Start your cultivation journey by allocating points to your Destiny.

"Hmm, another system notification?"

Lu Chen's expression remained unchanged. He handed the mushrooms to Lu Tang and asked her to clean and prepare them. He then went to boil water in a pot to prepare to pluck the pheasant's feathers.

After processing the pheasant, he took some time to skin the rabbit and soak it in water to remove the blood.

Lu Ming was cooking porridge, even more than he had at noon.

They probably put in extra rice because they were worried that Lu Chen wasn't eating enough every day.

The three of them worked until it was completely dark before they finally had a delicious chicken stew with mushrooms.

"Mmm, delicious!" Lu Tang held a chicken leg in her hand, her mouth covered in oil, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

Lu Ming also began to enjoy his meal.

He's been training really hard these past few days, and his appetite has increased significantly.

"Eat more! We have enough food at home, and so much cured meat. From now on, I can go hunting every day, and we won't be able to finish the meat!"

Lu Chen watched the two of them wolf down their food and smiled somewhat "kindly".

After dinner, Lu Chen tested Lu Tang on how well she was studying.

Unexpectedly, my younger sister is quite a little genius. She was able to write down all the characters I taught her from memory, each stroke perfectly straight and clear.

"Good job, keep it up!"

Lu Chen gave him a compliment.

Lu Ming had studied with his mother for a while before, and although he didn't know many characters, he had a basic understanding. So Lu Chen didn't supervise him specifically, but instead taught him some throwing techniques before letting the two of them go to sleep.

After they all went to sleep, Lu Chen finally had time to rest in the courtyard.

"It feels like raising two children!"

Lu Chen shook his head. On Earth, he had only graduated eight or nine years ago and was not married. He felt like a child. He never expected that after transmigrating, he would be only 15 years old and feel like a father.

He opened the panel and checked the notifications from the evening.

[Under the host's guidance and influence, the fates of Lu Si, Teng Jun, and Luo Yong have changed.]

[Lu Si suffered severe kidney failure, was beyond medical help, and died; Teng Jun and Luo Yong induced vomiting through fecal irrigation, resulting in cross-infection and paralysis.]

[Stage-based lifespan stat gains:]

[Lu Si's Deaths +25]

[Teng Jun and Luo Yong paralyzed by infection +60]

[Total +85]

"Lu Si died too? It seems Lu San and Lu Si had higher status, so they ate more mushrooms back then? Teng Jun and Luo Yong ate less, so they died more slowly?"

Lu Chen had a guess in his mind.

However, it benefited Lu San.

He died so hastily.

"I used 100 points before, and had 40 left. Now I have 85 more, making a total of 125 points. I wonder if this 'Strong and Robust' attribute can continue to upgrade? How many points will it cost for the next upgrade?"

Lu Chen tried clicking, but the point addition failed.

"Next time it'll require 1000 points? The number of points needed has increased tenfold each time?"

Lu Chen was a little taken aback.

He set his sights on those with mediocre talent.

"Add some points to someone with mediocre aptitude!"

Lu Chen thought to himself.

The next second, the 10 life points disappeared.

[Average aptitude] immediately changed to [Decent aptitude].

He felt as if his mind had become much clearer.

My head is itchy, is it time for me to grow a brain?

Lu Chen scratched his head and looked at the other entries.

[Skill Attributes: Throwing Proficiency (6%), Slashing Basics (6%), Thrusting Basics (7%)]

"Throwing speed increased by another 1%? Not bad!"

Lu Chen looked at the slashing and thrusting attacks, but didn't add any points to them immediately.

"Practice on your own first, and see how you define 'acceptable' aptitude."

Lu Chen picked up the bamboo spear, lunged forward and thrust it, then pulled it back, and thrust it again.

The straw ball was hit right in the center repeatedly.

He felt that his movements were not quite right, so he made minor adjustments and continued the stabbing motion.

When the moon was high in the sky, he stopped and looked at the progress bar.

Introduction to Stimulation (10%)

"Wow, is there such a big difference? I remember that an hour ago, the increase in throwing speed was 2%, but now, in about the same amount of time, it's increased by 3%, which is 1.5 times?"

He was very excited.

At this pace, he can practice for an hour every morning, attend classes in the morning, practice for half an hour in the afternoon before going into the mountains to hunt, and practice for another hour and a half in the evening, which is 3 hours in total. This can increase his skill by 9%, and he can achieve minor mastery of the stabbing technique in just 10 days!

"So, in 10 days, you can save 10 life points?"

Lu Chen did the math and then realized it didn't smell so good anymore.

The cultivation gained by adding points is more solid; the cultivation gained through hard work is too superficial and weak.

He decisively invested 10 points into [Chop].

The familiar heat flowed through my body again, focusing on the muscles of my arms, shoulders, back, chest, and some of my waist and abdominal muscles.

[Minor Chopping Success (6%)]

Increases slashing efficiency and speed by 20% and armor penetration by 10%.

"Faster attack speed and increased damage? Not bad!"

After several heat-transformations of the body, the "Minor Injury" attribute has disappeared and has now been replaced by "Healed".

And the "malnutrition" has turned into "normal nutrition" thanks to the heat and the feasting these past few days.

Lu Chen was very satisfied with the 10 points he spent.

