Chapter 230 – Martial Deity Records

Jiaoyan City.

The light of the setting autumn sun cast down, devoid of warmth, bringing instead a trace of chill.

Lu Yuan stood underneath a grayish-blue humanoid stone statue in the center of a small square, swiping through his mobile phone.

Golden ginkgo leaves scattered at his feet, and behind him stood a building with a sign reading “Jiaoyan Museum.”

“The limb regeneration surgery itself is not complex, but given the patient’s advanced age and his status as a top-tier martial artist, achieving the best surgical effect may require some rare auxiliary potions…”

“The Lord’s family situation is rather simple; an intermediate-level cell repair fluid should suffice for good physical maintenance. However, significant improvements in appearance might still necessitate surgery…”

“The Lord sent in a person with an innate evil martial arts constitution, who was immediately taken by a project team. The project level is very high, and I couldn’t access any information…”

The mobile phone’s chat window displayed lengthy messages.

Lu Yuan scanned each word carefully.

This time, for the Hundred Cities Martial Arts Tournament in the south, Old Liu had made significant “sacrifices” for Lu Yuan.

Although he had eliminated Pei Ye and resolved Old Liu’s fifteen-year grudge, he still wanted to make it up to Old Liu properly.

Old Liu, during the siege, had made a breakthrough in his cultivation, now only a step away from the Grandmaster Realm. His main obstacle was his physical incompleteness, which prevented his True Intent from merging with his body.

Thus, Lu Yuan thought of using Yellow Bear’s resources to restore Old Liu’s physique.

“Limb regeneration, fifteen years ago, was still a concept seen in sci-fi and xuanhuan novels. But significant breakthroughs and achievements emerged five years ago, with the technology becoming quite mature.

Nowadays, within Yellow Bear, missing limbs are barely an issue. Even ordinary people living in Xiabang can have the opportunity to undergo such surgery if they have the money…”

Lu Yuan looked up some information and once again found himself amazed by this world’s technological development progress.

Many crucial technological advancements seemed to have almost no accumulation process before their results appeared.

Clearly, the research progress in a certain field was at zero last month, but by the next month, it saw a sudden and explosive breakthrough, quickly achieving a very high standard.

This phenomenon wasn’t isolated to one or two fields; it was prevalent across many domains and projects.

“It’s as if some mysterious force is deliberately guiding human technology to develop rapidly in certain directions… Could it be that we really received alien or advanced civilization heritage or gifts?”

Lu Yuan thought about how the decline of ancient martial arts seemed to happen within the past fifteen to twenty years.

The new martial arts and modification routes had suddenly risen, causing ancient martial arts techniques to swiftly fall from grace.

“The division of the new world and the old city circle also seemed to take shape around this time…”

Lu Yuan pondered, intending to ask the Yellow Bear Research Group personnel on the other end of his mobile phone about Lin Zhiqin and Lin Mo.

Just then, he saw a few figures walking hand in hand out of the Museum entrance in the distance.

They were girls in their twenties, not dressed particularly fashionably, but exuding a unique aura somewhere between maturity and youthfulness.

They chatted and laughed among themselves, discussing relaxing topics like where to eat after work.

Lu Jing was among them.

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered; he lowered his head and sent a message to Lu Jing.

Half a minute later, a girl detached from the group and jogged toward Lu Yuan.

“When did you get back?!”

Lu Jing ran up to Lu Yuan, panting and with a flushed face, full of surprise and joy.

“Just this afternoon.”

Lu Yuan smiled at Lu Jing and then asked, “Why did you decide to work here?”

Lu Jing exhaled and sighed softly, “Working at the martial arts gym was so boring; there’s nothing to do except martial arts practice every day. I got so idle that I thought of finding something else to do. It’s hard to find a job with an archaeology major. Besides the Museum, there’s just the auction house… and there aren’t many big auction houses in Jiaoyan…”

Lu Yuan nodded, gesturing for Lu Jing to walk forward with him, saying, “The situation with the archaeological team has been resolved, so you don’t need to worry about any curses anymore.”

“Really?!”

Lu Jing was instantly overjoyed, and from the look on her face, it was clear she was genuinely relieved. She even muttered to herself, “No wonder I haven’t had any nightmares recently. Oh, right…”

Lu Jing couldn’t help but ask, “What about Professor Xia? Has he come back yet?”

Knowing she was referring to Xia Weimin, Lu Yuan shook his head and said, “Xia Weimin is dead… He was killed by people from an artifact trafficking company. They stole a batch of artifacts he had secretly brought back from Xixu. But the officials have already stepped in, and I think there will be results soon.”

Lu Yuan concocted a seemingly plausible story to completely dispel any doubts in Lu Jing’s mind.

A look of sadness appeared on Lu Jing’s face, and she murmured, her emotions sinking, “Professor Xia… He was such a good person. He always took care of us interns, and among the archaeology professors, he was the most dedicated to his projects…”

Lu Yuan didn’t know how to comfort Lu Jing, so he gently patted her back.

All the way home, Lu Jing remained downcast, head lowered, continually swiping through her mobile phone.

It wasn’t until dinner that the family finally sat at the table together again, and Lu Jing slowly emerged from her sadness over Xia Weimin’s death.

During dinner, Mom kept asking Lu Yuan about the math competition. While answering smoothly, Lu Yuan secretly messaged Yellow Bear to expedite the process of making the trophy and award certificate and have them delivered home.

