Elite Warrior

Snowflakes drifted down in a flurry, laying a white carpet across heaven and earth. Wu Yuntian and his son Su Hao stood side by side beneath the eaves, quietly watching this silent world.

At times like this, there was never any shortage of children playing in the snow. Yet today was especially unusual. Even He Qingqing and the other children, who were usually the rowdiest, did not go outside to play.

Wu Yuntian glanced down at Su Hao and sighed inwardly. This child is good in every way, except that he matured too early. This should be the age when he loves to play, yet he is so calm and quiet. I do not know whether that is good or bad.

His wife had died protecting this child. He should have harbored some dissatisfaction and resentment toward Su Hao, but at some point, he had already let it go. The bitterness in his heart had long since scattered on the wind, replaced by expectations for the child's future.

Su Hao stood quietly beside Wu Yuntian, rarely taking the time to calmly appreciate such an uncommon snowfall. He did not know what his father was thinking or why he remained silent, but he was happy enough with it. Each of them enjoyed the spiritual pleasure brought by watching the snow.

After a long while, Wu Yuntian spoke first. "Martial Artists are people who break the balance of their bodies and thereby obtain greater power. A Martial Artist's cultivation begins with comprehending Blood Qi, then continuously converting and accumulating it, breaking through one's own limits and climbing step by step toward higher realms. But every improvement for a Martial Artist is incomparably difficult. Xiangwu, you have encountered your first obstacle already, have you not?"

Su Hao came back to himself. After thinking for a moment, he nodded. "That's right. The amount of Blood Qi I have now seems to have reached the limit my body can bear. Although I can still continue converting Blood Qi, not only would that fail to increase my strength, it would instead injure me. So my question is, what should I do next?"

Wu Yuntian sighed, a rare expression for him. "For ordinary people, there are three obstacles. The first is the accumulation of Blood Qi. Everyone understands Blood Qi differently, so the speed of accumulation varies. To reach your level, ordinary people generally need five to eight years of accumulation. Those who are slower need even longer.

"The second obstacle is the Blood Qi bottleneck. Once Blood Qi reaches a certain level of accumulation, it forms a new balance within the body. At that point, it cannot continue accumulating. That balance must be broken before Blood Qi can continue to build up.

"The third obstacle is the one you have encountered now. Once Blood Qi reaches the physical body's limit, it can no longer be strengthened. At that time, there are two methods. The first is to increase the body's strength, raising the body's limit. The second is to change the nature of Blood Qi, allowing it to develop new functions and thereby increase the body's Explosive Force.

"For example..."

Saying that, Wu Yuntian casually brushed through the snow, picked up a dead branch, and gave it a light shake. The snow on the branch fell to the ground.

"Watch carefully!"

The branch shot forward and plunged deeply into a stone.

Su Hao's eyes went wide. A brittle dead branch had pierced hard stone. For someone who believed in science, it was truly somewhat unimaginable.

"That's incredible! Is this what an Elite Warrior can do?"

Wu Yuntian nodded with a faint smile. "That is indeed a characteristic of an Elite Warrior. Do you find it difficult to understand?"

Su Hao nodded, then impatiently asked, "Father, how did you do that?"

Wu Yuntian handed the dead branch to Su Hao. Once Su Hao took it, he continued, "Look at this branch. Can it pierce through stone?"

Su Hao tried it and honestly said, "No."

"Indeed, it cannot. No matter what, a dead branch cannot possibly pierce stone. So what pierced the stone just now was not the branch. It was Blood Qi!"

"Blood Qi? Why can Blood Qi be transmitted into the branch? Isn't the nature of Blood Qi a type of energy substance inside the body?"

Wu Yuntian shook his head. "I do not understand what you mean, but transmitting Blood Qi into a branch is indeed very difficult. This is also the hurdle for an Ordinary Martial Artist to advance into an Elite Warrior, but it is not impossible."

Su Hao asked with a face full of expectation, "How?"

Wu Yuntian did not beat around the bush and answered directly, "Make Blood Qi move."

"Huh?" Su Hao was dumbfounded. By his understanding, Blood Qi was like some organ within the body. Telling that organ to move—wasn't that a joke? But Wu Yuntian had no intention of joking and continued explaining, "Make the Blood Qi inside your body move. Moving Blood Qi creates new changes. At that point, Blood Qi can easily be transmitted outside the body and become lethal. Like the branch piercing the stone that you just saw—the essence of it was that the special Blood Qi I transmitted into the branch pierced through the stone."

Su Hao fell into thought. It sounded fairly plausible, but it was also rather mystical.

Su Hao asked his final question. "Then how do I make Blood Qi move?"

Wu Yuntian crouched down and placed both hands on Su Hao's shoulders. With great seriousness, he said, "Xiangwu, do not think about breaking through to become an Elite Warrior yet. Your body is too frail right now. Rashly breaking through to become an Elite Warrior may not be a good thing. Do you understand what I mean?"

Seeing his father's grave expression, Su Hao could not help but nod. "I understand."

"I do not doubt in the slightest that you can easily break through to the Elite Realm. I am worried that your body is too frail to withstand even the slightest risk. Your Blood Qi is already sufficient for now. Next, patiently wait for your body to grow. Once you have a strong enough physique, I will teach you the method of advancing into an Elite Warrior."

"Mm!" Su Hao nodded in agreement, then asked, "Then when will my body be strong enough?"

Wu Yuntian looked at Su Hao for a long time, unable to decide what counted as a strong enough body. This was his first time encountering such a problem, and he did not actually know either. So he casually gave an approximate time. "Three years! I'll teach you in three years."

"Alright." Su Hao did not doubt him and nodded in agreement.

He was now at the High-Rank Ordinary Warrior stage, and that was already more than enough for self-defense. Having three years to slow down and properly study Blood Qi was not a bad thing. Besides, Wu Yuntian was right. He was only a little over four years old, and his body was indeed too frail. Even if the slightest accident occurred during martial training, this fragile body had no ability to withstand risk. If he rushed ahead, the Coyote might not carry him off, but he might carry himself off instead.

For Su Hao, managing his life meant managing risk. When unknown risks outweighed the risks of martial training, he would take the risk of training to gain greater power. But when the risks of martial training outweighed everything else, he would choose to stop training.

Wu Yuntian thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Then for the next three years, learn martial techniques from me! When there is time, I'll take you out into the wilderness."

Su Hao's eyes lit up, and he immediately shouted, "Thank you, Father!"

"You will have to suffer a little."

"I'm not afraid of hardship."

Wu Yuntian nodded. Looking at the wind and snow filling the sky, he did not know whether this decision was right or wrong.