Dojo Master's Mercy

The sun had completely set, and the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was beginning a new day.

"Are there any new announcements today?"

Fang Zhen, who had just logged in, yawned and asked curiously as he watched the crowd gathered in front of the announcement board.

The timing of High Martial Descent was almost identical to real-world time, which meant Fang Zhen had to train during the day and stream his gameplay of High Martial Descent at night, working twenty-four hours straight.

You could say he was working harder than a donkey on a production team.

The only fortunate thing was that playing High Martial Descent allowed his real-world body to rest. As long as he didn't die and log out frequently, it didn't put much of a strain on his mind.

Even so, Fang Zhen felt like he was so busy he was about to burst into flames.

If he didn't see his stream's popularity hitting new highs every day after logging off, and the number of people pre-registering for High Martial Descent rising from over 30,000 to 50,000, with more and more viewers demanding he let them play instead, Fang Zhen might have chosen to slack off in High Martial Descent, perhaps by following behind the Dojo Master to see if he could glean any quest clues from him.

"There aren't any new announcements, but a new cultivation technique has been released," said Outlander Gunslinger, who had arrived earlier, sounding quite excited.

"A new cultivation technique? What technique?"

Fang Zhen became even more curious and walked forward to check.

Currently, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall offered only three cultivation techniques, but each one was incredibly useful.

After learning the Soul Shocking Breathing Technique, one's physical fitness would improve, greatly increasing work efficiency.

After learning the Crushing Stone Fist, explosive power would increase, greatly increasing work efficiency.

After learning the Leopard Shadow Steps, movement speed would increase, greatly increasing work efficiency.

That's right, every cultivation technique taught by the Dojo Master could significantly boost work efficiency, allowing them to earn points much faster.

Now that a new cultivation technique was available, it was undoubtedly another one that could greatly increase work efficiency, bringing his new weapon even closer.

Star Explosion Meditation Technique, the top-tier meditation technique for the Martial Apprentice level. By visualizing a star exploding, one's spirit would explode like a star, thereby tempering the mind and strengthening the spirit. (Requires 1000 Martial Hall Points to redeem)

"Gunslinger, am I seeing things?" Fang Zhen looked at the words "Martial Apprentice level" and the fact that it wasn't divided into sections, plus the low price of only one thousand points, and deeply suspected he was hallucinating. "Is this the Dojo Master's mercy this time? Or did the Dojo Master glitch?"

The previous three cultivation techniques were all at a low level, Martial Apprentice level, but learning all of them would cost tens of thousands of points. You couldn't even think about it without that much.

Now, a Martial Apprentice level meditation technique was being sold for only one thousand points. It was hard to believe it wasn't a glitch.

"I don't know, but I think we should redeem it as soon as possible. Otherwise, it'll be hard to redeem once the system is fixed," Outlander Gunslinger said with a slight shake of his head, a hint of unwillingness in his tone. "However, one thousand points is still a bit high. Unless we can get a share of the points from the last dungeon run, we'll have to work a few more days to redeem it."

"If the plan gets delayed, so be it. Miss this chance, and there won't be another," Fang Zhen said without hesitation, walking towards Lin Qi, intending to redeem the Star Explosion Meditation Technique immediately.

The other players present also looked at each other, agreeing with Fang Zhen.

One thousand points. You couldn't ask for a better deal.

A Martial Apprentice level cultivation technique. This was unprecedented. Moreover, it tempered the spirit. Although they didn't know what tempering the spirit would do in the game, practicing it couldn't hurt.

"Finally, it's here."

Lin Qi watched the approaching players, feeling quite pleased.

These players had previously scammed over 20,000 points from him, and now they were finally going to return some of it.

As for why he didn't sell the Star Explosion Meditation Technique in sections or at a higher price, the reason was simple: it wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

The entire Star Explosion Meditation Technique was one large diagram with a few smaller diagrams, plus some text.

How could he divide that?

One character per section, or one diagram per section?

