Awareness

Over a week later, inside the training room.

Bang, bang, bang! A sandbag was being knocked back and forth.

Lu Hao treated the sandbag opposite him as an enemy, slamming his fists into it one after another.

"Alright, let's stop here for today."

Hearing Li Siyuan speak from the side, Lu Hao stopped and wiped the heavy sweat from his face with a towel.

"Little Lu, your progress these past few days has been impressive. You're improving rapidly; your basic leg and fist techniques are almost at the minor success stage. We can start practicing basic blade techniques tomorrow."

"It's all thanks to Teacher Li's guidance. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know when I'd be able to hone my combat techniques to this level."

"Little Lu, that's your own talent; it doesn't have much to do with me. Even if you switched to another teacher, the result would be the same."

After giving Lu Hao a few pointers on how to exert force, Li Siyuan left.

Lu Hao continued to practice his fist techniques for a while longer before heading to the washroom to take a shower.

Lu Hao opened his panel.

[Slaughter Point System]

[Host: Lu Hao]

[Blood Vitality: 157/199 cal+]

[Spirit: 231/279 Hz+]

[Storage Space: 1 cubic meter]

[Slaughter Point: 1175]

Over the past week, Lu Hao had not only been learning basic leg and fist techniques but had also pushed his Blood Vitality to its limit. His Slaughter Points had also increased to over a thousand.

Back when his Blood Vitality reached 199, Lu Hao had tried to add points, but the panel indicated insufficient Slaughter Points. It wasn't until he tried again after returning home yesterday that the panel prompted him that it would cost 1000 Slaughter Points.

It seems this barrier for the third bone-marrow refinement is truly difficult to break. Given that one Slaughter Point is currently equivalent to 10 cal of Blood Vitality, it would take 10,000 Blood Vitality to break through this barrier.

That is 10,000 Blood Vitality—the normal level for a Rank 7 Grandmaster. For a non-martial artist to need that much, even gorging on pills wouldn't be enough to reach such a level.

Not to mention, even 1,000 cal of Blood Vitality would be enough to burst a non-martial artist, so the third bone-marrow refinement is difficult beyond measure.

I really wonder how talented those monsters are who can achieve the third bone-marrow refinement on their own.

After washing up, Lu Hao set off for the slaughterhouse; accumulating Slaughter Points was a task that could not be delayed.

"Little Lu, here again? You're the earliest one here today as well. It's good to be young."

Just as he reached the entrance of the slaughterhouse, he heard a voice from behind. Lu Hao turned around to see the owner of the slaughterhouse, whom he had encountered frequently over the past week.

The owner's surname was Zhang. He wasn't a martial artist, but his son was, attending Northwest Martial Arts University. However, his son didn't focus on martial arts cultivation and instead squandered money recklessly at school.

The owner was extremely helpless about this and had tried many methods to no avail. He had originally planned to support his son until he reached a high rank so he could return to inherit the slaughterhouse, but now it seemed that account was a lost cause.

Seeing Lu Hao arrive earliest every day and work diligently during the slaughtering process, he felt that this was what a "child of someone else" should look like. He also imagined a tragic backstory for Lu Hao in his mind, so he was quite caring toward him.

"Hello, Boss Zhang. I didn't have anything to do at home, so I thought I'd come over early."

This slaughterhouse was the only place Lu Hao could currently obtain Slaughter Points, so how could he not come early?

After chatting with the owner for a few moments, Lu Hao hurried into the facility to start harvesting Slaughter Points. These were all shiny, precious points; killing one fewer meant losing two Slaughter Points.

Seeing Lu Hao so passionate about his work, the owner couldn't help but sigh that children from poor families grow up early. That Old Wu was truly senile, saying the kid was mentally disturbed—isn't he doing just fine?

In the evening, after dinner, Lu Hao told his mother that he intended to undergo the third bone-marrow refinement.

"No way. It hasn't even been half a month since your second bone-marrow refinement. Why are you rushing into the third one now? Let's get your Blood Vitality to its limit first, then we'll see if you should proceed."

Bai Qiuyao looked at Lu Hao with a face full of worry.

"Mom, my Blood Vitality has already reached its limit. It's at 199, so I have to proceed with the third bone-marrow refinement, otherwise, my Blood Vitality won't be able to progress any further."

"Ah? Hao'er, you haven't been taking any forbidden drugs, have you? How else could your Blood Vitality reach its limit so quickly?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Qiuyao grabbed Lu Hao's arm and channeled a wisp of her own Blood Vitality to inspect his body.

However, there was nothing unusual. On the contrary, his blood was surging, vast and powerful. This indicated that his Blood Vitality hadn't been forcibly boosted by pills.

But this wasn't scientific. Generally, after the second bone-marrow refinement, it takes at least three to four months of nourishment to bring Blood Vitality to its limit, and during this period, one cannot stop the supply of pills like Blood Vitality Pills.

Yet, it had only been about half a month since Lu Hao's breakthrough, and he had already reached the limit without taking any pills. It seems his son has encountered some kind of fortuitous opportunity.

"Hao'er, remember: if anyone asks when you achieved your second bone-marrow refinement, tell them it was last December. Say you consumed a lot of pills and it took you two months to reach the limit to break through to the third refinement. Do you understand?"

Bai Qiuyao looked at Lu Hao and said sternly.

"Yes, Mom, I understand. If anyone asks, I'll say that." Lu Hao knew his mother had realized something, but there was no other way. After all, one needs someone to watch over them for safety during a breakthrough, so the natural speed of improvement couldn't be hidden.

However, since his mother didn't press him but instead told him to move his second refinement date back and claim he used a large amount of pills, she was teaching him how to cover his tracks.

Exposing some things in front of his parents was fine; they wouldn't leak it anyway. There was no way to hide these improvements, but as long as he grew fast enough, no one would dare to make a move.

He would play it steady in the early stages, with his parents shielding him from the front. As long as he grew up quickly, he wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.

Don't you see that in the original story, once Fang Ping reached rank seven, no one dared to probe his secrets anymore, whereas back when he was at a low rank, plenty of people tried to investigate him.

Therefore, strength is everything.

"Don't worry, I know my own limits. My vitality has reached its absolute peak, and it can't be raised any further; otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen to undergo triple bone-marrow honing."

Lu Hao said with a smile.

"Fine. Since Hao'er has already stepped onto the path of a martial artist, Mom shouldn't interfere too much. From now on, just follow your own ideas. But if you ever need anything, you must tell your father and me. We might not be able to help you with much else, but we can certainly assist you quite a bit when it comes to resources."

Bai Qiuyao did not know what Lu Hao's fortuitous encounter was, but she knew that she could no longer impose her own thoughts and worldview onto him, so she could only express her support for his martial path and offer whatever help she could.

All she could do was shield him from the covetous eyes of the outside world until he grew strong enough.

"Mm, I know. If I need anything, I'll be sure to ask."

Lu Hao said as he walked toward the martial arts training room.