"The mission begins in three days. At dawn three days from now, everyone must gather here. Anyone who fails to show up... will die."
That Body Tempering Tenth Level superintendent swept his icy gaze over the two hundred chosen individuals, his voice cold and hard. Then, his tone softened slightly, "However, the Immortal Masters, in their mercy, took into consideration that you are about to embark on a mission and granted you three days free from mining to take a good rest. Those who wish to visit Xuesha City for some relaxation may do so as they please."
"Three days off?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Lin felt little joy, but instead, his heart dropped like a stone.
This sudden "benefit" seemed as inauspicious as a condemned man's last meal, no matter how he considered it.
Clearly, he wasn't the only one with this premonition.
The other 199 selected martial artists showed no signs of happiness on their faces; instead, their expressions grew increasingly panicked and despairing, the atmosphere heavy and tense.
"You are dismissed. Go and prepare yourselves. The rest of you, return to your training immediately, and do not slack off!" the superintendents shouted sternly.
As the absent-minded crowd scattered, Lu Lin walked away, hurrying towards the bunkhouse. However, he had already turned his attention to somewhere deep in his mind.
Training Time: 103 years 2 months.
This was his harvest over this period, in which luck had brought him to another large nest of spiritual stones.
The sheer number gave him a sense of reassurance, yet faced with the unknown sect mission, it still felt insufficient.
Returning to the bunkhouse, he grabbed his iron pickaxe and slung the bamboo basket on his back. He wasn't going to work, but he needed a completely secluded mine tunnel for his breakthrough. The crowded bunk room was far from secure.
Soon, deep within a deserted mine tunnel.
Lu Lin sat cross-legged, clearing his mind of distractions.
"Which martial art should it be first?" He quickly pondered his current options: Nimble Cat Technique and Steel Elephant Body.
If he wanted more advances in Steel Elephant Body, ahead of him was the bottleneck of the Body Tempering Seventh Level---"Bone-Forging."
However, breaking through this barrier required Bone-Protecting Pills. Without the pills, even relying on the Martial Dao Furnace, he wasn't completely confident about emerging safe and sound from the perilous process of forging bones with Qi and Blood.
After weighing the pros and cons multiple times, Lu Lin decided to improve his mastery of the Nimble Cat Technique first.
From his experience with Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art, breaking through from the Sixth to the seventh Level was a qualitative leap that would increase his strength by two thousand jin. However, breakthroughs from the Fourth to the Fifth or Fifth to the Sixth Level also brought a significant increase of a thousand jin.
Although the exact increase might differ for other martial arts, they must be in roughly the same magnitude.
Breaking through two consecutive Levels of Nimble Cat Technique would provide a total strength increase no smaller than a breakthrough into the Seventh Level of Steel Elephant Body did, and it was undoubtedly much safer.
As he made up his mind and cast away the hesitation, a vast amount of Training Time began pouring frenziedly into Nimble Cat Technique!
[After a year of arduous training, lacking pills and relying only on food and the thin natural energy, the tempering of your body has progressed slowly. But, with your solid resolve, you have not slacked off for a single day.]
[After two years of arduous training, the progress remains slow...]
[...]
[As seasons come and go, thirteen years have slipped by in the quiet toil of training. With a single-minded focus, you have devoted everything to the Martial Dao. Heaven rewards the diligent. You have finally broken through the barrier into the Fifth Level of Nimble Cat Technique!]
Boom!
Qi and Blood surged within his body like a flood from an opened sluice gate, as a comfortable warmth enveloped his body.
A stream of new strength sprang up from every part of his body, which he estimated at over nine hundred jin!
By now, his total physical strength had climbed to a staggering seventy-two hundred jin!
"It took thirteen years to break through one Level without the aid of Tendon-Tempering Pills... still acceptable. Now, onward!"
With another thought, Training Time continued pouring into Nimble Cat Technique.
Advancing from the Fifth to the Sixth Level was significantly more difficult.
This time, a full twenty-five years' Training Time was consumed before his breakthrough succeeded, increasing his strength by another nine hundred jin!
Remaining Training Time: 65 years 2 months.
"Next, improve 'Nimble Cat Steps'!" Lu Lin instantly made the decision.
"Nimble Cat Steps," as the first combat skill of Nimble Cat Technique, had no direct offensive effect. It was a footwork focused entirely on moving and dodging, and maximizing speed and agility.
The dangers of the upcoming sect mission were unpredictable. The ability to preserve himself had to be given the top priority! "Nimble Cat Steps" was undoubtedly precisely what would help create opportunities for survival and evade danger at critical moments.
A portion of Training Time flowed into "Nimble Cat Steps."
