Chapter 299 – Sleepless Friends, Level Three Dharma Form

Lu Yuan slowly finished his entire bowl of noodles and then, like a regular customer, paid the bill and left.

After walking 100 meters from the noodle restaurant, he arrived at his family’s grain and oil grocery store.

Zheng Qiuling and Lu Jing were sitting at the store entrance, eating and basking in the sun. There was a thick layer of sunflower seed and peanut shells at their feet.

“Mom.”

Lu Yuan greeted Zheng Qiuling.

With an expression that was both proud and affectionate, Zheng Qiuling beamed back at him.

This time, Lu Yuan had resolved his schooling issues once and for all after coming back.

He explained that due to his exceptional academic performance and outstanding results in the National Mathematical Olympiad Tournament, he had secured a spot at a prestigious university.

Because of this, Lu Yuan had gained a bit of local fame.

In several blocks around the neighborhood, everyone knew the Lu family that ran the grain and oil grocery store had a good-looking son with excellent grades-a future pillar of the nation, without a doubt.

Lu Yuan felt no guilt about this recognition, as the awards and the university recommendation were entirely legitimate.

As a Twin-winged bear in the old city circle, there was hardly anything he couldn’t accomplish.

“Why aren’t you at work today? Are you slacking off again?”

After greeting her beloved son, Zheng Qiuling turned to her “useless” daughter with a face full of scorn.

“Mom, it’s the weekend!”

Lu Jing couldn’t help but protest.

“Then why don’t you go on a date? You’re almost thirty and still don’t have a boyfriend. All you do is eat, eat, eat. You’ve gained several pounds since you got back!”

“…”

Lu Jing was left speechless by Zheng Qiuling’s barrage, trying to argue back only to be shut down every time.

Lu Yuan grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from a plastic bag on the counter, snacking as he watched the scene unfold.

It was hard to imagine that this sharp-tongued woman was the same one who, just a few months ago, constantly worried about Lu Jing, fretting over whether she was eating well, sleeping well, or getting sick while she was in Xixu.

Indeed, moms are one of the most magical beings in the world.

After finishing his handful of sunflower seeds, Lu Yuan watched as Lu Jing, pouting and exasperated, shouted that she couldn’t stand this home anymore. He finally felt satisfied and prepared to head upstairs.

Just as he reached the stairwell, Lu Jing called out to him.

“Xiao Yuan, I have a question for you!”

“Hmm?”

Lu Yuan stopped and waited for Lu Jing to speak.

Lu Jing, looking mysterious, asked quietly, “Last time in Xixu when I encountered that curse, do you still keep in touch with that archaeology friend you mentioned? If so, could you introduce him to me?”

Lu Yuan was taken aback and immediately asked, “What’s wrong? Did you come across something strange again?”

Instinctively, Lu Yuan touched the spot on his right chest where the elephant deity curse was.

He was worried that he might be causing unnecessary trouble for those around him.

Fortunately, Lu Jing shook her head.

“It’s not me, it’s a friend of mine.”

Lu Yuan relaxed and casually asked, “What’s going on exactly?”

Lu Jing’s expression turned complicated. “I don’t know how to describe it-it’s quite bizarre. My friend recently… Actually, ever since she was young, she has had this weird dream.”

“At first, it was just a foggy scene. Later on, she could see a figure in the fog. Eventually, she could make out that the figure was a woman.”

“Recently, she noticed that the woman in her dream is getting closer and closer to her, and the features are becoming more and more distinct, almost enough to clearly see what she looks like.”

“She drew a picture of the scene she saw in her dream. I’ll send it to you.”

As Lu Jing spoke, she took her mobile phone out from her pajama pocket and sent Lu Yuan a message.

Lu Yuan also took out his mobile phone and opened the message casually.

He found a simple sketch.

In the drawing, a gray mist enveloped the scene.

