The Eternal Heart - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Heavenly Martial Pavilion

Translator: Alsey

Editor: Chrissy

“Six thousand?”

Chen Yu was excessively elated as he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Yet the two Law Enforcers covertly exchanged a meaningful glance while smiling.

“Chen Yu, take these talismans and you can go to the Sect Affairs Hall to trade it for the corresponding amount of contribution points.”

The fat Law Enforcer then gave Chen Yu two small talismans.

“Thank you, Honourable Law Enforcer.”

Chen Yu just came back from his absent-mindedness and hurriedly agreed to it while expressing his gratitude.

The two Law Enforcers didn’t stay for long and hastily departed from Chen Yu’s place of residence.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The two Law Enforcers leapt several feet away before pausing at a corner.

“Brother Zhu, these ten Metastones are for you.”

The fat Law Enforcer grinned as he took out ten Metastones and handed them over to the young Law Enforcer.

These ten Metastones had a sparkling lustre. Their quality greatly exceeded the substandard stones Chen Yu had obtained.

“Haha, thank you very much.”

The young Law Enforcer said with a tacit mutual understanding.

“This is my duty. To that youngster, us hiding these twenty quality Metastones away is a covert way of protection.”

The fat Law Enforcer waved his hand.

If Chen Yu was present at this moment, it was very likely that he would have the urge to rain cures and bawl out at them.

As it turned out, apart from contribution points the sect’s reward also included twenty pure Metastones.

“So it is. Twenty pure Metastones could be traded for two thousand substandard Metastones. This is a large sum for outer sect disciples. If not managed well, it could truly bring a life-threatening calamity.”

The young Law Enforcer nodded.

The two individuals hid away part of Chen Yu’s reward and were finding righteous excuses for it.

“Hehe, these Space Metal Meteorites that the sect gained are reportedly of great quality, otherwise they wouldn’t have been so generous and give the outer sect disciples such rich rewards,” the fat Law Enforcer said with a smile.

“But these meteorites have already given rise to spying from nearby sects. This includes some idle experts, who are rather famed for their fighting prowess. Above all, the opposing sect, ‘Metal Sword Sect’, have requested to trade for half of our meteorites…”

The young Law Enforcer let out a deep sigh.

“The Metal Sword Sect?”

The fat Law Enforcer sneered. “That sect’s martial arts are mostly inclined towards swords. If we let them obtain such great quantities of meteorites to produce swords and treasures, then how would things be okay?”

…

…

Morning, the next day.

Chen Yu woke up early and was full of vitality.

He had already gone to the Sect Affairs Hall and exchanged the two talismans from yesterday for six thousand contribution points.

Adding on the three thousand seven hundred he received from the mission, and the one hundred or so from his everyday savings, Chen Yu at the moment nearly had a total of ten thousand contribution points!

“With almost ten thousand contribution points, I have enough to trade for several medium-leveled martial arts and still have points left over.”

Chen Yu’s goal changed.

With the idea of approaching ten thousand points in his mind, medium-leveled martial arts did not satisfy his appetite anymore.

Not long had passed before Chen Yu arrived at one of the sect’s important places – the Heavenly Martial Pavilion.

Yunyue Sect’s Heavenly Martial Pavilion was an important place for trading martial art techniques. In here, the only way to exchange for techniques was using contribution points.

The pavilion in front of him was ancient and simple, being separated into four floors.

There were some guards stationed in front of the pavilion. Chen Yu could feel that each guard radiated an aura which surpassed the one given off from the Metal Brown Bear he had killed previously.

“Most likely, those guards have at least reached the Organ Tempering Stage.”

Chen Yu was terrified.

Sects had paths split into three stages: The Body Tempering stage, the Connective Meridian stage, and the Organ Tempering stage.

Body Tempering stage, also known as the first stage, involved strengthening one’s skin and flesh as the name implied. It was the easiest level.

The bodies of those at this stage, like Chen Yu, Feng De and others, already exceeded an ordinary person’s body. They could even kill tigers and leopards.

