2: Get stronger! Get stronger! Get stronger!

Looking at the dilapidated mud house before him, Lin Yi's gaze became somewhat vacant, his mind inevitably wandering.

In fact, in the past, his Family's life had not been this miserable.

His father in this life, Lin Haichuan, was an Eighth Grade Peak Martial Master in a remote county under the jurisdiction of Guangling Prefecture. His strength was not considered too strong, but he was still a figure of note in the county. He ran a martial arts hall, with dozens to hundreds of Disciples following him to learn martial arts.

Every year, not to mention anything else, just from tuition fees alone, after deducting costs, the net profit would be two to three hundred taels of silver. Then, adding in various side income, his annual income could reach at least four hundred taels of silver or more, which was forty to fifty times that of an ordinary person.

His mother, Ji Xuan, was the daughter of an old Provincial Graduate. Although she could not be considered well-read in poetry and books, she was literate and distinct from the village women in the countryside.

Such a Family could not be considered wealthy in the county, but they were definitely upper-middle class.

However, ever since two years ago, when Lin Yi displayed his Aptitude and was admitted into the Guangling Martial Academy in the prefecture city, everything changed.

The prefecture city was the absolute core of the thousand-mile radius of Guangling Prefecture; living here was not easy.

Not to mention firewood, rice, oil, salt, and daily expenses, even for an ordinary house, the monthly rent was nearly ten taels of silver.

Coupled with Lin Yi's daily martial arts practice—although the academy did not charge tuition, he had to temper his Qi and blood, take medicine to refine his body, and his System was a money pit—everything required money!

There was no other way. To support his son's martial arts practice, his father had to give up his stable life as the master of a martial arts hall in the county and come to the prefecture city to work as an Escort Guard to make a living. Every day, he faced wind and rain, licking blood from the blade, just to earn an extra one or two hundred taels of silver each year.

His mother also scrimped and saved, gradually transforming from a noble lady who never touched household chores into a housewife proficient in all kinds of domestic work.

However, even so, the Family's annual income was still insufficient to cover their expenses, forcing the quality of life in Lin Yi's home to drop again and again, moving three times in two years.

At first, they settled in the fairly prosperous "Shizi Market" in the prefecture city, and then, after only half a year, they moved to the much more remote "North Gate Alley."

Until more than half a year ago, they moved to "Liu'er Street," a famous slum in the entire prefecture city, living in a drafty mud house next to a stinking ditch, suffering from the stench day and night, just to save that monthly rent of two taels and five qian of silver!

Of course, during this period, it was not that no great families in the prefecture city had taken a fancy to Lin Yi's Aptitude and wanted to provide financial support.

But because although Lin Yi's saber technique Aptitude was high, his physical cultivation Aptitude was truly too poor—the hard flaws were too obvious—so the demands they made were extremely harsh, almost no different from selling himself into servitude.

Lin Yi had his System, so he naturally would not agree, and his parents did not agree either, so they could only suffer together.

"Sigh!"

With a sigh, looking at the dilapidated wooden door inches away, Lin Yi quickly put away the slight bitterness on his face, then curled the corners of his mouth, forcing out a smile before walking up to the house and pushing open the door.

But the next moment, a scent of blood suddenly drilled into his nostrils.

"Dad! What happened to you!"

Seeing the scene inside the house, Lin Yi's expression changed.

Inside the dilapidated living room, the pungent smell of medicine and blood filled his nasal cavity.

He saw his father, Lin Haichuan, sitting in pain on the bed where the couple usually rested in the living room. On his sturdy body, a terrifying saber wound stretched from his chest all the way to his lower abdomen, flesh turned outward, nearly ripping him open completely.

His mother, Ji Xuan, had red and swollen eyes as she was applying medicine to his father.

At this moment, seeing Lin Yi return, both of them instantly stopped the pain and tear stains on their faces.

