Martial Bones

"Of course it's expensive. Lingxi Meat costs five taels of silver per jin. If you use this meat as nutritious food and want the best results from martial training, you need to eat two jin of it per meal—and keep eating it long-term."

The moment Head Escort Liang said this, everyone was stunned.

By that calculation, three meals a day would cost thirty taels of silver. Nearly a thousand taels a month.

Even if they escorted goods for a lifetime, they would find it difficult to earn that much silver, wouldn't they?

Quite a few people immediately looked miserable. They had already been born into poverty, and the finish line had seemed almost within sight. They had joined the Escort Agency hoping to try their luck—what if they truly succeeded in martial training?

Yet now they had been told that martial training also required silver, and amounts they might never even touch in their lives.

"Martial training was never so easy. Let alone you, even I could hardly meet such requirements. Still, if you can eat a little with every meal, then in the long run, it will indeed be far better than the nutritious food you eat now."

Escort Huang sighed.

The path of Martial Dao was, in truth, also a process of piling up resources.

Forget these younger generations—even he, a Ninth Grade Martial Artist, had never eaten like that.

Hearing this, the others sighed and groaned. Liu Wensheng, however, seemed to have grasped the key point and hurriedly asked,

"So that means that as long as we can eat a small half-bowl of Lingxi Meat with every meal, it would still be much better than eating several portions of ordinary nutritious food?"

"Of course. What the Head Escort described was the optimal result, but how many Martial Artists in this world can afford it? Once you begin escorting goods in the future, being able to eat half a bowl per meal will still let your martial training yield twice the result with half the effort." Escort Huang nodded.

Liu Wensheng suddenly understood, then asked again, "Do all the escorts in our Escort Agency use Lingxi Meat as nutritious food?"

"Naturally," Head Escort Liang said.

"As your Nourishing Life Technique rises in level, the effects of ordinary nutritious food gradually weaken. Once you break through the Fourth Level, you will increasingly feel how arduous the Nourishing Life Technique becomes. At that point, using Lingxi Meat as nutritious food is more suitable."

"That is also why only newcomers like you eat in the dining hall. The escorts of the agency have long since turned up their noses at it."

The crowd finally understood. No wonder that during their month at the Escort Agency, they had hardly ever seen any escorts visit the dining hall.

At this moment, Sun Qi suddenly asked, "Seniors, is there no way to break through quickly or even become a Martial Artist without relying on nutritious food? Something like a Heaven-defying Secret Manual?"

"I have never heard of any Heaven-defying Secret Manual, but there is one way to do it."

Head Escort Liang glanced at him and answered calmly.

"Oh?" Sun Qi and quite a few others brightened at once, only to see the Head Escort sneer. "Isn't Fang Yong an example? He did not eat Lingxi Meat, nor did he cultivate any Heaven-defying Secret Manual, yet he still broke through to the Fifth Layer early and is about to complete both assessments. You can do the same."

"How?" Sun Qi blurted out instinctively.

"Be reborn."

"..." Sun Qi.

Hearing that, Liu Wensheng seemed to understand something. "So on the path of Martial Dao, one either piles up a huge amount of resources, or possesses extraordinary talent?"

"That is reality. You were already born into poor families, without power or influence. If you do not have exceptional aptitude, it will be difficult for you to go far on the martial path." Escort Huang spoke at the right moment, then added,

"It can be said that Fang Yong's future achievements will certainly far surpass yours. At worst, he will reach Head Escort Liang's level."

"So high?" Liu Wensheng felt miserable inside. Head Escort Liang was already a notable figure throughout Yang City, yet that Fang Yong, who looked down on people through his nostrils, could achieve at least that much?

He could not bear it. He could not accept it.

"So which tier does Brother Fang's talent belong to in all of Yang City?" Luo Tiegen, who had been listening in, grew interested and could not help asking.

"First-rate!" Head Escort Liang declared with certainty.

"That incredible?" Luo Tiegen's face lit up with delight, looking as though he shared in the glory.

