Amidst the howling wind and snow, half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Outside the Fourth Medicinal Garden of Funiu Mountain, a martial figure still stood firm in the boundless heavy snow.
[Comprehension: 60]
[Root Bone: 72]
[Cultivation: Bone Pass (Entry); Manifest Force (Minor Achievement)]
[Cultivation Technique]
[Rocky Pile Skill (Minor Achievement): 753/1000]
[Heart Intent Six Harmonies Fist (Minor Achievement): 598/1000]
[Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body First Layer (Elephant Bone): 287/1000]
[Low-key Points: 8]
With Comprehension raised to 60, his progress in the Heart Intent Six Harmonies Fist accelerated. In another half month, his Manifest Force would reach Great Success, and he would approach Hidden Force before the end of the year.
The greatest improvement, however, lay in the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body. Aided by better medicinal broths and the accelerated tempering of his bones through vitality and blood, his progress surged by over a hundred points in just half a month. This speed would only increase.
Consequently, his bone refining advanced rapidly. In another half month, he would reach Bone Refining Minor Achievement. Stepping into the Muscle Pass before the martial examination should not be an issue.
By then, his Elephant Bone would have reached Perfection.
This progress far exceeded Chen Yuan’s expectations. After all, he had ground away at the Skin Pass for four and a half months and assumed the Bone Pass would take even longer. However, the boost in resources, Root Bone, and Comprehension drastically shortened the process.
In the frigid winter, birdsong grew sparse. The mountain forest lay in deep silence, making the crunching of snow underfoot exceptionally loud.
"Brother Chen’s skills have grown even more extraordinary," a voice chuckled.
The voice was familiar. Yuan ceased his practice, stood straight, and smiled faintly. "Brother Changgui, what brings you here?" As he spoke, he noticed the pale purple robes on the visitor and cupped his hands slightly. "Congratulations, Brother Changgui. Or should I call you Steward Li now?"
Pale purple was the uniform of a Li Family Vice Steward. A full Steward wore a darker shade, while the General Manager and Tributor wore black.
Li Changgui burst into laughter, clearly in high spirits. "Whatever you prefer. Thanks to you, Brother Chen, the General Manager finally approved of me after a half-month evaluation."
Yuan nodded. "You are too kind, Brother Changgui. To think you came all this way to share such good news with me. I’ll be counting on your care in the future."
Of course, that was not what he truly thought. The man definitely came for more than just sharing the news.
Changgui’s expression turned slightly serious. "Naturally. I will help wherever I can within the rules. But since I’ve put on these robes, I have to shoulder the responsibility. I cannot bend the rules for personal favors. You can understand that, right, Brother Chen?"
Yuan chuckled. "Understood, understood. Steward Li’s noble character commands my respect. I will also do my duty well and not make things difficult for you."
He understood Changgui’s true intention now. The man was laying the groundwork. He claimed to act strictly by the book, but the degree of "strictness" rested entirely in his hands. For instance, if a mutated beast rushed into the medicinal garden and ruined the herbs, even if the guard repelled it, the Steward’s judgment largely determined the severity of the guard’s fault.
Yuan had spoken with the guards from the other shifts at the Fourth Medicinal Garden. If one slipped the Steward some silver in such situations, major issues would shrink into minor ones, and minor ones would disappear entirely.
Changgui nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent. I believe that with your abilities, guarding the medicinal garden will be no problem. I won’t disturb you any further."
His main goal was to put Yuan in his place. When the time came to assign blame, Yuan would have no grounds to argue. The days were long; he would eventually find an opportunity to claw back that sum of silver from Yuan.
Watching Changgui leave, Yuan dismissed the matter from his mind. He just needed to do his job. As for the rest, he would counter every move as it came.
As the weather grew colder, wild beasts appeared more frequently. Tigers, lions, and wild boars all coveted the precious herbs in the garden. Sometimes, Yuan had to deal with several animal attacks in a single day. With his advancing strength, handling these incidents became increasingly effortless.
