"Starting today, I will begin practicing the fifth move 'Arc Moon Slash'! There's only half a month left before the graduation assessment at the academy ends. I must find a way to master this move before the assessment is over and make my escape back to Beishan Academy."

  Ye Chen was trapped in the ravine, every day at dawn he would get up to practice his knife skills, when hungry he would eat wolf meat and gnaw on roasted flatbread, when thirsty he would drink the icy rock water dripping from the cliff wall, and before sleeping at night he would temper his physique. Although trapped in a desperate situation, he wouldn't starve to death.

  More than ten days have passed in the blink of an eye.

  During this time, Ye Chen went out every day to investigate the situation of the wolf pack and see if they had left.

  However, what made Ye Chen extremely disappointed was that the gray wolf pack had no intention of retreating at all.

  Almost every moment, the gray wolves guarding outside, at least three heads, and sometimes even more than twenty heads. Even if other gray wolves go hunting for food, they will always leave a few gray wolves staring at the cliff.

  The pack of gray wolves had also attempted to launch a surprise attack at midnight, but Ye Chen was extremely vigilant and had set up simple tripwires at the entrance of the cliff, which would alert him with even the slightest movement if touched by the wolves.

  One night, a pack of gray wolves made another sneak attack and left behind a corpse before retreating. After that, they never attempted to enter the first line of cliffs again, choosing instead to defend their position to the death.

  "A pack of gray wolves, with a grudge that must be avenged. Their patience is surprisingly strong. I've already killed two of them, and they won't kill me unless they're willing to leave easily. They've got me surrounded, probably waiting for me to starve to death."

  Ye Chen finally understood this point, but felt helpless.

  He couldn't kill his way out with brute force, so for over a dozen days he calmed down and focused on tempering his physique, also practicing the Tiger Leaping Blade technique.

  Ye Chen was already at the sixth layer of the Refining Body stage, with dense and vigorous Qi and blood in his bone marrow.

  Abundant Qi and blood fill the marrow, unable to increase further.

  He has cultivated to the peak of the sixth layer of the Refining Body stage. If he can't break through, his strength will no longer be able to grow.

  The sixth layer of the Refining Body stage is vastly different from the seventh layer.

  Once the breakthrough enters the seventh layer of the Refining Body period, the surging gas and blood in the bone marrow transform into gas and blood essence. The gas and blood essence flows through the blood vessels, emitting a faint bloody glow. Ordinary gas and blood do not have such a glow.

  At the same time, the martial artist produces an air of tension.

  "Tiger Leaps Three Consecutive Cuts!"

  That night, Ye Chen used the Blood Python Grass to refine his physique and felt that his bones were comfortable all over his body. He had a surge of endless energy and immediately held a steel knife to skillfully perform the Tiger Leap Triple Slash.

  In just over ten days, the success rate of Tiger Leap Triple Slash has been grasped and increased to 70%, with a knife technique that is smooth and effortless.

  "Hmph!"

  On the rock wall, a faint sharp knife mark about a foot long was drawn.

  Ye Chen heard the sound and was taken aback, stopping his knife technique.

  "My blade didn't even touch the rock wall, so how did it leave a mark on it?"

  "Could it be... a killing intent?"

  Ye Chen was shocked and overjoyed.

  "Knife energy, this is the strong and powerful energy that can be practiced by a martial artist after their body has been tempered to its limit, when the ordinary Qi and blood in the body are transformed into refined essence, and then generate internal power within the meridians, which can then be released externally through the blade."

  Ye Chen couldn't believe it, he had actually cultivated knife energy.

  This means entering the Refining Body stage with 70% of his strength!

  He took a deep breath and poured all his strength into it again, swinging his sword.

  No knife qi.

  Ye Chen felt slightly disappointed.

  But he didn't lose heart.

  "Come again!"

  Hiss!

  Ye Chen continued to practice his knife skills.

  A moment later, a faint knife aura reappeared, extending out along the blade about an inch long.

  "I've broken through the seventh layer of the Refining Body Phase! The medicinal power of the Blood Python Grass is indeed overbearing, stimulating my qi and blood to their peak, giving birth to the essence of qi and blood in my bone marrow, and cultivating my internal energy."

  Ye Chen finally saw clearly this time.

  He immersed himself, carefully feeling the weak air in his body's meridians. The air he had just started to cultivate was still too weak and required extreme care to feel its movement.

  Ye Chen was overjoyed.

  Entering the seventh layer of the Refining Body stage brings obvious benefits.

  Break through the seven layers of the Refining Body Period, and the basic force will be increased to 700 catties. Now, when he uses 'Tiger Leap Slash', he can exert a basic force of 700 catties, while 'Tiger Leap Double Slash' is 1,400 catties, and 'Tiger Leap Triple Slash' is 2,100 catties. As his cultivation increases, the power of his martial arts moves also becomes stronger.

  It's just a small aspect.

  For Ye Chen, the seventh layer of the Refining Body stage had an even more important role.

  "I've now entered the later stage of Body Tempering, and I can finally cultivate the last two moves of the 'Tiger Leaping Knife Technique', 'Arc Moon Slash' and 'Whirlwind Slash'. These two knife techniques require cultivation in the later stage of Body Tempering."

  "The first four moves of 'Tiger Leaping Knife Method' are all for dealing with a single enemy, whether it's drawing the knife, slashing or continuous slashing."

  However, the fifth move 'Arc Moon Slash' is a half-moon arc-shaped slash that shoots out multiple sword energies at extremely high speed in front of you, exploding forward and can simultaneously deal with all enemies within the arc range.

  "As for the sixth move 'Whirlwind Slash', it's even more powerful, emitting nine or more blades of air that attack all enemies around like a whirlwind. Once mastered, Whirlwind Slash eliminates any worries about being surrounded. Even when trapped in multiple layers of encirclement, one can still cut out a bloody path with the ferocity of a raging storm."

