Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

Zhu Huaishan was taken aback by Zhao Lin’s words for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile. "Of the three Cultivation Techniques you’ve chosen, only the Stone Roar Fist can be mastered quickly. Both the Turtle Shell Force and the Thunderbolt Finger require a great deal of time and effort."

"Your Senior Brother Gao Yuan has been practicing the Turtle Shell Force for five years, and he has only achieved minor success. It isn’t of much use in a real fight."

"Chu Liu chose the Thunderbolt Finger... sigh... it’s hard to put into words!"

’But they don’t have the Spirit Beast Scroll...’

Zhao Lin thought to himself. Of course, he wouldn’t voice these thoughts. In a deep voice, he said, "Don’t worry, Master. I’ll practice the Stone Roar Fist first. As for the other two Cultivation Techniques, I’ll proceed according to my abilities."

"Good. As long as you know your limits."

Zhu Huaishan smiled freely. "A disciple like you can’t be judged by common standards. What’s the harm in teaching them all to you?"

He spread a fresh sheet of white paper on the desk and his brush flew across it, fluidly filling three pages. As he wrote, he explained each technique to Zhao Lin, word by word, sentence by sentence.

After he finished explaining, Zhu Huaishan blew on the pages to dry the ink and handed them to Zhao Lin. "Memorize it all. Don’t get a single word wrong."

Zhao Lin nodded and took the papers, reading them repeatedly. He spent two hours committing everything to memory until he knew it by heart.

"Master, I’ve memorized it all."

"Very good. If you run into anything you don’t understand while you’re practicing, come and ask me."

Zhu Huaishan crumpled the three pages of the Cultivation Techniques into a ball. He placed it in his palm, rubbed his hands together, and it instantly turned into countless tiny shreds of paper.

Seeing this, Zhao Lin couldn’t help but nod in approval.

He remembered reading stories where people would carry complete Cultivation Techniques on their person. After being killed, their bodies would be looted, which only ended up benefiting their murderers. Some stories even had them carrying perfectly prepared pills.

To him, that always seemed utterly illogical—not something a normal person would do.

A sect’s Cultivation Techniques were its very foundation. No sect would allow its disciples to run around carrying them. If a disciple couldn’t even memorize a technique, what was the point of practicing it at all?

In reality, martial arts Cultivation Techniques, regardless of their level or power, were mostly passed down by word of mouth, never leaving behind even a single written fragment.

Having just learned three new Cultivation Techniques, Zhao Lin was eager to start practicing them immediately, and it showed on his face.

Zhu Huaishan noticed. With a smile and a wave of his hand, he said, "Go on, then. But remember not to expend too much energy on these; the Sea Return Skill is your foundation."

"Thank you for your guidance, Master." Zhao Lin stood and bowed.

...

’Celestial Sect, Bingfeng, Wind Gate, Shen Tang... Just as I thought, it’s a perfect match!’

As he entered the secret chamber, a smile couldn’t help but spread across Zhao Lin’s face.

While he was memorizing the Turtle Shell Force earlier, he had discovered that this Cultivation Technique was indeed a perfect fit for him.

The Turtle Shell Force was divided into three layers.

The first layer involved cultivating twenty-four yang meridian acupoints, the second layer cultivated twelve Yin Meridian acupoints, and the third layer cultivated twelve Ren and Du meridian acupoints.

All of these acupoints were located on a person’s chest and back.

And the twenty-four yang meridian acupoints of the first layer were the very same twenty-four acupoints that had been expanded by the Lark’s Essence Soul.

’This means I can use the Turtle Shell Force directly!’

’First, I’ll test its effects!’

Zhao Lin sat down and calmed his mind. Following the Cultivation Technique’s instructions, he channeled his force into those twenty-four acupoints.

However, he soon ran into the same problem he’d had when flying: he couldn’t control twenty-four streams of force at the same time.

He reduced the number of force streams to sixteen. Although this would diminish its effectiveness, it would still offer a certain degree of protection.

"Force exits Jingmen, passes through Yanye, and circles around to Shen Tang..."

