Chapter 104: Chapter 104 Deliberate Bombardment Fist (Please Subscribe for Monthly Tickets)
"Then, let’s start preparing the potion."
[Synthesizing Potion of Unknown Properties: Red Armored Scorpion Tail Needle + Black Wolf Spider Poison Fang + Silver Centipede Saliva]
Lu Luo locked the office door, then took out the scorpion tail needle, the black wolf spider poison fang, and the silver centipede’s saliva.
[All materials are ready. This fusion will consume 173 energy points.]
Lu Luo currently had just over 500 surplus energy points, so 173 energy points were naturally easy to manage, not much of a stress.
"Synthesize."
Although the prompt indicated unknown properties, Lu Luo didn’t hesitate to choose synthesis.
The products from a Fusioner had so far never been bad.
Whether it was the Wraith Blade or the optimization of his cultivation technique, Qi He, the results had almost always been flawless. In terms of reliability, the Fusioner was much more dependable than Observer, that gasbag.
[Now synthesizing potion of unknown properties, please wait: 600, 599...]
The synthesis required ten minutes, so Lu Luo took this chance to check on the progress of the optimization and extraction for the Dust Devil cultivation technique.
Perhaps because the content of the Dust Devil manuscript was too disorganized, the prompt for Dust Devil had remained unchanged.
[Secret Technique - Dust Devil, currently being extracted and optimized. Please wait patiently...]
It’s much slower than Six Paths.
Lu Luo was not surprised by this situation. Six Paths was just a cultivation technique circulated among the Fourth Ring Hunters.
Its base quality was roughly equivalent to that of a standard military cultivation technique. Each path in Six Paths was very straightforward, so the difficulty of extracting it wasn’t high.
In comparison to Six Paths, Lu Luo’s own Second Tier technique was the real high-level cultivation technique. He had fused Qi power into it and optimized the process to better suit himself.
The fact that Dust Devil was so much slower than Six Paths was enough to show that its quality far surpassed that of Six Paths.
So, when Ludie said that the Dust Devil was a powerful secret technique capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with those of the Inner Ring, it probably wasn’t pure bragging. At least, not by much.
[Potion of unknown properties successfully synthesized.]
Potion of Unknown Properties
Quality: Rare.
Drinking Effect 1 - Lurking: Your acute poison possesses the ability to lurk.
Drinking Effect 2 - Poison Outburst: When your lurking acute poison accumulates to a certain level, it triggers an acute poison outburst.
Description: A product of Fusioner craftsmanship, Lu Luo’s exclusive item. A mixture of various poisons that, additionally, incorporates Life Energy, which is fatal upon human contact.
Lu Luo looked at the potion before him. This thing was directly developing him into a sneaky poisoner.
As long as I have strength, being sneaky doesn’t mean a thing. Being a poisoner is pretty good. Drink up!
Lu Luo downed the potent potion in one gulp. The liquid flowed down his esophagus into his body, where the Devourer immediately absorbed it.
Certain special components of the potion quickly converged at Lu Luo’s core acupoint. They gathered around the acute poison Exotic Species near the Qi He acupoint.
The changes in the acute poison Exotic Species were very noticeable. It quickly transformed from a red, smooth small sphere into a spiky sphere, with barbs at the tips of its spikes.
All these changes were occurring inside Lu Luo’s body. Although he couldn’t see them, he could sense them through Observer.
After absorbing the poison, Lu Luo began to test it practically.
He placed his palm on a piece of paper, and the acute poison Exotic Species started transferring venom to his palm.
Lu Luo’s palm slowly released Fire Poison as he closely observed the changes in the paper.
The paper quickly turned red. With a thought from Lu Luo, the acute poison he released seemed to react to some kind of stimulus.
It began to rapidly converge, finally forming an almost imperceptible red dot!
So, this is the effect of lurking?
After observing for a bit, Lu Luo snapped his fingers.
POP!
The moment his fingers snapped, the red dot bloomed like a red flower, spreading out instantaneously. The paper began to rapidly decay as the red poisonous gas explosively diffused.
Lu Luo was startled. Fearing the poisonous gas would continue to spread, he hastily took a deep breath and swallowed all of it himself.
[You have been harmed by Fire Poison. Your poison resistance has mitigated some of the Fire Poison’s damage.]
[Your Perseverance has made you immune to this poison damage.]
Lu Luo blinked several times as he looked at Observer’s prompt, because he had realized something.
I see! The venom of vipers poisons other vipers; vipers can be killed by the venom of vipers!
