Preparation: Part One

This happened extremely suddenly.

A large number of darts flew towards him.

Fortunately, Wei He was already prepared. He dodged several darts by shifting his body, and for those he couldn't avoid, he used the metal plates on his body to block them. He absolutely avoided touching them with his arms or legs.

Seeing that his final surprise attack was useless, the fatty's heart turned to ash. He staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground again.

This time, he truly didn't move.

Wei He quickly drew his poison cone again and ruthlessly flung it at the fatty.

With a thwack, the poison cone deeply pierced the fatty's abdomen, but he remained motionless, completely still.

Wei He finally let out a sigh of relief. He picked up another stone and smashed it hard against the fatty's forehead. He watched as blood slowly flowed out, the fatty's head denting from the impact.

Only then did Wei He slowly approach and begin to deal with the corpse.

He found quite a few good items on the fatty as well.

A pair of metal gloves, five remaining poison darts, one remaining poison powder pouch, and a leather coin purse. One dry rations bag and one water bag each.

After searching everything and cleaning the wounds, Wei He quickly retreated.

He wanted to drag the body away, but time was running out. The previous corpse might have already been discovered.

He could faintly hear faint sounds from the mountain, unsure if they were animals or people. But there were quite a few of them.

Regardless of what it was, he couldn't stay here any longer. He knew that people from Shaoyang Gate usually came out in groups of a few.

Wei He quickly retreated, taking his spoils, and headed down the mountain.

He found the clothes he had prepared earlier, hidden in a patch of weeds. After changing, he switched to a different sack and packed all the scavenged items into it.

This was originally the bag he had prepared for carrying prey, but now it served a different purpose.

Wei He sprinkled himself with odor-removing powder and used his water bag to wet a towel, wiping the blood from his face and body. He tidied his slightly messy hair.

Finally, he dragged the sack and hurried towards the gate of Feiye City.

This trip yielded a significant harvest, but it also brought considerable trouble.

A den of mountain bandits, plus one person from Shaoyang Gate, all killed by him. That made a total of seven lives.

Wei He felt a pang of emotion. Unknowingly, he had come to view human lives as mere weeds.

Not so long ago, he was still that naive youth who would tremble after killing someone.

Now...

He returned to his own home. He dropped the sack on the ground in the yard.

It was already noon. Second Sister had gone to Huishan Fist Academy to help, and also to visit Old Zheng.

Since the bun shop was gone, Wei Ying often visited Old Zheng when she had free time.

Without his daughter by his side, Zheng Fugui grew even closer to Wei He and his sister.

With Second Sister gone, Wei He didn't delay. He quickly took out the python, propped it against a tree trunk, and began to skin it with his knife.

The python was non-venomous. After skinning it, stewing it or roasting the meat were both delicious options.

He skinned it, removed the internal organs, washed it several times in the clean water from the water vat, and then stewed it.

He salted a portion and hung it in the yard to dry in the sun, making jerky to prevent spoilage.

After busy work for a while, the snake meat soup was soon ready.

Wei He didn't use a pot. Instead, he used the charcoal he bought to keep it warm. He scooped up a spoonful, blew on it to cool it, and took a gentle taste.

A faint fishy smell, mixed with the flavors of salt, ginger, and scallions, flooded his mouth.

"Although it's still a bit fishy, it's truly fresh."

He quickly picked out a large amount of meat pieces to cool, then went into the inner room to get some chili and spices, making a dipping sauce.

The python was large, and its meat was thick.

Wei He dipped the meat in the sauce and stuffed large chunks into his belly. The fresh, fragrant, spicy, and numbing flavor was incredibly satisfying.

If the charcoal he bought hadn't been almost used up, he would have made another pot.

After eating the snake meat, Wei He estimated he had consumed about three jin of pure snake meat in this meal.

For a python over two meters long, this was just a small section of its body.

The remaining meat was enough for him to eat for a long time.

He felt comfortable all over, leaning back in the rattan chair under the shade of the tree in the yard. Beside him was a cup of cassia seed tea, which he slowly sipped.

"This snake meat tastes really good, but it's a shame it's not beast meat. The nourishing effect isn't as immediate as Flower Branch Deer Meat.

But it should still be much better than ordinary poultry. This long one, eaten slowly, will last for half a month."

Wei He tasted the sweetness of hunting and became full of motivation. He planned to wait a while, then cautiously try hunting again.

Of course, next time he went, he would definitely need to investigate what kind of reaction Shaoyang Gate had after one of their people died.

After resting for a while.

Wei He took the small booklet he had acquired earlier from his bag and examined it carefully.

The booklet recorded a martial art called the Five Ridges Palm.

This Five Ridges Palm was a dual-palm technique. According to the description, when trained to a high level, the palms would become as hard as metal, capable of leaving fingerprints on metal with a casual strike.

The Five Ridges Palm was essentially the Five Finger Mountain Palm, just with a different name.

Wei He flipped through the details and found that the martial art was quite incomplete, missing the crucial medicinal formula needed for breakthrough.

"That makes sense. Who would be foolish enough to carry the complete manual? This part mainly focuses on the movements and techniques. Carrying it around is probably just for review. If it were me, I'd definitely keep the formula separate."

Wei He understood.

Without the formula, this martial art held little reference value.

For an external martial art like this, if the specially designed medicinal formula was missing, practicing it for a long time would inevitably lead to injury and disability.

