Chapter 1. Lin Xiang
Within the Sky Fortune City, the capital of Sky Fortune Kingdom, the Seven Profound Martial House stands before the Great Mountain Zhou.
The Seven Profound Martial House is a martial house set up by the Seven Profound Valley - a martial arts clan with over six hundred years of heritage. It is also the only martial house set up by them in the Sky Fortune Kingdom.
As one of the biggest martial houses, the Seven Profound Martial House possesses a great number of legacy martial skills and martial masters as its tutors. It was only natural that it would become the holy land of the many young aspiring martial artists.
Correspondingly, the entrance qualifications for new recruits in Seven Profound Martial House were set at a high threshold. It would not be an exaggeration to say that only one in a million would be able to qualify.
Under the scorching heat of summer, a teenage boy stood within a forest of the Great Mountain Zhou.
Both his fists were wrapped up with strips of cloth as he stood bare chested before a rough looking big tree. He threw punch after punch, striking heavily against the tree trunk.
"Peng!" "Peng!" Heavy sounds echoed out around the forest.
The layer of bark on the big tree that was struck had sunk downwards noticeably, exposing its grayish wooden texture. On its surface, traces of blood could be seen.
This teenager's name is Lin Ming. He possesses a Medium 3rd Grade Martial Talent.
In Sky Fortune Kingdom half of the citizens have no martial talent to speak of and are unsuitable to walk the path of martial arts.
Forty percent of them have a Grade 1 Martial Talent, which is the worst among martial artist. Even if these people were to practice martial arts, they would not be able to reach anywhere.
As for the remaining population, only less than ten percent would have a Grade 2 Martial Talent. If these people were to be diligent in their practice of martial arts, they have a chance to accomplish something in life. However, becoming a master of the martial arts would be near hopeless for them; most of them would be stranded at the 2nd stage of Body Transformation because their speed of true essence absorption is simply too slow.
Lin Ming's Grade 3 Martial Talent could be considered as a high-class existence. One could say that his talent was at the top of he population.
However, even with his martial talent, it would still be difficult for him to enter the Seven Profound Martial House!
Lin Ming was well aware of this. Together with his female childhood friend, the beautiful Lan Yunyue who also possessed a 3rd Grade Martial Talent, they had agreed to take the entrance assessment for the Sky Fortune Martial House, even though it is nowhere near as good as the Seven Profound Martial House.
The Sky Fortune Martial House is part of Sky Fortune Kingdom. Since the day of its inception, it only has 80 years' accumulation of martial skills and foundation, a limited number indeed.
Legacy martial skills are something of great importance to martial artists. Without a good set of martial skills, the goal of completing the final Physical Training Stage, the Pulse Condensing Stage or higher, is near impossible.
The Pulse Condensing Stage is a realm that most martial artists strived to reach. It is also the first turning point for cultivators of the martial way.
Once the Pulse Condensing Stage is successfully attained, a martial artist's lifespan would be greatly increased. Additionally, they would also be granted the title of nobility, allowing them to live a life of prosperity, bringing a blessing to their descendants.
It is in this Pulse Condensing Stage training that the Sky Fortune Martial House falls greatly behind the Seven Profound Martial House.
Lin Ming's heart pulsed for the sake of the martial way. It was only natural that he too desired to enter the Seven Profound Martial House. If his talent was insufficient, then he could only rely on his own diligence and perseverance to impress the examiners.
However, the prospects of him entering were very low. Moreover, once he failed, he would have to waste half a year's time to wait for another opportunity. For martial artists, this amount of time is highly precious.
Placing all this into consideration, in addition to the fact that he had promised Lan Yunyue, Lin Ming decided to enter the Sky Fortune Martial House instead.
Lin Ming and Lan Yunyue had trained and played together for many years. Even though the both of them were still young and the topic of marriage never came up, those emotions have already begun budding.
Lin Ming's parents had also shown their approval and love toward Lan Yunyue. They would always invite Lan Yunyue to their house for dinner.
A mutual feeling of goodwill existed between Lin Ming and Lan Yunyue, leaving only a thin piece of paper between the two. Once they grew slightly older, this piece of paper would certainly be torn apart.
