Chapter 23: The Foremost of All Soldiers

  Yue Yu's eyebrows furrowed as he listened, and he knew that this matter was far from simple. He had not expected the situation to be so dire. And Jin Xu's move was also ruthless. A year of absolute loss, combined with the successive losses and setbacks of previous years, was enough to shake the foundation of their family.

  Yue Yu remembered that the 1,200 mu of land at home also had a certain obligation to the clan. Every year, nearly 20% of the grain had to be submitted as public grain for the clan. If someone manipulated the price of the grain after the harvest was over, it would truly be a disaster.

  "I thought this sky was about to collapse too."

  Yue Zhang's expression was initially self-deprecating, but then her eyes gradually became sharp as a knife. "But that was in the past! Yu'er, you've made me so proud. So even if I have to go into debt, I'll keep this family afloat! When you grow up, everything that belongs to our family will be returned to us!"

  The last sentence, Yue Zhang said with an overbearing tone. And Yue Yu was not surprised at all. The current situation within the Yue family is that the head of the family controls the servants through the eldest son of the main house. Then uses a large number of martial arts servants to control the other houses and branches. Therefore, as a member of the main house, Yue Yu only needs to get permission for his martial arts talent, and after coming of age, he can take charge of important matters. He may be able to suppress Jin Xu, but those few people who helped him, can be killed at any moment. Whatever losses their family suffered, can be taken back from these people one by one.

  Is there anyone in the city of Yue who is still willing to lend them money?

  "Silly boy! It's not as difficult as you imagined. I had prepared some dowry for your sister before, now take it out and use it to hold on for a few more days."

  Yue Zhangshi saw through Yue Yu's worries at a glance, and smiled again. "If your sister knew that her useless older brother had already practiced the Great Chaos to level 5 at the age of twelve, she would definitely be overjoyed!"

  Yue Yu only felt his scalp numb, and this 'mother' had finally become suspicious. It was to be expected, once the turbulent emotions passed, Yue Zhang's clever mind would come into play again.

  A faint sigh escaped from within, and Yue Yu stretched out his right hand. In the center of his palm lay two white jade-like pills. One was the one he had begged from Zhangshi a few months ago, while the other was an even more radiant white.

  ※※※※

  At the same time, he handed over to Yue Zhangshi, except for that improved Peiyuan pill by Yue Yu. Also, his formulas for wound medicine and bone injury medicine that he had been pondering over the past two months.

  Yue Yu's purpose, apart from proving that he is indeed a genius in the field of medicine and giving the Yue family a seemingly reasonable explanation, also has the meaning of helping his own family to get through this difficult time. These two medicines are currently the largest trading volume in Yuejia City, except for the Qi-tonifying Pill. Not only do those hunters and herbalists need them, but also the tens of thousands of martial artists in the city who suffer injuries and fractures every day for various reasons. Every month, there are also a large number of people from other towns who come to purchase them.

  With these two prescriptions as the mainstay, doing pharmacy business may not make a lot of money, but it is enough to support their family and get through this difficult time.

  Yue Yu has now made up his mind to play the role of a genius in alchemy. He even performed a trick in front of Yue Zhangshi, identifying all the medicines with just his sense of smell without using his eyes. Combined with his experience in the pharmacy for the past two months, it's quite convincing.

  Judging from the results, it seems that the effect is quite good. Yue Zhangshi was extremely surprised to accept that her son had no hope in martial arts, but after switching to medicine, he suddenly awakened to an astonishing talent in this area.

  Just as he thought, in this world, there is probably not a mother who would not want her children to become better. Even the suspicion of Mrs. Yue Zhang before was just a mood of not daring to believe more, and never suspected that her own son had already changed to another soul.

  Of course, he also knew that Yue Zhangshi might not have completely dispelled his doubts. However, Yue Yu couldn't care about so much now; what he needed was a space to grow and flourish. Once he had gained some strength, whether it was staying or leaving, he could do as he pleased.