In the center of the mist was the vague silhouette of a woman, her exact features unclear, but her slender and elegant figure and general attire were discernible.

She wore an ancient style of clothing that Lu Yuan had never seen before.

Around the woman’s feet, there seemed to be small creatures like rats, snakes, and centipedes.

As Lu Yuan examined the sketch, Lu Jing quickly added, “Oh, and by the way, my friend has had insomnia for a long time. It’s been getting worse recently.”

“Oddly enough, despite the insomnia, she always seems to be in good spirits during the day, so no one really noticed this problem.”

“Recently, her insomnia has become so severe that she can hardly sleep at night.”

“Insomnia can still involve dreaming?”

Lu Yuan glanced at Lu Jing.

Lu Jing gave him a look and retorted, “That’s what makes it so strange. She clearly hasn’t been sleeping yet can still dream about these things.”

“And sometimes dreaming just happens when you’re dozing off, right?”

“I mainly remembered when I myself first encountered the elephant deity sect’s curse in Xixu. I experienced similar situations, so I wondered if her condition could also be related to some kind of curse.”

Lu Yuan, however, suspected that this was likely a misunderstanding.

Some people fall asleep without realizing it.

Or maybe some people have a special constitution that naturally doesn’t require sleep.

Isn’t Javier’s official extraordinary organization called the Sleepless?

Lu Yuan didn’t give it much thought and nodded at Lu Jing. “Alright, I’ll ask my friend about it and let you know if I find anything.”

“You need to take this seriously!”

Lu Jing emphasized.

Lu Yuan responded with a casual “hmm,” gave one last look at the sketch she had sent him, found the strokes somewhat familiar, but didn’t care much and put the matter out of his mind.

In the afternoon, Lu Yuan stood in a massive underground space.

The entire area was brightly lit, expansive, and tall.

Apart from a few silver-and-white super alloy weapon racks and a five-meter-tall golden Mecha, it was empty.

Lu Yuan stood in front of the golden Mecha, which looked like an ancient deity warrior, leaped up, sat in the cockpit for a bit, and only then came down, satisfied.

After Yellow Bear took over Penglai, Lu Yuan specifically kept Wu Chao’s deity-warrior Mecha.

Not only was it impressive, but it was also personally designed and built by Wu Chao, the Lord of Heaven, and carried significant sentimental value.

Keeping it at home as a giant collectible figure was just perfect.

Lu Yuan even considered taking some advanced courses on Mecha and Mecha operations. He didn’t necessarily plan to fight in a Mecha, but learning how to control one would allow him to fly around for fun. If he could unlock a [Mechanical Engineer] or [Mech Pilot] profession, that would be even better.

He opened up his current professional panel.

[Profession: Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary) Level 2 (35/200)]

His [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] profession had leveled up, reaching Level 2.

This was thanks to a few bottles of longevity resource reagent he had obtained from Penglai.

These reagents could directly enhance the blood sphere in Lu Yuan’s chest, which also increased his professional experience as a [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)].

Lu Yuan had consumed several bottles, resulting in a gain of over a hundred points of professional experience for his Martial Arts Grandmaster role.

He had inquired about the origin of these so-called longevity resources and discovered that they were actually purified extracts of blood, spinal fluid, brain marrow, and other tissues from ancient evil deity lifeforms.

These ancient evil deity biology specimens, living in evil deity secret realms, were almost like Legendary Lifeforms. Their cellular activity far surpassed that of ordinary humans.

Modern technology, through complex and precise methods, had managed to remove the parts of their cells contaminated by the evil deity, leaving behind portions that had incredible life-extension effects on normal humans.

Remarkably, these substances had no side effects, but their effectiveness would decrease with increased consumption.

Lu Yuan was quite shocked to learn the truth. The world’s major official extraordinary organizations had evidently reached a very high level of understanding in their research on evil deity sects.

They were able to extract “elixirs” from ancient evil deity biology.

