Chapter 6: The Path to Advancement
Translated by algoo | Proofread by algoo
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At first, Lin Xiu felt both resentment and fear towards Zhao Lingyin. Resentment for ruining his business and giving him a beating, and fear because he couldn’t defeat her.
After today’s events, however, Lin Xiu’s perception of her changed. Although she was a bit meddlesome and heavy-handed, she genuinely treated him as one of her own. Including his parents from his past life, no one had ever treated him so well.
Lin Xiu wasn’t ungrateful. Having known countless women, he could distinguish between genuine kindness and feigned affection.
Zhao Lingyin was the former, Sun Dali the latter.
As a guard, he always ran away first when the person he was protecting was in danger, running decisively and without hesitation. Lin Xiu was already considering whether he should change guards.
After returning to the mansion, someone from the Mystic Arts Academy soon arrived, bringing him a few items.
Ten taels of silver, an identification badge, a set of clothes, and a thin booklet.
The silver was for monthly expenses. Some students weren’t well-off, but even in the capital, ten taels of silver a month was enough for them to live comfortably. This money was collected from the Mystic Arts Academy at the beginning of each month.
The badge was the academy’s identification badge, also serving as a pass to enter the palace.
The Mystic Arts Academy was located within the imperial city. The Great Xia imperial city was mainly divided into three parts: the outer palace, the middle palace, and the inner palace.
The inner palace was the residence of the emperor’s consorts and underage princesses. The middle palace was where court meetings were held and the emperor handled government affairs. The middle and inner palaces constituted the true imperial palace.
As for the outer palace, it housed the government offices of some core departments. After court meetings, officials could directly return to their offices from the middle palace.
The locations of the capital’s three academies, including the Mystic Arts Academy, were also in the outer palace. This was a deliberate arrangement by the imperial family. If anyone wanted to attack the imperial palace, they would first have to break through the defenses of the outer palace. With countless experts in the Mystic Arts Academy and the Martial Arts Academy, breaking through the outer palace was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Because of this, entering the Mystic Arts Academy required entering the imperial city. This badge served as the pass.
The booklet contained the academy’s rules. Lin Xiu flipped through it; it was nothing more than prohibitions against students fighting, brawling, and harassing female classmates.
These were all unremarkable. The only point requiring special attention was that one couldn’t wander freely within the imperial palace. Wandering into the middle or inner palaces carried a hefty penalty.
Lin Xiu memorized these rules, changed into his academy uniform, and eagerly left the house.
Sun Dali followed closely behind Lin Xiu, looking like a dutiful guard, if one didn’t know better.
Wearing his uniform and holding the identification badge, Lin Xiu smoothly entered the imperial city and arrived at the Mystic Arts Academy.
The academy was further divided into four courtyards: Yellow, Mystic, Earth, and Heaven. These were based on the students’ mystic talent and potential.
The highest level was the Heaven Courtyard, where Zhao Lingyin resided.
This was because the ability she awakened was extremely powerful, and she awakened it at a young age, giving her unlimited potential.
Although the ability Lin Xiu displayed was the same as hers, he could only be in the Yellow Courtyard. This was because his ability awakened too late, making him less valuable for cultivation. If it weren’t for backdoor dealings, he wouldn’t even be qualified to enter the academy.
Heaven Courtyard students enjoyed abundant resources, each having several teachers to guide them. Yellow Courtyard students had to rely more on themselves, mostly cultivating on their own and only seeking guidance from teachers when encountering problems.
Lin Xiu was already very satisfied with this. After arriving at the academy, he went straight to the library.
The academy’s library was open to all students, and Lin Xiu was eager to learn more about Mystic Arts.
It was still vacation time, so there were only a few people in the library. In a secluded corner, Lin Xiu was engrossed, slowly turning the pages of a book.
The book said that since the beginning of recorded human civilization, ancient ancestors had discovered the existence of Mystic Arts. Initially, they only used this heaven-sent ability for hunting. Later, with the advancement of history and the gradual development of human civilization, people’s understanding of Mystic Arts deepened. Now, the way of Mystic Arts had formed a complete system.
