Before his younger sister came home.
Lu Xuan took a shower, changed his clothes, disguised himself, and went out.
The Federation Martial Artist Association kept its doors open year-round.
Anyone who broke through to become a Martial Artist had to register here, whether they intended to join the Federation or not.
This was to control public order.
It also allowed the Federation to mobilize Martial Artist resources during wartime and deploy defensive lines against monsters.
Of course,
a small number of people chose to hide their identities. If they were discovered, they rarely met a good end. They were either placed under surveillance or killed outright.
The Federation would not leave a time bomb at its side.
"Congratulations on successfully registering as a Martial Artist. Your Martial Artist account is now being activated!"
Although the Great Cataclysm had caught all of humanity off guard, it had also allowed human technology to advance by leaps and bounds.
Registering as a Martial Artist was completely automated through intelligent systems.
Unless one intended to join a particular faction, no one would specifically be present to observe or test one's strength.
Another reason was the protection of personal privacy.
After all, which Martial Artist had no enemies?
The Federation placed great importance on this. No matter how many enemies one had, as long as one did not endanger the Federation's interests, one would not easily expose one's information by standing forth when humanity faced danger in the future.
That was how people's hearts were united.
"Please enter your codename. Your real name or a nickname will do. The Federation will not disclose your personal information."
"A codename?"
Lu Xuan lowered his head and thought. "Although they say they won't expose my personal information, it never hurts to be more cautious."
With that thought,
he clicked the three large characters: Recipient.
"Information confirmed. Generating your Martial Artist account!"
[Nickname: Recipient] [Age: 18 (can be hidden)] [Level: Third-order Martial Artist (can be hidden)] [Account: 990,000 Federal Coins (can be hidden)]
"You have successfully registered as a Martial Artist. With this account, you can log into the Federation's database, purchase Martial Art Manuals and Martial Skills, or log into any Martial Artist software developed by other companies to learn more about the world's changes and keep abreast of the latest developments among Martial Artists..."
The so-called account was an intelligent chip.
It could be engraved onto the eye membrane, hair, body hair—in short, anywhere on the body—and a slight circulation of Spiritual Energy was enough to activate the intelligent interface.
That was also the difference between ordinary people and Martial Artists.
Martial Artists did not need physical intelligent technology products. Their streams of consciousness connected directly to the network.
That was precisely why,
when he had still been an ordinary person, Lu Xuan had not known what could save his parents, because ordinary people had no right to access information on that level.
"So the world of Martial Artists is this convenient."
Lu Xuan was genuinely stunned.
He had once imagined that the world of Martial Artists would not differ much from that of ordinary people. He had never expected the gap to be so enormous.
It was as though they were two separate worlds.
As the Spiritual Energy within his body circulated, a virtual light screen appeared before him.
With this thing, he no longer needed to risk purchasing Martial Art Manuals and Martial Skills. He could simply borrow them from the Federation's database.
After registering as a Martial Artist,
Lu Xuan bought a lottery ticket on his way back.
He added a few more bets this time. Even if things went badly, he should at least be able to earn tens of thousands, right?
Thinking this, he returned home in an orderly fashion.
There were still many things waiting for him to do.
Save his parents.
Help his younger sister break through to become a Martial Artist.
Improve his strength.
More importantly, he had to prevent the Monster Potion Company and the Xu Family from tracing everything back to him.
"If I want to keep the Pharmaceutical Company from becoming suspicious, I can't change the course of my original life..."
Lu Xuan pounded his head and bared his teeth. "I'm already a Third-order Martial Artist. I can't keep going to work at the monster-clearing warehouse every day, can I?"
"No."
There seemed to be another option.
He lowered his head and pondered. "I can change my original job and become an ordinary person who follows Martial Artists on adventures. That would be perfectly reasonable. It won't arouse the Pharmaceutical Company's suspicion, and I can openly go to the Wilderness to train, hunt for resources, and earn cultivation materials."
Perfect!
"Next, I need to spread the news that the Xu Family's Martial Dao Grandmaster is on the verge of death."
"And I need to borrow a Martial Art Manual and cultivate, raising my cultivation!"
The Martial Artist Forum.
It was generally where Martial Artists gathered online.
The forum was divided into the World Public Channel and the Federation Regional Channel.
One gathered Martial Artists from across the globe, and all kinds of fresh news from around the world were posted there.
The other was regional. For example, the Huaxia District Channel gathered explosive news and assorted gossip from within Huaxia.
Lu Xuan edited a post about the Xu Family, a Martial Dao Grandmaster family from Jinling Base City, and sent it out.
The content analyzed the Xu Family's current situation.
