Eight birds competing for dawn and dusk

  Ye Chen set a goal for himself, to work hard and catch up with the stronger seniors in the school, participate in the Beilu Academy's strength assessment and graduation exam six months later, and strive to pass the graduation exam at one time.

  Twenty days have passed in the blink of an eye.

  Ye Chen completed the chore of cleaning up the old book warehouse and received praise from Manager Wang.

  He came to the miscellaneous courtyard, reported to Li Zongguan in charge of the miscellaneous affairs of the Academy on the situation of doing chores, handed over the miscellaneous work token, and received twenty taels of silver for doing chores these days.

  "Ye Chen, your vital energy is flourishing, and it seems like you've made significant progress in your cultivation this month! ... Young people shouldn't be impatient for quick success. Steadfast and steady effort is the key to long-term achievement!"

  Director Li's eyes were shrewd and he noticed that Ye Chen's complexion was different from a month ago, and besides being surprised, he also had some worries.

  "Thanks for your concern, Director!"

  Ye Chen's heart warmed up.

  He can be said to be very grateful to General Li.

  Since he was five years old and came to Beifeng Academy, relying on doing odd jobs in the academy, he lived for ten years. In Beifeng Academy, the high-ranking official he had the most contact with was this Li General Manager. Thanks to Li General Manager's care, he could fill his stomach and even have extra money to buy herbs for cultivation.

  Especially this time, the trivial task of cleaning up the old book warehouse was exceptionally allowed by Director Li to be completed by him.

  He coincidentally obtained a "Xianfu" ancient painting scroll, a treasure used by immortals.

  And with the help of "Xianfu" ancient painting scrolls, he obtained several pieces of sixth-grade herbs.

  In just this short month, his physical body has been tempered at an extremely fast speed, and he has already cultivated to the halfway point of the fourth layer of the Refining Body Stage. With another month, he will be able to enter the fifth layer of the Refining Body Stage. If it weren't for this reason, he would have had to spend at least two or three years, or even longer, before having a chance to break through to the fifth layer of the Refining Body Stage. Before the age of twenty, it is fundamentally impossible to complete the cultivation of the sixth layer of the Refining Body Stage.

  "Disciple had been using the cheapest first and second grade herbs to assist in body refinement, but progress was slow. However, this month, thanks to the great manager's blessing, he earned thirty taels of silver and finally had the money to buy better third-grade herbs for refining his physique, making significant progress."

  Ye Chen said respectfully.

  As for that immortal mansion painting, he didn't dare to reveal half of it. This kind of treasure used by immortals, once known to the outside world, would definitely bring deadly disaster.

  "Oh, the effect of Sanpin herbal medicine is so good?! However, each martial artist's innate physique is different, and their adaptability to herbal medicine also varies. The same herbal medicine, some martial artists use it with great effect, while others use it with little reaction, this is also a common thing."

  It seems that the three types of herbal medicine you used this month are particularly suitable for your physical constitution, which is why they had such an amazing effect. You can continue to use this prescription until you reach the sixth layer of body refinement. Additionally, I will help keep an eye out for any lucrative opportunities and assign them to you. As for those small tasks that only earn a few dozen copper coins, don't waste your time on them - it's better to focus on cultivating instead."

  Director Li's eyes lit up and his mind became active.

  If Ye Chen continued to maintain this cultivation progress, breaking through the sixth layer of Lian Ti would be a matter of one or two years. After graduating from the Academy's assessment, he would either become a high-ranking official in the Wu Kingdom's court, or become a national-level divine sword guest of the Wu Kingdom, and would definitely remember his contribution today.

  Assigning a few errands is just a trivial matter for the errand manager. Using a few good errands to win over the heart of a martial artist who will make great achievements in the future is worthwhile.

  "Hmm. In the past decade, I've been practicing slowly and wasted too much time, falling far behind my fellow disciples in the academy. Now I must go all out, racing against time, not relaxing for a single day, to catch up with the strength of my fellow disciples in the academy!"

  Ye Chen said firmly.

  "Alright, you're indeed a diligent one! If I had such diligence when I was younger, I wouldn't have just been a mere miscellaneous affairs manager. Off you go, wait for a lucrative opportunity to arise and then call for you."

  Li Zongguan smiled and said.

  "Thanks, General Manager!"

  Ye Chen bid farewell and left the Zaoyi Da Yuan.

  He had silver in his bosom and came to the grass and medicine shop of the Academy, where he bought seven pairs, a total of twenty stalks of three kinds of grass medicine.

