The Staff Takes a Month, the Blade a Year, and the Spear a Lifetime

It had been more than half a month since he signed the contract in the main city district.

The day after returning from the main city district, Luo Zhe spent the whole day treating the neighbors in his apartment building to a housewarming feast. As for Aunt Xiao's family, who lived on the same floor, Luo Zhe had even helped them buy the suite they were living in and transferred the property deed to them, as thanks for all the care they had shown him over the years.

After that, with the moving company's help, a large truck loaded with all his belongings took him to Bright Moon Residential Area, the Warrior Residential Area in Yangzhou City.

Although Yangzhou City had four districts, it had only one Warrior Residential Area: Bright Moon Residential Area, located in the city center.

Nearly every martial artist who grew up in Yangzhou City moved to Bright Moon Residential Area. After all, they had lived in Yangzhou City since childhood, and all their friends were here. It was hard to leave one's hometown.

But there were always exceptions. After all, people climbed toward higher ground, while water flowed downhill. Compared with the main city district, Bright Moon Residential Area was ultimately a lower-tier neighborhood.

Besides, there were only three War General Level martial artists in all of Bright Moon Residential Area.

Among them, Wu Tong, the chief instructor of the Yangzhou City Limit Dojo, had long since retired and no longer fought monsters. Only Chen Gu, known as Cannon, and Kong Quan, known as Eagle Blade, were still in their prime and active in the Wilderness Zone, frequently heading out to hunt monsters.

These two were currently the leading martial artists in Bright Moon Residential Area.

Speaking of Wu Tong and Chen Gu, Luo Zhe had already had a brief chat with them at a small gathering of martial artists from the Extreme Martial Arts Hall a few days earlier. They had gotten along quite well, and Chen Gu had even warmly invited Luo Zhe to join his Fire Hammer Squad.

After all, they belonged to the same martial arts hall, and well-informed people like Wu Tong and Chen Gu had heard something about a talented martial artist like Luo Zhe, whom a director had personally come to recruit ahead of time. Naturally, they were willing to put in the effort to get to know him. Who knew? A few years down the road, once he had grown stronger, they might have something to ask of him.

In the end, no one could escape fame, fortune, and power. Wu Tong and Chen Gu weren't saints; they had large families to support, so naturally they valued these personal connections all the more.

As for the last War General Level martial artist, Kong Quan, he was still out in the Wilderness Zone hunting monsters and had yet to return, so Luo Zhe had not met him.

Late at night on June 30, at Villa 199 in Bright Moon Residential Area.

It was a three-story detached villa with a courtyard, a basement, and a very large terrace. It covered 512 square meters, or nearly 800 square meters if the basement, courtyard, and spacious terrace were included.

But for a loner like Luo Zhe, such a large detached villa was far too much.

So, to make use of the extra space and make it easier to train, Luo Zhe had hired someone to remove part of the second-floor walls, opening it up to the Martial Arts Training Hall. This added more than twenty square meters to the hall's original 120, bringing it to well over half the total area of the second floor.

During the half month he had lived in Bright Moon Residential Area, Luo Zhe had found the biggest differences between a detached villa and his old apartment building were that the bedroom was larger and there was a dedicated Martial Arts Training Hall. He no longer had to sneak up to the rooftop every night to practice.

More importantly, he no longer had to worry about being woken by passing car horns!

Late at night, the streetlights in the neighborhood shone through the Martial Arts Training Hall's windows, casting enormous patches of light across the walls.

At the very center of the hall, Luo Zhe wore loose training clothes and repeatedly swung a specially made wooden blade. Sweat had soaked his face, but he seemed not to notice. His sharp gaze remained fixed straight ahead, and he strove to make every swing perfect.

"1,997, 1,998, 1,999, 2,000!"

With his final swing, Luo Zhe finally stopped. He returned the specially made wooden blade to the weapon rack and wiped the sweat from his face with a towel.

Only then did he notice that his clothes were already soaked through.