"He certainly belongs among the first-rate. Fang Yong gained three hundred jin of strength in merely a month through the Nourishing Life Technique. If he had entered Martial Dao through a Stance Technique from the beginning, his speed would have been even faster. He might have become a Martial Artist within two or three months." Escort Huang spoke with considerable admiration, even looking at Fang Yong with appreciation.

"What if we look at the entire Great Li?"

Fang Yong had also been listening nearby. Hearing the seniors praise him, he could not help asking expectantly.

"Ordinary."

"Ordinary?" The expectation in Fang Yong's eyes froze, and he asked again in disbelief.

"Though Escort Huang's words may not sound pleasant, they are the truth. Do not underestimate the heroes of the world," Head Escort Liang said solemnly.

"The Da Li Dynasty has many aristocratic families with long inheritances and powerful bloodlines. Every so often, one or two exceptionally gifted individuals are born among them. Not only do those people have talent, they also consume a huge amount of resources. The Lingxi Meat you cannot hope to obtain is merely commonplace in their eyes. At your age, their martial strength has likely already surpassed the Chief's."

"Surpassed the Chief?" Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

Fang Yong was only Twenty years old. After practicing the Nourishing Life Technique for a month, he was already close to becoming a Martial Artist. In their eyes, he was a true genius.

Yet there were actually people in this world who, at Twenty years old, possessed strength greater than the Chief's and stood at the Fifth Rank?

How terrifying was that?!

"The standard for measuring a genius's strength is not talent alone. You must also look at their teachers and their background. They encounter more things and possess horizons far beyond anything you can imagine."

"Fang Yong's aptitude is actually quite good, but his Family background is far too lacking. Even if the entire Four Seas Escort Agency devoted all its strength to nurturing him alone, it would still be a thousand difficulties and ten thousand hardships for him to surpass those from millennia-old aristocratic families who possessed similar aptitude—let alone Qilin Sons with even greater talent."

"Is that so?" Fang Yong pressed his lips together. For the first time, he felt pressure. The achievements he had thought he possessed now seemed to have vanished like smoke.

"Is it really this difficult for a Cold Gate family to rise to prominence through Martial Dao?" he said with a bitter smile.

"Actually, it can be very simple."

"Huh?" Fang Yong froze. Sun Qi seemed to sense what was coming.

"Be reborn."

"..." Everyone.

"When both sides possess similar aptitude, even if one side holds a slight edge, Family background ultimately determines the upper limit of their achievements."

"For example, you." Head Escort Liang looked at Fang Yong. "Your aptitude truly is excellent. I fear you will encounter no Bottleneck before becoming a Martial Artist, or even before reaching the Eighth Rank."

"But after that, you will need resources. If you wish to keep moving forward and compete with the descendants of those aristocratic families, what you compete in will be all kinds of resources. At such times, the foundations of those families will show you what a gap truly is."

"So what I lack is merely resources—Family background," Fang Yong said quietly.

"However." Head Escort Liang changed the subject. "There are also certain prodigies in this world who, even if born into poverty, can still stand no weaker than aristocratic geniuses, or even surpass them. Give such people just a little in resources, and they can charge forward without hindrance, reaching heights that even those aristocratic families must look up to."

"What kind of prodigies?" Quite a few people were deeply curious. This was the first time they had learned such Secrets of Martial Dao.

Even Jiang Ping, who had been listening from the side, pricked up his ears.

"Martial Bones!" Head Escort Liang spat out the two words heavily, then continued.

"Some martial prodigies possess an additional strange bone compared to others. They are born with it, and it is called a Martial Bone."

"Such people are extraordinary from birth. Once they come into contact with Martial Dao, they will surpass all their Peers in an unimaginable manner."

"You think Fang Yong cultivating the Nourishing Life Technique to the Fifth Layer in one month qualifies him as a genius. But if someone with Martial Bones cultivated the Nourishing Life Technique, he would likely become a Martial Artist in less than a month. I have never stepped into the Blade Qi Domain with the Flying Snow Saber Technique in thirty years, but if a Martial Bone Prodigy learned it, he would likely surpass it within a few months."