Sunlight Group

"Wait!"

Chen Lie saw Li Xianyu turn to leave and called out to her at once.

Li Xianyu turned back and asked, a little impatiently, "Is there something else, senior?"

Chen Lie nodded. "Show me your Cloud Smoke Steps."

Li Xianyu stared at him in confusion. But seeing his serious expression, she could only nod. "All right."

She went to the training ground nearby and began performing Cloud Smoke Steps, though doubts stirred in her mind.

Was there something wrong with Chen Xingyao's brother's head?

She made up her mind: if he still refused to help her queue after this, she would not let him waste another moment of her time.

Distracted by those thoughts, Li Xianyu finished a run-through of Cloud Smoke Steps riddled with flaws in just seven or eight minutes.

She returned to Chen Lie's side and frowned slightly. "There. Happy, senior?"

Chen Lie nodded. "Now watch mine."

With that, he walked toward the training ground. He took one step and appeared dozens of meters away, at its center.

Then his feet moved with effortless grace. Each step seemed made up of dozens, even hundreds, of smaller steps. A dozen or so afterimages appeared across the ground, weaving through it at will like wisps of smoke.

"Is... is that Cloud Smoke Steps?"

Li Xianyu's jaw dropped. She had never seen footwork so graceful and free, as unpredictable as drifting clouds and curling smoke.

The dozen or so figures that had suddenly appeared left her speechless.

Could someone who was not even a Martial Artist truly master such wondrous footwork?

On the far side of the training ground, Chen Lie took a step. The dozen or so figures scattered across it all walked toward Li Xianyu, merging one by one. In the blink of an eye, he stood before her.

"What do you think of my Cloud Smoke Steps?"

Chen Lie's question snapped Li Xianyu back to her senses.

What had just happened? It was as though a dozen Chen Lies had approached her together, then merged into one.

How was that possible? Had he moved so fast that he left afterimages?

"S-senior, you've mastered Cloud Smoke Steps to this degree?"

Li Xianyu stammered. Even the renowned instructor she had planned to study under could not have performed those steps.

Could a C-Rank Martial Art really produce a dozen dazzling figures when performed?

"One hundred thousand Star Dollars. I guarantee you'll be able to use this footwork freely within three days."

"Isn't three days too short? Can I really... Yes. All right."

Li Xianyu had been about to question him, but something occurred to her. She immediately took out a dark green Star Dollar Card and held it out to Chen Lie.

She was afraid he would change his mind. Someone capable of such miraculous footwork had to be one of Dongchuan Province's finest young martial arts talents.

If someone like that gave her personal guidance for three days, one hundred thousand Star Dollars would be a bargain.

The instructors at Martial Arts Halls taught a dozen or twenty students at a time. There was no way they could focus solely on her.

Besides, the difference between the Martial Arts Hall instructor's Cloud Smoke Steps and Chen Lie's was like night and day.

Chen Lie frowned slightly. He did not take the Star Dollar Card. "Do you have cash?"

"No, but there's an ATM outside the Martial Arts Hall. I can withdraw it for you," Li Xianyu said quickly.

"All right. Let's go."

Li Xianyu followed Chen Lie to the ATM outside the Martial Arts Hall, withdrew one hundred thousand Star Dollars in a daze, and handed him the cash.

Chen Lie took the money and nodded. "Come to the Martial Arts Hall tomorrow morning. I'll teach you the footwork."

"Okay!" Li Xianyu nodded.

Once she had agreed, Chen Lie turned and left without looking back.

Li Xianyu did not return to the Martial Arts Hall either. She went home.

Chen Xingyao's brother was that good?

Had he reached that level after seeing Cloud Smoke Steps just once, or had he known it all along?

Either way, the instructor could not perform Cloud Smoke Steps at that level, but Chen Xingyao's brother could.

Her older sister was among the best Elite Students in her Elite Class, yet even she could not hold a candle to Chen Xingyao's brother.

"If he's mastered a Martial Art far beyond what even the instructors can manage, Chen Xingyao's brother's Blood Qi Value must be incredibly high."

An increase in Blood Qi Value was closely tied to the Martial Arts a person had mastered. Once it rose high enough and hit a bottleneck, learning a new Martial Art was the only way to spur further growth.

Could Chen Xingyao's brother already be a candidate for the Provincial Youth Genius Group?

No wonder Chen Xingyao had been so flustered when they had run into them last time, claiming her brother's Blood Qi Value was only a little higher than hers. Had she been afraid of revealing his information?

As soon as Li Xianyu got home, her mother came up to her. "Yuyu, did you sign up for Teacher Qu's Cloud Smoke Steps Guidance Class?"

"Yes, I signed up."

Li Xianyu did not dare tell her mother that she had used the tuition money for something else, so she lied.

"Good. Go get some rest, then come out for dinner in a little while."

