At that moment,
Zhao Guangming didn't bother with Wang Ren anymore. Instead, he turned a grateful and sincere look towards Lu Xiaobai and said,
"Thank you, Young Master Lu."
He knew that if the other hadn't stepped in, he would never have gotten his wages back in this lifetime...
Lu Xiaobai waved his hand dismissively and said with a smile,
"It's nothing. Since the matter is settled, I'll take my leave."
With that, he didn't linger, turning and leaving with Ah Da.
Zhao Guangming watched him go and quickly hurried after him.
Wang Ren tried to say something to stop him, but no words came out.
He knew he couldn't fool this person anymore...
Just then,
Lin Lei'er said with a mocking tone,
"I never imagined the corporate culture of the Excellence Star Martial Arts Gym was like this. I certainly won't be looking for a sparring partner here again."
Lin Xue'er beside her nodded in agreement.
"......"
Wang Ren's mouth opened slightly, wanting to offer some defense, but in the end, he fell silent.
Ultimately, he could only watch helplessly as the Lin sisters left.
"It's over..."
He would never have dreamed in his wildest dreams that a mere Zhao Guangming could lead to such severe consequences.
Once the board of directors of the Star Martial Arts Gym found out about this, even with his connections, he wouldn't be able to keep his manager position.
Now,
Lu Xiaobai arrived at the roadside. He wasn't in a hurry to board his flame flyer and instead waited quietly.
Not long after,
Zhao Guangming caught up and once again said earnestly,
"Young Master Lu, truly, thank you. Counting that incident the other day, you've helped me twice now!"
Lu Xiaobai waved his hand and said with a smile,
"That time was an internal issue with my Immortality Pill Group, it wasn't really about helping you."
"But this time, you genuinely helped me!"
Zhao Guangming, his face full of gratitude, then lowered his voice and said,
"Young Master Lu, you want to ask me about the Star Skill on me, right?"
"Hmm?"
Lu Xiaobai's expression shifted slightly, a flicker of surprise in his eyes as he smiled and said,
"Why do you say that?"
"Young Master Lu, I know my place..."
Zhao Guangming scratched his head and said,
"I'm not some genius Star Warrior, nor am I some peerless beauty. I'm not worth someone of your stature going out of your way to help..."
Lu Xiaobai hadn't expected the other, who seemed ordinary, to be so perceptive.
Seeing this, he decided not to hide it anymore and said frankly,
"I stepped in to help partly because I found that guy's behavior somewhat intolerable, and partly, I am indeed extremely interested in the Star Skill you possess!"
Unlike others, his eye was sharp. He had seen at a glance that the other's defensive Star Skill was anything but ordinary.
After all, he was a direct descendant of the Lu family. If he hadn't eaten the pork, he'd at least seen the pig run...
Now, with his special advantage, he was particularly interested in powerful Star Skills.
Hearing this, Zhao Guangming wasn't offended at all. Instead, he felt a sense of relief.
He wasn't afraid of the other having an ulterior motive; what he feared was the other having no motive at all. That kind of situation was the most unsettling...
Now, with no intention to hide anything, he said directly,
"Young Master Lu, this Star Skill is called [Divine Guard]. It's a defensive-type Star Skill!"
"Oh? Divine Guard?"
Lu Xiaobai's expression changed. He searched his memory but found no related recollection. Clearly, it was a Star Skill he had never heard of before.
"What are its effects?"
"If I unleash it at full power, I'm confident I can withstand an attack from a Level 25 Star Warrior. Oh, and my Vitality is Level 15."
"That strong?"
Lu Xiaobai was shocked, a look of disbelief in his eyes. He quickly asked,
"What level have you raised that Star Skill to?"
"Uh..."
Zhao Guangming scratched his head and said,
"My aptitude is too poor. In six years, I've only raised it to Level 3. Based on my estimation, this Star Skill's level cap is at least Level 10 or above."
"......"
A flicker of disappointment appeared in Lu Xiaobai's eyes.
This meant it would be ages before the other could create a Star Skill Stone for it.
For [Divine Guard] to provide cross-level defense at only Level 3 meant it was absolutely a top-tier Star Skill. Even their Lu family didn't possess a defensive Star Skill of this caliber.
Zhao Guangming saw the disappointment in the other's eyes. He didn't speak but began thinking intensely, seemingly wrestling with a dilemma.
After a long moment, he made a decision and said in a low voice,
"Young Master Lu, actually, back then, I came across two Star Skill Stones by chance. [Divine Guard] was just one of them."
"Huh?"
Lu Xiaobai was startled and said in surprise,
"There's another Star Skill?!"
For two top-tier Star Skills like this to appear at once seemed a bit too unbelievable...
Zhao Guangming nodded and said,
"I don't know what the other Star Skill is either. To learn it requires a max-level Body Refinement Technique. I've worked hard all these years, and my Body Refinement Technique is only at Level 3 now..."
"That really is a pity."
Seeing this, Lu Xiaobai offered words of comfort.
But thinking that he perfectly met the condition, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, though he forced it down. This made his expression look rather strange.
Helplessly, he could only turn his head away, not looking at the other, thinking to himself:
Lu Xiaobai, ah Lu Xiaobai, you really are terrible at pretending...
"......"
Zhao Guangming, looking at the other's expression, smiled. He understood perfectly well what the other was thinking.
He reached into the inner pocket of his clothes, pulled out a white Star Skill Stone, and directly handed it to Lu Xiaobai.
"Huh? You're just giving it to me like that?"
Lu Xiaobai was taken aback, not reacting immediately.
Zhao Guangming said with a serious expression,
"Young Master Lu, you just helped me get my wages back. Naturally, I should offer some repayment."
"......"
Hearing this, Lu Xiaobai said,
"Let me be clear first. If this Star Skill Stone is on the same level as [Divine Guard], its value is inestimable, far beyond what those wages of yours are worth."
By his estimate, the wages the other just received were probably only around a hundred thousand Alliance Coins, not even enough to buy a single strand of hair compared to the value of [Divine Guard]...
Hearing this, Zhao Guangming thought for a moment, then said,
"Young Master Lu, how about this: if this thing isn't worth much, then consider it my repayment to you. But if its value really is high, just give me whatever compensation you see fit."
"Anyway, I don't have anything else. Besides offering myself, there's only this Star Skill Stone!"
He also knew the Star Skill Stone was extremely valuable, otherwise he wouldn't have been so conflicted earlier. But now that he had decided to give it away, he wouldn't hesitate.
"Forget about offering yourself, but compensation is possible..."
Lu Xiaobai raised an eyebrow, then said with a laugh,
"Then let me first see what Star Skill this thing actually is!"
Without hesitation, he immediately crushed it.
The Star Skill Stone shattered, turning into points of light that swiftly merged into Lu Xiaobai's mind.
"Young Master Lu... you?!"
Zhao Guangming's eyes widened, his face filled with shock.
If the target did not meet the prerequisite conditions, those rays of light would coalesce back into a skill stone. Only when the conditions were fully satisfied would they merge into one's consciousness.
The scene unfolding before him meant Lu Xiaobai's [Basic Body Refining Technique] had reached its maximum level!
Having worked as a sparring partner for so long, he had naturally witnessed many geniuses from Starlight City, but not a single one possessed a Body Refining Technique of this caliber!
"As expected of a direct descendant of the Lu family. This is simply too prodigious..."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
