However, Samuel Thompson's family background is much better than Adam Harper's.

Although the head jailer’s monthly pay is just as meager, he has plenty of extra income.

Whenever a family wants to visit someone in prison, they have to slip the head jailer some money.

Adam Harper took a sip of vegetable soup, forced down a bite of rye bun, and said, “Martial arts aren’t the same as martial cultivation realms—there’s no real entry standard.

All the standards are with the master; what we need to do is master the boxing techniques as much as possible. We don’t need to be perfect, just better than the others.”

Samuel Thompson scratched his head. “Makes sense. Our martial arts school has just over a hundred people; the master probably won’t eliminate half of us.

Hey, Adam Harper, how come I feel like you’ve changed a bit after not seeing you for a day? But I can’t quite say what’s different.”

“If I’ve changed, it’s just that I’ve gotten more handsome. Don’t overthink it—go home and practice your boxing as soon as you can.

If you fail the big test in three days, your dad’s going to beat you to death.”

Although Samuel Thompson’s family has some savings, the tuition for the martial arts school is enough to make his father bleed money.

Adam Harper finished his rye bun in a few bites, tossed his food bowl to Samuel Thompson, and left the martial arts school.

After returning home, Adam Harper took off his sweat-soaked clothes to change into a fresh set.

But as soon as he took off his clothes, he suddenly froze.

A silver note worth ten taels fell out from the inner lining.

Where did this money come from?

In his memory, after Adam Harper’s father’s funeral, he was left with nothing but bare walls, not even a single coin to his name.

Sometimes after morning classes, he would go to the city gate to help merchant caravans carry heavy loads—one load for one coin, barely enough to earn a meal.

Now, one tael of silver is about five hundred coins; for an ordinary person, earning one tael a month is already pretty good.

Adam Harper’s father, as a county yamen clerk, only made three taels a month.

Ten taels of silver is a huge sum for Adam Harper—where could he have gotten so much money?

Rubbing his head, Adam Harper felt that the memory he lost that day might be crucial.

With his personality, he would never have gone outside the city alone into danger for no reason.

What did he do that night to get ten taels of silver?

But his memory was too hazy, and Adam Harper didn’t have much time to ponder these things.

The immediate problem was how to deal with the big test.

After half a year of training at the martial arts school, Adam Harper hadn’t been slacking off.

But some kids from wealthy families have been pampered with good food and drink since childhood, so they’re naturally strong and healthy.

After starting internal training, they can afford all kinds of spiritual herbs to assist with medicinal baths, so their progress is naturally faster.

Just one set of herbs for those medicinal baths costs over a hundred taels of silver.

Pills work even faster, but are even more expensive—the lowest grade costs five hundred taels a bottle.

Meanwhile, Adam Harper has to carry heavy loads for merchant caravans to make a living while also training in martial arts. Being able to open forty-one acupoints is already his limit.

Since ancient times, it’s always been “poor scholars, rich warriors”—the martial path requires not just hard work, but also money.

For Adam Harper right now, the good news is that he’s at least come into a windfall of ten taels of silver, so he doesn’t have to waste time carrying heavy loads anymore.

But the bad news is, he only has three days left to train as hard as he can.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Adam Harper began practicing the Iron Elephant Technique, not wanting to waste a single moment.

As the name suggests, the Iron Elephant Technique, when mastered, grants the strength of an iron elephant—breaking stones and splitting monuments is nothing.

Its internal force is steady and heavy, a type of internal skill that simply builds raw strength—one of the more basic and clumsy types.

As the internal energy flowed through his body, Adam Harper’s muscles and bones trembled, and large beads of sweat rolled down.

In the end, his strength suddenly dissipated, and he failed to break through the acupoint.

Adam Harper opened his eyes and gave a bitter smile.

“This body’s talent really is pretty average.”

Adam Harper didn’t know if his comprehension had improved after transmigrating, but his physical talent definitely hadn’t.

After resting for a while and regaining his strength, Adam Harper resumed training to break through the acupoint.

For three days, Adam Harper attended morning classes at the martial arts school, practicing the Vajra Fist.

After class, he would go home to train the Iron Elephant Technique, working hard to open more acupoints.

The entire Zhenwei Martial Arts School was filled with a heavy atmosphere.

Even Samuel Thompson, who was usually lazy and talkative, didn’t have time for small talk—he just trained every day.

But on the night before the big test, Adam Harper was dismayed to find that he had only managed to open one more acupoint in three days.

He was still eight acupoints short of the fifty required, and he also needed to open a meridian.

Summoning the Taotie Furnace and looking at the lifelike Taotie dragon pattern on it, Adam Harper fell into deep thought.

Should he sacrifice the Taotie Furnace for a chance to advance in his training?

If he got expelled from the martial arts school, he wouldn’t starve right away, but he’d lose the chance to continue training in peace.

But was it really worth sacrificing a part of his own body for a quick boost?

As Adam Harper pondered, he suddenly said, “The Taotie Furnace accepts anything—could I sacrifice my sense of pain?”

The three souls and seven spirits, arms and legs—those obviously can’t be sacrificed, nor can lifespan, and Adam Harper didn’t want to shorten his life for nothing.

So he only considered sacrificing things like emotions and desires.

Suddenly, Adam Harper realized that the sense of pain didn’t seem all that useful.

In fact, if he sacrificed his sense of pain, he might even gain an advantage in combat.