The Bagua Furnace Proves Its Worth

After listening to Lu Huaichuan, Lu Huaiqian's face abruptly darkened, and his fingers unconsciously tapped the tabletop twice.

Over the past few days, several suspicious candidates had already crossed his mind.

Yet he had never once included the Lin Family among them.

Lu Huaiqian believed he had treated the Lin Family well.

If not for the Lu Family's open and covert support,

the Lin Family could never have amassed such wealth in Yinshan County.

Precisely because of this, the Lin Family had always fixated on marriage alliances as a shortcut.

It was only that Lu Jing'an had little interest in the Lin Family's young lady.

The Lin Family's daughter, who had returned from studying abroad, had also repeatedly refused.

Thus, Lu Huaiqian had never given his consent.

Though the marriage had not gone through, the care and support due to them had not diminished in the slightest.

Who would have thought that what he received in return would be a knife in the back?

He remained silent for a long while. A cold glint surfaced in his eyes before he finally said in a deep voice, "The Lin Family... don't move against them for now.

They alone cannot stir up such waves.

Wait for the person behind them to step out on their own."

Lu Huaichuan understood and nodded solemnly. "Understood, Brother."

The sunlight in the courtyard was just right.

Lu Jing'an meticulously completed the disciple ceremony.

A cool, soft piece of armor now lay in his hands, and he could barely contain his joy.

Only after the servants removed the incense table and the other items did Chen Xuan ask warmly,

"Young Master, you have already grasped the basics of stance training. Next, you should learn some moves.

Is there anything in particular you wish to learn?"

Lu Jing'an's heart stirred. Suppressing his delight, he respectfully replied, "I will follow Teacher's arrangements."

After a brief pause, Chen Xuan said, "I have some understanding of fist techniques, so I shall first teach Young Master fist techniques."

Lu Jing'an felt warmth rise in his heart upon hearing this.

By saying this, Chen Xuan was truly treating him as an initiated disciple and intended to impart everything he knew.

As for the words "some understanding," they were merely modesty.

Lu Jing'an had personally seen that red affix, [Fist Technique Grandmaster]. How could that merely count as "some understanding"?

Though excited inside, his expression remained calm as he steadily answered, "Yes, Jing'an will listen to Teacher."

"Young Master should rest for today. I will make preparations.

Tomorrow morning, we shall officially begin practicing fist techniques."

"Alright."

Lu Jing'an nodded, then added,

"Master, you watched me grow up as well. From now on, you may simply call me Jing'an."

Chen Xuan still shook his head slightly. "It is more appropriate to call you Young Master."

Knowing that this was simply Chen Xuan's temperament, Lu Jing'an did not press the matter.

It was only a form of address. So long as the sentiment was there, that was enough.

After returning to his room and dismissing everyone,

Lu Jing'an eagerly began studying the earlier prompt.

After some exploration, he finally understood.

The prompt was actually triggered by the Bagua Furnace, which had remained dormant for so long.

With a thought, the gold-threaded soft armor in his hand vanished into thin air.

The next moment, he could clearly see in his mind that it was floating quietly inside the Bagua Furnace.

Two options then appeared: [Refining] or [Repair].

If he chose Refining, the physical item would disappear,

and be converted into the affixes contained within it.

If it possessed no affixes, it would become pure [Energy Points].

As for Repair,

he would need to gather the required materials according to the prompt.

Then, with the aid of Energy Points, he could restore the item to its original state, perhaps even making it more effective than before.

For instance, repairing this soft armor required five feet of hundred-year python skin and ten feet of gold thread.

Once mended, its defensive power could double.

Refining was certainly not an option at the moment. He urgently needed this soft armor for protection.

As for repairing it, he lacked the materials and could only set the thought aside for now.

But another question surfaced in his mind: why had the Bagua Furnace not reacted when he had previously consumed the hundred-year Wild Ginseng?

After thinking it over briefly, Lu Jing'an understood.

What he had used then had not been an entire ginseng root.

Testing it would be simple.

Hundred-year Wild Ginseng was rare, but it was no difficult matter for the Lu Family.

Lu Jing'an immediately rose and went straight to find his father, Lu Huaiqian.

Both Lu Huaiqian and Lu Huaichuan were in the study.

After greeting them with a salute, Lu Jing'an directly explained his purpose.

Naturally, his excuse was that he needed supplements for martial training. That was not entirely a lie.

Before Lu Huaiqian could speak, Lu Huaichuan readily agreed.

"That is easy enough. I will have someone deliver it to you shortly."

