Punching Force Advances

After seeing Luo Wang off, Yang Chen locked the wooden hut and began patrolling Area No. 8 along the field ridges with the token in hand.

A hundred mu of land looked vast, but in reality, it was only a little over eighty meters long and wide. A perfunctory round would take no more than ten-odd minutes.

However, this was Yang Chen's first patrol, and he took it very seriously.

Walking along the field ridges, he first surveyed the overall environment of the spirit fields.

From what he knew, Nineteen Peaks had a total of one hundred thousand mu of spirit fields, with each area responsible for ten thousand mu. The place he was in now was merely a part of the ten thousand mu under Area No. 8.

Every section was crisscrossed by bluestone roads two zhang wide. On both sides of those roads ran irrigation ditches, carrying water diverted from the lake.

The water was crystal clear, flowing through the ditches to irrigate the ten thousand mu of spirit fields.

Stepping along the ridges, he carefully observed the growth of the spirit rice. He did not know much about this sort of thing, but he could roughly tell that it was thriving. Every ear was heavy with grains, each one plump and naturally lustrous.

As he walked and stopped like this, he unknowingly reached a corner, where a figure approached from diagonally ahead.

Seeing the person approaching, Yang Chen's gaze paused briefly on her. Wang Feng really did contact a lot of people.

The newcomer was a slender young woman with bright eyes and pearly teeth, her black hair cascading like a waterfall. Her features were exquisite yet poised, and she carried the air of a daughter from a distinguished family.

Yang Chen recognized her. She was one of the three people who had gone up to the second floor while he was eating in the dining hall yesterday.

While he discreetly observed her, the young woman's gaze swept over him as well. Their eyes met for an instant. After giving each other a slight nod, they looked away.

Yang Chen continued forward. Once they had passed each other and drawn apart, he turned back in puzzlement to look at the young woman's retreating figure.

When they had brushed past one another, he had vaguely sensed a faint, almost imperceptible pressure.

"Qi Martial First Level, or the second?"

Yang Chen's heart tightened slightly. They were the same age, yet the gap in their strength was actually this great?

He realized that even among the Labor Peak disciples, there was a difference as vast as heaven and earth. They might seem to stand at the same starting line, but some had already surged far ahead.

His expression grew grave, and he quickened his patrol, wanting only to return and cultivate as soon as possible.

"No, that's not right. I have the system..."

At that thought, the gravity on Yang Chen's face eased.

That young woman and the others could take the lead early on mainly because they had ample resources. But the further cultivation progressed, the more immense the resources it required would become. The forces behind them could not possibly keep pouring in resources regardless of cost.

He was different. With the system covering his back, his advantage would only grow greater the further he went.

Having figured out the crux of it, Yang Chen clasped his hands behind his back and continued his careful patrol along the field ridges.

About two quarters of an hour later, he returned to the wooden hut at an unhurried pace. Taking out the white jade bottle from his system space and holding it in his hand, he calculated inwardly, "The sect grants three Spirit Crystals every month, along with Qi Strength Pills worth three Spirit Crystals. Adding the thirty Spirit Crystals from the system, I have a full thirty-three Spirit Crystals at my disposal."

He considered how to maximize the value of this batch of Spirit Crystals.

"One bottle of Qi Strength Pills contains four pills. I need at least seven bottles a month, which will cost twenty-one Spirit Crystals. First Order Early Stage Fierce Beast Meat, calculated at twenty jin a day, costs one Spirit Crystal every four days. Over a month, that comes to a little over seven Spirit Crystals. Rounding it off, I'll have four Spirit Crystals left..."

He shook his head, understanding that it was impossible to maintain the limit of cultivation speed.

If he paired everything with Spirit Calming Incense and Muscle Relaxing and Vitality Pills, the minimum monthly cost would exceed one hundred Spirit Crystals. That was clearly beyond what he could afford.

Still, he was already more than satisfied. After all, being able to guarantee himself one Qi Strength Pill and Fierce Beast Meat every day was something ninety-nine percent of disciples would not even dare dream of.

After thinking for a moment, he put away the white jade bottle, assumed the stance of the Eight Directions Body Refining Technique, and began cultivating.

This was his second cultivation session. The process was still agonizing, but compared to the first time, he managed to hold on a little longer.

