Becoming a First-Rate Martial Artist!

Everyone knew that one needed martial arts, needed martial arts techniques, to practice martial arts and climb step by step toward higher Martial Dao Realms. Yet they did not know that beneath it all lay the most fundamental limitation: Talent Aptitude!

(The missing setting here is still in the "Author's Note.")

In Year 297 of Daqing, the Advanced Martial Art, "Flowing River Technique," reached Initiation.

Flowing River Technique differed from Iron Body Technique. Before reaching Second-Rate, you could at most train this martial art to the depth of "Initiation," granting yourself a little extra bodily flexibility and recovery.

This martial art mainly enhanced Internal Energy! At the stages of Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Perfection, it would provide additional boosts to your Internal Force or the Force Qi of a First-rate Martial Artist.

You marveled at how formidable an Advanced Martial Art was. After your entire Foundation transformed into the shape of "Flowing River Technique," even with only the additional boost of Initiation, your current strength surpassed "Major Accomplishment Water Dragon Skill."

Moreover, Flowing River Technique came equipped with dedicated Combat Techniques, making it far more suitable than those haphazardly assembled combinations.

In Year 298 of Dazhong, at the age of forty-three, your Foundation reached 157%. Your Blood and Qi were like a Furnace. Without any danger, thrill, or Near-Death Breakthrough, you relied on your purely powerful Foundation and your Veteran Second-rate Martial Cultivation, built up through long accumulation, to naturally project your Internal Force outward and transform it into Force Qi.

Tianhe Martial Hall held a Martial Celebration Banquet for you. More than half the martial artists in all of Yangxue City attended. You sat blankly in the seat of honor, suddenly realizing that you had become quite an impressive figure, worthy of being called a Renowned Figure of one region.

Yet just as the celebratory banquet was about to end in Perfection, someone came to smash the place up. The other party was an outsider martial artist. Tianhe Martial Hall had never expected that the invitation they sent out in goodwill would bring them an unwelcome guest.

That martial artist was named Wang Ye. Known as the Purple Shadow Sword, he was a martial artist who had only recently arrived in Yangxue City. No one knew his exact strength, but they knew clearly that he was at least a First-rate Martial Artist!

First-rate Martial Artists were roughly divided into three stages. First came the hallmark External Qi Projection, then Extreme Viscera Enhancement, which strengthened the internal organs, and the final step was Vital Energy Infused into Bone.

Extreme Viscera Enhancement merely increased one's resistance to blows and the functionality of the internal organs, shoring up weaknesses. The quality of one's Force Qi, along with the final step of Vital Energy Infused into Bone, were the primary factors affecting a First-rate Martial Artist's combat strength.

Wang Ye stepped forward on the spot, drew a longsword with an unfriendly gaze, and demanded a match with you. But who among those present did not know that he intended to sweep away your face and defeat you when the spring breeze of success was at your back?

You did not know which stage Wang Ye had reached, but even if he had not yet achieved Vital Energy Infused into Bone, the total amount of Force Qi he possessed should still have exceeded that of someone newly promoted.

But you had no fear and gladly accepted. Though you had only just broken through and your martial art was merely at Initiation, you were no weakling among First-rate Martial Artists!

First, your base Foundation was already equivalent to that of an ordinary person. With the 1.57-fold enhancement, it far surpassed the minimum threshold for a First-rate Martial Artist's breakthrough—not to mention the Foundation transformation bonus from the Advanced Martial Art, "Flowing River Technique"!

Second, you were not the sort of First-rate Martial Artist who achieved a "Combat Breakthrough" or a "Near-Death Breakthrough," forcing Internal Force to project outward. You were a breakthrough practitioner at the overflowing level, whose Internal Force had simply become so abundant that it naturally projected outward!

With both advantages combined, you would not fear even experts who had been First-Rate for years, or even a decade!

After you accepted the challenge, the martial artists present immediately retreated, clearing an open space dozens of meters wide for the two of you to fight.

Wang Ye thrust out with his sword. A layer of purple Force Qi clung to the treasured blade in his hand, taking the form of Sword Aura and extending an extra half foot. Wherever the Sword Aura passed, even the air gave off the sound of being torn apart.

What you brought down, meanwhile, was the Hundred Refinements Steel Saber that had accompanied you for decades. You layered vast amounts of milky white Force Qi tinged with blue over the blade. Unlike Wang Ye's refined swordsmanship, your saber technique was broad and sweeping.

When saber and sword collided, a trace of disdain surfaced in Wang Ye's eyes. He reversed his sword's momentum. The longsword was as light and nimble as a butterfly skimming past a beast's fangs. It slanted aside from the saber technique's savage strike, while the Sword Aura had already driven straight toward your chest!

Yet the Force Qi you had layered on in great sheets, clinging to the Hundred Refinements Steel Saber like a sheath around the blade, was not the clumsy sort of brute force that could smash bricks with sheer strength. It employed Flowing River Technique's dedicated Combat Technique—Breath Dyeing!

Your Force Qi locked down Wang Ye's Force Qi and longsword. The force applied in that instant made it difficult for him to control the Green Peak Sword in his hand. The Sword Aura abruptly halted three inches from your chest, and you had long been waiting for this very moment!

You lowered yourself and surged forward, allowing the Sword Aura to pierce through the corner of your clothes while your saber's edge slashed across Wang Ye's right arm!

A blood-colored saber aura streaked through the air, leaving a crimson line across the retinas of the martial artists present. This strike was not fatal. Wang Ye, too, was a martial artist who had weathered a hundred battles. A moment of contempt did not mean he would remain heedless forever. That slash had only torn a bloody wound half an inch deep into his right arm. Wang Ye staggered back several steps, and your notion of deciding victory with one strike vanished like smoke.

The two of you stared each other down, carefully searching for flaws in the other before striking again. Purple Force Qi and pale blue Force Qi reflected one another, making the entire battle as dazzling as a performance—but if an ordinary person truly wandered onto this stage, they would be chopped into pieces in the blink of an eye!

As time wore on, after more than a hundred exchanges, your Force Qi was nearly depleted, and Wang Ye had little left as well. Sword light and saber edges still flashed amid the strikes, but that was no longer the power of Force Qi—it was sunlight reflected from the smooth surfaces of steel.

Yun Shou: "The budget's burned through. They've started pinching pennies on special effects."