159: Chapter 159 Qualifications to be a Captain

When Lin Tian returned to the Yunhai Fishery again, a thin layer of water mist was drifting over the lake surface.

Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the mist, dyeing the entire surface of the lake a hazy silver-gray.

The bamboo rafts had already been collected from the several fish ponds in the distance. A few scattered lights shone in the guards' bamboo houses, the warm yellow light blurring into hazy spots in the mist.

He walked quickly along the gravel path by the lake.

The reassembled map in his bosom felt heavy against his chest, and the image of that ten-meter Black Crocodile leaping out of the lake water played repeatedly in his mind.

A Vicious Beast of the 5th Realm; just the aftermath of the water currents as it brushed past could redden the skin protected by the Dragon Roar Iron Shirt—with his current cultivation at the Late Stage of the 4th Realm, he had less than a thirty percent chance of winning in a direct confrontation in the water.

He must reach the 5th Realm.

Only by reaching the 5th Realm, where Internal Energy condenses into Gang and sword techniques enter the Realm of subtlety, would he have the qualifications to return to that primitive lake and wrestle with that beast.

He arrived at the bamboo house. He reached out to push the door open, but his footsteps suddenly paused. Faint yellow light shone through the crack in the door; the oil lamp was lit. He had clearly extinguished the lamp before leaving.

A very faint, cold fragrance drifted out from the door crack—not the scent of flowers, not the scent of medicine, but a scent he had only smelled in the main hall of Zixia Peak.

His hand instinctively pressed onto the hilt of the autumn water sword at his waist, then he let go—this place was property of the Qixia Sect, guarded by dozens of guards outside. There were no more than three people in the Sect who could sit in his room and light a lamp without making a sound.

He pushed the door open.

Peak Master Su Hanyan had one hand resting on her knee, while her other hand was flipping through the cultivation notes he had left on the table. The flame of the oil lamp cast dancing light and shadows on her cold face, softening the Aura that usually kept strangers at a distance.

She was wearing light purple casual clothes, and her long hair was not pulled into a neat bun with a jade hairpin as usual, but was tied loosely behind her head, making her look less stern than she did in the Sect.

Hearing the door, she looked up, her gaze lingering on his hair, which was slightly messy from the lake wind, before moving to the tear in the robe on his shoulder that had been ripped by the crocodile's water waves and then sewn back up.

"Peak Master?" Lin Tian still had one foot outside the door, the surprise in his voice genuine. "Why are you here?"

Peak Master Su Hanyan closed his cultivation notes and put them back on the table. Her movements were unhurried, as if she had just finished reading a casual book in her own study.

"I came to see how you have been lately." Her tone was flat, as if she were talking about something very ordinary. But hidden in those eyes was a trace of curiosity that only she knew—curiosity about what this kid had been up to behind her back, curiosity about how much his cultivation had increased, and curiosity about how far the person she had personally judged to be a failure could go.

Lin Tian stepped his other foot into the room, turned to close the bamboo door, and the soft click of the door latch falling into place was exceptionally clear in the quiet night. He was indeed flattered.

From the time he joined Zixia Peak until now, nearly two years, Peak Master Su Hanyan had sought him out on her own initiative fewer times than he could count on one hand—the first time was to teach the Purple Qi Diagram, where she smashed a cup and left after five days.

The second time was the day of the assessment, when she probed his Internal Energy in front of everyone. The third time was after the assessment, when she called him to the main hall to teach the Thunderclap Sword Technique.

Other than that, this Peak Master basically left him to his own devices, ignoring him and letting him fend for himself. Now, she had actually come to the Yunhai Fishery in person, using his oil lamp, flipping through his notes, and waiting for him to return.

Was this still the same Peak Master Su Hanyan who had despised his poor talent and nearly kicked him out of the Sect?

Peak Master Su Hanyan watched the uncontrollable changes in his expression and rolled her eyes.

She truly rolled her eyes; her eyelids flipped up and then dropped back down, as fast as a flash of light. The Peak Master of Zixia Peak, an expert above the 5th Realm, known in the Sect for being cold and stern, had rolled her eyes in front of a Disciple.

And it wasn't because this kid didn't stay when he returned to the Sect—the time before last, after he defeated Zhao Mingyang on the arena, she immediately sent someone to find him, but he had already left the Sect gate.

