Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art

Dragon Mountain Empire, Mangshan Village.

At the Qin Clan's training ground, a dozen or so boys and girls had gathered at this very moment.

Today was the once-every-three-years day when Qin Clan experts taught martial arts to the clan's younger generation. Every one of the Qin Clan children receiving instruction was delighted.

The boys and girls all stood tall and straight. They were children of around twelve years old. Yet several stood out from the rest. One of them was an exaggerated eight chi tall—around 1.8 meters—while the others remained within the normal range.

That sturdy, 1.8-meter-tall youth was Qin Hao.

"I've been in this world for quite some time now. At last, it's time to learn martial arts."

Qin Hao looked at the group of children around him, unable to suppress a flicker of excitement. He had originally been an office worker on Blue Star. Lightning had struck him on his way home from work, and when he woke up, he found that he had transmigrated into this unfamiliar world.

He had been reborn in the body of an orphan. The body's original parents had suffered grave injuries during a Demonic Beast attack on the village and eventually died of their wounds. The original owner of this body had also been severely injured and later died beyond saving. Qin Hao had then inexplicably been reborn in this body.

From what he had learned during this time, this world was exceedingly dangerous.

In this world where immortal cultivators reigned supreme, ghosts ran rampant. Only those who embarked upon the path of immortal cultivation could kill ghosts. Cultivators possessed True Qi, which could harm ghosts. Yet there was another kind of person who could do so as well. Since they were unable to cultivate, they took the path of forging the flesh into sainthood.

Cultivators called such people horizontal-training martial artists. Since they could not absorb the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, they were unable to cultivate.

Thus, people like them continuously tempered their bodies. Their strength and physical defenses were terrifyingly great. However, very few could walk this path, because it demanded even greater physical talent. Even fewer could reach the point of forging the flesh into sainthood, which was why such people possessed such terrifying combat power.

Qin Hao was one of these people. The moment he had transmigrated here, he had begun trying to cultivate. Yet he had never been able to sense the Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth, so he gave up the path of becoming an immortal and turned instead to horizontal training.

Ghosts were not the only threat. The greatest danger to humanity in this world was still Demonic Beasts. Demonic Beasts were incredibly numerous in this world, vastly outnumbering humans, and their strength was exceptionally formidable.

Thus, Demonic Beasts roamed unchecked, and his village was attacked by them from time to time. However, in a small place like theirs, there were generally few beasts that had truly cultivated into demons. Even if there were, they were only the lowest First-tier Demonic Beasts. Even so, that was enough to make them suffer bitterly.

Therefore, horizontal training was the only path Qin Hao could take. Only then would he have the right to survive. Fortunately, this body possessed excellent talent. At such a young age, he had already grown tall and powerfully built, and his strength was great. A single punch could strike with three hundred jin of force. Among those in the village around his age, only a few were stronger than him, because they could cultivate.

However, among the dozen or so youths gathered for training now, only two could cultivate: Qin Baiyu and Qin Xiang. One of them was Qin Hao's childhood friend. Other than those two, no one was stronger than Qin Hao.

"Look, the person teaching us martial arts is here! It's Uncle Qin Tianze from the Qin Clan hunting team."

"Uncle Qin Tianze is incredibly strong. He's already a Body Tempering, Muscle Tempering expert. Killing First-tier Demonic Beasts is as easy as turning his hand over."

Just as Qin Hao was still lost in thought, a burst of startled cries suddenly erupted from the crowd.

Qin Hao looked ahead. It was a tall middle-aged man with a square face, a full head taller than Qin Hao.

Qin Hao stared intently at the middle-aged man before him. He was huge, with bulging muscles, steady and powerful steps, and no small measure of strength.

Qin Tianze walked up before Qin Hao and the others. He looked over the children in front of him, then glanced at Qin Hao and the other two tall, straight-backed youths. He nodded slightly. There were still some promising seedlings, Qin Tianze thought.

After observing them for a moment, Qin Tianze shouted, "Enough. Quiet down."

The training ground instantly fell silent as a graveyard.

Qin Hao then spoke, "Cultivators are divided into Body Tempering, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Tribulation Crossing, and Ascension."

"The first requirement for cultivation is to sense the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth. You should have come into contact with that already. Only some of you can cultivate; the rest can only practice martial arts."

"However, there's no need to worry. Martial arts can also carve out a path. Although it is exceptionally difficult, there are still some ways forward."

"Body Tempering consists of Flesh Training, Bone Forging, and Muscle Tempering, completing the tempering of the body. Once Body Tempering is completed, one can basically possess three thousand jin of strength. Some people even possess five thousand jin of immense power. After Body Tempering comes Qi Refining, but you don't need to concern yourselves with that. First complete Body Tempering, then speak of what comes after."