Lin Ming viewed the agreement between them both seriously. He had determined to charge toward the Pulse Condensing Stage even if he could only train within the Sky Fortune Martial House!
However, on the day that Sky Fortune Martial House held its entrance assessment, Lan Yunyue failed to show up.
At first, Lin Ming had assumed that Lan Yunyue was unable to arrive due to some matters, it was only later that he learnt of Lan Yunyue entering the Seven Profound Martial House. Additionally, the one who had ensured her success in becoming a disciple of Seven Profound Martial House was Zhu Yan, the genius Young Master of Green Mulberry City's number 1 Zhu family.
Although Lin Ming was only fifteen years old, he had accompanied his parents to do battle on the outside before. Thus, he has a greater level of maturity compared to others. He understood the meaning behind Zhu Yan's act of ensuring that the Seven Profound Martial House accepted Lan Yunyue.
For a great family such as the Zhu Family, their prerequisite in selecting future wives lay not in terms of appearances, but rather their martial talent. A highly talented wife would have a higher chance of giving birth to a martial genius.
Although Lan Yunyue's family is only average, her Superior 3rd Grade Martial Talent is very good considering her gender. In addition, Lan Yunyue herself is a beauty with an outstanding temperament. It was only natural that Zhu Yan would fall for her.
For Lan Yunyue, the difference between the Sky Fortune Martial House and Seven Profound Martial House was simply too great. The opportunities, honor, glory and potential accomplishments that both could be able to provide are simply incomparable. This is especially true regarding the extension of life that could be gained after one successfully reaches the Pulse Condensing Stage. Such a kind of temptation was simply irresistible.
Faced with such appealing prospects, most females would have chosen to go with Zhu Yan as well. After all, Zhu Yan himself possesses handsome features; his family background and future are both far better compared to Lin Ming's.
Although Lin Ming was able to understand, to say that this matter did not greatly affect him would be a lie. He shut himself within his room for three whole days.
After that, he finally walked out and proceeded to have a strict routine of only eating, sleeping and training. Moreover, the intensity of his training had become much higher than before.
Before Lan Yunyue had left him, Lin Ming had already made the decision to break through into the Pulse Condensing Stage and pursue an even higher realm of martial cultivation. Afterward, it was the same. Lan Yunyue's act of leaving him had only hardened his resolve towards the Martial Way.
He made the decision to enter the entrance assessment for the Seven Profound Martial House, even though the chances of him entering with his current cultivation and progress were simply abysmal.
"Peng!" "Peng!" The heavy sounds of iron knuckle dusters striking against the tree trunk echoed continuously throughout the forest.
The name of this tree is Iron Tree. Not only does it possess an extremely tough layer of bark, it also has strong regenerative properties. Many beginners of the martial way would choose this Iron Tree to train themselves.
As for the Iron Knuckles that Lin Ming was wearing, these were designed and lent to Lin Ming by his twin brother to protect the fist from trauma when striking an Iron Tree. They had a very simple minimalistic rectangular design with no finger holes. They were fully made of metal and the pommel was thick and wrapped in leather.
After throwing out who knew how many punches, Lin Ming finally exhausted himself.
Leaning upon a tree trunk, he sat down on a piece of rock and took out a gourd from his backpack. He lifted up the ground and drank from it to quench his thirst.
Inside the gourd was watered down tea brewed with a small amount of the most common True Essence nourishing herbs that were picked up in the forest by some mortals. This kind of home-made medicinal tea wasn't delicious at all. In fact, it tasted like 'tea' brewed by a child who picked up random weeds and grasses in the forest and boiled them.
The taste of the liquid was even a bit disgusting and there were bits and pieces of leaves in it, but Lin Ming didn't even flinch as he swallowed a few large gulps.
After swallowing the bitter medicinal tea, Lin Ming looked to the side.
In a clearing not far from him, a teenager practiced his spear moves.
He was Lin Ming's older twin brother, Lin Xiang.
Lin Xiang looked extremely similar to Lin Ming. The only differences were that Lin Xiang's physique seemed slightly more muscular and developed, and he had a bit more sharp look and facial features, which might mostly be attributed to his facial expression than genetics.