After completing the test, Lu Luo started to breathe deeply in the room. He hoped to absorb as much of the poisonous gas in the air as possible to prevent harming others.
Finding a quiet place to practice is indeed an urgent matter.
「 」
With that thought, Lu Luo went to the rooftop of an office building late at night. Looking at the mostly extinguished lights inside the building, he felt the rooftop would be a good training ground.
Standing on the rooftop, Lu Luo first circulated Qi He throughout his body. He practiced punches randomly, feeling the powerful explosive force Qi He provided.
His use of Qi He was too superficial, and this kind of training would somewhat improve his proficiency in using it.
When Lu Luo was practicing late into the night, Observer finally transmitted a prompt, though it was an incomplete one.
[Due to the low levels of Observer and Fusioner, the Grade S-04 Fusioner has performed a phased optimization for the Dust Devil Mystery Technique.]
[An optimized training method for the Dust Devil’s Steam Form has been extracted for the host.]
[An optimized training method for the Steam Form - Deliberate Bombardment Fist has been extracted for the host.]
[An optimized training method for the Steam Form - Qi Union Slash has been extracted for the host.]
[Dust Devil Mystery Technique - Mist, Dust Devil Form are still being optimized. Please be patient, host.]
Patience? I have plenty of it! Look how dependable Fusioner is, giving me a triple release directly.
And for now, Lu Luo didn’t care about Mist or Dust Devil Form at all. He was still bewildered about how to use Qi He, so practicing Mist or Dust Devil Form was simply unrealistic!
What Lu Luo cared about most now was the Steam Form. This was the foundation of everything and the first step in optimizing his use of Qi He.
"Give me the training method for the Steam Form."
[Displaying the Qi He circulation method for the Steam Form. Please operate your Qi He to follow accordingly, host.]
In terms of professionalism, Lu Luo never doubted his three Grade S Sequences.
He began to attempt following the Qi He circulation scheme refined by the Fusioner.
First, he had to let Qi He follow the route refined by the Fusioner, initiating circulation throughout his body.
This process of releasing Qi He throughout the body was carried out simultaneously.
Qi He needed to reach all five limbs of the body simultaneously and then return in sync. Finally, it had to converge at the acupoints, adding the first layer of pressure. Only then would a Qi He cycle be complete.
So even the entry-level was incredibly challenging.
Only someone as brilliant, a bit insane, and unwilling to remain obscure as Ludie could have come up with such a bizarre Qi He operation method.
Observer’s requirement for him was also very simple: he could be slow, but he couldn’t be wrong. A single mistake would invalidate the entire process.
In the beginning, Lu Luo slowed his process to an extreme. Yet, even at this slowest pace, he still made frequent mistakes and made no progress.
Damn it, what kind of crap cultivation technique is this!
[Flustered! Calm down! Maybe slower isn’t always better? Although extremely slow is easy to control, it significantly increases the Qi He process duration. Sometimes you need to think from another perspective.]
Observer’s hint calmed Lu Luo down a bit. Indeed, they were right; both fast and slow had their disadvantages.
So Lu Luo began to gradually increase his speed, hoping to find the most balanced point.
Gradually, Lu Luo started to increase the speed of his Qi movement, faster and faster, always feeling like something was slightly off.
It wasn’t until he pushed his Qi circulation speed to its limit that a Steam cycle was finally completed.
THUD!
His core and acupoints vibrated intensely. Veins stood out on Lu Luo’s forehead, and he could feel his blood pressure rising rapidly.
His muscles were compressed to the extreme by some expanding force, feeling like they could burst at any moment.
Lu Luo’s expression twisted. Although he knew the Steam Form was powerful, he hadn’t anticipated the reaction to be this intense.
[It’s not that the Steam Form is powerful; it’s that your Qi He is strong. Its quality and pressure are much greater than that of others, which is why you have these results.]
Lu Luo was somewhat relieved, and he did not continue. After taking a few deep breaths, his swollen body gradually settled.
With guidance from Observer and optimizations by Fusioner, he had avoided many detours. He was very satisfied with his progress.
Each cycle of the Steam Form route increases the pressure on my body by one layer. I wonder how many layers are needed to achieve the true Steam Form.
According to the Dust Devil Mystery Technique’s description and Ludie’s previous demonstrations, the Steam Form is a state where one’s body turns bright red. It emits intense, hot steam all over.
All that steam is formed from liquefied Qi He under high pressure, making it incredibly powerful. And that’s just the first form. This is why the Dust Devil is truly a divine technique on par with the Church’s Secret Techniques.
