30: Chapter 30 Good steel should be used where it's needed most.

"Many thanks, Lan Feng!" Lin Fan didn't stand on ceremony and quickly tucked it into his pocket.

"Alright, stop looking like a miser."

Lan Feng picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at Lin Fan with a faint smile, "By the way, I heard you beat up Xue Linglong at school?"

"Uh..." Lin Fan froze, scratching his head, "That was a spar, just a spar."

"Hmph, that girl has been spoiled rotten since she was young; it's about time someone taught her a lesson."

Lan Feng put down his teacup and suddenly sighed, "However, she is my own niece, after all."

"Pfft—!"

Lin Fan had just wanted to take a sip of water to calm his nerves, but he sprayed it right out.

"What?!"

Lin Fan's eyes widened, "She is your... niece?!"

The world is too small! He had just beaten up someone's niece, and now he was making a living under her uncle?

"Scared?" Lan Feng teased.

"No... not scared." Lin Fan laughed dryly, though he was frantically calculating whether he should stay away from Xue Linglong in the future.

"Rest assured, I can still distinguish between personal and professional matters."

Lan Feng waved his hand, "I'm telling you this not to settle scores. Rather, I hope that in the future at school, if that girl acts foolishly again, you will show mercy and look out for her, for my sake."

"After all... her situation isn't as glamorous as it appears on the surface."

Upon hearing this, Lin Fan's expression became serious, and he nodded earnestly, "Don't worry, Lan Feng. As long as she doesn't come looking for trouble, I will certainly treat her as a classmate."

"Alright, get lost. Look at that grimacing look on your face; hurry back and take a bath."

Returning to Villa No. 8, Area A, behind the school.

Lin Fan couldn't wait to fill the bathtub with hot water and then carefully dripped three drops of "Jade Marrow Fluid" into it.

The originally clear water instantly turned pale green, and a crisp, exotic fragrance filled the entire bathroom.

"Hiss—refreshing!"

The moment Lin Fan soaked himself in, he couldn't help but let out a groan.

That gentle medicinal power seeped into his body through his pores; his bones, which had been aching faintly, were like a long-parched land meeting sweet rain, greedily absorbing this energy. The deep, bone-piercing pain quickly faded, replaced by a warm, comfortable sensation.

It felt too good.

The life-and-death battles of the past few days and the high mental tension completely relaxed at this moment.

Unknowingly, Lin Fan leaned against the bathtub and fell asleep.

The next morning.

A burst of urgent phone ringing woke Lin Fan up.

He crawled out of the bathtub, dazed, and discovered that the water had turned clear again. The pain in his body had completely vanished, and he felt refreshed, as if he had inexhaustible strength.

"Hello?"

Lin Fan picked up the phone.

"Brother Lin! The money has arrived! Check your account!" Li Zheng's excited, booming voice came from the other end of the line.

"So fast?"

Lin Fan hung up the phone and opened his mobile banking app.

Although he had been mentally prepared, when that long string of numbers popped up, Lin Fan still couldn't help but gasp.

"Hiss—"

[Balance: 307,600,000.00 currency]

Three hundred and seven million, six hundred thousand!

Lin Fan rubbed his eyes and carefully counted the string of zeros three times.

"Units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands... hundred millions..."

"Holy crap! I'm rich!"

Lin Fan jumped straight off the bed, his hand holding the phone trembling.

Wealthy overnight! Truly wealthy!

He forced himself to calm down, sat on the sofa, and analyzed the source of this money.

"For this mission, just the Money Pythons alone, I killed over a thousand. Although most were Tier 1, the sheer quantity adds up to an astronomical figure. Add to that the first-kill reward for that Tier 3 Snake King, and most importantly—the discovery bonus for the Yuan Stone mine!"

That was a rich ore vein! For a base city in urgent need of energy, its value was immeasurable.

"Three hundred million... If this money were put in the past, it would be enough for me to lie flat for ten lifetimes."

