Hearing that name, many of the remaining contestants were confused. The amount of youth above the sixth rank of body tempering were just a handful, thus everyone knew who those were, but the name Yang Bin wasn't familiar to anyone.
"We did it! We did it!" A cheer cut through the confusion. Jumping up and down, Yang Mengyao excitedly gave Yang Bin a bear hug.
There was a shocked expression on his face. Even though he had been dreaming of this for many nights, he didn't expect it to actually happen. It felt so surreal to him, that he couldn't feel the pain on his arm and hand.
"Well done, Yang Bin." Yang Yugang was also impressed. "Against all the odds, you managed to succeed. Your cultivation base was the lowest out of everyone here, but with your cunning tactics, you managed to come first."
As if his praise had set off a switch, Yang Bin suddenly cheered. "Yes!" Ignoring the bandages, he pumped his fist, as others looked at him in envy.
"That concludes the event. Your rewards will be delivered to you tomorrow morning." Yang Yugang continued. "I hope that all of you are aware of the academy entrance exam coming up in four months."
His words were like cold water that dosed Yang Bin's excitement. The academy entrance exam was what truly mattered. If he doesn't make it in, he'll need to wait an entire year for the next chance. To make matters worse, the exam will be much more difficult than this event, since, not only is it a solo fight, all external help is banned, which includes rune, pills, and pets.
"I hope that all of you will use your rewards wisely and not squander it." Yang Yugang looked at all of them seriously. His gaze lingered on Yang Bin a bit longer than others. "I want to see a few of you to be in the Qi Condensing Stage before the start of the exams. You are dismissed." With that said, he soared up and flew away.
Shortly after he left, the parents came.
Seeing Li Jing off in the distance, Yang Bin and Yang Mengyao excitedly waved and rushed to her.
"Mom! Mom! Guess what happened!" Yang Mengyao exclaimed.
Li Jing gave a gentle smile. "It looks like you have good news? Did you win something?"
They nodded their heads vigorously and simultaneously cheered. "We won first!"
Li Jing was taken aback. "Really?"
"Yeah! We started by running into the center…" Yang Mengyao passionately gave a summary of everything that transpired during the event with a bit of exaggeration. "And before it ended, we managed to find some insect type initial stage demon beast, bringing our points to 87."
Hearing her story, Li Jing smiled widely. "Great job you two! I'm so proud of both of you. Tell your dad when he comes back from work." She applauded.
The two beamed at her.
"And here's a pill for your injuries, Little Bin." Li Jing passed Yang Bin a jade pill bottle.
Graciously accepting the bottle, Yang Bin popped a pill into his mouth.
After that, the three walked home with Yang Mengyao chattering about plans for the money.
****
Evening, at home.
"Dad, guess what rank we achieved!" Yang Bin exclaimed enthusiastically.
Yang Gang, who was leisurely reading a book on the couch, shot Yang Bin a quick glance. Seeing the smile on his face, Yang Gang gave a short answer, "Fifth."
"Wrong!" The grin on Yang Bin's face became wider.
Raising his eyebrow every so slightly, Yang Gang studied Yang Bin's face again. "Third." He replied in the same nonchalant manner.
"Wrong again! We won first!" Yang Bin couldn't contain it any longer.
Surprised, Yang Gang put his book down and stared into Yang Bin's eyes, as if trying to deduce whether he was lying or not. In the end, he determined that Yang Bin's smile and words were genuine, and his lip curled upwards.
"Good." After that, Yang Gang resumed reading his book.
"Huh?" Yang Bin stood there and gawked at him. He had expected his father to act surprised and applaud him, but all he got was a short and careless response. This reaction was a little too underwhelming. It was like Yang Gang had expected Yang Bin to win first.
As if Yang Gang knew what Yang Bin was thinking, he questioned him, "Hm? What's the matter? Didn't you say that you'll come back in first? You acted so confident back then."
Yang Bin was speechless. Yes, he may have perhaps boasted a little too much, but holding him to such a high expectation was a little unreasonable, no?
"The rewards for being first were two rank 1 pills and 30 gold, right? Don't worry, I'll take a look around the city and see what I can buy for the two of you with that much money." Yang Gang continued without looking up.
"Actually about that..." Yang Bin scratched his head. "Mengyao decided to give me the two pills, and in return, took 20 to go on a shopping spree with mom tomorrow."
Closing his book, Yang Gang silently stared at him. "So… You are saying you only have 10 gold left?" He slowly spoke.
"Yeah." Yang Bin cautiously nodded his head. He couldn't tell if his father was disappointed in him.
There was a moment of silence, as Yang Gang thought deeply. "I have an idea. Give me the 10 gold and then the beast core of the advanced stage demon beast you hunted a few days ago. Added together, the value should be around 14 gold, and I'll see what I can do with it."
Hearing that, Yang Bin's eyes lit up. He still had the beast core of the advanced stage wolf beast he slain. "Alright!" Yang Bin ran to his room to retrieve it and hand it over to Yang Gang.
Holding the beast core, Yang Gang briefly studied it and nodded. "Alright, leave the rest to me."
Yang Bin thanked him and left.
Rubbing his chin, Yang Gang muttered to himself, "14 gold is barely anything. Using 20 gold to shop though, do they intend to replace their entire closet?"
****
In the morning, a magic beast delivered the rewards to their doorsteps. Immediately after seeing the gold, Yang Mengyao pestered Li Jing and Yang Gang to go shopping. Yang Bin chose not to follow them, as he wanted to cultivate with the rank 1 pills and attempt to reach the sixth rank.
Sitting cross-legged in his room, Yang Bin stared at the two pills in front of him. These basic cultivation pills… Why do they seem so lacking? He wondered.
After tasting the effects of the pill Yang Gang gave him, Yang Bin was full of expectations of these pills. Yet when he studied them, he felt let down. Unlike the vitality pill he ate before, it didn't have any eye catching colors, just a mundane brown. He could barely feel the qi radiating from it.
He didn't realize that the pill Yang Gang gave him was a upper grade rank 2 pill, and the ones in front of him were just middle grade rank 1 pills. The difference between the two was massive.
Let's not judge a book by its cover. Yang Bin thought, as he put one in his mouth and closed his eyes. After he swallowed it, he waited for the pill to take effect. It took an entire minute for Yang Bin to feel any changes in his body.
When he started feeling the warmth, he immediately activated his meridians to devour the qi, but as it went on, Yang Bin frowned a little. The amount was too meager! The efficacy of this pill was less than one tenth of the vitality pill!
About two hours later, Yang Bin opened his eyes with a discontent expression. This is too useless! He thought. At this rate, I'll need to consume 4 of these to move to the next rank. How am I supposed to reach the 9th rank at this pace?
If there was anyone that heard his words, they would furiously scold him for being ungrateful. Despite the help of pills and resources, it was difficult for ordinary people to go up even a single rank every other month, yet Yang Bin was discontent for not being able to improve in one.
Looks like I'll need to find another approach to improve. Yang Bin thought, as he popped the second pill into his mouth. Another two hours later, the effects were gone, and a disgruntled Yang Bin went outside to practice his techniques.
Later on that evening, the rest of the family came home holding heaps of cloth. While Yang Mengyao and Li Jing were celebrating, Yang Gang handed Yang Bin a pill bottle.
"I couldn't find much for the amount you have. This is just a rank 1 pill. It should be a little better than the ones our clan gave you though." Yang Gang explained.
Yang Bin looked at the pill bottle in his hand, and suddenly an idea flashed through his head. "Dad, teach me how to hunt demon beasts!"