4: Chapter 4 To do a good job, one must first have the right tools!

"Understood."

Lin Fan turned off the computer, stood up, and pushed open the door to head out.

The rooftop of the seventh floor of the low-rent housing.

This was the cheapest place in the entire building and the only "martial arts field" for the children of the slums.

A few worn-out sandbags and rusted barbells were piled in the corner; they were public equipment bought with money pooled by the residents.

It was currently early morning, and the rooftop was completely empty.

Lin Fan walked over and stood before a sandbag that was still in relatively good condition.

He adjusted his breathing rhythm.

"Fierce Tiger Fist, First Form: Black Tiger Steals the Heart!"

He gave a light shout and threw a right punch.

Initially, his movements carried a hint of jerkiness, like a child who had just received a new toy and was still fumbling with the instruction manual.

But after only two minutes passed...

Bursts of whistling wind began to echo across the rooftop!

Lin Fan's figure began to move around the sandbag. His punches were sharp, each strike carrying the sound of breaking air.

Five minutes later.

His speed was shockingly fast. If anyone else had been present, they would likely only see a blurry black shadow circling the sandbag and unleashing a frantic output of overlapping punch shadows, making it impossible to distinguish between the real and the feint.

Ten minutes!

A burst of sharp light suddenly shot out from Lin Fan's eyes.

That feeling had arrived!

It was as if a long-accumulated flood had finally found an outlet; at this moment, the muscles and bones of his entire body achieved a perfect resonance.

"Tiger Leaves the Cage!"

Lin Fan stomped his foot heavily on the ground, causing the concrete floor to vibrate slightly.

His waist and hips unified, his spine flipping like a great dragon. A surge of majestic power instantly transferred to his right arm as he slammed a punch into the sandbag in front of him.

The roar of a tiger rose!

The moment this punch landed, a loud tiger's roar actually exploded out of thin air!

The sound was like thunder, deafening to the ears!

Bang!

The heavy sandbag in front of him—made of high-strength canvas and filled with iron sand—actually burst on the spot like a rotten watermelon stuffed with firecrackers!

Iron sand filled the air, scattering in all directions along with canvas fragments, pitter-pattering as they hit various parts of the rooftop.

Lin Fan withdrew his fist and stood still, looking at the empty hook where only a single chain remained, feeling a bit stunned himself.

"Tiger Roar Thunder Sound?"

He looked down at his unharmed fist, his expression becoming somewhat strange.

In the martial arts world, the level of mastery for any martial technique was divided into: Entry, Minor Achievement, Major Achievement, and Perfection.

Although the Fierce Tiger Fist was a basic martial technique, to manifest an anomaly like the 'Tiger Roar Thunder Sound' was the sign of the Perfection Realm!

Ordinary martial artists, even those with extraordinary talent, would need at least three to five months of painstaking effort to train a martial technique to Perfection.

But how long had he taken?

Lin Fan instinctively glanced at the electronic watch on his wrist.

"Ten minutes..."

Ten minutes to reach Perfection in Fierce Tiger Fist.

If he told anyone about this, he'd probably be sliced up for research, wouldn't he?

"Is this the joy of max-level Comprehension Ability?"

Lin Fan laughed toward the sky, the gloom he had suppressed for eighteen years vanishing completely at this moment.

What poor aptitude?

What destined to be at the bottom?

In the face of absolute Comprehension Ability, it was all utter nonsense!

"Strike while the iron is hot. Next, Wind Thunder Palm!"

With burning eyes, Lin Fan turned to look at the wooden dummy next to him.

The sun set in the west, the twilight looking like blood.

The orange-red afterglow covered the rooftop, stretching Lin Fan's shadow very long.

His upper body was bare, sweat sliding down the smooth lines of his muscles, gleaming with an oily luster in the sunlight.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Crisp explosive sounds continuously rang out in the air.

Lin Fan's palms flew about like butterflies fluttering through flowers. The palm shadows were dense, making it difficult to distinguish between real and feint. Every palm strike faintly carried the sound of surging wind and thunder, his speed reaching the extreme.

"Stop!"

Lin Fan's figure came to a sudden halt. He slowly pressed his palms down and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

He looked at the wooden dummy in front of him, which had already been struck into a slightly dented state, but his brows furrowed slightly, his face filled with dissatisfaction.

