Trump Card-The Way(Indifferent to those around me)

The next morning.

A gentle breeze drifted through the air. As usual, Lin Guichen lay reclined on a chair in the courtyard, eyes closed as if he were napping. He owed this tranquility to Old Third Chen—had the Chen clan’s juniors not been warned to stay away from this little courtyard, he would never have enjoyed such peace.

After a while, Lin Guichen slowly opened his eyes.

“The second visualization…”

Each time he meditated on the Black-Lantern Mother Goddess, even though it lasted only a dozen seconds, he could sense his spiritual power growing perceptibly. Unfortunately, during the process, his spiritual nature would be influenced by the deity, gradually becoming rigid until the vision of the goddess blurred and vanished.

Even having opened four spiritual apertures, he could only hold on for a little over ten seconds at best.

“I’ve heard that with two apertures, you can only visualize for six or seven seconds at a time, and it takes half a day to fully recover, so you’re limited to two sessions a day…”

Lin Guichen pondered to himself.

With four apertures, not only could he last longer during each visualization, but recovery was much faster as well. This made his efficiency four times greater than that of someone with just two apertures.

Of course, it wasn’t necessary to wait for full recovery from rigidity before visualizing again—partial recovery sufficed, though the duration would be shorter.

How to schedule the sessions depended on the individual.

“In seven more days, I’ll have saved up another sixteen Opening-Spirit Pills and can open the fifth spiritual aperture. My efficiency will soar even higher.” Lin Guichen’s mood lightened. “By then, my spiritual nature should have grown to about twenty years. I can seek out Chen Muzhi. But I’ll need Old Third Chen to take me there.”

After all, he had no idea how to summon the ancestral spirits from the Day Furnace. He’d have to rely on Old Third Chen for that.

But that was not a difficult matter.

He already had a practical plan in mind.

“Lin Guichen.”

A familiar voice sounded. He turned to see Su Zichu approaching.

She carried a metal box in one hand and a disc-shaped object in the other.

“The gun you requested.” Su Zichu set both the metal box and the disc on the stone table nearby. “And a stack of target sheets for practice. I’ve brought you three hundred rounds. Practice more during the day.”

“Oh?” Lin Guichen arched an eyebrow, a little surprised at Old Third Chen’s thoughtfulness. He opened the metal box. “Let me have a look.”

Inside lay a gleaming black revolver. Beneath it, separated by oiled parchment, were packets of bullets.

“So this is the legendary firearm? Quite hefty.” Lin Guichen picked up the revolver, tossing it lightly in his hand.

It was about twenty-three centimeters long, with a caliber close to nine millimeters. This large handgun should pack a punch, and judging by the barrel’s length and weight, its range and accuracy should be decent too.

“That’s not how you hold it—why are you grabbing the barrel?” Su Zichu couldn’t help but correct him. She took the revolver from his hand and demonstrated, “Never point it at yourself. If it misfires, you could kill yourself. Here, just aim like this.”

Feigning ignorance, Lin Guichen nodded and mimicked her, aiming the revolver at a distant target.

“You’d better not stand that close. Use both hands to steady it,” Su Zichu said, a touch exasperated. “Watch, I’ll show you.”

She pulled out a cloth target and hung it on the far wall. After loading the gun, she took aim, her posture that of a clear novice.

Bang!

After three shots, three holes appeared on the target—one in the seventh ring, two in the eighth.

Though Lin Guichen could tell she was no expert, her hands were steady, her reflexes and eyesight evidently sharp—hence the results.

“There, that’s how you do it. Got it?” Su Zichu turned to him.

“Amazing! Let me try.” Lin Guichen rubbed his hands together with feigned excitement, took the revolver, which still had three bullets, and copied her stance to shoot.

Bang!

At the recoil, Lin Guichen’s hand jerked, and the revolver slipped from his grip, clattering to the ground.

Su Zichu caught it in one swift motion, casting him a helpless glance.

“How did I do? Did I hit anything?” Lin Guichen asked, both nervous and excited.

“…You didn’t even hit the wall.” Su Zichu pointed to a bullet hole far off in the dirt. “Over there. That’s where you shot.”

“…That far off?” Lin Guichen feigned astonishment. “How are you so accurate?”

“I practiced for a few days.” Su Zichu replied. “You’ll get the hang of it after practicing for a while.”

“Alright, I’ll keep at it.” Lin Guichen nodded resolutely and resumed his practice.

