Second Equipment Slot

According to Lu Hao's original plan, after unlocking a new Equipment Slot, one slot would equip martial arts manuals, while the other would equip meat with higher Qi-Blood content, such as beef.

Once the beef's durability was used up, he would permanently solidify the Equip Beef skill. After that, he could equip Blood-Qi Pills for emergencies.

Lu Hao called over a gang member, gave him two taels of silver, and had him buy twenty jin of beef.

Before long, the gang member bought the beef and delivered it to Lu Hao's room.

[Equippable item discovered: Beef]

[Equip?]

Lu Hao thought about how, when he had equipped chicken legs before, their durability had been exhausted in roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, permanently solidifying the Equip Chicken Leg skill.

The beef should solidify just as quickly.

So Lu Hao silently said in his heart, "System, equip beef. Thank you!"

In the blink of an eye, the twenty jin of beef before him vanished. Beef appeared in the Equipment Slot on the panel.

[Equipped item: Beef]

[Effect: Completely absorbs the Qi-Blood within the beef. Qi-Blood recovery speed increases by 200% for the duration of one incense stick.]

[Note: The conversion efficiency between Qi-Blood and Blood Essence is 10:1.]

[Durability: 100%]

[After the beef has been completely absorbed, this skill effect may be permanently solidified.]

[Note: If this item is forcibly removed before its durability is exhausted, a new item may only be equipped after seven days.]

Lu Hao stared at the system's prompt in astonishment.

The conversion ratio between Qi-Blood and Blood Essence was 10:1?

The Blood Essence in his body was 3/30. Converted into Qi-Blood, that would be 30/300 Qi-Blood.

His upper limit had increased tenfold. Even if he faced eight or ten Martial Apprentices of the Third Gate-Knocking Realm now, the power of Blood Essence within him would not run dry.

With a thought, Lu Hao activated the Equipment Slot and began absorbing the Qi-Blood within the beef.

A far more vigorous surge of Qi-Blood than that of chicken meat poured from his dantian, flooding through his limbs and bones.

After one incense stick of time—roughly fifteen minutes by the timekeeping of his previous life—the system panel displayed:

[Beef durability: 0%]

[Equip Beef skill permanently solidified]

[Effect: After equipping beef, it no longer occupies an Equipment Slot. Completely absorbs the Qi-Blood within the beef. Qi-Blood recovery speed increases by 200% for the duration of one incense stick.]

[Blood Essence in body: 18/30]

Looking again at the beef in the Equipment Slot, about half of it had been used up. At this rate of absorption, fifteen minutes could absorb the Qi-Blood from ten jin of beef, replenishing one hundred and fifty units of Qi-Blood, equivalent to fifteen units of Blood Essence.

To completely replenish the thirty units of Blood Essence in his body would take thirty minutes.

Lu Hao sighed inwardly. Replenishing Blood Essence took rather a long time.

What Lu Hao did not know was that the solidification of the Black Tiger Method had doubled his Qi-Blood value. Martial Artists at the Bright Force level in this world had only half his current Blood Essence value—just fifteen units.

If other Martial Artists learned that Lu Hao needed only two incense sticks of time to fully replenish Blood Essence twice that of someone at the same realm, they would likely vomit blood from envy on the spot.

If other Martial Artists wanted to replenish Blood Essence, they could only rely on heavenly treasures or Blood Essence Pills to recover quickly. Otherwise, relying on meat alone, even at the fastest, would take three days to completely replenish depleted Blood Essence.

And these heavenly treasures and Blood Essence Pills were all precious items. Most Martial Artists only consumed such rare treasures when breaking through a realm, strengthening their Blood Essence to smash through the threshold of their cultivation.

Lu Hao spent a little over another incense stick of time completely replenishing the Blood Essence in his body.

[Current Blood Essence: 30/30]

At this moment, the beef in the Equipment Slot had basically been consumed, leaving only a small piece.

Lu Hao called over another gang member, gave him ten taels of silver, and told him to buy another hundred jin of beef.