Lin Haichuan even forced a smile onto his face and said:

"Yier is back. Don't worry, I'm fine here. It was just that on the way to escort the goods, we ran into that bunch of horse bandits, the White Horse Bandits."

"Hmph! This bunch of small-time horse bandits actually dared to intercept the escort wagon of our 'Zhenyuan Escort Agency.' They are truly tired of living."

Speaking of this, as if showing off, or perhaps to reassure his son, Lin Haichuan said with a proud look on his face:

"So, under the leadership of Chief Escort Leader Lin, the White Horse Bandits were defeated by our Zhenyuan Escort Agency in one battle. And your father, I, gained great face in this battle. Not only did I fight three opponents alone, but I also emerged victorious!"

"Don't look at how serious my injuries seem; these are all just superficial wounds. Compared to the three horse bandits I fought, they were the ones who were truly miserable!"

"One had half his head split by me and died on the spot. One had a leg broken, and was later killed by the other Escort Guards of our Zhenyuan Escort Agency."

"The last one, although he escaped, lost an arm, and most of his martial arts are likely ruined. He is much more miserable than me, cough, cough..."

Speaking to the point of excitement, Lin Haichuan seemed to have aggravated his wound, and he couldn't stop coughing in his throat.

Seeing this, Lin Yi hurriedly patted his father's back to help him catch his breath. At the same time, his heart felt a bit sour, and he forced a thumbs-up, smiling and praising:

"Dad is amazing! You are worthy of being my, Lin Yi's, father!"

"Haha! That's right! That's right! Cough, cough! Cough, cough!!!"

Lin Haichuan laughed loudly, followed by another fit of coughing, causing his mother to complain.

Seeing this, Lin Yi's heart couldn't help but ache even more. He simply took over his mother's work, applying medicine to his father while looking at the terrifying wounds on his father's body, secretly worrying:

"No! I cannot let Father continue working at the Escort Agency. Otherwise, if he gets injured today and injured tomorrow, then who knows when he might suffer a serious injury, or even lose his life."

"The only plan now is for me to gather the silver as soon as possible and see if I can evolve a Talent Evolution that enhances physical Aptitude."

"Even if I cannot evolve a Crimson Grade Talent, as long as I can evolve a Pure White Grade Talent, then within half a year, I will have hope of passing the Martial Arts Imperial Examination and attaining the position of Martial Arts Scholar. By then, life at home will be much easier."

The Martial Arts Imperial Examination was a way for the Heavenly Mountain Sect to recruit powerful Martial Artists within its territory. It was divided into three levels: Scholar, Provincial Graduate, and Advanced Scholar.

Although the Martial Arts Scholar was the lowest of the three levels of the Martial Arts Imperial Examination, in the eyes of ordinary people, once one passed, it was like a carp leaping over the dragon gate!

Not only did it come with privileges such as not having to bow when meeting officials, exemption from personal taxes, and immunity from severe corporal punishment, but one could also receive fifty taels of silver in martial arts subsidy every month for free.

And fifty taels a month meant six hundred taels a year!

One must know that as an Escort Guard of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, Lin Haichuan licked blood from the blade every day, and his annual income could hardly reach this figure. This shows the noble status of a Martial Arts Scholar.

Of course, passing the Martial Arts Imperial Examination had so many benefits, so its requirements were naturally not low.

Generally speaking, one must have a comprehensive combat strength reaching the Seventh Grade Peak Stage to be guaranteed to pass, and reaching the Seventh-Rank Late Stage gave one a certain hope of passing.

"And Seventh-Rank Late Stage?"

Lin Yi's eyes flashed with light:

"Although this level seems to have a huge gap from me, as long as I evolve a Talent Evolution that enhances physical Aptitude, then the Seventh-Rank Late Stage is not far off!"

One must know that although Lin Yi's cultivation was currently low, his Martial Arts Techniques Realm was extremely, extremely high.

