Mountain and Sea Demon Martial Arts, Starting with Vertical Pupils

After finishing her sentence, Song Ruokui turned and left, leaving Chen Luo and Zhou Xiaoliang looking at each other in bewilderment.

Zhou Xiaoliang's gaze towards him was still strange, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Eat your food." Chen Luo glared at him irritably, knowing that Song Ruokui had misunderstood that he had spent ten taels of silver to eat and drink here, but in fact he had earned money in the mountains.

Zhou Xiaoliang didn't dare to say anything more and buried his head in drinking tea.

When the two finished eating and drinking and left, Chen Luo casually asked the waiter about the price of the dishes and learned that it was two taels of silver. Song Ruokui had indeed already paid.

"This meal cost two taels of silver!" Chen Luo exclaimed. Even though his income was quite good, he rarely indulged in such extravagance. "Song Ruokui is really rich."

"She's rich, yes," Zhou Xiaoliang said angrily, "but didn't you hear her introduce us as 'acquaintances from before'? Just acquaintances, not even friends."

"You're always talking badly about people in front of me, so why are you concerned about how she introduces us?" Chen Luo smiled. "She's obviously saying that on purpose because she's worried about Lin Zhou."

"Because of Lin Zhou, and that man just now, she did tell us to stay away from him." Zhou Xiaoliang frowned slightly. "But Lin Zhou seemed quite amiable, and didn't seem like a bad person."

"It's hard to say," Chen Luo shook his head. "Since they've already given us that advice, we should just listen to them."

He recalled that day when Li Jiangwei refused to have dinner with Linzhou without any mercy, and now Song Ruokui was telling them to stay away from this person.

If both of them said that, there must be a reason. Listening to them won't hurt.

"Ah Luo, I actually think Song Ruokui cares about you quite a bit," Zhou Xiaoliang suddenly said after a long silence.

"Huh?" Chen Luo looked at him in confusion, not understanding this sudden turn of events.

"I haven't seen her in a long time. When I saw her today, she looked at me with the same coldness and indifference as a stranger. I felt like I didn't recognize her at all."

Zhou Xiaoliang said slowly, "She only seems to come alive and show some emotion when she talks to you, so you must still hold a place in her heart."

Chen Luo was taken aback upon hearing this, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

Zhou Xiaoliang was observant, and after he said that, Chen Luo realized that Song Ruokui seemed to be acting strangely.

Actually, he had sensed something was off last time.

Having not seen her for many days, the last time I met Song Ruokui, she seemed very cold compared to my memory, exuding a cool and aloof aura that kept people at a distance.

At the time, he thought it was due to his dedicated martial arts practice, but now, as his skill level has improved, he has never seen anyone who can become a woman without any skills through martial arts.

For example, he himself still eats and drinks as usual.

Today, when they met again, apart from a few occasions when Song Ruokui showed some emotion, she was mostly cold and aloof, even more so than the last time they met.

Before contacting her again, he heard that this girl was stuck at the sixth level of the Nine Yang Strength... Chen Luo frowned and recalled the whole process of his recent contact with Song Ruokui.

I feel like something's not right, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

"Actually, I used to dislike Miss Song quite a bit."

Zhou Xiaoliang's way of addressing Song Ruokui changed without him realizing it. He continued, "I used to think that we had grown up together, especially you and her. Your parents even knew each other. But as soon as she came to the martial arts school, she gradually distanced herself from us, as if she had forgotten her old friends after becoming successful."

"But I later heard that Ah-Chen was getting married and then I realized that everyone has their own path to walk, and we can't stay together forever. For example, after Ah-Chen left the martial arts school, our relationship drifted apart. Now I've also gone to the Mountain Guard, and I'll see you, Ah-Luo, less often, and our contact will definitely not be as frequent as before."

"So it's inevitable that relationships will fade as people go down different paths. Thinking about it that way, I don't think Miss Song has ever done anything wrong."

Chen Luo glanced at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"That's all I wanted to say."

Zhou Xiaoliang paused for a moment, then said very seriously, "A Luo, Miss Song didn't mean to distance herself from you. And as you just saw, she clearly cares about you, so don't resent her anymore. If you want to be with her, you should work hard to learn martial arts, break down the barriers that are making your relationship fade, and when you slowly get closer to her and walk the same path with her, you'll be able to talk to her properly."

"...Shut up."

Chen Luo was speechless. So this guy thought he was still hung up on Song Ruokui?

The doubts he had just harbored were now completely dispelled by Zhou Xiaoliang's heartfelt words. He said expressionlessly, "Things aren't as you think. Just mind your own business."

"Can I say one more thing?" Zhou Xiaoliang asked tentatively.

"Speak."

"Miss Song just said she gave you money..." Zhou Xiaoliang looked at Chen Luo and said earnestly, "Ah Luo, I think we should have backbone and not be easily swayed by soft words... It's better not to spend a woman's money."

"Get out!" Chen Luo shouted angrily.

After rudely shooing Zhou Xiaoliang away, he set off on his way home, pondering some things along the way.

He also noticed that things seemed to be getting increasingly strange these past few months.

The feeling was hard to describe; it was as if a faint haze had fallen over Qingshan County, or rather, over his head.

Whether it was the roaring beast in the north of the city, the roar of the beast heard in the western mountains, or the somewhat strange Song Ruokui... all these things were connected, and a kind of uncomfortable sense of oppression grew deeper and deeper.

"The Mountain Guard has been unable to find any results regarding the Huan Beast and its roar."

"As for Song Ruokui's matter, it should have nothing to do with the monsters in the mountains. I'll find an opportunity to ask her about it in person later," Chen Luo muttered to himself.

Actually, it's possible that Song Ruokui is fine; he's just being overly suspicious and worrying too much.

Having made up his mind, Chen Luo stopped thinking about it. He knew that improving his strength was the key. After resting at home for a while, he summoned the progress panel and began practicing the Nine Yang Force.

【Nine Yang Strength (Minor Success): 95/300】

After nearly two months of arduous training, his progress in the Nine Yang Strength technique has reached 95 points, and he has been stuck at 95 points for half a week.

He could sense that 100 points was probably the limit of the triple force.

In other words, as long as you break 100 points, you can reach the fourth level of strength.

However, despite his hard work over many days, he made no progress and felt as if he had hit a bottleneck, as if he was being blocked by something outside his understanding and could not grasp the key points.

This bottleneck has nothing to do with comprehension. After all, no matter how good one's comprehension is, one can only comprehend within the realm of cognition and find it difficult to transcend the barriers of cognition.

"Generally, there are only two ways to break through bottlenecks."

"Firstly, by relying on external forces, just like when I fought that Huan beast before, I broke through on the brink of life and death."

"Secondly, it is through arduous practice, waiting patiently for the opportunity for sudden enlightenment."

Chen Luo thought to himself, then threw a powerful punch, the force of which whistled through the air. "Right now, I have no external force to rely on. The only thing I can do is throw punches again and again, breaking through this bottleneck through countless repetitions and trials!"