Lu Lin's fingertips brushed across these antiques with seeming casualness. Eventually, he identified what had stirred the Martial Dao Furnace----- a broken, green-coating-fringed piece of mirror. Inside was hidden a fairly strong spiritual energy.
With a poker face, he grabbed the broken piece of mirror up alongside an irregularly shaped old clay bowl, saying, "The usual, two items, two silver coins."
"Oops, young man, not this time!" The hawker shook his head rapidly, "This batch has cost me an arm and a leg! Two silver coins? Then I would take a sheer loss! These two, at least ten silver coins!"
His shrewd eyes rolling round and round, he had long since recognized that Lu Lin did not want them for decor items, but for other special purposes. Or else, what else could explain his repeated purchases? How could a worldly merchant like him pass up on this chance to raise the price?
"Ten silver coins? That's too much." Lu Lin gave a calm shake of the head and put the items back. "Honestly speaking, I have a little use for them. But they are not worth that much to me. I'm done." With this, he turned around to go.
As far as he was concerned, there might be more deals between them; if he gave in easily this time, the price would only shoot even higher going forward.
"Hey, hey! Why such haste, young man! It's negotiable! We can talk it over..."
After an intense exchange, the deal was settled for three silver coins.
Packing up the two pieces of 'junk', Lu Lin ambled from the marketplace.
He found a stately hotel and ordered a lonely private dining room.
Making sure the door was secured, Lu Lin took out the broken piece of bronze mirror at once.
[Discovered: Lower-class spiritual energy. Exchange for four years of hard training? Y/N]
Four years!
From Lu Lin's eyes shot a burst of light.
Exchange!
A deluge of energy far more immense than a shoddy spiritual stone's had just flooded into his mind when the broken piece of bronze mirror crumbled into pieces, devoid of spiritual energy.
Training Time: 11 years.
Next, he carefully drew out the manual of Steel Elephant Body and began flipping through it with great focus.
Steel Elephant Body had twenty-four moves that were meant to capture the might of the demonic beast 'Steel Elephant'. Once mastering it, one's body would harden like a Steel Elephant's, become invulnerable to ordinary weapons, and boast a Titanic physical strength.
A practitioner needed to grasp the twenty-four moves before stepping into the First Level, with his Qi and Blood flowing unchecked.
In the time a stick of incense takes to burn out(10 to 15 minutes), he had already carved its content into his memory.
On the interface of the Martial Dao Furnace, a new line surfaced following this.
Martial Arts: Steel Elephant Body (Absolute Beginner)
"Start now!" Lu Lin's eyes were full of expectation as he willed one month's Training Time into it.
[You're already a Body Tempering Third Level martial arts practitioner, with a broad horizon and a solid base, which saves you half of the efforts and doubles the progress as you train in other martial arts. Through a month of hard training, you've reached the eighteenth move in Steel Elephant Body.]
This rate far surpassed that at which he had trained in Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art.
Keep it going!
[The second month, you've mastered all Steel Elephant Body's twenty-four moves, reaching the earliest stage of condensing the Qi and Blood and entering into the First Level; your physical strength has improved.]
"My strength has indeed been enhanced, but not by three hundred jins." Lu Lin felt with great care the way his body had changed.
Usually, having trained in Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art up to the first level, namely the Body Tempering First Level, one possesses three hundred jins of strength, the second level six hundred jins, and the third one thousand jins.
At this moment, he had achieved Steel Elephant Body's first level, with a larger pool of Qi and Blood inside him, but the net growth of his physical strength was around two hundred fifty jins.
He estimated his gross physical strength to be about one thousand two hundred fifty jins.
Obviously, at the same level, Steel Elephant Body brought him less strength than Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art did.
Go on!
[The third month, with a lack of pills, you can rely solely on food and the thin natural energy, making slow progress; your Qi and Blood has slightly increased.]
[The fourth month, your Qi and Blood has slightly increased...]
...
[A year later, through tireless efforts, you have finally broken through the second level in Steel Elephant Body. ]
[The second year, your progress is slow; your Qi and Blood has slightly increased...]