Unless one was very familiar with the two of them, one wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two Lin brothers.
Lin Xiang also possesses a Medium 3rd Grade Martial Talent.
As a baby Lin Xiang had shown extraordinary early intelligence and wisdom, and the Lin family, including Lin Ming's parents, had placed great hopes on him.
It was unfortunate that just a few months after birth during testing it turned out that Lin Xiang's Martial Talent was only a fairly ordinary Middle 3rd Grade just like Lin Ming's.
However, because of Lin Xiang's outstanding intelligence and also an extremely hardworking attitude and talent toward combat and studying, he was still nurtured as one of the Lin family's young geniuses, receiving a level of support from the main Lin Family similar to a direct descendant. For a time, Lin Xiang was even known as a 'young genius of the spear' of the Lin family.
While at the age of eight Lin Ming was sent to the capital to attend a common school which was paid for with his parents' hard-earned money, Lin Xiang received high-level martial arts education together with other Lin family direct descendants, funded by the Lin family patriarch.
Unfortunately, Lin Xiang had once again disappointed everyone because after reaching the 1st Stage of Body Transformation at a decent speed, his progress was quite ordinary. At this time he was nearing 15 years of age and was far from breaking through to the Second Stage of Body Transformation.
With this, it became apparent that Lin Xiang wouldn't have any great accomplishments in the future and the main family had given up on providing further support for his cultivation. At this time Lin Xiang was left to only rely on himself just like Lin ming.
In comparison to his older twin brother, Lin Ming was quite an ordinary youth. He never viewed himself as some kind of martial genius or a prodigy. He had never received any support from the main family either, yet at this moment his cultivation had already caught up to Lin Xiang and might have even surpassed him.
However, Lin Ming didn't feel any sense of superiority. Instead, he was only surprised and confused that Lin Xiang's progress was lagging. And that's because he knew best the absurd amount of effort, blood and sweat that Lin Xiang had poured into his martial arts training throughout the years!
Yet, despite achieving no successes, Lin Ming had never seen his older brother being affected by the ridicule of others or the futility of his training, and he only continued working extremely hard and persevering on his Path of Martial Arts.
Truth be told, his big brother's example was one of the major reasons why Lin Ming had decided to fervently pursue the path of Martial Arts at the age of 12, and also the reason why he was training very hard.
From birth Lin Xiang was viewed as a prodigy, while Lin Ming was as ordinary as an ant. There was a large difference between the treatment the two brothers were receiving and a difference in their statuses, yet Lin Ming didn't feel much jealousy either.
That's because Lin Xiang was his dear Big Brother who had always cared for him.
When Lin Xiang received a single 100-year old Blood Ginseng from the family, he split it in half with him, so that Lin Ming wouldn't develop any internal injuries from martial arts training. When Lin Xiang received two Golden Deer Pills from the family for his own use, he readily shared one with Lin Ming.
Not mentioning many other things that happened between the two and how Lin Xiang supported him when Lan Yunyue left him, Lin Ming would feel ashamed if he had any bad thoughts toward his big brother.
At this moment watching Lin Xiang practice the simple and bland spear moves with the height of concentration and dedication filled Lin Ming with a certain awe. Although Lin Xiang's moves were not particularly flashy, fast or profound, they contained a certain level of simple charm and beauty of martial arts.
Lin Ming thought, 'Lin Xiang truly loves Martial Arts. Even such simple spear moves seem like art when he practices it. Even though he remains in the First Stage of Body Transformation, he still keeps persevering. This is the kind of Martial Arts Path that I pursue!'
At that moment Lin Xiang noticed that Lin Ming was looking at him, and looked over expressionlessly, before returning to continue his practice.
Lin Ming said nothing. He closed his eyes and began to chant a heart mantra and practice breathing in a specific manner to absorb true essence from the atmosphere, revolving it inside his body to temper it.
Lin Ming's current cultivation was at the First Stage of Body Transformation, the Strength Training Stage. In the Strength Training stage the martial artist lays down the foundation of his strength and true essence is mainly concentrated at the surface of the muscles and outer layer of the skin.
