Chapter 4: Possibly a Master (New Book—Please Recommend)

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“Station Chief, since these machines are going to be destroyed anyway, why not let me have them? I’ll use my salary to offset the debt,” Chu Yun said to the station chief, eyeing the battered experimental tables used for refining and making potions.

“What do you want with these, kid? These are highly confidential instruments, all broken. Only the Second Civilization tribes have the technology to repair them, and no one among us Earthlings has mastered it yet. Every year, we send them to talent markets in the major cities, but those researchers still can’t figure them out. The machines just pile up in the labs. In the end, we have to melt them down and sell the aluminum alloy back to the superior planets.”

“My school happens to have an experimental course on this topic. I thought I’d take them home and study them myself,” Chu Yun replied.

The station chief waved his hand impatiently, “Take them, take them. But I warn you, don’t sell them to other tribes, or even the city lord won’t be able to protect you.”

Chu Yun nodded. He had already gathered quite a few scraps over the past few days, and with these machines patched together, he guessed they could be made usable.

After work, Chu Yun browsed the virtual online mall, checking the prices of materials for refining body-building fluid. He felt a bit embarrassed—he really was down and out.

It’s true what they say: a tiger fallen from grace is bullied by dogs, and a single coin can defeat even a hero.

To others, it might not be expensive—a set of materials cost about fifteen thousand gold coins—but for Chu Yun right now, it was a fortune.

He decided to repair the machines first and worry about money later.

Just as he was about to close the virtual mall, he stumbled upon a certain category page:

The Online Bounty Platform.

Chu Yun clicked in and discovered all kinds of online bounty services. Some people hit technical bottlenecks in their research and offered gold coins for answers, awarding coins to whoever satisfied their queries. Some offered bounties for items, some sought help repairing machines, and others posted martial arts questions seeking guidance.

In short, it covered nearly every kind of service and problem one might encounter in life.

Seeing this, Chu Yun, once a dominant figure, grinned widely.

He’d been worrying about how to make money, and now a platform appeared before him. Chu Yun immediately registered, chose a random username, and enabled the privacy option so that the platform’s posters could only see his username.

Chu Yun filtered by category and found that most of the bounties for equipment repair were low, mostly for hovercar repairs—some offered a few dozen coins, pricier ones two or three hundred. Nothing whetted his appetite.

He sorted the listings by highest price.

At the top was a bounty of two hundred thousand gold coins, concerning a martial arts problem.

Chu Yun clicked in to see the specific issue.

“I’m not sure if there’s something wrong with my cultivation method, but my pectoral muscle always aches faintly. I’ve been to the hospital, but they found nothing. It must be a mishap during training. I sincerely ask any senior to enlighten me—two hundred thousand gold coins as thanks…”

The bounty poster’s identity was vague, like Chu Yun, only a username visible. But Chu Yun noticed the bounty was posted from the same planet. Anyone who could offer two hundred thousand coins surely had some standing, probably choosing anonymity to avoid exposure.

Chu Yun, once a master in the cultivation world, knew every uncertain factor in the training process like the back of his hand. Though his power was not as great now, his theory was king.

He quickly composed a reply on the virtual keyboard and sent it.

Meanwhile,

In another city on the Hope Continent—within the Jiangcheng Marquis’ Mansion.

A notification popped up from the bounty platform. Hou Yaodong, with a cautious “better safe than sorry” mindset, checked it.

Hou Yaodong was about sixty, a core member and expert of the Hou family. He was hesitant about the anonymous reply, but as he read the explanation, his eyes grew brighter. Two relatives beside him saw his interest and immediately tried to dissuade him.

“You’re not seriously considering following this advice, are you? It could be a trap, someone trying to make you suffer a backlash,” his elder brother Hou Yaomin warned, stopping his tendency to act.

His younger brother, having also checked the responder’s information, added, “Second brother, be careful. Look, this guy’s profile is anonymous, and his IP is from our planet. Don’t you think it’s possible that some rival force or family is trying to trick you?”

Hou Yaomin nodded, “Exactly. At our level, we're the pillars of the family—losing even one of us would be disastrous. Your situation is clearly a cultivation mishap. If you mess up again, you could really suffer an internal explosion. Be cautious! Think about it—anyone from our planet with the ability to guide you at this level wouldn’t care about these two hundred thousand coins. And among all the major forces on Earth, only a handful could help you. Do you think they’d kindly lend a hand? If anything, they’d use such a simple trick to take you out. I say ignore it.”

Hou Yaodong smiled wryly, “Big brother, third brother, haven’t you even looked at the reply? Everything you said, I’ve considered.”

With that, the two finally glanced at the contents on the virtual projection screen.

Hou Yaodong activated the intelligent voice feature and played Chu Yun’s reply aloud:

“Kid, if you’re experiencing this, I’d say you’ve reached Warrior Level Five, right? Let me be direct—the cause is a deviation in your cultivation method. Did you first notice pain at the Tiantu acupoint, getting worse each day? Whenever you train, it’s unbearable, and when you channel spiritual energy, your whole body goes numb and limp? The method you’re using is flawed. This is just the beginning—eventually, it will lead to serious backlash. But don’t panic; it’s nothing insurmountable. Normally, I wouldn’t bother offering advice, but since cultivation is tough, I’ll help. Try gathering all your spiritual energy at the Ziyugong acupoint, then push through Huagai and Xuanji, breaking through the blockage at Tiantu. That should resolve the issue. For safety’s sake, it’s best to have someone of similar strength help you break through. If you can do it alone, there won’t be any blockage. But seriously, find a helper—remember!”

After the intelligent voice finished, Hou Yaodong’s brothers were stunned. The advisor had described Hou Yaodong’s situation exactly.

But Hou Yaomin countered, “That’s not so strange, is it? Father searched all over Hope Continent for senior experts to help you. Though your condition was confidential, someone could have let it slip. What worries me is that even after offering much more than two hundred thousand coins, none of the experts among Earth’s descendants could solve it. Why would someone suddenly do so now for a mere two hundred thousand? It’s suspicious. I bet he’s making it up for the reward.”

“Big brother’s right. Second brother, be careful,” the younger brother agreed. “Given your situation, there’s no one among Earth’s descendants who could guide you at this level. It’s probably a senior from another force or race, but why would they help us? Honestly, we’re rivals—what’s in it for them?”

Hou Yaomin added, “He replied in Chinese, so this guy must be a descendant of Huaxia. But Father has already searched all Earth’s descendants with no solution, so this guy must be a fraud.”

Though their analysis was sound, Hou Yaodong still held out hope, “What if he’s a rare, peerless expert? Big brother, third brother, think about it—if we can’t find a solution, my body will suffer ever-worsening backlash. I’m truly afraid of becoming crippled.”

“Come on. Anyone able to guide you at this level would belong to another force or race. Earth’s descendants aren’t strong enough yet—even the twelve great lords of Hope Continent wouldn’t be confident,” Hou Yaomin said.

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