"Naturally, it was very expensive. Lingxi Meat cost Five Liang of Silver per jin. If used as nutritious food to achieve the best results in martial training, one would need to eat two jin of meat per meal, and keep eating it over the long term."
As soon as Head Escort Liang spoke, everyone was stunned.
By that calculation, three meals a day would cost Thirty Liang of Silver. In a month, it would be nearly a thousand liang.
Even if they spent their entire lives escorting shipments, it would be hard for them to earn that much silver, wouldn't it?
Quite a few people immediately looked crestfallen. They had already come from poor families, and the finish line had nearly been within sight. Joining the escort agency had been a gamble—a chance that perhaps they might truly succeed in martial training.
Yet they were told that martial training also cost silver, and silver of an amount they might never touch in their lifetimes.
"How could martial training possibly be so easy? Not to mention you all, even I would find such requirements difficult to meet. But if you can eat even a little at 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, a process of piling up resources.
Forget these younger ones—even he, a Ninth Grade Martial Artist, had never been able to eat like that.
Hearing this, the others sighed and lamented. Liu Wensheng, however, seemed to have seized upon the key point and hurriedly asked,
"So, as long as we can eat a small half-bowl of Lingxi Meat at every meal, it will still be much better than eating several portions of ordinary nutritious food?"
"Of course. What the head escort described was the optimal outcome, but how many Martial Artists in this world can afford it? Once you begin escorting shipments in the future, if you can eat half a bowl with each meal, your martial training will likewise yield twice the result with half the effort." Escort Huang nodded.
Liu Wensheng came to a realization and asked again, "Do all the escorts in our agency use Lingxi Meat as nutritious food?"
"Naturally." Head Escort Liang said,
"As the level of your Nourishing Life Technique rises, ordinary nutritious food will gradually become less effective. Once you break through the Fourth Level, you will increasingly feel the strain of practicing the Nourishing Life Technique. At that time, Lingxi Meat is more suitable as nutritious food."
"That is also why only newcomers like you eat in the dining hall. The agency's escorts have long since stopped looking upon it with favor."
Everyone understood at last. No wonder they had barely seen any escorts visit the dining hall during their month at the escort agency.
At that moment, Sun Qi suddenly asked, "Seniors, is there no way to break through quickly without relying on nutritious food, or even become a Martial Artist? Some Heaven-defying Secret Manual, perhaps?"
"I have never heard of a Heaven-defying Secret Manual, but there is one way to do it."
Head Escort Liang glanced at him and spoke calmly.
"Oh?" Sun Qi and many others' eyes lit up, only to see the head escort sneer. "Is Fang Yong not 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 was about to complete both assessments. You can do it too."
"How?" Sun Qi blurted out instinctively.
"Be reincarnated."
"..." Sun Qi.
Hearing this, Liu Wensheng seemed to understand something. "So on the path of Martial Dao, one must either pile up a huge amount of resources or possess extraordinary talent?"
"This is reality. You are already poor, without power or influence. If you do not possess outstanding aptitude, it will be very difficult to travel far down the path of Martial Dao." 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 the very least, he can reach Head Escort Liang's level."
"That high?" Liu Wensheng felt miserable inside. Head Escort Liang was already a notable figure in all of Yang City. That Fang Yong, who looked down on people through his nostrils, could achieve such heights even at his worst?
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 absolute certainty.
"That impressive?" Luo Tiegen's face was full of delight, as though he shared in the glory.
"He should indeed be first-rate. Fang Yong gained three hundred jin of strength in just one month by practicing the Nourishing Life Technique. Had he entered Martial Dao through the Stance Technique back then, his progress would have been even faster. Perhaps he could have become a Martial Artist within two or three months." Escort Huang spoke with considerable admiration, his gaze upon Fang Yong carrying appreciation.
"What if we look at the whole of Great Li?"
Fang Yong had also been listening nearby. Hearing the seniors praise him, he could not help asking expectantly.
"Average."
"Average?" Fang Yong's expectant gaze froze at once. He asked again in disbelief.
"Though Escort Huang's words are unpleasant to hear, they are still the truth. Do not underestimate the heroes of the world." Head Escort Liang spoke solemnly.
"The Da Li Dynasty has many Aristocratic Genius families with long legacies and powerful bloodlines. Every so often, one or two people of extraordinary talent are born among them. Not only are those people talented, 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 Dao strength has likely already surpassed the Chief."
"Surpassed the Chief?" Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.
Fang Yong was only twenty years old. After merely one month of contact with the Nourishing Life Technique, he was already close to becoming a Martial Artist. In their eyes, he was a genuine genius.
Yet there were actually people in this world who, at twenty years old, possessed strength beyond the Chief's and stood at Fifth Rank?
What a terrifying thing was that?!
"The standard for measuring a genius's strength is not merely talent. One must also look at their master and lineage, their background. They have encountered far more than you, and their horizons stand you know not how much higher."
"Fang Yong's aptitude is actually quite good, but his family background falls far short. Even if the entire Four Seas Escort Agency devoted all its strength to raising him alone, it would still be a thousand difficulties and ten thousand hardships for him to surpass those from millennium-old aristocratic families whose aptitude was similar to his, let alone the Qilin Sons with even greater talent."
"Is that so?" Fang Yong pressed his lips together. For the first time, he felt pressure. The accomplishments he had once believed 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, while Sun Qi seemed to sense what was coming.
"Be reincarnated."
"..." Everyone.
"When both sides possess similar aptitude, even if one side holds a slight advantage, family background ultimately determines the upper limit of each side's achievements."
"For example, you." Head Escort Liang looked at Fang Yong. "Your aptitude is indeed quite good. I fear that you will encounter no bottleneck before becoming a Martial Artist, or even before Eighth Rank."
"But afterward, you will need resources. If you wish to keep going and compete with the descendants of aristocratic families, what you will be competing in is every kind of resource. At such times, the foundations of those families will show you what a gap truly is."
"So what I lack is only resources—family background." Fang Yong said softly.
"However." Head Escort Liang shifted the subject. "There are also some extraordinary talents in this world. Even if they are born poor, they can still stand no weaker than the geniuses of aristocratic families, or even surpass them. Give such people even a little resource, and they can charge forward without obstruction, reaching heights that even those aristocratic families must look up to."
"What kind of extraordinary talents?" Many people were quite curious. This was their first time learning such Secrets of Martial Dao.
Even Jiang Ping, who had been listening at the side, pricked up his ears.
"Martial Bone!" Head Escort Liang spat out the two words heavily, then said,
"Some martial prodigies possess an extra peculiar 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 makes him a genius. But if someone with a Martial Bone cultivated the Nourishing Life Technique, he could 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, yet if a Martial Bone Prodigy learned it, he could likely surpass me in only a few months."
Before you continue