Chapter 140: The Terrific Scholar
Chapter 140: The Terrific Scholar
“No wonder Lin Mu could learn these long-lost martial arts! So this Lu Shouyang was actually from the Thousand Martial Arts Family!”
Ding Han suddenly understood.
“That’s right. Lu Shouyang thought very highly of this Lin Mu. This time, when Lin Mu came to New York to protect Luo Huafu, it was Lu Shouyang who strongly recommended him. He even pushed aside Ding Yongyan from Jingdu for that.”
Jiang Chu shook his head and said with a smile.
“It’s a good thing it wasn’t Ding Yongyan who was sent. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to sit here and talk today. That guy may have decent strength, but he wasn’t as strong as Lin Mu at all. Compared to Lin Mu, he was several levels behind.”
Ding Han also laughed loudly and took a big gulp of wine.
“If Ding Yongyan heard what you just said, he’d be furious! After all, he is quite skilled among the younger generation. Don’t compare him to Lin Mu—Lin Mu’s level is unattainable for normal people.”
Jiang Chu smiled with a sigh, recalling his own youth and feeling a bit emotional.
While the two drank and chatted, the group from the Supernatural Ability Group had already withdrawn to a temporary base. On the way, they contacted Dr. Hamilton and informed him about Kroeyer’s condition.
After getting the notification from Dr. Hamilton, they changed direction and headed to a small abandoned water plant on the outskirts of New York. Dr. Hamilton had already moved some essential equipment there to give Kroeyer emergency treatment.
Ordinary hospitals couldn’t handle this kind of alien energy being out of control. Sending him there might cause public panic, since their existence was still a myth to regular people.
Kroeyer had just become a fourth-level superpower user not long ago and still couldn’t control the surging energy within him well. That’s why Dr. Hamilton had told Lawrence to end the fight quickly and not let it drag on.
Hamilton knew Kroeyer’s personality well: once Kroeyer got into the fight, he’d probably drive his energy recklessly and risk it going out of control. There had been cases like this before.
Those superpower users who lost control always ended badly. At best, they lost their superpower and became a normal person again. For a superpower user, that was worse than dying.
During the trip, Kroeyer’s energy fluctuation grew stronger. If Lawrence hadn’t used his dark superpower to suppress it, creating chaos in the car, the metal fanatic would have exploded long ago.
They drove very fast, running through over ten red lights. Soon, police sirens sounded from behind as motorcycle cops chased them down the road, honking and telling them to pull over.
Lawrence’s eyes flashed dangerously, but he knew they couldn’t cause more trouble. He turned to Vivian and said, “Call the CIA and have them tell the police station in this area to stop chasing us.”
Vivian nodded. She took out a mobile phone immediately and made an encrypted satellite call. In just two minutes, the police cars chasing them braked sharply and turned away.
Driving at that fast pace, they reached the small water plant Hamilton had instructed them to go to in under half an hour. After parking, Lawrence became a swirl of black mist, wrapped up Kroeyer beside him, and vanished from the car.
Beeping sounds repeated lightly inside the workshop. All the old equipment had been moved aside in the crumbling central area. Some special instruments were set up by an iron bed frame, with many probe wires attached to Kroeyer lying there.
Looking at the data on the instruments, Hamilton frowned deeply, his expression very serious. Lawrence was anxious too. A fourth-level superpower user was a vital force they couldn’t afford to lose.
Just from tonight’s battle, it was clear how important Kroeyer was to the Supernatural Ability Group. Losing such a strong superpower user on a mission would mean big trouble for everyone back home.
“How is he, Doctor? Is Kroeyer okay?”
Lawrence asked urgently. These instruments were Hamilton’s own designs from decades of study, and few besides him could make sense of all those messy lines.
“Very bad! What happened on this mission?! To let Kroeyer get so badly hurt! If you hadn’t used your superpower to suppress his energy outburst, he’d be dead already. He couldn’t have made it back alive.”
“And even now, saving him isn’t certain. Just becoming a fourth level not long ago, he couldn’t control his energy, and he used that move? This is madness! How could you let him act like that?!”
