The Moon Staff, the Year Blade, and a Lifetime of the Spear

It has been over half a month since the contract was signed in the main urban district.

The day after returning from the main district, Luo Zhe spent an entire day hosting a housewarming dinner for the neighbors in his old apartment building. As for Aunt Xiao and her family on the same floor, Luo Zhe even helped purchase the suite they were currently living in and transferred the property deed to them as a reward for the care they had shown him over the years.

Afterward, with the help of a moving company, he loaded his belongings into a large truck and moved to the martial artist residential area of Yangzhou City—Bright Moon Residential Area.

Although Yangzhou City has four major districts, there is only one residential area for martial artists, which is Bright Moon Residential Area located in the city center.

Almost all martial artists who grew up in Yangzhou City move to Bright Moon Residential Area; after all, having lived in Yangzhou City their whole lives with friends nearby, it is difficult to leave one's homeland.

However, there are always exceptions. After all, "people climb to higher places, and water flows to lower ones." Compared to the main urban district, the status of Bright Moon Residential Area is ultimately lower.

Furthermore, at present, there are only three War General Level martial artists in the entire Bright Moon Residential Area.

Among them, the chief instructor of the Yangzhou City Limit Dojo, Wu Tong, has long since retired and no longer fights monsters. Only the prime-aged Cannon (Chen Gu) and Eagle Blade (Kong Quan) remain active in the Wilderness Zone, frequently venturing out to hunt monsters.

These two are currently the leading figures among the martial artists in Bright Moon Residential Area.

Speaking of Wu Tong and Chen Gu, Luo Zhe had already had a brief conversation with them during a small gathering of martial artists at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall a few days ago. Both sides had a pleasant talk, and Chen Gu even enthusiastically invited Luo Zhe to join his Fire Hammer Squad.

After all, belonging to the same martial arts hall, well-informed individuals like Wu Tong and Chen Gu were aware of a genius martial artist like Luo Zhe, who had been personally recruited by an executive ahead of time. Naturally, they were willing to put in the effort to get to know him; perhaps years later, when he had grown, they might even need his help.

In this life, one can never escape the pursuit of fame and fortune. Wu Tong, Chen Gu, and the others are not saints; they have large families to support, so they naturally place greater importance on such social interactions.

As for the last War General Level martial artist, Kong Quan, Luo Zhe has yet to meet him because he is still in the Wilderness Zone hunting monsters and has not yet returned.

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

This is a three-story detached villa with a courtyard, a basement, and an extra-large terrace. The floor area is 512 square meters, and if one includes the basement, courtyard, and terrace, the total area approaches 800 square meters.

But for a lone wolf like Luo Zhe, such a massive detached villa is simply too large.

Therefore, to utilize the extra space and facilitate his own training, Luo Zhe hired people during his spare time to demolish some of the walls on the second floor, connecting them to the Martial Arts Training Hall. He added over twenty square meters to the original 120-square-meter space, occupying more than half of the total area of the second floor.

In the half-month he has lived in Bright Moon Residential Area, Luo Zhe feels the biggest difference between this detached villa and his previous apartment is that the bedroom is larger, and there is a dedicated Martial Arts Training Hall, so he no longer has to sneak up to the rooftop every night to practice like he used to.

More importantly, he no longer has to worry about being woken up by the sound of passing train whistles!

Late at night, the light from the street lamps in the residential area shines through the glass of the Martial Arts Training Hall, refracting onto the walls and forming huge patches of light.

In the center of the hall, Luo Zhe, wearing loose training clothes, is currently holding a specially made wooden blade, swinging and slashing continuously. Although sweat has soaked his cheeks, he seems completely unaware, his gaze remaining sharp as he stares straight ahead, striving for perfection in the angle of every swing.

"1997, 1998, 1999, 2000!"

With the final slash, Luo Zhe finally stopped his movements, placed the specially made wooden blade back on the weapon rack, and wiped the sweat from his face with a towel.

Only then did Luo Zhe realize that his clothes were already soaked through with sweat.

Swinging a blade for several hours puts a tremendous load on the body. Although the specially made wooden blade is not as sturdy as a real Blood Shadow Battle Blade, its weight is not a bit less; in fact, after adding special materials, it is even heavier than the original version.

