Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

three days later.

When Chen Song broke through to the next level of internal strength, his whole family almost burst into tears of joy.

Zhou Ye was equally happy. He had not only saved a young man's path in martial arts, but also felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Seeing Chen Song's excitement, Zhou Ye quickly instructed, "Xiao Song, you should know from now on, right? You can't take more than two packets of Qi and Blood Powder per month, and you can't take more than three low-grade Qi and Blood Pills per month. And you have to make sure to keep the intervals between them."

"Understood, understood, Brother Zhou." Chen Song nodded excitedly.

Zhou Ye continued with a smile, "Also, you have great talent. So don't always try to be the first, or compare yourself to others. Haste makes waste, you surely understand that. Only by taking it a little slower will your foundation be more solid. If you absolutely must have a benchmark, then surpass your eldest sister from back then, that's good enough. And you can secretly feel smug, knowing you've outdone your eldest sister!"

Amidst the laughter, Senior Sister Weiwei playfully scolded, "You're so annoying! Oh, right, Aye, I won't say thank you, your brother-in-law has already prepared something for you..."

"No, no, we agreed not to accept money. If you really feel bad about it, how about we have a celebratory drink?"

"Alright!" Senior Sister Weiwei, always straightforward, immediately made the arrangements. "Aye, we'll remember this favor. If you ever need anything from your brother-in-law, leave it to me. He works in the government..."

"..."

That evening, Weiwei's entire family joined her for drinks and celebration. Zhou Ye also met her brother-in-law. His name was Lü Kemo, and his cultivation level was only at the late stage of the Entering Strength realm, lower than his wife's.

Lu Kemo was a clerk in the yamen (government office). Although his official rank wasn't very high, he still wielded considerable power. Especially since those military leaders were constantly fighting amongst themselves, whoever came to power always needed officials to govern the entire Fufeng Prefecture. As long as they weren't unlucky enough to run into the line of fire, these mid- to low-ranking officials were actually relatively safe.

Lu Kemo was also very talkative. During our casual conversation, he revealed two pieces of information:

Due to two consecutive years of disasters, many ordinary people could no longer survive. They either rebelled or directly sought refuge with bandits.

Things are slightly better near the county seat. But the more remote counties are in a state of chaos. Furthermore, a constant influx of migrants into the county seat suggests that prices may soon skyrocket.

Therefore, the new prefect has already ordered preparations to lead troops out to quell the rebellion and suppress the bandits.

Another issue is the Black Iron Gang in the city. Due to their "meritorious service in supporting the emperor" last time, the new prefect needs to reward those who have made contributions. However, there are only so many official positions, and apart from dealing with a few high-ranking members of the Black Iron Gang, most of the gang members have not actually benefited.

In the end, they simply let go of the Black Iron Gang's hands and feet, tacitly accepting the Black Iron Gang's expansion war.

Therefore, the city will definitely be in chaos for a while. If you see any gang fighting in the future, don't go and join in.

Zhou Ye felt that both pieces of news were very important.

No wonder Lü Kemo, despite coming from a wealthy family, was willing to become a lowly clerk and marry a beautiful and capable woman. It was because he was powerful, influential, and well-informed, providing invaluable assistance to his family and clan.

However, as for Senior Sister Weiwei and the others, they didn't care about these situations at all. Anyway, no matter how chaotic things got, they wouldn't cause trouble in the county town, nor would they cause trouble in a family consisting of a government official and a Ming Jin master.

Senior Sister Weiwei and the others were more interested in another piece of news. It was the gossip Senior Sister Weiwei had just heard – after Zhang Hu was sent home, his father, a general with a thousand men, placed him under house arrest. He also prepared a generous gift to apologize to the newlyweds, Song Zhongqi and Du Juan. In reality, it was an apology to the Song family and the Fenglei Martial Arts School behind them.

Furthermore, Zhang Hu has decided to leave the Fenglei Martial Arts School; he will no longer be a disciple of the school...

……

Let's not dwell on these trivial matters. Now we're just waiting for the good news of Huang Sheng breaking through to the Mingjin stage.

That day, Zhou Ye came to the martial arts school and found Wu Jun, who had also come to keep him company.

Zhou Ye was quite satisfied with Wu Jun's performance. At least he kept his mouth shut.

No matter what, Wu Jun was a regular at Wang's Pharmacy. Even the slightest clues would reveal that Zhou Ye's strength was significantly underestimated. Otherwise, why would he frequently send over large quantities of herbs?

However, Wu Jun had a very good attitude. He didn't care at all about his friend's progress. After seeing Zhou Ye, he cheerfully said, "Ye, I've started to break through the acupoints in my legs, and I've already broken through more than half of them."

Zhou Ye understood that Wu Jun's innate talent was probably similar to his own. So, after mentally calculating the time, he asked with a smile, "Did you use Qi and Blood Powder or Qi and Blood Pill?"

"Qi and Blood Pills. I've saved up my money over the past few months and bought five of them."

Zhou Ye nodded, then there's no problem. Some people can develop erysipelas from taking drugs. For a poor person like Wu Jun, it seems particularly difficult to develop erysipelas.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ye said, "Do you need me to give you some?"

"No need, no need. Cultivation is a long-term process. Do you expect me to shamelessly ask you for more next time if you give it to me this time? It's better to do it this way: consume as many pills as you are capable of."

Zhou Ye smiled and advised, "Ah Jun, just this once. Here's a bottle for you. You still need to break through to the late stage of the Entry-Level Strength realm as soon as possible, so that the pharmacy can entrust you with more important matters, and your salary can also increase by one or two taels. If you really feel bad about it, consider it a loan."

"Hmm...okay!" After thinking for a moment, Wu Jun accepted the bottle of low-grade Qi and Blood Pills.

Zhou Ye currently has a considerable number of low-grade Qi and Blood Pills. He has already calculated that even if he breaks through to the Ming Jin realm, he won't be able to use up all of these low-grade Qi and Blood Pills.

"Jun, how is Sheng now?"

"They're making final preparations. So I don't dare go over and disturb them."

"How much longer will he need to prepare?"

"How about in the next few days? You can go and do whatever you need to do."

"No need, no need. We happen to be free these days, so we'll just keep Ah Sheng company."

"That's great. It feels like it's been a long time since we've been together. Let's have a good chat these next few days, brothers."

"OK!"

And so, Zhou Ye and Wu Jun spent four days together.

Since Zhou Ye had not yet reached the Ming Jin level, he had no experience in breaking through to the Ming Jin level, so he did not intend to cause trouble and could only support him silently from behind.

However, it was clear that Huang Sheng was also very nervous. "Without reaching the level of Ming Jin, one cannot be a martial arts master!"

Once you can take that step, it will be a completely different level.

That morning, Huang Sheng appeared confidently in front of Zhou Ye and Wu Jun, and gave them a high five: "Ye, Sheng, I feel that the opportunity has arrived today. I'm ready to break through after I go in."

"Great job! Keep it up!"

You will definitely succeed!

"Hahaha……"