Based on their power, Mystic Arts were divided into four ranks, from highest to lowest: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow.
The most powerful abilities were classified as Heaven rank, such as ice, fire control, and lightning.
Slightly weaker abilities were classified as Earth rank, such as strength, speed, and body hardening.
Even weaker abilities were classified as Mystic and Yellow rank.
According to this classification, the three abilities Lin Xiu possessed were Heaven rank ice, Earth rank strength, and understanding animal language, which should only be considered a Yellow rank ability.
Lin Xiu roughly understood. Heaven rank abilities were those that could cause large-scale AOE damage. Experts with Heaven rank abilities were equivalent to an entire army, like gods.
Those who maximized their personal abilities, such as extreme strength, extreme speed, or extreme body strength, still possessed considerable combat power, but were inferior to Heaven rank abilities.
Mystic rank abilities, such as healing, phasing, invisibility, and flight, were difficult to use in combat and could only play a supporting role.
The weakest, Yellow rank abilities, didn’t even have a supporting role, such as understanding animal language or controlling hair growth. They were generally not valued, and the Mystic Arts Academy wouldn’t recruit students with them.
Of course, possessing a Heaven rank ability didn’t guarantee Heaven rank strength.
For example, Lin Xiu, although possessing a Heaven rank ability, could only use it to cool himself down, a god-like body with the strength of a mortal.
In the academy, there were many like him, possessing high-rank abilities but only cultivating to the basic stage, idling away their time in the Yellow Courtyard.
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The book recorded all the Mystic Arts abilities discovered so far, but didn’t mention the ability to copy others’ abilities. Lin Xiu flipped through the entire book without finding a similar description.
Lin Xiu decided to keep this secret buried in his heart. If others were to find out, it might bring him endless trouble.
Lin Xiu browsed through a few more books and finally found what he was looking for: the method of cultivating Mystic Arts.
Like in a game, he, who had just awakened his ability, was only a level one newbie with low skill damage. As his level increased, his skill damage would gradually increase, and he would unlock more skills until he reached max level.
Although Mystic Arts couldn’t level up, they could continuously awaken.
The first awakening was the process of going from nothing to something. Each subsequent awakening would significantly increase one’s strength, but not all abilities could continue to awaken indefinitely.
Ice, fire control, and lightning manipulation were considered Heaven rank abilities not only because of their powerful might, but also because, in recorded history, there had been experts with these abilities who had awakened them seven times or more.
Only when an ability was awakened seven times or more was it qualified to be classified as Heaven rank.
If, historically, all ice Mystic Artists hadn’t awakened their ability a second time, then this Mystic Art could only be ranked at the bottom of the Yellow rank.
Similarly, if someone could awaken the strength Mystic Art seven times, then from the moment of their seventh awakening, the strength Mystic Art would also enter the Heaven rank.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Xiu closed the book, rubbed his tired eyes, and let out a light breath. The academy was truly a good place. It would have been difficult to obtain this information directly elsewhere.
Soon, Lin Xiu stood up and walked to another bookshelf.
What he had just read was only basic knowledge about Mystic Arts. What was more important to him was the path to advancement. What should he do to achieve his second awakening?
The academy library housed countless books. There were specialized books recording how to cultivate and awaken each type of Mystic Art. These were valuable experiences left by predecessors, the fruits of generations of collection by the academy, and could only be seen in its library.
Where Lin Xiu stood, four bookshelves were arranged in order, each engraved with the characters “Heaven,” “Earth,” “Mystic,” and “Yellow.”
These four bookshelves corresponded to different ranks of Mystic Arts.
Lin Xiu planned to start with the Yellow rank. His gaze swept across the shelf and inadvertently landed on the words “Beast Language.” He pulled out a thin booklet. This book described the Mystic Art that Haitang possessed.
