At the dinner table, Lu Hao listened to his mother talk about interesting things at the Detective Bureau, occasionally joining in the conversation.
"Mom, I plan to temper my bones for the second time."
"Temper your bones a second time? Hao, that's no easy feat. Wouldn't it be better to break through to the Martial Artist realm directly? You can still reach a high level that way."
Bai Qiuyao was worried. She had already noticed that Lu Hao's Vital Blood had reached its peak. The only way for him to break through now was to temper his bones a second time, but the 179 barrier wasn't easy to break.
If he failed to break through, he might damage the foundation he had already built, and there was considerable danger involved.
"Mom, I'm confident. And I want to go to Magic Martial University, to see where my brother died and the enemies he fought."
"Besides, tempering my bones a second time will give me a much stronger foundation. You understand better than I do that getting ahead early means staying ahead."
"...Your brother was a hero, but you don't have to follow in his footsteps. I'm sure his spirit would want you to have your own goals, instead of blindly chasing after him."
Bai Qiuyao couldn't bring herself to tell Lu Hao about the Earth Caves. It was cruel that his younger brother didn't even know exactly how his older brother had died.
"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm confident I can face humanity's enemies. I'll carry my brother's will with me and keep moving forward, one step at a time."
Lu Hao looked at his mother resolutely. In his memories, his older brother had been so gentle and always treated him well, bringing him delicious food every time he came home. But now he had died in the Magic City Abyss. Once Lu Hao was strong enough, he would put the Magic City Abyss to rest.
"...Sigh. I can't stop you, Hao. But you have to protect yourself. You're the only son I have left. If anything happened to you, I truly don't know whether I could go on living."
As Bai Qiuyao spoke, tears began to fall. Her husband had spent half his life stationed in the Earth Caves, and they could only see each other a handful of times each year. Her elder son had died in the Earth Caves, and now her younger son wanted to follow in his big brother's footsteps. She was truly afraid.
She was afraid her younger son would die in the Earth Caves too. She wanted to argue with him, even to protect him by keeping him away from martial arts, but she couldn't do that. The situation in the Earth Caves was worsening, and sooner or later, they would have to face it.
That was the tragedy of this era.
Seeing his mother cry, Lu Hao hurried to comfort her.
"Mom, I'll be careful. My big brother's spirit will protect me. He'll make sure my path in martial arts goes smoothly."
After dinner.
"Hao, if you're going to try tempering your bones a second time, do you have enough money? Do you have Bone Tempering Pills, Body Strengthening Liquid, and Blood Vitality Pills? If you don't, make sure you tell me."
"Don't worry, Mom. I've prepared everything. I'm not short on money for now, and I'll definitely tell you if I need anything."
Lu Hao returned to his room and took two bottles of pills from the cabinet. There were three Bone Tempering Pills and three Blood Vitality Pills inside, along with three bottles of Body Strengthening Liquid. They had all been bought by the previous owner of this body. He had originally bought five Blood Vitality Pills, but used two when he tried to break through the barrier that morning.
That attempt had caused his Vital Blood to flow backward and damaged the meridians in his body, creating the scene that had greeted him when he first transmigrated. As for the damaged meridians, they had already mostly recovered thanks to a second-grade Healing Pill.
Looking at the three bottles of pills before him, he calculated the cost: three first-grade Bone Tempering Pills cost 1.5 million, three first-grade Blood Vitality Pills cost 900,000, and three bottles of Body Strengthening Liquid cost 900,000.
That was 3.3 million yuan just for those supplies. Martial Artists really were money-hungry beasts. And these were just the resources an ordinary person needed to temper their bones a second time. One could only imagine how much it would cost to reach a higher level.
He put the pills back in the cabinet. He could use Slaughter Points to restore his Vital Blood, which worked much better than Blood Vitality Pills. Tempering his bones with the restored Vital Blood would also work better than using Bone Tempering Pills. The only thing he would probably need was Body Strengthening Liquid.
Lu Hao began practicing the Stance Technique in the training room. He practiced the Horse Stance. His father had taught him to hold a horse stance from a young age, so he had a solid foundation. He had started practicing the Horse Stance in high school and was now close to the second stage, the Solid Stance Realm.
So his task for the day was to practice the Horse Stance for five hours. He set aside the Tempering Method for now. His Vital Blood hadn't broken through yet, so he couldn't temper his bones. For today, he would focus on the Horse Stance.
Five hours later, Lu Hao lay on his bed, drenched in sweat. The Horse Stance was all about standing firmly and steadily. He had already grasped the beginnings of it and figured he would break through soon.
The next day, his mother got up early, made breakfast, and left. At six, Lu Hao's body clock woke him automatically.
After breakfast, he began the new day with the Horse Stance.
At noon, after eating something outside, Lu Hao headed to the slaughterhouse.
Now that he knew what Slaughter Points were for, the pigs before him looked like Slaughter Points on legs. If he spent the whole day slaughtering them, just how many points would he earn?
But that was only a passing thought. If he spent all day at the slaughterhouse, his mother might find out, and even if she didn't, he wouldn't have time to practice the Stance Technique.
The Stance Technique was the foundation. If he didn't practice it properly, he wouldn't be able to master the combat techniques later. Was he supposed to become a Vital Blood Martial Artist using Slaughter Points alone, only to get beaten by someone weaker?
That was impossible. Now that he had a system, he was going to become invincible among his peers and someone who could fight across realms.
Lu Hao killed the pigs coming his way with quick, practiced movements, without even blinking. Old Wu, standing nearby, was dumbfounded.
He thought the kid was a real Killing God. Yesterday, he had still seemed a little green, but today he was slaughtering pigs without even blinking. And judging by how excited he looked, he might be a freak.
Maybe he'd been oppressed for too long, and it had twisted his mind.
Old Wu watched Lu Hao slaughtering pigs from a distance. He didn't dare go any closer; he was genuinely afraid Lu Hao might slaughter him too.
Lu Hao was thinking that his mental strength should have mostly recovered by that evening. Then he could break through the Vital Blood barrier and start tempering his bones for the second time, which would put his mother more at ease.
At the same time, he was wondering whether he should keep going to school during the second half of his senior year. He figured he could temper his bones a second time before school started. One or two students at Beiding No. 1 High School had already done so, but they had taken leave to train at home for the college entrance exams.
Should he talk to his mother about doing the same? There was only so much he could learn in high school, and it would eat into the time he spent at the slaughterhouse. If he trained at home instead, perhaps he could reach the upper first-grade level by the college entrance exams.
Yes, that was what he would do. After tempering his bones a second time, he would talk to his mother and ask to take leave so he could train at home.
Thinking this, he looked at the +2 +2 increase on his panel and couldn't help humming a little tune.
Meanwhile, Old Wu was keeping an eye on Lu Hao. Seeing him smile at the pigs and whistle, Old Wu became even more convinced he was right: this was a kid whose mind had been twisted by the pressures of life.
He'd better go easier on his own little brat from now on. He didn't want him to end up like this... Old Wu shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
Lu Hao had no idea how badly he had shocked an old butcher.
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