Disappointment

After killing the second first-rank martial artist, the panel updated and awarded him 187 Slaughter Points,

The second martial artist was worth fewer Slaughter Points than the young man he had killed first. Lu Hao felt that even if Slaughter Points weren't gained by absorbing Vital Blood, they were still linked to Vital Blood. After all, both opponents had been at the middle stage of the first rank.

The second martial artist had clearly tempered fewer bones than the first, so his Vital Blood had been lower, and he had earned fewer Slaughter Points.

After that Life-Death Arena match, Lu Hao didn't fight again. Instead, he continued reviewing the battle. Although he had killed his opponent, that didn't mean there was nothing worth learning from him.

That evening, at the dinner table.

"Lu Hao, you killed someone today, didn't you?"

Bai Qiuyao asked from across the table. She had noticed something was different as soon as Lu Hao came home. If the old Lu Hao had been a weapon still being forged, now he was a keen blade, newly sharpened.

Bai Qiuyao could sense a murderous aura about Lu Hao. It hadn't been there over the past few days, which meant he had changed.

"Yeah. I fought two Life-Death Arena matches today. My opponents were weak, nothing worth mentioning."

Lu Hao spoke casually. He didn't want his mother to worry too much, and the truth was, his opponents hadn't given him much trouble. As for the minor injuries, he was already used to them.

"Lu Hao, when you killed someone for the first time today, did you feel uncomfortable at all? If you did, you don't have to force yourself to endure it. You can talk to me."

Bai Qiuyao said worriedly. After all, killing someone was different from ordinary sparring. The biggest hurdle was the one in your heart. If you didn't adjust in time, it wasn't impossible to become a maniac who killed for pleasure.

"Mom, I didn't feel uncomfortable. I've fought and seen enough that, to me, killing someone isn't any different from a normal fight. Do I seem any different today? I don't, right?"

"Then remember, Lu Hao: don't let killing control your true self. You're not killing for the sake of killing."

Bai Qiuyao watched Lu Hao eating with gusto. He seemed unchanged, but she still wasn't reassured and knew she would have to keep an eye on him.

"Don't worry, Mom. I won't kill without a reason. I understand."

After dinner, Lu Hao went to the Martial Arts Training Room. He had plenty of Slaughter Points now, so he began tempering his bones with Vital Blood while replenishing it at the same time.

Lu Hao felt an endless stream of Vital Blood pouring into his bones and tempering them. But he knew it was only an illusion, an effect of the Slaughter Points restoring his Vital Blood.

An hour later, Lu Hao successfully finished tempering one bone, bringing his total to fourteen.

Compared to his previous pace of one bone every two days or so, this speed was like comparing a bicycle to a rocket.

Although he had spent nearly fifty Slaughter Points, he could earn more at the Life-Death Arena tomorrow.

Lu Hao continued tempering his bones.

The next day, Lu Hao got up early and headed to the Duel Arena. If he wanted to improve quickly, he needed Slaughter Points, and the best place to get them was the Duel Arena.

Overnight, Lu Hao had tempered five bones in total, spending 250 Slaughter Points. It wasn't that he had run out of Slaughter Points; his mental strength had simply been depleted too much by the time he got that far. He could use Slaughter Points to restore it, but he wasn't extravagant enough to spend them on that yet. A good night's sleep would restore most of it, so why waste the points?

If he could temper five bones a day like he had yesterday, he would break through to the second rank in less than half a month, and reach the third rank in under a month and a half.

Even Lu Hao was astonished when he calculated how quickly he could cultivate. With a cultivation speed like that, who would worry about not being strong enough?

Lu Hao arrived at the Duel Arena eager to earn Slaughter Points, only for Viper to tell him that nobody was competing in the Life-Death Arena today.

Viper explained that Lu Hao had never realized the Life-Death Arena wasn't held every day. Having one or two matches a month was already considered good.

As for yesterday, Viper and the other person had originally been scheduled to fight. But when Lu Hao wanted to enter the Life-Death Arena, Viper had split up their match and arranged for him to fight Lu Hao instead.

No wonder his mother had asked the doorman if there was a Life-Death Arena match the first time she came here. So they were that rare.

That meant he couldn't fight in a death match today.

Lu Hao's original plan had fallen apart before it even began. There was nothing he could do, so since he was already there, he went to the Standard Match area and kept fighting peak first-rank martial artists, honing his martial arts skills.

On April 1, Lu Hao spent the entire day at the Duel Arena honing his martial arts skills, and made considerable progress.

That evening, he went home and continued tempering his bones. He spent 200 Slaughter Points to temper four bones, keeping fifty in reserve to restore his Vital Blood if he encountered danger.

He had tempered twenty-two bones.

On April 2, there was still nobody fighting in the Life-Death Arena. He spent another day honing his martial arts skills against peak first-rank martial artists.

The Life-Death Arena—why wasn't anyone fighting there? Weren't there a lot of conflicts between martial artists? Why didn't anyone come to the Life-Death Arena?

Lu Hao didn't know that even when martial artists had a grudge, they usually settled it in a Standard Match. People generally didn't fight in the Life-Death Arena. You only had one life, after all. Once you lost it, it was gone.

By April 7, a whole week had passed, and Lu Hao still hadn't encountered anyone looking to fight in the Life-Death Arena. It seemed he really had been lucky a week ago to run into two people who wanted to fight there.

There was nothing he could do. Even though his plans had fallen through, life had to go on.

Lu Hao's routine was very regular now. In the morning, he went to the Duel Arena to hone his martial arts skills; in the afternoon, he continued training; and at night, he tempered his bones at home.

He had tempered twenty-four bones and was close to reaching the middle stage of the first rank. His Vital Blood had also risen to 265 units, putting him at the level of a weaker second-rank martial artist.

I wonder if Fang Ping has crossed over by now. At this point in the story, wasn't there a foolish peak second-rank martial artist over there?

Huang Bin—the only peak second-rank martial artist in the entire story who had been outsmarted and subdued by an ordinary person.

How many Slaughter Points would I get if I killed Huang Bin? Lu Hao couldn't help shedding tears of humiliation.

Unfortunately, he didn't know what was happening now or whether Fang Ping had already made his move. He only remembered most of the major events. If he hadn't happened to think of this little detail today, he might have forgotten it completely.

Forget it. He didn't know what was going on with Huang Bin. If he rushed over, he might only make things worse. After all, against a peak second-rank martial artist, he definitely couldn't win unless he desperately used Slaughter Points to restore his Vital Blood.

If it happened, it was his luck; if not, it was fate.

He was still getting stronger at a decent pace.