Chapter 2: The Perilous World

  After two months of living in a new environment after being reborn and waking up, Yue Yu had a general impression of the new surroundings around her.

  Without a doubt, this world, at least in this region, is a strange and extremely dangerous place!

  You can look up to the sky at any time, and various birds of prey with magical powers are flying in the sky. In addition, there are countless strange beasts that devour humans everywhere, rushing around wildly. To the extent that ordinary human beings can hardly survive alone in this world.

  In fact, apart from this Dark Winged Lightning Eagle, seventeen days ago, Yue Yu had also seen with his own eyes a Longtooth Magic Elephant that had intruded into their manor to forage for food being surrounded and killed by thirty clansmen and nearly a hundred servants. According to what he later found out, this fellow was only ranked second-rate middle-tier at the bottom of the Divine State's demon beast rankings, with just one kick it could stir up waves of air and cause numerous stone spears to shoot out from the ground.

  It is said that the divine state's demon beasts have fifteen levels, but above the sixth level, no one has seen them for thousands of years, so many people think they don't exist at all. In fact, even the sixth and fifth-level demon beasts are quite terrifying, every time one appears, it will cause blood to flow within a thousand miles. Only congenital martial artists can match them.

  So here, the weak rely on the strong, which is a natural law. In addition, in this world, it's not just about respecting only the strong, collective consciousness, especially clan consciousness, is also very strong.

  Taking the current location of the Yue family as an example, within a radius of 500 miles, almost all individuals with their own industries rely on the Yue family for survival. These people provide certain taxes and tributes to the Yue family and enjoy their protection. The reason lies in the fact that within their clan, there are three eighth-level martial artists, and more than 425 first-level martial artists above, in addition to about 800 servants and guests who have reached this standard and serve the family, making them the strongest military force in this region.

  By the way, there are three levels of martial arts in this world: nine levels of warriors, nine levels of masters, and then the Pre-Heavenly Martial Ancestor. It is said that above these, there exist immortals who can enter and exit the Blue Sky and ride on clouds. However, Yue Yu himself has never seen them, and others are also half-believing and half-doubting, so they can only be regarded as a legend along with those level-ten or higher demon beasts.

  Yue Yu's current level is a second-level warrior, which is also the most frustrating and helpless place for him now. If it weren't for those few Yue family night watchmen and Ruan Li by his side, he would almost have no ability to protect himself.

  A second-class martial artist, to put it bluntly, is only slightly stronger than those farmers in the village of Yue. And within a radius of 500 miles around the village of Yue, there are at least two million people with skills like his, and possibly as many as three million. As for those above the second class, they number in the tens of millions.

  Fortunately, the higher-ups of the Yue family also knew that cultivating the martial skills of their younger generations and constantly expanding their foundation was the way to ensure their own power and influence would endure. Therefore, although Yue Yu's abilities were pitifully weak, his identity as a member of the Yue family was enough to earn him reverence from countless people within the Yue family castle, and he enjoyed a life of luxury that only martial artists of a certain level could attain.

  Actually, he had already guessed it when he first woke up that day. His living environment shouldn't be bad. The green-tiled house where he lived was spacious and bright, with a marble floor paved with large stone bricks. In ancient times, only the landlord class could enjoy such treatment. And in this world, it's even more rare. Moreover, his 'mother' wore a silk skirt made of brocade, although the fabric looked dull and lusterless, but in ancient times it was also a rare treasure. Everything indicates that the 'body' he is currently in should at least belong to a small wealthy class or above.

  In fact, Yue Yu's current name is under a two-story quadrangle courtyard with more than 20 rooms. Outside the city, there are about 500 mu of good fields, as well as three servants and fifteen tenant households that work for him.

  These were all left behind by his father, who had 'died' several years ago in the legend of Yue Yuana when he was fighting a fourth-level demon beast. It's called a legend because no one saw his body at that time. However, at that time, Yue Yuana's father was indeed fighting on the front line, and after the battle, it was unclear who was whose remains, so the clan just assumed he had died in battle. Therefore, apart from these legacies, Yue Yuana also enjoyed the support of 500 mu of clan property until he came of age. And in other aspects, he also received some treatments that others of his age did not have.

  However, this does not mean that Yue Yu can rest easy. If this were a normal world, these properties would be enough to make him live a life of luxury. The problem is that although the Yue family is very good to their own clan's younger generation, in an environment where monsters roam free, they cannot afford to raise an idle person with large amounts of land and resources.

  According to the family rules, if Yuke doesn't reach 7th level warrior before turning 20, the inherited property will be halved. If he can't even reach 5th level, he'll be stripped of all inheritance rights and only left with 20 acres of land to spend the rest of his life.

  So now, Yue Yu's first thing to do every day at dawn is to bring Ran Li, who looks like a young version of Zhang Fei, to the martial arts training ground in the clan to train his own martial arts. This is both due to the family's requirements for each child in the clan and the needs of reality.

  In this world, a martial artist's ranking is determined not only by their internal energy but also by the standard of their actual combat skills. If Yue Yu wants to inherit this family property, then no matter whether it's palm techniques or sword skills, he must have at least one that reaches the level of a 7th rank martial artist.

  If it were in the past life, the output of these hundreds of acres of land would not even reach the living standard of a wandering beggar. But here, Yue Yu clearly knew that they were his absolutely necessary foundation for survival.

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  The martial arts arena was located on the west side of this small town, a spacious earthen platform of about five hundred square meters. The ground was soft and free of any rocks, which prevented children from getting hurt when they fell. As usual, when Yue Yu arrived here at four o'clock in the morning, there were already many boys of his age or even younger practicing their sword skills. Many people were already drenched in sweat, apparently having practiced for more than an hour.

  Among these young men, a small number were members of the Yue family, while the rest were either sons of Yue family servants or guests. If they showed some talent, they would be allowed to practice here. In addition, there were about twenty rotating warriors from the seventh to ninth levels who served as instructors and guided these young brothers.

  As expected, Yue Yu and Ran Li had just stepped into the courtyard when they attracted dozens of white eyes. Most of them came from adult warriors, with envy and a hint of contempt in their eyes. However, these people were some foreign surname slaves, while the native warriors were more resentful and helpless.

  Yue Yu first smiled at these instructors, then very quietly took an iron wooden sword from the weapon rack and walked to a corner of the practice field to start practicing. As for Rong Li, another instructor led him aside to guide him. This young servant had extraordinary talent, not only possessing great physical strength but also showing exceptional aptitude in internal energy cultivation. Before the age of twenty, he might very well be promoted to martial artist. Therefore, within the clan, he was actually more favored than his own master.

  In fact, if it weren't for Ran Li himself being unwilling, he would have been transferred to the Blood Refining Hall by now. That place is said to be within the clan and is specifically used to cultivate those excellent servants born into the family. Being able to enter that place basically means that one will definitely become a very promising martial artist in the future.