Last time, when he returned after escorting the Treasure Fish, she sent someone to call him, but he had left again. A Peak Master wanting to see a Disciple under her own peak had actually failed twice; no one would believe it if word got out.

This time, she simply didn't wait. Taking the opportunity of coming to the Yunhai Fishery for business, she came directly to his room to block him. Let's see where he runs to now.

"I heard that you defeated Zhao Mingyang before and displayed the 'Five Lights in One Sword'." She put away that unseemly eye-roll and returned to her cold tone, but there was a trace of serious scrutiny in her eyes.

That scrutiny was no longer the disdain from when she looked at a failure, but a Peak Master seriously weighing the weight of the Disciple under her peak. "Have you already practiced the Xiaguang Sword Technique to such a level?"

Lin Tian nodded.

His hand pressed onto the hilt of the autumn water sword at his waist. 'Five Lights in One Sword' was nothing to him anymore—practicing sword techniques facing the lake day after day at the Yunhai Fishery, the proficiency of his Xiaguang Sword Technique had long risen from the initial mastery at the time of the arena to the Realm of Major Achievement.

At the Major Achievement Realm of the Xiaguang Sword Technique, one sword thrust could produce seven sword lights, with the sword lights as solid as a real sword, and the ability to retract and release at will.

It was just that in front of Peak Master Su Hanyan, he only displayed the 'Five Lights in One Sword'. "If Peak Master wants to see, this Disciple will make a fool of himself."

The moment the autumn water sword was unsheathed, the flame of the oil lamp in the bamboo house was dimmed by the sword wind.

It wasn't that one sword light lit up first; all five lit up simultaneously—five sword lights arranged in a plum blossom shape in the Void Realm, each one as solid as a real sword blade, with the patterns on the sword body vaguely visible within the sword light.

The five rays of light complemented each other in the small bamboo house, making Peak Master Su Hanyan's cold face flicker between light and dark. The five sword lights paused for half a breath in the Void Realm, then dissipated simultaneously, like five flowers withering at the same time.

The flame of the oil lamp stood up again, and the small bamboo house returned to its dim, warm yellow.

Peak Master Su Hanyan was silent.

It wasn't that she had nothing to say; she was stunned.

She had seen countless Disciples practice sword techniques—those with good talent, those with poor talent, diligent ones, lazy ones, those who understood instantly, and those who were stubborn. The cultivation pattern for everyone was the same: the further they went, the slower it became.

Entry is easy, proficiency is fast, Minor Achievement is a hurdle, Mastery requires great effort, and Major Achievement is the work of years or even decades.

But Lin Tian was the exact opposite. When he first started, he was so clumsy that she smashed a cup; when he reached proficiency, he started to speed up; at the Minor Achievement stage, he was already faster than ordinary people, and the Mastery stage was even more of a clean sweep.

She suddenly remembered the four words Lin Tian had said in the main hall back then—'Great talent takes time to mature'.

At the time, she only thought it was an excuse, a pretext for his poor talent. Looking at these four words again now, she only felt that each word was like a nail, piercing hard into the pride she had when she misjudged him back then.

"What about the Thunderclap Sword Technique?" She suppressed the shock in her heart, her tone returning to the coldness a Peak Master should have, but the scrutiny in her eyes had turned into an unconcealable expectation. "How is your practice?"

Lin Tian drew his sword again, still holding back. Three thunder sounds exploded in the bamboo house; this time, the thunder sounds did not ring out one after another, but three sounds overlapped and erupted at the same time.

With a boom, the bamboo wall trembled slightly, ripples stirred on the surface of the water in the teacup on the table, and even the surface of the lake outside the window rippled with a few shallow water patterns. At the Minor Achievement Realm, the Thunderclap Sword Technique could produce five thunder sounds with one sword; he had suppressed it to three.

Peak Master Su Hanyan nodded, and the corners of her mouth curved imperceptibly. At the peak of the proficiency Realm, only one step away from Minor Achievement. What was Lin Tian like when he first performed the Thunderclap Sword Technique in the main hall last time?

