Report

In the inner courtyard, inside a room where servants lived.

An uncontrollable burst of laughter rang out. "Hahaha, I really am a genius. I reached the First Transformation Limit so quickly."

Then the door opened, and Liu Feng strode out in high spirits.

"The Ninth Young Master said that once I reach the First Transformation Limit, I can go to him for an Acupoint-Finding Secret Art."

"I believe it won't be long before I break through to the Qi-Blood Second Transformation."

At that thought, the smile on Liu Feng's face grew even brighter.

"Chen Xun, Li Peng, just you wait. Sooner or later, I'll make you regret this."

Liu Feng could not help looking toward the outer courtyard.

The attendants of young masters and young ladies like Liu Feng all had their own circle.

Since Liu Feng had not deliberately kept it secret, news that he had reached the First Transformation Limit soon spread throughout that circle.

It was not a major matter, but considering that Liu Feng had become a Martial Artist only a few months ago, achieving this much was enough to show that he had considerable potential.

Thus, quite a few veteran attendants began treating Liu Feng with even greater warmth and friendliness.

Sun An was also part of that circle, but when he heard the news, an indescribable jealousy surged into his heart.

"Why are you, Liu Feng, faster than me?"

"I became a young master's attendant before you did."

When Sun An was alone, his face was gloomy.

Yet whenever he saw the Li Family's Twelfth Young Master, he wore a smiling, fawning expression, revealing not the slightest trace of what he truly thought.

Before long, the news reached the outer courtyard.

The others did not react much, but Li Peng and the others who had become Martial Artists at around the same time as Liu Feng could hardly believe it.

"So fast?"

"I feel like it'll take me at least several more months to reach the First Transformation Limit."

"Yeah, that's far too fast."

Zhao Qing gritted his teeth, then lowered his head in discouragement.

Li Peng's expression changed several times. Then he took a porcelain bottle from his robes, went somewhere secluded, and poured out a red pill.

"With this bottle of Blood-Strength Pills Father gave me, I'll definitely catch up to that mud-legged Liu Feng."

He then swallowed the Blood-Strength Pill in one gulp. His entire body turned red, like a cooked shrimp.

He did not dare hesitate. He hurriedly assumed the Stake Stance and began cultivating, refining the medicinal power.

Seeing Li Peng's abnormal state, a gleam flashed in Chen Xun's eyes.

"Such strong medicinal power... Could he have taken a Blood-Strength Pill?"

The Blood-Strength Pill was a medicinal pill Chen Xun was currently attempting to refine. It was an upgraded version of Blood-Strength Powder, with stronger medicinal power and greater absorption efficiency.

It was said that after the Li Family's young masters and young ladies became Martial Artists, they directly used Blood-Strength Pills for cultivation and had no need for Blood-Strength Powder at all.

Compared with Blood-Strength Powder, Blood-Strength Pills required more ingredients, and the medicinal herbs also had to be older.

One of the ingredients required Mutant Beast meat, something Chen Xun currently had no way of obtaining.

The major powers only consumed this Mutant Beast meat internally and never let it circulate outside.

"Perhaps I should reveal a little of my strength as well. Maybe I'll have a chance to slip into the Hunting Team."

As long as he got in, he could use silver to buy some Mutant Beast meat, perhaps even tiger bones.

With that thought, Chen Xun firmed up his resolve.

Just then, Zhao Qing casually asked Chen Xun, "Chen Xun, when will you reach the First Transformation Limit?"

"Soon."

Chen Xun replied.

Before Zhao Qing could say anything, Li Peng, who was in the middle of practicing his stance, could not help mocking him. "Chen Xun, are you bragging your ass off?"

The others also cast doubtful looks his way.

Chen Xun did not bother explaining. He merely continued cultivating in silence.

"Hmph. You don't dare say anything. I hit the mark, didn't I?"

Seeing Chen Xun like this, Li Peng could not help feeling smug.

Then, the next day, just as Li Peng began cultivating, he received news that he found impossible to believe.

"What did you say? Chen Xun reached the First Transformation Limit? Impossible. Did Chen Xun spread this news himself?"

"No. Steward Zhu from the outer courtyard revealed it. Chen Xun has already passed Steward Zhu's assessment and been certified as a Martial Artist at the First Transformation Limit."

"At the same time, because he rendered merit by covering his teammates last time and indirectly helped the estate seize A Thread of Sky, Steward Zhu considers him someone who has rendered merit to the estate."

"As long as he hands over another twenty taels of silver, he can obtain an Acupoint-Finding Secret Art."

"Then did he pay those twenty taels of silver?"

Li Peng hurriedly pressed, no longer even practicing his Stake Stance.