The Major Achievement level of the Sixth-Grade Martial Art "Bright Moon Saber Technique," in terms of Martial Arts Techniques Realm, was enough to rival a Seventh-Grade Martial Art at Perfection!

Furthermore, Lin Yi was at the Peak of this level, which was even more formidable. If one were to discuss only the Martial Arts Techniques Realm, many Seventh Grade Peak Stage and even a minority of Sixth-Rank Martial Artists were inferior to him.

It was precisely because of this that Lin Yi could use his Eighth Rank Initial Stage cultivation to rival an ordinary Seventh-Rank Early Stage expert in combat strength, and earlier today, he had easily severed an arm of the Eighth-Rank Martial Artist "Lustful Woman" Yan Ji.

If he waited for a few months and broke through the "Bright Moon Saber Technique" to the Perfection level, then even most Sixth-Rank Martial Artists would not be as good as him in terms of Martial Arts Techniques!

In this way, as long as he evolved a Talent Evolution that enhanced physical Aptitude, allowing Lin Yi's cultivation to reach the Eighth Grade Late Stage within half a year.

Then his comprehensive combat strength could naturally soar directly to the Seventh-Rank Late Stage level, and he would be considered powerful even among those at the Seventh-Rank Late Stage. Naturally, he would have the confidence to pass the Martial Arts Imperial Examination.

"Therefore, the only difficulty now is the 68 taels of silver required for that Talent Evolution."

Thinking of this, the joy that had just risen in Lin Yi's heart immediately dissipated significantly.

68 taels of silver—this amount of money was, for him, not too much, but not too little either.

If, in the days to come, he could be as lucky as he was today and catch a few more criminals like "Lustful Woman" Yan Ji, then it would not take many days to gather the 68 taels of silver.

But if his luck was bad and he couldn't catch any criminals, and he could only rely on support from home, then it was possible that he would be delayed by a month or two, or even longer.

And according to Lin Yi's experience, the latter was more likely.

After all, the Guangling Prefecture city was the absolute core of the thousand-mile radius of Guangling Prefecture, and public security was quite good. Where would there be so many thieves for him to catch?

"Forget it! Do one's best and leave the rest to fate!"

With a slight sigh, Lin Yi carefully finished applying medicine to his father, and then immediately planned to return to his room to systematically organize the criminal investigation knowledge he had learned in his past life, so that in the days to come, he could try to find some criminals as quickly as possible and accumulate the 68 taels of silver needed to charge the panel early.

However, just as he got up, his father, Lin Haichuan, called him.

"Hey! Yier, don't be in a hurry to leave."

"Hmm? Dad, what's wrong? Was there something I didn't do right just now?"

Hearing this, Lin Yi stopped his steps and hurriedly asked with concern.

"No! My son is a Genius of the Guangling Martial Academy; how could your application of medicine be lacking? It's simply more effective than those legendary Spirit Pills!"

Lin Haichuan said proudly, while at the same time, his arm could be seen fumbling on the bed.

Before long, several large silver ingots appeared in his hand, and then he grinned at Lin Yi and said:

"Hehe! I was just focused on healing and forgot to tell you. This time, I made a contribution to the Escort Agency in the big battle, so Chief Escort Leader Lin specially granted me ten days of rest at home to let me heal properly."

"And this month's wages were also settled for me in advance. Plus the reward for helping the Escort Agency kill and repel those horse bandits, as well as the healing money, it totals eighty-five taels and seven qian of silver. Heh! It's almost comparable to two months' wages before!"

"Keep the odd five taels and seven qian for your mother for daily household expenses, and take the remaining eighty taels."

"Dad! I..."

Looking at the four bright, dazzling silver ingots in his father's hand, Lin Yi only felt his eyes become a little blurry.

At this moment, there wasn't even much excitement in his heart about receiving the silver, but only one thought, and that was—

Become Stronger!

Become Stronger!

Become Stronger!