1 Ye Huan

"Shoucheng, aren't you resting today? Why are you up so early?"

"I took a private job outside the city. The salary is quite high. When I receive the payment, the money saved will be enough to buy an enlightenment pill for Huan'er."

"I heard that it's not peaceful outside the city these few days. Why don't we forget about it?"

"It's fine, I'll be careful. Huan'er is quite talented in martial arts, so I can't let Huan'er be mediocre like me. With the Enlightenment Pill, Huan'er will have hope of getting into the intermediate Martial Arts Academy in Hanwu. At that time, you won't have to work so hard to sew and mend clothes for others."

"Shoucheng, let's go together. I'll sew a few more clothes and save some money to buy some demonic beast meat for Huan'er to nourish his body."

Creak.

The sound of the door opening was heard, and the footsteps went away.

On the bed, Ye Huan opened his eyes. His eyes were full of helplessness.

The ones who had just left were his parents in this life.

Ye Huan got up and went to the kitchen.

He opened the lid of the pot. There was a bowl of golden fried rice and a piece of black-scaled demonic pig meat.

Ever since he started practicing martial arts six years ago, he always had these as breakfast every day.

Although the black-scaled demonic pig was only a first-rank demonic beast, it was not something that an ordinary family could afford.

In order for Ye Huan to have a meal of black-scaled demonic pig meat every day, Ye Shoucheng frequently took on private work and almost lost his life a few times. Liu Yun often worked overtime until night.

In order to make it easier for his parents in this life, Ye Huan once told his parents that he didn't want to practice martial arts anymore.

His father, who had never hit him before, gave him a good beating, with his mother, Liu Yun, sobbing at the side.

Ever since that time, Ye Huan had never mentioned to them about stopping martial arts again.

Ye Huan quickly finished the bowl of fried rice and the piece of black-scaled demonic pig meat. After cleaning the kitchen, Ye Huan went to the courtyard.

Whoosh, whoosh.

After practicing the Body Refinement Fist twice to warm up the Qi and blood in his body, Ye Huan sat on the ground and started to cultivate the Acupoints Refinement Technique.

The Acupoints Refinement Technique opened 108 acupoints. It was a basic acupoints opening technique in Hanwu and was not ranked.

Ye Huan was already very familiar with the Acupoints Refinement Technique, and it had started to work instinctively.

One, two...

Ye Huan's acupoints lit up one by one, a total of 100.

The 100 acupoints devoured the weak vitality of Heaven and Earth in the courtyard and attacked the 101st acupoint.

Again and again, Ye Huan didn't stop cultivating until his acupoints reached their limit and felt as if thousands of ants were biting them.

If he didn't stop cultivating, he would damage his acupoints, and the loss would outweigh the gain.

There were still eight more to go before he could reach the peak of the Acupoints Refinement Technique and open 108 acupoints.

Based on his pace, he would need another twenty-four days to reach the peak of the Acupoints Refinement Technique.

In another half a month, Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy would come to Donghan city to enroll new students.

Before that, his Acupoints Refinement Technique had to be perfect, and this was only the entry threshold for Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy.

"Work harder, work harder, work harder, Ye Huan, you can do it."

Ye Huan clenched his fists and cheered himself on.

Ye Shoucheng didn't know that Ye Huan's talent for martial arts was obtained through daily hard work.

Splash.

He took water from the well in the yard to wash his body. Then, he put on a set of white clothes and went out.

At Donghan City Elementary Martial Arts Academy.

When Ye Huan arrived at the Martial Arts Academy, the gate was open.

"Ye Huan, you're here,"

Uncle Fang, who was guarding the door, said with a smile and handed over a broom.

Ye Huan took the broom and started to clean the floor of the Martial Arts Academy seriously.

The sky brightened, and the number of students in the academy increased.

Young boys and girls brimming with youth walked past Ye Huan, and he continued to clean the Martial Arts Academy's floor undistracted.