The gang member was secretly puzzled. He had just bought twenty jin of beef, and before even half an hour had passed, Lu Hao had finished it all? As expected of someone who had advanced to become a Martial Artist—the consumption of meat was astonishing.

Not long after, the gang member carried half a cow into Lu Hao's room. He took out another two taels of silver and placed them on the table.

"Hall Master Lu, the beef stalls only had eighty jin left, so I bought it all."

With that, the gang member closed the door and left the room.

With a slight stir of his thoughts, Lu Hao equipped the eighty jin of beef. Looking at the two taels of silver on the table, he shook his head helplessly.

A few days ago, he had seized more than eighty taels of silver from the Golden Saber Gang, then ultimately obtained more than a hundred taels from Chen Xuan. He currently had over two hundred and forty taels of silver on him. He had thought it was a vast fortune, but after advancing to Martial Artist, this little silver would probably only sustain him for half a month.

He suddenly recalled Cao Ling mentioning a few days ago that Green Ox Mountain contained demon beasts. The weakest demon beasts possessed the strength of human Martial Apprentices in the Third Gate-Knocking Realm. The stronger ones all had the strength of Martial Artists.

If he could get some demon beast flesh and equip it, the speed of replenishing Blood Essence would surely increase greatly.

He just did not know how one obtained demon beast meat. Even if it could be bought, its price would surely be exorbitant. He still had to earn more silver if he wanted to support himself on the martial path farther ahead.

As for ways to make silver, the fastest method was murder and arson, a golden belt around one's waist.

He thought of the silver he had obtained from the Golden Saber Gang and Chen Xuan that day. If he had acquired it through normal means, it would probably have taken years.

It seemed that once his realm was stabilized, it would be time to raid another Golden Saber Gang hall.

Feeling the abundant Blood Essence within his body, Lu Hao was eager to practice martial techniques and further raise his realm.

But the Black Tiger Method had already reached Perfect Mastery. Even the Black Tiger Method icon had turned gray. He could no longer increase his Blood Essence proficiency through practicing the Black Tiger Method.

Lu Hao called over a gang member and had him collect a cultivation manual suitable for the Martial Artist Realm from the main headquarters.

Lu Hao suddenly remembered that he had seized many copies of the Golden Blade Method from the Golden Saber Gang a few days ago. He wondered whether he could practice them.

Although every gang guarded its cultivation methods strictly, he and the Golden Saber Gang were already locked in a struggle to the death. Naturally, there was no need to care about the Golden Saber Gang's attitude.

He thought of the two copies of the Golden Blade Method still hidden in the cracks of the wall at his home. It seemed they would be of no use now.

Lu Hao went to the storeroom and picked up a copy of the Golden Blade Method.

[Equippable item discovered: Golden Blade Method]

With a slight stir of his thoughts, Lu Hao equipped the Golden Blade Method.

[Equipped item: Golden Blade Method]

[The equipped item Golden Blade Method can be upgraded together with the solidified skill Black Tiger Method into the Black Tiger Golden Saber Method. Upgrade?]

Lu Hao stared at the panel, once again stunned.

After thinking it over, he roughly understood.

The Black Tiger Method was the most basic cultivation method of the Black Tiger Gang, and the Golden Blade Method was likewise the most basic cultivation method of the Golden Saber Gang. Both were methods suited only for Gate-Breaking Realm Martial Apprentices. Now that the two low-level methods had merged, would they combine into a method one level higher?

"System, combine the methods," Lu Hao silently said in his heart.

[Combined item: Black Tiger Golden Saber Method]

[Equipped item: Black Tiger Golden Saber Method]

[Durability: 100/100]

[Effect: When the host practices the Black Tiger Golden Saber Method, breakthroughs will occur automatically upon meeting the conditions, with no bottlenecks.]

[Skill: Black Tiger Golden Saber Blood Essence Formula (Beginner)]

[Progress: 0/100]

[Skill: Black Tiger Hand-Saber Art (Beginner)]

[Progress: 0/100]