"However, these skills all focus on strengthening the upper body. Without leg muscles, won't I be unable to outrun others when trying to escape?"

He thought for a moment: "Perhaps we could create an entry for something like 'lightness skill' (轻功), where you tie sandbags to your feet, or practice leg exercises like high jump, long jump, running, and squats?"

Lu Chen decided to add all these exercises starting tomorrow morning.

……

Silent all night.

The next morning, Lu Chen was woken up by a notification sound while it was still dark.

Under the host's guidance and influence, the fates of Teng Jun and Luo Yong have changed.

Teng Jun and Luo Yong died from organ failure after inducing vomiting through fecal irrigation, leading to cross-infection.

[Stage-based lifespan stat gains:]

[Teng Jun and Luo Yong died +30]

Lying on the bed, Lu Chen looked at the roof beams above him: "Now that all four of them are dead, no matter what the Green Bamboo Gang thinks, I'll assume the worst-case scenario: that they're blaming me for their deaths."

"In that case, the Green Bamboo Gang's retaliation might come very soon..."

Lu Chen got up, suppressed his worries, did some simple stretching and warm-up exercises in the house, and then started doing squats, high jumps, long jumps, and running around the yard, sometimes accelerating and sometimes moving left and right to train his agility.

Judging that it was about time, he wiped his sweat, took a quick shower, cooked dinner, woke up Lu Ming and Lu Tang, and after eating, they went to school together.

Along the way, people would greet him from time to time, smiling and with a hint of respect in their tone.

Lu Chen knew that it was because of the importance attached to his status as a teacher at the academy.

There were many more students in the school than yesterday.

They were all children aged 5 to 11 or 12, mostly boys, with only four girls including Lu Tang.

"Quiet down, everyone. Today is our first day of formal classes. Please line up in order of height. Lu Ming, you will be in charge of the boys' row, and Lu Caiwei, you will be in charge of the girls' row."

After Lu Chen and the other fifteen children had all stood in place, he quietly watched them.

The sounds gradually subsided. The children all looked at Lu Chen, held their breath, and dared not speak. Then, they became completely silent.

Lu Chen then nodded: "Very good!"

Only then did he begin the formal lessons.

Meanwhile, in Shahu County, more than ten miles away, the Qingzhu Gang...

Cheng Datou glared angrily at one of his men.

"I've only been gone for three days, just got back, and you're telling me Lu San and the other three are all dead? Weren't they going back to collect debts? How could they be dead? Who killed them?"

"Boss, the day before yesterday, after they came back, they drank some alcohol that night. I heard that after drinking, they started having diarrhea. Lu San fell into the cesspool and drowned. Lu Si vomited and had diarrhea, then passed out and died not long after. I went to see Teng Jun and Luo Yong this morning, but they were also dead."

Huang Chao, one of his subordinates, was also speechless.

"what?"

Cheng Datou was dumbfounded.

What does it mean to fall into a cesspool and drown?

Wasn't he murdered?

"How much did they drink? How could they possibly fall into a cesspool?"

Cheng Datou, as a minor leader of the Green Bamboo Gang, had taken several lives and seen many dead people, but this was the first time he had ever heard of someone drowning in a cesspool as the cause of death.

"Wasn't Lu Si just unconscious? How did he die too? And what about Teng Jun and Luo Yong? What happened to them? Can drinking really kill you?"

Huang Chao replied, "At first, Teng Jun and Luo Yong just had stomach aches and thought it was just food poisoning, so they didn't take it seriously. But then Lu Si fainted, and Lu San didn't come out of the latrine, so they realized something was wrong and called me over. I found a doctor, and the doctor said they were poisoned."

Cheng Datou's face immediately turned ashen.

Poisoning?

"Who did this? How dare they attack someone from my Green Bamboo Gang?"

He was furious.

He only had five men in total, and four of them died in one go?

If I find out who poisoned him, I'll kill him!

"The doctor said it seems like they ate poisonous mushrooms."

Cheng Datou: "..."

He was filled with anger but didn't know how to vent it.

"Are you sure it's a poisonous mushroom, or that someone else poisoned my Green Bamboo Gang members? Have you checked where they were drinking?" He grabbed Huang Chao by the collar, spitting on Huang Chao's face.

"That's what the doctor said. The restaurant is owned by the Li family, so we didn't dare to ask. Also, Teng Jun and Luo Yong died because they ate too many poisonous mushrooms. The doctor could only induce vomiting and force-feed them fecal water, but it didn't work. There was no cure, and they still died."

As Huang Chao spoke, he recalled the scenes of pulling people out of the cesspool and pouring sewage into them, and he immediately felt nauseous and couldn't help but want to vomit.

He will never forget that scene for the rest of his life.

I haven't been able to eat for the past two days.

Cheng Datou felt a little nauseous listening to it.

"What the hell are they doing eating poisonous mushrooms?!" Cheng Datou's chest heaved violently with anger.

"Forget it," he waved his hand at Huang Chao, "Find a few people to drag them home and bury them. Oh, by the way, isn't there someone in Qingshan Village, Lu something-or-other, who owes me 10 taels of silver? Go and get the money back!"

Huang Chao nodded in agreement.

This is a lucrative job.

"Yes, boss, I'll arrange it right away!"