Once, he pierced a rampaging wild boar to death with a single thrust of his spear. He feasted heartily on the meat and distributed a generous portion to the medicinal farmers on site, winning over their hearts. He also carved out dozens of pounds of thick boar meat to take home, improving the meals for his aunt and the others.
The real trouble lay with the mutated beasts hiding deep in the mountains.
Yuan had once faced off against a snow-white, horned wolf. Fortunately, after prowling outside the garden for a while, the white wolf sensed that the human inside was not to be trifled with and left. He breathed a sigh of relief. Truth be told, he did not want to fight mutated beasts. Although a dead mutated beast could fetch anywhere from dozens to a hundred taels of silver, the danger was ever-present. Almost every year, a guard died in the jaws of a mutated beast.
However, the more you worried about something, the more likely it was to happen.
More than twenty days later, the cold deepened. Ice formed on the mountain paths, and the snow piled higher. Suddenly, a pitch-black figure appeared silently outside the Fourth Medicinal Garden.
By the time Yuan spotted it, the creature was already pouncing rapidly toward the enclosure.
With no time to overthink, he grabbed his heavy spear and vaulted onto the iron fence. Squinting, he identified a Black-Scaled Leopard. Its speed was terrifying, and its agile, muscular frame gave him a profound sense of threat.
As he swung his spear to intercept, Yuan barked a sharp command. "Loose the arrow!"
This arrow was not meant to shoot the leopard. It was a whistling arrow, a signal to warn the surrounding hidden sentries of danger and call for backup. The whistling arrow tore through the air, its sharp shriek piercing the howling snow.
Yuan gripped his spear shaft tightly with both hands, his eyes locked onto the black shadow hurtling toward him.
The Black-Scaled Leopard was absurdly fast. Its four paws landed silently, leaving only shallow prints in the snow, while its body streaked forward like black lightning, reaching the fence in the blink of an eye.
He could not let it inside.
Yuan kicked off the fence’s crossbar, launching himself upward, and brought his long spear crashing down from above.
The shaft moved like an axe, chopping down in a perfect vertical arc. The fierce gale of the strike blasted the snow on the ground into a cloud of white mist.
The leopard shifted slightly. The spear tip grazed past its ear and cleaved into the snow with a loud BANG, carving out a deep trench.
As it dodged sideways, it slapped its front paw against a fence post. Its entire body folded and redirected like a coiled spring, pouncing straight for Yuan’s ribs—too fast for him to retract his spear.
Yuan kicked hard against the fence with his right foot, propelling himself backward just in time to avoid the gleaming, cold claws.
The moment he landed, he twisted his waist and spun, sweeping his long spear horizontally across the ground.
Snow flew violently where the shaft swept, but it only hit the leopard’s afterimage. It had already used the momentum to leap into the air, gliding right over Yuan’s head. When it landed, its four paws carved four sweeping arcs into the snow. It turned around again, its dark golden, slit-like pupils staring coldly at him.
Fast. Too fast.
Yuan rested the tip of his spear on the ground. His breath billowed out in white clouds, and his heart hammered THUMP THUMP THUMP against his ribs.
In just two exchanges, his downward chop and horizontal sweep hadn’t even touched a single hair on the beast. Instead, it had closed the distance twice, forcing him to rely entirely on his footwork to evade.
His expression grew ever more intensely focused, his eyes nailed to the Black-Scaled Leopard. This beast was no ordinary leopard. If he took a swipe from those claws, even his copper skin would not spare him from severe injury.
The Black-Scaled Leopard gave him no time to breathe. Its hind legs pushed off, detonating a cloud of white mist in the snow, and its body shot forward like an arrow.
Instead of retreating, Yuan advanced. He stepped forward with his right foot and thrust his spear out in a spiraling motion—the Drilling Spear.
The spearhead spun, tearing through the air, aiming straight for the Black-Scaled Leopard’s throat.