Lu Yuan walked into the bedroom, his wet hair dripping.
The window was wide open.
A series of heavy rainfalls a few days prior had dissipated much of the summer heat, and the temperature had yet to rise again.
From time to time, a breeze blew in through the window, bringing a touch of coolness.
Lu Yuan was still contemplating his morning chat with Gao Qing, especially the double C evaluation for his strength and potential, which kept bothering him.
Even if he suspected Gao Qing had intentionally underrated him, these two ratings still reflected, to a certain extent, that—
He was not strong enough.
Or rather, his strengths were not obvious enough.
I need to practice harder!
With the Profession Panel, sooner or later, step by step, I’ll reach the very top. I’ll become that...
Shaking off the distracting thoughts, Lu Yuan sat down at his desk and casually picked up his phone to check his chat app, mainly to see if White Grass had replied.
"You have successfully added the other party as a friend."
Seeing the notification, Lu Yuan’s spirits lifted. He then saw that White Grass had indeed sent more messages.
The first few were links and screenshots of news articles. He clicked to view each one.
"Hallo and Sum Country joint archaeological team reveals mysterious past from 3,000 years ago; the long-slumbering White Demon Mountain finally sees the light of day!"
"Elephant God Religion myths not unfounded; Distant Star southern archaeological team discovers temple ruins, new round of archaeological excavation underway."
The news articles were spaced out over time, all reporting discoveries of Elephant God Religion ruins in various countries. Scrolling further down, he found a table.
The table listed many names, each almost invariably followed by a "Dead" or "Missing" status, along with the date of death or disappearance.
Lu Yuan scrolled back to cross-reference and found that several names highlighted in red also appeared in the news articles above.
The times of death or disappearance were almost all within six months of the news reports being published.
Is this to corroborate what he said earlier?
Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered slightly, and he replied, "Thank you."
There was a time difference between Sum Country and Havel; it was likely the early hours of the morning there.
Lu Yuan had thought it would take a long time to get a reply, but shortly after his message was sent, White Grass quickly responded, "I might be coming to Sum Country next month. Perhaps we can meet and chat then."
Next month... Lu Jing is coming back next month too. Seems like perfect timing.
Lu Yuan replied, "Sure."
Since it involved matters related to the Elephant God Religion, after ending his conversation with White Grass, Lu Yuan also sent a message to Lu Jing, briefly asking about her return.
Lu Jing replied almost instantly, which was a slight relief to him.
For some time now, he had been messaging Lu Jing every day to check on her, afraid she might have also become entangled in the curse of the Elephant God Religion.
"...When the time comes, we’ll have to take a helicopter first, then ride camels for two days, then switch to a car, then a plane... Even if everything goes smoothly, the journey will take several days."
As Lu Yuan was chatting with Lu Jing, a message notification suddenly flashed in the bottom right corner.
He glanced at it and saw a bouncing red hairpin avatar.
Lu Yuan’s expression shifted slightly; he was suddenly curious about what this girl named Xia Zhijing would say.
An image immediately met his eyes—
It was an oil painting.
The painting depicted a dark, gloomy alleyway.
Blue rain fell from the sky.
In the alley, a young man with a straight posture, head slightly bowed, was carefully cradling a gray cat. He was walking out of the alley, step by step, towards the street illuminated by the orange glow of the streetlights.
Lu Yuan was stunned, his memory instantly transported back to that rainy alley two months ago.
The cat... is she referring to herself?
It’s quite an apt depiction.
Lu Yuan murmured, glancing at his muscular arms, a strange expression on his face. But I’m so different from the painting now. If we meet, her image of me will probably shift from an oil painting to a muscle-bound comic book character...
Hopefully, her innocent, girlish heart won’t shatter into a pile of glass shards when that happens.
After a moment of thought, Lu Yuan replied, "The painting is really nice."
Better not paint again...
The sound of fists and feet connecting echoed continuously across the ring.
The man in the red bull-head mask paused, one hand on his knee, panting heavily.
He looked up, his eyes beneath the mask filled with profound shock and disbelief.
"How... how is this possible?"
Although he had heard of his opponent’s reputation, he had just unleashed his full strength, attacking relentlessly for several minutes.
The intense barrage had almost left him momentarily drained.
Yet... his opponent was still standing there, unscathed, his strong, burly physique as immovable as a boulder.
"You’re done... Now it’s my turn, right?" a calm voice emerged from beneath the Three-eyed Goat mask.
The figure slowly advanced towards him.
The man tensed instantly, fear evident on his face.
He turned towards the referee, but before he could finish his words of surrender, a fierce whooshing sound tore through the air beside his ear.
The mask on the man’s face shattered instantly. A hand like cast iron seized his neck, lifting him clean off his feet.
But he didn’t struggle.
Beneath his mask, Lu Yuan frowned slightly, then casually tossed the man onto the ground beside him.
With the referee’s announcement, Lu Yuan calmly walked off the ring.
Contestants in the spectator stands on both sides cast awed glances at him.
After his previous fight with Power King, every match he fought attracted a sizable crowd.
Is this... the celebrity effect?
Mosa seems to be paying more attention to me now.
Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered; he could clearly sense the intense "gaze" fixed on his back, originating from the giant Goat Statue hanging above the arena.
Lu Yuan keenly sensed that this "attention" intensified after each battle he fought.
And I’m one step closer to uncovering the truth behind Lin Zhiquin’s secret...
