Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 54 Doubt

Inside the room, Lin Xuan slowly opened her eyes.

The first attempt to cultivate the Planetary Star Technique did not go smoothly.

His visualization process would always be inexplicably interrupted.

The practice of "Starry Sky Technique" progresses from easy to difficult. At the beginning, you only need to visualize the simplest planetary movements. Later, it becomes more and more complex, gradually expanding to stars, and even galaxies and the universe.

Lin Xuan only needs to visualize the simplest thing: one celestial body revolving around another.

This image is not difficult to visualize, but Lin Xuan always finds himself losing focus uncontrollably during the visualization process.

He kept thinking about what to have for breakfast tomorrow—steamed buns, noodles, or porridge?

Then he thought of the Heart-Eating Gu in his body. If he encountered the Jiuli tribe, how should he ask them for help? What should he do if they refused to help?
Even if the Jiuli tribe is willing to help, how will the black-robed man explain that the Heart-Eating Gu in his body is gone?

As soon as Lin Xuan starts visualizing, these thoughts will pop up uncontrollably, making it impossible for him to concentrate.

After a long while, Lin Xuan opened his eyes again and let out a helpless sigh.

Cultivating spiritual power is much more difficult than cultivating martial arts, and he had to figure it out entirely on his own. Even when he encountered problems, he didn't know who to ask.

Left with no other choice, he had to go to sleep first.

For the next two days, whenever he had time, Lin Xuan would secretly meditate.

Perhaps it's a matter of practice makes perfect; the more times he visualized, the less often his mind wandered.

Whenever he focused his mind to its limit, he could vaguely sense an extremely powerful force hidden deep within his mind, but he was temporarily unable to control this force.

In the early morning, Lin Xuan opened his eyes and sat up in bed.

Visualization is an extremely mentally taxing activity, but it has one advantage: after each visualization session, he only needs to sleep for a short time to replenish all his energy.

After having breakfast with A Luo, Lin Xuan arrived at Jingbian Division at the appointed time.

Upon entering the Jingbian Division, one sees a group of flag officers and guards standing neatly in the courtyard. Commander Shen and Commander Wu stand at the front, their official robes and hats perfectly in place.

Standing in front of them was another person, none other than the Commander of a Thousand Households.

Lin Xuan strode forward, about to rejoin his unit, when Wu Baihu came over, grabbed Lin Xuan's arm, and said with a smile, "Why are you so late? Everyone's been waiting for you."

Lin Xuan was pulled to the front, completely bewildered. He clasped his hands in greeting to Commander Zhou and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Commander Zhou."

With a smile on his face, Zhou Qianhu nodded slightly and said, "Now that Lin Xuan is here, let's begin."

Then, his expression turned solemn, his gaze swept across the entire room, and finally settled on Lin Xuan. He slowly spoke, his voice loud and steady, clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.

"Lin Xuan, the flag officer of the Jingbian Division of Sizhou!"

"The humble position is here!"

Lin Xuan bowed slightly and spoke in a deep voice.

Commander Zhou took out a roll of black silk from his sleeve, slowly unfurled it, and said loudly: "Lin Xuan, the flag officer of the Jingbian Division of Sizhou, is of pure and loyal character, and is blessed with righteousness and courage. At that time, bandits were rampant in Sizhou, robbing merchants and causing havoc in the local area. Their actions were unpredictable and their power was arrogant!"

"Lin Xuan, mindful of the safety of his comrades and indignant at the suffering of the common people, bravely ventured alone, displaying the courage of ten thousand men, beheading the bandit leader, annihilating the wicked and ruthless, wiping out the bandit's den, recovering the lost property, demonstrating the might of Jingye, and bringing peace to the land of Sizhou!"

"To commend your outstanding achievements, inspire loyalty and courage, and serve as a warning to future generations, I hereby award you the 'Third Class Order of Peace and Security.' I hope you will cherish it, strive forward, and make new contributions!"

"The entire Sizhou Border Pacification Division should take Lin Xuan as a role model, be conscientious in their duties, and strive to be the best..."

After reading the commendation, Commander Zhou solemnly took out a medal from a sandalwood tray held by a guard beside him.

The medal was about the size of a baby's palm, entirely black, with fine silver patterns engraved along the edges. In the center of the medal was a majestic and precipitous mountain relief, giving it a simple and profound feel at first glance.

Amidst the envious gazes of the Jingbian Division personnel, Commander Zhou stepped forward and personally pinned the medal to the chest of Lin Xuan's officer uniform. He then straightened Lin Xuan's collar, gently patted his shoulder, and encouraged him, saying, "This is the court's and Jingye Division's affirmation of your loyalty and bravery. I hope you cherish this honor, remain humble and prudent, and in the future, make new contributions for our Great Yong and for the Jingye Division!"

