Chapter 88: Yan'er, do not overwork yourself.

After hearing the news, Lu Yan was not alarmed; instead, he was pleased.

His goal was to keep the two sides in mutual check. If the Liu clan were to be wiped out so quickly, that would be far more troublesome.

He was short on time. Only when the two powers were locked in a stalemate would he have room to grow.

Likewise, with the Liu clan tied down, they could no longer spare experts to deal with him. For a period of time, he would be safe.

At least, until that balance was broken.

"It seems that in barely half a month, the Liu clan's ancestor has already grown used to the path of the martial spirit. Otherwise, in a battle with a grandmaster, he would surely have shown some flaw."

Lu Yan pondered.

The Liu clan's ancestor must not have been fighting with all his strength. At the very least, he would not dare to use the powers of the martial spirit; he would only dare to rely on martial arts alone.

"I must break through to the Marquis realm as soon as possible."

Lu Yan thought silently.

His current strength was still far from enough. Without the Marquis realm, it would be difficult even to protect himself amid the chaos of the noble clans.

But to assault the Marquis realm, the first condition was to possess first-rate martial arts.

How could he obtain them?

For now, he could think of only two methods.

The first was to start with the Zhou clan of Azure Sun City.

The Zhou clan of Azure Sun City seemed to be under ill fortune. Last time, a strange beast had undergone aberration, giving birth to ten catties of aberrant heart meat, of which they kept three.

Later, with the strength of the entire clan, they successfully cooked two portions of aberrant Nine-Section Heart Meat and had two Zhou clan members at the peak of five breaks beyond the limit consume them. In the end, both failed.

One died, one was crippled.

So even now, the Zhou clan still had only one Marquis.

If that Marquis were killed, he could obtain the Zhou clan's first-rate martial arts and Spirit Intention Chart.

But relying on his own strength alone, that was utterly impossible; he would have to ask Shen Yinuo to help.

Yet Shen Yinuo had just saved his life, and he truly found it hard to make such a request.

Moreover, the more he learned about Shen Yinuo, the more he realized that Shen Yinuo was a person of great principle.

A person without principles could not live up to a promise.

So even if Lu Yan truly asked Shen Yinuo to help kill someone, Shen Yinuo might not agree.

And even if he agreed, he might not succeed.

The Marquis realm was divided into five levels. Shen Yinuo had only broken through not long ago and was merely a first-level Marquis. He could kill someone of the same realm with little trouble, but what if the other side was second level or above?

Lu Yan also had another concern.

The Zhou clan was a family of martial chefs. Including their high-ranked martial chefs, low-ranked martial chefs, and martial chef apprentices, they numbered more than a hundred.

This was an extremely important force, and Lu Yan intended to take control of it in the future.

But at present, he was far from strong enough to swallow it.

If the Zhou clan lost their Marquis now, they would surely be torn apart and divided by the other noble clans, and he would not even get a sip of the soup.

Therefore, the Zhou clan's Marquis could not die yet.

With that method set aside for now, there was only the second.

That was to keep cultivating second-rate martial arts and, once he had enough of them, see whether they could be fused into first-rate martial arts.

As for how many second-rate martial arts would be required, no one knew. He could only keep cultivating while feeling his way forward.

Lu Yan found Shen Yinuo. After both of them altered their appearances, they headed toward Long Wind City.

To cook martial food, they needed beast meat. They were returning to the Blood Earth Vein to hunt strange beasts.

Near Long Wind City, the place looked grim and cold. After asking around, they learned that not long ago the Liu clan and the Wei clan had fought another battle. Neither side had prevailed; each left behind more than ten corpses before withdrawing.

The two detoured around Long Wind City and entered the Blood Earth Vein, where they hunted a Blood-Armored Lizard and an Iron-Armored Lizard. They butchered them into pieces, wrapped them in hides, and after nightfall each of them carried several pieces away from the Blood Earth Vein.

Upon reaching Nine-Bend City, they loaded the beast meat into a carriage that had been prepared in advance and set out for Hundred Herbs City.

By the time the beast meat had been moved into the martial kitchen, it was already the morning of the third day.

Even with their powerful constitutions, both were sweating profusely and intended to fetch water to wash up.

Unexpectedly, just as they stepped out of the room, they ran into Lu Qingshan and Wang Cui.

