Back to the Martial Academy Again

Back to the Martial Academy Again

A gold coin was equivalent to ten thousand yuan. It might make things a little easier.

Lian Yunbi gave her little brother one of the Five Poison Beads to swallow. Then she watched his reaction anxiously from beside him.

Gurgle, gurgle.

Before even half a tea's time had passed, a rumbling sound came from her little brother's stomach.

Her little brother suddenly said weakly, "Big sister, I need to use the toilet." His voice was still feeble, but he sounded much calmer than before. Most importantly, the flush in his skin seemed to be fading.

"Little brother, how are you feeling?" Lian Yunbi asked at once.

"I don't feel as awful as I did before after taking the medicine. I need to go number two now," her little brother said.

"Huh?" Lian Yunbi's parents were both astonished and delighted. Her mother immediately untied the cloth binding her little brother and carefully helped him to the toilet. A moment later, a foul, fishy smell wafted over.

After he was done, her little brother seemed to feel even better.

"This medicine really works!" Lian Yunbi was overjoyed, and she felt deeply grateful to Zhang He.

"Yunbi, what medicine did you just give your little brother?" Father Lian asked.

"I don't know either. A friend gave it to me, but he didn't say what it was." Lian Yunbi took out the porcelain bottle and handed it over.

Father Lian took it and carefully opened it. The moment he saw the pills inside, his expression changed. He immediately poured one out and examined it closely. After confirming what it was, he couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath. "Yunbi, who is the friend who gave you this medicine?"

"He's a Martial Child." Lian Yunbi suddenly realized how little she knew about Zhang He. But from her father's reaction, she could tell the medicine was extraordinary. She asked, a little nervously, "Dad, is there something wrong with it?"

She was afraid the medicine might hurt her little brother.

"Wrong? It's far too good!" Father Lian was still stunned. "This is called a Detoxification and Marrow Cleansing Pill. It can neutralize the poison of the Corpse Poison Beetle. Each pill now costs four or five gold coins, and there's no supply even if you have the money!"

Father Lian remembered what a friend had told him on his way back. This medicine was incredibly precious! Even with money, you couldn't be sure of getting your hands on any!

He inspected the small bottle. There were at least thirty pills inside. That meant the bottle was worth at least a hundred gold coins! The entire Lian Family's annual income was only about two thousand gold coins. After expenses, they were doing well if they had four or five hundred left. Yet his daughter's friend had casually given her medicine worth over a hundred gold coins!

How could Father Lian not be shocked?

Lian Yunbi was stunned too, shock written all over her pretty face. The medicine was worth that much? She remembered how casually Zhang He had given her the pills and couldn't help clicking her tongue in amazement. But another question suddenly arose in her mind: how did he have so many?

"It seems this medicine can help your little brother's condition, too. Yunbi, you must thank your friend properly someday!" Father Lian carefully put the bottle away.

He was now full of questions. No matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't think of anyone from any family in Mengyin City who had the nerve to hand out such a generous gift so casually!

At that moment, Lian Yunbi was thinking about Zhang He. She remembered him touching her leg on the mountain and sucking out the poison for her, and she couldn't help blushing again.

A light flickered in Lian Yunbi's eyes. "Just who is he? His cultivation is almost on par with mine. There's no way he could be some nobody at the Martial Child Academy. How have I never heard his name?"

Remembering Zhang He calling her the Lian Goddess, Lian Yunbi felt a strange stirring in her heart. Generally speaking, didn't boys call a girl their goddess only when they liked her?

Zhang He had returned to the Martial Child Academy.

Fatty Tang told him that in the days he'd been away, everything at the Martial Child Academy had been fine. To Zhang He's relief, Zhao Feng and the others hadn't gone after Fatty Tang and Wang Dachui.

Watching Fatty Tang and Wang Dachui work hard at their cultivation with little hope of success, Zhang He was moved.

"Fatty and Dachui are both good friends of mine. Fatty especially—at their current cultivation levels, they have almost no chance of getting good results in the Martial Child Assessment. I can't stand by and watch them like this. I have to give them a hand."

Zhang He made up his mind. But if he was going to help them, he needed to come up with a sound plan. Otherwise, he might attract unwanted attention, and that would be disastrous.

"Zhang He's back? Good. This time, I'm going to kill him!" Zhao Feng had heard the news from another Martial Child. His handsome face twisted into a vicious grimace, and a cruel light flashed in his eyes. "Is everything ready? This time, I'm going to ruin his reputation and drive him out of the Martial Child Academy in disgrace. I'll make sure he can't take the Martial Child Assessment! I'll make him taste the despair of having all hope snatched away!"

Zhao Feng's face was twisted with malice. Poor Martial Children who came to the academy saw the Martial Child Assessment as a stepping-stone in life. If they got good results, they could use it to earn the favor of powerful patrons. If he stopped Zhang He from taking the assessment, he'd destroy everything Zhang He was counting on!

Han Zhao's expression was just as vicious. "We absolutely can't let him off lightly this time! But, Young Master Zhao, I think we can toy with him slowly. First, we'll ruin his reputation, make him a rat crossing the street with everyone shouting for him to be beaten, and drive him out of the Martial Child Academy. Then we can slowly torture him until he sees no hope of living!"

