What Luo Feng Heard

Last was the unremarkable white N-rank equipment card.

After Li Jing used it, he obtained a Series III combat suit.

He would use it as temporary equipment at the start of his martial artist career, though he probably wouldn't need it for long, if he needed it at all.

Li Jing casually hung it on the wall, then opened Limit Home, the Limits Dojo's internal marketplace, to browse cultivation manuals and other equipment.

West Lake Villa, Jiangnan Base City, was Luo Feng's new residence, where he had moved after returning from Qiu Long Star.

As Luo Feng's instructor during his time as a trainee, Jiang Nian had come to visit after Luo Feng moved into his new home.

Luo Feng was now one of Earth's three strongest experts, a man of great power and influence. Keeping in closer touch while he could still reach him could only do good, not harm.

Even if Jiang Nian never needed the connection himself, it would be excellent to leave it to his descendants.

If they ever encountered an obstacle they couldn't overcome, they could come to the Luo Family for help. For old times' sake, whatever the Luo Family casually let slip through its fingers would be enough.

In the reception room at West Lake Villa, Jiang Nian and Luo Feng sat facing each other, a cup of tea before each of them.

It was called a conversation, but Jiang Nian did most of the talking while Luo Feng listened. He spoke of amusing incidents from the past and recent happenings at the Limits Dojo in Yi'an District.

After all, Luo Feng was now on a far higher level. The people and matters he dealt with were beyond what a martial artist of Jiang Nian's level could imagine.

If Luo Feng were the one doing the talking, they probably wouldn't have much common ground.

Luo Feng had just dealt with the Nolan Shan Family's space exploration team when he learned that the family's fleet would arrive on Earth in three months.

He was desperate to get his Earthling Main Body to break through to the Star Level so he could claim the Star Level inheritance left to him by Hu Yanbo, the Master of Yunmo Star, and purchase ownership of Earth.

But haste made waste. The more urgent it felt, the more he wanted to break through to the Star Level, the slower his progress became.

That made him decide to adjust his mindset first, so when he heard that Jiang Nian, an old acquaintance, had come to visit, he chose to receive him personally.

Otherwise, with how pressed for time he was now, it would have been virtually impossible for Jiang Nian to see him.

At most, Xu Xin or Luo Hua would have received him.

"By the way, Luo Feng, our dojo in Yi'an District recruited another little genius today. His name is Li Jing, and he's only eighteen.

"It took him just three days to sense cosmic energy, his punching force increased by 600 kilograms, and he killed twelve monsters in the practical combat assessment."

"Of course, that's far from what you achieved back then: sensing cosmic energy in a single day, increasing your punching force by more than 2,000 kilograms, and killing over thirty monsters in the practical combat assessment.

"But he's still a promising seedling. There's a good chance he'll become an Advanced War General someday."

Jiang Nian soon turned the conversation to Li Jing, who had passed the assessment and officially joined the Limits Dojo that very day.

Luo Feng wasn't interested in information about Li Jing. He was just an Advanced War General-level martial artist who had yet to grow into his potential.

Compared to the enemies he and Earth now faced, he was still far too weak.

Forget an Advanced War General; even the Planetary Level and Star Level were nowhere near enough.

Luo Feng alone had more than a dozen Star Level slaves and a thousand Planetary Level Nine slaves under him.

As Earth's leader, Luo Feng wanted Earth Humans to grow stronger as a whole.

Or for a super genius to appear, someone whose talent far surpassed his own and who was capable of leading Earth to rise in the universe and avoiding the fate of other enslaved races.

A little genius who was fairly impressive to the Limits Dojo in Yi'an District was simply too insignificant in the face of humanity's fate.

But since Instructor Jiang Nian had made a point of mentioning him, Luo Feng ought to offer this young junior some help.

Back when he was weak, he too had received help and investment from seniors such as Jiang Nian, Wu Tong, and Zhuge Tao.

