Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 459 Lin Chen: Did I get a bargain?
Zhaoran City.

City Lord's Mansion.

"My lords, this is the information on all the martial artists who have recently entered and left the city."

The city lord of Zhaoran City was a martial artist at the second level of the Innate Realm, but he showed no airs of a city lord when facing the two middle-aged men standing in front of him.

This was because both of these middle-aged men were at the third level of the Innate Realm.

The city lord of Zhaoran City handed over an account book, which recorded the situation of all the martial artists who had entered the city in the past three days.

The two middle-aged men took the ledger and looked at it for a moment. After exchanging glances, they asked, "Why are there no records of innate martial artists entering or leaving the city?"

"My lords, whether a Xiantian martial artist enters the city or just passes through, he simply flies directly overhead. The city guards dare not stop him, nor can they know where he goes. This is without concealing his aura. If he concealed his aura, the city guards would not be able to detect him."

The city lord of Zhaoran City explained with a wry smile that Zhaoran City was just a small city, and the various families and forces in the city, including himself, only had nine innate martial artists in total, seven of whom were only at the first level of the innate realm.

"From today onwards, pay attention to any martial artists entering the city, whether they are innate martial artists or ordinary martial artists. If any of them are accompanied by a little girl, keep an eye on them immediately."

"Rest assured, my lords, I will inform them immediately if anything is discovered."

"Yes, you'll get your share of the rewards now that we've found someone."

After saying this, the two middle-aged men did not linger in the city lord's mansion and left directly.

The city lord of Zhaoran City watched the two middle-aged men leave with a smile, and an old man emerged from behind the screen.

"City Lord, I haven't heard of any major events happening in the Mortal Realm recently. What are the origins of these two?"

"A powerful figure from the Hidden Moon Sect."

"The Hidden Moon Sect, is that the sect with a fifth-level Innate Realm expert in charge?"

The Hidden Moon Sect is a top-tier second-rate sect in the Mortal Realm, second only to first-rate sects. No wonder the city lord is so polite; the Hidden Moon Sect is truly not one that Zhaoran City can afford to offend.

"Yes, the Hidden Moon Sect is very powerful. Since they have given such instructions, you should pass them on to your subordinates."

"Does the city lord intend to carry out this seriously or just go through the motions?"

The old man asked the key question, and the city lord of Zhaoran City smiled slightly: "Although these two said that they would give benefits as long as the little girl is found, the Hidden Moon Sect has not carried out a large-scale search. I'm afraid that little girl is not simple. We should just avoid making mistakes and not seek merit in this matter."

Upon hearing his city lord's words, the old man understood what to do.

On the surface, the policy still needs to be enforced, but if any suspicious individuals are discovered, there's no need to investigate further; simply ignore any suspicious individuals.

……

……

A residence in the south of Zhaoran City.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged in the courtyard, holding a golden innate stone in his hand. As the Canglan Technique circulated within his body, the golden energy within the innate stone gradually decreased, and its color slowly faded. In less than a quarter of an hour, the entire innate stone turned gray.

"How could it be consumed so quickly?"

Lin Chen looked at the gray innate stone in his hand, which had no energy left, and gently squeezed it with his right hand. The innate stone turned into dust and scattered on the ground.

What puzzled him was why the innate stone had so little energy.

My second senior brother once said that the energy of a single innate stone is enough for a martial artist at the second level of the innate realm to absorb for an hour.

Lin Chen looked up at Yin Yue, who was also sitting in the courtyard.

Sensing Lin Chen's gaze, Yin Yue, who had been looking down, raised her eyes: "There's no problem with the innate stones. It's just that your cultivation technique is much stronger than the average person's, allowing you to absorb the energy of the innate stones much faster. Also, your body is stronger than that of ordinary martial artists. This is due to the innate fire tempering your body. Other martial artists only need the energy of thirty innate stones to condense an innate crystal in a single acupoint, while you might need sixty or even more..."

"Is there still such a thing?"

"Martial artists from super sects are generally much stronger than other martial artists even if they are at the same level. This is not only because their cultivation techniques are more powerful, but also because the techniques they cultivate are so powerful that they require more resources to break through. This is a principle that all disciples of super sects know."

Yin Yue, acting like a little adult, looked Lin Chen up and down for a while: "Unless you are a newcomer to the sect and not a martial artist born in the Yan Dynasty, you wouldn't know these things."

"You said you would take me to the overseas region of the East Sea, which means you must be from the overseas region of the East Sea. And you are at the second level of the Innate Realm. Gu Fei is indeed not your real name. You are Lin Chen!"

After Yin Yue guessed his identity, Lin Chen became more aware of his own limitations. He realized he needed to pay more attention to details in the future, as Yin Yue had deduced his identity based on just one of his questions.

"Don't you ancient races not have contact with the outside world? How do you know me?" Lin Chen didn't deny it after his identity was exposed, but asked curiously.

“Our clansmen abroad will bring back some important matters concerning the Yan Dynasty. We don’t really care who is number one in the Martial Arts Mountain, but news of major events like the war between the Canglan Sect and the Eight Desolations Sect will still come back.”

"The clansmen who sent back the message described in detail when your two families started the war, what new grudges you had, and the strength of your two families. They mentioned you in the message, and I just happened to have seen it."