The second stage, the ‘Connective Meridian stage’, involved concentrating ‘Inner Breath’ within their bodies’ strong qi and blood. Furthermore, they would also begin opening up their meridians to stimulate their bodies’ hidden capabilities.

Individuals in this stage had already grasped extraordinary fighting powers. These individuals exceeded those of ordinary people too much as they could battle ferocious beasts.

The third stage, the Organ Tempering stage, involved the beginning of strengthening one’s organs on the basis of their meridians opening up. The human body was born again as the quality of their bodies rose!

It could be said that entering the Organ Tempering stage was the start of the body’s transformation, as well as the advancement of their powers.

Apparently, the concentrated Inner Breath of Organ Tempering experts could injure people from a distance, and this reached the degree of crushing iron and stone.

“These guards could very likely kill those in the Body Tempering stage with their Inner Breath with just a snap of their fingers.”

Naturally, Chen Yu revered them and didn’t dare to act out of sorts.

He took a big gulp of air and walked towards the first floor of the Heavenly Martial Pavilion.

He came here once before when he had first joined the sect and selected a low-levelled martial art, [Metal Plow Fist], for free.

But the first floor was limited to only low-leveled and medium-leveled martial arts.

Chen Yu’s focus was on some of the medium-leveled martial arts on this floor. His eyes swept over them, with the content of some tempting him to pick those skills up.

The fighting technique of [Ravenous Tiger Fist] resembled the whistle of a tiger and was incredibly violent. When practised to its peak, the baleful silhouette of a tiger would appear within its punches. This fighting technique involved the Ravenous Tiger mental technique. The concentrated Inner Breath contained the might of a ravenous tiger and could shake the hearts of one’s enemies.

Contribution points needed: 1800

Usually, medium-leveled martial arts had a value of no more than a thousand points, yet the amount for [Ravenous Tiger Fist] reached a thousand eight hundred.

This martial art majored in mental techniques. It was very suitable to be used as a follow-up upgraded technique to Chen Yu’s [Metal Plow Fist] if practiced upon its foundation since they had similar styles and connotations.

Previously, this was a medium-leveled martial art Chen Yu would yearn for even in his dreams.

But now that Chen Yu had obtained such a large amount of contribution points, his scopes and desires were different. For the time being, he wasn’t going to make any decisions.

His eyes were focused on the premium medium-leveled martial arts, as well as those at the peak.

[Seven Starry Steps] was a profound footwalk technique that skillfully involved the Seven Stars. When practised to perfection, it could easily deal with two or three similar-levelled individuals and remain undefeated. There was a corresponding mental footwork technique for this martial art, and one’s qi pulse was prolonged when travelling with this agility technique.

Contribution points needed: 1500

This was a martial art involving one’s body movements, but its merits could not surpass the [Towering Cloud Step] that Chen Yu had obtained.

The [Towering Cloud Step] that he had obtained from Le Feng had a mysterious advantage and even approached high-leveled martial arts. It ought to even surpass the [Seven Starry Steps].

Chen Yu realized that the first floor’s low-leveled martial arts usually had a price tag of one hundred or so contribution points. Most of them were under two hundred points.

Meanwhile medium-leveled martial arts usually cost a thousand or so points, with the most being less than two thousand. The peak ones cost around two thousand points.

“I better proceed to the second floor and have a look at the high-leveled martial arts.”

Chen Yu was inwardly expectant.

Many of the medium-leveled martial arts on the first floor were quite tempting to him. In fact, he had yearned for them before.

“Junior.”

A voice floated into Chen Yu’s ear as he stepped onto the stairs.

He didn’t know when, but a red-faced old man with a big mole on his forehead had appeared by his side.

This person’s appearance couldn’t be described as grotesque, but he was quite ugly. It did indeed scare Chen Yu a little when he suddenly appeared.

“Senior, do you have any advice?”

Chen Yu’s expression was respectful. The other person had unnoticeably appeared by his side. Even Organ Tempering experts could not necessarily do this.

It was possible that this person was a high-leveled individual within the sect.

“Young fellow, could it be that you’re unaware that outer sect disciples don’t have the privilege of entering the second floor?”

