In the Swallowed Star World, Yangzhou City, Bright Moon Residential District.
Half a month had passed since that life-or-death battle in the Wilderness Area.
Liu Xu had recovered much faster than expected. Her 9-Series inner armor had saved her life, while the Limit Dojo's medical technology had helped her bones and internal organs heal at an astonishing rate. In just half a month, her three broken ribs had healed, and the fracture in her left arm had been completely repaired. Even the doctors had marveled at her recovery.
"It's mainly because she's in a good mood," Luo Fang said with a laugh as she packed up the room. "With the captain keeping her company every day, how could she not get better fast?"
Liu Xu's cheeks reddened slightly, but she didn't deny it. She glanced at Lin Zheng standing by the door, a smile she couldn't quite hide tugging at her lips.
Lin Zheng didn't respond, but the tips of his ears turned faintly red.
Lin Yun stood nearby, watching the couple finally get together after three years of awkwardness. He was happy for them, too.
On the day Liu Xu was discharged, Lin Zheng called Lin Yun to the Limit Dojo.
"Liu Xu's recovered," Lin Zheng said bluntly. "We were originally planning to head to the Wilderness Area in half a month. We've decided to take you out for a change of scenery during that time."
Lin Yun was slightly surprised. "Where are we going?"
"To the nearby county-level cities." Lin Zheng spread a map across the table and pointed to several cities around Yangzhou City. "There are fewer monsters there than in City No. 013, but they're closer and safer. There are almost no Lord-level Monsters, and High-Level Beast Generals are rare. They're suitable for..."
He paused and glanced at Lin Yun.
"Suitable for practice." Liu Xu picked up where he left off as she entered. She was carrying two thick notebooks, their covers labeled Movement Technique Insights and Nine-Layered Thunder Blade Detailed Explanation.
"The captain and I discussed it." Liu Xu sat across from Lin Yun and pushed the notebooks toward him. "We'll train you for the next half month. You can work on your Nine-Layered Thunder Blade and movement technique and try to make a breakthrough before we enter the Wilderness Area."
Lin Yun opened the notebooks. They were filled with the experience and insights Liu Xu and Lin Zheng had accumulated over the years. Every page had detailed diagrams and annotations, with important sections marked.
"Sister Liu, Captain... These are too valuable." Lin Yun looked up, warmth welling in his heart.
"What do you mean, valuable?" Liu Xu waved a hand. "You saved my life. The captain and I owe you one. What's a little something like this?"
Lin Zheng said nothing, but his gaze rested on Lin Yun for a moment before he gave a slight nod.
Lin Yun didn't refuse again. He knew that Lin Zheng and Liu Xu weren't good at expressing their feelings. They never spoke their gratitude aloud; they showed it through their actions.
"Then when do we start?" Lin Yun asked.
"Tomorrow." Lin Zheng stood up. "Go home and get ready today. Get a good night's rest. We leave first thing in the morning."
Over the next half month, the three members of the Thunder Blade Squad—Lin Zheng, Liu Xu, and Lin Yun—embarked on an intense monster-hunting and training expedition to the county-level cities around Yangzhou City.
Their first destination was Jiangdu City, north of Yangzhou City.
This county-level city had been destroyed during the Great Nirvana Period. It wasn't very large, and its buildings were mostly low-rise apartment blocks and factories. Monster density was far lower than in City No. 013. Most of the monsters were Beast Soldier Level, with a few Beast General Level monsters appearing from time to time.
"This place is good for working on the basics." Liu Xu stood on the roof of an abandoned factory, surveying the street below. "There aren't too many distractions, so you can focus completely on your movement technique and blade work."
Lin Zheng was more direct. He found a lone Primary Beast General Iron-Backed Porcupine and had Lin Yun face it head-on.
"Use the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade." Lin Zheng stood to one side, arms crossed. "Don't use Spiritual Force. Keep your physical strength at Beginner Warrior level, and take it down with your blade work and movement technique."
Lin Yun took a deep breath, gripped the Blood Shadow Battle Blade, and faced the Iron-Backed Porcupine.
The porcupine was about the size of a calf, its body covered in coarse bristles. Its two tusks gleamed a bone-white in the sunlight. When it saw Lin Yun, it let out an angry roar and charged with its head lowered.
Lin Yun dodged to the side and swung his blade.
"Shhk—"
The blade skimmed across the porcupine's back, leaving only a shallow white mark. He had put in a little too much strength. The blade had slipped between its bristles but missed a vital spot. The porcupine cried out in pain and jerked its head around, its tusks grazing Lin Yun's waist.
"Too much force." Lin Zheng's voice came from the side. "The essence of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade is speed, not brute force. There's still too long a gap between your first and second bursts of force. Again."