The book was extremely detailed, first providing a brief introduction to this Mystic Art, then introducing the lives and anecdotes of those who possessed it throughout history, based on chronological order, giving it the feel of reading ancient tales.
To Lin Xiu’s slight surprise, understanding animal language wasn’t the entirety of this Mystic Art. The book stated that those who first awakened it could understand animal language. When this Mystic Art was awakened a second time, one could achieve empathy with animals. At that point, the possessor could not only understand animals but also communicate with them…
However, this was the full extent of this Mystic Art’s abilities. Historical records showed that all those who had possessed this Mystic Art had only awakened it twice at most, which was why it was classified as Yellow rank, barely qualifying as high-Yellow.
Those abilities that could only be awakened once were naturally low-Yellow.
The academy was truly worthy of its name. Even such an obscure Mystic Art had such detailed records. However, this book didn’t mention the method of advancing this Mystic Art. Either the method hadn’t been passed down, or there was no set pattern for its advancement.
Lin Xiu didn’t dwell on it and walked over to the Earth rank bookshelf, finding the book describing the strength Mystic Art. This book was several times thicker than the previous one, and the records were even more detailed, including methods for subsequent awakenings. Lin Xiu was relatively familiar with this ability; when he wasn’t busy, Sun Dali liked to lift millstone-sized stone locks in the courtyard. That was his cultivation method.
The advancement of the strength Mystic Art lay in pushing one’s limits, similar to physical training, but the process was more arduous, and the upper limit was even more immeasurable.
After finishing this book, Lin Xiu went to the Heaven rank Mystic Arts bookshelf.
The records here were even more detailed, with meticulous guidance for almost every awakening. However, the descriptions of the process made Lin Xiu feel apprehensive.
For example, those who awakened the fire control ability had to endure scorching sun exposure during the hottest summer days, then touch fire with their hands, bathe in fire with their bodies, and even seek active volcanoes to cultivate in magma during later stages…
Just reading the descriptions made Lin Xiu’s mouth dry.
For example, those who awakened the lightning control ability had to carry iron rods and stand on rooftops during thunderstorms, guiding lightning into their bodies. This made Lin Xiu’s hair stand on end…
Lin Xiu quickly found the book he needed most. As expected, the essence of advancing a Heaven rank Mystic Art was to torture oneself. After awakening the ice Mystic Art, one had to seek breakthroughs in extremely cold environments, such as standing naked outdoors in the depths of winter, letting the wind and snow batter them, or lying on ice, or living in ice rooms…
Lin Xiu wasn’t afraid of hardship or torture, but it was currently the hottest time of the year. Where could he find ice surfaces or ice rooms?
He couldn’t possibly wait until winter to start cultivating, could he?
Lin Xiu closed the book, troubled by this matter. Suddenly, he smelled a familiar fragrance.
Zhao Lingyin appeared before him and said, “I saw Sun Dali at the imperial city gate and guessed you were here.“
Although Zhao Lingyin’s expression was cold, her eyes were somewhat gentle. Clearly, she was pleased with such a diligent Lin Xiu.
Lin Xiu said to her, “My Mystic Art has just awakened, and I don’t know how to cultivate it yet, so I came here to read.”
Zhao Lingyin said indifferently, “I’ll help you with your cultivation. Follow me.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the library, leaving Lin Xiu with another view of her back.
Cold on the outside, warm on the inside. This was Lin Xiu’s assessment of his future sister-in-law. Clearly, she was very kind to him, yet she put on an unapproachable demeanor. However, Lin Xiu had to admit, she was really cool like that.
A very cute kind of cool.
Lin Xiu followed Zhao Lingyin out of the library. Unexpectedly, she left the academy, exited the imperial city, and went straight to the Lin Mansion.
Lin Xiu followed her home, then followed her into his room, puzzled.
At this moment, Zhao Lingyin turned around and said, “Close the door.”
Lin Xiu casually closed the door.
Zhao Lingyin looked at him and said, “Take off your clothes.”
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