The number in the "modified value" column began to jump wildly, like abacus beads being flicked by an invisible hand: 12... 11... 10... 9...
Finally, the number came to a steady stop at "2."
A full 10 points of modified value were consumed in an instant!
At the same time, a vast and profound insight into Martial Arts, far greater than from the previous two modifications, began to pour systematically into the depths of Lu Yun’s soul!
Countless new variations of moves, methods for channeling Qi, breathing rhythms, and even a deeper understanding of the power behind the "Mountain-Breaking Inch Force."
It was as if he had spent decades tempering and cultivating these skills day and night, searing them deep into his mind.
It wasn’t just his mind that was affected; Lu Yun’s body also began to undergo an astonishing transformation.
The muscles and bones beneath the skin of his clenched fists and arms were being reforged and polished, emitting a constant, dense rain of soft CRACKLING sounds.
His arms became tougher and more resilient. Such vigorous life force was not something a worn-out sixty-year-old man like Lu Yun should possess.
The already dense Huajin Qi within him suddenly began to roil and boil!
The Qi surged and grew stronger, its speed of circulation through Lu Yun’s meridians accelerating sharply, making his energy cycles smoother and more complete.
The moment the Qi throughout his body swelled to a certain critical point, Lu Yun’s body jolted slightly.
It was an indescribable feeling of perfect clarity.
It was as if some innate yet invisible shackle, binding the potential of his physical body, had been shattered by this immense power!
Mid-stage Grandmaster of Huajin!!!
And in his mind, the Cultivation Technique information on the Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier updated accordingly.
Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist, 2nd Floor, initiated!
[Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier]
Name: Lu Yun
Gender: Male
Realm: Grandmaster of Huajin (Mid-stage)
Cultivation Technique: Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist, 2nd Floor (Initiated)
Modified Value: 2
Lu Yun slowly opened his eyes. A sharp light was contained within his pupils, and his expression was radiant. Even the wrinkles on his face had faded slightly.
He gently clenched his fist, feeling the Huajin Qi inside him, which was now nearly twice as strong and flowed with much greater ease. A powerful sense of control, stronger than he had ever felt before, washed over him.
In just one night, he had gone from just entering the Early-stage Huajin to reaching the mid-stage Realm!
If news of such rapid progress were to spread, it would be enough to shock the world and send tremors through the entire Martial Arts World of Yun Port City and even all of Daxia!
Lu Yun looked at the mountain of brocade boxes and wooden cases on the table, no longer feeling the slightest sting of the expense.
’Eat! Keep eating!’
Like a tireless Taotie, Lu Yun opened the mountain of brocade boxes and wooden cases one by one.
Hundred-year-old ginseng, decades-old Lingzhi, a Highland Snow Lotus from the Snowfield, thick deer antlers, a strange Polygonum multiflorum...
All sorts of sacred restorative treasures that ordinary people could only ever hope to chance upon were unceremoniously swallowed whole by him.
A faint, intermittent stream of warmth surged in Lu Yun’s abdomen, indicating that the "modified value" was accumulating with extreme slowness.
It was a sleepless night.
When dawn broke in the east, every brocade box and wooden case in the room was open and empty.
Lu Yun sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes slightly closed, his aura calm and condensed.
He was regulating his breathing, sorting through the impure medicinal energies from the vast quantities of tonics he had consumed overnight, while also acclimatizing to the powerful Huajin Qi that felt as if it were about to overflow.
After a long while, Lu Yun slowly exhaled a long, turbid breath. He opened his eyes, a sharp light flowing within them, feeling fully revitalized.
Immediately, Lu Yun sank his consciousness back into his mind and looked at the ethereal blue panel.
[Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier]
Name: Lu Yun
Gender: Male
Realm: Grandmaster of Huajin (Mid-stage)
Cultivation Technique: Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist, 2nd Floor (Initiated)
Modified Value: 15
He had been busy the entire night, consuming hundreds of thousands of Daxia Yuan worth of rare tonics.
In the end, he had obtained 13 points of modified value. Added to the 2 points he had left, the total was 15.
This result left Lu Yun feeling a bit resigned.
As expected, the combined effect of the entire room of "treasures," some decades old and others nearly a century, was far inferior to that single two-hundred-year-old and the single three-hundred-year-old top-grade wild ginseng.
The latter two had provided 11 points on their own, while the numerous items of the former group had only yielded 13.
Worse, some of the medicinal herbs that should have had decent nourishing effects didn’t cause the modified value to budge at all after Lu Yun swallowed them.
He surmised that either the "medicinal power" they contained was so minuscule it didn’t even amount to 0.1 points, or the modified value only displayed integers and required a full point of accumulation before it would change.
’Still, upon reflection, it made sense.’
True treasures of heaven and earth were rare to begin with. Those wondrous items, often centuries old, that could help a Martial Artist break through a bottleneck were even more so—things one could only hope to chance upon, not actively seek out.
The true value of this roomful of "common goods," which could be gathered with enough money, naturally couldn’t compare to the two "Ginseng Kings" he had kept as his ultimate treasures.
"It seems that relying on ordinary money to buy large quantities of tonics to accumulate modified value quickly is a very inefficient path, and perhaps not even a viable one."
"I must find true, extremely old natural treasures... or explore other ways to obtain modified value."
Lu Yun muttered this conclusion to himself, his gaze falling on the number "15" next to the modified value as his mind raced.
However, he then recalled his experience in his eldest son Lu Jingteng’s room.
’After I dispelled the sinister, cold aura left by that ghastly thing on Jingteng, I gained 4 points of modified value!’
Those 4 points of modified value were extraordinary. It was even more than what a two-hundred-year-old Ginseng King had provided.
At this thought, an astonishing light burst forth from Lu Yun’s eyes.
This meant that the ways to obtain modified value weren’t limited to just consuming natural treasures.
Eliminating those sinister ghosts, demons, and monstrous entities that ordinary people feared like the plague was also an effective—and possibly even more efficient—method!
Yun Port City was a melting pot of Chinese and foreign influences, a place where the old and new converged. It was already rumored to be a hotbed of strange incidents, with countless unknown evils lurking in the shadows.
The resentful energy from the fall of the previous dynasty, the foreign dark arts brought by Westerners in the concessions, the malevolent grounds soaked in blood from gang wars... To ordinary people, these were disasters and taboos.
But in Lu Yun’s eyes, they were now moving treasure troves of "modified value"!
The True Qi of a Grandmaster of Huajin clearly had a powerful suppressive effect on this type of sinister energy.
"Looks like, besides hunting for ancient herbs, I’ll have to take the initiative and pay a visit to those ’friends’ in the city’s darker corners."
’The path to longevity is inherently one of defying the heavens. What’s wrong with fighting heaven for your life and ghosts for your fortune?’
However, Lu Yun was well aware that strength was the foundation for exploring anything.
Those unseen and untouchable "unclean things" were often mysterious and unpredictable, making them impossible to defend against.
The memory of the ghastly thing he encountered in his twenties was still fresh in his mind.
’So, to rashly provoke those ghostly things without absolute certainty? How would that be any different from suicide?’

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