Lin Yun adjusted his breathing and faced the porcupine once more.
The second time, his blade was faster, but the angle was off. He only managed to slice off one of the porcupine's ears.
The third time, his blade was fast and his angle was right, but the second burst of force didn't follow through. The blade caught on the porcupine's shoulder blade.
"Again."
The fourth time, the fifth time, the sixth time...
Lin Yun practiced all morning. At first, it took him more than ten strikes to kill a Primary Beast General. Then it took only three. And finally—one.
"Shhk—smack!"
The two sounds overlapped almost perfectly. A flash of blade light cut through the air, and the head of a Primary Beast General Shadow Cat fell to the ground. Lin Yun lowered his blade and panted heavily, his eyes bright with excitement.
"You've improved." Lin Zheng nodded. "But it's not enough yet. You've mastered the second layer, but you haven't even reached the threshold of the third. Focus on practicing the third layer over the next few days."
The essence of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade's third layer was to unleash a third burst of force on top of the first and second. That brought the total to four overlapping bursts of force, increasing its power to 2.8 times the original. That was only 0.7 times more powerful than the second layer, but the difficulty rose exponentially.
Lin Zheng spent the entire day explaining the Force Application Technique for the third layer.
"The key to the third layer is Resonance." Lin Zheng held a short blade and demonstrated as he explained. "The first burst of force is the foundation, the second is the buildup, and the third is Resonance. When the frequencies of all three bursts match, they resonate. Their power isn't simply added together—it's multiplied."
He struck with the blade.
Three sharp sounds rang through the air: the first high-pitched, the second dull, and the third long and drawn out. They overlapped, forming a strange resonance that made everyone's eardrums buzz.
"Did you hear that? That's Resonance." Lin Zheng lowered his blade. "Don't focus on power with the third layer yet. Focus on matching the frequencies. Once the three sharp sounds overlap perfectly, you'll have reached the threshold."
Lin Yun listened carefully, committing every word Lin Zheng said to memory.
He spent every day that followed practicing.
In the mornings, he trained in the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade with Lin Zheng. In the afternoons, he practiced his movement technique with Liu Xu. At night, he reviewed what he'd learned during the day and practiced the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade and the new secret techniques he'd purchased in the Coiling Dragon World. He made the most of every moment in both worlds, and his progress was astonishingly fast.
For movement technique, Liu Xu taught him a basic technique called Flowing Cloud Steps. It didn't prioritize speed, but rather "fluidity" and "naturalness." His steps had to be as light as drifting clouds, and his center of gravity had to shift like flowing water. Each movement had to flow seamlessly into the next.
"The stages of movement technique are, in order, 'basic,' 'Micro-Level,' 'perfect,' and 'Conception,'" Liu Xu explained as she demonstrated. "Micro-Level isn't about speed, but precision. Your body must obey your will completely. If you want to move one inch to the left, you mustn't move even half an inch farther. Your feet must sense every rise and dip in the ground and adjust your center of gravity automatically, so you can stay balanced on any terrain."
She moved through the ruins, her steps light as a swallow. Her body slipped between collapsed walls and broken slabs, every movement flowing smoothly, without a single wasted motion.
"Your fundamentals are already solid," Liu Xu said to Lin Yun when she stopped. "You're just one step away from Micro-Level. But taking that step requires a trigger—it might come in a battle or a sudden insight. You can't rush it."
Lin Yun nodded and continued practicing.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Lin Zheng, Liu Xu, and Lin Yun swept through the county-level cities around Yangzhou City again and again. Jiangdu City, Yizheng City, Gaoyou City... They left their footprints in every county where monsters could be found.
They weren't interested in ordinary Beast Soldier Level monsters. Their targets were Beast Generals.
Primary Beast Generals, Intermediate Beast Generals, High-Level Beast Generals—whenever they came across one, they never let it escape. Lin Yun took the lead, while Lin Zheng and Liu Xu supported him from the sides. The three grew more and more coordinated.
Over the half month, they killed more than five hundred Beast General Level monsters. Most were Primary Beast Generals, but the sheer number made up for it. The materials from each Primary Beast General sold for an average of eight to ten million. Five hundred of them brought in more than four billion. Including the occasional Intermediate and High-Level Beast General, their total haul was worth over five billion.
They divided the profits according to their contributions. Lin Yun received the largest share: 2.5 billion. Lin Zheng and Liu Xu each received over a billion.
"We made money way too easily," Liu Xu said, staring at the balance in her account. "Before, we'd have been lucky to make a few hundred million in half a month."