"Of course. I heard Chen Xun immediately handed over twenty taels of silver. He has already obtained an Acupoint-Finding Secret Art and started cultivating it."

"Unless something unexpected happens, Chen Xun will probably break through to the Qi-Blood Second Transformation in one or two months."

As he said this, the man's face was full of envy.

Li Peng, meanwhile, stood frozen as if struck by lightning, his face full of disbelief.

"How could this happen?"

"How is he cultivating so quickly? It shouldn't be like this."

Immediately afterward, intense jealousy filled his heart.

"That damned mud-leg. He's faster than me again. Damn it."

"No, how does he have so much silver?"

"Could he have stolen silver from the estate?"

At that thought, he could no longer sit still. He hurried away, intending to report Chen Xun for possessing a huge amount of wealth from an unknown source.

However, when he reported the matter to Steward Zhu, he was loudly rebuked.

"I don't care what grudge you have against Chen Xun, but you cannot spread rumors and slander him."

"He earned that money through hard work. Haven't you asked around? Chen Xun once served as the Seventh Young Master's sparring partner, earning five taels of silver per day for a total of eight days."

"The estate has records of it all. Where is this so-called huge amount of wealth from an unknown source?"

Li Peng was dumbfounded on the spot. He truly had not known about this; he had been recovering from his injuries at the time.

Just like that, Steward Zhu threw Li Peng out on the spot, and he lost face completely.

Then, under everyone's pointing fingers and whispered comments, he covered his face in shame and fled.

"Damn Chen Xun. He made me lose so much face again."

Li Peng hated Chen Xun even more deeply.

In the inner courtyard, news that Chen Xun had reached the First Transformation Limit also reached Sun An's ears at once.

"Impossible. Impossible. How could Chen Xun have reached the First Transformation Limit so quickly too?"

"Did I really make the wrong choice?"

"No, I wasn't wrong. I'm no longer from the same world as them. Drawing a clear line between us was the right choice."

Sun An gritted his teeth.

Yet jealousy and regret tangled together in his heart, leaving him sleepless that night.

At the same time, Liu Feng also received the news.

"Chen Xun? How could he be so fast, only one day later than me?"

"Come to think of it, when he broke through to become a Martial Artist, he was only one day later than me too."

"Damn it. That guy is like a ghost that won't leave."

"I refuse to believe that when we break through to the Qi-Blood Second Transformation, you'll still be only one day later than me."

Liu Feng hardened his heart, picked up his hand-copied Basic Acupoint-Finding Secret Art, and continued studying it seriously.

On the other side, Chen Xun also held a copy of the Basic Acupoint-Finding Secret Art.

But after reading it once, he tossed it aside.

"What utter trash. It simply can't compare to my Mountain Lord Acupoint-Finding Secret Art."

Chen Xun shook his head, feeling some heartache over the twenty taels of silver he had wasted.

Still, this step was necessary. Otherwise, there would be no way for him to bring his strength into the open.

"I hope the Hunting Team starts recruiting soon, and that the requirements are lowered somewhat."

Chen Xun waited in hope.

Several days later, news emerged from who knew where that the Li Family's Hunting Team had suffered grievous losses, causing an uproar.

The Li Family higher-ups first came forward to refute it, claiming it was merely a rumor.

But immediately afterward, the Li Family's rival, the Huo Family, produced several corpses that had begun to rot and claimed that they were members of the Li Family Hunting Team.

Those who recognized the corpses all spoke up to confirm it.

The Li Family higher-ups could no longer conceal the truth and had no choice but to admit it.

As a result, the Li Family lost considerable face.

Within the Li Family itself, the matter also left some people uneasy and fearful.

In response, the Li Family directly forbade the servants from discussing the matter, with severe punishment for violators.

Next, the Li Family urgently recruited new members for the Hunting Team.

At the same time, they selected talented people from among the servants to train in martial arts.

However, there were rather many Martial Artist slots offered this time, while the number of talented candidates among the servants was relatively small.

Thus, the Li Family dismissed some servants who lacked talent for martial arts and recruited a new batch of servants.

The Li Family Martial Arts School also increased its recruitment efforts, temporarily reducing admission fees by thirty percent.

This move displeased the city's largest martial arts school, the White Cloud Martial Arts School.

The Li Family Martial Arts School's fees were already low, and now they were lowering them further. Were they leaving any path for the other martial arts schools to survive?

The Li Family had no choice but to come forward and state that the price reduction would last only three days. Only then did the White Cloud Martial Arts School let the matter rest.

Even though it lasted only three days, the Li Family Martial Arts School still recruited more than ten additional disciples with talent for martial arts.