Hamilton pushed up his glasses and spoke harshly to Lawrence.
“Doctor, we messed up this time. The Dragon Protection Corps sent a very scary young expert. In his hands, I didn’t last even a minute. I was badly hurt right away.”
Lawrence sighed. He didn’t argue with Hamilton’s accusations—just stated the truth helplessly.
“What? A young man hurt you that badly in under a minute?”
Hamilton raised his head from the instruments in shock, hardly believing what he heard.
“Yes, Doctor. The young man was at most in his early twenties, but he was extremely strong. He could already unleash long-range high-power attacks. We had beaten the Dragon Protection Corps, but just as we closed in on the villa, he forced us all back with one move.”
By now, Lawrence had calmed down and told Hamilton everything that happened.
“Long-range attacks already?”
Hamilton took off his glasses and turned to Lawrence with a solemn look. “If that’s the case, then you lost fairly. Among Huaxia’s ancient martial arts experts, those who can attack from afar are truly terrifying. Their strength can’t even be measured.”
“You’ve studied these people too?”
Lawrence stared at Hamilton in surprise. The serious face didn’t look like a lie.
“Yes. My research on superpowers has hit a bottleneck recently. So, I’ve shifted focus to other powerful groups. Huaxia’s ancient martial arts experts fall right into my studies.”
“They have their own unique way of cultivation. They gradually grow stronger over time, like the masters from The Church with their heritage. But we superpower users—our power growth lacks any rules.”
“From years of study, I found that once an ancient Chinese martial arts expert reaches a certain stage, they can draw energy from the air and store it inside their bodies. When needed, they release it outside for attacks. How far it goes depends on their cultivation level.”
“Just like you superpower users, when their energy is weak, they can’t release it. Instead, they use it to boost their bodies. But once they break through that limit, each person’s power becomes horrifyingly strong!”
Hamilton cleaned his glasses slowly. The nearby superpower users listened intently—no one dared to interrupt. To them, Hamilton was like a guide. Without him, superpower users wouldn’t have grown so strong today.
“But their energy seems very different from ours?”
Lawrence asked doubtfully, remembering how difficult it was to erode Jiang Chu’s zhenqi with his dark energy.
“Oh? How do you know that?”
Hamilton looked at Lawrence with interest.
“Today, during my fight with that Dragon Protection Corps expert, although he couldn’t release the energy inside him, my dark superpower could still try to erode it. I found that kind of energy has strong resilience. My dark power had a hard time breaking it loose.”
Lawrence thought back carefully and described it as precisely as possible.
“You saw it well. That’s the biggest difference between an ancient martial arts expert and you guys. Their energy isn’t a natural gift—they extract it from the air through continuous self-cultivation.”
“This energy gets absorbed and transformed by them constantly. It bonds tightly with their bodies, almost like a personal mark. That’s why it resists outside energies strongly.”
Hamilton nodded, then added with concern: “The deeper I study, the scarier Huaxia’s ancient martial arts seem. This cultivation method might start weaker than your superpowers, but later on, the gap widens hugely.”
“But why is that?”
A superpower user couldn’t help but ask in confusion.
“If I had to guess, it’s because they earn their strength through hard cultivation. Whether in purity or control, they far outmatch us. As time passes, that gap only grows wider.”
Lawrence sighed deeply. As a fourth-level superpower user now, he understood the importance of energy better. To increase power, one has to focus on refining purity and control—yet those are the strong points of ancient martial arts experts.
“Exactly right. That’s the reason. You can only store energy passively and boost it in special ways. There’s no practice method to steadily improve like them—it’s a problem we haven’t solved yet.”
Hamilton gave Lawrence an appreciative glance. Though stronger superpower users existed, Lawrence was the one he admired most.
“Your abilities come straight from heaven. To regular people, you’re the chosen ones favored by God. Maybe not being able to level up easily is God’s way of keeping the world in balance!”
With a soft sigh, Hamilton spoke helplessly.
He had dedicated his life to studying superpowers, but never found any reliable way to boost different powers. Thinking of Huaxia’s many masters, he felt a creeping worry.