Volume One: First Signs of Brilliance Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Path to Wealth

Time slipped by quietly.

In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.

During these days, Wang Jue maintained his routine of spending an hour each day in the virtual combat room to gain practical experience, and he had also spent all the money in his bank account.

As usual, after leaving the virtual training room, Wang Jue would visit several other halls to collect experience points.

After days of relentless effort, Wang Jue finally accumulated enough experience to raise his swordplay, boxing, and footwork techniques to the Master level.

He would not let slip any chance to improve himself, so without hesitation, he upgraded them all at once.

[Name: Wang Jue]

[Cultivation: Body Tempering, Level Eight]

[Talent: Crimson Grade (Superior) 0/500]

[Technique: Stellar Soul Canon, Level One (Unknown) 0/1000]

[Martial Skill: Basic Swordplay (Master 0/1,000,000)]

[Martial Skill: Basic Boxing (Master 0/1,000,000)]

[Footwork: Basic Footwork (Master 0/1,000,000)]

[Stellar Points: 211]

[Experience: 2,312]

“What the hell, seriously?”

Staring at the panel after the upgrades, Wang Jue felt a sense of hard-won relief, but when he saw that long string of zeros behind 'Master,' he was stunned. “Why can Master-level martial skills still be upgraded? And it actually takes ten million experience points? How long will it take me to collect that much?”

He remembered Lan Yiyi had once said that Master was the highest tier for martial skills.

By all rights, his martial skills should have reached their limit, yet he found they could still be improved.

What truly frustrated him, though, was that if it were only ten million, he might have managed it before the exams, but the problem was he needed not just ten million, but thirty million!

Faced with this nearly despair-inducing number, Wang Jue realized his martial skills had already reached the pinnacle among all on Azure Star.

In his view, both his cultivation and his martial skills wouldn’t see much progress in the short term, so he might as well focus on battle experience for now.

However, to improve his battle experience, he had to enter the virtual combat room, which cost money.

At present, what he lacked most was money.

With this in mind, Wang Jue murmured thoughtfully, “Looks like it’s time to start making some money.”

He was indeed considering ways to earn money suitable for himself, but he hadn’t given up on collecting experience, either.

Though his martial skills had reached the Master level, since he’d discovered they could be upgraded further, Wang Jue certainly wouldn’t stop—he would keep improving.

No matter what, anything that could strengthen him would always be at the forefront of his mind.

In fact, over the past few days of ‘harvesting wool,’ Wang Jue had already noticed a pattern to the experience drops.

Except for the first time, which yielded more, the experience gained on each subsequent attempt would be halved, and the closer he got to the end, the less experience he’d get.

If he hadn’t been so eager to get all three martial skills to the Master level, he wouldn’t have spent his entire day holed up in the Martial Association’s halls.

Now that his goal was achieved, he was not about to waste any more time this way.

Still, he would continue to collect experience, but he had his own plan.

He needed to earn money first, then snag a round of experience points before heading into the virtual combat room, grab another round when he came out, and spend the rest of his time on making money.

...

The next day.

When Wang Jue woke up, he didn’t go to the Martial Association as usual—mainly because he didn’t even have enough for bus fare, and walking would take over two hours, so he had to give up the idea.

Even though this would cost him a fair bit of experience.

But there was nothing else he could do.

After all, his priority at the moment was figuring out how to make money.

In the end, unable to come up with a solution right away, Wang Jue grew restless and decided to go out for a walk.

...

Wang Jue wandered aimlessly through the streets.

Unconsciously, he found himself at the Extreme Dao Martial Arts Hall, a place he hadn’t visited in some time.

He thought for a moment, then decided to take a look inside. As he approached the entrance, he unexpectedly spotted the senior brother who had once brought him into the hall, “Monkey,” standing at the street corner outside, talking with a middle-aged stranger holding a large sack.

Wang Jue walked slowly toward them, intending to greet his senior brother, but then overheard the middle-aged man say, “Boss Hou, what do you think of this batch? Twenty thousand, take it or leave it. If not, I’ll find someone else.”

Monkey said nothing at first, instead rummaging through the snakeskin bag, inspecting its contents: red-black beast pelts, milky-white bones, sharp claws, blood-red pearls the size of marbles, and so on...

After checking everything, Monkey finally spoke. “At market price, ten pelts would be twenty thousand, but two of yours are damaged, so I won’t take those. That’s eight pelts, sixteen thousand.”

“Thirteen fangs, one thousand each. Twenty claws, fifteen hundred each. That’s forty-three thousand.”

“I won’t take cracked bones. The intact ones come to fifty-two thousand.”

“Blood pearls are five thousand apiece now. You’ve got eighteen, that’s ninety thousand.”

“All together, that’s two hundred and one thousand. Do you want to sell or not?”

The middle-aged man protested, “Those three pelts aren’t that bad.”

“You know the rules. I only take intact goods,” Monkey replied, unmoved.

Seeing this, the man grumbled, “Fine, fine, I’ll sell. After all, I’ve been your regular customer, but you always nickel-and-dime me.”

