"You want to teach me cultivation techniques?" Uchiha Madara glanced at her. Though he did not say it outright, his disdain was unmistakable.
"Hmm... Miss Yu, could you defeat that Lady Shen from before?"
Uchiha Madara asked helplessly.
"No!" If she truly could have beaten her, Yu Lingxin would not have ended up in that state.
"Was that Lady Shen on the Heroes Ranking?"
Yu Lingxin's face reddened like blood. "No!"
After being rebuffed twice by Uchiha Madara's questions, even she was too embarrassed to pursue the subject. She could only struggle to defend herself. "An Earth Origin Realm martial artist once emerged from my Yu family's ancestors. My inferiority is my own problem; it has nothing to do with my family's inherited martial arts..."
"Mm-hmm..."
Uchiha Madara yawned and gave a perfunctory response.
Yet he had more or less figured it out. In the Heavenly Martial World, before reaching the Earth Origin Realm, martial artists followed the same path of sensing qi and accumulating inner force. Although marvelous martial arts could help one defeat opponents stronger than oneself, inner force remained the foundation.
The deeper one's accumulated inner force, the faster one could learn martial arts, and the more one could turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Even common techniques could unleash immense power. Otherwise, one would need twice the effort for half the result, with a hint of taking shortcuts besides. Yu Lingxin's inner force was weak and her foundation unstable; she was clearly one of that sort.
The next day.
Boyang City.
Inside a private room at Clear Wind Tower.
Uchiha Madara held an icy jade crane-beak wine pot and filled his cup, his gaze fixed on the view beyond the window.
Willows swayed gently outside the tower, the soft breeze warm and pleasant, painting a scene