In the rest area, Lu Yuan routinely removed his mask and changed his clothes.
Then, he quietly slipped out through the back door.
The staging area on the second basement level was much livelier than before. Lu Yuan’s physique, considered robust among ordinary people, was unremarkable in this place teeming with muscle-bound behemoths.
Carrying his backpack, he took the elevator up to the first-floor lobby.
As he walked out, he opened his Profession Panel to check his progress.
[Spirit Crane Body Lv2 (182/200)]
Fighting three to five matches daily, he used his opponents’ fists to advance his body tempering progress.
Lu Yuan’s Spirit Crane Body was improving rapidly, on the verge of breaking through to Lv3.
Not only that, but he could clearly feel his skin and muscles growing increasingly firm.
The potential of his 16 points in Physique was gradually being unlocked.
His entire being was like an iron ingot being forged, growing more refined bit by bit.
At night, when he lay in bed, an unintentional turn would cause his body to emit creaking sounds, like a mechanism being wound.
He had also mastered up to the sixtieth movement of the Spirit Crane Body.
His body was rapidly growing stronger!
Lu Yuan walked out of Mosa and checked the time; it was already past nine in the evening.
Two men with tattoos on their arms were chatting nearby. Seeing him emerge, they immediately fell silent and stared at him.
Lu Yuan paid them no mind and quickly walked onto the street.
The day before, when no one was home, he had deliberately taken the kitchen cleaver and struck his arm a couple of times.
The sharp blade, upon hitting his arm, was immediately repelled by his tough skin and underlying muscle, sliding to the side. Without deliberate force, it was impossible to cut into his flesh. This text is hosted at novel⁂fire.net
Only then did Lu Yuan truly understand the principle behind being "invulnerable to blades and spears"—
High-density skin and muscle, combined with superb force-redirection techniques!
Skilled fighters like Lin Zhiquin and Qin Feng should have no problem blocking ordinary bullets. But against high-tech attacks from Modified Humans like Zhou Ling...
Strolling past the illuminated streetlights, Lu Yuan thought, I still have a long way to go.
He had conducted experiments in the Consciousness Space. Despite currently having 16 points in Physique and having made some achievements in body tempering, if he were hit by an energy beam from Zhou Ling’s weaponry, the flesh and blood in the affected area would be instantly disintegrated.
Therefore, the Crane Sect’s approach to body tempering isn’t without merit. Focus primarily on attack and agility, aiming to defeat the opponent before their attacks can land...
However, what if it’s a large-area attack? A mushroom cloud? So, increasing defense is still necessary. I’m different from Pure Martial artists; I also possess Death Qi, an Extraordinary power. My path ahead is filled with too many unknown possibilities!
Lu Yuan left the street and gradually began to see cars on the road.
He decided to walk home. After several fights tonight, numerous unread notifications had piled up on his Profession Panel.
My Fighter Class experience is almost more than halfway full...
Lu Yuan suddenly noticed that his Basic Capture skill, under the Fighter Class panel, had reached Lv5, the maximum level.
He had indeed been intentionally using more finger and palm techniques in his recent fights, aiming to grind Experience Points for his Basic Finger Skill and Basic Palm Skill, while also hoping to trigger a Flash of Insight and perhaps replicate Qin Feng’s Sure-kill move.
Unexpectedly, Basic Capture had maxed out before Basic Finger Skill and Basic Palm Skill.
This yielded another attribute point.
Lu Yuan looked at the values of his four Basic Attributes: Strength 15, Agility 14, Physique 16, Intellect 14. He pondered how to allocate this new attribute point.
Strength and Physique are not priorities for now. The choice is mainly between Agility and Intellect.
After careful consideration, Lu Yuan finally added the point to Intellect.
Spirit Crane Body is about to level up, which will increase Agility soon. Intellect, however, can mostly only be raised through direct point allocation, and increasing it will also improve my chances of comprehending Qin Feng’s Sure-kill move.
As the attribute point was added to Intellect, the value quickly rose from 14 to 15.
The skull-splitting pain arrived as expected.
Lu Yuan grunted, forcefully clutching a nearby lamppost for support.
Amidst waves of excruciating pain, numerous images flooded his mind.
Spirit Crane, crow, sky, full moon...
These fragmented images flickered frantically, alternating between the visions from the Spirit Crane Skill and the Crow Dreamscape.
Gradually, they even began to show signs of merging.
Lu Yuan could hardly distinguish whether he was seeing a crow tearing through the sky or a Spirit Crane flapping its wings beneath the moon...
Then, it all abruptly stopped.
Lu Yuan gasped for breath, fine beads of sweat covering his forehead, cheeks, and back.
He took a long moment to recover from the aftershocks of the pain.
Releasing his grip, he saw a clear palm print indented on the hollow steel lamppost.
Lu Yuan felt his mind unusually clear, his thoughts flowing much faster than before.
Many things he hadn’t understood or been clear about before suddenly became crystal clear.
My Spiritual Power has also increased significantly...
Lu Yuan raised his head, looking at the crescent moon hanging high in the night sky.
Focusing his thoughts, he attempted to slowly extend his Spiritual Power towards the moon.
Just then, a large flock of crow silhouettes flew past beneath the crescent moon.
A peculiar stirring in Lu Yuan’s heart activated his Lv2 Crow Language skill, and he instinctively "pulled" a few of them down.