In the kitchen, in the bath barrel.
Lin Ning sat within, eyes closed, resting his mind.
After Aunt Chun and Little Jiu Niang saw that the bloodstains on his upper body were completely gone—let alone a wound, there wasn't even a hint of redness or swelling—though both were puzzled, they were now thoroughly convinced that whoever had beaten Lin Ning truly hadn't meant to take his life. So, after Lin Ning insisted several times, they smiled and went out.
Once they had left, Lin Ning summoned the system that had nearly gotten him killed—the Heavenly Dao.
The numbers on the panel had already changed drastically:
Heavenly Dao.
Lin Ning: Lv 1（0/10）
Merit Points: 2
Strength: 40 Agility: 18 Intelligence: 7 Charisma: 3
Skill Slots:
Qiankun Strength: Minor Accomplishment（0/150）
His strength had surged eightfold, and his agility had likewise surged sixfold—even his intelligence and charisma had grown a bit along with it...
Lin Ning didn't yet know exactly how much his agility had changed, but he could clearly feel the increase in his strength.
Moreover, a stream of heat was flowing through his meridians inside his body—he supposed this must be internal energy cultivation...
The changes in his body left Lin Ning rather excited and full of wonder.
In his previous life, he had spent twenty years floating and sinking through the business world, seeing more than enough of glitz and glamour, glory and wealth. But no matter how many billions in family fortune, no matter how much power those magnates and dignitaries wielded in their time, in the end none of them could withstand the decline of the body and disease, let alone the erosion of the years, and they all died unwillingly in the end.
Lin Ning believed that if given a chance like this, those people would surely abandon their billions in fortune and overwhelming power in exchange for a chance to make their bodies stronger and return to youth.
In his previous life, though he had valued physical exercise, once he passed thirty, the further along he went, the more his energy actually fell short of what it had been in his youth.
At this moment, Lin Ning no longer had any objections to this transmigration!
He sensed the stream of heat within his body automatically flowing slowly along his meridians, ultimately returning to his dantian—this counted as one cycle, and the heat seemed to grow by a sliver...
And this was only a Profound-grade martial art. If it were an Earth-grade or Heaven-grade martial art, surely the increase would be even greater!
From Lin Xiaoning's memories, he learned that martial arts in this world were divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.
Different grades of martial arts developed the body to different degrees, and increased strength by different amounts.
For instance, an ordinary Yellow-grade martial art could barely open up eighteen major acupoints at best, and most who practiced it could only reach the level of a third-rate master.
Profound-grade techniques, on the other hand, could open up thirty-six major acupoints, making one a second-rate master. Some Profound-grade martial arts, practiced to great depth, could even open up seventy-two major acupoints, producing a first-rate expert—such techniques were mostly treasured by the first-rate powers among the world's great sects.
As for Earth-grade martial arts that could bring one to the Grandmaster realm, opening all one hundred and eight life-and-death acupoints across the body's Twelve Main Meridians, these were even rarer—ultimate skills that only a handful of top powers possessed as their sect-guarding treasures.
And as for the legendary Heaven-grade martial arts, said to be able to open the Ren and Du meridians, cultivate a breath of innate True Qi, and achieve the status of an earthbound immortal—in the entire Central Plains World, there were only three such techniques, the nation-guarding techniques of the Three Great Dynasties of the Central Plains.
It was precisely these three Heaven-grade ultimate skills that kept the heroes of the world in check, not daring to act recklessly, forcing them to abide by the rule of law and its teachings.
Above the Grandmaster realm stood the Martial Saint.
Legend had it that the three great dynasties of Qin, Chu, and Qi each had one Martial Saint, stationed respectively at the Black Ice Platform, the Imperial City Department, and Jixia Academy, keeping each other in check.
The Black Ice Platform, the Imperial City Department, and Jixia Academy monitored the Jianghu people of the three great dynasties, preventing them from bullying or harming innocent common people, and from using martial force to override the law.
It was precisely because of their presence that the ordinary common people of the world could live in peace, and it was this that gave the Three Great Sacred Lands such renown throughout the world.
Setting all that aside for now, Lin Ning had no intention of thinking about Heaven-grade or Earth-grade martial arts for the time being.
Today, a single Profound-grade martial art had nearly cost him his life. If it had truly been a Heaven-grade martial art instead, he would probably have passed out on the spot.
The Heavenly Dao rewards good with good—though Lin Ning could rely on the system to master martial arts directly, he couldn't skip over the pain and hardship that came with the process of training.
Even with the system offsetting ninety percent of it, the remaining ten percent was still enough to put Lin Ning through plenty of suffering.
