The Nine Ranks of Martial Artists

In the forest.

Xu Qing stood holding the butt of his spear, like a statue.

After more than a week of exploration.

Xu Qing finally discovered exactly what that missing piece was.

It was that he could not wield the spear as freely as he used his own arms, with perfect control.

After all, the spear was not part of his body.

What Xu Qing needed to do was make the spear a part of his body.

So, he searched online for many guides and looked up a great deal of information.

At last, he found a basic spear-training technique from ancient martial arts that was not exactly a secret—

Great Spear Stance.

Hold the butt of the spear and stand in a static trembling posture, keeping the spear level.

Maintain it for a long time to feel the "force" of the spear in his hands.

The so-called static trembling posture meant that—

Although the whole body appeared motionless,

The muscles and bones were actually trembling slightly.

This allowed the muscles and bones throughout the body to take turns exerting force, keeping the spear level.

This was the Great Spear Stance.

Its purpose was to allow a person and their spear to become one.

In other words, it was what Xu Qing called turning the spear into part of the body.

At first, Xu Qing could only hold the posture for around twenty minutes.

He had relied entirely on brute strength to keep the spear level.

But after more than a week of practice.

Xu Qing could now hold the spear level for three hours without moving.

According to the information online, once one had completely mastered the Great Spear Stance.

And comprehended its profound realm, one could hold a spear level like this for as long as one wished.

Because the muscles throughout the body would continuously take turns working and resting.

Xu Qing was working toward precisely that goal.

Another month passed.

Xu Qing's spear technique finally broke through to the fifth realm—"Peak Mastery."

With the training from the Great Spear Stance,

He could finally wield the spear in his hand as easily as an arm.

So Xu Qing directly spent points, pushing his spear technique into the sixth realm, "Divine Skill."

He only had 1 Free Attribute Point left.

However, Xu Qing estimated that he would accumulate another point in half a month.

He intended to save those two points in case of emergencies.

Because he planned to visit neighboring 0121 County soon.

His Fist Technique had reached Perfection, and his spear technique was also close to Perfection.

The Three Elements Gene Cultivation Method had long since reached Perfection as well.

In the short term, he could no longer improve his strength on his own.

Xu Qing needed to go to a larger city and seek a way to become stronger.

He could not become stronger by staying alone at the company and training with his head down.

He did not want to slow his pace.

He understood that the wider world outside was still waiting for him.

And before that,

Xu Qing decided to visit the company's Security Department.

After all, there were three genuine Gene Martial Artists here.

Moreover, all of them had ventured outside before and possessed rich life experience.

Xu Qing should be able to learn more detailed information about martial artists from them.

At the Lunar Surface Commerce Alliance, Xu Qing could not show weakness.

But in the eyes of everyone at the company, he was a genuine newcomer to martial arts.

So it was only natural for him to have questions about things he did not understand.

Only after asking everything clearly could Xu Qing decide what to do next.

After finding the boss, Zhou Yu, and briefly explaining his thoughts.

Zhou Yu did not waste any words.

She directly brought Xu Qing to Luo Qingshan, the leader of the Security Team, and Liu Jun, the deputy leader.

Luo Qingshan was the Second-Order Martial Artist.

Although Liu Jun was a First Order Martial Artist, he had retired from the Lunar Army.

After explaining the situation, Zhou Yu left.

Leaving Xu Qing and the other two to chat in the Security Team's office.

Xu Qing was very polite toward Luo and Liu.

He called each of them Uncle, his repeated address bringing smiles to their faces.

"Go ahead. Ask anything you want. Although your Uncle Luo has never left Blue Star, I've practiced martial arts for quite a long time.

And your Uncle Liu came back from the moon. He knows a great deal."

Luo Qingshan said with a chuckle as he held his teacup.

Liu Jun, who was slightly younger than him, quickly waved his hand. "Captain Luo, that's giving me too much credit. I was just a grunt. What the hell do I know?

But Qing Zi, ask whatever you want. We're all family here—none of that roundabout nonsense."

"Then I'll thank you two great masters first!" Xu Qing said with an honest smile.

Luo and Liu clearly enjoyed Xu Qing's flattery.

After all, what martial artist did not want to hear someone call them a "master"?

"Uncles, I previously learned from Senior Liu Zhankun, Uncle Zhou's friend. Although I learned a few things, I know very little about martial artists as a profession, as well as the environment and circles of martial artists on Blue Star today."

Xu Qing did not lie and spoke frankly.