That was the benefit of being born into a great household.

Resources were within easy reach, sparing one the hardship of endless running about.

"Thank you, Second Uncle." Lu Jing'an thanked him, then casually asked about the progress of the assassination case.

Lu Huaichuan glanced at his elder brother and, seeing that he had no intention of stopping him,

carefully told Lu Jing'an everything they currently knew, including their suspicions toward the Lin Family.

At the end, he asked in a half-testing manner, "Jing'an, considering the Lin Family's young lady, do you...?"

"The Lin Family?"

The image of that woman immediately surfaced in Lu Jing'an's mind: dressed in Western clothes, constantly speaking of Europe, with a trace of arrogance between her brows.

He had not liked such a person before, and Lu Jing'an did not like her now either.

So Second Uncle's question of whether they should spare the Lin Family never even arose for Lu Jing'an.

"Second Uncle, there must be others assisting the Lin Family from behind the scenes. We can leave them alone for now."

"As for the reason for sparing them, we can say as Second Uncle suggested that I am temporarily letting the Lin Family off for the sake of their young lady."

"That way, they will certainly lower their guard."

"The more they relax, the easier it will be for them to expose their tracks."

After hearing Lu Jing'an's words,

Lu Huaichuan nodded repeatedly.

"Brother, Jing'an is becoming more and more capable of standing on his own."

Lu Huaichuan said excitedly to Lu Huaiqian.

Lu Huaiqian's expression remained stern. He did not pick up that thread of conversation and merely said to Lu Jing'an in a grave voice,

"Now that you have taken a master, you must respect your teacher and value the Way. Train diligently and do not slack off."

"Your son will remember Father's teachings."

Lu Jing'an answered respectfully, then added,

"Father, if Nine-Fingered Yama is killed or captured, may I go take a look?"

Lu Huaiqian merely assumed that he still remembered the hatred of being assassinated.

Thinking that he wanted to witness his enemy brought to justice with his own eyes, he did not overthink it and nodded in agreement.

That night, a whole hundred-year Wild Ginseng of excellent quality was delivered to Lu Jing'an's room.

Holding the entire ginseng root in his hand, that familiar prompt indeed appeared again.

This time, Lu Jing'an carefully examined the conditions for [Repair].

Lu Jing'an was somewhat surprised.

The repair conditions were:

another hundred-year Wild Ginseng root.

At the same time, it required Spirit Spring water and Five-Colored Soil.

"Using one hundred-year Wild Ginseng to repair another hundred-year Wild Ginseng is abstract enough."

No sooner had Lu Jing'an muttered this to himself

than he froze.

"No, no, repairing it isn't meant to make it more perfect."

"It is an improvement in quality."

"So after repair, the hundred-year Wild Ginseng will most likely become two-hundred-year Wild Ginseng!"

"If that is the case, then the significance is completely different."

"This is not merely an extra hundred years."

"The increase in medicinal efficacy definitely will not be just double, either."

The more Lu Jing'an thought about it, the more certain he became that his deduction was correct.

If that were true, its value would increase by far more than double!

Its medicinal effects would differ like heaven and earth.

It was only that he had never heard of Spirit Spring or Five-Colored Soil, so he could only slowly search for them in the future.

For now, Lu Jing'an decided to first try [Refining].

With a thought, the Wild Ginseng in his hand abruptly vanished.

[Refining in progress. Estimated completion time: 1 hour.]

An hour later, a clear "ding" rang out, and the prompt appeared again:

[Refining complete. Energy Points obtained: 1 point.]

Looking at the Attribute Panel again, changes had indeed occurred.

Lu Jing'an looked over his Attribute Panel once more and saw several changes.

A plus sign had appeared after Attack, Defense, and Spirit.

A plus sign had likewise appeared after Standing Stake in the Cultivation Method section.

This meant that Lu Jing'an's Energy Points could also be used directly on cultivation methods.

What Lu Jing'an found most unbelievable was

that plus signs had also appeared after the affixes.

These Energy Points could be used on affixes as well, directly altering an affix's quality.

This discovery delighted Lu Jing'an immensely.

"I thought you might be the most useless, but it turns out you are the one with the most promise."

The Bagua Furnace had shown no reaction before.

Based on experience, Lu Jing'an had originally guessed

that the Bagua Furnace probably purified the energy from various foods and such.

Now, it seemed that he had underestimated its upper limit.

Lu Jing'an did not rush to add points to himself.

This was not a matter of life and death right now.

So he could save up the Energy Points first.

He could add them when he truly needed them.