Once Ye Wudao had a clear grasp of the situation, he opened the system panel.
[Host: Ye Wudao] [Realm: Houtian Minor Accomplishment (870/200000)] [Arts: Primordial Art, Northern Dark Infinite Art (Beginner) (7200/100000), Sea-Gathering Art (Beginner) (800/10000)] [Martial Skills: Eight Extremes Fist (Perfected), Life-Taking Four Blades (Perfected), Meteor Fist (Perfected), Four Seasons Blade Technique (Perfected), Lost Trace Steps (Perfected)...]
Looking at the densely packed martial skills on the system panel, he wondered whether there was a way to fuse them together.
However, the Primordial Art seemed capable of fusing only cultivation arts. There was no [+] symbol beside the martial skill status entries.
After studying it for a while and confirming that martial skills could not be fused, he looked at Qin Tianlong and asked, "Great Master, I have a question. Why do I feel that the cultivation arts we practice are all incomplete, while the martial skills seem complete?"
"What is the reason for that?"
Qin Tianlong glanced at Ye Wudao and smiled. "So you noticed it too!"
"I was wondering about that myself. Since you practice the Primordial Art, you were bound to learn of this. Why didn't you ask me?"
"Actually, there are currently three theories regarding this phenomenon."
"The first theory is that today's Martial Path inheritance originated from the ancient martial arts of the Dragon Kingdom before the Blue Star Federation was established. That is why the great lineages of today are all ancient martial arts families from the Dragon Kingdom."
"That is also why the geniuses of the current Martial Dao World all have Dragon Kingdom bloodlines. The bodies of Dragon Kingdom people differ somewhat from those of people from other nations."
"Research has found that Dragon Kingdom people have denser muscles and lack two useless bones, making them more suited to cultivating the Martial Path."
"Over the more than five thousand years of Dragon Kingdom history, countless upheavals occurred. In order to consolidate their imperial power, those ancient emperors weakened the Martial Path, preserving techniques while withholding methods."
"If they had not weakened the Martial Path, the imperial power they established might very well have been overthrown in short order."
Ye Wudao pursed his lips and asked in a low voice, "Preserving techniques while withholding methods? What was the use of doing that?"
Qin Tianlong said, "It means leaving behind only martial skills while withholding the methods of cultivation."
"Even if ordinary people mastered martial skills, without the corresponding cultivation, their combat strength would still be limited."
"As for why they did not ban both techniques and methods entirely, it was because ancient soldiers needed to take the battlefield and kill enemies. They needed to master the combat techniques of cold weapons."
"So, banning only cultivation arts while allowing martial skills was better for consolidating imperial power."
Ye Wudao nodded. He had not expected there to be such a theory.
Qin Tianlong continued, "The second theory is that the Martial Path was lost."
"In ancient times, for some unknown reason, the Martial Path suffered a break in its inheritance, leaving only a few scraps and fragments to be passed down."
"This theory actually has evidence to support it. Some people studied martial skills and discovered that no matter what martial skill it was, it could only wield True Qi. The spiritual power cultivated by Grandmasters could not be infused into weapons."
"In other words, the highest-level martial skills we can cultivate today are Xiantian martial skills."
"Cultivation arts can only reach the Grandmaster Realm, while martial skills stop at Xiantian martial skills. There is clearly a break in inheritance here."
After speaking, he paused, then said gravely, "As for the third theory, I used to half believe it and half doubt it. But after you fused the Northern Dark Infinite Art, I stopped believing it entirely."
"The third theory claims that the Martial Path, from ancient times until now, has only ever developed as far as the Grandmaster Realm. All realms beyond that were merely the conjectures of ancient people."
"This theory was proposed by those Westerners, but it does not really hold water."
"They overlooked one fact: in historical records from the Dragon Kingdom over the past several centuries, there were still people who achieved the rank of Land Immortal through the Martial Path."
"Not only in these past few centuries. Throughout the Dragon Kingdom's entire history, such a figure appeared every few hundred years."
"If everything above the Grandmaster Realm were merely ancient conjecture, these Land Immortals could not possibly have run through the entire history of the Dragon Kingdom."
"Some people speculate that these individuals either possessed talent so monstrous it bordered on the demonic and developed new martial arts cultivation methods themselves."
"Or they obtained cultivation arts capable of reaching higher realms."
"But without exception, after achieving the rank of Land Immortal, they all vanished without explanation. More accurately, they 'ascended.' Thus, there is no way to verify the truth."
"Yet throughout the Dragon Kingdom's more than five thousand years of history, such people appeared from time to time. They definitely were not invented out of thin air."