For those who pursue martial arts, the most crucial base is their cultivation technique for revolving true essence. For their cultivation speed to keep up with other geniuses their age, the use of cultivation pills and medicine is also necessary.
However, Lin Ming's circumstances made it impossible for him to have access to any decent cultivation techniques or any cultivation pills.
Lin Ming's parents are ordinary people and run a restaurant within Green Mulberry City. However, even this restaurant does not belong to them, but actually belongs to the main Lin family of Green Mulberry City.
Although Lin Ming's maiden name is also Lin, his family line had been separated from the Lin family by several generations. The Lin family placed some of their less important assets into the hands of their distant relatives for management.
Lin Ming's parents' livelihood is dependent on their management of this restaurant. Every year they would be given a fixed amount of income and some commission. This money was enough for them to subsist on, however, it would be a stretch to use it to fund the pursuit of martial arts of their two sons who were both fervent cultivators.
Lin Ming's parents had originally wanted Lin Ming to be the one to continue the family business and become a treasurer for the restaurant. However, seeing Lin Ming's ardent devotion towards the martial path, they eventually chose to take out all their savings for Lin Ming to purchase healing herbs.
Because of this, Lin Ming's family savings had decreased bit by bit. Yet Lin Ming and his twin brother both remained at the 1st Stage of Body Transformation.
The Body Transformation Phase is the first realm for those who pursue the martial way. It involves the primal tempering of their bodies and is separated into six stages:
The 1st stage is Strength Training, 2nd is Flesh Training, 3rd is Viscera Training, 4th is Altering Muscle, 5th is Bone Forging and 6th is Pulse Condensing. After that, one would be able to step into the Houtian Stage.
At this time the evening was nearing and the Lin family restaurant's lobby was
After sitting down, Lin Ming cultivated for one hour. He then straightened himself and was about to continue training his fists when a fat youngster walked into view.
This fat youngster was carrying a long sword at his waist. Seeing Lin Ming and Lin Xiang, he grinned and said, "My dear brothers, today is the registration day for the entrance assessment of the Seven Profound Martial House. Could it be that you two have forgotten about it? Why are you still practicing here?"
This youngster's name is Lin Xiaodong, he is slightly younger than Lin Ming and Lin Xiang. Growing up together, the two brothers had a very strong bond of brotherhood with him. In particular, Lin Xiang had attended a martial arts school with Lin Xiaodong.
Lin Xiaodong is a direct descendant of the Lin Family. However, even for direct descendants, there exists a form of ranking. As it happens, Lin Xiaodong is part of the lowest ranked ones. As for Lin Xiaodong's parents, they too were engaged in business and have a close relationship with Lin Ming's parents.
After seeing Lin Xiaodong, Lin Xiang stopped his movements for a moment and then flourished his spear, before placing it vertically at the ground. He faintly smiled and said, "The beginning part of the registration will have too many people. The queue would take at least two to four hours. Going there early would be a waste of time."
Lin Ming faintly nodded in agreement; Lin Xiang had taken words out of his mouth.
"Damn it, you brothers won't even let go of this small amount of time. Do you really have to go that far?" Lin Xiaodong spoke out loud in an exaggerated manner and walked up to the tree trunk. Observing the indentations caused by the iron knuckles, he turned to see Lin Ming's bandaged fists. He said, "Little brother Ming, you really are crazy, to be able to damage Iron Wood to such an extent. At this moment you shouldn't be far from reaching the Flesh Training Stage."
Lin Ming did not say anything. The truth is that he was quite far from the Flesh Training Stage and the damage on the Iron Tree was only so severe because the iron knuckles concentrated the force of his punches. With the current rate of progress, it was uncertain if he could advance to the Second Stage, which was the minimum requirement to pass the entrance exam of the Seven Profound Martial House that would happen in three months' time.
Lin Xiaodong gave a sigh and pulled out a bundle from his bosom. He unfurled the bundle layer by layer and said, "Two brothers, take this."
