordial Gang Force, the Divine Finger, and the Qi-Gazing Art.

The arrays were the Deceitful Killing Array and the Qiankun Golden Dragon Array.

Mu Lin had already witnessed the power of the Primordial Gang Force; the energy it generated was even more formidable than a bullet.

The Qi-Gazing Art was the supreme technique the abbot had cultivated. It could sense an enemy's position, aura, and other vital intelligence, which would naturally be incredibly useful in a life-or-death battle.

The Divine Finger was also extremely powerful. It involved gathering True Qi into a finger and then shooting it at an enemy. Its effects were devastating.

The Deceitful Killing Array used the power of Martial Artists to repeatedly wear down an enemy's stamina, setting them up for a final, lethal strike.

The other techniques were rather run-of-the-mill. Mu Lin had learned plenty of those from the old man, so he wasn't interested in them.

He took out the manual for the Divine Finger, astonished. "Incredible! A technique this interesting... it's probably even more powerful than mundane firearms."

"The Qi-Gazing Art is rather complex, though. I'll have to take it slow. It might even take a few years to master."

So, Mu Lin decided to practice the Divine Finger first.

At first, he made a few mistakes and failed occasionally, but after a few more attempts, Mu Lin finally got the hang of it.

A beam of True Qi as thick as his wrist shot out the window toward a massive tree on the distant riverbank—a tree so large it would take three people to wrap their arms around it.

The great tree crashed to the ground.

Mu Lin was very satisfied. "With this supreme technique, I can take out an enemy even if they're a great distance away."

'The old saying goes, "an inch longer, an inch stronger." Well, this is about as long-range as it gets, isn't it?'

'It's even better than a gun. A gun needs to be aimed, but with this, I can hit whatever I point at, whenever I want.'

「The next morning」 At breakfast, Madam Qiao said, "Mu Lin, Zhengzheng is going home today. It's a bit inconvenient for your Uncle Qiao and me... would you mind giving her a ride?"

Mu Lin replied, "Sure!"

He Zheng glanced at Mu Lin but said nothing.

'Of course, she knew what her aunt and uncle were up to. They were just trying to increase the time she spent with him.'

'As long as they were in contact, there was a chance for feelings to develop.'

'Sigh.'

'From the bottom of her heart, she didn't dislike Mu Lin, but he kept everyone at arm's length. There wasn't much she could do to get closer to him.'

Shi Huiguang didn't want to stay with the Qiao Family, so he told Mu Lin he wanted to go to the Chen Martial Arts Hall and asked to be taken along when he left.

Patriarch Xu, meanwhile, wanted to take a tour of the area with Qiao Canhua.