Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

By this time, Zhou Ye must have known that these three bandits were all military personnel. Had they chosen to desert because of the rebellion in the county town?

Interestingly, among those spoils, Zhou Ye did not find food, water, or other necessities needed in the mountains and forests.

Perhaps the thieves weren't lying; they really did come in looking for food. So they chose their secluded courtyard, hoping to find something useful without making a fuss.

This left Zhou Ye speechless. How could he be so unlucky? He wanted to keep a low profile, but this was exactly the kind of low-profile place others wanted?

Of course, those three thieves were definitely not ordinary soldiers.

The other two are definitely martial artists who have reached the level of internal strength. And the archer? He used a ten-stone hard bow, so his strength must be greater than mine. He just died a rather pathetic death. Therefore, he must also be at the level of internal strength.

And he's not even a beginner.

Keep in mind that after the panel was refreshed, my basic stats were now the average for a martial artist at the Entry-level, no longer the average stats of a normal person. And on top of that, I got +4 Strength? Even greater than +4 Strength?

That must be a seasoned martial artist who has reached the mid-to-late stage of the Entry-Level Realm, right?

To give an example: their strength was roughly the same as the alpha wolf's. It was only when they joined forces that they displayed a fighting power far exceeding that of the alpha wolf.

Without a doubt, martial artists who have reached the level of "internal strength" are not exactly commonplace.

In a city with a population of several million, there are at most a thousand Ming Jin masters. There seem to be fewer than a hundred An Jin masters. For example, Master Du Keyuan of the martial arts school is said to be a great master in the late stage of An Jin.

As for masters of internal energy transformation? There probably aren't many, right? In any case, even Zhou Ye had never heard of them.

As for those who have reached the level of martial arts prowess? Even if there are many ordinary people who are not genuine, if you add them all together, there are at most tens of thousands... right? That's one in a hundred, and it's not something you can just encounter casually.

Looking at the military weapons, especially the military crossbow, Zhou Ye thought for a moment and decided to bring them all back to his small home. If they were exposed outside, it would bring endless trouble.

Even the chainmail is included. Strictly speaking, that's also a type of heavy armor. To avoid any trouble, let's take it all!

Next, they counted the money. They found over 200 taels of silver, along with several pieces of gold jewelry. Actually, most martial artists at the entry level aren't that wealthy; that amount of money was already quite substantial.

Interestingly, they were also carrying a sack full of copper coins, both large and small. There were whole strings of coins (7 strings) and several hundred loose coins.

To be honest, these copper coins were only worth a little over 7 taels of silver. And those people were unwilling to throw them away. They preferred to carry such heavy copper coins, but forgot to bring the most important food.

Finally, there was an exquisite leather suitcase. Inside, there were over thirty books. Among them was a five-volume set of cultivation techniques called "Mirage Realm Freedom Technique." The others were cultivation notes and other materials related to this technique—essentially reference books.

Zhou Ye was overjoyed. Just by looking at the name "Mirage Freedom Technique," this kind of technique must be extremely advanced, right? This is a treasure that is hard to buy even with a thousand pieces of gold!

However, now is not the time to study cultivation techniques.

Zhou Ye then got to work. He quickly dug a deep pit in the corner of the kitchen's outer wall and placed the leather suitcase inside. After covering it with nearly two feet of soil, he put the silver and copper coins in. Finally, he filled the pit with nearly three feet of soil, pressing the entire pit down firmly and leveling it.

Then a large stone slab was placed on top. On top of the stone slab, a large water vat filled with water was placed on top of that.

This is to prevent anyone from coming to check. At least until things calm down, Zhou Ye will never use these things.

Even if someone were to search the place, they would never imagine that those things were buried in such a place. Even if someone were to dig it up and find silver and copper coins, they would surely think they'd found treasure, right? No one would ever suspect that a set of martial arts techniques was buried even deeper down.

After finishing all that, it's time to start tidying up and cleaning the yard.

Wipe away all the bloodstains. Scrape off anything that can't be wiped clean. Throw all your clothes, including everything else, into the furnace, add plenty of firewood, pour in some oil, and burn it all...

After all the clothes had turned to ashes, Zhou Ye had rinsed his entire body with cold water several times and changed into a clean set of clothes.

They packed all the ashes into burlap sacks, along with the scraped mud and wall mortar, and prepared to take them away together.

Finally, there was the yard floor. All the wooden stakes were dug out, the small pits were filled in, and then the yard floor was leveled...

Before we knew it, it was already morning. By the time the first rays of sunlight appeared, everything outside had returned to calm.

After quickly finishing his breakfast, munching on an egg pancake, Zhou Ye dressed in his usual mountain running attire, picked up a shoulder pole full of things, opened the courtyard gate, locked it, and left.

Arriving at the butcher shop, Zhou Ye knocked on the door: "Xiao Yi, are you home?"

"I'm here." The door was quickly opened, revealing Gao Xiaoyi's head. Behind him were the anxious Mr. and Mrs. Gao.

"Xiao Yi, is everything alright at home?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing. Thanks. Oh, Brother Ye, are you getting ready to go hiking?"

"Given the situation last night, we should probably go to the mountains to take shelter! Besides, no matter how chaotic things get, we ordinary people can't afford to lose our livelihoods," Zhou Ye said with a wry smile.

"That's right. I understand."

"Xiao Yi, I just want to ask you to keep an eye on things at home. There's nothing valuable there. Just keep an eye on things."

"Understood. Don't worry, Brother Ye!"

"..."

After leaving the Gao family, Zhou Ye knocked on the door of the general store.

"Uncle Lü, get me a few bundles of rope. I need..."

"No, A-Ye, are you going into the mountains today?"

"Yes! I'm a coward, I really don't dare to stay here. I don't know how much longer this chaos will last."

"..."

Finally, there's the small grain shop at the alley entrance.

"Manager Niu, open the door! I'm A-Ye, who lives at the end of the alley. I'd like to buy some grain to take into the mountains."

"Thank goodness. It's Ah Ye. Our whole family was too scared to sleep all night." The Niu family, including the shopkeeper, were carrying sticks and cleavers, looking terrified.

"Manager Niu, enough with the nonsense, I want to buy more."

"I can't buy more. I can only give you twenty catties at most. But you should know the price has gone up, right? It's 10 qian per catty."

"Ten coins it is. Give me 30 jin!"

"Alright, alright! We'll give you 30 jin as a favor to our loyal customer."

"..."

In reality, Zhou Ye didn't really need the food and supplies. He mainly just wanted to make a public appearance and let his neighbors know he was going hiking...