Xu Le nodded as well. "I'll make sure he wishes he were dead!"

Ever since Zhang He had beaten them in front of everyone, the three of them had considered him their sworn enemy. For days, they had thought constantly about how to deal with him, and they had already come up with a vicious plan. It would not only destroy Zhang He's future but also ruin his reputation and drive him from the Martial Child Academy in disgrace!

They were going to make Zhang He learn what despair meant!

Zhang He had no idea of the vicious intentions these three had toward him. At that moment, he was busy working on his cultivation. Deep in the mountains, he had absorbed a great deal of demonic poison, which had sent his true qi soaring. But his body still hadn't undergone the fullest tempering.

So, once Zhang He returned to the Martial Child Academy, aside from dealing with the medicinal herbs he'd gathered, he spent the rest of his time rising early and returning late, going to the Martial Arts Arena to make use of its many training machines and temper his body with his true qi.

Every day, Zhang He went to the Martial Arts Arena to train before anyone else had gotten up. At night, he returned only after everyone had gone back to study.

Since he didn't want to attract anyone's attention, he did everything quietly.

In a corner of the Martial Arts Arena beneath the moonlight.

Zhang He was bare-chested, gripping the heaviest stone locks and holding them above his head as he continuously frog-jumped. Each stone lock weighed three hundred pounds. Together, they weighed six hundred.

"Three hundred and fifty-one, three hundred and fifty-two..."

Zhang He counted silently. Sweat poured from his body, leaving trails with every jump. His muscles felt as if they were on fire, especially his legs. Each jump brought such intense pain that they felt ready to snap.

A voice in his mind urged him to give up for now and rest for a while. Zhang He ignored it, using his iron will to wage an unyielding battle against his inborn desire for comfort and ease.

"Four hundred and ninety-eight... four hundred and ninety-nine... five hundred!" Zhang He had reached his target, but he didn't stop at once. He clenched his teeth and jumped hard again. "Five hundred and one!"

Bang!

The two heavy stone locks slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Zhang He was drenched in sweat and gasped for breath. He didn't rest right away. Instead, he went over to a wooden bucket and gulped down about a third of it as if he were drinking like an ox. The water had been specially prepared, with medicine and salt mixed into it. It was excellent for rehydrating after such intense training.

After drinking, Zhang He didn't stop. He went over to several enormous wooden stakes. Each one was so thick that two people were needed to wrap their arms around it. Steel plates covered the wood, and five layers of incredibly tough cowhide were stretched over the steel.

These were Body Training Stakes! At Zhang He's level of strength, ordinary sandbags couldn't withstand his blows, so he had to strike stakes reinforced with steel plates!

Thud, thud, thud!

Zhang He's body suddenly sprang into motion. In an instant, a sound like beans crackling burst from the Body Training Stake. The enormous stake was sunk a full three zhang underground, its base packed in with rock. It wouldn't budge at all when struck.

One fist-shaped imprint after another appeared in the cowhide.

After finishing with his fists, Zhang He kicked, struck with his legs, leaned in with his back, and rammed with his shoulders... Every part of his body—his hands, feet, knees, shoulders, elbows, and even his back—became a weapon as he relentlessly hammered away at the Body Training Stake.

Fortunately, there weren't many people at the Martial Arts Arena at this hour. Otherwise, anyone who saw him putting himself through such punishing training would have been frightened out of their wits. This was exactly why Zhang He insisted on coming out to train at night!

At last, when his entire body was in agony and he could hardly feel it anymore, he stopped.

He drank another half-bucket of water. The medicated water entered his body and was quickly absorbed. The true qi lying dormant within him began to circulate. Wherever it passed, it nourished his body and rapidly repaired the damage.

With this relentless tempering, Zhang He's physical strength improved at a wild pace.

"I'm in the Brute Force Realm, and my strength has already reached ten shi! But my physical strength far exceeds that of an ordinary Brute Force Realm expert! Next, as I continue training my body, my true qi will break through the meridians and flow into my limbs and bones, reaching the surface of my skin. That must be the cultivation level of the True Martial Realm!"

Zhang He had advanced to this level in such a short time that even he was shocked. Thinking back, he owed it all to the demonic poison. The poison carried a special power. After Zhang He absorbed it, his true qi surged and continually tempered his body, letting him accomplish in one day what took others three years of painstaking cultivation!

He couldn't help thinking that if he wanted to keep improving his cultivation, he shouldn't stay at the Martial Child Academy. He should go back into the mountains to train!

After circulating his true qi and recovering his strength, Zhang He rose to his feet. By then, everyone would soon be going to sleep. He had to hurry back, or the dormitory would close. If he got stuck outside, the academy would find out he'd missed curfew and punish him.

Zhang He headed back. When he was still a hundred meters from the entrance to the Male Martial Child Dormitory, he suddenly stopped. He looked up ahead and saw two figures flicker over the wall and vanish.

The Female Martial Child Dormitory stood opposite the Male Martial Child Dormitory, and those two silhouettes were burly, clearly shaped like men. On a dark, windy night, anyone sneaking around like that was bound to be up to no good.

Zhang He moved, slipped into the darkness, and silently made his way toward them.