From entry to proficiency, others took three months, he took one. Now, from proficiency to approaching Minor Achievement, how long did he take? This kid's cultivation speed wasn't getting slower, it was getting faster. So fast that even she, who had been a Peak Master for so many years, felt it was a bit unreal.

She didn't ask about other martial arts; two probes were enough for her to re-evaluate the weight of this Disciple in her heart. She decided to come to the Yunhai Fishery every few months from now on, to keep an eye on this unreasonable Disciple and see just how far he could go.

After making up her mind, her tone softened a bit, and she asked casually: "How is it staying at the fishery?"

Lin Tian thought for a moment and said it was quite good. There are Treasure Fish to collect, fights to have, a lake to practice movement techniques and breathing techniques, and the teammates are also easy to get along with.

The only drawback was that there were too few Treasure Fish—one three-year Treasure Fish a month was indeed not enough for him.

For this Breakthrough to the Late Stage of the 4th Realm, he had emptied out his savings from several months, and even used a ninety-year-old water lotus and seven Spirit Medicines. At this rate of consumption, he didn't know how long he would have to save for the Breakthrough to the next small Realm.

Peak Master Su Hanyan rolled her eyes again.

This time it was more obvious than the last, and she even gave a soft snort through her nose. For an ordinary Disciple, being able to catch one Treasure Fish a month was already a good thing they could laugh about in their dreams—those old-timer Disciples in the Sect, including some Personal Disciples of Elders, did not all have a supply of Treasure Fish.

The position of guard at the Yunhai Fishery was notoriously lucrative in the Sect; every time a quota was released, the applications could bury the desk of the managing Elder so that the desktop couldn't be seen.

This kid held such a good job, getting one Treasure Fish steadily every month, and he actually complained it was too little.

"You can have more if you want." Her tone carried a bit of annoyance, but the content of her words was solid. "Become a Captain, and it's two a month. Become a Deacon, and it's three a month. Become an Elder, and it's five a month."

Lin Tian's eyes lit up. He didn't dare to think about Deacon or Elder; those were not positions a newcomer who had been in the Sect for less than two years could covet.

But a Captain—Captain Ma of Team 6 was at the Late Stage of the 4th Realm, had been at the fishery for nearly ten years, and had deep qualifications and sufficient experience.

In terms of cultivation, he was also at the Late Stage of the 4th Realm now. In terms of strength, he was confident he wouldn't lose to any Captain at the fishery.

He looked up at Peak Master Su Hanyan, his tone as serious as if he were asking for battle: "Peak Master, the Captain seems to only have the cultivation of the Late Stage of the 4th Realm, right? I may not have no chance."

Peak Master Su Hanyan looked at him, her eyes carrying a bit of scrutiny. Was this kid getting cocky?

He had only just broken through to the Late Stage of the 4th Realm, and he dared to covet the position of Captain? She just wanted to say something to tell him not to be too ambitious, but suddenly she felt a breath of energy released from Lin Tian.

It wasn't released slowly, but all at once—the Internal Energy of the Late Stage of the 4th Realm permeated the bamboo house, thick, solid, and harmonious, without any of the rawness and floating typical of a recent Breakthrough.

She reached out her finger to touch Lin Tian's pulse, and a trace of Internal Energy probed inside. Then her hand stiffened slightly.

The Meridians were nearly twice as wide as when she last probed, the Internal Energy was surging through the Meridians quickly and steadily, and the Qi Sea in the Dantian was rotating steadily, with a capacity much larger than she had expected.

Late Stage of the 4th Realm, genuine—no, not just having entered the Late Stage, but having taken another solid step forward on the basis of the Late Stage.

She withdrew her finger, looking at the excessively young face in front of her, and for a moment did not know what to say.

A year and a half since joining—Late Stage of the 4th Realm. Among the Disciples who joined at the same time, Zhao Mingyang having broken through to the Early Stage of the 4th Realm in over a year had already been praised by her in public as good, while most others hadn't even touched the threshold of the 4th Realm, and even those who did were only at the Early Stage of the 4th Realm, still struggling to stabilize their Realm.

But Lin Tian was already standing at the Late Stage of the 4th Realm. Looking at all the Disciples of Zixia Peak, this cultivation speed was, if not unprecedented, at least rare in a hundred years.

Lin Tian asked again, "With this cultivation, I can be a Captain now, right?"