The two elders studied Lu Yan and Shen Yinuo for a moment, exchanged a glance, and revealed knowing smiles.

"Yinuo, you want to wash up, do you? Come, auntie will heat some water for you. Girls shouldn't wash with cold water. It's not good for the child—no, not good for the body."

Wang Cui took Shen Yinuo off to the kitchen.

"Cough, cough. Yan'er, your father should still remind you of a few things. You are young, and as a martial artist your blood is vigorous and your foundation sound, but you still have to know restraint. Work and rest must be balanced. You can't overexert yourself."

Lu Qingshan came over and spoke in a low voice.

Lu Yan: "."

What on earth? The elders' imagination was far too rich.

After washing up, Shen Yinuo began to cook the martial food.

Lu Yan went into the training room, took out the manual for Diamond Fist, and continued his comprehension.

These past days, he had not been idle either. Whenever he had time, he studied Diamond Fist, and he was not far from reaching entry level.

Five days later, Diamond Fist successfully reached entry level, and a martial arts avatar condensed forth. With the aid of the martial food, it improved at remarkable speed.

Time flowed silently through his fingertips like grains of sand.

Each day, Lu Yan had only two things to do: train to build up his blood and qi, and study martial cuisine in his free time. Whenever he encountered something he did not understand, he would ask Shen Yinuo.

His talent in martial cuisine was merely average, but with guidance from Shen Yinuo, who was about to step into the rank of martial chef master, he still improved quickly. The various foundations of martial cuisine gradually became clear to him, forming a complete system of knowledge in his mind.

Shen Yinuo's technique for preparing "Yinuo Lizard Meat" had clearly improved considerably. Coupled with the full set of martial chef tools, the yield of Yinuo Lizard Meat increased a great deal.

Lu Yan hardly needed to buy additional martial food; relying solely on Yinuo Lizard Meat was enough for his cultivation.

It could be said that this was the most leisurely period he had enjoyed since coming to this world.

No shortage of money, no shortage of martial food. Truthfully, it felt wonderful.

He had truly come to like this kind of life.

After Diamond Fist reached entry level, it took just over two months to enter the state of unity between man and martial art.

As expected, this time no heavenly boon descended upon the attainment of unity.

The capacity of his blood and qi, the strength of his body, and even the thickness of his blood and qi had all remained unchanged.

Second-rate martial arts had completely lost the effect of tempering a postnatal martial body.

But second-rate martial arts still had to be cultivated.

Lu Yan went again to the Hundred Herbs Commerce Association and bought several second-rate martial arts.

Diamond Palm, Diamond Leg, and Diamond Finger.

These three appeared to share the same origin as Diamond Body, so Lu Yan naturally bought them first.

All were widely circulated second-rate martial arts, and their prices were not considered high among second-rate martial arts: three thousand taels each.

Lu Yan was an old customer, so he received a twenty percent discount. The three together came to seven thousand two hundred taels.

As for Heavenly Eagle Eye, that would have to wait.

In the blink of an eye, they had been in Hundred Herbs City for half a year.

One day, Wang Cui quietly brought Lu Yan several packets of medicinal herbs and said softly, "Yan'er, take these herbs and decoct them in water. Drink them twice a day."

Lu Yan was baffled. "Mother, what is this for? I'm not sick. Why would I be drinking herbs?"

Wang Cui hesitated. "Look, you and Yinuo have been together for half a year now, and Yinuo's belly still hasn't shown anything. I heard people say these herbs are very effective. Some people conceive just a few days after taking them."

Lu Yan felt his head ache. "Mother, you've misunderstood. Yinuo and I are only friends, not what you think."

"Still saying it's a misunderstanding? You two are often alone in the same room and don't come back all night. Do you think your mother doesn't know? A lone man and a lone woman, fawning over each other all day long—what else could you be doing? Child, you're already grown, yet you're still shy. Hurry up and remember to drink it. Give your mother a fat grandson as soon as possible."

Wang Cui stuffed the herbs into Lu Yan's hands.

Lu Yan was speechless for a long while.

He stayed at Shen Yinuo's place to seek guidance in martial cuisine, and sometimes he helped Yinuo out, learning how to prepare Yinuo Lizard Meat.

Sure enough, in any world, parents' obsession with grandchildren was equally deep.

In his previous life, he had already been terrified of his parents pushing him to marry; he had never imagined that upon arriving in this world, he would face the very same treatment.