Skin, Flesh, Bone, Blood

"Foundations of the martial path were divided into four barriers: Skin, Flesh, Bone, and Blood. I'm sure you've all heard of them. But if you ask me, it wasn't so complicated—it all came down to one basic word: 'temper.'"

"Temper?"

"Right. Temper. Temper yourself desperately, make your strength greater and greater, until ordinary people were injured by brushing against you and killed by touching you. Then you could be called a grandmaster of a generation."

Following behind Xiang ChangSong, Liang Qu could not help baring his teeth at those words.

A body becoming saintly, huh? But the key was, how was he supposed to temper it?

The top athletes of the Olympics in his previous life had told Liang Qu that the human body had limits. Without special Dharma Gates, it was absolutely impossible to split steles and crack stones through the flesh alone.

Xiang ChangSong's next words proved the point.

"Of course, no matter how much ordinary people trained, there was still a limit. Being able to fight ten men was already the absolute peak. To break through that limit, there were two things you could not do without: methods and medicine!"

"Methods and medicine?"

"That's right. Methods meant Dharma Gates. For example, once you entered our Yang Martial Hall, you would be given the Three Fists Technique to practice. Only with a Dharma Gate did one have a staircase leading upward."

Liang Qu asked, "What about medicine?"

Xiang ChangSong replied, "Methods laid the staircase upward, but that staircase was steep! Dangerous! Rugged! So you needed railings to walk quickly, walk steadily, and avoid falling to pieces. That was medicine!"

"Since you came from Yi Xing City, you must have heard the news about the two Treasure Fish caught at Yi Xing City's docks yesterday, right?"

Liang Qu cupped his fists. "Senior Brother Xiang, to be honest, I caught one of those Treasure Fish—a Bullhorn Pomfret. It weighed over three jin and sold for six taels and five qian. Together with some savings, I barely scraped together enough silver to come study martial arts."

Xiang ChangSong paused, thinking of the seven taels that had just been paid. That was most likely the money from selling the Treasure Fish. He smiled. "Junior Brother Liang had quite the luck."

"That Treasure Fish was actually the medicine we needed. One Treasure Fish could nearly equal over a month of effort. There was also treasure meat and Treasure Plants. Anything that helped us temper our Qi and blood and improve our strength was medicine."

"For that reason, many Dharma Gates had matching medicinal formulas. They complemented one another and could produce an effect where one plus one was greater than two. Our Three Fists Technique, for instance, had one. Other Dharma Gates could also benefit from taking our formula, but the effects would not be as good as for those practicing the Three Fists Technique."

"Of course, if there was truly no other way, eating more meat was fine too. It could help a little, at least."

Liang Qu's thoughts began to stir.

He had no way of getting treasure meat, but Treasure Fish and Treasure Plants? Those were right up his alley!

There were countless Treasure Fish in the Jianghuai Marshlands. Fat Catfish could find two Treasure Fish in just a few days. If this went on, wouldn't he soar into the sky? Li LiBo beside him, however, grew somewhat silent.

Xiang ChangSong noticed this and was not surprised. Many people thought that entering a Martial Arts School meant they would surely achieve something, but that was completely wrong.

Poor scholars and wealthy martial artists; children raised on meat were naturally sturdier than those raised on bran and vegetables.

The two junior brothers came from ordinary families. They were probably feeling somewhat disheartened.

He did not strike at their spirits. Instead, he comforted them. "Junior Brother Li, there's no need to be upset. Lacking medicine did not mean the road of martial arts was destined to be difficult. Man proposes, and Heaven disposes; nothing was absolute. There was no shortage of geniuses in this world. Even without medicine, they could still advance quickly and steadily."

"Thank you, Senior Brother Xiang. I'll remember that."

Xiang ChangSong nodded and led the two farther inside. "The so-called Skin, Flesh, Bone, and Blood were the four barriers of the early martial path. Every time you broke through one, you gained different benefits, and climbed another level."

Through Xiang ChangSong's explanation, Liang Qu gained a deeper understanding of the four barriers.

Simply put, once the Skin Barrier was broken through, there would be no outward change, yet one's skin would become like oxhide—tough and unbreakable, with greatly increased defense.

Once the Flesh Barrier was broken through, one's strength would increase greatly. Supporting a person with one hand would be no trouble at all.