In these two months, Lu Xinghua’s complexion had improved significantly; he looked paler and had gained a bit of weight.

Everything at home was heading in a better direction, filling Lu Yuan with an inexplicable sense of comfort.

He hadn’t forgotten the original reason he took up martial arts—to protect everything before him.

“Pop—”

At that moment, Lu Yuan suddenly felt a stir within him.

It was as if something in his mind had cracked open slightly, allowing in a flood of light.

Immediately following this, he sensed a sudden surge in his mental power.

The mist-like mental energy surrounding him seemed to increase by about half.

“Whew—”

The abruptly increased mental power dispersed, forming an invisible, intangible shockwave.

“Snap, crackle—”

The overhead light flickered chaotically, and then… the power went out in Lu Yuan’s home.

“Old house, the circuit must have tripped again!”

Lu Xinghua muttered as he got up to check the electrical panel. Mom immediately followed, grabbing a flashlight to help him see.

In the pitch-black dining room, light from the neighbor’s house next door streamed through the windows.

Lu Jing stared wide-eyed at Lu Yuan, surprised, “Lu Yuan, why are your eyes glowing?!”

Lu Yuan looked at her quietly for a moment before saying, “Lu Jing… let’s go stay at grandfather’s house for a few days starting tomorrow.”

Lu Jing froze for a second, then nodded vigorously.

“Okay!”

….

A desolate, deathly silent quarry.

Lu Yuan felt the weight of his current physical shell.

Sluggish, clumsy, sluggish…

However, the moment this body moved, black markings on what seemed like a rock-carved body lit up rapidly.

All that sluggish clumsiness disappeared instantly, replaced by… overwhelming power that could crush almost anything!

“Boom!”

He punched the ground hard, turning the solid rock within a hundred-meter radius into powder.

The terrifying rebound force transmitted back, but it was entirely absorbed by the glowing black markings inside the shell.

“Whew—”

Lu Yuan exhaled a deep breath, and his consciousness instantly returned to his real body.

Time in the [Imaginary Enemy] Consciousness Space paused, and the Elephant Deity Emissary stayed frozen in a downward punching stance.

Lu Yuan stepped forward, reached the Elephant Deity Emissary, and touched its body, feeling a rough, hard texture under his fingertips.

He closed his eyes, and a scarlet bloodline lit up on his chest.

One, two, three…

Altogether, nine bloodlines, interwoven and twisting like a Dragon Form.

When all nine bloodlines fully appeared, Lu Yuan’s body trembled slightly, and his eyes snapped open, revealing a subtle scarlet glow. Simultaneously, a faint scarlet aura enveloped his entire body.

“Heavenly Domineering Fury!”

In an instant, Lu Yuan felt an overwhelming, unbeatable force.

Even his mindset shifted slightly, as if he had transformed into an invincible warrior on the battlefield, possessing an aura of unstoppable might, poised to decapitate enemy generals in the heat of battle.

But it didn’t stop there.

Lu Yuan recalled the sensation of his consciousness inhabiting the Elephant Deity Emissary, allowing his mist-like mental power to disperse.

It surged and gathered, gradually forming the faint silhouette of an elephant-headed human figure.

The moment this True Intent of the Elephant Deity took shape, the domineering and heroic aura inside Lu Yuan instantly soared to another peak.

He suddenly punched towards the head of the Elephant Deity Emissary.

“Boom!”

“Crack—”

Accompanied by a crisp sound, Lu Yuan’s punching wrist… broke.

“Swipe—”

Lu Yuan’s eyes snapped open, and in the dimly lit small bedroom, a mysterious flicker of light seemed to flash and vanish.

He sat cross-legged on his old mat, not immediately rising, continuing to ponder.

He was nearing the pinnacle of his [Martial Artist] skills on his professional panel.

He was already considered a top-tier pure martial artist.

It was precisely for this reason that he could keenly feel the limitations and weaknesses of a pure martial artist career in the later stages.

Thus, he began experimenting to create a unique extraordinary martial arts path for himself.

“Using the Crow Deity Projection’s phenomena to replace the Spirit Crane True Intent, using the Elephant Deity Projection’s phenomena to replace the True Intent of external martial arts, including Heavenly Domineering Fury…”

“Based on the simulation results in the [Imaginary Enemy] Consciousness Space, this approach seems viable, but it remains to be seen how effective it will be in real practice.”

Lu Yuan pulled up his professional panel.

On the [Martial Artist] panel, an array of martial arts skills were displayed, from killer moves to even super killer moves.

For Lu Yuan now, their power felt somewhat lacking.

“Other than the professional core skills, the majority of martial arts skills have become nearly useless, diverse yet not refined… or rather, even if they were practiced to an advanced level, they wouldn’t achieve the effect I desire.”

“Perhaps…”

Lu Yuan thought deeply, reorganizing and streamlining all the skills he currently mastered into a brand new martial arts system truly suited to him.

“This new martial arts system must encompass offense, defense, speed, and mental power.”

“It will use pure martial true skill as the bones, pure martial inner strength as the flesh, pure martial moves as the skin, and the True Intent of the Evil Deity Projection as the soul!”

In the darkness, the light in Lu Yuan’s eyes grew brighter, as if countless sparks of insight were colliding and igniting within his pupils.

He murmured to himself, “The name shall be—Martial Deity Records. The creator shall be Lu Yuan.”