The red-faced elder smiled with squinted eyes.

Ah?

Chen Yu was quite surprised. He truly didn’t know this.

Then again, he wasn’t too surprised that this rule existed. The feel the sect gave him was of a rigid, pyramid-like ranking system.

Each ranking had its corresponding limits, which were hard to bypass.

“According to the rules, outer sect disciples wishing to enter the second floor must first pay one thousand contribution points. Furthermore, you have a time limit of one hour. If you go over the time limit you must pay extra contribution points.”

The red-faced elder said in a blank manner.

“I can pay one thousand contribution points.”

Chen Yu let out a sigh of relief.

After all, he now possessed almost ten thousand points, and because of that, he was full of confidence.

“Oh?”

The red-faced elder was ever-so-slightly surprised. One thousand contribution points as an ‘entry fee’ into the second floor was not something an ordinary outer sect disciple could afford.

He couldn’t help but squint and size Chen Yu up.

Yet there was a sparkle in the red-faced elder’s gaze.

Whoosh!

Chen Yu felt his eyes go into a daze and the next moment after, his body was being lifted into the air. Then, the red-faced elder pinched at the joints all over his body.

Finally, Chen Yu could even feel a strange energy permeating into his body. At that moment, his entire body, qi and blood felt sluggish.

“What a pity.”

The red-faced elder placed Chen Yu down and sighed. “Your constitution is quite good and you’re probably quite strong. In addition, your foundation is sturdy, even better than some of the inner sect disciples.”

What was going on?

Chen Yu couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded. This elder was sighing on one hand while praising him on the other.

“But the aptitude of your martial arts cultivation is too ordinary. According to the aptitude rankings, it is more appropriate to recognize you as a ‘semi-spiritual being’, which is between a mortal being and a spiritual being,” the red-faced elder explained.

A semi-spiritual being?

Chen Yu recalled how he was examined when he had first joined the sect.

Back then, an elder had examined him with a calm expression, but seemed noticeably surprised when examining Mu Xueqing.

“Of course, you shouldn’t be discouraged. It depends on the person’s entire aptitude, which can only be seen after the Connective Meridian stage. Many peculiar constitutions only appear later on.”

The red-faced elder’s complexion relaxed once more.

“Thank you, Senior, for the advice.”

Chen Yu felt as though he had a sudden flash of insight and now everything was clear. He understood his ‘entry examination’ situation now.

Mu Xueqing could enter the inner sect in advance probably because of her impressive constitution.

Perhaps individuals with low constitutions were not eliminated when entering the sect because the sect was afraid of missing out on peculiar constitutions. After all, those with genuine potential or extraordinary constitutions would not have any problems breaking through to the Connective Meridian stage.

Soon, Chen Yu took out his own identity token and paid the red-face elder one thousand contribution points.

This identity token was refined using special ways and contained some simple messages.

“Oh? This young man’s status is quite high!”

The red-faced elder’s eyes showed even more interest as his eyes followed Chen Yu while he proceeded to the second floor.

Messages on identity tokens were usually quite concealed. Even middle-ranking officers in the sect wouldn’t be able to see the specific numberings clearly.

But it was evident that the red-faced elder had a special status within the sect.

As Chen Yu set foot on the second floor, a man and a woman entered the external gates of the Heavenly Martial Pavilion.

The two were handsome and beautiful.

The man was around twenty years old, and wore silks with golden patterns. His clothes were luxurious as his body had a faint hint of grandiose haughtiness.

This person wasn’t wearing the uniform of an outer sect disciple. According to the sect’s rules, those considered to be inner sect disciples must wear the corresponding standardised outfit.

“Xueqing, do you really not have the time to attend the ‘Secret Lake Gathering’ with me? Lots of rare treasures are going to be auctioned during the gathering.”

The man’s crystal-clear voice was quite powerful.

“Seventh Prince, Xueqing plans to choose a movement-based martial art from the Heavenly Martial Pavilion, so I really don’t have the time.”

The young woman’s hair was like a waterfall, while her voice was clear and sweet. Even the gentle curves of her side profile resembled a bright and beautiful landscape.