Bottleneck (First Update)

The frenzy sparked by the novel eventually faded, even though Dilos accepted invitations to interviews, press conferences, and even book signings. Regardless, the hype lasted only a little over a month before it died down.

After all, Dilos was not a celebrity, so the buzz was inherently limited.

Overall, however, Dilos was quite satisfied with his gains. Honestly, the results were much better than he had anticipated, and even better than what the original author from his past life on Earth had achieved. Having a wealthy and influential friend to help with promotion was a massive advantage.

Dilos treated himself to a rare, extravagant splurge. Chloe received a red BMW X6M, a top-of-the-line Apple desktop and laptop, and several sets of expensive, stylish clothing. He also bought matching black and blue BMW X6Ms for himself and Uncle Gabe, respectively. The Lamborghini Lex had gifted him was nice, but it wasn't practical for most road conditions.

Dilos had originally wanted to buy a villa, but he was still a minor, and Gabe didn't intend to use his money for such a purchase. That plan had to be shelved.

During this time, Lex wasn't idle either. Beyond the Kryptonite in public areas, he intended to get his hands on his private collection of meteorites as well. For this, he specifically sought out Chloe to obtain the locations where the meteorites had fallen during the meteor shower years ago. He went door-to-door, secretly buying them up from families who might be living near the impact sites.

This was an absolute win for Dilos. Doing this would significantly limit the number of super-powered individuals in Smallville, invisibly sparing him from a great deal of trouble and danger.

Running into someone who had become a super-powered being because of a meteorite every now and then was not a good thing. There were two reasons: first, these people had varied abilities, and not everyone possessed good morals or self-control. Second, although Dilos was confident in his own abilities, there were some powers he couldn't effectively counter.

As for whether Lex was secretly studying the meteorites, Dilos was certain of it. He would have done the same in his position, but it didn't matter to him; in fact, it was a huge benefit.

Just like that, Dilos fell back into his usual, compact routine. One thing, however, frustrated him: while his physical strength was steadily increasing thanks to the tempering of the "Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound," his martial arts cultivation had hit a bottleneck.

In the realm of Chinese martial arts, An Jin allowed one to expel internal energy through the pores of the skin. However, because people in this era possessed less internal energy, and even less could be extracted from their blood and qi, expelling too much would lead to death from the depletion of life force.

To reach Hua Jin, the basic requirement was the ability to control every pore on the body to expel energy; this was the state of An Jin's Great Perfection. Once one broke through to Hua Jin, the use of internal energy could be slightly more liberal, because for a practitioner at the Hua Jin level, their kung fu had reached the bone marrow.

Beyond that, one could perfectly control all body hair, muscles, skin, and internal organs. They could regulate their organs effectively, with An Jin permeating the entire body. Their five senses would sharpen, their internal organs would be clean and healthy, their bones and tendons would be strong, their bone marrow would be full, and even their fingernails would become incredibly hard. With proper maintenance, living to be over 130 or 140 years old was not a problem.

Practicing Chinese martial arts required tempering the bones, muscles, and bone marrow. The first two were easy to train during the Ming Jin and An Jin stages, but the bone marrow was the hardest.

Bone marrow produced blood, and internal energy was extracted from blood and qi. When kung fu reached the bone marrow, it was equivalent to a total blood transfusion—a "cleansing of the marrow and cutting of the tendons" as described in martial arts novels. Internal energy could be efficiently extracted from the blood, and its utilization rate would be higher. As for the energy contained within the blood, it could also be absorbed better and faster from other sources.

The best way to train kung fu to the level of the bone marrow was the "Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound."

Dilos was currently at the stage of An Jin's Great Perfection, yet he had no idea how to break through to Hua Jin. He could vaguely feel that he was on the verge of mastering something, but he could never grasp the key point, leaving him stuck.

Dilos had some theories about his situation. To break through to Hua Jin, it wasn't enough to just temper the bone marrow; his comprehension of martial arts forms also had to reach a certain level.

Based on his current state, he had reached neither. First, he had only been intentionally tempering his bone marrow for a few months; even the martial arts prodigies of his past life took several years at the fastest to step into Hua Jin.

Furthermore, there was his comprehension of the forms. He primarily practiced Xingyi Quan, mixed with Baguazhang, Taiji, and Baji Quan. He vaguely remembered those legendary figures who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts—the "Invincibles" like Yang, Wang, Li, and Zhu. Each of them was a master of various schools, with profound insights into their forms. They were able to integrate these arts, master them completely, and even develop their own styles.

In short, his progress in both areas was mediocre. He was still a long way from integrating his martial arts and developing his own path, let alone achieving a profound understanding of his primary forms. Without some kind of opportunity, a quick breakthrough to Hua Jin was simply impossible.

"It seems I'll have to take it one step at a time." Once Dilos realized this, he stopped worrying and turned his attention elsewhere.

"Chloe, since when are you interested in volunteering?"

Dilos looked with some confusion at Chloe, who was enthusiastically pinning a volunteer badge to her collar. Recently, because of Dilos's fame, many people had been trying to get close to Chloe as his cousin. Knowing she was the editor-in-chief of the Torch, many had tried to use her to leak all sorts of messy rumors, keeping her busy at the school newspaper almost every day.

Seeing Chloe skip the newspaper to volunteer was a novelty for Dilos.

Chloe hesitated, then said somewhat unnaturally, "I just want to do more good deeds."

"Is it because Clark is there too?"

Dilos exposed her without hesitation. Whenever Chloe made that expression, it was nine times out of ten related to Clark. As for doing good deeds, Chloe certainly had a sense of justice and a warm heart, but it was unlikely she would volunteer on her own initiative.

"Mind your own business."

Chloe's cheeks flushed, and she glared at Dilos, clearly annoyed at being called out.

Dilos curled his lip. "You still haven't given up, have you?"

"Why should I give up?" Chloe said as if it were obvious. "He's still single. Wouldn't I look like an idiot if I gave up now?"

"If that's the case, then don't be too shy to say it whenever you see him!" Dilos retorted. What was this? She wanted to pursue someone, but was too shy to say it directly, not even dropping a hint. Dilos found it exhausting just to watch.

"Uh..." Chloe hung her head in defeat, then forced herself to perk up. "This time, I should... I should be able to say it."

Look at that—she didn't even sound confident.

Dilos shook his head helplessly, sighing to himself that his cousin was doomed to be defeated by Clark in this lifetime.

Should I help Chloe win Clark over? Dilos wondered, feeling a bit hesitant.