Chapter 168: Five Hundred!

Adjust your attitude?
Senior brother?
Lu Dong stood expressionlessly, staring dead ahead at Luo Tian, who wore a calm and composed expression. The veins on his forehead bulged slightly, throbbing with suppressed fury.
Did this guy have no concept of respect and seniority?
"A Second-Transformation Vein Stream realm cultivator calling a First-Transformation Vein Stream realm cultivator senior brother? Heh, don't you find that ridiculous?"
Lu Dong was so angry that he laughed. It was truly unexpected. In front of others, Luo Tian merely seemed arrogant, but now, alone with him, Lu Dong realized that Luo Tian's arrogance was literally off the charts.
"By addressing me as senior brother, you have the chance to go further. Is there anything unacceptable about that?"
Luo Tian retorted unceremoniously, "Junior Brother Lu, your intent of resilience is very close to reaching the Minor Accomplishment stage. How can you be so unwilling to utter the title of senior brother?"
Hearing this, Lu Dong, whose anger was about to erupt, instantly froze.
"You... how do you know that?"
Stunned for a long moment, Lu Dong finally asked foolishly.
He had only made a single move today. It wasn't difficult for someone to discern that he possessed the intent of resilience; anyone with a shred of discernment could form their own judgment. However, Luo Tian was merely in the First-Transformation Vein Stream realm. Although his strength was inexplicably and excessively high for his realm, that did not mean he possessed rich combat experience.
Furthermore, what he practiced was Wood elemental energy, while Luo Tian practiced Fire elemental energy. Not only were their cultivation paths different, but even two people cultivating Wood elemental energy simultaneously wouldn't be able to detect such subtle clues in such a short amount of time.
"If I couldn't even see through something like that, Junior Brother Lu, you wouldn't be calling me senior brother of your own free will."
Luo Tian maintained his unfathomable air, offering no further explanation to Lu Dong.
This bastard...
Lu Dong was indeed in no mood to bicker over mere titles right now; his mind was entirely occupied by Luo Tian's previous words.
By calling him senior brother, he had a chance to let his intent of resilience break through to the Minor Accomplishment stage?
Lu Dong felt his heartbeat suddenly begin to accelerate. Thump, thump... sounding like heavy hammers striking a drum, as if his heart might leap out of his chest if it beat any faster.
If breakthroughs in elemental energy levels required years and months of persistent, unwavering cultivation, then progress in elemental intent truly required daily comprehension and sudden flashes of insight—both were indispensable.
Without daily understanding and comprehension of the intent, attempting a breakthrough would be like building castles in the air, utterly impossible to achieve.
And without a flash of insight, it would be equivalent to painting a dragon without dotting in its eyes. Missing that single touch meant a difference as vast as heaven and earth, a chasm of mud and clouds.
However, accumulation was easy to acquire, while insight was hard to come by.
Given enough time, one would eventually reap rewards, but being stuck at a bottleneck for a year or two during a breakthrough was considered short. If one got stuck for a decade or eight years, wouldn't that be disastrous?
Lu Dong didn't dare to imagine it.
Although it was merely the intent of resilience, and it didn't seem like it could instantly turn a person's life completely upside down, not only did certain martial techniques have strict requirements for intent, but far more often, an intent with deeper comprehension could unleash effects that absolutely could not be underestimated.
Should he... give it a try?
Once this thought arose, it immediately grew wildly like spring grass, tilting the balance in Lu Dong's heart further and further.
He had originally held a sliver of hope for Luo Tian, and now, being shaken by Luo Tian's boldness and demeanor, Lu Dong felt that Luo Tian very likely possessed some genuine capability.
Perhaps it wasn't a scam, as Song Yu had claimed.
Besides, if he really did get swindled—humph, Luo Tian wouldn't have an easy time either.
With this thought, Lu Dong looked closely and found that Luo Tian actually looked completely unbothered, as if he didn't care at all what decision he would make.
Call him senior brother, and he would guide him. Refuse, and the deal was off.
That was precisely his attitude.
"Luo... Senior Brother..."
Lu Dong finally spoke in a faint voice, his lips trembling.
Luo Tian remained unmoved, acting as if he hadn't heard a thing.
Asshole...
Lu Dong felt a slight ache in his teeth.
Being a Vein Stream realm cultivator himself, even if he lowered his voice further, Luo Tian would still be able to hear it clearly. Judging by his current posture, he was deliberately pretending not to hear in order to make him speak louder.
Since he had already managed to say it once, speaking louder—fine, he would speak louder!
Once he crossed that mental barrier, everything else would be easy to handle.
Lu Dong raised his voice slightly: "Senior Brother Luo, please instruct me on the method to break through the intent of resilience..."
"Mn!"
A clear curve finally formed at the corner of Luo Tian's mouth, though he said aloud, "Junior Brother Lu, each instruction costs five hundred contribution points!"
Five hundred... contribution points!
"Clap—"
Lu Dong slammed a hand down onto the stone table, though without using much force, merely venting the frustration pent up in his chest: "Five hundred contribution points for a single session?"
"Yes."
Luo Tian nodded boldly. "Are you paying now?"
With that, he pushed his identity token toward Lu Dong.
"You..."
Lu Dong was so angry his eyeballs nearly popped out. He had truly never seen someone so confident, demanding payment before even getting the work done.
However, this very attitude of Luo Tian somewhat dispelled the lingering doubts in Lu Dong's heart.
After a moment of thought, Lu Dong gritted his teeth and transferred the five hundred contribution points. This was no small sum; Lu Dong was merely a Second-Transformation Vein Stream cultivator who couldn't take on intermediate-level missions. For elementary-level missions, he would need to complete three or four of them to earn this many points.
A flash of joy crossed Luo Tian's heart. This Lu Dong wasn't all that difficult to handle after all.
"Junior Brother Lu, release your elemental energy so I can sense the state of your intent!"
Although his divine eyes were infallible, Luo Tian still adopted a safer approach. For one, using his own elemental energy to sense it more clearly had no drawbacks. For another, it would prevent his eyes from seeming too bizarre and uncanny.
The two of them projected their elemental energy outward, and it gently brushed against each other.
Luo Tian deliberately suppressed the power of his Fire elemental energy.
Since the intent of resilience was the easiest to improve, he would guide him through that first. When he discovered the bottleneck in another of Lu Dong's intents next time, it wouldn't be too late to guide him then.
First, progressing step-by-step would allow Lu Dong a greater possibility of sprinting forward with a focused mind. Second, he himself could earn a few more contribution points. Why not?
"Junior Brother Lu, although I don't know much about Wood elemental energy, guiding you will be no problem at all."
Luo Tian was being quite modest here. What manner of figure was Qin Tianyu? His comprehension of the Wood elemental laws was truly profound and visionary. Using it to guide a Storm Guard like Lu Dong was, without a single exaggeration, Lu Dong's supreme honor.
Otherwise, let alone paying five hundred contribution points and calling someone senior brother, even if Lu Dong broke both his knees kneeling, he would never have obtained guidance from a formidable entity like Qin Tianyu in the Vein Dan realm—let alone guidance given without any reservation.
"Senior Brother Luo... please speak!"
Lu Dong took a deep breath. He had accepted reality: he had called him senior brother, and he had given the contribution points. If he truly gained nothing and Luo Tian was just pulling his wool over his eyes, then once his training period ended...
Humph, humph!
"The intent of resilience is not just about comprehending what is called 'being firm,' but even more so, you must understand what is meant by 'being pliable'!"
Luo Tian struck the nail on the head with his very first sentence, pointing straight to the essence.