fynovel Chapter 28 Do not refrain from doing good because it is small
Chapter 28 Do not refrain from doing good because it is small
A look of surprise flashed in Yu Qiuyu's eyes: "Lin Qing, your swordsmanship has reached its peak, hasn't it?"
Yu Qiuyu has practiced swordsmanship for seven years, and now his swordsmanship has reached a minor level of mastery.
The two have been sparring whenever they have the chance in the past three months, but so far they have always ended in a draw.
But today, Lin Qingyi put immense pressure on him from the very first move. His swordsmanship was more complex and varied, and faster and heavier than ever before.
He could sense that Lin Qing had been holding back his full strength; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to last thirty moves.
"Yesterday's success was a stroke of luck," Lin Qing said with a smile.
"Indeed, Lin Qing, your talent is truly enviable," Yu Qiuyu remarked.
The others around him also looked on with envy. An ordinary person could be considered a talent if he could achieve great success in Chengdu in five years, let alone in a year. But Lin Qing could only be described as a genius.
Perhaps spurred on by Lin Qing, after a few casual words, everyone dispersed to practice martial arts, and did not drink and chat as usual.
Lin Qing also found a secluded spot and began practicing the Eight Strikes of the Serpent.
He calmly glanced at the panel, which showed that the Eight Strikes of the Serpent was still at the minor completion stage, with a progress of 57%.
"Still 3% short."
For the past three months, he had not been able to find a corpse with eight perfected spirit snakes, so he had to practice on his own, which naturally made him much slower.
With only a month left until the re-examination, even with Lin Qing's good mindset, a sense of anxiety inevitably arose in his heart.
"If we still can't find this corpse with the perfected Eight Strikes of the Serpent martial arts, I'm afraid I won't be able to pass this year's re-examination."
Lin Qing pondered to himself that at the current pace, it would be impossible to reach perfection in a month.
"Forget it, there's no use in worrying."
He glanced at the panel again; his proficiency with the Tathagata Fist Sutra had reached 2%.
"I have completely mastered the first move of the Tathagata Fist Manual, and now I have another trump card to use when fighting against others," Lin Qing thought to himself.
With these thoughts flashing through his mind, Lin Qing took a deep breath, suppressed his many distracting thoughts, and stopped thinking about them, continuing his arduous cultivation.
He practiced the Eight Strikes of the Serpent again and again, and on the panel, the proficiency of this martial art was increasing at a rather slow rate.
Time slipped by unnoticed, and before we knew it, it was noon.
Lin Qing had been training hard for a long time and was very tired, so he sat down to rest in a nearby pavilion.
Yu Qiuyu, who had also been practicing martial arts all morning, came over. He was covered in sweat and kept wiping the sweat from his forehead with a white towel soaked in cold water.
"There's still a batch of bodies to process at the crematorium today. Lin Qing, Lao Wei, it's your turn to be on duty, don't forget!"
Old Wei, who was chatting and joking with Cao Ge, stood up upon hearing this: "Lin Qing, let's go, let's dispose of these corpses."
"Let's go." Lin Qing got up and walked out.
Before long, the two arrived at the crematorium. Lin Qing glanced around and saw that there were not many corpses today, only three: two old men and one woman.
The two old men were fine, they were just going through the normal cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death, but the woman was different. She was a dried-up corpse, which was quite creepy at first glance.
Old Wei, with his rich experience, glanced at the situation and analyzed, "Nine times out of ten, this is caused by the evil influence of the Byr cult, or perhaps they've encountered a malevolent spirit."
Lin Qing nodded slightly. The Bai'er Sect was one of the largest evil sects in the Great Yuan Dynasty, and it had many small and medium-sized forces under it. For example, Yin Muhua's Yin Yuan Sect was a member of the Bai'er Sect.
"Lin Qing, let me handle this mummified corpse," Old Wei suggested. He was worried that Lin Qing would be scared, after all, no matter how talented Lin Qing was, he was still just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy.
"No need, Lao Wei, go and rest over there. I'll take care of these three corpses," Lin Qing said softly.
"Then I'll leave it all to you. I'll treat you to drinks at noon," Old Wei said with a smile.
He also greatly admired Lin Qing. Every time the two worked together, Lin Qing would take on all the work himself. How could such a person not be respected?
Lin Qing first sent the two old men's bodies into the crematorium, but he didn't get any valuable martial arts skills.
One of the two was a peddler, and the other was a groom; Lin Qing could only choose some skills related to daily life.
Finally, he sent the mummified corpse into the crematorium, where it was quickly burned to ashes amidst raging flames.
In that instant, a multitude of images flashed through Lin Qing's mind, all of them from this woman named Han Xiuniang.
"Mother, I'm hungry."
"Baby, just a little longer, we'll be there soon."
On the official road, a woman led a girl of about thirteen or fourteen years old, making their way towards the distant county town.
...
The scene changes.
"Two taels of silver, and you can become a maid in my Han family. Listen carefully, once you sign this contract of servitude, your life and death will be out of your control." A middle-aged man with a mustache said this.
"Mother, I don't want to go!" The girl held the woman's hand, her eyes filled with fear.
"My dear, you have to go. Only then can I survive!"
...
The scene then changes.
The girl lay naked on the stool, while a vicious old woman whipped her repeatedly with a rope.
"Spare me! Spare me!"
The girl kept wailing, but the old woman showed no mercy.
...
The scene then changes.
In a gloomy shrine, a young girl, covered in blood, lay on a wooden plank in front of a statue of a god, barely breathing.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man dressed in black with a cold demeanor appeared in front of him, abruptly revealing a set of sharp teeth, and bit her neck.
The scene abruptly ended with a painful scream.
At this moment, Lin Qing came to his senses, and a wave of emotions surged within him.
"This girl was drained of her life force at the Han family ancestral hall!"
"Who is that middle-aged man in black?"
"It seems something's wrong with the Han family; they're secretly colluding with the Byr Cult."
Many thoughts flashed through Lin Qing's mind, and he suddenly understood why Cheng Yannian had a conflict with the Han family. Perhaps the root cause lay in this.
"Cheng Yannian had long suspected that the Han family had secretly allied themselves with the Bai'er Cult and wanted to take action against them, but the Han family's power in the city was too great, so he had been unable to succeed, leading to the current situation?"
Lin Qing had many thoughts running through his mind, but after a while, he shook his head again.
"Forget it, it's none of my business. I need to stay away from the Han family to avoid getting involved in unnecessary trouble."
...
Back at the mortuary, Lin Qing first ate a meal at the canteen, and then went to the janitor's office to ask for leave to go home.
"I haven't been home this month; I need to go back and check on things."
As Lin Qing walked down the street, he passed through a small alley and suddenly recalled fragments of Han Xiuniang's memory from earlier that day. Some of the scenes mentioned that Han Xiuniang's mother was begging for a living in Wuyi Alley.
The alley ahead was Wuyi Alley. Lin Qing could have taken the main road home, but after a slight hesitation, he walked into the alley instead.
Before long, he saw an old woman with disheveled hair begging under a willow tree at the entrance of the alley.
The woman looked to be over sixty years old, with a wrinkled face and unsteady legs. She leaned against a large rock, her eyes slightly closed, and remained silent until Lin Qing approached. Only then did she open her eyes and say weakly, "Young man, please have mercy. I haven't eaten for almost a day."
Lin Qingchao tossed a few copper coins into the bowl in front of her, then turned and left without a word.
Now that he knew, he figured he could lend a hand if he could. Lin Qing always believed in a principle of conduct: never refrain from doing good because it is small, and never do evil because it is small.