Without those seniors, he couldn't have risen so quickly.

Now it was only right to give something back to a junior. That was how the torch was passed on.

With that thought, Luo Feng said, "Instructor Jiang Nian, since Li Jing is so talented, I'll invest a little in him too.

"In my name, give him a credit of 100 million Huaxia Currency on Limit Home. Whether he buys equipment or cultivation manuals is entirely up to him."

For the present Luo Feng, Huaxia Currency really was just a string of numbers. The currency he used day to day had already risen to the level of Black Dragon Coins.

If he weren't worried about pulling up a seedling to make it grow, he wouldn't have blinked at giving a billion or ten billion.

"Haha, Luo Feng, you're as generous as ever. Let me thank you on that kid Li Jing's behalf."

Jiang Nian wasn't surprised in the least to see Luo Feng casually hand out 100 million.

Luo Feng's generosity was famous, after all. There was no need to look far for an example.

Just recently, he had provided free Purple Light Dew to every advanced trainee in the world, helping them become Quasi-Martial Artists.

The expense and scale of it were beyond the means of any force in the world except Luo Feng.

I'm so poor!

Li Jing, who had squandered his starting funds on a single ten-card draw and had only a million left, browsed the Limit Home marketplace and sighed over his poverty.

Since he primarily practiced blade techniques, his first choice of manual was naturally the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade.

But the first layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade alone cost 50 million at full price. Even at the half-price discount for a first purchase, it cost 25 million.

He had already squandered nearly all his starting funds, but even if he hadn't spent a penny, it still would have been nowhere near enough.

Aside from the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, the highest-grade S-rank blade technique manual was the Phantom Blade Technique.

It was divided into five layers, and even after mastering them all, it only increased force output to 4.2 times the base.

The Phantom Blade Technique was considerably cheaper. Its first layer cost 20 million Huaxia Currency at full price, or 10 million at half price.

But Li Jing barely thought the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade was good enough, intending to use it only as a temporary measure early on. He thought even less of the Phantom Blade Technique.

Besides, even the Phantom Blade Technique was beyond Li Jing's means.

By conventional thinking, since Li Jing couldn't afford a manual, he should have spent his remaining million on equipment, then gone to the Wilderness Zone to fight and earn Huaxia Currency for card draws and manuals.

But his earlier ten-card draw had sent his strength soaring, and his blade technique had reached the minor mastery stage of specialization, giving Li Jing another idea.

At present, he was only an ordinary Intermediate Warrior, capable of hunting Advanced Beast Soldier Level monsters at best.

But materials from Beast Soldier Level monsters were practically worthless. Humans could kill them in batches using firearms and other modern weapons.

Even the main materials from an Advanced Beast Soldier Level monster were worth only a few thousand, with rarer ones fetching over ten thousand.

With the strength of an Intermediate Warrior, it was uncertain whether he could earn 100,000 after a hard day's work, and he would have to face tremendous danger.

Beast General Level monster materials, however, were valuable. Even the most ordinary Junior Beast General was worth at least five million Huaxia Currency.

Hunting just one would be enough for Li Jing to draw five cards.

First, I'll find a way to get some money, make a few more ten-card draws, and raise my strength to the War General Level!

Li Jing made up his mind.

If he displayed his current strength, he should be able to secure a larger investment, just like Luo Feng in the original story, right?

In Swallowed Star, concealing one's talent and playing the pig to eat the tiger was the most foolish decision.

Only by displaying sufficiently powerful talent would anyone be willing to invest in him. Only then could he receive support and training from the various forces, growing stronger like a snowball gathering mass.

Playing the pig to eat the tiger would only turn him into a real pig.

First, he would show Instructor Jiang Nian his talent and see whether he could get financial support, then go all out on a round of card draws!

If that didn't work, he would look for another financial institution or borrow from the HR Alliance.

No force would refuse to extend an olive branch to an eighteen-year-old martial arts genius with a specialization in blade techniques!