Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

The second aunt quickly followed the old lady's rule and sharpened the knife to make it even shinier:

"Mother is right. We must teach him the rules. He dared to chase you away before because we had nothing to control him."

"Things are different now."

Her gaze shifted and landed on Ye Chong, as if she were using him as a figurehead to intimidate others:

"Chong'er is an inner disciple of the martial arts school."

"The term 'inner gate' in the lower city is not just a name, but also represents weight and power."

Ye Chong tightened his grip, squeezing the rim of the bowl until it turned white.

He knew perfectly well that the person being talked about outside wasn't him at all.

But everyone in the room was looking at him with such burning eyes that it made him numb, and he... couldn't bear to shatter this beautiful dream.

Second Uncle nodded in agreement:

"Chong'er's status is different now. She can't go to the Silent Alley. That place is dirty. Don't get involved."

"Let's go."

"Use Chong'er's name to make them understand that it is their honor to have the opportunity to help Chong'er."

He seemed to recall the embarrassment of being kicked out last time, and a smile crept onto his face, turning his pent-up anger into confidence: "I'd like to see if that kid dares to kick us out again."

Third Uncle was even more direct, as if he had long considered Ye Xiao's money as the Ye family's money:

"The money made in the Northern Furnace Factory is quick, but the lifespan is short."

"He can still breathe now, so the money should be taken out first to pave the way for Chong'er."

Third Aunt laughed along, as if she were stating something perfectly natural:

"If he's tough, he can carry more. The money he earns can be used by Chong'er, then his life won't have been in vain."

The old lady nodded in agreement; she knew what Beilu was.

She simply felt that the money Ye Xiao worked so hard to earn should be used to pave the way for "Ye Family Hope".

The Ye family hoped that in her eyes, there would only ever be Ye Chong.

She snapped the prayer beads in her hand, the sound as hard as nails:

"Let's do it this way."

"Bring the money from Ye Xiao's side first."

"Chong'er needs to train, and he can't lack medicine. If he lacks medicine, it won't just be him who suffers, but our entire Ye family!"

As she finished speaking, her eyes even held a sense of self-righteousness... Ye Xiao's fate was meant to be Ye Chong's.

Ye Chong, who was initially at a loss, suddenly understood after hearing these words.

If I had more money to buy medicine for cultivation, I might have a real chance to break through to the Bone Forging Realm, and then the fake inner disciple would become a real inner disciple.

This filled him with motivation, and he was no longer worried about being exposed. Instead, he looked forward to the training resources to come.

Seeing that Ye Chong didn't speak, his second aunt immediately went further, smiling even more affectionately:

"Don't worry, Chong'er, just focus on practicing at the martial arts school."

"Leave everything else to us; no one can hold you back from your future."

She spoke as if she were saying something considerate, but the light in her eyes shone like a wolf:

"Don't let that family in the Silent Alley use your name, lest it damage your reputation."

"We went to get the money, and after we got the money, we shoved them back into the mud."

The second uncle quickly added, as if doting on his son:

"Yes, you shouldn't show yourself."

"That lowly family has no right to see you."

"And we can't go now, we have to wait until night, otherwise if people see us going into the Silent Alley, it might embarrass Chong'er."

Everyone else nodded in agreement, feeling disgusted and contemptuous of the name "Dumb Alley".

Someone else passed by outside the courtyard, smiling and bowing:

"Congratulations! The Ye family has produced an inner disciple!"

The old lady, as if afraid the whole alley wouldn't hear, couldn't stop smiling.

"Fortunately, one of my grandsons is successful, and my Chong'er has been smart and hardworking since he was a child, so our family has the opportunity to live a good life. The other grandson is useless; he doesn't even know how to respect his elders. He deserves to be a useless good-for-nothing."

……

Ye Xiao arrived at the inner sect training ground.

Unlike the outer training grounds, where the sounds of breathing are like a tide, carrying the smells of sweat and mud, making one's heart feel heavy.

The inner door was much quieter.

It's not that no one is practicing, but rather that everyone's breathing is as if it's being choked by something, with short exhales and deep breaths, as if letting out even one extra breath would reveal their true condition.

