On the second floor of Circle Studio, Gu Fangyi and his team were holding a small meeting to discuss the disappearance of their boss, Lu Luo.
Lu Luo had been missing for three days. Before he left, he only mentioned he was off to pursue something very important in life, but he didn’t specify what it was.
You Xiaoqi was puzzled by Lu Luo’s irresponsible behavior. Is he chasing skirts at some club and got himself into trouble?
"He wouldn’t dare. Lu Luo is all talk, probably still a virgin."
You Xiaoqi and Ding Peng looked at Gu Fangyi in surprise, their eyes clearly asking, Is Lu Luo really a virgin?
"Yes," Gu Fangyi replied succinctly, landing a critical hit. Unfortunately, Lu Luo wasn’t there to hear it.
"So that’s how it is! Could it be that Lu Luo has gone to pursue love? I get it; young people are impulsive and prone to irrational actions. He’ll grow out of it when he’s older."
"How old is Brother Seven?" Zhou Kai suddenly asked.
"Oh, so you’re only twenty-two. I thought you were forty-two."
Gu Fangyi took out the newspaper You Xiaoqi had recently subscribed to. With frequent Exotic Species incidents, Lu Luo’s disappearance was truly worrisome.
"The paper says there were seven more attacks by Exotic Species yesterday. And can you believe it? The two cases we took weren’t even listed! Incidents are on the rise, and I have no idea how Lu Luo is doing now."
Zhou Kai rested his hands heavily on the table and let out a deep sigh. He seldom showed such emotion; mainly, he was a bit panicked with Lu Luo gone.
You Xiaoqi and Ding Peng had each gone out the previous day to handle commissions involving Exotic Species incidents.
After the initial success at the junkyard, perhaps due to recent publicity or the increasing number of Exotic Species incidents, the studio’s high-end business had clearly picked up: one case the day before yesterday, two yesterday, and one this morning.
Although the pay wasn’t much, around four or five thousand each, it had already significantly boosted the studio’s current income.
"When will Lu Luo be back?" You Xiaoqi frowned. With Lu Luo gone, the entire Circle Studio suddenly felt like a headless dragon.
Alright, maybe they couldn’t be considered dragons, but calling themselves a pack of snakes or a swarm of worms wouldn’t sound good either.
You Xiaoqi and Ding Peng were strong, but neither could provide the same sense of reassurance to the others.
"Not sure. He doesn’t have a cell phone. Sigh... We were supposed to go back to school to catch up on classes; otherwise, we might get expelled. Now he’s not here either, leaving us in an awkward position. Should we go back, Brother Gu?"
Although Zhou Kai and Gu Fangyi went back to the dorms to clock in and sleep every night, they had been skipping daytime classes.
They hadn’t attended a single class in almost half a month. If they didn’t go back soon, something bad could really happen.
Alliance University had monthly exams. Accumulating too many failing grades would be recorded, and excessive failures could even lead to expulsion.
If they were expelled, they would have to face a reckoning from behemoths like Lan Tian Biological, which was something they couldn’t accept.
"Let’s wait a bit longer," Gu Fangyi said, still stingy with his words.
"Forget it. We’ll wait two more days. If Lu Luo doesn’t return in two days, we’ll go back to school first and ask for a leave of absence on his behalf."
Zhou Kai also nodded. After Lu Luo being gone for more than half a month, he could already imagine Han Shiyu’s explosive reaction!
On the rooftop of the Siping District Market, it had been raining for three days, and Lu Luo had also been squatting there for three days.
A small, gray Dark Spirit Stone had provided him with nearly 30 grams of Dark Energy. With about 7 grams of it remaining, he had already converted his Qi to a level of 100.
Having gone without food and water for three days, his lips were somewhat cracked, and his complexion was a bit sallow.
However, his eyes shone brighter and more dazzling than before because he could feel the vast and surging Qi inside his body.
What needs to be done now is to break through!
"How do I break through? What preparations do I need to make?"
Lu Luo’s expression was grave, and he braced himself. Breaking through to become a Transcendent was a high-profile matter, and naturally, he had to take it seriously.
[Relax your mind. The great S-11-Observer Sequence once said, "All professional traits mean the same to you. You just need to find the method of promotion and gather enough energy." So, concentrate the Qi Union Path in the exact center of your chest, prepare to open the Qi node, and leave the rest to the Fusioner.]
Having seen the Observer’s hint, Lu Luo was somewhat puzzled. He had examined the Six Paths Secret Scripture carefully.
"The first Qi node, Qi He, isn’t it supposed to be at the heart’s location? The exact center of the chest is close to the heart, but shouldn’t matters of cultivation be approached with utmost seriousness? Why is there a discrepancy?"
[The meaning of the Qi Path Qi He node is that the seven forces of the body—muscle, bones, blood, meridians, spinal cord, internal organs, and will—merge into the core. Seven become one, merging into the heart core to open the first Qi node, the Qi He node. But your body’s structure is now completely different from that of ordinary people. The position of your power core has changed—it is now in the exact center of your chest. The Second Sequence was a Cultivation Technique specifically built for you, so naturally, the location will be different.]
"My power core is in the exact center of my chest? Okay, it seems my structure is becoming more and more unique."
Lu Luo clasped his hands together. The scattered Qi in his body began to gather at one point—the exact center of his chest.
This Qi vortex became more and more substantial, eventually coalescing into a Qi point.
[Method of life advancement: Second Sequence.]
[Fusioner preparing to initiate, checking all readiness conditions.]
[Readiness condition 1: Single attribute over 5. Checking strength, constitution, agility: all over 5. Meets Perfect Transformation requirements.]
[Readiness condition 2: Qi He reached 100. Checking Qi He: level reached, purity 100%. Meets Perfect Transformation requirements.]
[All readiness conditions are met. Transformation level: Perfect.]
[Fusioner is fusing Qi point with power core, preparing for bodily characteristic mutation. Please wait...]
[One last friendly reminder from the Observer: This process might be a bit painful, but don’t think you’ve become a genius. This kind of pain has nothing to do with being a genius; everyone who needs to break through feels this. Essentially, you are still a talentless scrub at cultivation.]
Suddenly, Lu Luo felt something within his body converging towards his chest. He had a bad feeling about it.
This time, he truly experienced the pain the Observer had mentioned, and just how intense it was.
[Power core fusion complete. The first Qi node has been opened. Essence of Life is sublimating.]
The pain made Lu Luo roar wildly on the rooftop. His voice was piercingly sharp. Lu Luo’s location was on the rooftop of a market restroom.
So, a few guys who were there to take a dump looked at their neighbors in adjacent stalls with strange expressions, muttering under their breath:
"Does taking a shit really require such a fuss? How long has he been constipated? TSK TSK, poor guy."
Lu Luo’s breakthrough process wasn’t particularly long or short, lasting about six to seven minutes—the normal time for a person to take a dump.
The already fragile ceiling of the restroom could no longer withstand Lu Luo’s increasingly strong Qi He and collapsed with a bang. Lu Luo fell down with it.
He clutched his chest and staggered out of one of the restroom stalls, completely ignoring the strange looks from the people around him.
A few people who were just about to enter a stall to squat stopped in front of the one Lu Luo had exited. Seeing the large hole in the ceiling, they were stunned.
"Damn, this guy blew a hole in the ceiling while taking a shit? That’s outrageous, isn’t it? Is this the power of a Transcendent?"