He put down the booklet, preparing to examine the rest of his spoils.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.

'This martial art... it doesn't require the Fundamental Diagram, only a medicinal formula for catalysis during breakthroughs. Could my Boundary-Breaking Pearl be used as a substitute for the breakthrough formula, allowing me to break through directly?'

The thought struck him, and his heart began to pound.

If this possibility was true, then the Five Ridges Palm would be the most suitable martial art for him!

This was because the martial art's requirements for Blood Essence were not as high as the Huishan Fist, but its breakthroughs were more difficult.

He suppressed his speculation for the moment and continued to examine the other items.

Besides a pile of powder bags, there was a pair of metal gloves and a money pouch, which contained the most valuable items.

The metal gloves had metal plates only on the knuckles, with the rest being leather, but that was sufficient.

With a slight repair, they would offer a significant advantage in ordinary exchanges.

Unless he encountered someone with hand spikes like his own.

Tossing the gloves aside, Wei He turned his attention to the money pouch. Inside was a stack of gold notes printed with a pattern resembling lotuses.

The gold notes bore the inscription "Qian Shen Tong Tian."

Wei He pulled one out to examine it, pinching it between his fingers.

This was the first time he had ever held a gold note. In other places he had affiliations with, he always asked for grain and meat.

"This isn't paper, it's some kind of leather?" Wei He was surprised to find that the gold note was made from the hide of some animal, and it even carried a faint, pleasant fragrance.

"This thing might have some function beyond just being a substitute for gold."

Wei He speculated.

He took out all the gold notes and counted them. To his surprise, there were a thousand taels in total.

Based on the exchange rate of gold for white rice in the Inner City that Cheng Shaojiu had told him before, this thousand taels was definitely not a small sum.

He noticed that below all the gold notes, there was an inscription: "Issued by Damao Money House."

He just didn't know where Damao Money House was located.

Having tasted the benefits, Wei He finally understood why there were so many bandits and robbers in this era.

A single successful raid like this could yield so much money and good items. If one could have such good income every day, it was simply unimaginable.

However, he also knew that even if he went to Shaoyang Mountain every day, he wouldn't always encounter a fat Shaoyang Gate disciple carrying a large sum of money.

Putting away the money and various bags, Wei He rested, feeling very satisfied.

From that day on, he continued to hunt, changing his location, avoiding Shaoyang Mountain, and instead venturing to other areas around Feiye City.

For more than a month.

His life consisted of hunting every day, returning in the afternoon to practice his skills, and the cycle of Skin Grinding.

At the same time, when he had free time, he began to practice the content from the Five Ridges Palm manual.

Nourished by the abundant meat, Wei He's Boundary-Breaking Pearl's growth accelerated again, soon reaching three-tenths.

His Blood Essence also gradually condensed into the physical form of the first Nine-Cloud Flower.

However, compared to the Boundary-Breaking Pearl, the speed of Skin Grinding and flower condensation was still significantly slower.

Wei He could tell from Old Zheng's expression during his examinations that his Blood Essence growth rate was not satisfactory.

Old Zheng had initially regarded Wei He as a genius due to his breakthrough time, but...

As time went by, Wei He's aptitude gradually revealed its true nature.

His Blood Essence growth rate was nowhere near what a genius should possess.

To be precise, his growth rate was less than a third of Xiao Ran's at the time.

This caused Old Zheng's full hopes to gradually turn into disappointment.

Fortunately, just as he was feeling disheartened, Xiao Ran unexpectedly found a new turn of events.

"Master Zheng!! Xiao Ran, Xiao Ran he...!!"

That day, in the inner courtyard, Wei He was carefully listening to Old Zheng explain the combat techniques of Huishan Fist while discussing Stone Hide.

Suddenly, Jiang Su rushed in, panting, and shouted, "Xiao Ran, he's recovered!!"

"Xiao Ran? Recovered??" Master Zheng was stunned at first, then incredulously asked again.

"Did you just say Xiao Ran recovered? Recovered what? Explain it to me clearly!"

Jiang Su glanced at Wei He and Zhao Hong beside him, then quickly refocused her gaze on Master Zheng.

She said earnestly, word by word, "Master Zheng, Xiao Ran has fully recovered his Stone Hide Blood Essence! He's outside in the outer courtyard right now. I personally tested him just now, and there's absolutely no mistake. It's a second stage of Blood Essence! There's no error!"

Master Zheng stood rooted to the spot, listening carefully. He tugged at his beard, momentarily speechless.

His previous disappointment due to Wei He's performance seemed to have reignited with a new spark.

He repeatedly tugged at his beard, paced back and forth a few steps, then stopped.

"Let's go! Take me to see him!"

"Yes!" Jiang Su immediately took the lead, guiding Master Zheng towards the outer courtyard.

Senior Brother Zhao Hong and Wei He were left behind.

The two exchanged a look and quickly followed.

Although neither of them particularly liked Xiao Ran, they had to admire his truly formidable talent.

Wei He followed them to the outer courtyard and saw Xiao Ran surrounded by a group of fellow disciples.

Standing opposite him was Master Zheng, Old Zheng.

Master Zheng had his hand on Xiao Ran's shoulder, his eyes closed as if sensing something.

Soon, Master Zheng slowly opened his eyes.

"He... he's actually completely recovered!" He trembled, patting Xiao Ran's shoulder repeatedly.

"You are very good!"