The corners of Lin Fan's mouth curled up wildly, but his eyes gradually became clear.

"But now, this is just fuel for me to become stronger."

With money, Lin Fan's mind instantly became active.

The first thing he thought of was Yuan Stones. That stuff had pure energy; absorbing it was simply too satisfying.

"However... buying Yuan Stones directly is too much of a loss."

Lin Fan shook his head. His greatest advantage in cultivating the Void Breathing Technique was that he wasn't picky. Although raw ore had many impurities, he could purify it; although fierce beast crystal cores were violent, he could also devour them.

In comparison, the price of purified finished Yuan Stones was artificially high, and the cost-performance ratio was too low.

"Good steel must be used on the blade's edge."

Lin Fan opened the Warrior Mall, his gaze becoming sharp.

"First, upgrade my equipment!"

His e-grade alloy battle saber had already chipped when he killed the Tier 3 Snake King; it couldn't withstand his current strength at all.

His fingers slid across the screen, skipping B-grade and C-grade directly.

"This is it!"

[A-grade alloy battle saber "dragon slaying", price: 21.8 million currency.]

[Material: Crafted from a fusion of deep-sea sunken silver and A-grade exotic beast bones. The hardness is astonishing, with a conductivity of 99%, sufficient to support one up to the King-Sealing Realm!]

"Buy!"

Lin Fan didn't even blink, placing the order directly.

"And a combat suit."

His previous school uniform had long since become rags. Lin Fan chose a black gold combat suit specially researched by the state, which combined breathability, durability, and defensive power, priced at five million.

"Buy!"

The remaining funds were for the main event—cultivation techniques.

Lin Fan's current shortcomings were obvious. For close combat, he had Perfection-level Sword Drawing Art and Lightning Saber, with invincible explosive power. But his methods were too singular, lacking long-range attack means. Furthermore, although his body had been tempered, there was no systematic body-refining technique to tap into his potential.

He browsed the cultivation technique section of the mall for a long time.

Yin-Yang Realm techniques started at several hundred million; he couldn't afford them for the time being.

His gaze finally locked onto two Super-level cultivation techniques.

["Flick Finger Dragon Collapse Force" (Super-level incomplete manual): Long-range attack martial skill. Compresses internal energy at the fingertips, exploding with terrifying force in a flick, capable of killing enemies from a distance. Requirement: Can be cultivated by those in the Origin Sect Realm or those with extremely wide meridians.]

["Body Burning Bone Forging Scripture" (Super-level): Top-tier body-refining martial art. Draws fire qi into the body to burn the body and forge the bones. Consists of nine layers; the first three layers increase tiger power, the middle three layers increase dragon power, and at Perfection, one can gather the power of nine dragons, Flesh Body Achieves Sainthood! Price: 36 million currency.]

"Flick Finger Dragon Collapse Force... it perfectly compensates for my long-range shortcoming. Although I'm not in the Origin Sect Realm, my meridians are wide!" Lin Fan looked at the introduction, becoming more satisfied the more he read.

As for the Body Burning Bone Forging Scripture, it was even more to complement his monstrous recovery ability and the Void Breathing Technique.

"Buy them all!"

Tens of millions were spent in an instant, yet Lin Fan felt incredibly satisfied.

Finally, he spent another several tens of millions to sweep up a batch of high-tier fierce beast crystal cores to serve as "rations" for his daily cultivation.

Watching his balance shrink rapidly, Lin Fan felt no heartache at all; instead, he was filled with anticipation.

There was one last week left until the monthly assessment.

Lin Fan turned off his phone, his eyes burning with intense fighting spirit.

"One week."

"Practice Flick Finger Dragon Collapse Force in the morning, Body Burning Bone Forging Scripture in the afternoon, and continue tempering the remaining six auditory ossicles in the skull at night."

"When the assessment begins..."

Lin Fan clenched his fists, feeling the surging power within his body.

"I want to let everyone know what is truly called—dimensional reduction strike!"