Zhao Lin silently circulated the Heart Method. The force seeped out of his acupoints and quickly spread across the surface of his skin, forming a series of raised, angular ridges, like the patterns on a suit of armor.

This armor composed of force quickly linked together, gradually layering upon itself until it seemed almost tangible.

When the first layer of the Turtle Shell Force was practiced to its peak, it was called "Clad in Heavy Armor." The force became hard and solid, equivalent to wearing a thick suit of plate mail.

It provided exceptional protection against piercing and slashing attacks from sharp weapons, and could even cushion the impact of a heavy blow.

Curiously, Zhao Lin pressed on his body and found the layer of force was about half a finger thick. It was firm but pliable, possessing a certain resilience.

’I wonder what would happen if it took a punch?’

With that thought, he clenched his fist and punched himself in the chest with considerable force. His fist was instantly repelled, as if he had struck a spring-loaded rubber pad.

He barely felt any pain from the blow. The surrounding force rippled, sending waves spreading outwards.

’The force dissipates the impact!’

Zhao Lin nodded slightly, extremely satisfied with this armor of force.

At the same time, he noticed that the force in his Qi Sea was depleting very slowly—even slower than when he flew. He couldn’t help but be impressed.

’This Cultivation Technique is truly remarkable. The efficiency of the force usage is very high! Plus, I don’t need to maintain it constantly, only activate it when I’m in danger.’

Thinking of this, Zhao Lin couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

’My own method of flight relies on pure brute force, just blasting force out of my acupoints and using the reaction as thrust. Compared to the Turtle Shell Force, it’s incredibly crude.’

’After all, every Cultivation Technique in the world is the culmination of the accumulated experience of countless predecessors. But before me, no one had ever truly been able to fly.’

After a moment of thought, Zhao Lin thought of the airplanes from his previous life.

’Maybe I can borrow some of their principles. Like a piston engine, a turbofan, or a propeller?’

’The acupoints modified by the Lark’s Essence Soul are large and deep. If I can control them properly, I could definitely take my flight ability to a whole new level!’

This would require some long-term planning. Zhao Lin filed the idea away, slowly retracted his force, and began to try the other two Cultivation Techniques.

The Thunderbolt Finger was just as Zhu Huaishan had said: extremely difficult to practice.

Although it only involved a single finger, the number of related acupoints was enormous.

The force traveled from the Qi Sea through forty-nine acupoints. With each acupoint it passed, the force grew stronger, until it finally reached the Shangyang acupoint in the index finger with the might of over a thousand jin!

A thousand jin of power concentrated into a single point—its might was naturally far greater than that of any fist or palm strike.

Once mastered, one could even injure opponents by releasing force from a distance. The force was silent, traceless, and as fast as lightning, making it almost impossible to defend against in a real fight.

This reminded Zhao Lin of the One Yang Finger from martial arts novels—just as difficult to practice, and just as powerful.

However, his cultivation was only at the First Layer of the Qi Realm. Most of the forty-nine acupoints weren’t even open yet, so even if he managed to learn the technique, its power would be extremely limited.

The Stone Roar Fist, by comparison, was much simpler.

The force traveled in a straight line, only requiring the cultivation of the ten acupoints from the wrist to the fist. There were no winding, complicated paths.

Of course, the Stone Roar Fist had its own unique aspects: in addition to internal force cultivation, it also had an external training component similar to his previous skin tempering, but focused only on the fists.

Upon mastery, the hardness and power of one’s fists would be greatly enhanced.

All three Cultivation Techniques were excellent, but it was better not to bite off more than he could chew. Zhao Lin decided to focus primarily on the Turtle Shell Force first.

The acupoints used by the Turtle Shell Force overlapped with those he used for flight, allowing him to kill two birds with one stone.

Thinking about how many techniques he had to practice, Zhao Lin felt there wasn’t enough time in the day. As the Constable of East City, even if he slacked off, he still had to waste half the day at the county yamen.

’It seems I’ll only be truly free once I get rid of ’the Beard’ someday...’