Half an hour later.

“…Seriously, why are you shooting so crookedly?”

Su Zichu looked at him, exasperated. “If you ever have to use this against a wandering fiend, remember to get close. That way, at least one or two out of six shots might hit.”

“Ahem, how was I supposed to know it’d be this hard…” Lin Guichen replied sheepishly, turning away. “The gun’s too heavy, and the recoil throws off my aim. What can I do?”

Su Zichu shook her head. “Old Third got this gun for you. Practice hard—if you swap for a weaker one, it’ll be useless against the fiends.”

“Don’t worry. With enough practice, I’ll be a sharpshooter,” Lin Guichen promised.

“…Right.” Su Zichu gave him a look, then shook her head. “Three hundred bullets might not be enough. I’ll bring you three hundred more. Take your time.”

Without further comment, she turned and left.

Once she was gone, a faint smile played at Lin Guichen’s lips. He glanced at a butterfly fluttering twenty meters away, then raised the revolver and fired two shots in quick succession.

Bang!

Both wings of the butterfly were torn, each by a separate bullet, precisely severed in flight.

“Not bad.” Lin Guichen smiled, satisfied. “Much better than in my past life.”

In his previous life, he often spent time at shooting ranges and later used living targets, honing his marksmanship to a high level. Now, combined with Chen Muzhi’s legacy and his own deftness, he was without a doubt a master marksman.

If he entered a shooting competition, he’d be a national champion.

But he couldn’t reveal his true skill.

In fact, his deliberate incompetence was part of his larger plan.

…

“How did he do?”

Old Third Chen sat beneath the ancient pagoda tree, eyes never leaving the chessboard as he asked, “Any talent for marksmanship?”

“…Abysmal,” Su Zichu replied helplessly. “At this rate, he’ll need hundreds, maybe a thousand bullets just to make that revolver useful.”

“So bad?” Old Third Chen was surprised. “I remember my unfilial son got the hang of it after just a few shots.”

“He’s not comparable,” Su Zichu said, shaking her head.

Old Third Chen smiled and shook his head. “I was worried that, if he was talented, he might become troublesome for you. But it seems…”

“Master, even if he were a marksman, he’d pose no threat to me,” Su Zichu replied calmly. “Bullets, no matter how fast, require you to pull the trigger. That’s more than enough time for me to react. Unless he’s ambushed from many directions at once, I can easily protect you. There’s no need for concern.”

“I know,” Old Third Chen nodded slightly. “With your martial skill and the strength of a force-servant, even sharpshooters are irrelevant.”

“Still, at his current level, I doubt he’ll be much use against wandering fiends,” Su Zichu said.

“We’ll see,” Old Third Chen replied. “It’s a pity the family has been wary of me for so long, and trustworthy people are few. I can’t have you protect him all the time… All I can do is provide more bullets and let him practice.”

…

Time slipped by.

Life gradually settled into a calm routine.

Lin Guichen, now with a new toy, spent his days either in meditation or putting on a show of gun practice.

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the twenty-fifth day of the second month, Lin Guichen once again swallowed the sixteen Opening-Spirit Pills he’d gathered from the young novice, preparing to break through to the fifth spiritual aperture.

He thought that, after opening this aperture, his spiritual perception would merely grow sharper. But to his surprise, as the fifth aperture opened, he sensed something entirely new.

“What’s that sound…”

Faintly, Lin Guichen heard strange noises from the sky—vast and distant, as though coming from the highest reaches above.

Focusing intently, he pushed his spiritual sense to the limit, barely able to discern it.

“It sounds like… screaming?”

He suddenly looked up, shading his eyes with a hand as he peered through his fingers at the dazzling sun, frowning slightly.

“The screaming… it’s coming from the direction of the sun?”

He was more puzzled than ever.

How could screams come from the sun?

Could it be because he’d inherited the Yin Spirit legacy of the Solar Palace?

He sensed there must be some connection.

Moreover, he could vaguely feel a peculiar aura settled in the air—or rather, the void around him—the same aura as that from talismans or the energy absorbed during pill refining.

“Is this the Breath of Heaven and Earth?” Lin Guichen guessed, though he found it odd. “Why does the Breath of Heaven and Earth here feel so stagnant, unmoving, nothing like the lively energy in talismans and elixirs?”

Though he could sense its presence all around, he found himself utterly unable to draw it in or use it.