"I heard people say that martial artists are divided into nine ranks, but I don't know what those ranks are based on. Could you two explain how martial artist strength is classified?"

Luo Qingshan and Liu Jun exchanged a glance, and Liu Jun hurriedly said, "Captain Luo, you came from Raging Lightning Martial Hall. You know this better."

Xu Qing was immediately surprised. "Raging Lightning Martial Hall?"

Luo Qingshan smiled and waved a hand. "That's ancient history. It's normal that you don't know."

His tone turned wistful. "Back when Blue Star rose during the Great Cataclysm, the Five Great Martial Halls emerged. They trained countless powerful experts for humanity, and Raging Lightning Martial Hall was one of them."

However, fifty years ago, the last branch of Raging Lightning Martial Hall on Blue Star was also shut down.

Nowadays, there was no trace of Raging Lightning Martial Hall anywhere in the Solar System.

Luo Qingshan had been one of the apprentices at that final branch.

"That's all old, familiar history. Let's talk about something else."

Luo Qingshan smiled. "Martial artist strength is indeed divided into nine ranks today, but these so-called nine ranks evolved from the three major levels of the Great Cataclysm era."

According to Luo Qingshan.

Back then, martial artists were divided into three major levels.

They were Warrior Level, War General Level, and War God Level.

Each level was further divided into three grades: elementary, intermediate, and advanced.

A trace of nostalgia appeared on Luo Qingshan's face. "The so-called nine ranks of martial artists today merely simplified the names. The standards for judging them have not changed."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing instantly perked up.

He kept murmuring under his breath, "Warrior, War General, War God. The nine ranks of martial artists."

Seeing how shocked he was, Luo Qingshan felt both pleased and nostalgic.

He continued, "As for the specific evaluation standards, they are naturally based on three aspects: strength, speed, and neural reaction speed.

Strength is attacking power.

Speed is running speed.

And the most important aspect is neural reaction speed.

That is, when a human faces an attack, how quickly the brain reacts and sends out a signal, and how quickly that signal reaches the body."

"How is that measured?" Xu Qing asked in surprise.

Luo Qingshan and Liu Jun both smiled.

Liu Jun slowly said, "It's simple. You just observe how you react when being attacked."

Luo Qingshan nodded. "In the earliest days, testing machines would launch tennis balls, and martial artists would evade them within a circle one and a half meters in diameter. Their neural reaction speed was calculated from the number of balls they dodged."

He continued, "Now, electronic lasers are used to directly test a martial artist's reaction speed. It's much more precise than before."

He looked at Xu Qing and lightly threw a punch through the air.

The fist stirred up a gust of wind.

"When your punching force reaches 900 kilograms, your running speed reaches four seconds per hundred meters, and your neural reaction reaches 20, you are considered a Quasi Martial Artist."

"In the past, after reaching the Quasi Martial Artist standard, you could become an official martial artist by passing the martial artist assessment—the lowest rank of Elementary Warrior."

"But now, that system has been abolished."

"As long as your strength reaches 1,000 kilograms, or one ton, your speed reaches four seconds per hundred meters, and your neural reaction reaches 20, you are a First Order Martial Artist."

"The authorities no longer record martial artist ranks, nor do they conduct assessments based on rank classifications. At least, that is how it is on Blue Star."

Then, Luo Qingshan pulled out a sheet of white paper from the desk.

He used a pen to write down the evaluation standards for the nine ranks of martial artists for Xu Qing.

The nine ranks of martial artists were classified as follows:

First Order Martial Artist: 1 ton, speed 25 m/s, neural reaction 20

Second-Order Martial Artist: 2 tons, speed 40 m/s, neural reaction 30

Third-Order Martial Artist: 4 tons, speed 60 m/s, neural reaction 40

Fourth-Order Martial Artist: 8 tons, speed 90 m/s, neural reaction 50

Fifth-Order Martial Artist: 16 tons, speed 120 m/s, neural reaction 60

Sixth-Order Martial Artist: 32 tons, speed 150 m/s, neural reaction 70

Seventh-Order Martial Artist: 64 tons, speed 200 m/s, neural reaction 80

Eighth-Order Martial Artist: 128 tons, speed 300 m/s, neural reaction 90

Ninth-Order Martial Artist: 256–512 tons, speed 400–600 m/s, neural reaction 100

Looking at the slip of paper in his hand.

Xu Qing felt an indescribable excitement.

So the path of a martial artist could go this far!

Ninth-Order Martial Artists were actually this terrifying!