Mad Ox Strength Fist, Fourth Layer, Strength Increases Again

Many people in the neighborhood watched Lu Lin's training with great curiosity—over the years in this community, they'd seen all kinds of Martial Trainees, but someone throwing punches while mooing like a cow was a first, like a bride riding a sedan chair for the first time.

Still, no one came over to bother Lu Lin; everyone just minded their own training, at most going home to talk about the strange person and strange sight they'd seen today.

At three in the afternoon, the sunlight outside was still strong, but Lu Lin could no longer keep training.

He'd eaten three big bowls of rice at noon, yet now he felt like he hadn't eaten in days—hunger gnawed at him from front to back, his stomach constantly rumbling, urging him to eat.

[Skill: Mad Ox Strength Fist (Simplified) Third Layer (800/1000)]

In two hours, Lu Lin had performed twenty-two rounds of Mad Ox Strength Fist, pushing the third layer's progress to 800 points, just two hundred short of advancing to the fourth layer.

But for now, he had no choice but to go home and eat.

"Hope Mom still has some leftovers from lunch."

Lu Lin muttered, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, and quickly headed upstairs to the apartment.

"Mom, is there anything to eat? I'm starving!"

As soon as he got home, Lu Lin shouted loudly.

"Huh?"

"Hungry already?"

His mom stood up from the sofa, looking speechless.

At noon, Lu Lin had eaten twice as much as usual, startling both her and Lu Ping. She never expected that just a few hours later, he'd be hungry again.

She walked into the kitchen, a bit troubled.

She knew from her school days that Martial Trainees needed to consume large amounts of carbs and protein during training.

But their family's financial situation was what it was—they weren't starving day to day, but they couldn't afford lavish meat and fish either.

Now Lu Lin needed to eat, but they'd just run out of rice and flour and hadn't had time to buy more. What could she do?

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Seeing his mom standing in the kitchen silent for so long, Lu Lin walked over and asked.

"We're out of food," Chen Xiaoyan told Lu Lin, then turned and called out to Lu Ping, who was resting in the bedroom: "Old Lu, go down and buy a bag—no, buy two bags of rice. And get half a pound of meat, pork hind leg, don't forget."

"Ah, oh, sure, sure."

Lu Ping agreed, groggily got up from bed, and was about to head out in his slippers.

"Dad, wait, let me go instead."

Lu Lin quickly said.

He'd graduated middle school and was working now—it was time to take on family responsibilities instead of being a carefree freeloader like before.

"Oh, okay, then you go. I'll get you the money."

Lu Ping said, pulling cash from his pocket for Lu Lin, muttering as he did: "Buy rice—Wucang rice, 10 kilos for 140, two bags is 280. Iron Arrow Porcupine hind leg is 198 a pound, half a pound is a hundred. Alright, I'll give you four hundred."

Lu Ping pulled out one hundred-yuan bill, four fifties, and the rest were small tens and fives. When he counted it out for Lu Lin, it only came to 378 yuan.

"Honey, do you have any money?"

"I do, wait, I'll get it for you."

Chen Xiaoyan agreed, took a fifty from her small purse, and handed it to Lu Lin. "Alright, son, go on now. Hurry up and come back."

"Mm."

Lu Lin acknowledged, turned, and pushed the door open to leave.

For some reason, seeing his parents scrimp like this yet still insist on buying him meat made his heart ache a little.

Making money.

It wasn't as lofty as the ideal of becoming a Martial Artist, but it was brutally real.

If he had money, he could make his family's life a bit better.

As Lu Lin kept training, his demands for Monster Cores and food would only grow higher and greater. Relying on his parents' meager salaries definitely wouldn't cut it, and Lu Lin's own wages wouldn't come in for at least another month.

How to earn more money in this one month to ease the financial strain for himself and his family—that was Lu Lin's urgent need.

An hour later, Chen Xiaoyan finished cooking dinner.

Even though she'd deliberately cooked extra rice, she was still shocked by Lu Lin's appetite.

Lu Lin alone ate one and a half pots of rice, plus vegetables and meat. If he hadn't held back, that half-pound of hind leg meat probably wouldn't have been enough for just him.

"Good to eat a lot—eat up. When your dad was about your age, he ate even more than you."

"Mm."

Lu Lin had no time to talk, just kept wolfing down food.

Later, worried he wouldn't be full, Chen Xiaoyan used two marrow bones the butcher had thrown in to make a pot of meat soup, which Lu Lin also downed in one go with his rice.

The couple exchanged a glance, both stunned by Lu Lin's terrifying appetite.

He'd always eaten a lot before, but never this much.

After eating, Lu Lin went back down to the fitness plaza to continue his training.

This time, he didn't dare push too hard. He only practiced six rounds, stopping once Mad Ox Strength Fist broke through to the fourth layer.

He was afraid that if he trained relentlessly and exhausted himself, he'd need another meal, and that might really eat his family out of house and home.

[Host: Lu Lin]

[Level: Advanced Martial Disciple]

[Techniques: Golden Bell Shield (Simplified) Layer 4 (57/10000), Mad Ox Strength Fist (Simplified) Layer 4 (16/10000)]

[Points: 5.7]

Reaching the fourth layer of Mad Ox Strength Fist didn't grant any special technique effects like Golden Bell Shield had, but Lu Lin's punch force increased by another 1000 kilograms. He estimated his current punch force was just under 2500 kilograms.

He'd test it properly tomorrow when he went to the Martial Arts School to get the exact number.

He was only 500 kilograms short of reaching the Martial Artist level. As long as Lu Lin was willing, he could go to the Dongshan City Martial Artist Association anytime to complete the test and registration.

After all, becoming a Martial Artist came with a monthly subsidy of 5000 yuan. It wasn't much, but it was enough to help Lu Lin ease his immediate financial strain.

When he signed the contract today, Li Jiangtao had mentioned something to Lu Lin: all regular employees of the Martial Arts School could enjoy free three meals a day. At the time, Lu Lin hadn't had such a huge appetite, so he hadn't thought much of it.

Now that he remembered, he naturally understood what Li Jiangtao meant.

So he'd leave everything for tomorrow—testing his punch force, training Mad Ox Strength Fist, and eating.

If he could reach the fifth layer of Mad Ox Strength Fist tomorrow, then Lu Lin would go to the Martial Artist Association first to complete his registration. As for learning a Vitality Cultivation Method, that needed to be put on the agenda soon too.

Lu Lin had a plan in mind and was about to head home when suddenly his phone rang.

"Hm? An unknown number?"

Lu Lin hung up on instinct.

Don't let the fact that this was Blue Star during the Spiritual Energy Resurgence fool you—there were still plenty of people running phone scams under all kinds of pretenses. Lu Lin might be broke, but they'd find ways to get you to take out loans. Better not to get involved with that sort of thing.

But just as Lu Lin put his phone back in his pocket, it rang again.

Without a second word, Lu Lin hung up again.

The person on the other end, however, seemed tireless, locked in a battle of wills with Lu Lin.

Lu Lin hung up; they called back.

After Lu Lin hung up more than a dozen times, he was finally moved by their persistence and pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Lu Lin, why do you keep hanging up on me?"