  Ye Chen returned to his own small cottage in the academy and inserted a doorstop from inside to prevent anyone from suddenly entering.

  He then put these herbs into the medicine field in the ancient painting scroll one by one, and looked at the medicine field in the painting with joy, raising the quality of the three herbs to six. When this ancient painting scroll raised all these three herbs to five or six products, it faded and lost its luster.

  "I've planted these twenty herbs and used up all the spiritual energy in the medicine field!"

  Ye Chen didn't feel surprised at all, and just let out a faint sigh.

  However, he obtained twenty stalks of Liu Pin Cao Yao and felt very satisfied. These Liu Pin Cao Yao are not sold in herbal shops at all. Even if they were sold in herbal shops, the price would be astonishingly high, which is completely unbearable for a poor student like Ye Chen.

  In fact, even the children of relatively wealthy commoners can't afford good herbs, at most they can only buy third-rate herbs. Only a few children from aristocratic families can get fifth or sixth-rate herbs for cultivation from their family.

  "These seven bottles of tonic herbs will last me for two months."

  Ye Chen sank his thoughts and focused all his attention on cultivation.

  These two months are not long for a student who has devoted all his heart and energy to his studies.

  Ye Chen spent a month and then broke through the fifth layer of the Refining Body stage in one go.

  At the same time, he had already practiced the first two moves of the "Tiger Leaping Knife Method", the primary knife method "Drawing the Sword and Tiger Leaping Slash". He was currently practicing the next two moves of the intermediate knife method "Tiger Leaping Double Slash and Tiger Leaping Triple Slash".

  Tiger Leap Slash, in an instant a knife shadow slashes onto a target. A 6th layer Body Refining martial artist, with a knife force of 600 catties.

  Tiger Leaps Twice, in an instant two knife shadows slash onto one target. Force of 1,200 catties.

  Tiger Leaps Three Linked Slashes, in an instant three knife shadows slash onto a single target. Power of 1,800 catties.

  Ye Chen specially asked Li Cang, the head teacher of the Upper Academy, for advice.

  The key to this is "in an instant". Cutting out one sword in an instant and cutting out two swords, the difficulty of these two things is vastly different, with a difficulty that has increased by several times. Of course, the lethality also increases exponentially.

  One move of tiger leap and two consecutive cuts can kill a ferocious tiger wolf.

  Ye Chen spent a whole month, putting in all his effort into practicing this move, and only barely managed to execute the Tiger Leap Double Slash.

  He cultivated to the fifth layer of Refining Body, and his progress slowed down again.

  Ye Chen had already used up all of his six-grade Tempering Body medicinal herbs and no longer had any to sustain his intense cultivation.

  "Manager Li promised me a profitable task, but who knows when it will be available? If I have to wait several months for the money to buy Sanpin grass medicine, won't I just be waiting in vain? ... Moreover, there are only three months left before the academy's graduation exam, and I don't have time to wait!"

  Ye Chen was helpless.

  He searched for the treasure that could restore the ancient painting scroll to its former glory in every nook and cranny of the vast Beishan Academy, but it was not easy to find. He spent several days searching, but to no avail.

  "It seems that the good treasures in the academy have already been taken away by others, and it's not my turn to get them. Without the treasure to restore the 'Xianfu' land, even with this Xianfu scroll in hand, it's useless!"

  Ye Chen felt worried.

  Now, the ancient painting scroll in his hand looked dull and unremarkable, no different from an abandoned scroll that was over a hundred years old.

  Ye Chen even muttered to himself, "If I put this ancient painting scroll on the bookshelf in the study or throw it on the road, would anyone be interested in it?! Probably they will take it as trash."

  "It seems that I cannot place all my hopes on this ancient painting. I must go and take risks to cultivate myself, even if it's just relying on my own strength, I must complete the sixth layer of the Refining Body stage. Staying in the academy is not beneficial for me. I have already reached the fifth layer of the Refining Body stage, learned a powerful intermediate knife technique, and can now go to North Mountain to search for some herbs to use. If luck is on my side, I might even be able to pick some third-grade or higher herbs! I'll stay on the mountain for three months, finding herbs to temper my body while cultivating my knife technique, then return to participate in the academy's assessment and examination!"

  Ye Chen's gaze was directed towards the northern mountain range.

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  Starting point of clicks and recommendations! (Today's third update is already completed... Ah, it seems like many years since I last had a triple update.)