Chapter 12 - The Invitation

Chapter 12: The InvitationAt the moment the voice fell,

Luo Mu once again felt a surge of heat all over his body.

In his mind, countless images flashed—scenes of him cultivating, absorbing a total of one hundred wisps of sun essence.

His body had undergone intense changes,

as if it were the inside of a volcano!

His blood flowed like magma, roaring and surging through his meridians.

His bones had turned crimson, indestructible, and emitted sparks.

His flesh seemed to be hammered by countless giant flames, growing tougher by the second!

“A hundredfold gain!”

Luo Mu snapped back to reality, joy flashing in his eyes.

A hundredfold gain meant he had just absorbed the equivalent of one hundred wisps of sun essence!

The technique had skipped over the entry-level stage and reached the initial mastery stage.

Moreover, he had progressed a bit within the initial mastery stage!

To reach minor success, he needed three hundred wisps!

“Let’s test the effect!”

Luo Mu drew the long blade beside him.

He lightly slashed it against his arm.

Clang!

It actually made a sound like metal clashing!

With that, Luo Mu applied more force,

increasing to half of his strength.

Crack!

The long blade broke cleanly in two.

His arm, however, was left completely unmarked.

“It seems ordinary weapons can no longer harm me.”

“Even a weapon of the Hundred-Refinement Level would likely struggle.”

Luo Mu was very satisfied.

The five thousand five hundred contribution points he had spent were well worth it.

Once he cultivated the  to minor success, major success, or even perfection, his body would undergo further transformations—especially with that Flame Armor!

“Let’s test my strength next!”

The  was a comprehensive body-refining technique, emphasizing defense first, and strength second…

Boom!

Luo Mu threw a punch.

The air exploded, and the ground within a dozen meters turned black. The water in the nearby pond evaporated, turning into steam.

His blood vitality burned like the blazing sun!

Nearby, there was a training stone with extremely tough material.

Luo Mu casually punched it.

Crack!

The training stone shattered into pieces!

“This power…”

Luo Mu gasped slightly.

Compared to before, his strength had increased by at least seventy thousand!

To put it simply,

his strength had gone from thirty thousand to a hundred thousand!

And this was only at the initial mastery stage—an incredibly dramatic improvement.

“If this was a body-refining technique focused primarily on strength, how terrifying would it be?”

Luo Mu found it hard to imagine.

“With my current strength, I should be able to fight martial artists at the sixth or seventh level of the True Aperture Realm.”

Luo Mu made a mental comparison.

Of course, this assumed ordinary martial artists.

Once he mastered the  as well, he was confident he could defeat even martial arts prodigies!

Both the  and the  were top-tier middle-grade techniques.

Once mastered,

their power would be astonishing and overwhelming!

“I’ll enhance my cultivation tonight, now that the sun has set.”

Luo Mu said as he watched the sun slowly dip below the horizon and walked back into his room.

In his life, rest had always taken up a very small portion of his time.

——

The next day,

Luo Mu opened his eyes.

He had spent four hours cultivating the previous night.

The results were satisfactory. Although he hadn’t triggered a hundredfold critical hit, he did trigger a fiftyfold one once, and the rest were at least twentyfold.

All things considered, it was equivalent to having cultivated for one hundred and twenty hours.

He had made a significant step forward in the first level of the True Aperture Realm.

But there was a problem.

Luo Mu realized he was running out of cultivation resources.

He was almost at the bottom.

“Should I go home to get more?”

Luo Mu wondered.

The problem was that his family lived in Dongli County, which was quite far from the academy.

Just traveling there and back would take over a month.

And it wasn’t yet time for his family’s annual shipment of resources.

“Forget it. Worst case, I’ll head to the back mountain to hunt demon beasts, collect some materials, and practice the  in the meantime. If that doesn’t work, the academy has tasks as well.”

Luo Mu stood up.

His family had already spent a lot of resources sending him to the academy. Unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to ask for more.

Knock knock knock!

Suddenly, there was a knock at the courtyard gate.

Luo Mu raised his eyebrows, surprised.

He had always been a dedicated cultivator and didn’t have many acquaintances in the academy.

So usually, no one would come looking for him.

But without thinking too much, he walked out and opened the gate.

“Good morning, Junior Brother Luo.”

Cheng Qingman stood outside, smiling.

“Senior Sister Cheng?”

Luo Mu was surprised.

He hadn’t expected Cheng Qingman to visit him. S~eaʀᴄh the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Are you surprised?”

Cheng Qingman, dressed in green, had long and shapely legs.

In the sunlight, she radiated youthful energy.

Although she was his senior sister, Cheng Qingman was only a year or two older than Luo Mu.

“I’m indeed surprised. What brings Senior Sister here today?”

Luo Mu asked.

“I like your straightforwardness, but aren’t you going to invite me in to sit?”

Cheng Qingman said.

“Apologies, how rude of me. Please, come in.”

Luo Mu stepped aside.

Cheng Qingman entered, and her eyes quickly took in the scene—the shattered training stone scattered across the courtyard, the empty pond, and the scorched ground nearby.

Was this caused by Junior Brother Luo’s training?

What kind of martial technique could produce such results?

Though curious, Cheng Qingman didn’t ask.

She found a stone bench, unbothered by the dust, and sat down.

“There aren’t many visitors here, so I didn’t prepare anything for guests.”

Luo Mu sat down as well.

“We martial artists don’t bother with such formalities.”

Cheng Qingman waved her hand dismissively and got straight to the point. “I came because there’s a task, and I wanted to invite Junior Brother Luo to join me.”

“A task?”

Luo Mu raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, the academy has recently discovered several hidden demon sect strongholds, and we need people to clear them out. I, along with some other fellow disciples, accepted one of these tasks.”

Cheng Qingman explained.

“How strong are the opponents?”

Luo Mu asked.

“Not very. The strongest is only at the seventh level of the True Aperture Realm.”

Cheng Qingman replied, “It’s just a small stronghold. The academy is using it as a training ground for us. As for the larger ones, they’ll be handled by stronger forces.”

“I’m only at the first level of the True Aperture Realm. Why ask me?”

Luo Mu pondered aloud.

“You’re no ordinary True Aperture cultivator. With the , even some third-level inner court disciples wouldn’t be your match!”

Cheng Qingman responded.

“And the reward?”

Luo Mu asked next.

“Three thousand contribution points, minimum. Plus, for each demon sect member’s head, you get five thousand.”

Cheng Qingman replied.

Upon hearing this,

Luo Mu’s eyes lit up.

In other words, even if he did nothing and just went along, he’d still earn three thousand contribution points.

And three thousand contribution points were enough to exchange for a lot of cultivation resources!

At the very least, it would support his training for one or two months!

If he could take down a few demon sect members…

Luo Mu’s hands clenched slightly.