Time flew by as a year went past quickly.

For the past year, Lin Ping had been cultivating in the Changmen Palace in a low-key manner. Every day, all he did was check in or cultivate.

Perhaps it was because the imperial complex was too big or because there were countless buildings or maybe because Lin Ping was very lucky, but the check-in destinations in the past year had always been within the compound!

After passing through the initial stage of having weak cultivation, Lin Ping could easily check in at most places in the palace as his strength increased. Of course, there were still some areas that he could not access.

Except for the Sunflower Manual and the Nine Yin Sutra that he had gained initially, he had gotten his hands on at least sixty different types of martial arts the past year through his check-ins.

For palm skills, he managed to learn the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, Cloud Dispelling Palm, and the Six Sun Palms of Tianshan.

For sword skills, he had learned the Dugu Nine Sword attack, Six Pulse Sword attack, and the Formless Invincible Sword attack.

When it came to body-protection skills, he had the Vajra Body Defending Divine skill and the Indestructible Golden Body skill.

He also had other skills such as the Wuxiang Finger skill, the Great Shift of the Universe, and so on!

Although the Lin Ping of now could not be said to be the person with the most martial arts in the world today, he was definitely among the top few!

Even those martial artists in the top three grades might not possess as many martial arts as him!

However…

Lin Ping's true strength still lagged far behind the masters in the top three grades.

He had been cultivating for a whole year, and his current cultivation base had merely just entered the grade-6 realm!

Of course, in terms of real combat strength, he was stronger than most grade-6 masters.

But this was because the past year of check-ins had many pills as rewards.

The pills given included the perfect nourishment pill, the small return pill, and the big return pill; all of which directly improved his internal-strength cultivation base after consuming them, saving him decades of hard cultivation.

Otherwise, his cultivation base would definitely not have reached its current level.

In total, Lin Ping possessed more than sixty peerless martial arts. Except for a few martial arts that were extremely suitable for him such as the Sunflower Manual, of which he could barely be considered proficient, his expertise on most of the other martial arts was only at the minor mastery level.

There had been no choice with the limited time he had.

Although every time the martial arts system directly instilled the cultivation technique into his mind after a check-in, allowing him to practice like a fish in water, it still took time to master the techniques.

"Having too many martial arts is also troublesome.

"To master all the martial arts that I currently have, I would need at least… five years!

"But even if I managed to practice all the martial arts I know now to the extreme five years later, I might still not be able to reach the threshold of becoming a legendary grade-9 grandmaster…

"Thus, I can't stop checking in! I must continue cultivating in a low-key manner and stay in this cold palace!"

Lin Ping warned himself in his heart that he must not get a swelled head just because he had become stronger.

Shua!

In the dark night, a black shadow soared into the sky and jumped onto the roof of the Changmen Palace [E/N: the cold palace's name.]. After staying for a while, it then rushed away silently like a bird.

Lin Ping was sitting in his room, and after hearing the movement, he softly muttered, "Is Chun Fei going out again?"

When he had first come to the Changmen Palace, Chun Fei had been an unfathomable master in the eyes of Lin Ping.

However, since three months ago, Lin Ping could roughly gauge the "strength" of Chun Fei.

In fact, Chun Fei was not as strong as he had imagined. She merely had a peak grade-5 cultivation base and was close to becoming a grade-6 martial artist.

However, although Lin Ping had found out the strength of Chun Fei and knew that he was far stronger than her, he did not reveal anything. Every day, he would sweep the floor and do the work he was assigned to do.

As for the assassins sneaking into the Changmen Palace or Chun Fei sneaking out at night like today, Lin Ping would pretend he did not see any of it.

He would do his own thing, and everything else had nothing to do with him. As long as no one bothered his cultivation and check-ins, he was happy.

It was best to stay out of any affairs to prevent getting into any trouble.

Lin Ping was not curious about why Chun Fei had been thrown into the cold palace nor about what she often went out to do at night.

As for himself, he had learned a skill called Turtle Breath Technique, which he had gotten from a check-in a while ago. It allowed him to perfectly hide his own cultivation. By now, even if one was a grandmaster in the top three ranks, if he didn't take the initiative to expose it, no one would be able to discover his abnormal strength and cultivation.

It was precisely because of this that he was able to survive a year in the Changmen Palace without getting into any trouble, breaking the past record of six months.

…

…

An hour later.

Lin Ping, who was still cultivating without a break, suddenly twitched his ears as he heard slight footsteps in the palace.

It was Chun Fei returning.

However, on the return trip, her steps were a bit heavier and not as light as when she left. Her breathing also became much faster, which showed that she should have been injured.

Sure enough, a dim light was lit in a room of the Changmen Palace after a while, and suppressed gasping voices could be heard from there.

"En… Ah… Si…"

It wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that the gasping sounds stopped, and the lights went out. After which, Changmen Palace seemed deserted and quiet once again.

Lin Ping shook his head and was about to lie down to sleep.

But not long after lying down, he suddenly opened his eyes again and became vigilant in secret.

There was someone who had entered his courtyard!

However, Lin Ping did not act rashly and waited quietly.

This was not the first time he had encountered such a situation. Such a thing happened almost every month, much like the period of a woman's menstrual affairs.

He had no need to worry anyway. The target of the person who sneaked into the cold palace in the middle of the night was definitely not him, a little eunuch. Such an affair had nothing to do with him.

He would let Chun Fei and her personal palace maid, Yun Su, deal with the matter.

Generally, as long as Lin Ping did not make any disturbances, nothing would happen. Sometimes though, he would be unlucky, such as the instance when he was taken hostage by an assassin after just coming to the Changmen Palace.

But today, the situation seemed different, and Lin Ping appeared to be out of luck again.

Ji!

It was like the sound of the wind blowing against the window.

Before one knew, Lin Ping's door had already been quietly pushed open, and a black shadow came in.

This person's cultivation was not weak and was even stronger than the uninvited guest that came one year ago!

He was at least a grade-5 martial artist!

Or perhaps even a grade-6 one!

Why is he entering my room? In coming to the cold palace, did he not know clearly which house Chun Fei lived in? Running around into other people's houses? Definitely not professional at all!

Lin Ping stayed calm and was prepared to remain unassuming and innocent like the last time. As long as the other party found out that he was just an unthreatening passerby, a little eunuch, he would probably not act against him.

But who knew that things would go differently this time.

Even though Lin Ping did not show any abnormality and breathed smoothly as if he was asleep, the black-clothed guest still had murderous intent, and a vicious palm was directed towards Lin Ping's head.

What the black-clothed intruder never expected was that his palm would be met with thin air and land on the pillow.

Then, before he could react, he heard the dull and subtle sounds of ff ff ff before he felt a sharp pain. A few thick embroidery needles had pierced his vital acupuncture points!

Just as the black-clothed intruder was frightened and was about to turn around and leave, a few invisible sword auras stabbed him from nowhere, leaving a few blood holes in his body, with the sword auras penetrating his body!

With such an injury, even a grade-6 master would be doomed to die.

However, the black-clothed intruder had not fallen yet, and his strong will to survive supported his desire to escape.

When he turned around, he found that a ghost-like figure was already standing behind him!

The black-clothed intruder wanted to scream in horror.

Ka cha!

A claw shadow could be seen in the room, and a crisp voice sounded. Although the black-clothed intruder's head was not broken, there were already five holes in his skull.

At this point, the black-clothed intruder's body finally fell slowly to the ground with his eyes still wide open. Till his death, he still did not know how he was killed.

Just like that, a grade-6 master who was considered a powerhouse fell silently.

Before he died, he didn't even know who the killer was nor what he looked like…