More than half an hour later, drenched in sweat, he sat cross-legged on the floor and took out a Qi Strength Pill, swallowing it.

The medicinal effect quickly spread. A numb, tingling comfort flooded his entire body, while his utterly exhausted body hungrily drank in the pill's medicinal power.

Another half hour passed like this. Once the Qi Strength Pill's effect had completely faded, Yang Chen eagerly summoned the panel to check his progress from this cultivation session.

[Realm: Quasi-Martialist, Punching Force 893 kilograms]

"Good!"

Seeing that his improvement was even greater than last time, Yang Chen clenched his fist in excitement.

At this rate, he would break through to Qi Martial First Level in four days.

That was the most conservative estimate, without counting the Fierce Beast Meat or considering cultivating more than twice a day. If he took both of those into account, he was confident that he could become a true martialist in two days at most.

With that thought, Yang Chen went to the bed, lay down directly, and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

Without Spirit Calming Incense and Muscle Relaxing and Vitality Pills, sleep was the fastest way to recover.

Time flew by. When Yang Chen woke, he instinctively looked at the timing hourglass hanging on the wall.

"I actually slept for two hours."

Yang Chen let out a sigh of relief. He had truly feared sleeping until nightfall, which would not only delay his duties but also make him miss mealtime.

For martialists, eating one's fill was essential. Otherwise, their qi and blood would decline, making effective cultivation impossible and even damaging their muscles and bones.

Labor Disciples had six hours of assigned work each day. Including travel time, he had already been here for nearly five hours.

"No wonder Senior Brother Luo would rather light a fire and cook here than return to the residential area. Going back and forth wastes far too much time."

He considered whether he should live here regularly as well, but after thinking it over, he temporarily abandoned the idea.

It wasn't impossible, but it was too troublesome. Too many things would be impossible to explain clearly.

He planned to move here permanently after raising his cultivation by a few more levels. Ideally, he would have a Storage Bag he could openly display.

Storage Bags were rare items. Even the most basic one cost fifty Spirit Crystals, and among Labor Disciples, those willing to buy one were exceedingly rare.

After weighing it over, he began cultivating again.

The two hours of rest had restored both his body and mind to good condition, enough to support another round of cultivation.

More than half an hour later, Yang Chen collapsed to the ground in exhaustion once more.

This time, however, he did not take a Qi Strength Pill. A Qi Strength Pill was medicine, after all, and one per day was already his body's limit. Any more would damage his foundation. He was not foolish enough to sacrifice the root for the branches.

As he recovered his strength, time slowly reached the fourth quarter of the Shen hour.

He immediately brought the token to the spirit field and used it to open the formation. The moment a corner of the formation opened, a fierce gust of wind came roaring in, nearly blowing Yang Chen off his feet.

"Such dense spiritual energy!"

Yang Chen steadied himself, regret flickering in his eyes.

The spiritual energy filling heaven and earth was the very foundation that supported martial artists in ascending to higher realms.

But the Qi Martial Realm was still at the beginning of cultivation. One simply could not actively absorb and refine spiritual energy yet, so he could only watch helplessly as the dense spiritual energy returned to heaven and earth.

To actively absorb and refine spiritual energy, one had to reach the True Martial Realm.

And that realm meant becoming an Outer Sect disciple of the Sun Moon Sword Sect.

A quarter of an hour later, Yang Chen put away the token. The formation covering the spirit field slowly closed. As usual, he made a round of inspection, and after confirming that there were no problems, he returned to the wooden hut and locked the door. He then went to the roadside, untied the reins, and rode toward District Eight with the token.

"What a fine horse. Too bad I won't be able to use it for free starting tomorrow."

His ride here today was a benefit granted to Labor Disciples on their first day traveling to their assigned task location. If he wanted to ride a horse in the future, he would have to pay two Spirit Crystals per month for the rental, along with fodder worth one Spirit Crystal.

That price was beyond what a Labor Disciple could afford.

Sitting atop the horse, Yang Chen was in a fine mood. As he gazed into the distance, the crisscrossing spirit fields shimmered with brilliant golden light. From time to time, other disciples gathered onto the main road as well, forming a unique sight.

At the request of many readers, an ad-free VIP membership feature is now available.

Click to view