"Okay."

Li Xianyu hurried back to her room.

Meanwhile, Chen Lie returned home and put the one hundred thousand Star Dollars in cash on his bed.

Earning that money today had shown him a way to make a living with his own abilities.

On Blue Star, fully learning a C-Rank Martial Art really did cost several hundred thousand Star Dollars.

Perhaps he could take on a few more students and collect tuition from them.

With Chen Lie's Grandmaster-level insight into martial arts, learning a low-level Martial Art was about as difficult as a college student solving an elementary-school addition problem.

One glance at a C-Rank Martial Art like Cloud Smoke Steps was enough for him to grasp the gist of it. He had even drawn on the B-Rank Martial Art Phantom Steps, which he had learned in his previous life, to improve it.

"Now that I have one hundred thousand Star Dollars, I should think about buying something to boost my nutrition."

Chen Lie looked at the money on the bed and fell into thought.

Right now, he had no way to buy the supplements he needed. The basic nutritional products on the market would not come close to meeting his needs.

Blood Essence Fluid and the like might be gentle and easy for the body to absorb, but to him, they were not worth the cost.

He needed something packed with nutrients that was also affordable.

One hundred thousand Star Dollars might not be a fortune, but it was more than enough to cover a year's daily expenses for an ordinary family on Blue Star. It only seemed insignificant because martial arts training cost so much.

Then Chen Lie remembered that his friend Wang Hui's family seemed to have connections everywhere. Wang Hui's father, Wang Kui, was a director at Dongchang City's Government Affairs Hall and also served on a political and business committee. He dealt with all kinds of people and might be able to help.

Chen Lie took out his Communicator and called Wang Hui.

"Chen Lie? Need something? Just so you know, if you want me to go to the Virtual Experience Pavilion, I can't make it for the next few days."

"Why? Are you busy?" Chen Lie asked.

"To tell you the truth, my Blood Qi Value just passed one Ka. My old man got me a bottle of Blood Essence Fluid, so I need to train hard these next few days to absorb it. I really can't spare the time."

"Don't worry, this won't take long. I want you to ask your dad whether there are any supplements that are cheap but extremely nutritious."

"Where would you find something like that? What you're asking for is ridiculous. How could something that nutritious be cheap?"

"There's nothing?" Chen Lie asked.

"Well, there is, but most people can't use it."

"Tell me more," Chen Lie said at once.

Wang Hui's voice came through the Communicator. "You probably know that the Exotic Beast Meat sold on the market undergoes special processing, then soaks in a valuable medicinal solution for three days before it can be sold.

"Processed Exotic Beast Meat loses more than half its nutrients, but the energy in the meat becomes gentle enough for the human body to absorb.

"Raw Exotic Beast Meat is full of nutrients, but its energy is so violent that an ordinary Martial Arts Student can't digest it at all."

"I see," Chen Lie said. "The nutritious, affordable option you mean is Raw Exotic Beast Meat."

"Exactly. Only Martial Artists or people with exceptionally high Blood Qi Values can eat Raw Exotic Beast Meat. Anyone whose Blood Qi Value is a little too low won't be able to digest it.

"The people who can use it don't want it, and the people who want it can't use it. That keeps the price down."

"So you know where to get some?"

"Of course. I have a cousin twenty years older than me who manages a warehouse for Sunlight Group. He's not a senior executive, but his job comes with plenty of opportunities to make money on the side.

"All the Raw Exotic Beast Meat Sunlight Group ships in from the border passes through his hands. He sets aside some scraps to resell, making at least a million Star Dollars a year off the books."

"Your cousin's only a warehouse manager. He can skim that openly?"

"Not exactly. A single Exotic Beast yields at least ten thousand jin of meat, and at least several hundred jin of that clings to its bones.

"The energy in the meat attached to the bones is even more violent and powerful than in the other cuts. Even after processing, ordinary Martial Arts Students can't eat it.

"If my cousin didn't resell those scraps, they'd probably just gather dust as waste in a Sunlight Group warehouse."

"All right," Chen Lie said. "Ask him how many jin of Raw Exotic Beast Meat I can get for one hundred thousand Star Dollars."

"What do you want it for?" Wang Hui asked through the Communicator.

"Don't worry about that. I have a use for it."

"Fine. I'll hang up and call you back in a bit."

"Okay."

A few minutes after Chen Lie ended the call, Wang Hui called back.

When Chen Lie answered, Wang Hui said, "I asked. My cousin sells it to other people for six thousand Star Dollars a jin. I told him we're close, so he'll let you have it for five thousand a jin."

"Good. Find some time today or tomorrow to come with me and buy the Exotic Beast Meat from your cousin."

"Then let's meet at Sunlight Tower first thing tomorrow morning," Wang Hui said.

"Okay."

Chen Lie ended the call.