No wonder various countries and organizations were so keen on exploring evil deity secret realms. This alone was enough to tempt countless individuals.

Forget about uploading consciousness or transferring it. While lower-level people might rely on body swaps for longevity, the true elites still believed that the original body was the best.

However, ancient evil deity lifeforms were quite rare, usually found only in high-level evil deity secret realms.

And they had to be living, flesh-and-blood ancient evil deity lifeforms.

Just like the elephant deity emissaries Lu Yuan had previously dealt with, which all turned to stone and sand upon death, clearly disqualifying them.

“Since it directly enhances qi and blood, increasing cellular activity, it bolsters my Grandmaster blood sphere and gains professional experience as a result.

It seems that from now on, another method to level up [Martial Arts Grandmaster] is through eating! Eating the flesh of ancient evil deity biology!”

With this thought in mind, Lu Yuan casually allocated the two accumulated attribute points to his constitution.

His constitution points instantly rose from 27 to 28, bringing him closer to the second limit break threshold of 30 points.

The blood sphere in his chest instantly swelled.

When it was first formed, the blood sphere was only the size of a fist, but now it had grown to one and a half fists in size.

He felt the surge of qi and blood flow like tidal waves within him, with his Five Viscera glowing, his bones and flesh vibrating, and a continuous thunderous rumble reverberating.

“Whew…”

Lu Yuan spent quite a bit of time adapting to the enhanced body.

The blood sphere in his chest, ever since its inception, had been like a perpetual motion machine, constantly mobilizing his entire body’s qi and blood to repeatedly cleanse his martial body.

In theory, Lu Yuan’s physical strength was always improving, albeit at a slow pace.

This is the true strength of a genuine Grandmaster.

With the attribute points added, Lu Yuan glanced at the two remaining skill points.

He definitely needed to spend them on the [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] panel, but the question was which skill to enhance.

He deliberated over the six skills and then, in one go, allocated both skill points to [Dharma Form of the Grandmaster].

The [Dharma Form of the Grandmaster], initially at Level 1, instantly upgraded to Level 3.

“Boom!”

The moment the skill was enhanced, a substantial amount of platinum aura erupted from his pores.

It converged above his head.

Five meters.

Six meters.

Seven meters.

The double-headed, four-armed, platinum-bodied Dharma Form of the elephant deity grew to ten meters, nearly brushing against the ceiling before it came to a halt.

A tremendous and oppressive aura engulfed the entire underground space, where an immense and intangible vortex seemed to be gradually taking shape.

“A ten-meter-tall Dharma Form of the elephant deity-would it exert a nuclear bomb-like effect when performing the divine elephant devours the dragon?”

Lu Yuan’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. After silently admiring it for a while, he waved his hand to disperse the Dharma Form.

During this period, Lu Yuan had come to realize that leveling up any of the skills on his [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] professional panel was particularly challenging.

This was because each skill was directly linked to his blood sphere and the four basic attributes within him.

This essentially solidified its position as his “primary life profession.”

This was also one of the reasons why he was not stingy with his skill points.

“From now on, all I have to do is continually support this main profession with my sub-professions.

[Master of Arms], [Spear Bearer (Extraordinary)], and the yet-to-be-fused panels of [Student] and [Ancient Language Expert] can all start leveling up to farm attribute points and skill points.”

The racks filled with an array of cold weapons beside him were prepared precisely for this purpose.

While the direction and route were clear, Lu Yuan still had a significant unresolved issue in his mind.

A problem he had yet to solve.

With a slight frown, he tapped the air in front of him with his finger.

Quickly, a beam of blue light shot from his pupils, projecting a slowly revolving diagram of the Starry Sky into the void.

In the vast and deep starry sky, streaks of light emerged.

They then formed rows of densely packed tiny characters and some peculiar glowing star diagrams before him.

The leading four characters were exactly what Lu Yuan had long been yearning for-“Origin Heart Sutra”!