In the following days, Lu Luo hardly ever went back. He tirelessly practiced the Steam Qi He Form.
From the initial single cycle, to three cycles five days later, he finally saw a wisp of steam emitting from his body!
"I’ve succeeded!"
During these days, Lu Luo wasn’t only practicing that. While recovering his Qi He, he chose to learn two moves of the Steam Form.
Deliberate Bombardment Fist: Pressurize one’s arm and gather over 50 units of Steam Qi He. A single punch will cause conical shockwave damage, wide-area impact, and scorching damage.
Qi Union Slash: Infuse 50 units of Steam Qi He into a sword. The Qi He pressure is then released instantaneously to execute a flying Slash Strike.
Although he couldn’t use the moves without Steam Qi He, that didn’t stop Lu Luo from reading and understanding them first.
After all, when I was a kid, I usually chose option C for reading comprehension multiple-choice questions.
Lu Luo felt the steam surging within his body. He fixed his right foot, slid his left foot forward, and pulled his right fist back as if drawing a bow to shoot an arrow.
This position... it feels just right!
Deliberate Bombardment Fist!
BOOM!
A large amount of glass on the office building’s rooftop shattered. However, by the time the guards arrived, the rooftop was already deserted.
「 」
After returning to the studio, Lu Luo sat back with his legs crossed, leaning on his old and worn boss’s chair.
You Xiaoqi and Ding Peng hadn’t come back, which left him feeling somewhat helpless.
No training today. The training ground had been wrecked by his antics. Besides, he was due to meet Qi Xinzhu at Han Shiyu’s place the next day.
Then he would go to cultivate at Archbishop Qiao Xing’s. So, Lu Luo decided to take it easy today and play the role of a lazy boss for a day.
But things often go against one’s wishes. Just as he was dozing off in the chair, a rapid knocking on the door sounded.
"Brother Luo, there’s a high-level assignment. Brother Gu, Xiaoqi, and Brother Ding are all out. Do you want to come down and check it out?"
Zhou Kai had already gone out with the team to handle assignments. The one calling Lu Luo at this time was the excellent employee Xu Minglei.
"Okay, coming right now."
The customer is king, and Circle Studio currently wasn’t in a position to refuse clients at will.
Moreover, this was a high-level assignment.
Circle Studio currently classified assignments into three types: low-level and mid-level assignments were civilian services.
These included investigating extramarital affairs, searching for people and items, and looking into simple cases, all of which fell under the first two types of assignments.
But once it involved the Transcendent Domain, no matter the situation, it automatically escalated to a high-level assignment.
High-level assignments could bring tremendous prestige to Circle Studio, which was what Lu Luo currently valued the most.
The people currently able to take on high-level assignments in Circle Studio were just four: Lu Luo, Gu Fangyi, Ding Peng, and You Xiaoqi.
Lu Luo went downstairs and glanced at the client standing not far away.
She was a woman with colorful hair. Despite the chilly weather, she wore a miniskirt and a low-cut top that exposed much of her chest.
And this woman, well, she was the kind you’d know worked in seafood at first glance.
How could such a person have a high-level assignment? Was there an Exotic Species incident nearby?
Taking the assignment slip from Xu Minglei, Lu Luo studied it closely.
Gang fight? Can that even be considered a Transcendent event? A high-level assignment?
The seafood girl glanced at Lu Luo. She seemed quite pleased with his appearance but wasn’t too happy with his tone.
"What do you mean ’Can that even count as a Transcendent event’? Can’t gang fights escalate to the Transcendent level? Do you have any idea how many people are in our Qinglian Gang?
"If it weren’t for the Mud Hand Gang bringing in a Second Tier peak Transcendent, why would we need outside help?
"I came here specifically because I heard you could contact Hunters. But who knew your shop would be this small and have so few people.
"Are you up to the task or not? If not, I’ll just hire mercenaries; it’ll only be a bit more expensive."
Lu Luo initially had no interest in such gang brawls. However, when he heard the seafood girl mention a Second Tier peak Transcendent and the ten-thousand-dollar assignment fee, he immediately perked up.
He had just perfected his Steam Qi He and was looking for an opportunity to test his skills. A Second Tier peak Transcendent... should be much stronger than Wu Sen, right?
"Miss, if you haven’t personally experienced it, it’s best not to say a man is incapable. That’s impolite.
"We certainly can get in touch with Hunters, and we can indeed handle this matter well.
"However, a Second Tier peak Transcendent is quite strong and not so easy to deal with!"
The seafood lady frowned slightly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is simple: a Second Tier peak is too strong. For this job, the price has to go up!"