With that tone, plus Liu Weiran's astonished expression, Lu Lin almost started to think he really had come here just to stake her out.
"No, no, I just..."
"Forget it, forget it. No need to explain. I brought the stuff. Take it."
Liu Weiran passed a small wooden box through the car window, and Lu Lin took it without thinking.
[Absorbable energy detected. Absorb?]
No, no, no.
Lu Lin hurriedly selected no.
A little while later, Liu Weiran parked and came over. "Lu Lin, since you're here, why not train here with me? The conditions at the headquarters are much better than at the branch."
"No need, Miss. I'm afraid you'll get hurt again."
Liu Weiran's face filled with black-man-question-mark confusion. Was that something a normal person would say?
For a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
After a pause, Liu Weiran tossed out, "Forget it. Do whatever you want."
With that, she turned and ran into the Martial Arts School.
Lu Lin watched her back with an awkward smile. Only after Liu Weiran had gone some distance did he open the wooden box in his hand. When he saw the Monster Cores inside, a smile spread across his face.
Ten Fourth Order Monster Cores, with a mix of Wood Element and Earth Element attributes.
There were also two Level 5 Monster Cores, one Wood Element and one Gold Element.
Fifth Order!
These were Fifth Order!
If he didn't have to wait for Li Jiangtao to return to the Martial Arts School with him, Lu Lin would have absorbed all these Monster Cores on the spot and turned them into Simplification Points.
Hold it in.
People were coming and going here, with plenty of Martial Artists and Martial Trainees entering and leaving. It wouldn't be good if someone noticed something strange.
After waiting a little longer, Li Jiangtao came out of the Martial Arts School with a cultivation method in hand. He got into the car, and they headed back to the Martial Arts School.
When they got out, Li Jiangtao patted Lu Lin on the shoulder. He seemed to want to say something comforting, but swallowed it all back and just told him, "Keep it up," before going to find Zhao Xun.
Lu Lin knew Li Jiangtao had still wanted to persuade him just now.
Once he reached the familiar changing room, Lu Lin took out all the cultivation methods and studied each of them in turn.
With the Simplification System, not only could he train and improve quickly, but learning the basics had become much easier too.
Next came absorbing the Monster Cores.
The ten Fourth Order Monster Cores had all been specially selected by Liu Weiran. They were packed with energy and added 10,000 Simplification Points.
Lu Lin absorbed the two Fifth Order Monster Cores as well. His Attribute Panel changed dramatically.
[Master: Lu Lin] [Level: Advanced Martial Disciple] [Techniques: Golden Bell Shield (simplified), Fourth Layer (4337/10000); Mad Ox Strength Fist (simplified), Fourth Layer (199/10000); Soaring Cloud Steps (can be simplified); Thousand Layered Breathing Technique (can be simplified); Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield (can be simplified, can be merged); Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes (can be simplified); Snake Step (can be simplified)] [Points: 31005.7]
He had gained four martial techniques all at once, and his Simplification Points had climbed to an astounding thirty thousand and more.
A bumper harvest—an unprecedented one.
The most important thing now was to simplify the Breathing Technique.
Ten thousand Simplification Points vanished like flowing water, and the Thousand Layered Breathing Technique was successfully simplified.
Thousand Layers → carrying a load.
Training → breathing.
As long as Lu Lin breathed while carrying a load, his vital energy and blood would grow. This simplification was just too good. If the system were right in front of him, Lu Lin would have wanted to hug it and kiss it twice.
Next.
For the second technique, Lu Lin chose Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield.
This time, the system offered a merge option, but Lu Lin had to simplify it first.
He spent 8,000 points to simplify it, then another 3,000 to merge it with the original Golden Bell Shield.
A progress bar had appeared after the first layer of the brand-new Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield: First Layer (43/100).
His Fourth Layer Golden Bell Shield had turned into the First Layer Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield after simplification. Lu Lin could feel his body becoming stronger and tougher.
Now he had 10,000 Simplification Points left, which made him hesitate.
Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes was a Blade Technique. He would definitely need it when he went out to fight Monster Beasts, so he had to simplify this technique.
But it was a Profound-grade cultivation method, and Lu Lin wasn't sure how many Simplification Points it would take. If it cost too much, he might not be able to train either of his two Yellow Grade footwork techniques.
If he didn't simplify the Blade Technique, he could simplify both footwork techniques.
That would also increase his odds of survival in future battles by quite a bit.
After hesitating for a long while, Lu Lin finally made his choice.
Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes.
If he didn't have enough Simplification Points left to simplify both footwork techniques, Lu Lin would head out of the city to fight Monster Beasts. He could always save up enough points that way.
That settled it.
[Ding! Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes has been successfully simplified. Please check it, Master.]
After simplification, Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes required nothing more than striking a wooden dummy with a wooden saber.
It was so convenient! Lu Lin figured he could train one layer in a single day.
As expected, simplifying Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes also cost 10,000 points. Lu Lin had just 1005.7 Simplification Points left, right back where he started.
He had no points left to simplify the two newly learned footwork techniques.
He had spent all 30,000 of his newly gained Simplification Points and still didn't have enough, but Lu Lin was very happy all the same.
[Master: Lu Lin] [Level: Advanced Martial Disciple] [Techniques: Thousand Layered Breathing Technique, First Layer (0/100); Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield, First Layer (43/100); Sky Breaking Thirteen Slashes, First Layer (0/100); Mad Ox Strength Fist, Fourth Layer (199/10000); Soaring Cloud Steps (insufficient points); Snake Step (insufficient points)] [Points: 1005.7]
Three Profound-grade cultivation methods, two Yellow Grade footwork techniques, and one basic martial art—Lu Lin's panel was downright luxurious.
As for his shortage of Simplification Points, Lu Lin planned to wait until he had trained for a while longer. Once he truly became a Martial Artist, he would register as a Freelance Martial Artist and go out of the city to hunt Monster Beasts for their Monster Cores.
While Lu Lin was enjoying his bumper harvest, Ma Tianhu was in his office smashing every breakable thing in sight.
"Liu Qinglong, you ungrateful bastard!"
"My Ma Family agreed to work with you because we thought highly of you. Do you really think your tiny Liu's Martial Arts School is all that impressive? If you weren't connected to that person, I'd have brought the Ma Family's guards and flattened your Liu's Martial Arts School myself."
"Liu Weiran, you little bitch! You've made me lose face again and again. One of these days, I'll make you kneel and beg me!"
"And Lu Lin, you bastard! You're nothing but a dirt-poor peasant, and you dare threaten me? Die, die, die! Every last one of you is going to die!"
"..."
His roars went on for a long time. Only after Ma Tianhu had cursed himself hoarse did he settle down in his office chair.
Angry as he was, the Ma Family still had business to conduct in Dongshan City.
If Liu's Martial Arts School wouldn't work with the Ma Family, there were still Jishan Boxing Gym and Dongshan Martial Arts School to choose from.
Since he wasn't working with Liu Qinglong, Liu Weiran no longer mattered either.
From here on, his work still had to focus on the Ma Family's business. Ma Tianhu wasn't one of those brainless rich kids from the other Jiangzuo families. He had taken over the family business as soon as he graduated from martial arts high school and, in just a few years, had brought it to where it was now. His abilities were beyond question.
Even so, he still couldn't quite swallow this humiliation.
Before you continue