Huddling for Warmth, Comprehending the First Level Cultivation Technique

Zhang Wan wasn't in a hurry to deepen his connection with Xu Hui.

They were in the same class, the only two who had broken through to the Postnatal realm. They ate in the exclusive dining hall morning, noon, and night, and lived in separate courtyards.

With so many opportunities to interact, there was no need to force it.

A few casual chats in class or at the dining hall each day, and given their years of friendship, they would quickly become familiar with each other.

It wasn't just Xu Hui.

The same applied to the other students in Level Six who had also reached the Postnatal realm.

Although they weren't in the same class, they were all students of the same year, and they would naturally run into each other in the dining hall or at their courtyards.

Once they were exposed to the circle of Postnatal students in Level Six, these Postnatal students would subconsciously band together for warmth and support.

After all, compared to the Postnatal students in Levels Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten, they had fewer people who had broken through, and their cultivation was also weaker.

Without banding together, they would feel incredibly insecure.

However, adults would actively seek this out, while students who were still somewhat naive would do so subconsciously.

Zhang Wan went with the flow.

He naturally became familiar with the Postnatal students in Level Six.

The number of students in Level Six who had broken through to the Postnatal realm also stabilized at twenty.

The other Level Six students still lacked the necessary accumulation and would need several more months before they could potentially break through.

After they became familiar with each other, a hierarchy began to emerge within the small group of Postnatal students in Level Six.

The twenty people were mainly led by two individuals.

They were Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui.

These two were also among the fastest to break through in their cohort, and their strength was the greatest.

Although they were both only at the First Level Postnatal, their comprehension of cultivation techniques clearly surpassed others, and they had even begun to practice the martial skills associated with the techniques.

Their strength was far greater than the others.

After getting a bit more familiar, Zhang Wan also learned about the backgrounds of these two.

Unlike him and Xu Hui, who came from ordinary families.

Both of these two had elders who were martial artists in the Jade Bone Sect.

And they weren't just any ordinary members of the Jade Bone Sect.

Yu Shui's grandfather was a veteran Seventh Level Postnatal martial artist in the sect, and as his direct grandson, he was highly valued in his family.

Zhao Qixin's background was even more impressive.

Her father was an inner disciple of the sect, a Prenatal martial artist, and served as an elder within the sect.

Her mother was also at the Eighth Level Postnatal, with considerable strength.

Among all the students at the Beginner Martial Arts Academy, Zhao Qixin's background was considered top-tier.

Upon discovering this, Zhang Wan was somewhat astonished.

And he decided he absolutely would not become too close with Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui.

He didn't want to attract too much attention by being too close, which would ruin his strategy of low-key development.

"En, it's best to be an outsider who is only familiar with other outsiders in this group!"

In the future, once his cultivation reached a sufficient level, he would consider whether to deepen their connections.

Just like with Xu Hui, they hadn't been close in the past, but over the years, they had both been around each other, so becoming familiar was a simple matter.

And during the days he spent building connections with the Postnatal students of Level Six, Zhang Wan would invest a little EXP into the First Level Postnatal cultivation technique for the Bronze Iron Body every night.

After investing, he would comprehend the technique, relying on the enhanced insights gained from the residual effects.

After eight days, the progress bar for the cultivation technique had changed to 9.82/14.

The '9' at the beginning was the nine points of EXP Zhang Wan had invested, and the '0.82' was the result of Zhang Wan's own comprehension, utilizing the residual insights gained from investing EXP.

"If I invest four more points and put in a bit more effort myself, I should be able to fully grasp this First Level cultivation technique."

"This way, I'll have only invested thirteen points of EXP in total, saving one point." Zhang Wan was satisfied with this result, feeling good about saving a point of EXP through his own efforts.

He actually didn't want to use EXP so stingily.

He really wanted to splurge.

But nine days had passed since he broke through to the Postnatal realm.

Zhang Wan found that the random EXP he gained each night still hadn't exceeded the upper limit of three points.

This meant his rate of gaining EXP hadn't changed.

In this situation, carelessly splurging EXP could lead to a shortage of EXP at a critical moment.

The limitations on gaining EXP and the concern of insufficient EXP still led Zhang Wan to choose to use it sparingly.

