Chapter 25

PS: Brothers, the number of recommendations is really too low.

With a bare back drenched in sweat, even his shorts soaked through, Old Pig humbly asks the brothers for recommendations, collections, and clicks!

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Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of punches was like thunder, and the leaves fell like rain.

In a sparsely visited iron-branch pine forest, Ye Zhen's figure darted and moved nimbly. His fists moved with great force, swift as thunder and still as a mountain peak. A single punch sent an iron-branch pine, as thick as a bowl, breaking.

Compared to the hard work he did as a miscellaneous disciple, it was now much easier for him to knock down an iron-branch pine.

"Roar!"

With a loud shout, Ye Zhen unleashed a Five Mountains Breaking the Sky punch towards an iron-branch pine. A wave of blood energy surged through his body with the punch, and a majestic aura suddenly arose.

Crack!

With a crack, the iron-branch pine before him shattered, but Ye Zhen's fist was still a foot away from the broken pine. Seeing this, a look of joy appeared on Ye Zhen's face.

"Success, the external force of the Five Mountains Fist is finally achieved."

After half a month, Ye Zhen's Five Mountains Fist finally showed some results. However, he did not stop immediately but closed his eyes to ponder the feeling of the punch. Recalling that feeling, he continued to practice intensively.

After a series of over a hundred punches, except for the first few which were inconsistent, the subsequent dozens of punches all had the force reaching the target before the fist did.

Only when the blood energy in his dantian vortex was nearly depleted did Ye Zhen stop and slowly sit down to meditate, using the Essence Blood Primordial Body Technique to restore his internal blood energy.

After a long while, Ye Zhen slowly got up and closed his eyes, recalling the feeling of practicing the fist. The intent of the fist was now familiar, and the next step was to practice until he could control it at will.

However, today, Ye Zhen dared not practice the Five Mountains Fist any further.

The reason was that before breaking through to the True Essence Realm, a martial artist's consumption of blood energy during practice was extremely high. Blood energy comes from the body's essence, and excessive consumption could harm the body.

Fortunately, the diet of outer disciples was excellent, with unlimited meat and the option to take some away. Otherwise, with such high-intensity training every day, Ye Zhen's body would have collapsed.

After resting for a while, Ye Zhen's body suddenly trembled, moving like a snake. He began to practice the Snake Sliding Step.

His body moved like a snake, and with a series of hissing sounds, Ye Zhen's figure circled around a large tree, occasionally feigning a Five Mountains Fist.

This was Ye Zhen practicing using the Five Mountains Fist in conjunction with the Snake Sliding Step for attacks.

Occasionally, Ye Zhen's shoulder would collide forcefully with the tree. At the moment of impact, his body would strangely tremble, reducing the counterforce from the collision.

This was a technique in the Snake Sliding Step called the Sliding Snake Form, which could reduce a certain degree of force. It was said that when perfected, it could make an opponent's attack slip away, and the technique of borrowing and unloading force would be extremely bizarre.

Hiss!

While moving, Ye Zhen's figure suddenly coiled, like a king snake, and with a strange frequency, his body shot forward like an arrow, the Snake Sliding Step's Snake Spring Grass!

Ye Zhen's figure landed six meters away, and a look of frustration appeared on his face.

Half a month ago, Ye Zhen chose two secret manuals from the first floor of the Scripture Hall. The Five Mountains Fist had shown good results, and by today, he had achieved external force, which was considered a minor success.

However, the Snake Sliding Step, which Ye Zhen had practiced for half a month, spending more time than on the Five Mountains Fist, showed little progress. The basic steps were practiced to perfection, but techniques like Snake Spring Grass and Sliding Snake Form were difficult to master.

The Sliding Snake Form could barely reduce some force, but the Snake Spring Grass had not even been mastered, with a single spring only covering six meters.

With Ye Zhen's current cultivation and strength, a single leap could easily exceed five meters, and with a bit more effort, a leap of over six meters was not a problem. In this situation, the Snake Spring Grass was not very useful.

A single spring should cover at least ten meters to be considered mastered. According to the secret manual, when perfected, a single spring could cover at least twenty to thirty meters.

"Could it be that, as the old steward of the Scripture Hall said, the Snake Sliding Step is not something an outer disciple can master?" Ye Zhen felt disheartened.

However, he immediately resumed his intense practice, "I don't believe that with hard work, I can't master the Snake Sliding Step."

After practicing for a while, it was nearly noon, and with no progress in the Snake Sliding Step, Ye Zhen prepared to return to East Peak for lunch.

One of the benefits of being an outer disciple was that meals were provided by the sect, with unlimited meat and even laundry services handled by the female miscellaneous disciples on the Miscellaneous Peak, leaving outer disciples with no worries.

Compared to miscellaneous disciples, outer disciples were the masters, and the others were the servants!

It was noon, and many outer disciples were returning to the peak for lunch. After practicing all morning, Ye Zhen was very hungry and walked very quickly.

Suddenly, a figure blocked his path, standing firmly in front of him.

Ye Zhen's face darkened, thinking it was another troublemaker. Just as he was about to shout, he saw that it was the peak steward of East Peak, Steward Liu.

"Ye Zhen greets Steward Liu." Ye Zhen hurriedly greeted.

Steward Liu snorted coldly, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, "Ye Zhen, I ask you, have you completed this month's sect task?"

"Sect task? Ah!" Ye Zhen slapped his head, "I'm sorry, Steward Liu. I've been so focused on practice that I forgot about this. I'll do it right after lunch."

"Hmph, you're the only one on East Peak who needs me to remind you about the sect task. You have two and a half days left. If you don't complete a sect task within two and a half days, you won't receive the next month's medicinal supply!" Steward Liu said with a black face.

What could Ye Zhen do but keep smiling and agreeing, which slightly softened Steward Liu's black face.

"Remember, this is the first and last time I will remind you to complete the monthly sect task. If it happens again, you will directly lose the next month's sect medicinal supply. You decide for yourself." Steward Liu snorted and left, leaving Ye Zhen behind, who could only laugh bitterly, having forgotten about this.

After lunch, Ye Zhen hurried to the sect hall where sect tasks were assigned. Joking aside, if the sect's medicinal supply was withheld for a month, it would be a significant loss.

Perhaps because he had not taken it seriously before, when Ye Zhen arrived at the sect hall and checked the sect tasks available to outer disciples, he realized the situation was not as simple as he thought. The sect tasks were not something that could be completed easily.

For example, the task of collecting the silk from the ten-foot-tall magic-patterned spiders in the back mountain was of medium difficulty, with a reward of fifty sect contribution points, suitable for outer disciples like Ye Zhen to complete.

However, according to the sect steward, the fastest outer disciple who completed this task took five days.

Other tasks suitable for outer disciples, such as patrolling the back mountain medicinal garden, helping villagers in the mountain village to hunt ferocious beasts, or temporarily managing the Miscellaneous Peak for a few days when the steward was away, took at least ten to fifteen days to complete.

There were a few tasks that could be completed in one or two days, but they involved hunting beasts or collecting medicinal herbs in areas where beasts roamed, with a minimum difficulty of medium human level, which only inner disciples had the ability to complete.

Ye Zhen felt extremely frustrated. Had he been too careless? Would he really lose the next month's sect medicinal supply?

Ye Zhen reluctantly flipped through the list of sect tasks, trying to find a task that could be completed in one or two days.

When he reached the last page of the sect task list, just as he was about to give up, his eyes suddenly lit up. A task with no difficulty level, which anyone could complete, appeared at the end of the list.

The person who issued this task, which anyone could complete, was none other than the Fairy Cai Yi, whom Ye Zhen had met once before!

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