In addition, there were occasional cracking sounds.

The air was thicker with the smell of medicine, like a thin knife slicing across the nasal cavity, making one's eyes sting.

You can't smell this from outside the door.

After all, for outsiders, unless they come from an extraordinary family, they simply have no chance of buying top-grade medicine.

The inner gate area is not large, about half the size of the outer gate area.

Only about ten inner disciples might be able to get in, and there were even fewer people present, making the space seem vast and open.

Seven or eight people were scattered around, each practicing their own style, with distance between them, as if separated by an invisible layer of rules.

Rows of black stakes stood in the ground, their bodies whitened from being struck. The Lifting Tripod Stone leaned against the wall, its surface covered with handprints.

The innermost part is against the wall, separated by a wooden fence.

The black stakes over there were a deeper color, with a dark sheen at the top, as if they had been repeatedly soaked in medicinal liquid. The smell of medicine wafted out from there, not the heat of boiling medicine, but a chilling, pungent smell.

Someone asked in a very soft voice:

"Has the medicinal mist been activated?"

The other one responded even more softly:

"Not yet? Have you gone mad from practicing martial arts? The medicinal mist training starts timing as soon as the mist appears. Everyone burns their own quota. It's still so early. No one will start training in the training now."

Ye Xiao saw a sign hanging next to the wooden fence.

The sign clearly states:

Standard stance: Suitable for all inner disciples.

Medicine mist training: Each person is allocated one hour per month as a basic quota, with additional hours awarded based on monthly rankings and performance.

Ye Xiao immediately understood that the key to the inner sect training ground was not how big it was, but how long the medicinal mist could last.

He hadn't expected that, in addition to the benefits mentioned by the sect leader, the inner sect would have this extra benefit.

The biggest fear in bone casting is that the periosteum will crack and cannot be repaired. The greatest hope is that after one round of bone casting with standing meditation, it can be repaired immediately and then forced into the next round... But even with the best medicine in this part, the repair effect is limited.

Medicated mist piles are a better choice, as they can accelerate bone recovery.

However, the consumption of medicinal mist stakes must be considerable; otherwise, inner disciples would not only be given one hour of basic usage rights each month.

Moreover, this secret recipe must be in the hands of the martial arts school, which is why he had never even heard of it.

Even outer disciples are not qualified to know this; only inner disciples can truly access and understand it.

As soon as Ye Xiao entered the training ground outside, several pairs of eyes followed him.

It's not curiosity, it's weighing the pros and cons.

First, I weighed the ashes on the corner of his clothes, the tears in his cuffs, the frostbitten cuts on the back of his hands, and finally settled on the brand-new wooden plaque on his chest.

Someone sniffed, as if they smelled something that shouldn't have been there:

"Is this the place from the alley where the mute lived?"

The other voice, though not loud, carried an air of condescending certainty:

"Born of humble origins yet able to enter the Bone Forging Realm... Resilient, but unfortunately, advancing further is almost impossible."

The people next to him chuckled.

That smile wasn't malicious; it was more like a tacit agreement that the newcomers weren't worthy of their attention.

Even among those within the inner sect, there are differences in strength and status.

Not far from Ye Xiao, a burly student was wiping his sweat.

His shoulders and back were as thick as a wall, and his skin had white marks from being worn down by stakes. He looked simple at first glance, but his eyes were not simple at all; they were like a scale.

He kept rubbing the calluses on his hands with his thumbs, as if he were crushing a person's bones in advance. He glanced up at Ye Xiao, his voice not loud, but it was so oppressive it made one feel muffled:

"I'm quite curious about the skills of the Bone Forger who came from the Silent Alley."

"A friendly spar, stopping when the point is reached, does not count as a private fight."

"However, simple sparring is no fun. Let's wager on the time spent in the medicinal mist stance. If you win, I'll give you half an hour; if you lose, you give me half an hour."

Upon hearing this, the smiles of those around him deepened.

Everyone knows that most of the new inner disciples are arrogant and will only waste their time practicing the medicinal mist stance.