This was quite unlike the cultivation methods he’d imagined, where one absorbed the world’s spiritual energy.

Perhaps that was just the nature of this world—or this era?

“Forget it…”

Glancing at the bored little novice nearby, Lin Guichen knew she would never reveal his secrets, so he didn’t bother explaining further.

“My spiritual nature should soon reach twenty years—by tonight at the latest.”

He had just used the Black-Lantern Mother’s “Chronicle of Rings” to check his spiritual growth.

The twentieth annual ring was nearly complete—just a hair’s breadth away.

One or two more visualizations would be enough.

…

That night.

“It’s done.”

After another round of visualization, Lin Guichen examined the rings on his tree of spiritual nature and found, as expected, he had reached twenty years.

“Five apertures, twenty years of spiritual nature.” A smile broke across his face. “More than enough to inherit Chen Muzhi’s secret art.”

He took out the bone flute and, using his spiritual sense, began to play.

Once the spiritual apertures were open, the flute could emit a special sound wave to create a zone of silence.

With two apertures, he could control the range of the silence. At four apertures, he’d already experimented—he no longer needed to blow into the flute; a simple flick would suffice, and any sound would activate the wave. The area could be regulated more precisely and extended to a radius of over thirty meters.

Now, with five apertures, he immediately discovered a new way to use the bone flute.

“What’s this…”

Lin Guichen mused, slipping the bone flute into his sleeve using his deft hands. Then, turning to the spirit tablet of Chen Linyu, he said, “Check if anyone’s watching us.”

Chen Linyu glanced at him, said nothing, and went to check.

Once she returned and confirmed there were no spies, Lin Guichen stepped outside, drew out the bone flute, and, guided by the new sense granted by the fifth aperture, blew hard into it.

A formless hum exploded in his spiritual perception as invisible waves gathered and resonated madly, even stirring the stagnant Breath of Heaven and Earth in the air!

After several seconds of accumulation, the sound waves condensed into a blade-thin ripple that shot out before him!

Sssht!

The earth not far away trembled, and a crevice half a meter long and a finger’s width wide split open, of unknown depth.

“What…” Chen Linyu was taken aback.

Lin Guichen hurried over, inspecting the gash made by the sonic blade. He poked in a stick to measure the depth—over two feet!

“This power…” Even he was shocked, glancing at the bone flute in his hand.

“No wonder that old drumstick’s spy wanted to recover this flute. It’s extraordinary…” Lin Guichen marveled. “But you need five apertures to unlock its full potential. Did that old drumstick know about this ability?”

He sensed that the artifact’s uses had reached their limit.

“The only drawback is the long setup and high spiritual cost…” Lin Guichen took a deep breath. “With twenty years of spiritual nature, one strike uses up nearly eight years?”

That meant he could manage only two strikes at most.

“But as a trump card, it’s not bad at all,” he decided.

“What was that just now?” Chen Linyu couldn’t help but ask. “That bone flute… it has such a function?”

Lin Guichen flicked the flute, creating a zone of silence with ease, and asked, “Have you ever heard of Old Drumstick’s bone flute before?”

“No,” Chen Linyu replied with a frown. “But I’ve heard that the Drum Yama behind him is a wandering spirit under the Black-Lantern Mother, skilled in music. This flute is likely one of Drum Yama’s artifacts.”

“Oh?” Lin Guichen nodded in sudden understanding. “Nothing important. Just stumbled upon a new way to use it.”

“By the way—” As he filled the crack in the ground with soil, he said, “Tomorrow, I need your help. Have your grandfather take me to the Day Furnace to see your father. Just say… I want your father to pass down his marksmanship to me.”

“Huh?” Chen Linyu was startled.

“What’s with that look?” Lin Guichen shot her a glance. “Just say it. Your grandfather will agree.”

Chen Linyu couldn’t help but say, “But didn’t you already inherit my father’s marksmanship?”

“It’s just a pretext.” Lin Guichen replied, “In your grandfather’s eyes, since I have no spiritual apertures, even if I get your father’s legacy, it will only manifest as talent, not real skill. That poses no threat to him and weakens Chen Muzhi, so why wouldn’t he agree?”

“You…” Chen Linyu suddenly realized. “You want to use this chance to inherit my father’s secret art?”

She was incredulous. “Doesn’t that require three apertures and twenty years of spiritual nature?”

“Exactly,” Lin Guichen said calmly. “And I have just enough.”