Elderly Martial Saint: Sixty Times the Cultivation Speed ​​at the Start

Three days after the arrival of the patrol director Qi Shujian, at dawn.

Before the shadow of the locust tree in the courtyard could even reach the well platform, Yi Yang had already finished the last set of stakes.

With arms hanging down, blood and energy flowed back down, and a series of fine cracking sounds emanated from the bones, like sesame seeds popping in a pan.

Small characters appeared before my eyes.

[Yi Wood Health Preservation Exercise, Level 4: (20100/30000)]

Yi Yang stretched his wrists and memorized the progress.

One-third. The speed isn't slow, but it's not fast either.

After reaching the Bone Forging Realm, the progress pool for each level becomes ridiculously large, and the resource consumption increases exponentially.

The pills he bought from the black market and the Hall of Contribution were almost gone. Last night, Zhao Gang sent a message saying that a new batch of goods had arrived and that he should go and pick them up today.

Yi Yang washed his face with well water.

The water rippled, reflecting an old face. The wrinkles were still there, but the complexion beneath was a few shades redder than it had been two weeks ago. A few strands of black hair had crept up a little over an inch, barely noticeable among the white hair, but they would be exposed sooner or later.

He splashed the water away and went back inside to change his clothes.

An old blue robe was worn over his official uniform, a waist knife was pressed against his ribs, and a medicine bottle bag was tucked away.

When I pushed open the door, Jiang Yuexin was standing at the kitchen door with a bowl of porridge in her hand.

The little girl had sharp eyes. Her gaze first fell on Yi Yang's face, then slid to the back of his hand. Her lips moved twice, then she swallowed them back; she moved them again, then swallowed them back again.

"What are you looking at?"

Jiang Yuexin lowered her head and stirred the porridge.

"Grandpa, have you been secretly eating something good lately?"

Yi Yang glanced at her.

"Eating well and sleeping well, this old man knows how to maintain good health."

After saying that, he started walking towards the courtyard gate.

Jiang Yuexin took two steps behind him, her voice low: "Grandpa, your complexion is getting better and better, and your hair seems to be..."

"Lock the gate. Don't let outsiders into the yard."

Yi Yang didn't turn around, leaving his words behind.

Jiang Yuexin stood on the threshold, watching that figure gradually turn the corner of the alley.

The old man's back was still bent and his steps were still slow, but his energy and spirit were not what one would expect at sixty years old.

She bit her lip and muttered softly, "Grandpa doesn't seem sixty years old anymore."

Jiang Yuexin obediently closed the door and tightened the bolt securely.

……

Yunwen Town, third floor of the West Street Restaurant.

When Yi Yang pushed open the door to the private room, Zhao Gang was already sitting in his usual spot.

On the table were braised pork and peanuts and a jar of old wine. The chopsticks hadn't been touched yet, but Zhao Gang's teacup was empty.

The man looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes, and his stubble was thicker than when we last met. But he was full of energy, and his eyes shone brightly.

"You're here? Please have a seat."

As Zhao Gang greeted them, he pulled a heavy deerskin bag from under the table and placed it in front of Yi Yang.

Loosen the bag opening.

Four white porcelain medicine bottles were neatly arranged, their mouths sealed with wax, and the aroma of medicine wafted out from the gaps. It wasn't strong, but Yi Yang's internal organs felt slightly warm at the same time, much like the feeling of being roasted by a stove for a long time.

Zhao Gang counted the expenses on his fingers.

"Strengthening Tendon Powder, Grade 3, six pills. Lesser Tendon-Changing Pill, Grade 3, four pills. Bone-Expanding Pill—" He paused deliberately, forcing a pained expression, "Grade 4, two pills."

Yi Yang opened a bottle and brought it close to his nose to smell it.

The aroma of the medicine wafted into my nose, warm and mellow, without any off-putting smells or the acrid heat of adulterated products. A slight stirring of my internal energy was felt, circling halfway around my chest and abdomen before settling down.

is the real thing.

"I've made two trips to the county town in the last three days, and my legs are about to break."

Zhao Gang took a swig of wine, and when he wiped his mouth, his expression was almost as if he had just crawled back from the brink of death.

"The muscle-strengthening powder is manageable, the supply chain is stable, it's just that the price has gone up. The bone-strengthening pill is the real problem—there are only a few stores in the whole county that have it in stock, and I had to go through three layers of connections to get two pills from an old pharmacist."

Yi Yang resealed the bottles and put the four medicine bottles into his pocket.

"How much silver?"

