Return to the Martial Hall

A few days later, Zhou Ye's storeroom had gained more than a dozen vats brimming with honey. Who would have thought that being a honey thief... was really so thrilling!

But after he calmed down, Zhou Ye was inspired.

Thinking back to the swarm's frenzied attack, he had worn a double-layered, fully sealed protective suit modified from canvas, so of course he had nothing to fear. But for ordinary people or wild beasts, it would be enough to make them swallow a whole pot of bitterness—perhaps even put their lives in danger.

At that moment, Zhou Ye thought of Basic Poison Technique. He had already learned so much theory; should he put it into practice and make some poisons?

To be honest, Zhou Ye's theoretical knowledge was indeed extensive. Although Basic Poison Technique had long since reached its maximum level and no longer gained experience, he had still read through that Materia Medica several times.

And with some special poisons, he would have one more trump card in future battles.

In that case... he would give it a try.

Three days later, three kinds of pills were laid out before Zhou Ye.

One kind was tiny, only as large as a fingertip. These were the antidote pills Zhou Ye had concocted. In any case, he was not lacking in ingredients; he had gathered quite a few different herbs these past days. Though he did not know the precise effects of these antidote pills, they should have at least some detoxifying effect... right?

At any rate, Zhou Ye was very confident that they were certainly a little better than the commonplace antidote pills sold in pharmacies.

The other two were the size of pigeon eggs.

One was named Stench Bomb. It had no other effect at all. Several especially disgusting, foul-smelling materials had simply been refined and fused together. Once thrown out and burst open, it would release an unbearable stench.

For this, Zhou Ye had specially caught several nests of weasels. As for the exact process of catching them? That was a pool of bitter tears.

The other was named Colored Mist Bomb. Once thrown out and burst open, it would create a large area of colored smoke. It would also cause nausea, burning eyes, shortness of breath, and other effects.

With such a huge cloud of colored mist, anyone could tell at a glance that it was poisonous to the extreme. If you had the guts, go burrow right into it.

To be fair, these two barely counted as poison gas, right? But they were both nonlethal gas bombs, an upgraded version of street thugs throwing lime during a brawl.

The reason he had chosen nonlethal poison gas was mainly because Zhou Ye was timid. After all, this was his first time mixing poisons, and he was terrified of accidentally playing himself to death. That would be pretty hilarious.

Yet after he finished, the panel gave him a surprise. The "+" beside Basic Poison Technique had finally lit up; he could upgrade it with a click? But after looking into it, he discovered that the upgrade required 4 free attribute points?

After only a moment's consideration, there was no need to hesitate this time. He spent 4 free attribute points.

Basic Poison Technique → Intermediate Poison Technique (Mortal): Not Initiated (0/10)

And then experience points kept pouring in:

+3, +2, +2, +1...

All the theoretical knowledge he had accumulated continuously transformed into experience points. In the end, it rose to—

Intermediate Poison Technique (Mortal): Proficient (43/100)

There was also a reward of 1 free attribute point for reaching the Initiated stage.

Seeing that 1 free attribute point, it was like getting a twenty-five percent discount. His free attribute points had returned to 2.

Zhou Ye could not help smiling broadly. His strength seemed to have increased greatly once again!

Realizing that he had been away for more than ten days, Zhou Ye prepared to return to the prefectural city for a look.

This time, he brought more than a hundred jin of charcoal, two jars of honey, some salted meat and salted fish, along with various other things.

There were many items, but none of them were especially valuable. If the chaos in the prefectural city had not ended, he would still need to flee back to Little Homestead.

Ever since he had entered Force, with his Strength +4, Zhou Ye had discovered that he could now carry around 400 jin.

It was no exaggeration to say that when he had been doing corvée labor and saw that inhuman little officer, Zhou Ye's strength was now actually about equal to his.

And so, on the fifteenth day after leaving, Zhou Ye finally returned to the long-absent prefectural city.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ye had been extremely cautious all the way back to the prefectural city. Yet until he returned home, everything had remained calm and peaceful. The common folk around him were no different from before. Zhou Ye even began to wonder whether the earlier rebellion in the prefectural city had been an illusion.

Never mind all that for now. As long as things had returned to normal, that was for the best. What ordinary people sought was simply a peaceful life.

So on the next day, Zhou Ye carried a shoulder pole loaded with goods and headed to Wind-Thunder Martial Hall...

Just as expected, when he arrived at the martial hall, Huang Sheng and Wu Jun were hard at work training in the practice grounds.

He called his two companions over. "These are for you. One bag of dried wolf meat and one bottle of honey each."

Each bag of dried wolf meat weighed a full 20 jin, but the stuff did not taste good. So it was just right to give it to Huang Sheng and Wu Jun; at least its effect in replenishing qi and blood was the same.

But the sudden gifts surprised the two companions. "Ye, why are you suddenly giving us presents? And where did you go before? We were so worried!"

"I'm happy. I'll tell you a secret—I successfully broke through." Smiling, he gave them the excuse he had prepared. "Wasn't there military chaos? So I fled into the mountains. Who would have thought that, on a sudden whim there, I decided to break through and successfully entered Force in one go!"

"Huh? You entered Force too?" Huang Sheng and Wu Jun were just as delighted. "That's wonderful! Good brothers for life! We're all Force-entry martial artists now!"

The three companions celebrated for a while. But just then, several extremely annoying figures appeared nearby. They were Xu Feng and his group. "Junior Brother Zhou, it's been nearly over two months for you, hasn't it? We thought you were dead... that you had given up?"

Before Zhou Ye could speak, Huang Sheng jumped up. "Watch your mouth! Ye has already entered Force, and he broke through in one go. How many of you people managed to break through in one go? It seems not many of you have even entered Force, yet you dare mock a Force-entry expert?"

"Huh?" When the surrounding trainees heard this, they immediately caused a commotion. One after another, they gathered to look at this... lucky fellow who had sensed qi in five days. Although he had taken so long to enter Force, he had entered it in the end—and had even broken through in one go!

No matter what the other disciples thought in their hearts, most of them offered congratulations on the surface. Zhou Ye thanked them one by one as well.

Yet mocking voices rang out again, once more from Xu Feng's group. "What are you so proud of? Counting today, Junior Brother Zhou has spent more than two months, hasn't he? Even if he entered Force, he has no future."

"The hell is it to you? No matter how little future he has, he's still far better than trash like you who failed to break through."

One word led to another, until even Xu Feng was boiling with anger. He slapped his chest. "Jianghe, aren't you about to attempt your second breakthrough? You can come to me for anything you need. Just enter Force as quickly as possible and let them see who the trash is!"

Cheng Jianghe wore an expression of overwhelming gratitude. "Brother Feng, I definitely won't let you down. I'll definitely succeed. Besides, didn't you also fail to break through in one go and only use a little over twenty days? So don't get angry over trash who took seventy days to enter Force."

"That's right! Let's go! We'll see who gets the last laugh!"

"..."