There were a total of 1200 students at Donghan City Elementary Martial Arts Academy. It didn't take up a lot of land area, so Ye Huan finished cleaning in half an hour.

"Uncle Fang, I'm done."

Ye Huan returned the broom to Uncle Fang and said in a clear voice.

"Young people work fast."

Uncle Fang took the broom and complimented Ye Huan. Then, he put ten shiny silver coins in Ye Huan's hand.

"Ye Huan, this is this month's ten silvers. The Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy's examination is at the end of the month. Ye Huan, are you confident?"

"Uncle Fang, I'll try my best."

Ye Huan smiled and walked toward the classroom with the ten silver coins in his hand. His father, Ye Shoucheng, guarded the farmland outside the city, but he only earned 100 silver coins a month.

Ten silver coins were not a small sum.

Uncle Fang looked at Ye Huan's back and shook his head with a trace of helplessness on his face.

He was quite fond of Ye Huan. The youth was hardworking and persistent, so he gave Ye Huan the task of cleaning the Martial Arts Department to help him.

Unfortunately, Ye Huan's martial arts talent was not very good. Till now, he had not perfected his Acupoints Refinement Technique, and the admission to Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy was at the end of the month.

...

"Ye Huan, here."

As soon as Ye Huan came to the class, a burly teenager shouted at Ye Huan.

Ye Huan walked over with a smile. The young man's name was Chen Tong, and he was Ye Huan's best friend. Chen Tong's father and Ye Huan's father were colleagues.

The other students in the class didn't even look at Ye Huan, as if he was invisible.

"Ye Huan, why are you only here now? I heard that Teacher Yang will be talking about the Intermediate Martial Arts Academy's examination today."

Chen Tong said excitedly.

"How many acupoints had you opened?"

Ye Huan glanced at Chen Tongdao.

"Ninety."

Chen Tong immediately became timid.

"I won't be able to get into Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy, so I can only go to other intermediate academies."

"Ye Huan, I heard from my father that your father is preparing to buy you an Enlightenment pill. I heard that you might be able to get into Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy."

Chen Tong's tone was filled with envy.

Ye Huan was about to speak when a burly middle-aged man walked into the classroom.

Yang Biao was the instructor of Donghan City Elementary Martial Arts Academy Class 10.

"At the end of the month, there will be an Intermediate Martial Arts Academy examination. Today, I'll tell you about it. The first topic will be cultivation. Taking Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy as an example, this academy has a minimum requirement of 108 acupoints. Although other intermediate academies don't have such a high requirement, they do have restrictions on cultivation too..."

Yang Biao went straight to the point.

The students in the class were all listening very attentively.

"Today's class will end here. You don't need to come to the Academy anymore. Work hard to improve your cultivation. Come to the Academy on the 25th. The Academy has training for the Intermediate Martial Arts Academy exam. "

The morning classes ended quickly, and Yang Biao announced that they would be on break.

Ye Huan and Chen Tong left the classroom together.

Yang Biao was packing up his things on the desk when he shook his head slightly upon seeing Ye Huan's back.

Ye Huan was a pity.

Yang Biao had a deep impression of Ye Huan. He was the most hardworking student in Class 10, but his martial arts aptitude was average, and was from an ordinary family. If he had a better background and resources, with Ye Huan's hard work, it would not be a problem for him to get into Hanwu Intermediate Martial Arts Academy.

...

After leaving the Academy and Chen Tong, Ye Huan returned home, a small courtyard house in the west of the city.

Ye Huan was thinking about making lunch for himself when he heard messy footsteps outside the small courtyard.

What was going on?

Ye Huan frowned slightly. His parents usually only came back at night. Ye Huan suddenly remembered the conversation between his father and mother in the morning, and a bad feeling rose in his heart.

Bang!

The old wooden door was pushed open by force, and a few middle-aged men carried a bloodied man into the courtyard.

Ye Huan's body trembled. The man covered in blood was his father, Ye Shoucheng.