[The third year, your efforts persist...]
[The fourth year, through another three years of hard training, you have made a second breakthrough, stepping into the third level in Steel Elephant Body.]
Training Time: 7 years.
Lu Lin could tell that it took less time for him to train in Steel Elephant Body than in Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art. Though contributing less to his physical strength, it was also easier to master. He found it hard to determine which one of the two was superior.
He sensed intently and guessed that his physical strength neared eighteen hundred jins.
This almost put him on par with a Body Tempering Fourth Level man training in Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art(two thousand jins of strength).
"I still have seven years' Training Time, put it all in!" He willed to pour Training Time in once again.
[As another three years go by, you reach the pinnacle of Steel Elephant Body's third level. Your Qi and Blood surges like tides and begins seeping into your flesh and tendons.]
[The fourth year, the Qi and Blood relentlessly seeps into your tendons and flesh and tempers them, which are steadily toughening but have yet to develop a qualitative transformation....]
....
[Through seven years' unwavering hard training, as the Qi and Blood constantly infiltrates and polishes your tendons and flesh, at last they have a stunning transformation and become as tough as well-tempered iron; you have entered into the fourth level in Steel Elephant Body!]
A breakthrough had been made!
Lu Lin heaved a long breath. Now he only felt his Qi and Blood was roaring and surging, ample beyond compare, as it scudded unchecked through the tough and tensile tendons and flesh.
Once he exerted strength, his Qi and Blood poured out of him, his skin glittering with a pale crimson color.
"It seems that my current strength is around two thousand seven hundred jins, on par with someone at the fifth level in Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art!" He rejoiced to himself. In a few shichen(a shichen equals two hours), he had already transformed from what he had been.
"Too bad the Training Time has been used up, or else I could also master Steel Elephant Body's first combat skill." He felt a sense of regret.
Any training method at the fourth level would develop its unique combat skill.
Steel Elephant Body's combat skill was called Barbaric Elephant Crash, an art of gathering the power from the Qi and Blood and the flesh and tendons into the fists and instantly unleashing them all, like an elephant that went crashing, carrying a fierce, tyrannical power.
At the seventh level, a training method would develop the second combat skill, fusing the power from the Qi and Blood, the tendons and flesh, and the bones into one, thus more complicated and more devastating.
Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art naturally also had combat skills, which were more powerful.
Lu Lin looked out the window. It was near dusk, the sunset dying the clouds on the horizon blood-red.
It was still early, with two shichen to go until they were to take the packages at the hour of Hai(9:00 p.m.).
He called a waiter over and ordered a feast. As he enjoyed it, he secretly felt the immense newly-gained power in him.
...
At the same time, at some deserted compound in Xuesha City.
A figure flashed in soundlessly, turning out to be one of the ten who had joined Lu Lin on the trip----Shi Xiao.
He hurried before a burly, thuggish-looking man in the compound and made a slight bow, whispering, "Big brother Bao."
The burly man spun around, a glint skimming across his eyes. "Eh? Is there another sitting duck?"
"Yes, here's a fat one!" Shi Xiao somehow hesitated, saying, "At the hour of Hai, we will get to Linyuan Pavilion and take two packages, full of Qi-Blood Pills and Tendon-Tempering Pills!"
"Qi-Blood Pills and Tendon-Tempering Pills?" The brawny man's eyes instantly shone with intense greed as his breathing turned a bit more raspy.
"After we get the packages, we are to head for the Demonic Sect's outpost and pass through the alley on Taihua Street...."Shi Xiao said.
"Well, go back and do the task together with them. Don't give it away..." The brawny man lowered his voice, in which greed had already changed into cold killing intentions, "We will get down to it in that alley and do away with them all!"
"Among them, the strongest is at the Body Tempering Sixth Level, and there are only three of them. With your strength, Brother Bao, you are certain to bring them down. But after this, it's time to keep your promise."
Shi Xiao gritted his teeth.
"Rest assured, once this wraps up, we will retreat from the city at once and release your family as promised."
Brother Bao beamed, patting Shi Xiao on his shoulder.