"It's been several hours, and I've only reached Major Achievement?"

Lin Fan sighed, his tone carrying a deep sense of disappointment.

"This Wind Thunder Palm is indeed a bit harder than the Fierce Tiger Fist. After practicing for an entire afternoon, I'm actually stuck at the Major Achievement bottleneck, unable to reach Perfection for the longest time."

If these words were heard by outsiders, they would definitely be unable to resist rushing up to give him two big slaps.

Listen to that—is that even human speech?

To train a martial technique to Major Achievement in a few hours was already being a monster among monsters!

How many people practiced for years and were still hovering at Minor Achievement?

But Lin Fan felt this was a disgrace.

*Grumble...*

The protest from his stomach interrupted his humblebrag-style self-reflection.

"Forget it, too much is as bad as too little. Eat first."

Lin Fan rubbed his empty stomach. This entire day of high-intensity cultivation had consumed a terrifying amount of energy.

Returning to the low-rent housing, Lin Fan boiled a large pot of noodles, added five eggs, and devoured it all like a whirlwind sweeping away the clouds.

After the meal, he slumped in a chair and began to calculate his next plan.

"Fierce Tiger Fist is at Perfection, Wind Thunder Palm is at Major Achievement; all that's left is the Lightning Saber."

Lin Fan stroked his chin, his eyes flashing with the light of contemplation.

"According to this trend, as a weapon-based martial technique, the Lightning Saber will definitely be more difficult than unarmed combat. With my current Comprehension Ability, reaching Perfection in a short time might be a bit uncertain."

On the system panel, the evolution point column was still a striking "0".

"I need to get some evolution points to upgrade my Comprehension Ability; otherwise, this cultivation speed is too slow."

Lin Fan shook his head.

The only way to obtain evolution points was through slaughter.

Go to the wilderness to hunt fierce beasts?

Lin Fan immediately rejected that thought.

Although he was now in the First-Grade Body Tempering Realm and had the Perfection-level Fierce Tiger Fist to protect him, the wilderness was a true meat grinder. If he encountered a second-tier fierce beast or a beast pack, his small frame wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

"Play it safe, don't be reckless."

Lin Fan cautioned himself, "First raise my strength to its current limit, then go to the wilderness to harvest."

Since he was going to practice the saber, he needed to have a saber.

Lin Fan opened the Federal Martial Artist Mall app.

A dazzling array of weapons instantly met his eyes, making him feel overwhelmed.

"f-grade alloy battle saber, price 50,000 currency..."

"e-grade alloy battle saber, price 130,000 currency..."

"Holy crap, this is highway robbery!"

Lin Fan looked at those strings of zeros and felt his heart bleeding.

He had lived frugally all these years, and adding the money his grandfather saved from picking up trash, he had less than 30,000 in total.

He couldn't even afford an F-grade saber?

"Wait, what's this? Defective product clearance?"

Lin Fan saw a link in an inconspicuous corner.

Clicking in, it was an e-grade alloy battle saber. Because there was a tiny air bubble defect on the back of the blade during forging, which didn't affect combat performance, it was being sold at a 90% discount.

Price: 13,000 currency.

"Thirteen thousand..."

Lin Fan gritted his teeth. Looking at the bank card balance—that was the nest egg for him and his grandfather!

"You have to spend money to make money! To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools!"

Lin Fan hardened his heart and his finger trembled as he clicked "Buy Now."

[Ding! Payment successful!]

Watching his balance instantly shrink, Lin Fan clutched his chest and collapsed onto the bed, looking like life was no longer worth living.

"I'm really a pauper now."

"I absolutely must go to the wilderness to kill fierce beasts and make my money back, or I won't even be able to pay next month's rent."

The following three days.

Lin Fan lived the life of an ascetic monk.

In the early morning, he would unwaveringly circulate the Forty-Nine Cycles Breathing Method to consolidate his realm.

In the morning, he reviewed the Perfection-level Fierce Tiger Fist, sensing that fierce fist intent.

In the afternoon and evening, he ground away at the Wind Thunder Palm.

He was like a dry sponge, frantically absorbing martial arts knowledge, with every inch of his body's muscle memory being reshaped.