And practicing the Star Explosion Meditation Technique could genuinely cause an explosion, turning one into an idiot in minutes. This was clearly stated in the detailed explanations.

You could say the Star Explosion Meditation Technique was the product of a crazy idea by some mad scientists over a hundred years ago.

This meditation technique only existed in theory, and to learn it, one had to continuously become an idiot. If such a problematic technique wasn't sold cheaply, and some player actually redeemed it and became an idiot, who else would dare to learn it?

Of course, players wouldn't actually become idiots; it would just mean dying. But if they couldn't master it and didn't know its specific effects, no player would redeem it.

Rather than letting it sit on his hands, it was better to sell it cheaply to the players so they could all experience what a star explosion was like.

In the martial hall's lounge, it didn't take long.

Ten players each received a copy of the Star Explosion Meditation Technique, consuming 10,000 points from the ten players. Lin Qi was very satisfied.

In the past, copying martial skills, even just the first volume, took a long time, and his hands would get tired from writing.

But copying the Star Explosion Meditation Technique this time was completely different. Lin Qi even cut out the diagrams from the detailed explanations and pasted them directly, adding his own text. In total, it was less than five pages. Compared to copying other cultivation techniques and martial skills, he had made a huge profit.

Moreover, the consumption of 10,000 points would also help these players settle down and focus their energy on repairing the martial hall. After all, the points he gave for tasks like patching walls and laying floors daily were much higher than those for exploration.

Lin Qi watched the players leave, then shifted his gaze to the lower part of his vision.

System: Mission One 'Completely Repair Obsidian Martial Arts Hall', current repair progress 4.7%.

If it weren't for the players slacking off to dig holes, the repair progress, with over a hundred people working together for a whole day, would definitely have exceeded 5%.

"Should I go trade again and recruit more vagrants?" Lin Qi quickly shook his head. "No, this kind of trading can't be too frequent. I'll go again after some time."

The meat of the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceros was rare. If he took it stealthily, even once every few days was risky. If he did it once every day or two, it would be like openly telling others that the meat he had was stolen, and they should come and kill him.

Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, training ground.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In an instant, the ten people repairing the martial arts hall walls clutched their heads and fell to the floor, one after another, convulsing.

Ten people convulsing at the same time – it was quite a spectacle.

"Damn, what kind of meditation technique is this? It's too damn hard to cultivate, I've died over ten times already." The Outlander Gunslinger, after reviving, looked at the visualization diagram in his hand and suddenly felt his wallet explode.

"As expected of a martial artist-level technique, the difficulty is indeed high." Peerless One Shot nodded, and then immediately collapsed to the ground.

"You guys are lucky, only dying over ten times." Twilight of the Gods looked at Peerless One Shot, who had fallen to the ground, with a deathly pale expression and said, "I've died over fifty times tonight. The people in the dorm suspect I've gone crazy. I wake up from the game pod screaming every ten minutes, and now they don't dare to come near me."

"It seems that right now, apart from Sister Wu and Sister Qing Wei who have gotten the hang of it, everyone else is far behind." The Outlander Gunslinger glanced at One Leaf Floating Cloud in the distance. He saw One Leaf Floating Cloud barely raise his hand to paint the wall before he fell straight to the ground, utterly dead, the worst of everyone.

"I did it! I did it!"

With a loud shout, everyone present turned to look at Fang Zhen, who excitedly got up.

At this moment, Fang Zhen's nose and mouth were gushing blood like pillars, and his hands and feet seemed to no longer belong to him, moving independently as if his limbs, even every cell, had come alive with their own will.

It was clear that, as the book said, he had succeeded in practicing it, his control over his body had greatly improved, but he obviously wouldn't live much longer; it was incredibly life-draining.

"It's getting late, and I have a simulation match today, so I have to go early. I won't be practicing with you all anymore."

Without another word, Fang Zhen spat out a mouthful of blood that shot three feet high, and then collapsed to the ground. His body slowly disappeared from everyone's sight, the entire process incredibly smooth, without a single wasted movement.

The others nodded, and one by one, they continued to visualize the star explosion.