Yanshan Bandits

Lu Ming was a little surprised that the other party would suddenly ask this question, but besides the Jade Pendant, he had nothing to hide.

So he said directly:

"Elder, firstly, I am confident that my talent will allow me to quickly learn other martial arts, so I exchanged it. Secondly, the sect has treated me well, and there's no issue with exchanging it."

"If you hadn't considered the first point for yourself and only had the second, it would be hard for me to believe."

After listening, Elder Kang smiled, then sighed and continued, "Don't blame me for being suspicious, but I've guarded the Martial Arts Pavilion for so many years and have seen too much of what disciples think and want."

Lu Ming could understand, but he had a clear conscience and was telling the truth. Time would prove everything.

"Alright, let's not talk about this. Just based on your words, I won't deduct your contribution points for this [Iron Elephant Art]."

Elder Kang said again.

"Thank you, Elder." Lu Ming was delighted.

Afterward, Elder Kang gave him some pointers on practicing the [Iron Elephant Art] and then let him leave.

"It seems practicing external martial arts is indeed not easy."

Walking out of the Martial Arts Pavilion, Lu Ming mused inwardly. Elder Kang had just reminded him that practicing external martial arts not only made progress difficult but was also extremely harmful to the body.

Therefore, it required the assistance of medicine.

These medicines were likely not cheap. Although he had many contribution points that could be used for exchange, he wanted to save them for martial arts.

Thus, he could only purchase them with money.

He currently had over four thousand taels in gold notes and over sixteen thousand taels in silver notes.

Honestly, for a Martial Artist, this wasn't much. After all, a good weapon alone would cost over ten thousand taels.

As for Divine Weapons, no matter how much gold or silver you had, you couldn't buy them. They required a different currency: Origin Stones.

Once Martial Artists entered the Zhen Qi Realm, the vital energy within their bodies alone was not enough to meet the demands of cultivation.

They then needed to absorb the energy freely circulating in the outside world to cultivate. This energy was called Heaven and Earth Origin Energy.

Origin Stones were the crystallization of Heaven and Earth Origin Energy. Like Storage Rings and Divine Weapons, they were divided into four grades: low, medium, high, and supreme.

Lu Ming had heard Chu Yunxiao mention that sect missions not only awarded contribution points but also gold, silver, or Origin Stones.

Therefore, his next plan was to cultivate the martial arts he had obtained and then go accept missions.

"Lu Ming, have you finished choosing your martial arts?"

As soon as he stepped out of the Martial Arts Pavilion area, he happened to run into Cui Bai, who was rushing over.

"You're really slow." Seeing Cui Bai arriving late, while he had already been to the Weapon Pavilion, Lu Ming felt speechless.

Cui Bai gave an awkward smile. "You don't know, after I finished getting ready, I changed my mind and went to the Weapon Pavilion first to see if I could catch up to you. But who knew you had already finished."

Could Lu Ming say that he didn't need to choose? He smiled and said, "Then hurry inside."

Cui Bai nodded and didn't delay. After bidding farewell, he walked inside.

Lu Ming went straight back to his courtyard and began cultivating his martial arts.

As he cultivated, more than four months passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Ming had a total of four martial arts to practice.

First, three forms of the Heavenly Saber Technique; second, the Lightness Skill [Hundred Li Qi Merging]; third, the Human-grade, high stage claw technique [Tiger Fiend Claw]; fourth, the defensive external martial art [Iron Elephant Art].

After four months of practice, the saber technique, lightness skill, and claw technique were naturally completed without question.

Only the [Iron Elephant Art] progressed slowly.

Firstly, after finishing the other three martial arts, there wasn't much time left for this technique;

Secondly, he had no money to buy medicine.

Having personally practiced it, he realized that practicing external martial arts was indeed a major expense.

The [Iron Elephant Art] was divided into three stages. The first stage was to cultivate tendons, bones, and skin. After successful cultivation, swords and blades would have difficulty injuring him;

The second stage was from external to internal, generating protective True Qi. This not only defended against swords and blades but also against penetrating forces like internal energy shockwaves;

The third stage was the convergence of dragon and tiger, uniting internal and external. At this point, within the Zhen Qi Realm, it would be extremely difficult to break through his defenses.

Currently, Lu Ming had only achieved the first stage of cultivation, which had also consumed most of his money. The remainder was not enough to purchase the auxiliary medicine for the second stage.

Therefore, he had already decided to go out and accept missions.

"Soul Chasing!"

In the vast training room, Lu Ming suddenly vanished from his spot and then, like a fleeting shadow, brushed past a training post.

Swish swish swish!

Instantly, several Saber Qi erupted from within the entire training post, and then it exploded.

This was precisely the fourth form of the Heavenly Saber Technique, the Soul Chasing Style. It was similar to the first form, Gale Style, in that it was an extremely fast stab.

