Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 23 A Sudden Encounter with Fierce Battle

"Shopkeeper, please excuse me. Can I use this banknote?"

"Jintong Money Exchange? Of course. This money exchange has branches all over the country, and there's one in our county town."

"That's good. I'll take these two. Please calculate the price, is it correct?"

"..."

Three days later, Zhou Ye returned to his small home, travel-worn. This time, he brought home only a set of "Compendium of Pharmacopoeia" and two martial arts books, "The Bull Tempering Method" and "The Cloud Ladder".

To be honest, just hearing the names of these two martial arts techniques tells you that they are very ordinary, common martial arts techniques.

However, one is a body tempering technique, and the other is a movement technique. These are both valuable life-saving items, at least solving the problem of having them or not. Besides, Zhou Ye definitely wants to cultivate those top-tier martial arts techniques, but he also needs to have them, right?

Of course, the feedback from the panel confirmed the expected result: these two martial arts techniques cannot be practiced yet, as they also have certain requirements for cultivation.

The Bull Tempering Technique—all basic stats cannot be negative. Strength and Constitution must reach +1. Best practiced in conjunction with other martial arts techniques.

Cloud Ladder – All basic stats cannot be negative. Agility should reach +2, ideally combined with martial arts training.

In the end, just like the "Ten Styles of Military Knife Techniques," it could only be kept at home and stored away.

However, the "Compendium of Pharmacopoeia" provided a pleasant surprise. After just one day of reading and comprehension, I gained approximately 20 experience points. My basic poison skills even reached a minor mastery level.

However, the price was high. Zhou Ye had run out of money again. Now he only had a little over one tael left, even poorer than before...

……

On the riverbank, Zhou Ye already had more than a dozen birds tied up beside him. He threw out his fishing net with force, and soon pulled it up with a full net of fish…

Since we're short on money, we might as well make more salted fish. We'll take advantage of the current fishing season and catch as much as possible. Salted fish is relatively easy to preserve, and we can sell it all winter.

In the following days, besides cultivating, Zhou Ye spent his days catching birds and fishing, and his nights studying the "Compendium of Pharmacopoeia".

Life became very regular. The yard was filled with countless salted fish, and the house smelled salty and delicious every day.

That day, Zhou Ye had just finished hunting and fishing and tied his catch to a carrying pole.

However, at that moment, a loud "rumbling" sound was heard in the distance, as if... something had happened.

Suddenly, a giant fish demon leaped out of the river more than two hundred feet away, and a human figure flew through the air in the distance.

At this moment, it was as if my worldview had been overturned. Could this be the true strength of martial artists and demonic beasts?

wrong!

After a moment of stunned silence, Zhou Ye suddenly realized. A battle was about to break out there, and it might affect his area?

Without hesitation, Zhou Ye turned and fled, hoisting his carrying pole onto his shoulder. Sure enough, a fierce battle erupted behind him, and a voice, like thunder from the heavens, resounded all around: "You beast! Die!"

At this moment, Zhou Ye wished he had eight legs. He could feel the aftershocks of that battle almost catching up with him.

Gritting his teeth and fleeing for his life, Zhou Ye had pushed himself to the limit. At this moment, he was already on the verge of tears. As if possessed, he suddenly thought, why did he have to flee with that carrying pole? What was wrong with throwing away those broken things? What if…? He always knew people would die for money; these worthless scoundrels have truly ruined him!

But just then, there was another loud "boom," and amidst the huge splash of water, it seemed that quite a few things had been splashed into the vicinity.

“Pah!”

A dark, shiny object happened to fall right in front of Zhou Ye, startling him for a moment. But he quickly picked it up; since he was already going to die for money, he might as well die completely!

Fortunately, no one noticed what was happening, and the sounds of the fierce battle faded into the distance.

When Zhou Ye returned to his small home, panting, he was still shaken and decided to stay home as best he could.

In the days that followed, Zhou Ye was like a frightened bird, not daring to step out of the small family compound.

However, I still examined that thing for a while. It was about a foot in diameter. Judging from its shape, it looked like... a fish scale, right? It should be a fish scale from the fish demon's body.

To be honest, Zhou Ye was somewhat disappointed when he discovered it was a fish scale. Why wasn't it a storage ring? Ideally, there would be an old man inside the storage ring.

That said, it was, after all, a powerful fish demon. The materials it dropped might also be quite valuable, right? In any case, it's best to keep them safe at home!

……

As time passed, Zhou Ye gradually recovered as well. However, he dared not go back to the area around the river anytime soon.

This fierce battle instilled in Zhou Ye a strong sense of crisis once again. A seemingly insignificant aftermath of a fight could be his end. Therefore, improving his strength was of utmost importance.

During these days, Zhou Ye's progress in the rudimentary poison technique was rapid, and he had also reached mastery. Therefore, Zhou Ye became very hopeful that this poison technique, which had been progressing later, might be the one to reach the maximum level in the shortest time.

But it was time to head to the town again, so I had to put "reading" aside for the time being.

This time, Zhou Ye brought over 60 salted fish. He had carefully selected them, choosing only salmon weighing around 2 jin (approximately 1 catties) each. Each fish was also accompanied by more than half a jin (approximately 250 grams) of salt…

At the town's market, Zhou Ye was selling fish at a stall.

"Hey, how much is this fish?"

"140 yuan a piece, plus half a jin of salt."

"So expensive? Can you make it cheaper?"

"Auntie, how much cheaper can we be? How about this: you grab an extra handful of salt?"

"You said it yourself! Give me two."

"Yes, yes, I want one too."

"Young man, could you wrap one for me too..."

"..."

The place was bustling with people, and business was indeed booming, with salted fish selling exceptionally well. In no time, more than 20 fish had been sold.

He happily stuffed the silver into his pocket. Just then, a young man dressed in rich clothes arrived.

The man peeked inside and asked with a smile, "How many salted fish do you have left?"

That's all.

"I'll take all of these. Does that include the salt?"

"Yes! 140 yuan each."

"Okay. Then count them."

"OK!"

Unexpectedly, a big deal came in. Zhou Ye was more than happy to accept it. He counted the salted fish: "Young master, there are exactly 35 left, a sincere price of four taels and nine mace."

"Alright! Then please deliver it to our Li residence. We'll give you the money when we get back."

"Where is your Li residence located?"

"It's right there, not far away."

Zhou Ye chuckled and began tidying up. However, just then, he suddenly sensed something was amiss…