He would save it whenever possible, but he wouldn't be stingy when it was necessary to spend it.

A few more days passed, and Zhang Wan had completely mastered the First Level Postnatal cultivation technique of the Bronze Iron Body.

His cultivation efficiency had doubled.

The rate at which his mana increased had noticeably quickened.

Zhang Wan also began to feel the effects of cultivating the Bronze Iron Body.

Just as its name suggested, this cultivation technique cultivated mana, but even more so, the physical body!

Seventy percent of its effect was on the physique, and only thirty percent was on mana.

While his mana improved, Zhang Wan's physical body grew even more significantly.

His strength increased, his skin, flesh, and bones became tougher, developing towards being impervious to blades and spears and possessing irresistible force.

However, Zhang Wan's aptitude was, after all, only average. Even cultivating the First Level Postnatal cultivation technique of the Bronze Iron Body to perfection, his improvement speed was still not fast.

He wasn't in a hurry to invest EXP into his cultivation.

It was different from the cultivation technique.

Regarding his comprehension of the cultivation technique, others couldn't tell if he had understood it or not unless he said something.

But with his cultivation level, if he invested more EXP, the senior disciples in the academy with higher cultivation than him would immediately notice something was amiss.

Therefore, he wasn't in a rush about this aspect.

He would cultivate slowly and invest EXP gradually.

And when conversing with Xu Hui, Yu Shui, Zhao Qixin, and others, Zhang Wan still put on a facade of struggling to comprehend the cultivation technique.

Zhao Qixin, Yu Shui, and Xu Hui didn't suspect anything.

After all, they were just ten-year-old children, not as perceptive as adults, and Zhang Wan's acting skills were not bad.

Unlike Zhang Wan, who pretended he couldn't comprehend the cultivation technique, the others genuinely found the techniques obscure and difficult to understand.

Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui were doing relatively well. They had strong backgrounds, and their parents had connections within the academy. Zhao Qixin, in particular, received a lot of attention from the guiding martial masters in the academy.

When they had questions about their cultivation, the academy's guiding martial masters were very enthusiastic about offering guidance.

Their elders at home would also come to guide them from time to time.

Even their cultivation resources were provided by their elders at home, making them quite abundant.

Their cultivation progress was leading among the twenty students. They had even surpassed those students in the seventh, eighth, and ninth levels who had recently broken through to the Postnatal stage.

As for Xu Hui, who had been somewhat lax before his breakthrough, he became much more reserved and mature after entering the circle of Postnatal students in the academy and witnessing the situation of Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui.

He began to cultivate with great diligence.

Although his cultivation progress couldn't compare to Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui, it was still not bad.

Zhang Wan observed secretly that Xu Hui's cultivation speed was almost on par with his own, despite Zhang Wan having already fully comprehended the First Level cultivation technique.

This made Zhang Wan feel quite exasperated.

The advantage he had in comprehending the cultivation technique had been completely offset by Xu Hui's talent.

Being of average aptitude was truly disheartening.

And because the sixth-level Postnatal students formed a small group around Zhao Qixin and Yu Shui, relying on the backgrounds of these two, others could also overhear a few words when the academy's guiding martial masters were instructing them.

Through these interactions, Xu Hui and the others also became somewhat familiar with some of the academy's guiding martial masters, thus managing to somewhat resolve the problem of having no one to ask about difficulties with cultivation techniques and martial skills.

Zhang Wan, keeping a low profile, mingled with the group, making himself familiar to these guiding martial masters.

In fact, if Senior Brother Liu hadn't been cultivating a different technique, Zhang Wan wouldn't have needed to go through such a roundabout way to find a reasonable excuse.

However, the current situation was not bad either.

Moreover, the Bronze Iron Body was indeed a cultivation technique related to the Jade Bone Fist manual.

Zhang Wan discovered that within their small group alone, Xu Hui, Yu Shui, and three others were cultivating this technique.

There were many people cultivating it.

Zhao Qixin, on the other hand, was cultivating the Crimson Sun Fist, another cultivation technique related to the Jade Bone Fist manual.

"They all have ambitions, all eyeing the Jade Bone Fist manual," Zhang Wan chuckled, not surprised by this. It was just unknown how many of them would ultimately obtain the inheritance of the Jade Bone Fist manual.