Chapter 6: Canon starts

Six years passed by in a flash…

"Snap…Snap…Snap…"

The arms of a tall, toned physique waved like a monkey stretching. Every time they punched out a total of ten times, the figure's sticky garments made a crisp sound.

After a long time, the thin figure exhaled a long breath "phew~" and then stopped to look at the extremely delicate in appearance and rich in aura girl who was watching them with rapt attention. "Qing Tan, did you see it clearly? The first nine sounds of the Penetrating Fist are from the outside of the body while the tenth sound comes from the inside of the body.

The key to emitting the tenth sound is to ensure you perfectly coordinate the muscles and bones inside the body, pushing the ninth sound which is about to reach its normal peak, to a new limit. This will allow the tenth sound to explode out completely. Once you are able to push the Penetrating Fist to the tenth echo, the power of the martial art skill will be comparable to that of a second-grade martial art."

The fourteen-year-old girl had beautiful eyes which looked exceptionally delicate and lovely as she looked around "Mmmmmmmm, Brother Dong, Qing Tan saw clearly how you performed the skill. You are so powerful. Even Father hasn't learned the tenth echo, but you actually pushed it out all by yourself!"

Lin Dong merely glowered at his silly sister without any good intentions as she doesn't begin to practice it immediately "You saw it clearly, yet I do not see you practicing it. You who have already stepped into the Earthly Yuan realm have yet to master the tenth echo of this first-grade martial art skill…"

Unfortunately, for Lin Dong, his sister has long become familiar with his temper so she was not afraid of him and merely smiled sweetly in her response to his statement.

A familiar figure walked over as a mellow voice rose "Son, daughter, both of you are here."

Both Lin Dong and Qing Tan hurriedly bowed and saluted "Father~".

Lin Xiao stepped in front of them and smiled down at his pair of children as they pleased him greatly in not only cultivation progress but also temperament "Well, both of you are already fourteen years old, so it is time for son to go out and show your faces in the clan's small test which is being held tomorrow. Ah, right, son you are not allowed to expose your Heavenly Yuan realm cultivation as that will scare them completely. Daughter, you will not participate in the test as you will be my secret weapon." Lin Xiao winked mysteriously as he stated the last part.

Lin Dong and Qing Tan's hearts were warmed upon hearing their father say that and said "Understood, father."

Lin Xiao chatted idly for a few more moments before turning around to leave.

Looking at her father's back as he left, Qing Tan adorably rested her head against her hand as she asked her brother "Brother Dong, what is father's cultivation level now? Ever since he recovered from his injuries six years ago, I can't see through it at all. It is as though his cultivation level became a mystery."

Lin Dong replied, "Father is at the peak of the initial stage of the Yuan Dan realm."

Qing Tan's beautiful eyes stared widely and immediately exclaimed, "Wow, father is already a Yuan Dan realm powerhouse."

Lin Dong glanced at his sister with no humor when she stated "Father was already the first genius of our Lin family when he entered the Heavenly Yuan realm in his early twenties. Isn't normal for him to be able to break through after six years into the Yuan Dan realm? Little girl, you are also underestimating your father." He then ordered in a rather forceful tone, "If you cannot master the tenth echo of the Penetrating Fist today, you will not be able to sleep tonight!" Saying this piece he left her, not at all paying any attention to his pouting sister behind him.

"Creak~Bang~"

Lin Dong opened and closed the door to his bedroom when a voice sounded out beside his ears, "Ever since you entered the Heavenly Yuan realm two years ago, your cultivation has never broken through.a What do you want?"

Lin Dong sat himself down and poured himself a cup of hot tea. Only then did he speak, "Yuan Dan consists of nine different ranks, termed as the Nine Stars of Yuan Dan. A one-star Yuan Dan is the lowest rank whereas a nine-star is the highest rank. Of course, I want to suppress my cultivation and try to achieve a nine-star Yuan Dan rank in one go."

Little Marten's voice once again sounded out, "Hey, kid, you are really ambitious. You should know that when Master Marten entered the Yuan Dan realm, I could barely condense an eight-star Yuan Dan.

