Chương 53: Chapter 52 — Holy Land Preparations (1)

At the landing of Lin Che's old apartment, a very disgruntled Xu Fang was complaining to Guo Mingzhe about a parking situation he'd had earlier that week, when the door opened and both their noses twisted in grimace. When Lin Che opened the door, a thick, brackish odour akin to the underside of a dock in summer wafted straight towards them. Xu Fang stopped talking in an attempt to prevent any of the smell from entering via his mouth.

"Come on in," said Lin Che, stepping back to let them in.

"Close the door."

"What is that smell?" choked out Guo Mingzhe.

"Oh, right. You'll get used to it soon." Xu Fang and Guo Mingzhe pulled their collars up over their noses and entered the building. Lin Che closed the door behind them.

"Sit anywhere," he said, already heading towards the kitchen.

"It'll be a moment." Xu Fang spoke through his collar.

"Lin Che, why the hell does your apartment stink so bad?"

"Potion brewing, remember? And besides, I used masking ingredients to stop it from being as bad." A pause from the kitchen.

"It really does go away. I promise — I can't even smell it anymore."

"And how long have you been in this stink for?"

"About four hours." By the time Lin Che returned from the kitchen carrying a wooden tray, the smell had already gone from putrid to rank, which was a minor improvement and suggested that the smell would indeed become ambient over time. On the tray were eight small glass bottles each sealed with a cork, each containing the same coloured liquid.

"I've been at this since four this morning," said Lin Che, setting the tray on the coffee table and taking the armchair across from them.

"I've filled the fridge here with some more, but this should be enough for today." Xu Fang looked at the bottles.

"You made these yourself?"

"It'd be far too expensive otherwise," said Lin Che.

"How's progress going with the methods I gave you guys?"

"Good," said Guo Mingzhe, keeping his sentences short to prevent the foul stench from entering his mouth.

"I can feel something now," he added eventually.

"Not much," said Xu Fang.

"It's very distracting for me — I can't concentrate long enough for it all."

"Try noise-cancelling headphones or some instrumental music," offered Lin Che.

"I know it doesn't fit the cultivator aesthetic, but I just brewed some potions in the same pot I use for pasta, so I'm pretty sure the vibe is long dead." Xu Fang nodded.

"So, guys," began Lin Che.

"I'm sure you two can figure out why I brought you guys in today. Mingzhe: as far as I'm aware, you plan on training and nothing else until the next martial tournament, am I correct?" Guo Mingzhe grunted.

"Then I'd appreciate it if you stayed here and focused solely on your cultivation until the potions run out. Of course, if you have other commitments, I'm not preventing you from going to them. I just believe this would be a great opportunity for you to get stronger physically and trounce everyone at the competition."

"Don't worry — if I hadn't met you I'd just be revising some martial forms all day until then. I'm on board," replied Guo Mingzhe.

"Perfect!" said Lin Che, clapping his hands together.

"As for Xu Fang—""Not staying in this stench the entire time." Lin Che coughed twice.

"As for Xu Fang, come here whenever you can, but cultivation is not a priority of mine for you. You're more than welcome to train, but I need you to search historical records for any mention of the Lin Clan. Since we're cultivators, I'm sure there'll be some unexplained things or great feats where you'll have to read between the lines, but you know more than I do about these things." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"That works for me," said Xu Fang. Lin Che reached over to the side table and picked up an incense holder. He inserted roughly an eighth of one of the sticks he'd been using and lit it with his lighter. The smell of the river receded immediately, replaced with something more warm and complex. Xu Fang visibly relaxed, and Guo Mingzhe finally started breathing regularly again.

"The incense is doing two things," said Lin Che.

"Of course, the smell is one of them, but the main feature is that it will rapidly improve your cultivation speeds. So long as you focus on the smell and grasp a clear idea of where exactly the Qi in the room is spreading. At your stages, you may be unable to sense it with such fine detail, but it pretty much traces the lines of smoke in the air."

"How much incense can we get?" asked Guo Mingzhe, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I can chip in some money to help with the costs," he said, slightly more frantic than before.

"I have enough for you to do this seven more times," said Lin Che.

