Martial Dao Foundations

Hiss!

The crowd sucked in a breath, shock written across every face.

Song Yuanshan's strength was actually even more terrifying than they had imagined.

Fang Yong swallowed hard and said wistfully, "Do I still have any chance of catching up?"

"Most likely not." Escort Huang knew a great deal about Martial Dao and was privy to more of its secrets. He sighed. "You started far too late. Even if you have become a martial artist now and can improve rapidly from here on, perhaps even reach Sixth Grade, it will be very difficult for you to achieve what Song Yuanshan has. You can almost see your upper limit already."

Fang Yong's face darkened slightly as he asked in a trembling voice, "What achievement? Do you mean cultivating those dozens of strands of Sword Qi?"

Escort Huang shook his head. "Those are merely techniques for increasing one's strength. It does not matter if you do not pursue them. The achievement I speak of concerns the path of Martial Dao—the foundation that determines your future."

"Foundation?" The three new escort masters looked baffled.

Without famous masters to guide them, they had all followed a chapter of the Nourishing Life Technique to get where they were today. Thus, they knew very little of the secrets of Martial Dao.

Escort Huang looked at Fang Yong. "The other two may not know this, but I heard that after you became a martial artist, Escort Liang gave you an Eighth Grade technique from Jidao Martial Academy. Did he ever mention the realm of Flesh Like Gold?"

Fang Yong thought back for a moment, then nodded. "Master Liang did mention it. Eighth Grade Skin Refining can take two paths. One is to cultivate Iron Skin and directly assault Seventh Rank. If one has lofty ambitions, one may instead strive for Golden Skin. Master Liang said that was the realm of Eighth Grade Great Perfection."

"But," he changed tack and said seriously, "Master Liang also said that none of Yang City's geniuses pursue Golden Skin. He only told me to directly assault Seventh Rank once my Iron Skin reached perfection."

"That is indeed true, but he probably did not tell you that Golden Skin represents one's Martial Dao foundation—one's reserves. Without cultivating such a foundation, entering Fifth Grade is exceedingly difficult. The moment you touch it, you will almost certainly die!"

"What?" Fang Yong froze, crying out in alarm, "Without Golden Skin, touching Fifth Grade means certain death? Then why did Master Liang not tell this younger generation to pursue it?"

Escort Huang smiled. "Skin and flesh wrap around sinew and bone. Eighth Grade refines skin and flesh, which can be divided into iron and gold. Naturally, the Seventh Rank sinew-and-bone realm has a similar distinction. Bones Like Gold is also perfection, also a Martial Dao foundation. So long as one cultivates Golden Bone, Fifth Grade becomes possible."

"I understand." Liu Wensheng stroked his chin. "What you mean, Senior, is that at Eighth Grade, one can cultivate Iron Skin and directly charge into Seventh Rank. At Seventh Rank, one can cultivate sinews and bones like copper and iron, then advance to Sixth Grade. But if one wishes to enter the ranks of Fifth Grade, one must cultivate either Golden Skin at Eighth Grade or Golden Bone at Seventh Rank. That is the Martial Dao foundation that lays the groundwork for the future, correct?"

"Exactly right." Escort Huang nodded, then added, "However, compared to Golden Bone at Seventh Rank, cultivating Golden Skin at Eighth Grade is several times more difficult."

That was why, rather than pursue Golden Skin, the many favored geniuses preferred to cultivate Golden Bone at Seventh Rank. Once they succeeded, Fifth Grade would be within sight.

"Golden Bone is easy to cultivate, yet Golden Skin is hard to obtain. What a strange thing," Liu Wensheng clicked his tongue.

Everyone nodded, finding it rather odd. The path of Martial Dao should have grown more difficult the deeper one went.

Yet when it came to Martial Dao foundations, Seventh Rank perfection was actually easier than Eighth Grade Golden Skin.

"Could it be that Golden Bone is not the true perfection of Seventh Rank? Perhaps there is still another realm to be uncovered—that would be the Great Perfection?"

At that moment, a Senior Drafter suddenly spoke up.

Escort Huang shook his head. "I have never heard of it. Perhaps there is, perhaps there is not. But regardless, it is not something people like us can fantasize about."