  "Of course, the Whirlwind Slash consumes too much energy, and it's probably at least a 9th-level Body Refining stage to cultivate. A 9th-level Body Refining stage martial artist of the National Guard level can take the head of the enemy general in the midst of thousands of soldiers, precisely because they have mastered range attack martial arts similar to this."

  "The last two moves of 'Tiger Leaping Knife Method' are both range group attacks. They require external Qi to support, so before the sixth layer of the Refining Body period, martial artists cannot practice these two moves."

  "The move of Hú Yuè Zhǎn is not difficult, what's difficult is that it requires the internal energy of at least seventh layer of Qi Refining to support it. I'm stuck on this line because I couldn't handle the pincer attack of the Gray Wolf Pack! If I mastered 'Hú Yuè Zhǎn', I wouldn't be afraid of the Gray Wolves!"

  Ye Chen's spirit was greatly lifted.

  He followed his own memory, the secret book of "Tiger Leaping Knife Method", and practiced the crescent moon slash.

  "Starting today, I will begin practicing the fifth move 'Arc Moon Slash'! There is still half a month left before the graduation assessment of the Academy ends. I must find a way to master this move before the assessment ends and make my escape back to Beishan Academy."

  Ye Chen practiced the Crescent Moon Slash day and night without rest.

  This move consumed a lot of energy and with just a little more effort, it would have completely drained his energy.

  He must sit and rest to recover his exhausted energy.

  Fortunately, there is Blood Python Grass, which continuously stimulates his Qi and blood, converting his Qi and blood into Qi and blood essence, strengthening his physique, and also quickly recovering his energy. The Qi and blood essence in his body gradually became more concentrated, and his energy became thicker.

  It was already the ninth day at dawn.

  Ye Chen performs the Arc Moon Slash, a single slash that can release four streams of energy. Each stream of energy is small, but its attacking power has at least 700 jin of basic force.

  "Today is the last day of the graduation assessment at Beishan Academy. Fellow disciples who went hunting in the deep mountains probably have already returned to Beishan Academy with their prey!"

  "The Crescent Moon Slash's technique is still immature, but it can't be delayed any longer. Today, I must break out and kill!"

  Ye Chen made up his mind and stepped out of the cliff.

  "There are seven grey wolves guarding here today, two less than yesterday! The difficulty has decreased slightly."

  Ye Chen sank into thought for a moment, no longer dodging, but instead openly and honestly emerged with his sword at the exit of the cliff.

  "You beast, come and meet your death! You've been blocking me here for almost a month, it's time to settle the score!"

  Ye Chen leaned against the cliff entrance, his hands grasping a steel knife, straddling it horizontally, the blade slightly tilted outward, gleaming with cold light, shouting provocatively.

  The leader of the pack of gray wolves, with a body as big as a calf, suddenly stood up. A pair of green eyes emitted a fierce glow, staring fixedly at Ye Chen, who had killed two members of its pack. It couldn't understand what Ye Chen was saying, but it felt the blatant provocation in his actions.

  The other gray wolves in the surrounding woods stood up one after another, slowly took a step forward, surrounded the cliff, exposed their ferocity, let out low growls, and slightly looked at the head wolf, waiting for its attack order.

  "Ahh!"

  The grey wolf pack's leader let out a proud howl, suddenly exerting its strength, and charged towards Ye Chen. It wanted to personally avenge itself, killing the guy who had killed two of its pack members and was hiding in the cliff, refusing to come out.

  The other gray wolves around him suddenly launched themselves and rushed towards Ye Chen in succession.

  "Ten meters... five meters... two meters! It's here!"

  Ye Chen's eyes were fixed intently on the alpha wolf, his hand gripping the hilt of his knife motionless.

  Suddenly, his eyes flashed with a bright light.

  "Crescent Moon Slash!"

  Ye Chen let out a loud whistle.

  With all one's might, swing out with one sword.

  A sharp blade edge, along his front, drew a semicircular arc, completely enveloping the area in front of him within a radius of one zhang. The blade vibrated, and with the vibration, several faintly visible blades of air burst out, tearing through the space in front of him.

  "Hahaha...!"

  The largest wolf's head was split open by a swift slash, its body crashing towards Ye Chen. The other three gray wolves had their forelimbs severed by the sword energy, leaving them severely injured and crippled.

  Ye Chen exerted all his strength in one move and immediately rolled backwards to dodge the incoming wolf corpse.

  There were still three grey wolves with sharp claws that had grabbed Ye Chen's body, but they only touched Ye Chen's arm. The head wolf's overly large body squeezed the other grey wolves away.

  Ye Chen rolled over and got up, holding a knife and heading outside.

  In the blink of an eye, including Da Lang, seven gray wolves have been killed or injured more than half.

  The remaining three gray wolves attacked again, howling, but instead turned their heads and ran towards the thicket. More than half of them were killed or injured, including the leader wolf, they completely lost the courage to face this strong enemy in front of them, and fled in horror.

  Ye Chen's upper body had over a dozen bloody scars, the deepest wound almost an inch deep. His own blood and the gray wolf's blood had splattered all over his body. However, for a late-stage Body Refining martial artist, this was merely a minor injury that didn't matter.

  Ye Chen cautiously watched the three gray wolves leave, only then did he feel the more than ten claw wounds on his arm burning, and couldn't help but crack a smile, "Fortunately, it's just a flesh wound!"

  He swung his sword and beheaded four gray wolves, then strung their heads together with a rope and slung them over his back.

  He strode swiftly towards Beigong Shuyuan.

  －－－－－－－－－－－

  Today is the third watch, finished.