Once the Bone Barrier was broken through, one could unleash strength with greater abandon and truly split steles and crack stones.

Once the Blood Barrier was broken through, it would be like blazing fire poured with oil, like flowers blooming upon brocade—an all-around enhancement.

"If you could break through the Skin Barrier within three months, you could remain in the school for another two months. If you could break through within seventy days, you might have a chance to earn Master Yang's favor, become a true disciple, and learn deeper martial arts."

Those words rallied Li LiBo's spirits, setting his heart surging with excitement. Even Liang Qu could not help wanting to learn martial arts as quickly as possible.

Xiang ChangSong stopped. "This was the Martial Arts Field, and also where we usually interacted."

There were roughly thirty people in the Martial Arts Field. Some were practicing Standing Post, some were lifting stones, and some were sparring. The youngest looked even more youthful than Liang Qu, while the oldest were probably already in their thirties. Most were men, with several women among them. It looked like an oversized gymnasium.

Envy filled Liang Qu's eyes. Even if all thirty-odd people had only paid the lowest tuition of seven taels, that was over two hundred taels. Over two hundred taels every three months—wouldn't that be nearly a thousand taels a year? Enough to buy a large residence.

And that was a conservative estimate. Counting the turnover and those not currently in the Martial Arts Field, it would be even more exaggerated. When would he be able to lie down and make money too?

"During the last five days of every month, Master Yang will come here to personally teach martial arts. If you have any questions, you can ask him."

"We can't see Master Yang until the end of the month?" Li LiBo froze. He had thought that once he entered the Martial Arts School, he would receive instruction from a real Martial Master. This was it?

"What were we supposed to do normally?"

Xiang ChangSong did not answer immediately. Instead, he called out to a burly man lifting stones in the Martial Arts Field, "Senior Brother Hu!"

Liang Qu looked over curiously and was surprised to discover that it was the Martial Master surnamed Hu who had bought his fish yesterday. Truly, the world was full of coincidences.

Then again, the number of Martial Artists in all of Ping Yang Town was limited. Running into Hu Martial Master was not strange.

While waiting for Hu Martial Master to come over, Xiang ChangSong explained, "Normally, you will be taught by Master Yang's Personal Disciple, Senior Brother Hu. He is the Martial Master on duty this month. Senior Brother Hu is learned and highly skilled in martial arts. By the rules, you will both study under him from now on. All right, now that you've familiarized yourselves with the place, I need to return to the entrance to guard the gate and register people."

"Take care, Senior Brother Xiang."

Senior Brother Hu approached just then and looked over the Wooden Tokens. "Two junior brothers, I'm Hu Qi. From now on... Hm? It's you?"

Liang Qu cupped his fists. "We meet again, Senior Brother Hu."

After a moment's thought, Hu Qi understood the whole sequence of events and smiled. "I never expected such a coincidence. From now on, you two will study martial arts under me. But first, I need to examine your Root Bone."

"Root Bone!?"

Excitement appeared on Li LiBo's face. Could he be one of those legendary martial arts prodigies? Hu Qi knew exactly what he was thinking from his expression. "It wasn't that mystical. A good Root Bone did mean faster training and heavier, fiercer force in the fists you threw, but it wasn't absolute. It could not completely represent one's talent.

"Besides, our Three Fists Technique actually contained three fist arts: tiger, crane, and ape. You could choose a suitable main practice based on your Root Bone. That was also something the other two Martial Arts Schools did not have."

With that, Hu Qi pulled Li LiBo's hand over and felt his wrist bones, shoulder, and hip bones. Finally, he said, "Bear with it."

Hu Qi inserted two fingers and felt Li LiBo's spine.

Liang Qu's eyelids twitched. Hearing Li LiBo suck in a cold breath, he knew it hurt badly.

He had watched a movie before. The beautiful female agent in it had killed people this way.

Hu Qi withdrew his hand. "Above average. I suggest you focus on the Ape Fist among the Three Fists."

Li LiBo was greatly disappointed.

When it was Liang Qu's turn, Hu Qi examined his wrist bones, shoulder, hip bones, and finally his spine as before.

Hu Qi inserted two fingers, and Liang Qu felt half his body go numb. Yet the one who made a sound in the end was not him, but Hu Qi.

"Eh? Junior Brother Liang's Root Bone was actually this good?"