Instead of announcing the number directly, Zhao Gang took out several neatly folded banknotes from the other side and pushed them over.

"Let's talk about something else first. Remember that piece of purple wood you asked me to sell before?"

Yi Yang nodded.

"That batch of goods was eventually bought by a medicine merchant from Suining Prefecture. The price was much higher than we had initially estimated, and he also sold the few pieces of purple wood fragments that you had stored with me."

Zhao Gang tapped his knuckles twice on the table.

"After deducting the cost of the pills from the total income, there are still more than forty taels left. The silver notes are here."

Yi Yang glanced at the silver note but didn't take it.

"Keep the rest."

Zhao Gang was stunned for a moment and didn't react.

Yi Yang picked up the wine bowl, lightly moistened his lips, and said in a tone no different from saying that the weather was nice today.

"You need to support your men, and you need to manage relationships after joining the Sky Patrol Division. Qi Shujian's arrival will reshuffle the decks, and money will be spent everywhere. Consider this your travel expenses."

Zhao Gang opened his mouth but then closed it again; he wasn't one to be pretentious.

Those old brothers brought from the black market before really needed to be settled, and various connections under the name of the Sky Patrol Bureau also needed to be smoothed over, and the money was spent like water.

"Okay." Zhao Gang picked up his bowl and clinked it against his. "I'll remember this favor."

Yi Yang took half a sip and put it down.

This amount of silver was nothing to him. Zi Mu still had enough in reserve to help him cultivate until his Qi and Blood reached perfection. Right now, the most valuable thing wasn't silver, but time.

Zhao Gang picked up a piece of braised meat and chewed it. Halfway through, he suddenly put down his chopsticks and lowered his voice by two octaves.

"Old man, I have some big news."

Yi Yang stopped holding the peanuts.

"I got this from an old acquaintance of the city's Sky Patrol Division," Zhao Gang said, drawing a circle on the table with his index finger. His voice was only audible to the two of them. "Qi Shujian isn't just here to oversee things."

"He's about to make his move."

Yi Yang didn't respond, waiting for what followed.

Zhao Gang leaned forward halfway and continued, "The patrol commander has issued a mobilization order to all forces in the county. A large-scale joint operation will be launched soon, targeting the Nine Evil Cult's stronghold in Yunlin County. Three towns and five villages will be wiped out in one fell swoop."

"It's not just the Sky Patrol Division that's participating; the elites from the three major families, the three major gangs, and various martial arts schools—all the usable martial artists will be screened."

Zhao Gang straightened up, his face a mixture of excitement and tension.

"The wind is picking up, old man. Anyone who can't stand still will be blown away."

Yi Yang ran his fingers along the rim of the wine bowl without making a sound.

My mind has already gone through several twists and turns.

A major operation. A large number of martial artists were redeployed. Defenses within the Sky Patrol Division weakened. The flow of elixirs and merits accelerated.

For others, this is a gamble where they risk their lives for their future.

For him—

With everyone's attention focused on the Nine Evil Sect, it was the perfect opportunity for him to quietly refine the resources in his hands and break through to the fifth level of Qi and Blood.

Yi Yang put down the bowl.

"What about you? Are you going or not?"

Zhao Gang chuckled, a laugh tinged with a hint of gritted teeth.

"How can I not go? If I miss this opportunity to show my face, I'll have even less confidence to speak up in the company. That snake Tang Hao would love for me to be hiding in a corner and rotting away, but I'm not going to let him have his way."

Yi Yang nodded. He did not try to dissuade him.

"Come back alive."

Zhao Gang's face fell.

"Pah! What unlucky talk! I'm tough as nails, even the King of Hell wouldn't dare bite me."

The two parted ways. Yi Yang carefully concealed the pills on his person and left through the back door of the restaurant.

Zhao Gang sat at the empty table and drank two more bowls of wine, pinching a shallow mark on the rim of the bowl before slowly standing up.

"A sixty-year-old man, he's more generous than anyone else, but he's also more secretive than anyone else."

He shook his head.

"Just who is this old man?"

No one could answer him.

……

The next day, in the morning.

The training ground of the Sky Patrol Division in Yunwen Town.

All the patrol captains and patrol guards at the second level of Qi and Blood gathered together. More than a hundred people stood in neat rows, suppressing even their coughs.

Fang Yue stood on the reviewing stand.

Behind him, the banner of the Sky Patrol Division was unfurled by the wind, its red background and black characters, the iron spearhead at the tip of the banner gleaming painfully in the sunlight.

