Investing EXP, Heavy Snow, Returning Home

"Stacked Force Palm is powerful enough for offense and killing."

"But Bone Piercing Finger can penetrate metal and stone, with armor-piercing effects, it can play a crucial role at certain times."

"Perhaps, I should invest a large amount of EXP to fully comprehend Bone Piercing Finger, and then improve my finger tempering?"

He could also temper his fingers himself based on the partially comprehended aspects of Bone Piercing Finger.

However, just by looking at the tempering methods recorded in Bone Piercing Finger, Zhang Wan already felt a bit daunted.

It wasn't something that could be achieved through hard work alone; it also required enduring pain.

To master Bone Piercing Finger, one needed to repeatedly push their ten fingers to the limit and then recover.

Through repeated damage, recovery, damage, and recovery, the toughness of the fingers would improve, eventually reaching a hardness like iron and stone. Only then, when combined with mana, could the power of Bone Piercing Finger be unleashed.

Completely self-tempering would be too torturous.

He'd temper a small portion himself, and for the rest, it would be best to rely on EXP, especially during the initial stages of finger tempering.

The early stages were the most painful, but once passed, tempering the fingers would become much easier.

However, the system required complete comprehension before improving the finger tempering level, which was quite frustrating.

For a martial skill like Bone Piercing Finger, which could be used up to Postnatal ninth level, Zhang Wan had initially only planned to invest a small amount of EXP, just enough for his current needs.

Later, as his cultivation increased, he would gradually invest more EXP to upgrade the martial skill.

Otherwise, even if he mastered the martial skill now, he wouldn't be able to unleash its full potential due to his current cultivation level. What would be the point then?

It would be better to save the EXP.

After all, he could invest it anytime he needed it.

"Forget it, I'll invest."

"Just in case I need Bone Piercing Finger and don't have it," Zhang Wan directly used 102 EXP, maxing out his comprehension progress for Bone Piercing Finger.

Instantly, a flood of insights related to Bone Piercing Finger surged into Zhang Wan's mind.

He was momentarily lost in thought.

"As expected, using a large amount of EXP instantly brings too many insights, causing a slight overload," Zhang Wan rubbed his temples as the swollen sensation from the sudden influx of knowledge rapidly subsided.

After digesting these insights, Zhang Wan used another point of EXP to improve his finger tempering level.

Immediately, Zhang Wan felt a tremor in his ten fingers, and his bones, flesh, and skin all became tougher.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Wan picked up a fragment of the thick wooden board he had just smashed and pointed at it.

Thump!

He directly poked a finger-sized hole through it.

"Hmm, later I can find a three-centimeter iron plate and see if I can poke a hole through it," Zhang Wan was quite satisfied with the power of Bone Piercing Finger; it was enough for his current needs.

After investing one point of EXP into finger tempering, Zhang Wan stopped. He didn't continue to invest more.

It was enough for him now. Although further improvement would make his fingers even stronger, he also noticed that tempering his fingers with the Bone Piercing Finger method caused noticeable changes.

If he didn't control it, the changes would be too significant and people would notice something was wrong.

It was fine if people knew he was cultivating Bone Piercing Finger, but if they discovered his progress was unusual, that would be troublesome.

Investing one point was sufficient.

Moreover, he had already used over a hundred points of EXP today, leaving him with only 8,069 EXP. Zhang Wan decided to stop his impulsive spending.

As Zhang Wan was cleaning the courtyard, he suddenly saw snowflakes falling.

"It's snowing. That's right, it's almost the end of December," Zhang Wan murmured. After checking the time, he went to pick up his second sister, Zhang Lingshu, from Class C, Grade 3.

By the time he arrived, the continuous snowfall had already draped the entire Beginner Martial Arts Academy in white. Along the way, he saw the staff in the logistics department working busily.

The heavy snow had made the staff in the academy's logistics department hurried.

"To handle all the chores for the entire academy, and also take care of the food, drink, and daily needs of the newly enrolled students who are only four or five years old. The logistics department isn't having an easy time either."

Zhang Wan sighed.

However, not many people in the academy bullied the staff in the logistics department.

Most of the people working in the academy's logistics department had some connection to the academy. They were either former students who couldn't break through to Postnatal, or simply relatives of martial artists from the academy or sects.

No one was idle enough to pick on them.

Still, the Beginner Martial Arts Academy was vast and had many students, so some petty incidents were bound to occur.

But Zhang Wan had always avoided such matters, preventing trouble from finding him.

Of course, this was also partly because these incidents were not that frequent and could be easily avoided with a little caution.

He arrived at Class C, Grade 3, and picked up his second sister, Zhang Lingshu.

Zhang Lingshu wasn't dressed warmly. With the heavy snowfall, the temperature had dropped sharply, and she was feeling the cold.

"Use Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist to circulate your Blood Essence to resist the cold. Once we get back to the courtyard, put on more clothes," Zhang Wan reminded her.

Zhang Lingshu nodded, her chubby little face full of seriousness. She channeled the Ox Demon Body Tempering Fist to stir her Blood Essence, her entire body radiating heat with a reddish glow as she hurried towards the courtyard through the falling snow.

Zhang Wan, wearing even less, just a thin shirt, paid no mind to the falling snow or the cold.

His physique, enhanced simply by breaking through to the Postnatal stage, was enough to make him fearless of heat or cold.

After the heavy snow began to fall, days passed, and soon it was the end of December.

The academy was also entering its year-end holiday break.

Once the last day of December passed, the students of the academy began returning home.

The students of the Beginner Martial Arts Academy came from various regions within a thousand-kilometer radius, all under the jurisdiction of the Jade Bone Sect.

It was difficult for these students to travel back and forth safely on their own.

These students relied on the large rune carriages under the Jade Bone Sect to travel between their homes and the academy.

Normally, these carriages transported supplies throughout the Jade Bone Sect's territories and also served as transportation for some people.

When the academy had holidays, the sect would arrange for some suitable carriages to send the students home safely.

Zhang Wan and Zhang Lingshu boarded a rune carriage heading to Hemi Town.

"Simple wood, plus three or four ordinary horses, carve some suspension runes onto it, and you can immediately create a lightweight and high-speed rune carriage."

"The wonder of runes is truly indescribable."

Sitting in the carriage, Zhang Wan released his spiritual sense to examine the suspension runes hidden within the carriage frame.

The runes were not difficult to find, but they were quite mysterious and complex, making Zhang Wan's eyes blur.

Runes had immense utility, applicable in talismans, formations, and magic tools, their uses being quite extensive.

However, mastering them was not easy.

Only martial artists could master runes.

It was extremely difficult for ordinary people to memorize runes completely, and even if they did and could draw them perfectly, it would be useless.

A rune by itself possessed no power.

Without mana to activate them, runes were merely inanimate objects.

After glancing at the suspension runes with his spiritual sense a few times, Zhang Wan withdrew his gaze.

He had just become curious and wanted to see what a suspension rune looked like.

He was not yet qualified to learn runes.

He would have to wait at least until he completed the ten years of academic classes at the academy before he would be qualified to learn runes.

"However, speaking of runes, in the next few years at the academy, should I try to learn a cultivation technique?"

Mastering one of alchemy, artifact forging, talisman drawing, or formations would allow him to earn cultivation resources in the future.

With sufficient resources, he could also reduce the consumption of EXP.