Bang!

Bang!

There were constant booms and bangs.

Lu Ming was still in the midst of collecting his spoils of war.

Right now, he had fully verified his guess. A four-star Cloud Shuttle card would indeed steal the vocation core from the other party. Its effect was very powerful!

However, he soon realized a flaw and that was when the other party died, the vocation core would disappear very soon!

It wouldn’t do to disappear like that!

His efforts in collecting them would be in vain!

Afterward…

Lu Ming had an idea.

What were these things that he stole from them?

The vocation cores!

Well…

Under normal circumstances, where were the vocation cores stored?

The Sea of Consciousness!

Therefore…

Shush!

Lu Ming went into his Sea of Consciousness and brought one vocation core with him.

Buzz—

The vocation core was indeed brought into the Sea of Consciousness.

It was successful!

Lu Ming was elated.

Eh?

The black cat that was asleep was jolted awake. It looked in shock at the thing that Lu Ming brought with him from the outside. Where did this guy bring this thing from?

Oo…

It was like when Xiaobai shared the Sea of Consciousness with him last time…

And what about this?

At the thought of this, the black cat lay down lazily.

Teenagers nowadays…

Nonsense.

“Brother Cat, I will place it here for now,” Lu Ming said.

Upon finishing his words…

He left again.

In a short while, Lu Ming appeared again with a bunch of vocation cores…

The black cat was alarmed.

The vocation cores…

Didn’t a cultivator only have one core?!

It was true.

Could it be that it had some misunderstandings about human cultivators?

…

“Perfect!”

Lu Ming felt very satisfied.

The vocation core could be saved. Hahahaha!

Hence…

He acted faster.

The few people who were fighting tenaciously did not survive his attacks. Even the five-star cultivator was not spared…

Alright.

Lu Ming could not defeat them.

But so what?

When Fan Ze’s kidney self-destructed, their defenses…

Their vocation cores were taken away. By the time they came to their senses, they were already dead and they would not suspect Lu Ming…

Furthermore…

Lu Ming had another discovery.

If he placed the vocation cores in the Sea of Consciousness, it could prevent the enemies from sensing it…

Of course.

Lu Ming was certain.

The four-star Cloud Shuttle Card was not invincible. Someone must be able to block it. However, no one knew of the existence of the four-star Cloud Shuttle Card…

This was the benefit of niche abilities.

…

After a long time…

Everything was finalized.

None of the men in black who directed the attacks survived.

The entire mansion crashed and the men in black who were seriously injured and were without their energy cores were buried inside. There was no way they could escape…

“Where’s Old Fan?”

Lu Ming felt a little regretful.

All the energy used by the Cloud Shuttle Cards were accumulated during these few days. The Cloud Shuttle Cards were created when he created the restrictions.

Old Fan was a good man.

Hence…

He made a perfunctory check for one second before he gave up unwillingly.

“It seems he’s dead.”

Lu Ming heaved continuous sighs.

Such a good man was rare.

In that case…

There was only one problem left—how could he go out?

Lu Ming looked upward.

He was trapped in the rubble as well…

There was no choice.

The explosion from the kidney was too powerful!

That was why he hid from afar and peeked from the room that was close to the ore veins, hoping to find a chance to escape, but to no avail.

Sword Aura…

He tried to cast it.

Bang!

Several rocks were blown to pieces. But it did not make a huge impact.

This place was specially chosen by Fan Ze to build his mansion. The rocks had been nourished by the ore veins over a long period of time and were stronger than other rocks!

Therefore, usual attacks might not work.

Oo…

Lu Ming thought about it and went into his Sea of Consciousness.

Over there.

There was a row of cores, Sword Embryos, daggers, and Original Cards…

Eh?

What about the mosaic?

Oh.

The other party had died. Initially, he had yet to realize that he could use the Sea of Consciousness to preserve the cores. The energy of the mosaic dissipated and disappeared very soon…

It was a pity…

Lu Ming felt regretful.

Although it looked filthy, it was still a precious small bomb.

However…

Lu Ming looked at the black cat who was far away but looked on with curiosity. He felt somewhat relieved.

Fortunately…

It was good that the mosaic had disappeared.

Otherwise, since Brother Cat liked to gnaw on the Original Card, there might be trouble if it gnawed the mosaic…

Bang!

A black shadow flashed.

Lu Ming went flying out…

Shush!

The black cat looked serious. Its murderous intent was obvious.