Also, you have long since completed that Spiritual Power Basic Cultivation Method. As long as you can open up your NiWan Palace, you should be able to condense the energy and become a seal symbol master realm. It is time to find a Seal Condensation method."

Lin Dong lightly sipped his tea and leisurely replied, "There is no rush. I will get the method when the opportunity comes."

He thinks back to his training these past half-dozen years. His father had taught him two martial art skills: Eight Desolations Palm and an incomplete Wonder Gate Seal. The first one is a level 2 Martial Art that is noted for its ferocity, and it is a series of palm techniques that involved a fixed sequence or pattern of moves. Though it looked simple, hidden within each move was a monstrous force. With the help of the Ancestral Stone, Lin Dong was able to ensure it melded the forceful blows with traces of gentle strokes. As strength and gentleness twined together in perfect harmony, the power to devastate any opponent was born. Combining the gentle and hard strokes increased the attacking power of the Eight Desolations Palm and when used correctly, its strength rivals the strength of the tenth echo of Penetrating Fist. As for the second one, he chose this one to learn from his father as he remembered in the novel, Lin Dong also learned this martial art. Wonder Gate Seal is an incomplete level 3 Martial Art that when completed consists of four chapters. One needs to use hand-seals in conjunction with Yuan Power. The first chapter is as powerful as a grade 3 martial arts or perhaps even weaker. The second chapter makes this Martial Art comparable to a level 4 Martial Art, and when completed in all four chapters then this Martial Art becomes comparable to a low level 5 Martial Art. He had already completely mastered all four chapters as he is simply suppressing his cultivation of the Heavenly Yuan realm.

As for why he was not in a rush to acquire a set of Seal Condensation Cultivation methods sooner and officially become a first-level Seal Symbol, it was because he was waiting for the time when in the novel Lin Dong found an Ancient Wooden Block in a shop in the underground bazaar in Qingyang Town. In the novel, Lin Dong paid 50 Yang Yuan Stones for this mossy wooden block and within it held the Congealing Symbol Art or Ancient Swirl Symbol. This art was covered by a thin layer of Mental Energy and reacts to Mental Energy. Once he uses his mental energy on the object, it will activate a gentle suction force and his mental energy within his NiWan Palace will slowly begin to swirl. With this Lin Dong will be able to condense his first Destiny Symbol.

He had learned from the novel that a Destiny Symbol, Destiny Soul Symbol, or Destiny Heaven Symbol greatly boosts your control over Mental Energy, but also strengthens your Mental Energy tremendously. If the Destiny Symbol was not inherited, the Symbol condensed would differ. Some would be stronger, while others would be weaker. Occasionally, some mistakes would occur as well. Therefore, as one trains to become a Symbol Master, having an experienced mentor would greatly boost one's progress. When condensing a Destiny Symbol with aid of the Ancient Swirl Symbol, the Mental Energy Swirl will gradually be compressed to its limit, inside your NiWan Palace, a buzzing sound like that of the bees and birds emerges. The originally stable Mental Energy Swirl will begin to exhibit signs of resistance. There are three different Destiny Symbols: Destiny Symbol, Destiny Soul Symbol, and Destiny Heaven Symbol.

Destiny Symbol was the most ordinary type. It did not have any special abilities. Most Symbol Masters possessed this kind of normal Destiny Symbol. The Destiny Soul Symbol was a rather rare symbol. This kind of symbol was able to change its form and was also equipped with other unique abilities. For example, the Ancient Swirl Symbol possessed a kind of absorption power. As for the Destiny Heaven Symbol, it was even more terrifying. It is said that when used, the Destiny Heaven Symbol would devour the earth. Of course, this symbol was too unreal, and the books only introduced it very briefly.

So, yes Lin Dong definitely wants to get this top-notch art or symbol, and counting the time based on the novel, he should be able to find the wooden block in the underground bazaar soon.

The emptiness within his voice was displayed clearly as Little Marten's shadow floated above Lin Dong's shoulder "You are not in a hurry, but I am. If you become stronger, I can regain some of my strength. These past few years, I have only been able to swallow one crippled demon spirit and just a few low-rank spirit medicines. I have been too slow in recovering my strength."

