Seven days.
Yi Yang sat cross-legged on the hard plank bed in the Pacification Guard barracks, his right index and middle fingers held together. An extremely faint blue-green halo flickered at their tips.
The Wood-Nurturing Astral Force, compressed to its limit, spun rapidly inward between his two fingers. His bones endured several times their usual pressure, while the walls of his meridians were repeatedly torn apart and repaired by the wood-nurturing properties.
The panel in his mind flickered.
[Profound Intent Calamity-Extinguishing Finger (First Layer · Astral-Breaking): (30000/30000)]
Done.
Yi Yang relaxed his fingers and exhaled a long breath of stale air. Both fingers were slightly red, with fine threads of blood showing beneath the pads. After two or three breaths, they faded on their own.
With seven days of training, the aid of five true pills confiscated from the Wu Family, and a sixtyfold heavenly mandate bonus, he had finally mastered the art's first layer.
He stood and flexed his wrists.
The sun shone brightly outside the window, and the shouts of training drifted through the camp.
Yi Yang changed into the regulation official uniform of the Pacification Guard Commander, pushed open the door, and went out.
On the drill ground.
The Thirty-Six Pacification Guards who had escaped serious injury stood in neat ranks.
Over the past seven days, compensation had been paid to the families of their fallen brothers, and the wounded had mostly recovered. Everything confiscated from the Wu Family had been inventoried, with the appropriate items handed over or distributed.
But one matter remained unfinished-rewards for their merits.
Yi Yang stood before the ranks, his gaze sweeping across every face.
Xu Min stood in the front row, his back ramrod straight.
Zhou Fangyu and Wei Chang Geng stood on the flanks. Though they belonged