Swinging the blade for hours on end put an immense strain on his body. The specially made wooden blade wasn't as sturdy as the real Blood Shadow Battle Blade, but it weighed just as much. In fact, after special materials had been added to it, it weighed even more than the original.

After resting briefly, Luo Zhe sat cross-legged on the floor and entered the Dimensional Space.

After more than half a month of experimenting, Luo Zhe had discovered that although ordinary training in the Dimensional Space was somewhat more effective than training outside, it wasn't nearly as effective as he had imagined.

After all, the body's cells could only hold so much. Without sufficient tempering, no matter how abundant the cosmic energy outside was, his body couldn't absorb it all.

By chance, Luo Zhe had discovered that when he practiced his blade techniques outside until his body was utterly exhausted, then entered the Dimensional Space to cultivate Genetic Origin Energy, the amount he cultivated per unit of time increased. He could also keep it up twice as long as usual.

So before cultivating Genetic Origin Energy, Luo Zhe now pushed his body to its limits in his own Martial Arts Training Hall, then entered the Dimensional Space to train.

With the two methods combined, over the past half month, not only had Luo Zhe's blade techniques visibly improved, but his physical fitness had also increased significantly.

Although he hadn't had a chance to test himself yet, Luo Zhe could vaguely sense that he wasn't far from War General Level.

Originally, Luo Zhe had only practiced with a blade to prepare for the Martial Artist Combat Assessment and, later on, for training in the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade. He hadn't expected to stumble upon this unexpected benefit.

The World Destroyer and the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade were the two strongest manuals in the world, as Luo Zhe had learned during his conversation with Wu Tong.

The World Destroyer was the spear technique practiced by Hong, the world's strongest fighter. It was hailed as the world's most powerful offensive technique. Easy to begin learning, but extremely difficult to master!

The Nine-Fold Thunder Blade was the blade technique practiced by Thor, the world's second-strongest fighter. It was hailed as the most difficult blade technique in the world. A single swing could split mountains and cleave peaks. It was hard to begin learning, and even harder to master! Legend had it that among all the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade practitioners worldwide, only Thor himself had mastered it.

"The staff takes a month, the blade a year, and the spear a lifetime!"

As far as Luo Zhe was concerned, a staff was a blunt weapon. If he wanted to use one to fight monsters, it probably wouldn't work much better than his own fists. Besides, he had a childhood trauma involving staffs, so it was out of the question!

Pass!

As for the spear, it wasn't hard to pick up. Even someone who had never practiced could hold a spear and instinctively make basic thrusts.

What's more, even a beginner with a spear, as long as he wasn't timid, would be very difficult for someone who had practiced blade techniques for a year to beat.

The principle that a longer weapon had the advantage had held true from ancient times to the present!

But though it was easy to pick up, it was difficult to master. Learning to use a spear well took a great deal of effort.

Although the spear's techniques seemed to have virtually no limit to their power, and even after a lifetime of study there would still be room to improve, the World Destroyer really was an unbelievably powerful manual. Besides, with the Dimensional Space at his disposal, Luo Zhe didn't need to worry about having enough time to practice.

The problem was, Luo Zhe simply had no interest in spears!

Whenever he held a spear, Luo Zhe always felt as if he had returned to his childhood, sneaking off with Aunt Xiao's neighbor's fire poker to poke a hornets' nest.

That was another tragic story!

As for wielding a great blade, Luo Zhe could accept that. Especially the name Nine-Fold Thunder Blade—it just sounded incredible. Blade in hand, slay Chen the dog—er, slay monsters! That feeling was unbeatable!

Most importantly, the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade wasn't just a blade technique. It also came with a movement technique and contained a unique Guidance Technique! It was like paying for one blade manual and getting the movement manual and Guidance Technique manual thrown in for free!

What a bargain!

Besides, although the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade was said to be the most difficult blade technique in the world, the real challenge lay in its extremely demanding requirements for physical strength, muscle sensitivity, and so on. With ten times as much time as an ordinary person, Luo Zhe could overcome its difficulties through steady, painstaking practice.

With the Dimensional Space at his disposal, Mom no longer had to worry about my studies!