Lin Fangyan, Admonishment, Level Ten Scholar

After harvesting the pseudo spirit plants grown on the spiritual land and tidying it up, the first semester of Level Eight was also drawing to a close.

What satisfied Zhang Wan was that with his devilish training and ample supply of pseudo-spiritual items, aided by Blood Essence Grass, his second sister had already refined her Blood Essence to its peak, reaching the Mortal Limit, and was now ready to break through to the Postnatal stage.

Given his second sister's aptitude, she would likely break through in seven to eight months at most.

Zhang Lingshu was currently only a Level Five student. If she could break through within seven to eight months, she wouldn't be far behind Zhang Wan.

After all, Zhang Wan himself had broken through to the Postnatal stage when he was a Level Six student.

Of course, this was just the Postnatal bottleneck.

Without any external advantages, once Zhang Lingshu broke through to the Postnatal stage, it would be nearly impossible for her to maintain the same progress as Zhang Wan.

However, with Zhang Wan supporting her from behind, Zhang Lingshu's martial path would be significantly smoother than most others.

Zhang Lingshu did not disappoint Zhang Wan.

After accumulating for another six months, she successfully broke through to Postnatal First Tier!

At this point, Zhang Lingshu had just been promoted to a Level Six student, currently in the first semester of Level Six.

Zhang Wan, on the other hand, had been promoted to a Level Nine student.

After being promoted to a Level Nine student, he had also personally broken through to Postnatal Second Tier.

Initially, Zhang Wan had planned to accumulate for three to four months, and if he couldn't break through, he would use EXP to boost his cultivation.

However, after three to four months of arduous cultivation without breaking through, he discovered that among his cohort, only Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui had broken through to Postnatal Second Tier. The others, even those with decent talent, had only just reached the peak of Postnatal First Tier.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Wan decided against using EXP and resolved to break through on his own.

He still didn't want to be too conspicuous.

It was for this reason that he only managed to break through to Postnatal Second Tier after being promoted to a Level Nine student.

At this moment, Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui had already cultivated to the middle stage of Postnatal Second Tier and were charging towards the late stage.

The cohort members who had broken through to Postnatal Second Tier also included Xu Hui and a fellow disciple named Lin Fangyan.

While Zhang Wan and Xu Hui diligently cultivated, the other students of their cohort, as they grew older, gradually matured from their youthful ignorance. They understood the importance of strength and became diligent. In the later stages, they began to relentlessly pursue Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, Zhang Wan, and Xu Hui.

Lin Fangyan was the first to catch up.

Following him was a large group of students who had cultivated to the peak of Postnatal First Tier, desperately trying to break through to Postnatal Second Tier.

Zhang Wan wasn't surprised that these people were catching up.

They had decent talent, and some even had martial artist elders in their families. Their backgrounds were simply not as influential as Zhao Qixin's.

With talent, resources for cultivation provided by those behind them, and the maturity gained from growing up and understanding the importance of strength, it was natural for them to become diligent and catch up.

However, not everyone could catch up.

Those with backing were ultimately a minority, and those with decent talent were also a minority. Most people would ultimately only be able to gaze from afar at the few standing at the forefront.

Even among those with talent and background, only a few could catch up.

They had simply started their efforts a bit too late.

Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui also possessed good talent, and their backgrounds were even more formidable. What was even more commendable was that these two had awakened early, understood the importance of strength, and had been diligently cultivating all along.

As for Zhang Wan and Xu Hui, one had a cheat, and the other possessed superior talent and had awakened early, cultivating with astonishing diligence.

They weren't easily caught up to.

The number of people who could catch up now, like Lin Fangyan, would definitely not be many.

Just as Zhang Wan was hiding in the academy, developing himself and accumulating EXP, a piece of news arrived.

The Jade Bone Sect and the Blazing Fire Sect had a small-scale conflict at the Thousand Group Volcano, with outer disciples from both sides engaging in a fierce battle.

By the time the news arrived, the outer disciples of both sects had already been fighting at the Thousand Group Volcano for over a month.

Ultimately, no victor emerged, and the situation reached a stalemate, leading both sects to choose peace talks.

By the time this news reached the Beginner Martial Arts Academy, both sects had already ceased hostilities and declared a truce.

This was originally just ordinary news. The Jade Bone Sect and the other five great True Core powers of the Wu Kingdom had always had friction, so it wasn't worth paying too much attention to.

However, when some of the death lists began to circulate, Zhang Wan was deeply moved.

Wang Nian and Shen Miao, who had once led their cohort of students in the academy's arena wagered battles, appeared on the death list.

After Wang Nian, Shen Miao, and Liu Yufei graduated one after another, he had rarely heard any news of them.

He never expected to see them again, only on a death list.

Although Zhang Wan didn't have much of a relationship with them, seeing people he once interacted with suddenly perish still made him sigh, especially since Wang Nian and Shen Miao were only about four or five years older than him.

"My body is like duckweed, my life like blades of grass."

"Living in this world without strength, you never know when you might die." Zhang Wan raised his water as if it were wine, toasting the two people he had known in his small courtyard.

In the evening, when Zhang Lingshu and Zhang Yan returned, Zhang Wan, uncharacteristically, did not have them continue their training. Instead, he informed them of the incident.

Being young and having had no prior connection with Wang Nian and Shen Miao, they didn't feel much.

They only sensed a hint of melancholy from their elder brother, which inexplicably gave them a feeling they couldn't quite grasp.

Zhang Wan telling the two of them this wasn't just for the sake of it.

He was warning them to find a position in the sect's logistics department later on and lay low, not to act as combat personnel guarding various branches if their strength was insufficient, especially not to go to the borders between their sect and other True Core major sects.

Going there, dying at any time wouldn't be strange.

Although many times it wasn't a matter of willingness, but a sect order.

But by joining the sect's logistics department in advance, the possibility of being transferred to dangerous areas was always much smaller.

Even if they were transferred, being transferred as logistics personnel would be safer than being combat personnel.

Zhang Wan didn't know if his second sister and third brother would find a position in the logistics department as he suggested in the future, but by warning them in advance and clearly explaining the pros and cons to them, and then mentioning it from time to time, the subtle influence would have some effect in the future.

After all, his second sister and third brother were not outsiders, and Zhang Wan didn't want to suddenly see their names on the list of the fallen one day.

Even if they were to die, he hoped they would die of old age.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, another year passed.

In this year, Zhang Wan had been promoted to a tenth-level student, with only seven or eight months left until graduation from the academy.

His cultivation had also improved to the late stage of Postnatal Second Layer.

Lin Fangyan's cultivation was the same as his, while Xu Hui had cultivated to the peak of Postnatal Second Layer.

Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui were still leading the pack, having already broken through to Postnatal Third Layer!

About a dozen others had also broken through to Postnatal Second Layer.

The remaining Postnatal students of their cohort were all at Postnatal First Layer cultivation.

Currently, the number of Postnatal students who had broken through in their cohort had reached 190.

More people should break through before graduation.

It was estimated that about 200 people would join the Jade Bone Sect as Postnatal martial artists.

This was similar to previous years.