NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 10: Chapter 10 Riddle
Li Qian, accompanied by Song Yingying, went through the registration procedures at the Chores Hall.
"Big cousin, I've been assigned to the Hundred Herbs Garden."
Song Yingying came out and said.
"The Hundred Herbs Garden is pretty good."
Li Qian remarked.
It was obvious that Song Yingying must have made some arrangements.
Among the many chores, the Hundred Herbs Garden was one of the top placements at the Divine Sword Sect.
"Cousin, if you ever need anything, you can find me at the Chen Bell Tower."
Li Qian said.
Song Yingying nodded gently.
After the staff from the Chores Hall took Song Yingying away, Li Qian also took the opportunity to collect his last month's stipend and contribution points.
Returning to the Chen Bell Tower, Li Qian began to ponder the words that Old Song had left in his letter.
"When the hourglass on the tower runs out, two rings at Chen hour are worth their weight in gold."
He went up to the top of the Chen Bell Tower and gazed at those hourglasses... but no matter how long he thought about it, he couldn't comprehend the meaning behind it.
When it reached Shen hour, Li Qian struck the Chen Bell, a total of six times.
He then proceeded to practice the Sword Stabbing Fist technique.
Although he had reached the level of Inner Strength, the Sword Stabbing Fist could still be practiced further; being the most basic martial arts technique, with continuous and unrelenting cultivation, after opening the Twelve Primary Meridians and then the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, one's Inner Strength could transform again, becoming Inner Qi.
Once Inner Qi is cultured, that marks the true entry into being a Martial Artist.
Inner Strength can only cause harm by being close and shock, but Inner Qi can injure from a distance, the difference is immeasurable.
In comparison, Inner Strength and Inner Qi are worlds apart.
It's like an ordinary person getting their hands on a firearm.
Cultivating the Eight Extraordinary Meridians is much harder than the Twelve Primary Meridians.
Many servant disciples are stuck on the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, unable to become entry-level Martial Artists.
However, with the help of the treasured Chen Bell in his cultivation, Li Qian was confident that he could open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians within a year or two.
After training, Li Qian felt whole and refreshed; cultivating under the stimulation of the bell's sound had a great effect.
Once You hour was over and dinner eaten, Li Qian began to brood over the meaning of that phrase.
He wandered around the tower for a long time but discovered nothing, feeling that he could only wait until the next Chen hour for a possible revelation.
The next morning.
It was an overcast day.
As Chen hour arrived, Li Qian hurriedly sounded the Chen Bell.
Two rings, one after the other.
He couldn't care less about practicing the Sword Stabbing Fist and instead scrutinized everything carefully.
But, in the end, he found nothing.
"Ah, Old Song, why did you leave me with such a riddle?"
Li Qian sighed inwardly.
Many days passed, and Li Qian made no discoveries, but the progress in his cultivation was not too bad; the first meridian of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, the Yang Wei Meridian, had been partially cleared by his Inner Strength.
He made an estimation... if he continued to cultivate at the current pace, he should be able to open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians in at most a year and a half.
"It would be perfect if I had an Internal Cultivation Method."
Li Qian felt a bit regretful.
According to Old Song, the Sword Stabbing Fist played a passive role in opening the meridians.
While Internal Cultivation Methods have an active role, the two's efficiency cannot be mentioned in the same breath, it could save ten times the time.
It is said that the geniuses among Official Disciples... would have a Qi sense on the first attempt at training, taking just weeks to open the Twelve Primary Meridians, and a few months to cultivate Inner Qi.
Another morning broke.
The day greeted a rising red sun; it was sure to be a sunny one.
Dispelling several days of continuous dreary weather.
Looking at the slowly rising red sun, Li Qian was in high spirits.
As for solving the riddle, he just treated it as an entertainment now.
He would study it when he had nothing better to do.
His true focus was all on cultivation.
The opportunity left behind by Elder Song may be useful to him, but he has the system within him, so whether or not there is an opportunity does not make much of a difference.
Even more so... if the opportunity left by Elder Song was truly so great, Elder Song would not have remained a servant disciple all his life, nor would he have died in obscurity.
He had no need to insist on this so-called opportunity.
When it reached the hour of Chen, Li Qian knocked on the Chen Bell once again.
With the two bell tolls echoing back and forth in the mountain forest and the empty valley.
Li Qian had steadied the bell-ringing, the sound of the bell incessant in his mind, just as he was about to practice the Sword Stabbing Fist, his gaze suddenly swept over and fell on an hourglass.
At this moment, all the sand in the hourglass had run out.
Li Qian noticed this hourglass because the sunlight was slanting over, a part of it being blocked by the Chen Bell, the frame, and the bell hammer, almost all the hourglasses were covered or mostly shaded.
Only this hourglass was fully illuminated by the sunlight.
Li Qian's heart stirred, he walked over to the hourglass, squatted down, and began to examine it carefully.
"Eh, what's this?"
Li Qian suddenly discovered a clue.
Because this hourglass... under the sunlight, revealed a very faint trace, looking like a painting.
If it were a cloudy day, or to say, if the sunlight were not shining directly, it would be very difficult to see.
Or to say, because the marks were too faint, it would also be easily overlooked.
He looked at other hourglasses and none had such traces.
Immediately, he carefully observed the painting on the hourglass...
Eventually, he copied the entire painting onto paper.
"This seems to be a topographical map of the small hill where the bell tower is located?"
Li Qian's heart stirred, then he stood on top of the bell tower and began to identify it against the drawing.
In the end, he could confirm that it was indeed the topographical map of the place where the bell tower was located.
Because it also simply marked the location of the bell tower.
"Here?"
He moved his finger and it finally landed on a spot.
This spot, other than the bell tower, was the second marked location on the paper.
Perhaps the opportunity mentioned by Elder Song was hidden at this location.
With this thought, Li Qian walked out of the tower and arrived at the second marked place.
Actually, it was quite easy to find.
There was a large boulder at the location, and a crooked tree grew out of the crevices between the rocks.
It served as a very obvious landmark.
He went under the crooked tree and began to observe, finding scars on the trunk made by cutting, forming an arrow pointing to the ground.
"Is this the mark left by Elder Song?"
A look of astonishment appeared on Li Qian's face.
This Elder Song sure knew how to create suspense.
So, he glanced around... this bell tower area is rarely visited by people, and that Chen Yong usually trains in the afternoon.
But he still needed to be cautious.
Since the soil had hardened, and there was grass on top of it, Li Qian chose to go back to the bell tower and took out a small hoe.
Soon, he had dug out a hole.
Clang!
Suddenly, the hoe seemed to hit something hard.
He quickly dug around the object with great care.
In a short while, he dug out a small box.
Is this the opportunity left by Elder Song?
A thought crossed Li Qian's mind; could it be a Martial Arts Technique? Or an elixir?
But this small box was too tiny, presumably, it couldn't hold much.
He decided to open it right there.
When the box was opened, it revealed a folded piece of parchment.
"It can't be a riddle within a riddle, can it?"
A sudden apprehension crossed Li Qian's mind.
.....