The only difference was that the Soul Chasing Style could shoot out several Saber Qi simultaneously as it stabbed.

Looking at his masterpiece, Lu Ming sheathed his saber with satisfaction. It seemed the effect of the saber technique after mastery was very significant.

Then, he took out an ordinary long saber worth over a thousand taels from his Storage Ring.

He held it with his left hand and injected True Qi.

With a "hum," the saber instantly became incredibly sharp. Lu Ming's expression remained unchanged as his right hand suddenly formed a claw and lunged towards the long saber.

Crack!

In an instant, the long saber, imbued with True Qi, was shattered into pieces by his claw.

"The power of this claw is indeed not bad."

After testing the [Tiger Fiend Claw], Lu Ming tried out a lightness skill. His furthest leap with [Hundred Li Qi Merging] could reach two hundred meters, but he could currently only manage one hundred and seventy meters.

It wasn't that he couldn't cultivate it to its peak instantly, but rather that his internal True Qi wasn't strong enough.

Although he hadn't forgotten his daily internal cultivation during this time, his True Qi hadn't increased much. He had only reached the middle stage of the early Zhen Qi Realm.

He had inquired about this with others and learned that cultivation would slow down significantly in later stages.

It was normal to not have a breakthrough for one or two years.

Take Cui Bai, for example; he was still stuck in the early stage, early phase.

Lu Ming stopped worrying about it and focused on his cultivation until today.

Now that his cultivation had reached a certain level, progress would be slow in the short term, so he decided to end his training and go take on missions to earn money.

"Lu Ming, you're going out?"

As he arrived outside the courtyard, Cui Bai happened to be opening his door.

"I'm planning to take on some missions."

Lu Ming didn't hide anything.

"You're a freak. You finished cultivating the martial arts you received in just four months."

During this time, Lu Ming hadn't been training entirely alone. Sometimes, he would spar with Cui Bai, exchange pointers, and relax.

So, Cui Bai had a general understanding of Lu Ming's cultivation progress.

"Where are you planning to go?" Lu Ming smiled, not dwelling on the topic.

"Where else? The [Hundred Refinements Profound Technique] I chose is also a big money sink. Fortunately, I spent half a year in the Wuji Mountain Range last time, or I wouldn't have been able to sustain it."

Cui Bai looked a bit troubled.

Lu Ming naturally knew about his situation. Continuing with his previous style, he had also chosen a cultivation method that focused on both internal and external training.

And it was a Human-grade, peak stage technique.

He hadn't originally planned to choose this, but the moment he saw the [Hundred Refinements Profound Technique], he couldn't look away.

So, he used his beginner's benefits and two Human-grade, high-stage martial arts he'd accidentally obtained in the Wuji Mountain Range to exchange for it.

Since external martial arts required physical conditioning, the two of them had beaten each other up quite a bit during this time.

"Then we're going the same way."

Afterward, they traveled together until they parted at a crossroads. Lu Ming headed towards the Mission Hall under Cui Bai's cautionary instructions.

The Mission Hall was still bustling with activity. People were discussing mission details, sharing information about quests, and recounting interesting anecdotes from their missions.

In short, you could hear all sorts of information.

"Did you hear? Senior Brother Feng Chao, ranked eleventh, took on a Level 5, 2-star mission alone."

"What? Level 5 missions are ones that even core disciples don't dare to take on alone, let alone a Level 5, 2-star mission."

Upon hearing this news, the surrounding area erupted in discussion. Lu Ming couldn't help but perk up his ears.

"What exactly is the mission?" someone asked.

"I know, it's to eliminate the Yanshan Bandits roaming the Iron Horse Plain. I heard these bandits recently robbed a family's cargo, so it's probably their bounty."

"The Yanshan Bandits, huh? I heard their leader is at the late Zhen Qi Realm, with several deputy leaders at the early and middle Zhen Qi Realm, and no less than twenty bandits at the Nei Qi Realm. Can Senior Brother Feng Chao handle it alone?"

"Since he took it, he must be confident. I heard he's mastered an extremely powerful leg technique."

The crowd chimed in, some in admiration, some in worry, and some deeming it unwise.

"Let's go. It seems Feng Chao is starting to make his move. He'll definitely break into the top ten in the next inner disciple competition. We can't fall behind and get squeezed out."

At the entrance of the hall stood two unusually distinct youths. Lu Ming happened to be standing nearby.

"This isn't making a move; it's clearly going crazy," the other replied with a wry smile.

Then, the two left, apparently spurred on.

"These two must be among the top ten inner disciples."

Lu Ming heard their words and sensed their cultivation base – late Zhen Qi Realm – leading him to this conclusion.

Without further thought, having heard so much information, he too felt stimulated and walked directly into the hall.