Lin Ming turned around and was shocked to find a bloody crimson coloured ginseng lying upon the cloth bundle. Judging from its appearance, this strain of blood ginseng is at least a hundred years old. It is a high-grade medicine used for mending wounds and nourishing blood. A thin slice is enough for each use. In addition, the powerful healing properties of this blood ginseng are very gentle.
This blood ginseng should be worth at least 150 gold taels, the equivalent of Lin Ming's family's annual income.
Lin Xiang was expressionless, whereas Lin Ming shook his head: "We cannot accept it."
Even though they are close brothers, this Blood Ginseng is simply too expensive. Lin Xiaodong's position within the Lin Family is very low. Even though his family situation is much better when compared to Lin Ming's and Lin Xiang's it would still be far from comfortable if their income were used to supplement Lin Xiaodong's martial training.
Lin Xiaodong forcibly pushed the Blood Ginseng onto Lin Ming and said, "I bought this Blood Ginseng for you two. You guys know how I train, I fish every three days and dry the fishing nets every two days*. My body's injuries are no more than a fart's worth. Using this would be a waste. If you refuse, then I would have bought this for nothing. I do not have much ambition in life. I only want to continue holding on to my position as a direct descendant of the Lin Family. As long as I do not end up losing this position and my next generation could also successfully maintain their place in the Lin Family, that is enough for me."
Lin Ming stayed silent for a moment before he looked at Lin Xiang and saw him nod at him. He kept the Blood Ginseng and spoke out: "Alright, we will accept this Blood Ginseng. For the sake of this ginseng, we must break through to the Pulse Condensation Stage."
"Haha, now that is more like it. Not only should you break through into the Pulse Condensation Stage, you must also turn that son of a bitch, Zhu Yan upside down. That bastard has been an eyesore for a long time!"
Zhu Yan huh… Lin Ming sighed lightly.
Zhu Yan had already been admitted into the Seven Profound Martial House. In addition, Zhu Yan is currently one of the high ranked disciples within the inner Heavenly Abode, his strength having reached the pinnacle of the 3rd Stage of Physical Training.
Even so, Lin Ming had set defeating Zhu Yan as his objective. This decision was not due to Lan Yunyue but rather due to his pursuit of the martial path. This path required him breaking through one threshold after another; conquering one mountain after another. As for Zhu Yan, he has the honorable spot of being the number one to be conquered.
Lin Xiang was silent at the side. He knew that whether Lin Ming would ever succeed in surpassing Zhu Yan or not depends on the fact if he manages to find and merge with the Magic Cube.
The truth is that Lin Xiang is not a native of this world, but was originally someone living on modern Earth. Close to fifteen years ago he had chanced upon this world and had lived as Lin Ming's twin brother ever since, growing up to be the teenage boy of today.
Back on Earth Lin Xiang had once read called the 'Martial World'. After reincarnating, he quickly figured out that he now was in the world described in that novel.
In this world, he was the original Protagonist's, Lin Ming's older twin brother.
In order to grab the family's attention and become a target of nurturing as a martial artist despite his poor family situation, Lin Xiang used the advantage of possessing a mature intellect in the child's body and displayed some of his early wisdom and talents when he was a baby, becoming viewed as a prodigy.
Together with the fact that he was always very hard-working and diligent in martial arts training, studies and in learning of pretty much anything, the main Lin family had dedicated a considerable amount of resources and attention on nurturing him.
Just like the other direct descendants, Lin Xiang managed to receive a thorough martial arts education, a veteran soldier as an instructor for martial arts and armored combat, a few expensive cultivation pills and other various training materials. Thanks to this he had built a firm foundation and had gained a lot of knowledge and experiences about this world while growing up.
With his accomplishments when it came to spear technique, which he had practiced for years with his heart and soul, Lin Xiang was even called a young genius of the spear in the Lin family. Many family members expected him to become an accomplished general in the army.
As for the reason that Lin Xiang disappointed the family and his cultivation remained at the First Stage of Body Transformation, it wasn't because he was lazy in his training. It was simply because he didn't want to build a weak foundation by breaking through to the Second Stage of Body Transformation with a poor low-quality cultivation technique!