  Yue Yu did not waste too much energy in this regard. Even those prescriptions, after handing them over, he didn't bother with them again. Yue Yu believed that in terms of management, Yue Zhang was more experienced than him.

  His mother was a gentle and kind-hearted person, but also very good at managing the household. If it weren't for her frequently doing some business to supplement their family's living expenses, they might have gone bankrupt long ago. In fact, regarding her cleverness, Yue Yu had already learned about it several months ago.

  After that incident, no stronger martial artist from the manor was called to guard his safety, but instead, Ruan Li, who was highly valued by the elders of the Yue family, was ordered to stay by his side. It has to be said, this is indeed a stroke of genius.

  And for the next dozen or so days, Yue Zhang's actions did not disappoint him. He hired servants and errand boys, found a storefront, signed several fixed medicine collectors with high salaries, and also asked his wife to find some reliable pharmacy apprentices from her family, everything was arranged tightly and neatly.

  With such a capable mother-in-law around, Yue Yu was even more happy to not interfere. In fact, at this moment, he really didn't have any time to take care of the pharmacy's affairs.

  As his inner true energy grew stronger, he took another step towards the fifth level. He also had to start making preparations for his journey outside the valley.

  First of all, it was the terrain outside the canyon. The people here didn't seem to value the role of maps much. The hunters and herbalists in the city mostly relied on their own memories, experiences, and feelings. Yue Yu spent a full six days gathering information from various sources before he managed to draw a rough map. Putting aside its accuracy, those relatively dangerous areas were clearly marked by him.

  Then comes the preparation of bows and arrows. In this world, the bow is the first among all weapons and skills. Whether it's against demonic beasts or demonic birds, they can all be used effectively.

  In the castle of Yue's family, when all the young masters started to learn martial arts, the first thing they had to master was not internal strength or combat skills, but the art of archery. An archer who could hit the target 100 times in a row from 800 steps away would have a status equivalent to that of a high-level martial artist within the castle.

  As for this bow and arrow, Xiaoyue Yu actually had a set before. A strong bow of four stones, if it were in Yueyu's previous life, would at least stump more than half the people. But here, it's just an elementary level.

  Considering his own cultivation, he would soon be able to make another breakthrough. Yue Yu decided it was better to choose another set. He and Rong Li often wandered around the city's market when they had nothing to do. After several days in a row, he finally found a six-stone black lacquer bow from an old hunter's hand.

  As it was not made by a professional bow maker, this black lacquered bow is extremely crude. However, the bow body made from the horn of a three-eyed rhinoceros, with the bowstring made from the tendon of a sitting tiger, has a shooting power and elasticity that can compare to an ordinary seven-stone bow. Compared to its might, durability comes second.

  Next was Rong Li, who with his innate great strength and eighth-level cultivation, could barely draw the twelve-stone Golden Winged Cloud Piercing Bow left behind by his father. However, Yue Yu ultimately decided to splurge and equipped him with a ten-stone Cyan Maple Bow. This guy's archery skills were still not bad, and with this heavy artillery, at least they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked by third-tier or lower demonic birds during their trip outside the valley. As for fourth-tier or higher, it was likely that they wouldn't even bother to pay attention to these two little brats who weren't even enough to fill a tooth gap.

  At this time, Rong Li was still in the dark. Although he didn't understand Yueshou's behavior of buying a bow, he didn't say much. It wasn't until after losing a sparring match that he simply expressed his doubts about his young master's archery skills.

  At that time, Yue Yu was smiling lightly and then shot an arrow. At a distance of 400 steps, it pierced through ten falling leaves in succession and then heavily nailed itself to a giant tree with a trunk as thick as ten people could hug. This made Ruan Li suddenly surprised and uncertain, and for a while, he couldn't guess whether this was a coincidence or Yue Yu really had an astonishing archery skill.