Seeing that Little Marten revealed his form, Lin Dong rolled his eyes fiercely, "What can I do? The strength of demonic beasts that can attain demon spirit are all incomparably strong and are simply not something the current me can deal with. Just the crippled demon spirit that you swallowed last year was only obtained by the two of us after we managed to survive a life-and-death battle."

Little Marten was sitting limply on Lin Dong's shoulder as he recounted his glorious battle achievements back when he had his strength "Alas, if Master Marten had still been strong as he was before his incident, a fart could have killed a large number of demon spirits like the one we fought last year… It's really a case of a tiger being bullied by a dog…"

…

Lin Dong walked out of an ancient Lin family building and stretched his back slightly showcasing a lazy posture "Hmm…father said to hide my strength and then show off slightly at the clan meeting in six months. A fourth level of the Tempered Body realm should be enough to satisfy father's request, right?" Today was the Lin family's mini-test to basically test all the age-appropriate youngsters' cultivation and battle prowess for the competition in six months. Hence why Lin Dong had come over to show his face at his father's request.

He looked around for a while before following the path back home in a beautifully great mood.

A rather arrogant shout sounded behind him, causing Lin Dong to withdraw his right foot as he turned around "Lin Dong, stop right there!"

What came into Lin Dong's sight was a fourteen-year-old boy who was surrounded by several people. Lin Dong could not help but think to himself with an odd expression on his face 'Lin Shan is a fool. I mean in the original story; Lin Dong was only at the second level of the Tempered Body realm so Lin Shan a fourth level of the Tempered Body realm martial artist can still dare to bully Lin Dong. But now here, Lin Dong has shown the fourth level of the Tempered Body realm. Where did Lin Shan get the courage to provoke him? Was he not afraid that Lin Dong would beat him to the point no one would recognize his face?'

Lin Shan is the second son of Lin Dong's second uncle, Lin Mang, and he has an older brother, Lin Hong. His older brother is at the sixth level of the Tempered Body realm and is the leader of the Lin family's younger generation along with Lin Dong's eldest uncle's daughter, cousin Lin Xia.

Before Lin Dong's father was seriously injured, Lin Shan's father, Lin Mang had always been respectful to Lin Xiao, his third brother. However, the moment his father became a crippled person, Lin Mang's actions and attitude towards his father took an immediate 180-degree turn. Every now and then, he sneers at Lin Xiao within the clan and had instructed his son to provoke Lin Dong. Lin Dong thinks to himself 'Truly a disgusting dog.'

Only a few seconds passed as this information crossed his mind and then he swept a 'confused' glance at Lin Shan and spoke carelessly "So, who are you?"

Cultivation Ranks:

Rank 1: Tempered Body – 9 Stages – (1-9)

Rank 2: Earthly Yuan – 3 Stages – (Early, Middle, Late)

Rank 3: Heavenly Yuan – 3 Stages – (Early, Middle, Late)

Rank 4: Yuan Dan – 3 Stages – (Initial, Advanced, Perfect)

Rank 5:

Rank 6:

Rank 7:

Rank 8:

Rank 9:

Rank 10:

Rank 11: Samsara – 3 Stages – (Ordinary Samsara, Ultimate Samsara, Reincarnation Enlightened Samsara)

Mental Energy Ranks:

Rank 0: Beginning Training – NiWan Palace opened

Rank 1: Seal Symbol Master – 4 Stages – (1st-4th Seal Symbol Master)

[In the auxiliary chapter Cultivation Ranks (From Fandom) I will include a little more detail on the mental energy ranks section as I found more as I was editing this chapter. I included descriptions of two other martial arts skills because Lin Dong had learned them in the original novel. Oh right, previously I thought based on the previous chapter's description and a few comments made by others on other sites with regards to the original novel I thought Qing Tan was two years younger than Lin Dong. When I checked her age on Fandom, it shows she is the same age as Lin Dong. So, let's just say Lin Xiao started to teach her a little later because he was worried about Qing Tan due to the Cold Qi attacks and decided to wait after that month-training with Lin Dong.]