"Life-shortening martial arts?"
Old Ge murmured.
"What? Even with your vast experience, you don't know?" Aaron deliberately provoked him.
"How could that be?" Old Ge predictably took the bait and shouted, "Isn't your martial hall's Black Sand Palm exactly that?"
"Ah?!"
This unexpected answer made Aaron's expression change.
"Didn't Xue Qingshan tell you that without medicinal sand, once your training reaches the point where your qi and blood are exhausted and your body feels overdrawn, you absolutely must not continue? With medicinal sand, you can train for four or five shichen a day. Without it, you can only train for one?"
Old Ge said, "That's because cultivating the Black Sand Palm without medicinal sand will damage the body and shorten your life terribly... For all such profound martial arts, the manuals aren't the problem. The medicines are the secret never passed down!"
"So that means... even without medicinal sand, I can still train the Black Sand Palm to the death?" Aaron's eyes lit up.
"You can, but... Ten years ago, the expert in the provincial city known as 'Little Whirlwind' did exactly that. He too went to Green Mountain Martial Hall to learn martial arts. His family was poor, and he refused to listen to advice. Without medicinal sand to assist him, he trained the Black Sand Palm bitterly. He did manage to enter the Dark Force realm and dominate for a time... Then, before he even reached thirty, he showed signs of premature aging. At twenty-seven or twenty-eight, he simply aged to death without illness. This old man personally saw him off!"
Old Ge suddenly grabbed Aaron's hand. "I think you're a decent fellow. Whatever you do, don't follow in Little Whirlwind's footsteps!"
"Of course not. Why would I?"
Aaron patted his chest in assurance.
Great Marsh Lake.