"The patrol commander, Lord Qi Shujian, personally made the arrangements—"

Fang Yue's voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly heard by the more than one hundred people on the training ground.

"Five days later, a joint operation will be launched to wipe out the Yunlin County branch of the Nine Evil Cults. Each branch will deploy its elite forces to cooperate in the operation."

He glanced down below, his tone softening slightly.

"Registration for this operation is voluntary. Participants at the second level of Qi and Blood will be rewarded with ten taels of silver plus a bottle of Grade 2 Common Pills. Participants at the third level of Qi and Blood will be rewarded with thirty taels of silver plus three Grade 3 Common Pills."

Whispers suddenly arose on the drill ground.

Ten taels of silver plus pills is not a small sum for a low-ranking patrol guard. Thirty taels plus three third-grade mortal pills would make the hearts of many who are stuck at a bottleneck race.

Fang Yue raised his hand, and the scene fell silent.

"This operation is led by several Qi and Blood Realm Level 6 experts from Yunlin City, with an Inner Qi Realm expert personally overseeing the operation. You need not worry about your safety."

He paused, then added a sentence.

"In addition, elite disciples from several martial arts schools have signed up to participate, including Yi Zhanzhi, the last disciple of Lei Yun Martial Arts School."

The moment the name Yi Zhanzhi was uttered, another commotion erupted in the arena.

A seventeen-year-old genius at the Yi Jin Realm has gone. Are you going or not? Not going? Then the gap between you and that genius isn't just cultivation level—you've even lost the courage.

As soon as he finished speaking, a person strode out from the front row.

Tang Hao.

He clasped his hands together and raised them on the stage, his voice booming so loudly that the entire audience could hear him.

"If a martial arts practitioner only knows how to cower behind the courtyard wall, flipping through papers and scrolls, what difference is there between him and scrap metal? I am willing to go!"

He deliberately tilted his head to the side when he said the last few words.

The direction it's veering off is directly towards the end of the queue.

Facing Yi Yang.

A hint of approval flashed in Fang Yue's eyes, and he publicly commented, "He has guts."

Tang Hao couldn't hide the smile on his face as he returned to his original position. Following his lead, the other patrol captains stepped forward in agreement. Some were after the money, some the pills, and others were simply afraid of losing face and being gossiped about.

Zhao Gang also stepped forward and signed up, glancing in the direction of Yi Yang.

Yi Yang nodded almost imperceptibly.

Registration is nearing its end.

Yi Yang always stood at the very end of the line, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his back bent, his lips pursed, looking no different from an old stump.

Zhang Li leaned close to his ear, his face contorted in a grimace.

"Old man Yi, shouldn't we, with our old bones, stay out of the fun? Haven't we had enough of what happened in that deserted village last time?"

Yi Yang hummed in agreement.

Zhu Yuanshan chimed in softly from the other side, "Going there would only be a scapegoat for them. The credit belongs to them, but our lives are ours. Why bother?"

Yi Yang did not respond.

His gaze swept over the people scrambling in the front row, finally landing on the back of Tang Hao's head, then on the registration form in Fang Yue's hand, before looking away again.

It's not hard to understand why Yi Zhanzhi wants to go.

On the night of the abandoned village of Shiqiao, Lei Yun Martial Arts School defeated Song Wu, and the entire team fled in disarray. Although the matter was suppressed, many people in the martial arts circle knew about it.

The signboard of the seventeen-year-old Yi Jin Jing prodigy has been covered in dust. Qi Shujian must have taken this into consideration when he flipped through the roster, so Yi Zhanzhi must fight a brilliant battle to polish the signboard back to its former glory.

Tang Hao's guess wasn't hard to guess. Ranked thirteenth was too low, so this snake was determined to climb higher. By beheading a few cult members and handing them over, he could improve his ranking and his benefits—a win-win situation.

But what they're fighting over has nothing to do with Yi Yang.

With enough pills on hand and steady progress in my cultivation, why risk my life for a little reward?

After half a month of quiet cultivation, the fourth level of the Yi Wood Nourishing Life Technique was completed. Qi and Blood reached the fifth level, the Refining Impurity Realm.

That's the real trump card.

The excitement on the drill ground subsided, and the guards walked away in small groups, chatting amongst themselves.

Yi Yang, wearing an old blue robe, strolled slowly towards the museum. His back was hunched, and his steps were faltering, making him look no different from an old sparrow that couldn't find any insects.

Behind him, Tang Hao's gaze pierced his back, a gaze that contained contempt, smugness, and a thin layer of wariness.

Yi Yang sensed it.

But he didn't turn around.