WU DONG QIAN - KUN
chapter 6: the seventh echo

"Groaning…"

In the middle of his room, Lin Dong could already feel the sunlight shining down on his face as he struggled to open his eyes. As he glanced at the sunlight, he suddenly jumped from his bed. Even though his feet were touching the floor, an overwhelming pain suddenly filled his body almost causing him to lose his footing.

"This..…."

The sudden pain sensation surprised Lin Dong. It was as if he had spent the entire night for intensive training.

“It wasn't a dream?!”

Suddenly, Lin Dong seemed to remember something as an amazed expression appeared on his face. Immediately, he gritted his teeth and positioned himself in a standing position to start practicing Penetrating Fist. Looking at the proficient way he moved his fists, it was as if he had practiced this movement many times. Only he knew that he had just learned this series of movements from Lin Xiao the day before.

Still indoors, the young man performed a series of familiar fist techniques with a serious expression on his face as a series of crisp echoes rang out due to the friction between his arms and clothes.

“Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa!”

When he finally managed to produce five sharp echoes, Lin Dong's body stopped. On his face, a mixed expression of shock, happiness, and a hint of fear was plastered.

"How can I master it so quickly ..."

Lin Dong muttered to himself while staring at his palm. He could sense that the five echoes were definitely not his limit. In fact, if he wanted to, he could easily produce seven echoes now!

This training advancement confused Lin Dong. Among the younger generation in the Lin Family, there were a few others who practiced Penetrating Fist as well. Nonetheless, he was one of the few who could produce seven echoes at such a young age.

“How can this happen?”

Lin Dong frowned, the eyebrows on his face fused together. A while later, his hand moved into his chest area and took out the mysterious stone talisman hidden in his inner pocket. This is the object he took from the cave yesterday.

If there were any suspect-worthy items on Lin Dong's body, then this stone talisman would definitely be at the top of the list.

"This object, is it really this strong?"

As Lin Dong held onto the stone talisman, he felt a cold sensation spread from his palm. Thanks to this sensation, the pain in his body was slightly reduced.

Swallowing the turbulent emotions in his heart, Lin Dong carefully hid the stone talisman back into his inner pocket. His intuition told him that this stone talisman had incredible power and he knew that if news of this discovery came out, it would definitely invite doom. Therefore, it would be much better if no one else knew about it.

After he stored the stone talisman, Lin Dong opened the door and left his room. First, he proceeded to eat the breakfast prepared by Liu Yan before he returned to the stone cave. Right now, his body was in pain, he knew if he continued his intensive training now, it would definitely hurt his body. Fortunately, he had discovered the miraculous nature of the stone pond, so this was not a problem for Lin Dong.

Dropping fresh blood into the rock pool, Lin Dong enjoyed soaking for half an hour before finally coming out. The pain in his body had disappeared without a trace and his body had returned to its peak condition.

He felt the skin on his body, enjoying the fact that it had hardened substantially once again. This brought a smile to Lin Dong's petite face because he knew that with this speed, he could officially advance to the Tempered Body 4th Layer within the next ten days.

“Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa!”

Seven echoes!

As her fists fell to indicate the end of this session, Lin Dong's petite face flushed red with excitement. Armed with these seven Echoes of Penetrating Fist, he was certain that if he were to meet Lin Shan again, it would definitely not repeat their last meeting. He would not be easily beaten without the chance to retaliate again.

Lin Dong's excitement finally faded as he once again regained his composure. While chuckling to himself, he came out of the cave and began his daily intensive training. Although he now had the help of this magic stone pool, Lin Dong still understood the basic principles.

In the journey of mastery, the self is the most important. Outside help can certainly smooth the way to mastery, but how far someone strives along this path is ultimately still in their own hands.

Therefore, even though he had the help of the rock pool, Lin Dong understood that he had to keep trying and working hard. After all, it was still his greatest asset!

One day of training passed. Some time at night, the resolute-looking Lin Xiao came to check on Lin Dong's progress. With regards to Lin Dong's training, he was often very hard and strict.

However, after watching Lin Dong produce three consecutive echoes of Penetrating Fists, although he tried to maintain a strict expression, a hint of surprise and satisfaction leaked onto his face.

Looking at the expression on his father's face, Lin Dong secretly heaved a sigh of relief. In his mind, he chuckled to himself as he imagined what Lin Xiao's expression would be like if he knew that Lin Dong could already produce seven echoes in a row?

In the midst of the summer heat, every member of the younger generation of the Lin Family earnestly practiced. They understood that the upcoming Family Competition in six months was very important to them.

Since the Lin Family was not a very strong or reputable family, they were unable to provide the best care to each member. Therefore, if one wanted to obtain the best martial arts training and potions from the Lin Family, one would have to prove himself outstanding.

Hence this Family Competition was an opportunity for them to show their talent and stand above the crowd. For most of them, this was also their first competition, but at some level, the outcome of this competition determined their fate for the rest of their lives.

A man who is highly prepared by the family will definitely develop faster in his training compared to his own training. Of course, there are some special exceptions…

Since everyone was intensively preparing for the upcoming Family Competition, Lin Dong did not encounter much trouble during this period. And for the next ten nights after he fell asleep, he would find the perfect "teacher" waiting for him in the dark room.

It's getting harder to produce the next echo of the Penetrating Fist. Especially after the seventh echo, the difficulty soared exponentially. Therefore, even after ten days of intensive training, Lin Dong was barely able to produce the ninth echo. Moreover, he still did not understand how to produce the last tenth echo.

Even so, he was not discouraged. He clearly knew that being able to produce nine echoes after just ten days of training, was already a frightening feat.

He knew this fact from Lin Xiao's expression as he assessed the progress of his son's training. After Lin Dong showed his father six echoes, Lin Xiao started looking at his son with a strange look. When he first started training the Penetrating Fist, it took him two whole months before he could reach this stage. However, Lin Dong only took ten days to match that feat. Therefore, after witnessing his incredible progress, Lin Xiao was at a loss for words.

Moreover, while Lin Dong was drilling the Penetrating Fist, he also continued to train his Tempered Body. Thanks to the miraculous effects of the stone pool, he was able to secretly multiply the intensity of the training regime given by Lin Xiao. Every time Lin Dong dragged his aching body into the stone pool, he would wake up refreshed and re-energize after only half an hour of soaking, ready for another round of training.

Although the training was painful and exhausting, the effect was obvious. After a few days, the skin of his body had hardened to such an extent that at times, he could even directly punch a stone without injuring himself. Furthermore, when he used Penetrating Punch, he discovered that the resulting power had grown more than one and a half times!

Based on this speed, it would only be a while before he finally reached the Tempered Body 4th Layer…..