Then he turned to Fang Yong and spoke bluntly. "You are indeed a genius, but compared to Song Yuanshan, your Best Training Time came too late. You only began at Twenty years old, leaving you with merely ten years of the Golden Stage."

A genius like Song Yuanshan had begun training at sixteen. With the abundant resources brought by his Family background, he entered Eighth Grade in half a year. Yet in pursuit of Golden Skin, he had squandered two years before entering Seventh Rank.

Iron Bone perfection had taken another half year. After that, he had spent three years cultivating Golden Bone. It was said he was nearly finished, his vital energy and blood already showing a pale-gold hue.

With such accomplishments, he had returned at only twenty-one years of age, merely one year older than Fang Yong.

"Give me six years, and Golden Bone will not be beyond my reach!" Fang Yong declared with absolute conviction. He had that confidence. His talent was no worse than Song Yuanshan's; only his Family background was slightly inferior.

"Of course you can cultivate Golden Bone. But Sixth Grade Refining Five Viscera—One Viscera One Year's Work!"

Escort Huang continued.

The prerequisite for assaulting Fifth Grade was a sufficiently deep Martial Dao foundation, one's body capable of enduring the Baptism of the Fifth Grade Realm.

But all of that had another overriding prerequisite: one had to achieve Fifth Grade before the age of thirty.

"Above Fifth Grade lies another heaven and earth, but before Fifth Grade, what one cultivates is oneself!"

"Do you think the 'Best Training Time' and 'Golden Age' expounded by those Martial Artists are lies? This is an iron law of Martial Dao. The peak of the human body's flesh and blood can only last until around thirty. Once one's Bone Age passes that point, vital energy and blood decline. Even if you cultivate Golden Bone, you may still fail to fully cultivate all five viscera."

"Doesn't that mean that because I began too late, even with all this talent, I will find it difficult to break through into Fifth Grade?"

Fang Yong froze. Then he felt unprecedented pressure, along with a faint sense of helplessness.

"It is not as though there is no chance."

Escort Huang spoke again. Seeing the light in the young man's eyes, he did not wish to strike him down with the words "be reborn into another life." He merely sighed.

"What else can be done? You can only use more precious resources to improve at breakneck speed. Unfortunately, even the escort agency does not possess such resources."

The light in Fang Yong's eyes dimmed again.

"You need not lose heart either. Even if you can only reach Sixth Grade, you will still have a lifespan of over a hundred years. Ensuring a lifetime of peace and prosperity, and allowing your family to flourish for generations, will be no problem at all. Besides, even reaching Fifth Grade only grants another twenty or thirty years of life."

Escort Huang offered a word of comfort. He mentioned that in Yang City, there were several martial artists whose talent rivaled Fang Yong's, yet they had ultimately failed to fully realize it.

For instance, the Chief of the Four Seas Escort Agency and the headmaster of Jidao Martial Academy were both like this. The three found that rather unexpected.

He also mentioned that Song Yuanshan had approached Lady Chen in order to gain her uncle's support, hoping to rapidly assault the Fifth Grade Realm before turning thirty.

But how could the Fifth Grade Realm be so easily attained? Song Yuanshan might be dazzling now, but he might not necessarily enter Fifth Grade before thirty.

Chen Qingyan's uncle had also been a towering figure among his Peers in Yang City back then, flourishing at the height of his fame and renowned throughout Changping Prefecture. At the same age, he had been no weaker than Song Yuanshan.

Yet had he not still struggled desperately across the line of thirty back then?

Escort Huang's words seemed to strike like thunder. The three new escorts fell silent for a long while, only then realizing just how arduous the road of Martial Dao truly was. Even geniuses had times when they were powerless.

As formidable as Song Yuanshan was, merely to increase his chances of breaking into the Fifth Grade Realm, he had no choice but to offer his true feelings to a wealthy merchant's daughter.

Of course, he might truly have liked her. But outsiders all said that Song Tianjiao had done it for the resources of the wealthy merchant's daughter's uncle.

After a long while.

Seeing that Fang Yong had no more questions, Jiang Ping finally asked what he had been curious about:

"Escort Huang, why was Song Yuanshan able to unleash so much Sword Qi?"

Escort Huang smiled and praised him, "You're still the one who sees through things, Youngster, not troubled by worldly affairs."

"..." Jiang Ping.