Yin Yue's answer made Lin Chen's lips twitch. He originally thought it was because he had become the number one in Martial Dao Mountain, which had attracted the attention of these ancient clans. It turned out that it was because the Canglan Sect and the Bahuang Sect were at war, and these ancient clans knew about the situation of the two sects and mentioned him in passing.

"Let me see how many innate stones it takes to condense an innate crystal." Lin Chen took out another innate stone from the box of a hundred items, and this time he absorbed it even faster than before.

One piece, two pieces, three pieces...

Ten yuan, twenty yuan, thirty yuan...

When Yin Yue saw that Lin Chen hadn't stopped after spending more than seventy yuan, her long eyelashes fluttered a few times, her lips moved, and her pretty face showed a rare expression of surprise.

Normally, it takes thirty innate stones to condense an innate crystal in an acupoint, while some disciples of super sects need about fifty stones.

Seventy yuan, that's almost as much as those ethnic groups.

Moreover, it seems that Lin Chen is far from finished. The warriors of the Canglan Sect mainly rely on the power of the Canglan energy, and they do not have much advantage in terms of physical strength compared to other sects.

With physical strength far exceeding that of others, and that divine soul... Lin Chen is truly an anomaly in the Canglan Sect.

As the hundredth innate stone turned to ashes, an icy blue light suddenly shone from the acupoint on Lin Chen's right shoulder.

The immense energy was kneaded as if by an invisible hand, and after a hundred collapses and tremors, a primordial crystal suddenly condensed!
The moment the crystal core took shape, a surge of innate power emerged like a torrent. The newly generated innate power began to merge and converge with the original innate power within Lin Chen's body, and his meridians were torn and reassembled under the torrent of innate power.

Fifteen breaths later, the innate power within Lin Chen's body returned to calm. The innate crystal condensed in that acupoint no longer surged forth like a torrent of innate power, but instead began to flow gently, maintaining the same frequency as the innate crystals in the other twenty-four acupoints around Lin Chen's body.

Lin Chen could feel that his innate power had increased by about half a percent, which meant that his strength had improved once again.

Although it's less than 10%, you should know that the second level of the Innate Realm requires 365 Innate Crystals. Even if each one only increases by a little over 50%, after cultivating 365 crystals, your strength will increase dozens of times.

The difference in strength between the two innate realms is even more exaggerated than that between the nine ranks.

Lin Chen suppressed his emotions and looked at Yin Yue.

His deal with Yin Yue was that Yin Yue would contract to provide him with the innate stones he needed for his cultivation over the course of a year.

One innate crystal requires one hundred crystals. To progress from the second to the third innate realm, the number of innate crystals in the body needs to increase from twenty-four to three hundred and sixty-five. If calculated at this rate, one would need thirty-six thousand five hundred crystals.

"Innate stones cannot be absorbed indefinitely. After each innate crystal is condensed, you must wait at least three days before you can continue to absorb them. The further you go in the acupoints, the more innate crystals you need to condense, and the more innate stones you will need. In your case, to reach 365 acupoints, it is conservatively estimated that you will need 100,000 innate stones."

Yin Yue saw Lin Chen's eyes and knew what he wanted to say, but she still didn't hide anything and honestly told him the situation.

“I don’t have that many innate stones, but I still have enough for your cultivation needs for a year, so you don’t need to worry.”

She's a little rich girl!
Having received Yin Yue's affirmative answer, Lin Chen felt relieved.

He has already tested the Innate Stone; next up should be the Void Stone.

"The Taixu Stone can be held in your hand and then used to cultivate your technique, right?"

"Ah."

"Do you think I should use it to improve the Azure Wave Technique or the Boundless Divine Appearance Technique?"

Lin Chen asked Yin Yue, "Don't underestimate Yin Yue just because she's only nine years old. She knows a lot more about martial arts than I do. She's practically a half-master."

The "Racing Against Time" option only hints that it can be used to upgrade the Azure Wave Technique and the Boundless Divine Appearance Technique, but it doesn't provide any specific advice.

"Canglan Technique".

"Why the Azure Wave Technique?"

"The Boundless Divine Appearance Technique relies more on innate fire. Using the Void Stone now would be too wasteful. Wait until you can no longer absorb innate fire using the Boundless Divine Appearance Technique before considering using the Void Stone to modify the technique."

"You still have the Primordial Stone here?"

A rare expression of emotion appeared on Yin Yue's face, tinged with a hint of speechlessness.

"I was just asking; if it's inconvenient to say, then forget it."

Seeing the speechless expression on a little girl's face, Lin Chen, unusually, looked a little embarrassed.

“The Void Stone is no ordinary object. Even our clan has only had one in all these years. If a single Void Stone were placed in the Yan Dynasty, it would be enough to make a Myriad Manifestations Realm expert take action.”

Yin Yue's words were quite straightforward: if they hadn't been being chased and the situation hadn't been so dire, Ying Po would never have promised to give up the Taixu Stone.

If they had known they would be caught and needed to promise to give away the Void Stone, they could have easily made a deal with a Myriad Manifestations Realm expert.

Lin Chen: ...

So, I got a good deal.

PS: Thank you to Qin Shi Huang in the Universe for the 10,000 coin reward. It's the 20th, please vote for me next month.

(End of this chapter)