"That's because we didn't dare fight like this before," Lin Zheng said. "If you stay in one area too long, you'll attract a monster horde. Even a War God couldn't withstand being surrounded by hundreds of Beast Generals."
He glanced at Lin Yun, a note of approval in his eyes. "But things are different with Lin Yun around. As a High-Level War God Spiritual Master, he can sense the slightest disturbance within a kilometer. He spots the monster hordes before they can gather in force, so we can withdraw at our leisure."
Liu Xu nodded. Lin Yun's Spiritual Force had played a crucial role over the past half month. During battles, he could precisely control his throwing knives to strike the monsters' vital points. In the lulls between fights, he could scan the surrounding area with his Spiritual Force and warn them of danger in advance. With him around, it was as if they had an extra pair of eyes that could see for miles and ears that could hear the wind.
"But what surprised me most was how quickly you've improved." Liu Xu gazed at Lin Yun, astonishment in her eyes. "In half a month, you went from the second layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade to the third, and your movement technique reached Micro-Level. It took me more than ten years to reach Micro-Level. You've nearly caught up in half a month."
"I owe it to you and the captain for teaching me so well," Lin Yun said sincerely.
"Good teaching only gets you so far. You also have to learn quickly." Lin Zheng offered a rare word of praise. "You're the most talented person I've ever met."
Lin Yun smiled without replying.
He knew that his rapid progress wasn't due to talent and hard work alone. It was also thanks to the advantage of practicing in two worlds. Practicing the secret techniques in the Coiling Dragon World had given him a far deeper understanding of power than ordinary people could achieve. Many techniques that Lin Zheng and Liu Xu had to explain repeatedly were already familiar to him from practicing secret techniques in the Coiling Dragon World. That was why he understood them as soon as he heard them and mastered them as soon as he tried them.
At dusk, the three returned to Yangzhou City.
Lin Zheng treated them to dinner at the Limit Hall's restaurant, ordering a table full of dishes. Liu Xu rarely drank, but she had a few glasses that evening. Her cheeks flushed as she leaned against Lin Zheng's shoulder, her eyes half-closed and a smile on her lips. Lin Zheng didn't pull away, letting her rest against him.
Lin Yun sat across from them, warmth filling his heart as he watched.
"Lin Yun," Lin Zheng said suddenly. "You've reached the third layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, and your movement technique has reached Micro-Level. You've now met all four requirements in the contract you signed when you joined the Limit Dojo."
Lin Yun nodded. The requirements for entering the Elite Training Camp were to increase his punching power by more than double after first cultivating Genetic Origin Energy, reach Junior War General level, achieve Micro-Level movement technique, and exert at least twice his punching power. He had met every requirement and far surpassed them.
"After our next trip to the Wilderness Area, I'll apply to enter the Elite Training Camp," Lin Yun said.
"The Elite Training Camp..." Liu Xu opened her eyes, longing flickering in them. "It's where the world's top geniuses gather. I've heard Hong and Thunder God often go there to give lectures."
"Your strength will make another leap once you get there," Lin Zheng said. "The camp has instructors skilled in all kinds of movement techniques and blade styles, as well as the legendary Dragon Blood. If you perform well enough, I've heard you can obtain Dragon Blood to strengthen your body."
Dragon Blood.
Lin Yun's eyes lit up. Dragon Blood was a specialty of the Limit Dojo. It was supposedly extracted from a Dragon-type King Level monster that surpassed Lord Level. It could greatly strengthen a Warrior's body, and had fetched prices of over a hundred billion at auctions.
With his current physical strength at the peak of Intermediate War God, taking Dragon Blood would let him break through to High-Level War God with absolute certainty. By then, with his High-Level War God Warrior cultivation and Spiritual Force at the peak of High-Level War God, he would deserve the title "Invincible War God."
After dinner, Lin Yun returned to his villa in Bright Moon Residential District alone.
His grandfather, Lin Guodong, had already gone to bed. The living-room light was still on, and a bowl of reheated tremella soup sat on the table. Lin Yun picked it up and took a sip. It was just the right temperature.
He went upstairs and entered the cultivation room, sitting down cross-legged.
Closing his eyes, he shifted his consciousness to the Coiling Dragon World.
Moonlight poured over the small grove on the hill behind Ernst Academy. His other body sat cross-legged on a bluestone, with the Seven-Element Magic elements slowly circulating around him.
For half a month, he had never stopped cultivating in either world. In the Swallowed Star World, his Nine-Layered Thunder Blade had broken through to the third layer. In the Coiling Dragon World, his insights into the Lightning Law had deepened in step. He had also made good progress with the few secret techniques he'd purchased later. The feeling of that power flowing between the two worlds and resonating fascinated him.
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