It felt like killing someone now.

It was true.

…

Cough.

His consciousness returned to reality.

Lu Ming took out a Sword Embryo randomly.

Buzz—

The Sword Embryo left the Sea of Consciousness.

The energy began to drain and according to the usual speed, it would disappear totally within a few minutes. But that was alright. He took it out so as to use it!

Swoosh!

Lu Ming threw the Sword Embryo on top and it exploded. There was a loud boom and the ground shook. A hole was created from the explosion…

It was perfect!

Lu Ming used the Sword Aura to clear a path and left.

Finally…

He made his way out!

Lu Ming felt gratified.

It was just that, this place…

Lu Ming looked at the surroundings.

The mountain had collapsed and this place had turned to ruins. Anyone who came here could tell right away that there was a problem…

Well…

Unfortunately, the cultivators in the countryside had a bad habit—they loved going to the ruins and venturing into the caves as if there was Nine Yin Manual (a fictional martial arts manual in Jin Yong’s Condor Trilogy.) inside.

“This wouldn’t do.”

Lu Ming pondered deeply for a moment.

There was an ore vein here!

No one must know about it.

Even if Old Fan was not here, no one must take this place for themselves!

He had thrown a Charging Card into the ore vein so as to absorb energy and for future use. He could not allow passers-by to take it away!

Well…

Lu Ming had an idea.

After a long time…

Lu Ming left.

The ruins had disappeared.

The entire place in the vicinity had been cleared up. It was unusually tidy as if it had been trampled by some powerful creatures…

…

Qing Ming City.

At the police office.

“Team leader, there is a massive fluctuation of energy in the suburbs…”

“Is there a beasts tide?”

“No, unlikely. It seems like a numerous number of low-level beasts… Although they have average abilities, the numbers are astounding… It might be a sign…”

“Pay close attention to it. Once it surpasses the suburban safety line, raise the alert right away.”

“Understood.”

The suburban safety line.

It was a boundary that they set.

Beyond the boundary, it was a true no-man’s land under no one’s jurisdiction. And this meant that the beasts would pose a threat to Qing Ming City!

They had to pay close attention to it!

After a long time…

“Team leader.”

“Did they pass the line?”

“Uh—no. But… how should I put it? The beasts…”

“Can you be clear and quick in what you want to say? Just cut to the point!”

“Reporting to the team leader, the beasts did not pass the line. But they have been wandering at two meters away from the safety line. They have been wandering to and fro more than one hundred times. But they did not cross the line.”

“??? More than one hundred times?”

The team leader sensed that something was not right.

What did it mean by they wandered more than one hundred times but did not cross the line?

He checked the data monitor and saw a row of glowing data moving about madly near the safety line…

They wandered in and out more than one hundred times.

But they did not cross the line.

That feeling…

It felt as if they were testing their boundaries!

It felt like provocation!

“Ludicrous!

Did they really think that our machines could merely detect their presence?”

The team leader was furious. If it was a simple camera or infrared detection, or simple machine detection, they would not be able to detect the abnormalities today.

“Get ready to leave.

Request for two four-star veterans to go with us to take a look. Leave the data report behind and get ready to report…

Humph!

I heard that some men in black are up to something in the suburbs…

I’d like to see if they are the same people…”

The team leader’s murderous intent was obvious.

“Yes!”

Everyone was on standby.

The police officers were dispatched after a while.

…

At this very moment…

Lu Ming had returned to the shop.

He had completed the testing for the four-star Cloud Shuttle Card. He was pleased with the general effects, except that he was worried about the consumption of energy…

One hundred thousand points…

To hell with it!

No one would have so much energy!

Although the Cloud Shuttle Card was an ultimate top-notch card, and in a sense, it could be comparable to five-star cards, this was the first time that he saw a one hundred thousand points card!

This was not scientific!

Four-star…

Lu Ming pondered deeply.

He had some understanding of the four-star stage.

For a cultivator, one-star to three-star was the basic, therefore one needed to build the model, accumulate energy and temper the energy. Once the cultivator reached four-star…

One would be without restriction or limit!

This was truly a field that belonged to the cultivators!

Therefore…

From four-star onward, one qualified for being called a powerful cultivator.

Perhaps…

More accurately speaking, only four-stars were powerful enough to no longer be called ‘novices’.

One-star, build the model.

Two-star, accumulation of energy.

Three-star, tempering of energy.

