Heaven rewards diligence; he fought his way through chaos to become a saint.

Ye Ci returned to Tingzhu Pavilion, his mind filled with a multitude of thoughts.

Commandant Qin and the Demon Sect?

The Seven Fiends of Liushan and the kidnappers?

It seems that Commandant Qin did not necessarily want to capture him. Judging from his actions, the core purpose of dealing with the two major gangs was to find the traces of the Demonic Sect.

In other words, this person is not an enemy of mine.

The kidnappers in the county targeted wealthy families, and their connection to the Seven Fiends of Liushan was not necessarily implied.

The person who attacked me was definitely not there to kidnap me, but it's hard to tell whether it was a group of people.

He thought it best to wait and see if the kidnappings continued, which would be enough to make a judgment.

It's a bit messy.

The world is in chaos, and when some things really happen to you, you inexplicably feel a sense of impending doom.

He suppressed his thoughts and took out the white jade snow lotus.

Since Master Yang also said that this thing could improve one's physical constitution, he wanted to see how effective it really was.

No cooking required.

Ye Ci plucked a leaf and put it in her mouth. It melted in her mouth without any bitterness, but instead had a sweet taste.

The next second, a warm current suddenly exploded from his dantian, instantly transforming into a powerful force that flowed through his limbs and bones.

Ye Ci could clearly feel a nourishing power constantly permeating every inch of his body.

A faint "creaking" sound came from deep within the bones; it was not pain, but a tremor as the muscles and bones were nourished and strengthened.

As the entire snow lotus was consumed, the subtle crackling sounds deep within his bones intensified.

After an unknown amount of time, the warm current within her body gradually subsided. Ye Ci slowly opened her eyes, a glint of light flashing in them. She raised her hand and stretched her muscles and bones, feeling a surge of power throughout her body, and her movements became much lighter.

It seems that Master Yang's words were true. With my extremely poor physique, even a little nourishment has yielded great results.

"I can't be idle today; I need to take another good look at the effects of the blood and qi cultivation."

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could speed up the process of developing the "Transformation Force" (化劲)?

Thinking of this, Ye Ci felt even more motivated.

……

Life returned to normal.

For the past month, Ye Ci's life has been monotonous and dull: practicing martial arts, eating, and sleeping.

Mu Mu felt happy with this kind of life, being able to stay by the young master's side every day. However, the young master would practice his stance training for several hours at a time, which was somewhat boring.

But she could go to Miss Shen Yixi's study to find books to read. She knew quite a few Chinese characters, and her favorite books were cookbooks.

Different ingredients were delivered every day, allowing her to constantly innovate and win the young master's praise.

Actually, being a "child bride" is quite nice. Even if the Ye family becomes rich, Grandma Li and Second Aunt will still think of her when they have good things, just like family.

Yao Yao has become obsessed with drinking flower stamen soup and often comes over to rub her little head against me.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on her lips. She rarely thought about her days in the barbarian kingdom lately. With the Ye family by her side, she was very content.

Hearing the servants' conversation, he learned that war was still raging in the south, and that the barbarian kingdom had recently won several major victories, severely damaging three divisions of the Jianwu army. In the end, the Great Qian had no choice but to mobilize the Shenwu Marquis's army in the west to provide support, which barely maintained the balance.

People don't usually talk much about matters of national importance, but Mu Mu was deliberately trying to find out, which is why she knew a little about it.

The discussion at the mansion was mostly about the kidnappers in the county. It was said that many wealthy people had been extorted, but the Shen family had many guards, so there was not much danger.

Miss Shen Xin never leaves her house.

Miss Shen Yixi has a business to manage, but she is more cautious. She has a master of internal energy by her side, and she goes out early and returns late, so she has never encountered any accidents.

at the same time.

Ye Ci stood in the courtyard, his feet rooted to the spot, his arms like he was embracing a stone, his shoulders relaxed and his elbows dropped, slowly stretching forward, his whole being standing still like a mountain.

