Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 70 Unharmed

When Zhou Ye left Wang's Pharmacy, he still felt a little confused.

Life is unpredictable. I originally just wanted to borrow a few more medical books, how did I inexplicably become a worshipper at the pharmacy?

After returning to his home in the outer city, Zhou Ye changed into a rather tattered set of clothes and, carrying a load of charcoal on a shoulder pole, walked slowly toward the woodcutter's charcoal shop.

In fact, there was hardly anything left in the house in the outer city; almost everything had been moved to the house at the dock.

About twenty days have passed. If we don't go to sell charcoal soon, it might arouse suspicion from the woodcutters' gang.

However, upon arriving at the charcoal shop, a familiar shop assistant casually greeted him, "Ah Ye, long time no see."

"Yes, yes! This time the trip into the mountains took a little longer."

"How's it going in the mountains now?"

"Still the same old story. There's not even anyone to talk to or drink with."

"Then you should bring a woman into the mountains. You can use her at night and during the day."

When they started talking about dirty jokes between men, they both burst into laughter.

"Hey Xiao Guang, with a face like mine so dark, what woman would want to be with me?"

"You don't know this, do you? Because of the drought a few months ago, a lot of refugees came to our county town. Women in the human market are cheaper than sheep. For just 5 taels of silver, a young virgin can go home with you."

"Hmm. That's not bad. But... first you need five taels of silver."

"..."

Amidst the laughter and conversation, Zhou Ye realized everything was normal, and he felt a little relieved. He probably didn't need to run away anymore... right?

"Xiao Guang, I'll stop chatting now, I need to go pay my membership fee."

"Oh! Just go inside and hand it over to Accountant Li! He's in charge of collecting your membership fees now."

"Huh? Why have the rules changed again?"

"Hey! Isn't it just that Brother Stone has gone missing? And that includes our charcoal shop's former manager? The new guy is Brother Xiong, he's too lazy to collect these membership fees."

"Huh? What happened? It's only been a few months, right? How come Big Dog Bro, Stone Bro...?"

"That's right. So all the brothers in our gang are saying that this area seems to be haunted."

"Encountering evil spirits?"

"Fine, I'll tell you! Just don't tell anyone else! It was probably the Black Iron Gang. So don't cause any trouble outside. Our Woodcutter Gang can't stand up for you now. Sigh—!"

"..."

Once inside, they handed the 200 coins to Accountant Li. Accountant Li was even less inclined to do anything special. It was simply a matter of taking the money and signing the document…

When Zhou Ye left the charcoal shop, he was completely relieved.

That's fine, the Black Iron Gang will become the scapegoat. And that Brother Xiong doesn't care at all; hopefully he'll completely forget about this nobody!

……

More than three months later, it was almost the end of the year.

During this period, Zhou Ye mainly did one thing: he took advantage of the fishing season to catch a large quantity of fish and salted more than 1 jin of fish. He also consumed more than 2000 jin of salt.

Therefore, the warehouse in our small community is once again overflowing. More than 1 catties of salted fish, plus more than 1 catties of salted beef, is enough to last for a long time.

Besides that, Zhou Ye is all about hard work! Hard work! He works himself to the bone!

Now, the Qi and Blood Powder has finally been completely consumed. The Lesser Wind and Thunder Stance has also been mastered, reaching the minor completion stage.

In other words, all the acupoints in both arms have been broken through; now it's time to impact the acupoints in both legs. Once all the acupoints in both legs are broken through, one can enter the later stage of mastering internal strength.

However, after breaking through the acupoints in his arms, Zhou Ye discovered that the blood and qi in his hands and arms became much more vigorous, and his strength also increased significantly.

Therefore, the rate of strength growth is particularly fast in the initial stage. Perhaps a small step forward represents a significant increase in strength.

At the same time, through persistent effort, he also mastered the basic technique of concealment and breath control, reaching the minor completion stage.

He had mastered the Ten Forms of Swordsmanship and reached a minor level in Cloud Ladder. In fact, the battle with the demon bear provided the vast majority of these experience points.

Another skill is "Eight Directions Night Rain". I finally managed to grind back to a third-rate martial art, reaching the entry level. However, this time I didn't get the 1 free attribute point reward for entry level.

Even a third-rate archery skill has reached the basics, and there are no entry-level rewards.

In basic martial arts skills, through continuous fishing, the basic throwing technique has been mastered.

Most importantly, I finally maxed out my basic boxing skills. Thank goodness! I don't need to do calisthenics anymore.

However, reaching the maximum level of the basic fist technique actually grants 1 free attribute point, which can be considered a guaranteed reward after reaching the maximum level... right?

This delighted Zhou Ye. Finally having a spare point of free attribute points made him feel much more at ease.

After integrating basic boxing techniques into the Wind and Thunder Grappling Hand technique and practicing for several more days, he also mastered it. At least he could pass himself off as a novice at the martial arts school.

What's even more interesting is that this inspired Zhou Ye to prioritize maxing out the remaining three basic martial arts skills! That would give him 3 more free attribute points.

Finally, there's the intermediate level of poison skills. Zhou Ye had practically worn out the medical books he bought, but the more he read, the less experience points he gained. He even tried to develop several kinds of poisons and toxicants, but ultimately still couldn't reach the maximum level.

The progress stops when the experience bar is about halfway full.

In the end, Zhou Ye could only feel helpless; he had really done his best!

That day, Zhou Ye arrived at the martial arts school. He found it already packed with people, with many disciples who rarely came showing up.

Today is a special day for the martial arts school—to celebrate the two genius disciples!

Of course, to celebrate this occasion, the martial arts school also invited many distinguished guests from the county town. Among them were people from other martial arts schools, representatives of many prominent families, and quite a few businessmen.

If someone performs well, they might be noticed by these VIPs and given the opportunity to take up a temporary post outside the area.

The event began with the main characters making their entrance. Yuan Zhen and Du Juan appeared one after the other. They each performed a set of boxing techniques and a set of weapons, earning enthusiastic applause from all the guests. Furthermore, the VIPs presented them with numerous gifts…

Zhou Ye sensed that the two men's energy and vitality had even surpassed his own? Geniuses are so damn hateful, they make people jealous to the point of being twisted.

In Zhou Ye's eyes, Yuan Zhen and Du Juan's martial arts skills were... unbearable to watch! If it came to a life-or-death battle, Zhou Ye was very confident that he could take them both down within ten moves! Yes! The two of them attacking together would save some time.

However, even if Du Juan's martial arts skills are not very good, she is sweet-looking and flutters around like a butterfly, so she is at least very beautiful.

No wonder Du Juan received more than twice as many gifts as Yuan Zhen among those distinguished guests…