These were the basics.

And for those who were four-star and above, there was no upper limit in energy. One only needed to temper the energy quality to the corresponding stage and one’s energy level would increase accordingly!

Therefore…

Theoretically, if one was willing, one’s energy could accumulate to one hundred thousand or even one million points… However, it was another problem if one could temper the energy!

After all, to temper one million points of energy to an intermediate level…

It was a terrifying thought.

Apart from the legendary Du Ma that belonged to the same category as a tortoise, no one could live to such a long age… Therefore, the energy level and quality were dependent on the cultivator.

In a sense, this was the true sense of breaking free of oneself.

Of course.

This was the cultivator’s level…

Was there any relation to the lightning integration of the card?!

When one reached a four-star level, one was freed of shackles. Why must the card do so as well?

One hundred thousand points?

Hehe.

Lu Ming sneered coldly.

No matter how powerful the effect was, this was not the way to go!

Or perhaps…

This was so for four-star and above?

Hence…

He went to consult Zhang Yang.

“President, what is your energy level?” Lu Ming asked.

“Ten thousand,” Zhang Yang replied.

“Only ten thousand points?”

Lu Ming was surprised.

“Yes.”

Zhang Yang was surprised. “Why does a Card Creator need so much energy? It is sufficient to have ten thousand points as the foundation… Anyway, the energy is used to create cards. When we run out of energy, we can use Energy Cards.”

Lu Ming was speechless.

Oh.

That was right.

He was merely a Card Creator!

A Card Creator only needed to fulfill the lowest requirement of the cards. It did not matter how much energy one had…

He should find someone else.

Lu Ming looked at his circle of friends and his gaze rested on a familiar name. He remembered that the young lady had just reached four-star!

“Xiaoqing.”

“What is your current energy level?”

Lu Ming asked.

Eh?

Gao Xiaoqing was stunned momentarily.

Well…

Could she say it?

Her brother seemed to have told her that one’s energy limit was akin to one’s trump card. If one was seen through by others, they would take note of their energy and scheme against them. One must not reveal it easily…

However…

Well… Lu Ming could not be considered as an outsider.

After all, he was her savior.

“Twelve thousand.”

Gao Xiaoqing was very truthful.

“How about your brother?”

Lu Ming was curious.

Gao Xiaoqing had just reached four-star and she had twelve thousand points!

My brother…

Gao Xiaoqing was in a dilemma.

Ah!

Why did he keep asking personal questions? Her brother’s energy level was certainly a secret… However, he was Lu Ming, it should be alright…

“Thirty thousand,” Gao Xiaoqing replied.

Thirty thousand…

Lu Ming realized the problem right away.

Look.

Gao Tianlang was a Swordsman and he was already very powerful.

However, he only had thirty thousand points!

Therefore, there must be a problem for the card to require one hundred thousand points of energy!

Even if his sister was here, she might not be able to use this formidable ability. Don’t tell him that he had to carry a bag full of energy with him when he went outdoors next time?

He had a hunch that something was not quite right.

One’s energy…

Three-star…

Four-star…

Wait a minute.

Lu Ming realized suddenly! The energy quality!

That was right!

Energy quality!

Since the Cloud Shuttle Card was a four-star card, the lowest energy requirement would have to be a four-star beginner! The ordinary Energy Cards that he used would not be enough!

He could only run it by force!

That was why it was so energy-consuming!

“Thank you.”

Lu Ming hung up the phone feeling excited.

“Huh?”

Gao Xiaoqing looked confused.

T-that was the end of the call?

What did it mean?

Lu Ming only called to ask this?

Certainly not.

Well, he…

Gao Xiaoqing’s face blushed. Could it be that he deliberately called to hear her voice? She hated it!

What was on his mind?

Gao Xiaoqing blushed in embarrassment.

She ran off shyly, knocking into Gao Tianlang. At the thought of what happened just now, she remained silent and turned to leave.

Gao Tianlang was confused. What just happened?

However…

He recovered his senses right away.

Why did his sister behave like this?

It must be due to Lu Ming!

Damn… wait a minute, he was not directing his anger at his sister…

This scoundrel!

He must have bullied his sister again…

He thought of the shy expression on his sister’s face and he remembered that he heard part of their conversation from afar…

Twelve thousand?

Thirty thousand?

What did that mean?

Gao Tianlang thought hard about it and his expression changed. Could it be… the bride price?

…