On April 8, Lu Hao had good luck. A high-rank first-grade martial artist had chosen the Life-Death Arena. After waiting so many days, he'd finally found someone.
Why this martial artist had chosen the Life-Death Arena—whether he wanted the prize money or planned to bet on himself and fight for a future—didn't matter to Lu Hao. Most unaffiliated martial artists who came here had one problem or another. Maybe they'd committed some crime, or maybe they simply wanted to grow stronger. So even if Lu Hao killed his opponent, he wouldn't feel guilty.
He'd chosen the Life-Death Arena. Once they stepped onto the platform, their lives were in fate's hands. His opponent should understand such a simple truth.
Because his opponent was a high-rank first-grade martial artist, and because this was a Life-Death Arena match where they'd be fighting for their lives, Lu Hao felt considerably more nervous. He had more Vital Blood than his opponent, but not by much.
Lu Hao took the platform. After sustaining a minor injury to one arm and fighting through several rounds, he successfully defeated his opponent. After all, Lu Hao's saber techniques were far beyond what these unaffiliated martial artists could handle. They weren't even on the same level.
The Life-Death Arena match earned Lu Hao 207 Slaughter Points, fattening his previously empty wallet once again. He could temper a few more bones and was close to reaching the middle stage of the first grade.
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That's right, you heard correctly. Lu Hao hadn't even reached the middle stage of the first grade yet. How could he kill a high-rank first-grade martial artist? It was thanks to the increase in Vital Blood from tempering his bones three times. Otherwise, Lu Hao would never have been able to beat his opponent.
That afternoon, Lu Hao entered a low-rank second-grade Standard Match. Even first-grade peak martial artists were now putting too much pressure on him, so he had no choice but to move on to the early stage of the second grade.
The difference between a low-rank second-grade martial artist and a first-grade peak martial artist was that the former had begun tempering body parts that couldn't be chosen at the first grade. Their Vital Blood didn't increase by much, either.
In general, Vital Blood didn't increase much in the lower three grades. Combat in those grades relied mainly on the boost provided by combat techniques. It wasn't until the middle three grades that the gap in Vital Blood between each grade widened.
Lu Hao fought two low-rank second-grade matches that afternoon, and both proved highly rewarding. Generally speaking, even unaffiliated martial artists who reached the second grade could learn some Basic Combat Techniques.
So Lu Hao was under a lot of pressure in both fights. No one had guided his opponents in their training, so they might not have mastered their techniques, but they'd practiced for a long time, honing them again and again.
Even a pig could fly after that much practice. Lu Hao was dragged into two grueling battles and took quite a beating in both.
One victory, one defeat.
That evening, after dinner,
Lu Hao used the Slaughter Points he'd earned during the day and tempered four bones in a single night. Unfortunately, he had only fifty Slaughter Points left. That was his minimum reserve, and he couldn't touch it. In case anything unexpected happened, it would let him quickly recover his Vital Blood.
His total number of tempered bones had reached 28.
On April 11, after killing that high-rank first-grade martial artist, Lu Hao had once again run out of Slaughter Points. He could only keep tempering his bones the hard way.
Lu Hao was especially happy today. During a fight against a low-rank second-grade martial artist, his leg techniques had finally broken through and become fully integrated: gathering force, releasing force, and Adhesion Force.
With his perfected leg techniques, Lu Hao was now terrifyingly strong. In the afternoon's fight, he easily defeated his low-rank second-grade opponent.
That evening, Lu Hao thought about his plans. His leg techniques had reached their limit. Next, he would spend half a month honing his fist and saber techniques at the Duel Arena, then officially start taking on missions.
After all, his improvement here was already reaching a bottleneck. He was earning too few Slaughter Points. It would be better to take the initiative and hunt criminals on missions.
With Lu Hao's current abilities, first-grade martial artists hiding out as fugitives were no match for him.
If he killed one first-grade criminal a day, he could earn nearly 200 Slaughter Points, enough to temper four bones. That would let him advance to the second grade quickly.
Yes, that settled it. Having made up his mind, Lu Hao continued tempering his bones.
What Lu Hao didn't know was that the martial arts world's biggest scandal had emerged that very day: Huang Bin, the man Lu Hao had been thinking about, had been drugged by an ordinary person named Fang Ping.
Let's go back to when Lu Hao was fighting at the Duel Arena.
Meanwhile, in Yang City,
Fang Ping, who had transmigrated to this world, had already noticed something strange about the "weird neighbor" upstairs. With the mindset that striking first was better than suffering later, Fang Ping took the initiative.
He'd spent a fortune in advance to buy Soul-Confusing Water. Yes, he'd bought it from an adult store.
With his innocent, harmless looks, Fang Ping tricked Huang Bin and successfully got into his home. Under the pretense of borrowing water to take some medicine, he slipped the drug into Huang Bin's drink. Huang Bin didn't notice.
Then, with a little acting, he got a peak second-grade martial artist to drink it. That was how the kid Fang Ping scored the first big windfall of his life.
It was a pill intended for someone preparing to break through to the third grade, worth around three million. Although he'd contacted Wang Jinyang and would have to split the money with him, even half of it was enough to solve Fang Ping's immediate financial problems.
And so Fang Ping began his rise.
All anyone could say was that Huang Bin was a disgrace to the martial arts world. He was a second-grade martial artist, yet an ordinary person had taken him down with ease. If word got out, most people would laugh themselves sick.
Over the next half month, Lu Hao didn't get a single Life-Death Arena match. He was deeply disappointed. Without Slaughter Points, tempering his bones on his own was just too slow.
The good news was that his fist techniques had reached mastery, and his Blood Battle Mad Blade was coming along well, too.
He could unleash one-tenth of his Vital Blood with the first slash and one-fifth with the second. Those were already trump cards. As for the third slash, Lu Hao couldn't perform it yet; he didn't have enough Vital Blood.
Still, Lu Hao estimated that he'd be ready once he broke through to the middle stage of the second grade. After all, ordinary martial artists could usually perform the third slash at the early stage of the third grade. Thanks to tempering his bones three times, Lu Hao could use it at the middle stage of the second grade.
Now, the opponents Lu Hao faced at the Duel Arena were mid- and high-rank second-grade martial artists.
He was basically unbeatable against mid-rank second-grade martial artists. Only high-rank ones could trade blows with him, with the wins going both ways.
At this level, taking on first-grade missions would be a sure thing—easy as pie.
That evening, Lu Hao told his mother he planned to start taking missions at the Detective Bureau the next day. Bai Qiuyao agreed. She'd already learned about her son's progress from Viper.
First-grade missions were no problem for Lu Hao now. With Viper watching over him, he could take them on by himself. So Bai Qiuyao didn't refuse anymore.
After all, Lu Hao had grown up. His future should be in his own hands, not Bai Qiuyao's. All she needed to do was show her support.
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