From the neck to the waist, the back relaxes and sinks down segment by segment. With each breath, the breath is long and thin, neither hurried nor slow, slowly sinking down along the Ren and Du meridians.

After completing one round of stance training, the progress increased by about two to three times compared to before.

[Technique: Rock Stance Mastery (1762/5000)]

Ye Ci has been overjoyed these past few days. It's truly a good thing that his innate talent is so poor. The improvement brought about by a piece of white jade snow lotus has shocked him.

One could even say they were taken aback.

The daily improvement, which was originally around 10 points, has skyrocketed to over 20 points.

Ye Ci could hardly imagine what level he would reach if he had Xiao Hua's talent and combined it with the principle of "Heaven rewards diligence"!

Isn't that like making a thousand miles in a day!

He also realized the importance of his physical constitution at this time.

Different people have different physical constitutions, which affects the speed, efficiency, and upper limit of their ability to refine their Qi and blood.

For example, I spend seven or eight hours a day refining my Qi and blood, but the body can only refine up to 10 points. So even if I practice for two more hours, the effect will be minimal.

Similarly, he now spends four or five hours a day to finish tempering, and can use the extra time to practice fighting techniques.

Those with good aptitude may spend an hour each day refining their skills and achieve results several times better than others.

You can see from that kid in Huangguoshu that he hardly practices, yet he still makes progress.

However, their weakness lies in the fact that breaking through the bottleneck requires accumulating a lot of qi and blood, while for me it is a natural process, so even if my aptitude is good, I will still be blocked by the barrier.

Just like the tortoise and the hare race, the hare that stopped repeatedly could not beat the tortoise that focused on its goal.

Ultimately, with hard work, we can definitely catch up and surpass others.

******

The county competition was postponed again because Commandant Qin was away, but a date was finally set.

The atmosphere inside the Pan Shi Martial Arts School was lively, with shouts and cheers filling the air as the disciples diligently practiced.

Xiao Hua practiced for two hours before letting out a deep breath and wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel.

"Senior Brother Xiao, are you confident you can get first place?"

The speaker was Li Fan, who had previously worked part-time in the county government's express service team.

He and Meng Zhaoting were originally considered top-tier martial arts practitioners in the academy, but now they are far inferior to Xiao Hua and the others.

In this annual competition, Ming Jin disciples are not even qualified to go on stage. Even if they do go up to challenge, they will be kicked off the stage.

Xiao Hua coldly glanced at Li Fan: "Anyone below the Transformation Realm who can rival me? Or is it that Ye Ci can compete with me?"

Li Fan had intended to offer some praise, but he never expected Xiao Hua to suddenly turn hostile. He could only cough awkwardly.

"Senior Brother Xiao possesses exceptional comprehension and innate talent, and with ample supplements in his daily life, victory is assured..."

"Do I have more tonics than Ye Ci?" Xiao Hua interrupted, then countered, "Or are they better than his?"

Li Fan was extremely embarrassed, thinking to himself that he shouldn't have talked to him in the first place, and could only try to smooth things over.

"Senior Brother Xiao and Senior Brother Ye are not comparable to me. I only have three taels of silver a month, and I am overjoyed to occasionally get some tonics."

After saying this, he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and left.

Xiao Hua no longer took these Ming Jin fellow disciples seriously. Now he only wanted to defeat Ye Ci and let the five major families see who had real skills.

Let the four major families see how ridiculous the Shen family is.

Watching Li Fan's departing figure, Xiao Hua took a deep breath, suppressed his distracting thoughts, and focused his mind again.

Practice hard!

******

Shen Family Villa.

Shen Zonghan sat in his study, staring blankly at the account books.

He harbored some resentment. Although he had already given the Ye family a large business, his father was using all sorts of resources to buy tonics for Ye Ci.

It should be noted that some tonics are not distributed to martial arts schools in counties and townships. Businessmen must also abide by the rules, and each dose of "Hundred Refinement Qi and Blood Pills" must be purchased at a higher price.