Behind Every Strong Person Is a...

Zhang Li frowned. "Could you not make it sound so sleazy, like we're conducting an illegal transaction? Don't worry. Someone will come by later to deliver your equipment. Hurry up and sign this document. Once you reach Great Completion of Fist Law, you'll be sent to Luozi Mountain to give it a try."

With that, Zhang Li took the employment documents Lu Ren had signed and left without looking back.

Lu Ren called out, "Hey, what about me?"

"Just wait for notification. Report in when the time comes. Since spatial tremors have been rather frequent lately, the equipment will be delivered in advance."

"..."

Half an hour later, a van pulled up outside the villa.

"Mr. Lu, I'm He Li from the Security Administration Bureau's logistics department. Please sign for your equipment."

Lu Ren came out, exchanged a few pleasantries with him, and signed the receipt. He Li unloaded several large boxes, gave him a quick greeting, then drove off in a flash.

Lu Ren carried a silver-white case in each hand and tucked two large boxes under his arms as he entered the house.

When he opened one of the cases, he found two black skintight combat suits inside, covered with quite a few black alloy plates.

He tugged at them with his hands. The material was exceptionally tough and highly elastic. Though the alloy plates looked only one or two millimeters thick, they were incredibly hard, with protection embedded over all the body's vital areas.

When he opened the other case, a chill rushed out at him. Inside was a waist pouch, along with two glass jars filled with the nutrient pills Zhang Li had held earlier.

No wonder Xiao Chen and Zhang Li had both worn waist pouches whenever he saw them. They used them to carry these nutrient pills.

"High-Concentrate Nutrient Pills."

Lu Ren picked up the instruction manual and read through it carefully. The pills contained all kinds of nutrients needed by the human body, but they were extremely hard, even possessing the luster of mercury pellets. No wonder the alchemists of ancient times had refined metal-like medicinal pellets. These pills truly were not for ordinary people to consume. Only those who practiced fist arts and became Martial Daoists, possessing powerful physiques, could digest them.

In any case, he could not understand much of it.

He tried swallowing one. With his increasingly powerful physique, the nutrient pill began to be continuously digested by his stomach and intestines the moment it entered his belly.

His stomach felt warm as it steadily released the energy his body needed.

Very nice. Very powerful!

When he opened another box and saw what was inside, Lu Ren's eyes widened.

Two pistols, along with six magazines.

They were giving him guns already?!

Interesting...

Lu Ren picked up one of the pistols and ran his fingers over it. He carefully read the manual, loaded a magazine, switched off the safety, then cautiously turned the safety back on.

The case came with matching holsters that could be fitted and locked into place. They were clearly designed to go with the combat suits.

The final box, however, took Lu Ren by surprise.

It contained an Alloy Sword, about two and a half finger-widths wide and three and a half feet long. It was not much different in length from the longsword he had custom-made at the cold weapons store, though this one was a little longer.

His custom longsword was about 109 centimeters long, while the longsword issued by the Security Administration Bureau was roughly 124 centimeters long. It was called Wild Goose Style.

It was heavy, at least thirty kilograms. It was hard to imagine they would issue him a sword like this.

Even on an ancient battlefield, anyone capable of wielding such a heavy weapon would have been a fierce general!

Feeling rather smug, Lu Ren thought that Zhang Li really had an eye for quality.

This heavy sword could be used to practice Basic Swordsmanship, or to execute powerful, forceful sword forms more smoothly.

At the very least, Lu Ren could wield it now. Moreover, as his fist arts deepened, his height and build had begun a second growth spurt.

In the days that followed, his life returned to its previous unchanging routine. Lu Ren trained diligently every day. The sixty-jin heavy sword drained his stamina at an astonishing rate, but in return, his Basic Swordsmanship proficiency rose rapidly.

"Ding, due to your continuous high-intensity practice of Basic Swordsmanship, your proficiency has increased by 2."

Double the joy!

After practicing Falcon Fist day and night for some time, it was about to level up. He believed it would push his physical attributes past the threshold of 10.

An attribute value of 10 seemed to break through some sort of human limit. His physical abilities would undergo a transformation and improve considerably.

Each additional attribute point increased the original attribute value by twenty-five percent. He did not know whether that would change after reaching 10, or whether higher Four-Dimensional Attributes would bring even greater improvements.

In other words, 10 points was twice the value of an ordinary person, but beyond 10, it probably would not be calculated that way. His 10 points of mental attributes had given him senses far sharper than ordinary people. Perhaps the improvement from a single attribute did not seem especially significant, but when all of his physical attributes rose across the board, the effects would definitely not be as simple as one plus one.

His physique and mind were gradually surpassing ordinary human understanding.

Li Shu next door had recently looked as if she were half-dead every day. She returned home late each night, and whenever she saw Lu Ren still practicing fist arts in the courtyard, she gritted her teeth and trained even harder.

"You look like you're working really hard!"

After routinely completing Yan Zhenghua's so-called Emotionless Intent Sword visualization of the wooden sword, Lu Ren watched Li Shu temper her strength with great interest.

"I'm really... so tired..."

Li Shu sounded as though she was about to cry, yet her eyes remained resolute.

Lu Ren asked, "Then why don't you give up?"

"I've already spent nearly one and a half million!!!!"

Li Shu cried out, tears and snot streaming down her face. But giving up now would mean all that money had gone down the drain.

As a shrewd businesswoman, she would never make a losing deal!

"For my skin, for my figure!!"

As Li Shu shouted, she continuously stretched her tendons and tempered her muscles according to the fist stance of Phoenix Zenith Fist.

For ordinary people who had not trained since childhood, the first thing an adult needed to do before practicing martial arts was stretch their tendons and lengthen their muscles.

The process was exceedingly painful and took at least three months.

Lu Ren laughed. "At least they're teaching you real skills, not like those masters online."

Shaking his head, he left Li Shu to practice on her own. After returning to take a shower, he felt refreshed and sat cross-legged on the second-floor balcony once more, the wooden sword laid across his knees.

Time flowed like water. Half a month later, Lu Ren looked delightedly at the system notification that sounded in his mind.

"Ding, due to your long-term visualization of the wooden sword, you have finally gained insight and successfully comprehended Emotionless Intent Sword."

"Ding, due to your continuous practice of Falcon Fist, your proficiency has increased by 1. Your Falcon Fist has successfully advanced. Falcon Fist (Slight Accomplishment 1/8520)."

"Ding, due to the increase in your fist art level, your Physique Proficiency has increased. Your physique attribute has increased by 1."

"Ding, due to the increase in your fist art level, your strength proficiency has increased. Your strength attribute has increased by 1."

"Ugh!!"

Before he could even rejoice, Lu Ren suddenly felt waves of tearing pain surge through his body. His muscles seemed to be brutally ravaged, constantly torn apart, crushed, and then repaired.

His bones felt as if they had been smashed apart by a sledgehammer before being reassembled. His internal organs were rapidly transforming. He found it difficult to breathe, yet had no choice but to take deeper breaths to ease the suffocating sensation.

His entire body was wracked by intense pain as his attributes suddenly rose and his body underwent rapid transformation.