A Man Should Aspire to This!

"This conjecture won widespread acceptance. For thousands of years afterward, a Martial Saint appeared only once every few centuries. No two Martial Saints ever met; each new one could only look up to the one who came before."

"But a thousand years ago, that rule was broken. The Pure Yang Daoist appeared!"

"He was the first Martial Saint born in a time of peace. He attained that realm a hundred years after the Previous Dynasty had unified the realm, and the fact sent shock waves across the land."

"The Pure Yang Daoist broke that rule. It was said that he rejected the idea that Martial Saints were born amid bloodshed. He said their emergence was connected to Martial Fortune."

"The Pure Yang Daoist said that a Martial Saint represented the pinnacle of martial arts, the crystallization of Martial Fortune. The reason Martial Saints were always born amid war and bloodshed was that the realm fell into chaos, and the time of greatest slaughter was also when Martial Fortune was most abundant."

"When Martial Fortune was calm, no matter how astonishing one's talent, one could not become a Martial Saint without its foundation."

"From the First Emperor's establishment of the martial path to the Pure Yang Daoist, nine thousand years had passed. Martial Fortune had accumulated generation after generation, growing unimaginably dense. The foundation for a Martial Saint had formed, and the Pure Yang Daoist was born in response to that destiny."

"Of course, there was no way to verify whether the Pure Yang Daoist had truly said those words."

"But the Previous Dynasty, together with the Pure Yang Daoist, had indeed given birth to three Martial Saints."

"The Previous Dynasty fell, and amid the chaos, the Grand Ancestor of the current dynasty rose to power..."

The account stopped abruptly when it reached the Grand Ancestor.

Lu Yuan guessed that the author of the book had lived during the Grand Ancestor's reign.

After reading it, he remained unable to calm himself for a long while. His gaze drifted out the window, his heart yearning and surging with excitement.

"Martial Saint! Martial Saint!"

"The pinnacle of martial arts! I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to climb to such a peak in this life."

"If I could stand atop the martial path and look down upon the world, then my time in this world would not have been in vain."

"My greatest goal is to become a Martial Saint!"

"A man should aspire to this!"

Looking back over the unofficial history, from the First Emperor onward, twenty-three Martial Saints had appeared over the nine thousand years of the past ten millennia.

Adding the three from the Previous Dynasty, there had been twenty-six Martial Saints in all.

It showed just how rare they were.

"I wonder if there are any Martial Saints in this era? How many?"

Lu Yuan grew curious.

Unfortunately, this wasn't his previous life, where he could look up the rankings of the rich with a quick search online.

Early in the morning, Lu Yuan went to buy thirty batches of Mithril from Shopkeeper Qiao. They cost him five thousand seven hundred taels, nearly all the six thousand eight hundred taels he had on hand.

After that, he returned to Lingbao County and fell back into his usual routine: practicing martial arts, refining pills, and repeating his exercises. With all that practice and the guidance of an alchemist, Gu Zheng's pill-refining skills had entered the ranks of the accomplished.

His success rate had risen considerably, leaping from twenty percent to forty percent.

He succeeded with twelve of the thirty batches of Mithril, producing thirty True Essence Blood Refining Pills.

Even while refining pills, Lu Yuan always put martial arts first.

The True Essence Blood Refining Pills were certainly important, but in the end, they were only aids. One's own strength was the foundation.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~

In the courtyard, Gu Zheng darted and shifted, his figure changing unpredictably. His feet spun in tight circles, making it hard to tell where he would land. His breathing followed a steady rhythm as his blood and qi circulated, tempering his bones, sinews, skin, and flesh.

When his training was over, fine beads of sweat appeared on Lu Yuan's forehead. He panted lightly, feeling refreshed from head to toe, and the muscles throughout his body tingled with warmth.

Night fell.

As usual, Lu Yuan took a True Essence Blood Refining Pill. Under the Dragon Elephant Longevity Art, he soon fell asleep, as if a dragon elephant had sunk into deep slumber. Air flowed in and out through his nose and mouth, steady, gentle, and unhurried.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Hiss, hiss, hiss!!

Early in the morning, the sound of blades cleaving through the air rang out without pause in the courtyard. Lu Yuan exhaled sharply as blade-light whirled around him. A closer look would have shown that every leaf falling past him had been sliced cleanly in two.

"The Third Blood Change is nearly complete. I'll soon be able to attempt the Fourth Blood Change."

He lowered his saber and stood still, then summoned his status panel with a thought:

[Name: Lu Yuan]

[Age: 17]

[Qualifications: Genius]

[Lifespan: 177 (Remaining lifespan: 52 years)]

[Techniques: Ox Demon Fist (Perfection 100%), Great Gale Saber Technique (Perfection 100%), Dragon Elephant Longevity Art (Mastery 35%), Seven Star Dragon Swimming Steps (Perfection 100%), Lightning Blade (Perfection 100%), Divine Speed Electric Light Steps (Perfection)]

[Skills: Alchemy Art (Mastery 14%)]

Over the past month, Lu Yuan had made rapid progress. Yet even with the aid of the True Essence Blood Refining Pills, his Third Blood Change still wasn't complete. It showed that the higher one climbed in martial arts, the harder the ascent became.

Before, without pills to help him, it had taken him less than a month to advance from the Second Blood Change to the Third.

Now, even with the pills, a month hadn't been enough to complete the Blood Change.

It was easy to imagine how much longer each step ahead would take.

Although his realm hadn't advanced, Lu Yuan had trained the Divine Speed Electric Light Steps to perfection and gained a new skill, Alchemy Art.

Aside from eating, Lu Yuan had been working on fusing the Great Gale Saber Technique and the Lightning Blade. He had nearly finished, but after obtaining the Divine Speed Electric Light Steps, he'd come up with a new idea.

He was confident that this new saber art would be at least a middle-grade technique!

Middle-grade techniques were rare even in Taikang Prefecture. No one could have imagined that someone in Lingbao County might create one himself.

Lu Cheng had left Lingbao County again on business. After taking a bath, Lu Yuan headed to the shop. Today, he was filling in for his big brother.

The busy morning and most of the afternoon passed. Late in the afternoon, Lu Yuan suddenly heard an alarmed shout from inside the shop. One of the shop assistants cried out in panic, "Hey, big brother, wake up! Don't try to scam us—I didn't touch you!"

Lu Yuan frowned and went out. A man in tattered clothes was sprawled at the shop entrance, a basket of herbs strapped to his back.

Lu Yuan could tell at a glance that the man had low blood sugar. "Bring some maltose or syrup, and pour a cup of water."

The man hadn't been unconscious for long—only about half a minute. He opened his eyes and tried to get up, but his body had no strength. Lu Yuan held out the maltose and water.

"Eat the maltose, then drink the water."

The man looked at him blankly and murmured a word of thanks. With difficulty, he sat up and ate the maltose. He leaned against the threshold for several minutes before recovering.

Suddenly, Gu Zheng felt the 'Tai Sui' in his arms tremble slightly. His heart leapt with joy, and he turned his gaze to the man. "Big brother, from the look of you, it seems you've been hungry for a long time?"

The man wiped away a tear and gave a bitter smile. "I haven't eaten for two days. There's hardly any food at home, and I gave it all to my child. I thought a grown man like me could go hungry for a few days. My child couldn't."

It turned out the man's wife had died of illness, and his child had fallen sick some time ago. He had spent all his savings getting the child well. He saved every bit of food for the child to regain strength, while going hungry himself.