“Cash for goods, no haggling,” Monkey said with a faint smile.

After paying, Monkey was about to carry the sack into the hall when he caught sight of Wang Jue approaching.

“Hey, Junior Wang! Haven’t seen you in days, you’re looking even more spirited,” he greeted in surprise.

“Senior Hou, long time no see,” Wang Jue replied with a smile.

Monkey’s eyes flashed as if he’d thought of something, and he leaned in to whisper, “Junior Wang, I’ve got a little business here, interested?”

“Go ahead, Senior Hou,” Wang Jue said calmly.

Monkey led Wang Jue aside to a quiet spot, took a blood-red pearl from the bag, and asked mysteriously, “Junior Wang, do you know what this is?”

Wang Jue frowned. “What is it?”

“A blood pearl.”

“This thing is called a blood pearl?”

“That’s right.” Monkey grinned. “This is a blood pearl from inside a blood wolf. Its effect is to enhance a martial artist’s understanding of martial skills. The effect only lasts ten seconds and isn’t too strong, but it’s still a coveted cultivation resource. Do you know how much it’s worth?”

“I have no idea.” Wang Jue shook his head. If he hadn’t run into this by accident, he wouldn’t even have known about it.

“Blood pearls used to be cheap—about five hundred apiece,” Monkey said with a secretive smile. “But now, with the exams approaching and since blood pearls are useful to body tempering martial artists, the price has gone up tenfold. Now it’s five thousand each, and they’re basically always in demand.”

“Blood wolves really are called the treasure troves of first-level star beasts: four fangs at one thousand each, four claws at fifteen hundred each, a complete pelt at two thousand, intact bones at three thousand. All told, you can make fifteen thousand off a single blood wolf, and if you’re lucky enough to find a blood pearl inside, that’s twenty thousand!”

Seeing Wang Jue’s interest, Monkey put the blood pearl back in the bag and said in a low voice, “If you want to make some extra cash, you can come see me. But it’s best to wait until you reach Body Tempering Level Seven and have at least proficient martial skills before heading to the Blood Wolf Valley. Otherwise, your life could be at risk!”

Before leaving, Monkey patted Wang Jue’s shoulder and added, “I’m not trying to scare you or joke around. Remember what I said. All right, I’ve got business to attend to—see you around.”

With that, Monkey hoisted the sack and jogged off, apparently trying to avoid Zhao Qingming, and quickly disappeared into the hall.

“Blood wolves in Blood Wolf Valley, huh…” Wang Jue murmured thoughtfully.

He had to admit, the prospect of earning twenty thousand at a time was extremely enticing.

Even without the blood pearl, the materials from a single blood wolf could fetch fifteen thousand.

For Wang Jue, who was currently as poor as a beggar, this was simply too tempting!

He had been racking his brains for a way to make money, and now, by pure chance, he’d stumbled upon a lucrative path.

If he could really get rich hunting blood wolves, he’d have no more worries about the cost of the virtual combat room.

With enough money, he could spend ten hours a day inside if he wished.

Moreover, he was curious if killing blood wolves would grant him Stellar Points.

If so, he would have every reason to go!

Having reasoned through all this, Wang Jue became even more determined to venture into Blood Wolf Valley.

He didn’t even bother entering the martial arts hall, choosing instead to head straight home.

As for the two basic requirements Monkey had mentioned, he already met them.

In fact, he exceeded them.

Requirement one: Body Tempering Level Seven.

Wang Jue was already at Level Eight.

Requirement two: Martial skills at proficient level.

His three martial skills were all at Master level!

He had more than fulfilled the criteria.

As for the location of Blood Wolf Valley, Wang Jue had no idea.

Initially, he thought to look it up himself or perhaps ask Lan Yiyi.

After deciding to go to Blood Wolf Valley, Wang Jue began researching information about the valley and the blood wolves online.

It didn’t take much effort for him to find what he needed.

As far as he could tell, Blood Wolf Valley wasn’t far away—on the outskirts of Peaceful Town.

It was less than two hours from his home.

However, Blood Wolf Valley was huge!

It was nearly half the size of Peaceful Town, and its environment was extremely harsh.

He couldn’t find out much about its origins, only that it was famed for producing blood wolves, a type of first-level star beast.

Just as wild animals dwell in forests, these blood wolves rarely ventured into cities, instead living in packs in Blood Wolf Valley.

While they wouldn’t leave their habitat, if they encountered humans, the blood wolves—known for their ferocity—would hunt down and kill any intruder.

“If it’s only one or two, it’s not too bad. What’s really scary is that they’re pack animals, so you have to be prepared to fight many at once if you encounter them.”

After reading the information, Wang Jue couldn’t help but sigh, “No wonder Senior Monkey said Blood Wolf Valley is dangerous. It really is.”

Now that he understood his situation, Wang Jue didn’t bother going out. He chose to return to his room and focus on cultivation.

Wang Jue stayed home for two days.

Or rather, he spent two days preparing himself.

On the weekend, well prepared, Wang Jue set out with determination for the outskirts of town…