It wasn't as good as I had thought; what to do about it was up to the village chief to decide.
So, after their exploration was done, Mountain Lord carried the group back to the forest not far from Qingshan Village.
Li Peng and the others returned first, while Wang Sheng stayed behind to pay the fee.
He took out five Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills and placed them in front of Mountain Lord, stroking its tiger head, he said, "Well done, here's an extra one for you. I'll seek your help again if there's anything in the future."
Having a "tiger chariot" in the woods was truly unbeatable; there was no need to worry about bushes, nor any concern about getting lost.
Mountain Lord roared, clearly pleased with the extra Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pill.
However, it also noticed the key point in Wang Sheng's words—seeking its help again?
Of course, as long as these magical pills were provided abundantly, it could safely transport ten or eight people to their destination without any issues.
As for Mountain Lord's pride, it was worthless in the face of strength enhancement.
With strength, why worry about losing face?
It had originally planned to leave this area after this done deal, especially since it was no match for this human, and it had noticed that the human seemed particularly fond of its tiger skin, which could spell danger at any moment.
But now, it seemed that this person was quite decent, at least keeping promises and providing pills, so it might stay a bit longer.
Thinking this, Mountain Lord swallowed the five Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills and roared again to convey the message, "Call me again next time." Regardless of whether Wang Sheng understood or not, it simply left.
This time, it had gained quite a bit and needed to find a quiet place to properly digest the promoted Qi-Blood Power inside its body, hoping to enhance its strength further.
After watching Mountain Lord leave, Wang Sheng returned to his house.
Despite the brief duration of this trip into the mountains, the practical gains had been substantial.
First, his strength was clearly defined.
Mountain Lord was acknowledged to be comparable to a Third Grade Martial Artist.
He had defeated Mountain Lord without risking his life, which meant his strength surpassed that of Mountain Lord, perhaps reaching that of a Fourth Grade Martial Artist.
However, Mountain Lord's techniques were limited and besides what seemed like a mental attack technique, it mostly used its physical strength and, much like him, likely had scant real combat experience.
These factors were sufficient to downgrade the perceived strength grade of Mountain Lord in his mind.
Comparing himself, his strength might be—
"Up to Third Grade Martial Artist, highly likely Second Grade Martial Artist."
Wang Sheng made a somewhat uncertain judgment about his strength.
According to his understanding, it was better to underestimate one's strength when estimating it and never overestimate.
Overall, when facing an enemy, it was prudent to appear a grade lower in strength than the enemy, while actually possessing higher capabilities.
This approach could effectively reduce troubles while also confusing the enemy.
Many protagonists could turn the tables on their foes primarily because their actual strength was higher than it appeared.
Wang Sheng felt this was worth learning, of course, without adopting troublesome habits such as inviting troubles.
Being able to upgrade to a Second Grade Martial Artist within a few months was indeed worth celebrating as it significantly enhanced his self-defense capabilities.
In these chaotic times, the stronger the better.
Besides confirming his strength, another gain was the improvement in his skills.
"Bajiquan; Level 8 (25%)"
The previous level of Bajiquan was six.
Within two days, it had directly advanced to level eight.
Considering what had transpired over these two days, Wang Sheng felt there was only one possibility.
"Actual combat really does offer significant advancements in martial arts skills!"
Bajiquan, a type of national martial arts, advanced best through actual combat.
Even Wang Sheng hadn't anticipated that just a single fight lasting less than three minutes would boost the progress of Bajiquan so much.
"It's a pity, I only discovered this upon returning to the village."
He realized the advancement of Bajiquan after parting with Mountain Lord and on his way home.
Otherwise, he would have engaged Mountain Lord in more sparring sessions to push towards his first breakthrough limit.
But no matter, there would still be opportunities next time.
Far in a cave beyond the jungle, Mountain Lord, despite the robust Qi-Blood from the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills, shuddered subconsciously—it felt like someone was thinking about it.
Could that person still be thinking about its tiger skin?
It had to enhance its strength quickly; as long as its strength was sufficient, that person wouldn't be able to do anything against it.
Human, you will regret providing me with these "resources".
What was lost, must be reclaimed!
Each with their own thoughts, no one came looking, and Wang Sheng returned to his peaceful routine.
He alternated practice between Bajiquan and Inner Core Skill and accelerated the progress of Qi Rushing to the Disease.
While improving his skills, he also kept up with the cultivation of medicinal plants, even increasing the cultivation time due to greater consumption.
Not only that, but he also spent some time studying healing medicine.
This was an inspiration from Mountain Lord.
When he used Sichuan lovage to alleviate Mountain Lord's pain, he thought that he might also get injured in the future, whether from external or internal wounds, and he'd need a way to treat them.
For external injuries, he thought of the renowned golden sore medicine.
This medicine, commonly mentioned in novels, actually existed in reality, though the original version had been lost due to various reasons.
Wang Sheng remembered a publicly disclosed formula, which only specified the necessary medicinal components; the actual method of preparation would need to be figured out by Wang Sheng based on his understanding of the ingredients.
But that was unavoidable, as he wasn't a god and couldn't remember all the formulations; he had only researched the golden sore medicine out of interest in martial arts novels, not remembering the other external injury formulations.
In fact, if possible, he would have preferred to create Black Jade Discontinuation Ointment, but unfortunately, that substance was fictional.
Then there were the medicines for treating internal and hidden injuries.
The best choice would actually be Yunnan White Medicine, but it was a state-secret formula that Wang Sheng didn't have the influence to obtain in his previous life, so he settled for some folk formulas he remembered.
Speaking of which, they were primarily composed of a few main traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients that activated blood circulation and cleared meridians, supplemented with some minor ingredients.
These main ingredients were Panax notoginseng, saffron, and myrrh.
All these were very effective for internal injuries.
The injuries inflicted by Wang Sheng on Mountain Lord previously were merely alleviated with Sichuan lovage, but if these three were used, it wouldn't be fully cured but would come close.
"There are still quite a few medicinal materials missing!"
He had asked Li Yongfeng to bring some seeds of the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pill plants, as well as many other seeds.
But upon recalling, there still seemed to be some missing, which he needed to buy.
"I have to get busy again. I wonder if they are still available..."
But for the sake of cultivation, everything was worth it!