"I don't want you to become reliant on something so expensive for your cultivation, as it would set false hopes for your training." He reached into his pocket and fished out two keys, sliding them across the coffee table.

"I won't be around for a while, so here are some spare keys for you to come here as often as you like." Lin Che made eye contact with Guo Mingzhe.

"And Mingzhe, I've sent you a gift card for food delivery so that you can focus entirely on your cultivation."

"Thank you." They sat for another half an hour in the incense-thickened air whilst Lin Che walked them through the basic theory of Qi circulation. He didn't showcase the mechanics of the particular techniques they were learning other than the basic Liuhe circulation, as he had never attempted them before. He could have learnt them in his previous life, but Lin Che was a firm believer in not getting things half done, and learning too many techniques would result in mastery over none of them.

Once the stick of incense had fully been consumed, Lin Che had the two consume their potions in order to maintain their momentum in training. Whilst they were entirely focused on themselves, he slipped out of the apartment and picked up the fresh set of clothes he'd kept in a bag hidden in the bushes, and made his way to a self check-in home he'd rented for the day to shower and remove all traces of the smell. Then, he called a taxi.

Shen Yue, Shen Bowen, Elder Mao, and Elder Fang were all seated together in a meeting room at the Shen Clan residence. Shen Bowen was standing up beside a projected presentation still on the first slide as he waited for the remaining guest to arrive. There was a knock on the door, and Shen Yue stood up to open it. Lin Che smiled.

"Hell—" Shen Yue closed the door, before realising what she'd done and reopening it.

"Sorry, there was a big fly above you and I didn't want it entering the meeting room," she smiled.

"Please, come on in." Tea was poured and Lin Che sat beside his fiancee.

"We appreciate you coming in," said Shen Bowen.

"I recognise it was a last minute invite, but we've been meaning to discuss the holy land expedition in more concrete terms." He hit the spacebar on the keyboard in front of him, causing the presentation to move to the next slide — an image of the farm.

"After some recent developments in technology, we discovered the location of this site here in this farm. We had some negotiations and ended up acquiring the entire property, which, as you may gather, was rather expensive. The Shen Clan wishes to reduce its expenses as much as possible, and we recognise that you being here could be of enormous benefit for us," he said, making eye contact with Lin Che. Lin Che stood up to talk, mostly out of panic.

It felt like a teacher had suddenly picked on him to give an answer to the entire class when he was lost in a daydream.

"Yes, the lockpicking process is expensive without my innate Qi," he said.

"And, as I'm sure you are all aware, there are restrictions placed upon entry — only those in the beginner stages of cultivation can actually enter, unless they are a member of the Lin Clan. Hence, I offer two options to you all: allow me alone to enter the holy land and release the restrictions internally, or assist me in keeping the gate open externally and send low-ranking members into the site for completion." He paused for dramatic effect, and to figure out a way to disincentivise the latter option.

"These members would require precise training aimed at not improving their cultivation level or causing a breakthrough, lest they be barred entry."

"That is far too complicated to expect from such disciples," nodded Elder Mao.

"I vote for the first option."

"There must be other options," said Elder Fang, staring at Lin Che with barely-concealed suspicion.

"Could you not loan us some innate Q to open the gate? We won't keep it in storage once we are done, and would instead return it to you."

"I'm afraid the restrictions counter such methods," bluffed Lin Che.

"It requires innate Qi from a member of the Lin Clan to be manipulated in such a precise manner that it is near-impossible to replicate with machinery," he said.

"Which brings me to one request I have for the first method…" Shen Yue sighed, and, two seconds later, Lin Che's phone buzzed. It was from an unknown number, but that was only because he hadn't yet saved Shen Yue's number in this life.

"I sent you a basic technique for innate Qi manipulation," she said.

"It'll be much more precise than the outdated methods the Lin Clan had a few decades ago." Elder Fang shot Shen Yue a look of betrayal.

"Yue-er, you cannot be sending techniques to a non-member of the clan!"

"It's fine," said Shen Bowen.

"The technique isn't worth much, and, besides, Lin Che is no stranger to us all. He will marry her soon, after all." Lin Che barely suppressed a smile. Everything was going to plan.