Chapter 240 - 40: Change

Chapter 240: Chapter 40: Change

Four hundred thirty-seven years!

In the courtyard, Lin Yan sighed as he tallied the time from the Martial Arts Fruits.

Too little!

He hadn’t reaped many Martial Arts Fruits from wiping out the Water Bandit Alliance this time—not even as many as he had harvested from taking down four Water Stockades on his own.

As for the spoils seized from the various Water Stockades, they were naturally turned over to the clan to be distributed later by the elders of the Third Branch.

From a pure profit perspective, the gains from his Third and Fourth Uncles leading the charge to wipe out the Water Bandit Alliance were far less than what he could have earned by sneakily killing them off himself.

But some things couldn’t be calculated that way.

Gaining the favor of the Third Branch elders and deterring other Water Bandits were also forms of profit.

Only at this moment did Lin Yan confirm in his heart that he had truly accepted his identity as a disciple of the Lin Family’s Third Branch.

Lin Yan, of the "Ming" generation, from the Third Branch of the Lin Family!

’After this incident, as one of the main figures responsible for the destruction of the Water Bandit Alliance, I should reduce my time outside. I’ll stay here and focus on Cultivation, trying to lower my profile as much as possible.’

Because of a single letter from him, the Third Branch had mobilized so many people to wipe out the Water Bandit Alliance.

It was impossible not to feel a surge of excitement, to not feel his blood boil with passion.

So what if he had lived two lives? In his previous life, he had just been an ordinary thirty-five-year-old man; he hadn’t cultivated a mindset of absolute tranquility, as still as an old well.

But after the thrill wore off, Lin Yan regained his calm and rationality.

Too much exposure wasn’t a good thing for him. He needed to be even more low-key in the coming days.

Fortunately, he had earned a good amount of silver taels from taking down the first four Water Stockades. Although silver taels couldn’t be used to purchase Bodhi Pills, he could trade them with the Skin Smoothing Martial Artists in the clan.

Initially, he had proposed a 1-to-1.5 exchange rate, but Brother Hai immediately rejected it.

If they were to trade, it had to be at a 1-to-1 ratio.

In Brother Hai’s words: "You, Lin Yan, can also be called ’Brother Yan’ now. The younger generation is willing to give you that much face."

Those Skin Smoothing Clan People from the Third Branch also saw how highly the elders valued Lin Yan and were willing to do him a favor.

A 1-to-1 trade was a favor, a show of respect.

If it were 1-to-1.5, it would just be a transaction.

Lin Clan Members might be short on large sums of silver taels, but they certainly weren’t short on the few thousand silver taels they could exchange their Contribution Points for.

Lin Yan understood the meaning behind Brother Hai’s words and didn’t insist on the rate. In the end, he gave Brother Hai seventy thousand silver taels in banknotes, converted it all into Contribution Points, and then exchanged those for Bodhi Pills.

After instructing Zhao Tong not to disturb him again, Lin Yan began his Sword Intent Cultivation.

[Sky Splitting Swordsmanship]

[Spirit Snake Swordsmanship]

[Shadowless Swordsmanship]

[Rain-Covering Swordsmanship]

Four Swordsmanship arts remained. Aside from the "Sky Splitting Swordsmanship", he planned to push the other three to Sword Intent Perfection in one go.

The Four-Phase Condensing Gang Sword at Blood Exchange First Transformation could fuse three Sword Intents, while at Blood Exchange Second Transformation, it could fuse six.

"Infuse!"

Lin Yan closed his eyes, Concentrating Spirit as a thought crossed his mind.

The scene around him changed, and he appeared in a dense forest.

Thick, decaying leaves lay beneath his feet, and a canopy that blotted out the sun and sky was overhead. Light filtered through the gaps in the foliage, casting mottled shadows on the ground.

The essence of Spiritual Snake Sword Intent was not speed, but unpredictability.

The blade’s edge was like a snake, making it difficult for an opponent to grasp its angle of attack. It swayed left and right like a serpent, waiting patiently for the opponent to reveal even the slightest flaw, then striking for a fatal blow.

Spiritual Snake Sword Intent wasn’t merely about being tricky; it required a "serpentine nature." Not a forced distortion, but an innate quality, a feeling that the sword was meant to move this way.

Lin Yan closed his eyes and stopped thinking about the sword.

When he opened them again, his sword had changed.

The blade’s edge slid silently along the ground like a snake slithering through the grass, bypassing the obstacle in front, then suddenly shot up from the side, stabbing straight at the target.

The entire process was silent and as fast as lightning.

And so it went, day after day.

[Ninety-four years later, Spiritual Snake Sword Intent reached Perfection.]

The scene changed again.

An empty, open space. Above, in the vast sky, lightning flashed and thunder roared amidst a torrential downpour.

Every drop of rain carried weight, speed, and an overwhelming sense of pressure that covered the heavens and the earth.

Raindrops smashed against the ground, sending up splashes, which in turn created new splashes, layer upon layer, endless.

Heaven and earth were completely covered.

The essence of Rain-Covering Sword Intent was density.

It was not about one sword strike being faster than the last, but about one strike becoming a hundred, and a hundred becoming a thousand.

The blade’s edge was no longer a line, but a net.

Lin Yan struck out.

The first strike, the second, the third...

The sword-net had barely extended one zhang before it was shattered by the downpour.

But Lin Yan was not discouraged. If three strikes weren’t enough, then he would use four, then five...

There was no day, no night.

In the endless storm, Lin Yan swung his sword tirelessly. The light from his blade grew denser and denser until, eventually, the sword itself was no longer visible before him. All that remained was a square-chi silvery-white curtain of light, like a short, impenetrable wall, blocking the falling rain.

One chi, two chi, three chi.

Only when not a single drop of rain could fall within one zhang of him did Lin Yan finally sheathe his sword.

[Time elapsed: one hundred and two years. Rain-Covering Sword Intent has reached Perfection.]

Lin Yan took a deep breath. In his mind, the Martial Arts Fruits on the Martial Arts Tree were still being infused, one after another.

The scene changed for a third time.

This time, there was no dense forest, no torrential rain, not even any light.

Lin Yan stood in a field of darkness. There was no sound, no smell, nothing to use as a reference point.

He looked down at his hand. The ink-black Abyss seemed to be swallowed by this void, leaving only a blurry silhouette.

The essence of Shadowless Sword Intent was not speed, not unpredictability, not density, but concealment.