"Only ten days have passed?"
He had been so immersed in cultivation that when Xu Yuan asked, he discovered that barely ten days had passed.
He had gone from not even having entered the ranks to eighth-grade Pulse Tempering in less than two months.
Though Xu Yuan had been somewhat prepared, he still couldn't help clicking his tongue at the speed of his progress.
Leaving the secret chamber where the Spirit Spring was, he walked along the inner courtyard's corridor toward the exit.
Xu Yuan chose not to continue cultivating.
He had nearly used up all the pills Xu Changge had left him. Without the pills' effects of protecting his meridians and nourishing his soul, cultivating for too long would damage his foundations.
As he made his way out, Xu Yuan saw many guards and instructors who had come to the "Wuxuan Academy" to practice.
Most of those allowed to cultivate in the inner courtyard were seventh- or sixth-grade, with only a few talented eighth-grade cultivators.
There were men and women alike.
Cultivation depended on aptitude, not gender.
The men were all thick with bulging muscles.
The women still had faintly feminine curves, but the muscles beneath their clothes were just as real.
Yes, they weren't merely fit. They were muscular—muscle-bound behemoths.
Some of the women with pretty faces were even bulkier than Zhou Chen beside him.
As Xu Yuan's gaze passed over them, he accidentally met a few eyes. His eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Zhou Chen noticed Xu Yuan's stare and let out a strange, amused chuckle.
"Young Master, these people all follow the martial apprentice path. They cultivate just as ordinary people practice martial arts, so most of them are quite burly."
"Martial apprentices?"
The unfamiliar term surprised Xu Yuan. He asked quietly, "What's a martial apprentice?"
After Su