Government Mission (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

"So that's how it is. Most of the Snake-Person Race fear sunlight; could it be that they only operate at night..."

Zhou Yun stroked his chin, lost in thought after finishing his notes.

It seems that when accepting patrol missions in the future, he could simply choose those during the day, ensuring he would never cross paths with the Snake-Person Race.

Going out for a stroll and returning with several taels of silver in his pocket—it was almost too easy to make money!

"Once I master this Dragon-Elephant Body Tempering Technique, I can head over to the Job Posting Board."

Zhou Yun was in no rush; instead, he prepared to maximize his own strength.

He had heard that the White Jade Ginseng King could provide a continuous supply of blood-qi, making it the perfect medicinal treasure for grueling physical training; it certainly could not be wasted.

He took the two items and turned to head into the courtyard.

Seeing Zhou Yun leave again, Bai Qingzhi had no choice but to lie back down on the ground to sleep.

For the Snake-Person Race, the best way to recuperate was to rest in a cool place.

As long as they had consumed enough food beforehand, their bodies would slowly grow stronger, and they could simply wait for the night of the full moon to break through naturally.

"This place is quite similar to the cave I lived in before..."

Bai Qingzhi rubbed her face against the floor, let out a yawn, and closed her eyes.

Since this human martial artist wouldn't let her go anytime soon, she might as well use this opportunity to secretly accumulate strength and plot her next move...

Inside the courtyard.

Zhou Yun opened the yellowed booklet, which contained the methods for mastering this type of physical cultivation.

"So-called body tempering, aside from subjecting the body to rigorous training—commonly known as taking a beating—can also be supplemented by a large amount of blood-qi, with results that are equal or even better."

After skimming through the entire thing, Zhou Yun had a rough grasp of the technique, so he took the White Jade Ginseng King out of the sandalwood box.

He swallowed the treasure in three gulps, feeling a warm current gather in his abdomen before slowly flowing toward his limbs.

"The Dragon-Elephant Body Tempering Technique uses blood-qi to temper the flesh, granting one the strength of a dragon and an elephant."

Zhou Yun began to practice the technique, exerting different levels of force through his punches and kicks to achieve the effect of tempering his entire body.

This physical cultivation technique had six levels in total, but the first half of the manual only recorded three, sharing the same characteristic as the Thunder Meteor Spear Art.

The first level allowed one's skin and flesh to harden to a certain degree while granting the strength of one elephant.

As for the second and third levels, the consumption of blood-qi was truly immense, far beyond what even the current Zhou Yun could reach.

Before long, Zhou Yun had thoroughly grasped the essence of the Dragon-Elephant Body Tempering Technique, allowing him to temper his body anytime and anywhere.

In truth, the technique itself was not difficult; the challenge lay in the massive amount of blood-qi required, or the necessity of being beaten constantly.

After about a morning's work, Zhou Yun had fully digested the medicinal power of the White Jade Ginseng King.

Furthermore, he wore the Phoenix Blood Jade Pendant given to him by Senior Brother Tian, officially stepping into the first level of the Dragon-Elephant Body Tempering Technique.

Not only that, Zhou Yun added some weight to his person; he realized it had been quite imprudent not to wear the Green Scale Soft Armor given to him by Shen Qingxue when he went out last time.

If he were to patrol the city in the future, he would have to carry not only the Green Scale Soft Armor but also that Black Iron Great Spear.

Although Bai Qingzhi had admitted that most of the Snake-Person Race feared sunlight, that did not mean they could not operate under it; it simply caused them discomfort.

Moreover, there were some Snake-People with rich bloodlines who were unaffected by it—some even had no fear of realgar, and Bai Qingzhi was the best example of this.

However, when encountering a Snake-Person, striking their "seven inches"—the spot at the back of the neck—remained a fatal weakness for many of them.

"I now possess three pieces of high-quality gear and weapons... plus the Phoenix Blood Jade Pendant from Senior Brother Tian; I should be considered quite wealthy among Dark Force martial artists."

Zhou Yun calculated his assets, though he didn't know how much capital was needed to truly settle down in the main city—at the very least, he would need to buy a courtyard.

He could ask Senior Brother Chen about these matters later; there was no need to worry too much for now.

With the current unrest caused by the Snake-Person Race, Zhou Yun's intention to bring his mother and Ning Yue to the main city grew stronger.

He had almost decided that once he passed the Three Halls Martial Tournament, he would officially leave the chaotic Black Stone County behind.

"At the Dark Force level, I am now approaching the minor success stage."

Zhou Yun sensed his dantian; once one stepped into the Dark Force, the level was no longer judged by the thickness of the internal energy.

Instead, it was determined by how many layers of energy wrapped around the dantian. If it was a thin layer, one had just entered the Dark Force level—which was where Zhou Yun had been previously.

But now, his Dark Force had wrapped around his dantian twice, an effect brought about by consuming the White Jade Ginseng King.

Not only that, he could feel the internal energy within his body increasing at every moment.

This seemed to be the effect of the Phoenix Blood Jade Pendant around his neck, though the amount of increase was very small.

Once the dantian was wrapped in three layers of energy, one would be considered to have reached the minor success stage of Dark Force; reaching seven layers would be great success, at which point one could attempt to condense Transformation Force.

"I still have one Qi Transformation Pill left, and I can feel that my dantian can withstand more than seven layers of wrapping—at least eight..."

Zhou Yun sensed it slightly and realized this was the effect of the previous Qi Transformation Pill.

With this additional pill, he might just reach an unprecedented nine layers of Dark Force.

Although he rarely encountered battles that would exhaust his blood and qi, there was always a possibility of the unexpected; to possess greater potential and fail to develop it would be foolish.

"It is time to try accepting a mission."

Zhou Yun adjusted his breathing for a moment before heading toward the Martial Arts Arena of the Outer Courtyard.

By the time he arrived, he saw many disciples from both the inner and outer courtyards already accepting missions. The vast majority were for patrols within the city; very few disciples were willing to venture outside the walls to purge the Snake-Person Race.

They were likely well aware that the physical constitution of the human race differed greatly from that of the demi-humans, and that their own advantages lay in the weapons they forged and their various powerful martial arts.

However, for disciples from impoverished backgrounds, simply paying the monthly tuition was a struggle; saving enough to acquire a fine weapon or even a suit of protective armor was difficult beyond measure.

"I won't start with anything too difficult; I'll just pick a daytime patrol mission."

After browsing through the options, Zhou Yun selected a mission to accompany a squad of government soldiers on their afternoon patrol. These missions were abundant, and they required a significant number of martial artists.

It was clear, however, that the demand for martial artists was even higher at night, and the volume of missions was greater accordingly.

If it hadn't been for the fact that they were short one Dark Force martial artist to hold down the fort today, this mission would likely have been snatched up by other disciples long ago.

"Only one tael of silver? It seems more like an appearance fee... compared to the rewards for purging the Snake-Person Race, it is quite meager."

Zhou Yun sighed to himself, though upon reflection, it made sense; it was merely a patrol within the city.

If one didn't run into the Snake-Person Race, it was essentially just a casual stroll, and the fact that they were paying a full tael of silver was entirely out of respect for the Dark Force level.

Any lower, and they likely wouldn't find any martial artists willing to take the job.

"Accepting a single mission is equivalent to one point of human-grade contribution... and it can actually be used to exchange for Snake-People?"

While selecting his mission, Zhou Yun also noticed the Exchange Board provided by the government.

Beyond the usual gold, silver, and medicinal pills, there were male and female Snake-People available for direct exchange, along with the methods provided to sign a Blood Pact.