Lu Qi's Growth, Punch Force 1200 Kilograms

Lu Qi was completely sobered by these words.

The official price of an F-grade Battle Saber was 20,000 credits each; if a martial artist required a custom version, the price was even higher.

There was a time when he and Lu Lin could only stand outside the window of the Martial Arts Store, drooling at the sight of them.

Yet today, at such a late hour, Lu Lin had suddenly returned and told him he had managed to get his hands on several F-grade Battle Sabers worth 20,000 credits apiece. Something about this felt incredibly wrong.

Lu Qi reached out and flipped the room's light switch. After the initial moment of blinding glare, the first thing he saw was the bloodstains on Lu Lin.

"Blood!"

"Brother, are you okay? Where are you hurt?"

Lu Qi scrambled up from the bed. He didn't even pay attention to the four gleaming battle sabers Lu Lin was holding.

"I'm fine. Your brother is fine."

A warmth spread through Lu Lin's heart. "Lu Qi, sit down. I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

Lu Qi obediently agreed. For some reason, after seeing the blood on Lu Lin, a sense of fear—and... yearning—rose in his heart.

Lu Lin briefly explained what had happened that night.

He didn't go into the full sequence of events, only saying that someone had tried to kill him, but he had managed to find a way to turn the tables and kill them instead.

These four F-grade Battle Sabers were the spoils of that battle, obtained at the risk of his life.

"Lu Qi, put these four sabers under my bed later. Be careful not to let Mom and Dad see them."

"From now on, don't be afraid of any trouble you encounter. Do you understand?"

"Okay."

Lu Qi agreed. Everything Lu Lin had told him tonight made him feel like he no longer recognized the brother he had grown up with.

It felt surreal.

"Alright, go to sleep. Wake up early tomorrow morning and buy me breakfast. Buy a lot of it—consider it your punishment for taking over my bed."

Lu Lin said this, then grabbed the frame of the upper bunk and lay down on the bed.

Lu Qi remained dazed for a while, and only turned off the lights to sleep after Lu Lin urged him to.

That night, Lu Qi tossed and turned, only drifting into a light sleep as dawn approached. However, remembering Lu Lin's request for breakfast, Lu Qi didn't dare to delay. He changed his clothes, subconsciously glanced at the space under the bed where the F-grade Battle Sabers were hidden, and walked out of the room, his mind heavy with thoughts.

As for Lu Lin, having experienced a life-or-death struggle, he not only didn't suffer from insomnia, but actually slept even more soundly than usual.

By the time he got up, it was already eight o'clock in the morning. On the desk was breakfast Lu Qi had bought for him: twenty fried dough sticks and five cups of soy milk, along with a note left on the table.

"Bro, I washed your clothes. Be careful when you go out from now on."

Looking at Lu Qi's handwriting, which was as ugly as a puppy's scrawl, Lu Lin felt a warmth bloom in his heart.

Devouring all the breakfast at light speed, Lu Lin patted his stomach. Hmm, thirty percent full.

Walking out of his room, he saw that his parents weren't home. They still had to work, so they had naturally left early to head to their jobs.

Now, the person with the most free time in the house had become Lu Lin.

Taking out the Soaring Cloud Steps manual from last night, Lu Lin once again received a system prompt.

[Detected learnable cultivation technique. Do you wish to learn it?]

This time, Lu Lin chose yes.

[Master: Lu Lin]

[Rank: Advanced Martial Disciple]

[Technique: Golden Bell Shield (Simplified) Level 4 (4337/10000), Mad Ox Strength Fist (Simplified) Level 4 (199/10000), Soaring Cloud Steps Yellow Grade (Insufficient Points)]

[Points: 1005.7]

The technique column had changed significantly. First was the Golden Bell Shield.

After last night's training, Lu Lin's Golden Bell Shield had reached over 4,000 proficiency points. This was entirely thanks to the voluntary assistance of Scarface and his four disciples; every time they attacked with weapons, it granted the Golden Bell Shield 20 points of proficiency.

Additionally, Lu Lin had attacked a few times, and the Mad Ox Strength Fist had seen a minor increase, though it was almost negligible.

However, looking at the words "Insufficient Points" next to Soaring Cloud Steps, Lu Lin fell into deep thought.

Could it be that 1,000 simplification points weren't enough to simplify a Yellow Grade technique?

If that were the case, he couldn't even estimate how many simplification points would be required for a breathing technique used to cultivate Vitality Power.

For now, he could only pin his hopes on Liu Weiran, hoping she could successfully "borrow" enough Monster Cores for his use from Qinglong's study.

There was no use in overthinking it. Lu Lin tidied up and quickly jogged toward Liu's Martial Arts School.

This served as both a warm-up exercise and a way to save on transportation costs.

He could barely afford to eat these days, so Lu Lin had no extra funds to spare for a taxi.

He arrived at the martial arts school at exactly eight-thirty. This was the busiest time of day for the school.

Scattered martial artists would choose this time slot to get in some training before heading off to their jobs.

Because of what happened yesterday, Lu Lin's colleagues at the martial arts gym were now aware of his strength.

He might not be able to injure a Martial Artist, but he could certainly escape if he faced one.

No matter where you are, strength is a person's most important calling card and the most impressive thing they can show off.

"Morning, Lu Lin."

"Coach Lu, you're looking very spirited today."

As they passed by Lu Lin, everyone, regardless of gender, would greet him. Even their forms of address had changed from "Little Lu" to "Lu Lin" or "Coach Lu."

Lu Lin didn't give anyone who showed him goodwill a cold shoulder. After nodding and greeting them one by one, he walked over to the receptionist and asked, "Miss, did Master Li come in today?"

"He did. He's in his office."

The receptionist replied, then added, "Thank you for what happened yesterday. I just didn't expect that later on..."

"It's fine, don't mention it."

Lu Lin waved his hand at her and turned to leave.

Li Jiangtao's office was on the second floor.

Calling it an office was a stretch; it was more like his personal training room.

Aside from a desk and a chair, the room's furnishings had nothing to do with an office.

Knock, knock, knock.

Lu Lin knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Pushing the door open, Lu Lin immediately saw Li Jiangtao lifting dumbbells, as well as Zhao Xun standing beside him.

Seeing Lu Lin appear, a flash of resentment crossed Zhao Xun's face.

He had seen Lu Lin's fight with the several Martial Artists yesterday. Any one of those four could have beaten him senseless, yet they hadn't been able to do anything to Lu Lin.

This meant that, at least in terms of defense, he had been completely crushed by Lu Lin.

"Lu Lin, what is it?"

Li Jiangtao didn't stop his dumbbell lifts, nor did he look up.

"Hall Master, my punch power has reached 1,200 kilograms. I'd like to request a Qi-Blood Cultivation Technique from you."

Lu Lin got straight to the point.

"What?"

"What?"

"Bang!"

"Thud."

"Ah!"

A chaotic series of sounds erupted as Zhao Xun clutched his foot and fell heavily to the ground.

This scene left Lu Lin feeling dazzled.

Because Li Jiangtao was shocked by Lu Lin's breakthrough in punching power, the dumbbell in his hand accidentally dropped to the floor.

After hitting the ground, the dumbbell rolled, passing right over Zhao Xun's right foot.

Zhao Xun felt the pain in his right foot, lost his balance, and crashed hard onto the floor.

However, Li Jiangtao paid no attention to Zhao Xun's condition. He stood up abruptly and came to Lu Lin's side. "Kid, this isn't a joke you can make lightly."