Claiming Resources, Arena Wagered Battles

After a month away, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Xu Hui, and his other friends had all made progress.

Clearly, they hadn't been idle during the holiday break.

However, most of his friends had only made limited progress.

Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and Xu Hui had improved the most.

Xu Hui's family situation was similar to Zhang Wan's, but he had decent talent. During his time at home, his mana had increased slightly, not falling behind Zhang Wan.

Zhang Wan also noticed that Xu Hui's fingers were covered in scars, and his skin was rough. It was obvious Xu Hui was practicing the Bone Piercing Finger, and practicing it quite well.

This made Zhang Wan's expression a little strange.

Among the martial skills that came with the Bronze Iron Body, Bone Piercing Finger was relatively easy to comprehend, but it was one of the most difficult to actually master.

The process of cultivating Bone Piercing Finger was relatively painful.

It required enough willpower to endure the pain.

It was also best to have some ointment or other recovery treasures to protect the fingers from being ruined during the tempering process.

This required cultivation resources.

Given Xu Hui's situation, and with the sect's resources not yet distributed, how did he dare to practice Bone Piercing Finger without any cultivation resources?

Xu Hui didn't seem like such a reckless person.

Zhang Wan pondered this but didn't ask further. What martial artist didn't have their secrets?

Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui had made the most progress.

Zhang Wan could clearly feel a pressure from the two of them, a pressure brought by their rapid advancement, their mana not yet fully contained.

Neither of them had broken through to the first level of Postnatal, but they had taken a small step forward within that realm, further than Zhang Wan had.

Coupled with the fact that they had started practicing martial skills long ago, their strength was unparalleled among the students of this cohort.

Zhang Wan was quite pleased with their progress.

The more powerful Zhao Qixin and the others became, the more he could freely use EXP while blending in and staying under the radar.

The more powerful those ahead were, the less he had to restrain himself.

As long as he didn't take the lead, didn't become one of the most prominent figures, it wouldn't matter.

The next day, on the morning of February 1st, Zhang Wan saw a flying boat fly into the academy.

He immediately realized that this was the cultivation resources sent from the mountain sect.

Mundane items, including pseudo-spirit plants, were transported by rune carriages by the Jade Bone Sect. However, good items of Postnatal grade and above were transported by flying boat.

The flying boat lingered in the Beginner Martial Arts Academy for a moment before flying away again.

Today, this flying boat had to visit all the academies under the Jade Bone Sect's jurisdiction, so it didn't have much time to spare.

After the academic class in the morning, thinking about the cultivation resources issued by the sect, Zhang Wan, Xu Hui, Yu Shui, and others went to Vice Dean Huang's office.

Vice Dean Huang was responsible for registering the Postnatal disciples in the academy and also managed the resources distributed by the sect to the academy. His status in the academy was second only to the Dean.

When Zhang Wan and the others arrived, there were already people queuing to receive cultivation supplies.

In the morning, the cultivation resources for the academy's martial masters had already been distributed.

Those present now were the students among the tenth-level students who had broken through to Postnatal.

Zhang Wan immediately spotted several individuals who stood out from the crowd, exuding powerful auras.

Those individuals were at least at the third level of Postnatal!

They haven't even graduated from the academy yet, and they're only thirteen or fourteen years old, yet they already have this level of cultivation. They'll at least be prominent figures among the outer disciples of the sect in the future, and there's even a good chance they'll break through to Prenatal, Zhang Wan mused silently.

Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and even Xu Hui on the side also felt the power of those individuals, but they showed no fear. Instead, their faces were filled with heroic spirit, as if they were determined not to be inferior to them in the future.

In contrast, Zhang Wan was much more ordinary, appearing no different from the majority of common Postnatal students around him.

The queue for receiving cultivation resources moved quickly.

The martial artist distributing the supplies would confirm their identity and then issue the resources before moving on to the next person, making the process very fast.

Soon, it was Zhang Wan's turn.

The cultivation resources issued to Postnatal students like him were very simple.

A disciple token, a set of Jade Bone Sect outer disciple clothing, a storage talisman, and six low-grade spirit stones.

The disciple token, disciple clothing, and storage talisman were only issued once by the sect. In the future, each distribution of supplies would only include spirit stones.

For outer disciples of the Jade Bone Sect at the first, second, or third level of Postnatal, the sect provided one low-grade spirit stone per month for cultivation. Six stones meant half a year's worth of cultivation supplies.

After receiving his supplies, Zhang Wan walked to the side and extended his spiritual sense into the storage talisman, immediately sensing the one-cubic-meter space within it.

Zhang Wan activated the storage talisman with his mana, and the disciple token, disciple clothing, and six spirit stones were all absorbed into the talisman.

A storage talisman isn't as durable as a storage bag, but a brand-new storage talisman can last for two or three years without issue.

And these talismans are cheap too; you can buy two for one low-grade spirit stone.

During his time at the academy, Zhang Wan felt he didn't need a very large storage space, and the storage talisman would suffice for him.

A storage bag, I'll get one after graduating from the academy.

However, when Zhang Wan thought about how even the cheapest storage bags cost over ten low-grade spirit stones, he felt a bit speechless.

That was equivalent to a year's worth of cultivation resources issued by the sect.

The prices of these common magic tools, spirit items, and talismans were all covered in the academy's academic classes.

Zhang Wan and the other Postnatal students were not ignorant of the prices of various treasures in the Wu Kingdom's martial arts world.

After receiving their resources, the sixth-level Postnatal students were preparing to leave.

But those few at the third level of Postnatal actively approached them.

"Wang Nian, Shen Miao, Liu Yufei, what's up?" Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui took the lead, standing at the forefront of the sixth-level Postnatal students, conversing with the three third-level Postnatal students.

"Sister Qixin, we came to invite you to join the academy disciples' arena wagered battles," Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei said with smiles.

The three informed everyone.

Although academy students were comfortable staying within the academy, they rarely had opportunities to fight, and most lacked practical combat experience. While they could spar with familiar classmates, the experience gained without going all out was quite limited.

Therefore, a long time ago, arena wagered battles became popular among the Postnatal students in the academy.

With one low-grade spirit stone as a wager, participants would fight without restrictions, as long as they didn't kill or attack vital points, until one side surrendered or lost the ability to fight.

Cultivation resources were precious, especially for them, the Postnatal students of the academy; one low-grade spirit stone was a month's worth of cultivation sustenance.

With such stakes, both sides naturally fought with all their might.

Furthermore, the rules of not killing or attacking vital points meant there was no need to worry about mortal danger.

Thus, although it wasn't comparable to life-or-death struggles on the brink of death, it allowed the Postnatal students to quickly familiarize themselves with combat and gain a large amount of practical experience.

It was truly a win-win situation.

Previously, they hadn't invited the sixth-level students to the arena wagered battles because the sixth-level Postnatal students hadn't received their cultivation resources yet. They didn't even have spirit stones, making them unqualified to participate.

After hearing the trio's words, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Xu Hui, and the others' eyes lit up.