However, what surprised Lin Ning was that martial arts consisted of more than just the Method—there was also Technique.
The Method was the foundation, but what was truly displayed in practice was the Technique—in other words, what later generations would call martial arts skills.
Such as sword technique, fist technique, staff technique, saber technique, archery technique...
Of course, put more elegantly, these were called swordplay, boxing, saber techniques, and archery techniques, and so on.
As for which was more important, the Method or the Technique—generally speaking, the Method was naturally the foundation.
But most of the time, as long as the difference between cultivation methods wasn't too great, it was often whoever had the superior technique who held the key to victory.
However, just like with cultivation methods, aside from the rare few heaven-gifted geniuses, most people needed to spend a decade or even several decades before they could master a single swordplay or saber technique.
Reading this, Lin Ning felt not worry but delight!
Because this, too, was not a problem for him—as long as he had enough Merit Points, he could resolve this seemingly unsolvable problem.
Moreover, he was quite fortunate, because looking across the world, though Qingyun Village was merely a small, unregistered mountain stronghold, it was still a forest bandit power that could rival first-rate Jianghu sects, so he need not worry about resources for martial arts and swordplay.
One had to understand that ordinary Jianghu people could hardly even obtain a Yellow-grade cultivation method capable of producing internal energy cultivation—most of what people struggled to train in was nothing more than external martial arts.
So even if it was only a Profound-grade cultivation method, Lin Ning was already satisfied.
.....
After washing up, Lin Ning changed into the clean clothes Aunt Chun had prepared for him and returned to the main room.
It had to be said, the original body's looks were excellent!
Sword-like brows, bright eyes, a straight nose bridge, red lips and white teeth, delicate features—truly a handsome young man brimming with heroic spirit.
It was just that, in the past, although Lin Xiaoning had also been good-looking, he had harbored resentment in his heart since childhood, his temperament twisted and gloomy. Even though he was born handsome, the way he looked at people always carried a trace of resentment, as if everyone owed him some great kindness yet was ungrateful all the same—naturally, that air about him hardly put anyone at ease.
But now, with Lin Ning having adopted a different way of carrying himself, a relaxed and pleasant smile on his face made people feel as though bathed in a spring breeze, instantly making his already extraordinary looks appear all the more dashing and handsome.
"Aiya! Whose scholarly young master is this, so handsome?"
Seeing Lin Ning walk in unharmed, beaming with pride, Aunt Chun completely set aside her worry and teased him with a smile.
Little Jiu Niang also giggled and praised how good-looking her brother-in-law was. Hearing this, Lin Ning chuckled, snapped open his folding fan with a flick and gave it a few light waves, his lips parting slightly to reveal white teeth, which flashed a streak of white light beneath the sunlight...
This deliberately showy pose delighted Little Jiu Niang so much she jumped up and down, clapping her hands in praise.
Aunt Chun couldn't help herself either, laughing as she stood up and gave him a light smack. "Getting beaten up once, and you've practically turned into a whole new person—learned to act up now, but this is better this way... Ning'er, go play with Little Jiu for a while. The braised pork belly in the kitchen is about to stew soft. I made a big pot this time, no need to worry about you two fighting over it!"
Lin Ning and Jiu Niang both laughed, a little embarrassed, while Aunt Chun headed to the kitchen, her expression full of good cheer.
To Aunt Chun, all the meaning left in her remaining years rested on Lin Ning and Jiu Niang.
Needless to say for Lin Ning—Jiu Niang was someone she had watched grow up, and she doted on her like a daughter.
Seeing Lin Ning and Jiu Niang getting along so happily lifted a great weight off her heart...
.....
"Little Jiu, I want to ask you something."
Eating the little apples from Jiu Niang's pocket, while enjoying her two little fists earnestly pounding away at his shoulders, Lin Ning asked casually.
Jiu Niang was a little out of breath from the effort, but she liked how tolerant Lin Ning was—not getting annoyed with her, not chasing her away—and she asked with a grin, "Brother-in-law, what do you want to ask?"
Hearing her panting, Lin Ning, however thick-skinned, couldn't quite enjoy it anymore. "Sit down first and have some tea, let's talk slowly."
Delighted to hear this, Jiu Niang quickly pulled up a chair and sat down beside Lin Ning, asking with a grin, "Brother-in-law, what do you want to talk about?"
Never mind that she wasn't very old—when it came to chatting, Tian Jiuniang had never been afraid of anyone!
Seeing her attitude, Lin Ning rubbed his nose, blinked, and said with feigned regret, "I misspoke. Actually, I noticed it's getting late—Jiu'er, you should head back to Green Pine Courtyard to rest."