"Five thousand jin of immense strength is also called the Strength of one bull, while fifty thousand jin is called the Strength of one elephant. As long as you cultivate the strength of one bull, you can fight and kill ordinary First-tier Demonic Beasts. Ordinary wild beasts will no longer be anything to fear."

"If you can reach the Muscle Training stage of Body Tempering before the age of sixteen, you can seek apprenticeship at martial academies and sects in the major county cities, ascending to the heavens in a single step. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" Qin Hao and the others shouted in unison.

"Today, I will teach you the Qin Clan's body-tempering technique. This technique is called the Barbarian Bull Fist. It has six levels. With every level cultivated, your strength will increase greatly. Every strike will be like a barbarian bull charging forward, capable of dealing enormous damage to your enemies. I have cultivated it for thirty years, yet I still remain at the third level."

"Even those who cannot cultivate can learn it and strengthen their bodies."

After saying that, Qin Tianze strode quickly to a massive boulder at the side of the training ground. He calmed his breath and focused his mind, True Qi bursting from his body. Then he suddenly threw a punch, cracking the stone.

Qin Tianze gathered strength once more. Veins bulged all over his body like great earthworms—no, no, like swimming dragons coiled around him. His aura was immensely oppressive.

Then he exerted force and smashed the stone apart outright.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Hiss, terrifying indeed!"

They were all shocked by the sight.

"Hey, hey, hey, Qin Hao, Uncle Tianze is way too awesome, isn't he? He cracked that boulder with one punch. Good heavens!"

The youth beside Qin Hao spoke to him.

"He really is impressive. Just look at my size. Maybe I'll be even stronger than Uncle Tianze in the future. Hehe, don't you think so, Qin Xiang?"

However, Qin Xiang could not be bothered with Qin Hao's words. He could not even cultivate; learning martial arts was not so easy.

"Alright. I'll demonstrate it a few times now. Follow along."

Qin Hao and the others followed him, throwing punch after punch. Unlike Qin Tianze, their punches were soft and limp. They could not produce the muffled booms that accompanied each of Qin Tianze's blows.

After some time, Qin Hao sensed a slight abnormality in his body.

He had no talent for cultivation, but fortunately, his physical talent was not bad. He had been born stronger than others.

Seeing that the Barbarian Bull Fist had such an effect, Qin Hao trained even harder. Only this way could he grow stronger.

He did not know how long he had been punching when a voice interrupted his movements.

"Alright."

The one who spoke was Qin Tianze.

Hearing Qin Tianze's voice, everyone stopped and looked toward him.

"That's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow. Come earlier tomorrow."

After saying that, he turned and left. As he departed, he glanced at Qin Hao. Although this child could not cultivate, he had discovered that the child possessed extraordinary physical talent. At such a young age, he had already grown so tall, and he could even make sounds with the Barbarian Bull Fist he had just been taught. It was still possible for him to walk the path of horizontal training.

"Whoa, it's over! Time to play!"

Some of the younger children cheered and ran out of the training ground to play once they heard that martial arts practice had ended.

That was understandable. Some of them were even younger than the original owner of Qin Hao's body.

However, some of the older children continued practicing.

Qin Hao was also preparing to go home. He was an orphan, after all, and still needed to return home to cook. Otherwise, he would starve to death.

Since he had no parents and was still young, the village supported Qin Hao. Every month, someone would bring him food.

"Hey, Qin Hao, why are you leaving?" His childhood friend Qin Yan asked when he saw Qin Hao preparing to leave.

"I still need to go back and cook. I'm leaving first," Qin Hao said, then turned and walked away.

Seeing Qin Hao say this, Qin Yan did not say anything else. He knew Qin Hao's circumstances, so he did not remain at the training ground to continue practicing the Barbarian Bull Fist.

Just after returning home, as Qin Hao was about to start cooking—

"Ding! The Horizontal Training System has been successfully activated!"

A voice rang out in Qin Hao's mind.

Qin Hao found the voice exceedingly pleasant to hear, because he knew that his golden finger had finally arrived.

"The system is activating."

"Ding! You have obtained a beginner's gift package. Open it?"

"Open!" Qin Hao had waited for his golden finger for quite some time. Now that he heard the system's voice, he could no longer restrain himself and immediately opened the gift package.

"Ding! You have obtained the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art!"

"Ding! You have obtained the Divine Thunder Barbarian Dragon bloodline!"

"Ding! You have obtained 10 attribute points."

...