Ever since Lin Xiang achieved the Small Success of Strength Training at a young age, which was the First Stage of Body Transformation, he barely cultivated his True Essence and instead focused on everything apart from cultivation - on studies, on hand-to-hand martial arts, on practice with the spear, on deboning, cooking and others.
Most importantly, his fundamental focus remained to be his skill with the spear which he practiced together with the Spear Foundation Technique jade slip that he begged the main family to lend him.
However, Lin Xiang's training in the spear was not because he wanted to dedicate his life to the army as the family expected, but it was in case he would be able to acquire the Magic Cube in the future!
Being aware that it was the Martial World that he came to, Lin Xiang had always wished to acquire the Magic Cube instead of Lin Ming, because otherwise, no matter how hard he worked, he would never achieve anything and would only be an insignificant side-character among trillions of trillions of cultivators in this boundless world.
To acquire the Magic Cube, Lin Xiang was worried of making changes that spread far and wide. He didn't want the history to change too much, so that the location where the Magic Cube appears doesn't change and it could still be found in the capital's Grand Clarity Pavillion in one of the vicious beast's stomachs.
However, he was also aware that it was inevitable that changes would occur purely because he existed. In the original, Lin Ming was a single child and didn't have a brother. It was impossible for the future to be the same as in the novel if Lin Xiang existed!
And if Lin Xiang aimed to be an insignificant person that didn't cause any impact, then when he grows up he would have little strength, abilities and knowledge, and would have simply wasted fifteen years of his life!
There was also a chance that the Magic Cube would simply never be found by either Lin Ming or him!
Thus Lin Xiang decided on a compromise.
He limited his actions only to the main Lin family and didn't travel around, so that his influence wouldn't reach beyond the Green Mulberry City. He was a loner and was mostly focused on his training.
In the early days, Lin Xiang even attempted to not affect Lin Ming too much and hoped for him to follow a similar path as he remembered from the novel, helping him to get together with Lan Yunyue.
For fifteen whole years Lin Xiang patiently waited for the fateful day when Lin Ming and him would register for the Seven Profound Martial House, waiting for the time when he would have a chance to snatch the Magic Cube.
Even though Lin Xiang attempted to limit the butterfly effect, there was still a chance that the Magic Cube would simply not be found in a vicious beast's belly by Lin Ming because of the tiniest change…
However, what Lin Xiang counted on was Destiny.
Being once a novel reader and a writer, Lin Xiang understood that in this kind of world of Martial Arts, Earth's logic and Butterfly Effect couldn't be perfectly applied.
In these kinds of worlds things like Fate and Destiny existed, thus certain things would still happen even if the past events slightly changed.
It seemed that it might be even more so the case in the 'Martial World'. In the 'Martial World' novel Lin Ming's destiny was to be abandoned by his lover Lan Yunyue and become heartbroken, thus hardening his heart of martial arts which made him come to the Sky Fortune City to join the Seven Profound Martial House where he would find the Magic Cube.
Then with the help of the Magic Cube he would complete the karmic cycle related to the Magic Cube, helping Mo Eversnow with her revenge, finding the Empyrean Promordiu's Inheritance related to the Demon Bead, and so on.
Lin Xiang knew that Lin Ming was special because even if someone else found the Magic Cube, they wouldn't be able to achieve as much as Lin Ming.
It appeared to him that Lin Ming was fated to find the Magic Cube and afterwards he had a clear and predestined path to walk on, receiving challenges, opportunities, and lucky chances at every step of his journey, also always making it out alive from incredibly reckless and risky situations that he jumped into.
There was no guarantee, but because of this illusory thing called 'Destiny', Lin Xiang believed that Lin Ming had a very high chance of encountering the Magic Cube one way or another.
In the first place, the history had already followed its written course and Lan Yunyue left Lin Ming for Zhu Yan, while Lin Ming had also grown up to be similar to the novel and was determined to walk the Martial Path with dedication.
And even if Lin Xiang wouldn't manage to snatch the Magic Cube before Lin Ming in the Grand Clarity Pavillion, then he would still keep a careful watch of Lin Ming for any signs that his cultivation is rapidly improving and quickly assassinate him, taking the Magic Cube from his body, stealing his destiny!