"Recently, the Huaxia Federation's Martial Artist examination is approaching. While hunting for resources in the Wilderness near Jinling City, I accidentally discovered some secrets—namely, that the Xu Family, Jinling City's Martial Dao Grandmaster family, may already be in decline. My points are as follows: First, the Xu Family's direct heir risked his life to steal an Earth Dragon Egg. Second, the Xu Family offered a reward at any cost..."
The content covered every detail.
It practically completed the entire chain of suspicion, leaving not the slightest flaw for anyone to find.
As soon as the news came out,
Martial Artists from Jinling City poured in, and countless people responded.
"Damn, now that you put it that way, it really is possible. I haven't seen the Xu Family's Martial Dao Grandmaster show himself in a long time."
"Your analysis is logical and well-founded. If a Martial Master went out to seek higher-level restorative treasures, the other companies, martial schools, and other factions would certainly become alert. But low-level treasures also have restorative effects. Take the Earth Dragon Egg, for example. The primal fluid inside can restore a person's vitality. So they could only send Martial Artists to look for it. Otherwise, why would a direct heir of the Xu Family risk himself over this?"
"The Xu Family is a Martial Dao Grandmaster family, with industries worth hundreds of billions of Federal Coins."
"..."
The effect was excellent. Within just a few hours, people had already begun commenting.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the post to slowly ferment.
Lu Xuan stopped paying attention to the forum and instead logged into the Federation's database.
He opened the Martial Art Manual Shop.
[Martial Art Manuals] Name: Sun Qi Cultivation Method Level: Heaven-level Price: 100 billion Federal Coins / 10 million Spirit Crystal Coins Note: Created by the renowned Heaven and Earth Martial Saint, "Sun Martial Saint." When he became a Martial Artist, he was inspired by a child's debate over whether the sun was nearer in the morning or at noon, and created this Martial Art Manual.
*
Name: Heart Sutra of Fighting the Giant Kun Beast Level: Earth-level Price: 10 billion Federal Coins / 1 million Spirit Crystal Coins Note: Created by the Heaven and Earth Martial Saint, "Giant Kun Martial Saint." It was said that when he fought a giant kun beneath the sea, he observed the kun's recovery ability and bodily vitality before creating this Martial Art Manual.
*
Name: Chapter on Swallowing the Essence of the Sun and Moon Level: Mysterious-level Price: 1 billion Federal Coins / 100,000 Spirit Crystal Coins Note: Created by the Heaven and Earth Martial Saint, "Sun Moon Martial Saint"...
After browsing through them roughly,
Lu Xuan fell silent. His first impression could be summed up in one word.
Expensive!
Damn, they were expensive.
Martial Art Manuals were divided into Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow levels, with Heaven-level being the strongest and Yellow-level the weakest.
Yet even the cheapest Martial Art Manual cost ten million Federal Coins, or one thousand Spirit Crystal Coins.
Lu Xuan did not have ten million Federal Coins.
As for Spirit Crystal Coins,
Lu Xuan did not even know what they were.
Puzzled, he searched for Spirit Crystal Coins and finally learned what they were.
Spirit Crystal Coins were a currency containing Spiritual Energy, produced by artificially storing Spiritual Energy in special materials.
They were incomparably precious.
Aside from the difficulty of obtaining the manufacturing materials and the complexity of the production process, Spirit Crystal Coins could be directly refined and absorbed the moment one held them. They were comparable to a spiritual medicine or treasure.
10,000 Federal Coins for 1 Spirit Crystal Coin.
"Martial Artists and ordinary people really are people from two different worlds."
Lu Xuan sighed inwardly.
The Federation probably had not abolished Federal Coins because Spirit Crystal Coins were too difficult to manufacture.
His thoughts raced for quite some time.
He gathered his mind and continued searching for Martial Art Manuals.
This was no time to think about such things.
The most important thing now was to find a Martial Art Manual to cultivate and raise his strength as quickly as possible.
He carefully filtered through the options.
Lu Xuan discovered that there were many Martial Art Manuals he could borrow, but they were all defective.
Some even had comments from Martial Artists who had borrowed them below—
Great Desolation Heavenly Origin Emperor Scripture Comment 1: Fuck your mother, which idiot wrote this Martial Art Manual? The name sounds grand, but cultivating it is completely useless! Comment 2: I cultivated it and just dropped from a Seventh-order Martial Artist to a Third-order Martial Artist. Comment 3: The author's mother is a real beauty. I couldn't bear to throw it away after buying it...
"..."
What was all this supposed to mean?
Lu Xuan rubbed his forehead and continued filtering through the results.
Suddenly,
an official Martial Art Manual caught his attention.
Mindful Breathing Technique Level: Yellow-level (incomplete) Price: 500,000 Federal Coins / 50 Spirit Crystal Coins Note: Not created in the present age. Obtained from a certain special ruin.
Before you continue