"Aiya! No, brother-in-law!"
Hearing him say this, Jiu Niang immediately squeezed up against him in protest, leaning on him and wriggling like a twist of dough as she pouted.
She really didn't want to go back right now—Aunt Chun's braised pork belly was almost ready.
Lin Ning affectionately rubbed Jiu Niang's little head. "Sit properly, let's have a good talk."
Only then did Jiu Niang sit back down, though she still shot Lin Ning a warning look—if he didn't talk properly this time, she'd pester him to death!
Lin Ning cleared his throat and said, "My mother told me in a dream: a clay jar breaks eventually at the well's mouth, and soldiers can hardly avoid dying on the battlefield. All of us in the stronghold live with our heads tucked into our waistbands, so casualties are unavoidable. Before, I couldn't quite come to terms with it in my heart, but now I understand. My father, and your father, Jiu'er, and everyone else in the stronghold who died—they died for the sake of those of us still living here. They died with honor, they died for a worthy cause. Now that I understand this, I want to do something about it. Jiu'er, do you know which families in the stronghold still have it hard because their elders died in battle, leaving behind orphans, widows, or elderly parents?"
Jiu Niang froze at his words, staring at Lin Ning for a good while before finally understanding what he meant. The smile faded from her little face, and after pressing her lips together, she said quietly, looking at Lin Ning, "Brother-in-law, there are lots of families like that in the stronghold. Grandma Zhou's family, Aunt Ye's family, Aunt Sun's family, Grandpa Zhao's family... they're all stronghold families with hardly anyone left. Elder Sister has people deliver rice to them every month, but they still don't seem to be doing very well."
That was easy enough to understand—without any extra income, there was naturally no room to spare.
Lin Ning thought for a moment and said, "I recall the stronghold has no water source of its own—aside from my place, everyone else has to fetch water from the Canglan River to the west. Do they usually go too?"
Jiu Niang nodded. "Yes. Brother-in-law, have you forgotten? Even at my house, it's Sister Cui'er who goes to fetch it. But the water from the Canglan River doesn't taste very good—not as sweet as the spring water at your place! Hehe!"
Seeing Jiu Niang smile at him ingratiatingly, Lin Ning curved his lips into a smile as well. Jiu Niang was far more sensible than the nieces he'd had in his previous life—those two little demon kings of chaos, even though two years older than Jiu Niang, lived far too selfishly...
After tenderly stroking Jiu Niang's little head, Lin Ning fell into thought.
His greatest interest right now was becoming a master of martial arts—it would let him strengthen his body while also fulfilling the undying martial arts dream he'd carried since his youth in his previous life.
But relying purely on diligent study and hard training clearly wouldn't get him far. With Lin Xiaoning's aptitude, even training blindly for another twenty years would likely leave him nothing more than cannon fodder.
Fortunately, he had the system, which gave him a chance to cheat his way around his aptitude...
Only, the system wasn't free either—it had to be paid for with Merit Points.
And how was he supposed to earn Merit Points?
Lin Ning didn't yet have a way to obtain Merit Points in large quantities, but as for getting his feet under him first and earning a bit of "starting capital," he did have a few ideas.
It was nothing more than doing good deeds...
"Sigh."
With a soft sigh, Lin Ning thought helplessly to himself: this is practically forcing me down the road to becoming a Saint Mother... no, a Saint Father.
Still, fortunately, Lin Ning had played Heavenly Dao games before and knew there was another way to accumulate merit—punishing evil and promoting good.
But the problem was, right now, he himself was the evil one—a mountain bandit!
He couldn't very well tear down the stronghold and kill all the mountain bandits just to accumulate merit, could he?
"Brother-in-law, what's wrong?"
Seeing Lin Ning suddenly sigh, Jiu Niang gave an unexpected shiver and looked at him nervously.
The last thing Jiu Niang wanted was for Lin Ning, who had only just turned good, to go back to being the way he used to be.
Seeing Jiu Niang's frightened expression, Lin Ning grinned and said, "Jiu Niang, actually, I want to be a bad person. I really want to be a proper mountain bandit! Eating meat in big mouthfuls, drinking wine by the bowlful, dividing gold and silver by the scale, spitting on anyone I don't like the look of..."
Hearing this, Jiu Niang couldn't help but giggle, blinking her big eyes. "Brother-in-law, you already are a mountain bandit! Oh, wait—brother-in-law, do you want some wine?"
Lin Ning chuckled and gazed out at the setting sun spilling its lingering glow across the courtyard outside, saying softly, "Yeah, I was a mountain bandit to begin with—an odd one, at that..."
.....
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