A Yanda

The sky was bright, the air clear, and the breeze gentle—a perfect season for martial arts practice!

At Treasure Pearl Temple in Fangnan Prefecture, Great Yan, shouts and cries rang without end across the Prajna Hall training grounds. More than a dozen Kong Generation disciples who had just been assigned to the temple stood excitedly in a square formation, diligently practicing Prajna Hall's introductory martial art—Prajna Palm.

Before the formation stood a tall, burly monk of about twenty-eight or twenty-nine, teaching the young novices martial arts.

"Prajna Palm is one of Prajna Hall's secret martial arts, created specifically for newly admitted disciples. It contains seven times seven, forty-nine forms, and every form holds inexhaustible wonders. It can comprehensively temper the skin and membranes across the entire body, with extraordinary results. Even in the martial world, it would count as a first-rate foundational skin-tempering martial art.

"One day, if any among you can cultivate this palm technique to first-level mastery, you will have achieved the first realm of martial arts—the Skin Tempering Realm. After that, you may switch to other Muscle Tendon Strengthening martial arts and advance toward higher levels of the martial path."

As the tall monk explained without pause, his palms danced. Palm shadows instantly filled the field, and the sounds of air splitting rang endlessly.

It was clearly an ordinary palm technique, yet in his hands, it seemed like an incomparably profound martial art, brimming with an indescribable artistic conception.

"Junior Brother Jingyuan!"

Just as the tall monk became absorbed in his movements, a voice reached his ears.

"Who is it?!"

Startled by the sudden voice, Jingyuan could not help looking toward its source. Under a large tree not far to his right stood a monk with three ordination scars atop his head and strikingly heroic features, smiling at him.

"Senior Brother Jingming!"

The moment Jingyuan saw the man's face, his body trembled. Then wild delight appeared on his face. He tossed out a command for the disciples in formation to practice properly, then crossed several meters in a single step and arrived beneath the tree.

"Senior Brother Jingming, you actually came out of seclusion. Could it be that you finally..."

Expectation filled Jingyuan's eyes as he waited for Gu Han's answer.

"That is right! I gained a small insight today and finally, with some difficulty, crossed the threshold of Blood Tempering and broke through to the Blood Tempering Realm."

Gu Han smiled faintly and nodded.

"Haha! You really broke through! Jingyuan congratulates Senior Brother! Today you broke through Blood Tempering; I fear it will not be long before you break through to Inner Qi as well!"

Upon receiving Gu Han's confirmation, Jingyuan's face immediately lit up with joy as he offered his congratulations.

Others might not know, but Jingyuan, as the person in Treasure Pearl Temple who had interacted most with Gu Han, knew exactly how powerful his senior brother's physique and blood qi truly were.

For ordinary Blood Tempering martial artists, breaking through to Inner Qi might be difficult because they lacked sufficiently powerful blood qi to refine essence into qi and support the birth of the first wisp of Inner Qi within their bodies.

But for the senior brother before him, this difficulty simply did not exist.

Because his blood qi was truly too powerful.

Fourteen years ago, when Senior Brother had only just achieved minor mastery in Muscle Tendon Strengthening, he had severely injured Wang Lang with a single punch. Later, after breaking through to major mastery in Muscle Tendon Strengthening, he had even become comparable to Jingyuan himself, a Blood Tempering Perfection martial artist.

Now that Senior Brother had already broken through to Blood Tempering, just what level would his physical body and blood qi reach? He was likely not even inferior to Inner Qi experts!

Jingyuan guessed inwardly.

"Hehe, Junior Brother flatters me. I have only just broken through Blood Tempering; I am still far from Inner Qi. I came to find you this time because I wished to ask whether any major events occurred in the Outside World during my years in seclusion. What changes have taken place in the world today?"

Gu Han asked in puzzlement.

Over these years, Jingyuan had occasionally visited him, but he had never told him about the situation outside.

Of course, that was also because Gu Han had once devoted himself wholly to seeking a breakthrough and had no interest in the Outside World.

"Oh, so that is it. Since Senior Brother asks, then Junior Brother will tell you."

Jingyuan nodded, then gathered his thoughts and began.

"Since Senior Brother repelled King Tang and entered seclusion to cultivate, Treasure Pearl Temple has returned to peace, but warfare across the land has continued without end.

"Who knows whether it was Heaven's will or fate playing tricks on men.

"Just as the Central Plains was ravaged by war and its strength weakened, an unparalleled prodigy rose among the Southern Barbarians.

"This man's name was A Yanda. He was the leader of a mid-sized tribe among the hundred Southern Barbarian tribes, the Dada Tribe. It was said that his martial talent was unimaginably strong. When he was only in his twenties, his strength had already reached Inner Qi major mastery. Moreover, based on his tribesmen's unique constitutions, he personally created a terrifying martial art for them.

"Relying on this martial art, the Dada Tribe rose from the black mountains and white waters. Everyone in the tribe was a soldier; regardless of age or gender, all were brave in battle and strong of body. Among soldiers above the age of fifteen, even the weakest were comparable to our Skin Tempering major mastery martial artists. Their strength was terrifying beyond belief!"

As Jingyuan spoke, his eyes brimmed with shock.

"Oh? The martial art created by this A Yanda was actually so miraculous?"

Gu Han was also somewhat shocked upon hearing this.

Those who practiced martial arts generally began at twelve. By fifteen, achieving minor mastery in Skin Tempering already counted as fairly talented, with hope of breaking through to Muscle Tendon Strengthening in the future. As for Skin Tempering major mastery, that was enough to be called genius, with even the hope of eventually breaking through to Blood Tempering.

Yet within this Dada Tribe, a single cultivation method had made Skin Tempering major mastery commonplace? That was truly unbelievable. If Gu Han had not been certain that he had never passed on the Vajra Body Refining Fist, he would have thought the Dada Tribe had learned his martial arts!

Though Gu Han found it strange, he did not dwell on it too much. Setting aside whether A Yanda had created a complementary martial art similar to his current fusion of two worlds, even if he had, there was nothing Gu Han could do about it. He might as well hear what came next, so he quickly asked Jingyuan again:

"Then what happened afterward?"

"Afterward?"

Jingyuan was briefly stunned by Gu Han's sudden question, but he quickly answered.

"Afterward, A Yanda became dissatisfied with Southern Barbaria's barren mountains and treacherous waters and coveted Great Yan's fertile lands.

"So, thirteen years ago, A Yanda swiftly unified all of Southern Barbaria, gathered every tribe together, and established a nation, naming it the Great Barbarian Kingdom.

"After that, he led the soldiers of the Great Barbarian Kingdom in a sudden attack on Yunhai Prefecture along our southern border.

"In that battle, he defeated King Tang in one stroke and captured Yunhai, allowing the world to witness the Dada Tribe's ferocious might. Then, over the following month, the barbarians successively captured Zhencang and Lanling Prefectures, beheading King Tang amid the great army!

"If King Ming Zhu Hong of the north had not later sent troops to resist them, Fangnan Prefecture might have fallen twelve years ago as well. But... alas!"

At this point, Jingyuan sighed again, his face full of worry as he continued.

"But I have heard that A Yanda has recently made another breakthrough. Though he has not yet become truly invincible and entered the legendary realm of Patriarch Bodhidharma, he has far surpassed Inner Qi major mastery and can rival the two patriarchs in Treasure Pearl Temple's history, Jue Ming and Liao Yuan. Moreover, he has decided that before long, he will personally lead an expedition and press directly toward Fangnan Prefecture."

By the end, even Jingyuan's spirit seemed to have dispersed somewhat, his face filled with sorrow.