Lin Xuan straightened his back and replied loudly, "This humble officer will remember your teachings, Commander Qianhu, and will certainly do his duty to live up to the high expectations of the court and the Jingye Division!"

Commander Zhou nodded, glanced at everyone, and said, "The awarding ceremony is over. You can all go about your business now."

Upon hearing this, everyone bowed and clasped their hands in greeting before dispersing in an orderly fashion.

At this moment, Commander Zhou took out something from his sleeve, handed it to Lin Xuan, and said with a smile, "Lin Xuan, you have really made our Qianzhou Commander's Office and the Southern Garrison Commander look good this time. This bottle of Bone Tempering Liquid is a personal reward from the Garrison Commander. You must work hard in your cultivation and not let the Garrison Commander down."

Lin Xuan accepted the bottle of Bone Tempering Liquid, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said, "Yes!"

If he hadn't known that two of the three bottles of Bone Tempering Liquid the imperial court had awarded him last time had been stolen, Lin Xuan might have truly been grateful to this town magistrate.

This bottle of bone-tempering liquid might have originally belonged to me.

Commander Zhou waved his hand again, and another guard came up with a tray. Commander Zhou glanced at the contents of the tray and said, "The garrison commander has already rewarded you, so I can't be stingy either. This soft armor can withstand a full-force attack from a peak sixth-rank expert. Consider it my reward to you..."

Lin Xuan really gave Director Jingbian face this time.

The Commander-in-Chief used a telescope to announce the news to the entire Commander-in-Chief, and managed to salvage some of the reputation lost by the Xuan Guang Armor last time.

Lin Xuan accepted the soft armor and bowed slightly: "Thank you, Commander!"

The soft armor that could withstand a strike from a peak sixth-rank expert was extremely useful to him; its value far exceeded that of the bone-tempering liquid.

At this moment, Commander Zhou looked at Lin Xuan with a hint of doubt in his eyes and asked, "You have only recently broken through to the eighth rank, but I just discovered that the power within you is incredibly strong, almost reaching the peak of the eighth rank. Could it be that you have had some extraordinary encounter during this time?"

He single-handedly wiped out the entire bandit den, killing more than forty bandits, including two eighth-rank bandit leaders.

Even in the event of a surprise attack, it was still somewhat unbelievable for a newly appointed eighth-rank banner officer.

Therefore, while encouraging Lin Xuan, he also used his true energy to examine his body.

The results showed that Lin Xuan's internal strength far exceeded that of a newly advanced eighth-rank martial artist, and he possessed approximately 70% of the strength of a peak eighth-rank martial artist.

Lin Xuan had anticipated this situation. He needed an explanation for his increased strength, so he said, "Reporting to Commander Qian, the imperial court once rewarded me with a bottle of Bone Tempering Liquid. Commander Wu also privately gifted me a bottle. Later, I bought several more bottles of Bone Tempering Liquid from the Tian family and the black market. My current cultivation level was entirely achieved by soaking myself in Bone Tempering Liquid..."

This statement is nine parts true and one part false; even if someone were to investigate, they wouldn't find anything wrong with it.

Zhou Qianhu nodded slightly, but did not ask any further questions.

He knew about the imperial court's reward of Lin Xuan with the Bone Tempering Liquid. It was not surprising that Lin Xuan was able to buy the Bone Tempering Liquid from the Tian family. As a commander, he had long known that the Tian family had dealings with the Jiuli tribe.

However, for a mere banner officer to have such a wealthy family background, it seems he must have gotten quite a bit of benefits from the Tian family last time.

He looked at Lin Xuan and said, "Although the Bone Tempering Liquid can quickly improve strength, cultivation improved through external means is ultimately unstable. You still need to practice basic stance training diligently on a regular basis. Otherwise, once you reach the middle third rank, your foundation will be unstable, and you will be left far behind by your opponents of the same level..."

Lin Xuan said earnestly, "I have remembered it. Thank you for your guidance, Commander!"

The man in black robes said the same thing, and now Commander Zhou has brought it up again, which shows that basic stance training is indeed very important.

Fortunately, although Lin Xuan wished he could make the man in black robes suffer the torment of being devoured by ten thousand Gu poisons every day, he always strictly obeyed her words. In recent days, he has not slacked off in his cultivation for a single day.

Behind Zhou Qianhu, Shen Qingya's eyes flickered.

"The Tian family..."

Huang Yue was right; Lin Xuan does seem to have a special relationship with the Tian family.

His fists, tucked into his sleeves, clenched tightly. Could it be that the culprit behind the last conflict between the Tian and Yang families, which led to the Yang family besieging Jingbian Division, causing him to lose face and power, and being severely reprimanded by his family, was really Lin Xuan?

(End of this chapter)