Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

When saying goodbye to Han Guang, Zhou Ye couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "Third Senior Brother is truly a good person!"

During the consultation, Han Guang was incredibly patient. He not only answered many of Zhou Ye's questions about martial arts, but also taught him several techniques for utilizing qi and blood.

These kinds of tips aren't actually difficult; they're basically easy to grasp and learn. But without someone to guide you, even if you're very quick to understand, you never know how long it will take to figure it out on your own.

Of course, if it weren't for that last sentence, Han Guang's image as a warm-hearted senior brother would be perfect—"Junior Brother Zhou, don't be too ambitious. These little tricks are still a long way off for you. The most important thing right now is to build a solid foundation. Your attitude towards martial arts training... doesn't seem very good. You often don't even show up at the martial arts school. You haven't even broken through many of the acupoints in your Dragon Bone, have you? I think it will take you at least many years to break through to the mid-to-late stage of the Internal Strength realm."

Zhou Ye: "..."

Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the large training ground outside, a group of friends were also exchanging information about their training progress.

"I wonder when we'll be able to break through to the mid-stage of the Entry Realm."

"I think it will take another month or so?"

"Then I'll be faster than you, it should take about 20 days."

"That's just opportunism. You've barely even practiced the Wind and Thunder Grappling Technique. If you were to spar with me, you wouldn't last twenty moves."

"The level of understanding is the most important thing. Martial arts skills can be practiced later."

"So you don't want to take up the post anymore? What if you encounter danger later?"

"..."

Zhou Ye sat down next to Huang Sheng and Wu Jun. He suddenly noticed that Huang Sheng was unusually tall and straight, and his eyes kept glancing at him.

Zhou Ye asked Wu Jun curiously, "Jun, shouldn't Sheng have already broken through to the mid-stage of the Qi realm?"

"Ah Ye, I deliberately didn't say that, I wanted to stifle him." Amidst the laughter, Wu Jun said, "Ah Sheng was already in the middle stage 20 days ago. Now, the acupoints in both hands have been broken through by more than half."

"That's great. What about you?"

"I've only broken through to my sixteenth acupoint. It should take another month or two!"

Huang Sheng then comforted him, saying, "A-Ye, don't worry about the slow pace of your cultivation. Breaking through this minor realm also requires repeated grinding. I heard that it takes them several months to perfect their twenty-four acupoints."

"And what about you?"

"I only have three days?" Huang Sheng could no longer hide his smug smile.

Zhou Ye laughed and scolded, "Ah Jun, I see now. Ah Sheng is a real jerk."

"Exactly. I've wanted to beat him up for a long time."

However, at that moment, Cheng Jianghe boasted from the crowd, "Did you know? Senior Brother Xu is about to break through; he has already broken through his twenty-second acupoint."

"No, no." Xu Feng tried his best to appear nonchalant. He feigned modesty and said, "I just took three packets of Qi and Blood Powder. When I broke through the barrier, my parents even prepared a Qi and Blood Pill for me."

Wow! Your family is really rich!

"It's not about the money. It's about Senior Brother Xu's talent."

"What does this have to do with talent? If you don't have money, how can you buy Qi and Blood Powder and Qi and Blood Pills?"

"Don't you know that being rich is a kind of talent!"

"Junior Brother Cheng, that's not a pleasant thing to hear. How many acupoints have you broken through so far?"

"I've already broken through the eleventh acupoint. Don't think I'm slow; wasn't I held back by the second breakthrough? I've already calculated that among our batch of students, I'm in the top three for breaking through the eleventh acupoint at the fastest speed!"

"..."

Zhou Ye found it amusing. That's how young men are; they seem to compare everything, even how they pee together.

It's a bit strange, though. Apart from Huang Sheng, who has an unusually high talent, why is everyone else's cultivation speed slower than mine?

Perhaps I underestimated the effects of Qi and Blood Powder and Qi and Blood Pill. These supplementary pills are actually quite important when you first start practicing martial arts; if you can take them regularly, the speed of your growth will be astonishing!

Just then, Du Keyuan led a young boy into the martial arts school. The boy was dressed like a country boy and looked very honest and kind.

Du Keyuan announced cheerfully, "Let me introduce you. This gentleman will be joining our martial arts school. His name is Yuan Zhen, and you can call him Junior Brother Yuan. Alright, Little Yuan, come with me to the backyard."

The entire room fell silent. After a long while, someone finally whispered, "Who is this? What's the background of this Junior Brother Yuan? How can he just walk into the backyard?"

"Perhaps...a relative of Master?"

"Doesn't seem like it? Looking at Junior Brother Yuan's appearance, isn't he just a country bumpkin?"

"..."

To be honest, Zhou Ye was only curious about this new junior brother Yuan for a short while before quickly forgetting about him.

But to everyone's surprise, just a few days later, news came from the martial arts school that Du Keyuan had discovered a martial arts prodigy with exceptional talent in a farmer's house when he happened to pass through a village on his way out.

Then came Yuan Zhen's miraculous performance—one day of Qi Sensation, six days of Qi Mastery!

This left Zhou Ye speechless with amazement. He hadn't expected that geniuses could be everywhere; Yuan Zhen's martial arts talent was actually even better than Huang Sheng's?

This child must not be allowed to live! *cough cough*

But this matter is not over yet.

Then Dujuan finally reached the required age and officially began practicing martial arts. Her performance was equally impressive—she achieved a sense of qi in one day and mastered internal strength in seven!

Holy crap!

If Huang Sheng is a genius, then Du Juan is a great genius, and Yuan Zhen is a super genius!

These news not only caused a sensation within the Fenglei Martial Arts Academy but also subtly spread throughout the entire county town. Before long, everyone in the county town knew that the Fenglei Martial Arts Academy was incredibly lucky; their Master Du had actually found two genius disciples!

No matter what, if someone else is talented, that's their good fortune.

After the initial surprise, Zhou Ye continued his martial arts training journey.

In just a few days, Zhou Ye had scoured the entire outer city, acquiring every medical book he could find. Although the medical books openly sold in these bookstores were generally common, mass-produced items, similar to the introductory medical books he had previously read, he still spent over 460 taels of silver, using up more than half of all his silver notes.

In the end, Zhou Ye was also in great pain, and he needed to replenish his funds.

They sold all 10 bison hides and other furs, earning over 180 taels of silver. Now, apart from the large bear hides, all the other furs have been cleaned and processed.

The first batch of salted fish and meat also sold out completely. In the end, they recouped 155 taels of their investment.

Now, the most valuable things Zhou Ye possesses are that piece of bezoar and that demon bear's gall.

That day, Zhou Ye wrapped up the bezoar and hurried towards Wang's Pharmacy...