After not seeing each other for a month, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Xu Hui, and the other friends had all made progress.
Clearly, they had not been idle while spending their vacation at home.
It was just that most of their progress was limited.
But Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and Xu Hui had advanced the most.
Xu Hui's family situation was similar to Zhang Wan's, but his talent was good. During his time at home, his magic power had increased somewhat, making him no worse than Zhang Wan.
Moreover, Zhang Wan discovered that all ten of Xu Hui's fingers were covered in scars, with rough skin. Clearly, Xu Hui was cultivating Bone Piercing Finger—and had made decent progress.
This gave Zhang Wan a strange look.
Among the martial techniques paired with Bronze Iron Body, Bone Piercing Finger was relatively easy to comprehend, but actually mastering it was among the most difficult.
The process of cultivating Bone Piercing Finger was rather painful.
It required enough perseverance to endure the pain.
It was also best to have medicinal ointment or other recovery-type treasures to protect the ten fingers from being crippled during the tempering process.
That required cultivation resources.
Given Xu Hui's circumstances, with the sect's resources not yet distributed, how had he found the nerve to cultivate Bone Piercing Finger without any cultivation resources?
Xu Hui did not seem like such a reckless person, either.
Zhang Wan pondered this but did not ask further. What martial artist did not have a few secrets?
Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui had made the greatest progress.
Zhang Wan could clearly feel a pressure from the two of them. It came from their magic power, which had risen too quickly and had yet to be completely reined in.
Neither of them had broken through to the First Level Postnatal, but they had still taken a small step within that realm, going farther than Zhang Wan had.
Furthermore, the two of them had begun cultivating martial techniques long ago, so their strength was unrivaled among this batch of students.
Zhang Wan was quite pleased with their progress.
The stronger Zhao Qixin and the others became, the more freely he could use his experience points while hiding behind them and fishing in troubled waters.
The stronger those in front were, the less he needed to restrain himself.
As long as he did not take the lead or become one of the few most conspicuous people, it did not matter.
Early the next morning, February first, Zhang Wan saw an airship fly into the academy.
He immediately realized that it was carrying cultivation resources dispatched from the mountain gate.
For ordinary goods, including pseudo-spiritual plants, Jade Bone Sect used rune carriages for transport. But for good things of the Postnatal grade or above, they used airships.
The airship stopped at Beginner Martial Arts Academy for a moment before flying away again.
Within the day, the airship had to visit every academy under Jade Bone Sect, so there was not much time to waste.
After the morning literary class, Zhang Wan, who was thinking about the cultivation resources distributed by the sect, went with Xu Hui, Yu Shui, and the others to Vice Dean Huang's office.
Vice Dean Huang was responsible for registering the Postnatal disciples in the academy. He also managed the resources the sect distributed to the academy, and his position there was second only to the dean.
By the time Zhang Wan and the others arrived, people were already lining up to receive their cultivation supplies.
In the morning, the cultivation resources for the academy's instructing martial masters had already been distributed.
Those present now were all students among the academy's Level Ten students who had broken through to the Postnatal realm.
Zhang Wan spotted several figures who stood head and shoulders above the rest, their auras powerful.
Those people were at least at the Third Level Postnatal!
They haven't even graduated from the academy yet, and they're only thirteen or fourteen, but they already have such cultivation. In the future, they'll be influential figures among the sect's outer disciples at the very least. There's even a fair chance they'll break through to the Innate realm. Zhang Wan clicked his tongue inwardly.
Beside him, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and even Xu Hui also sensed the strength of those people. But they showed no fear. Instead, their faces filled with heroic spirit, as if saying that one day, they certainly would not be inferior to them.
By comparison, Zhang Wan was far more ordinary. He looked no different from the common Postnatal students who made up most of those around him.
The line for receiving cultivation resources moved quickly.
The martial artist distributing the supplies confirmed each person's identity, handed over the resources, and immediately moved on to the next person. The process was very fast.
Zhang Wan's turn soon came.
The cultivation resources distributed to Postnatal students like him were quite simple.
A disciple token, a set of Jade Bone Sect outer disciple robes, a Storage Talisman, and six low-grade spirit stones.
The disciple token, disciple robes, and Storage Talisman would only be issued once by the sect. Every subsequent distribution would consist only of spirit stones.
For outer disciples of the First, Second, and Third Levels Postnatal in Jade Bone Sect, the sect provided one low-grade spirit stone in monthly cultivation resources. Six stones thus amounted to half a year's cultivation supplies.
After receiving the supplies, Zhang Wan walked to the side and extended his spiritual sense into the Storage Talisman. He immediately sensed the one-cubic-meter space inside.
Zhang Wan activated the Storage Talisman with his magic power. The disciple token, disciple robes, and six spirit stones were all sucked into the Storage Talisman.
Unlike a storage bag, a Storage Talisman cannot be used for a long time. But a brand-new Storage Talisman can still last two or three years.
Moreover, this talisman is cheap. One low-grade spirit stone can buy two.
During his time at the academy, Zhang Wan felt that he did not need too much storage space. The Storage Talisman was enough for him.
As for a storage bag, he would get one after graduating from the academy.
However, when he thought about how even the cheapest storage bag cost more than ten low-grade spirit stones, Zhang Wan felt speechless again.
That was equivalent to a whole year of cultivation resources distributed by the sect.
The prices of these common magical artifacts, spiritual items, and talismans had all been explained in the academy's literary classes.
Zhang Wan and the other Postnatal students were not completely ignorant of the prices of various treasures in the martial world of Wu Kingdom.
After receiving their resources, the Level Six Postnatal students were preparing to leave.
But those few Third Level Postnatal students took the initiative to come over.
"Wang Nian, Shen Miao, Liu Yufei, is something the matter?" Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui took the lead, standing at the front of the Level Six Postnatal students as they spoke with the three Third Level Postnatal students.
"Little sister Qixin, we came to invite you to join the academy disciples' arena gambling," Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei said with smiles.
The three of them explained the situation to everyone.
Although academy students lived comfortably in the academy, they had few opportunities to fight. Most lacked actual combat experience. Though they could spar with familiar classmates, without fighting ruthlessly, the experience they gained was quite limited.
Thus, a long time ago, arena gambling had become popular among the academy's Postnatal students.
With one low-grade spirit stone as the wager, the participants fought without restriction under the conditions that they could not kill or attack vital points. They continued until one side admitted defeat or lost the ability to fight.
Cultivation resources were precious. Especially for Postnatal students like them in the academy, one low-grade spirit stone was a month's worth of cultivation provisions.
With that as the wager, both sides would naturally fight with all their strength.
Since killing and attacking vital points were forbidden, there was no need to worry about losing one's life.
Thus, although it could not compare with a life-and-death struggle fought on the edge of death, it could still help the Postnatal students quickly become familiar with combat and gain abundant practical experience.
It truly achieved several goals at once.
They had not previously invited the Level Six students to join the arena gambling because the cultivation resources for those Level Six Postnatal students had not yet been distributed. They did not even have spirit stones, so they had no qualifications to participate in the arena gambling at all.
After hearing what the three said, Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Xu Hui, and the others all lit up.
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