After a short rest, Luo Zhe sat cross-legged on the floor and entered the Dimensional Space.

After more than half a month of exploration, Luo Zhe discovered that while training normally in the Dimensional Space yields slightly better results than in the outside world, it is not as effective as he had imagined.

After all, the capacity of the body's cells is limited. If they have not been sufficiently tempered, even if the cosmic energy in the outside world is abundant, the body has no way to fully absorb it.

By chance, Luo Zhe discovered that when he practiced blade techniques in the outside world until his body was exhausted, and then entered the Dimensional Space to practice Genetic Origin Energy, not only did the amount of Genetic Origin Energy cultivated per unit of time increase, but the duration of his training was also a full double what it usually was.

For this reason, before each session of Genetic Origin Energy training, Luo Zhe would push his body to the limit in his home's Martial Arts Training Hall before entering the Dimensional Space to train.

With these two combined, over the past half-month, not only has Luo Zhe's blade technique improved visibly, but his physical fitness has also seen a significant boost.

Although he hasn't had a chance to test it yet, Luo Zhe can vaguely feel that he is not far from the War General Level.

Originally, Luo Zhe practiced the blade just to cope with the Martial Artist Combat Assessment and to prepare for practicing the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade in the future, never expecting to find such an unexpected bonus.

World Destroyer and Nine-Fold Thunder Blade were things Luo Zhe learned about during his conversation with Wu Tong; they are the two strongest manuals in the current world.

World Destroyer, the spear technique practiced by the world's number one powerhouse, Hong, is known as the world's number one offensive method. It is easy to enter but extremely difficult to master!

Nine-Fold Thunder Blade, the blade technique practiced by the world's second powerhouse, Thor, is known as the most difficult blade technique in the world to learn. A single slash can split mountains and break cliffs. It is difficult to enter, and even harder to master! Legend has it that among the many practitioners of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade globally, only Thor himself has mastered it.

A staff takes a month, a blade takes a year, and a spear takes a lifetime!

For Luo Zhe, the staff is a blunt weapon. If he wanted to rely on it to fight monsters, he figured it wouldn't be any more useful than his own fists. Plus, he had childhood trauma involving a staff, so it was out of the question!

PASS!

As for the long spear, it is actually not difficult to pick up. Even someone who has never practiced it can instinctively perform basic thrusts when holding a long spear.

Moreover, even for a novice holding a long spear, as long as they have the courage, it would be very difficult for someone who has practiced blade techniques for a year to defeat them.

The principle that "an extra inch of length is an extra inch of power" has held true since ancient times!

However, while it is easy to start, it is hard to master! To practice the long spear well, one needs to put in a lot of effort.

Although the techniques of the long spear have almost no upper limit to their power, and even after a lifetime of study, there are still areas to practice and improve, and World Destroyer is indeed a powerful manual beyond measure. Furthermore, with the Dimensional Space in hand, Luo Zhe doesn't need to worry about lacking time for practice.

But the problem is, Luo Zhe really has no feeling for the long spear!

Whenever he holds a long spear, Luo Zhe always has the illusion of returning to his childhood, stealing a fire poker from Aunt Xiao's house next door to poke a hornet's nest.

That was another tragic story!

As for wielding a big blade, Luo Zhe expressed that he could accept it, especially the name Nine-Fold Thunder Blade, which sounded very impressive the moment he heard it. Especially with a blade in hand, killing Chen Dog—oops, I mean, killing monsters—that feeling is top-notch!

Most importantly, the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade is not just a blade technique; it also comes with matching movement techniques and contains a unique Guidance Technique! It is equivalent to paying for one blade technique manual and getting the movement technique and Guidance Technique manuals for free!

How cost-effective is that!

Moreover, although the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade is known as the most difficult set of blade techniques in the world to learn, its difficulty mainly lies in its extremely high requirements for physical strength, muscle sensitivity, and so on. By relying on ten times the time compared to ordinary people, Luo Zhe can completely overcome the difficulties through sheer persistence.

With the Dimensional Space in hand, Mom no longer has to worry about my studies!