[After three months of arduous training, you have successfully grasped the basics of 'Nimble Cat Steps.']
[After another two years of arduous training, you have reached Small Proficiency in 'Nimble Cat Steps'.]
[After a further ten years of arduous training, you have attained Proficiency in 'Nimble Cat Steps' .]
After achieving Proficiency in "Nimble Cat Steps", Lu Lin did not stop. He knew well enough that though Proficiency was only a step short of "Perfection," there was a gulf in between. Gritting his teeth, he poured a massive amount of Training Time into it once more!
[After a full thirty years of ceaseless musing, contemplating, and practicing... one day, inspiration struck. You have finally captured that mysterious, elusive thought essential to the breakthrough, ripping through the barrier and arriving at Perfection in 'Nimble Cat Steps'!]
Puff—
Lu Lin let out a long, slow breath. He felt as if a vast amount of insights and experience instantly flooded his mind, as though he had spent several true decades in solitary, arduous training in a desolate place.
This left his gaze momentarily vacant, gaining a trace of time-weathered vicissitudes, before finally refocusing and regaining clarity.
"Reaching Perfection in a combat skill is truly difficult," he sighed inwardly. "It cost me only twelve years and three months to go from Uninitiated to Proficiency in Nimble Cat Steps. But progressing from Proficiency to Perfection took a full thirty years!"
But it was all worth it.
The effect of the Perfection-stage "Nimble Cat Steps" far surpassed that of the Proficiency level!
"Let me test it!" A thought stirred, and Lu Lin quietly activated "Nimble Cat Steps."
His Qi and Blood responded by surging. The muscles in his legs vibrated, reshaped, and intertwined with a strange rhythm, as if containing countless powerful springs ready to spring back.
Swish!
The next moment, he flitted out like a phantom. His feet lightly tapped the tunnel wall, his body almost parallel to the ground, yet he ran swiftly across the steep rock wall as if on level ground, without making a single sound!
Finally, after using a protruding rock to tiptoe on, he spun elegantly in the air several times before landing steadily. All throughout this, he was airy and silent, precisely like a nimble cat moving unseen, leaving no trace.
"With my current movement skill, even if I don't fight back, relying solely on 'Nimble Cat Steps,' ordinary attacks won't even be able to touch me." A satisfied smile finally appeared on Lu Lin's face.
Decades of Training Time were completely worth it.
Remaining Training Time: 22 years 11 months.
"Next, what I am going to strive for is the Body Tempering Seventh Level or the Perfection stage in Ferocious Elephant Charge. But the remaining twenty-plus years are sufficient for neither of the two."
"If I can break through the Seventh Level in any martial art before the mission starts, my strength will surely reach a new level, and my safety will be better guaranteed. But... where can I get more Training Time?" Lu Lin furrowed his brow, lost in thought.
By mining? Only three days left. Even if I work day and night, how much could I possibly mine?
Wait!
A sudden thought occurred to Lu Lin. He remembered the Xueyan Deer Antler lying quietly in his Inner Space!
That Antler contained medium-grade spiritual energy!
Based on his deductions and comparisons over this period, Lu Lin speculated that the spiritual energy in Qi Refining cultivators' magical tools, the pills they consumed, as well as low-grade and shoddy spiritual stones, almost all belonged to the "low-grade" category.
Only the miraculous pills, rare treasures, powerful magical tools useful to Foundation Establishment cultivators, and medium-grade spiritual stones contained "medium-grade" spiritual energy.
Once absorbed, the Training Time it could bring would undoubtedly be a significant amount.
Unfortunately, with its inadequate level, the Martial Dao Furnace couldn't absorb and exchange it.
"Just one more low-grade spiritual stone short!" Lu Lin sighed inwardly.
During his two trips to Xuesha City over the past two months, he had already gathered a hundred jin of copper essence. He had also been lucky enough to obtain two low-grade spiritual stones.
Only one more was needed!
If he could get just one more low-grade spiritual stone, making a total of three, he could immediately upgrade the Furnace and absorb the medium-grade spiritual energy within the deer antler.
How could he obtain one more low-grade spiritual stone in these three days?
Thoughts flew rapidly through Lu Lin's mind. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck...
The superintendents!
Those superintendents holding power secretly supported the various gangs, receiving huge tributes. And those gang-occupied rich mining areas were precisely the places most likely to yield low-grade spiritual stones!
Then, these superintendents could have secretly skimmed and hoarded some low-grade spiritual stones for themselves, hadn't they?
The first person Lu Lin thought of was the miserly, insatiably greedy, goateed superintendent!
This man's Realm was at the Body Tempering Seventh Level. Although not weak, he was currently the best target.
It's decided. He's the one!
Ps: call for power stones, please!