"An invention could not be passed down for thousands of years. There are even clear records of such people in the Dragon Kingdom's official historical archives."
Ye Wudao nodded. This third theory truly did not hold water.
Because he could already confirm that realms existed beyond the Grandmaster Realm.
Moreover, the system's current prompt stated that cultivation arts could continue to be perfected, and that higher realms existed beyond Grandmaster.
What did it mean for a cultivation art to be incomplete?
It meant that complete cultivation arts had existed in the past; they had merely been altered!
Still, he somewhat admired whoever had altered those cultivation arts. Even after modifying them, that person had allowed others to continue cultivating and even reach the Grandmaster Realm.
Most importantly, it was not just one cultivation art that had been altered, but many.
This might not have been the work of one person, but of a whole group.
Therefore, of Qin Tianlong's three theories, he leaned more toward the first.
In ancient times, emperors had altered the cultivation arts of the major sects in order to consolidate imperial power.
Some cultivation arts had not been altered, however, and were hidden among the people, passed down in secret. That was why Land Immortals had continued to emerge over the past several thousand years.
Ye Wudao looked at Qin Tianlong and asked quietly, "Great Master, what kind of realm is a Land Immortal?"
Qin Tianlong thought for a moment before replying, "According to ancient texts, a Land Immortal is an existence capable of anything, even turning stone into gold with a touch."
"Alas! Most records concerning Land Immortals are actually mythological tales."
"The Land Immortal closest to our era was named Zhang Sanfeng. It is said that he founded the Taiji lineage and created his own cultivation art, thereby ascending to the realm of Land Immortal."
"The Taiji Art was passed down by him, though for some reason it too can only be cultivated to the Grandmaster Realm."
He glanced at the contemplative Ye Wudao and said gravely, "You must not dwell on such illusory, intangible matters. The Martial Path values keeping one's feet on solid ground and taking one step at a time."
Ye Wudao nodded and replied, "Don't worry, I understand!"
Over the next five days, the four of them settled into a routine of resting during the day and hunting demonic beasts at night.
On the second day, he advanced to Houtian Great Accomplishment. His strength surged, reaching thirty thousand kilograms.
On the fifth day, he advanced to Houtian Peak. His strength surged again, reaching fifty thousand kilograms.
One punch now carried the equivalent of fifty tons of force.
Combined with Penetrating Power, one punch could directly blast through five meters of reinforced concrete.
At the same time, the Sea-Gathering Art had also reached perfection. Now, he only needed to wait another five days. Once the Northern Dark Infinite Art reached perfection, he could fuse cultivation arts once more.
On the fifth night, the four people from Cell No. 1 arrived at the Rift World at seven o'clock.
Tonight, the Rift World opened early. Grandmaster Realm experts would lead a team into the desert to gather Spirit Rhino Grass.
The Rift World encampment was especially lively today.
The road between the tents was packed with people, and even the insides of the tents were crowded full.
It was Ye Wudao's first time seeing such a scene. Usually, entry into the Rift World did not open until eight o'clock, and he always arrived around eight thirty.
Thus, he had never seen so many people crammed into the encampment.
"Great Master, does Sea City have this many Houtian Realm cultivators?"
Looking at the vast sea of people, he asked Qin Tianlong beside him.
Qin Tianlong smiled. "It would be wonderful if there were that many Houtian Realm cultivators!"
"Eighty percent of the people here are simply here to watch the excitement, while another ten percent want to follow along and gather Spirit Rhino Grass."
"As for the remaining ten percent, they want to go too, but their cultivation is insufficient. They can only stare helplessly here and see whether the requirements will be loosened."
"In Blue Star's Martial Dao World, Body Forging Realm cultivators make up eighty percent, Houtian Realm cultivators make up fifteen percent, and Xiantian Realm cultivators make up five percent."
"There are only a little over twenty Grandmaster Realm experts, so their proportion can practically be ignored."
Ye Wudao nodded slightly and followed Qin Tianlong forward.
Weaving through this crowd to reach the very front required some skill as well.
However, Qin Tianlong had no particular skill. He simply spread out his Xiantian True Qi and shoved aside everyone blocking the way.
Upon reaching the Weaponry tent at the front, Qin Tianlong rented Ye Wudao's Meteorite Spear, then headed toward the parking lot.
"Great Master, they're from the Zhang Family!"
Ye Wudao looked at the crowd standing before the parking lot and spoke softly.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as he spotted a familiar figure.
Beside the Zhang Family's group, within a small cluster of people, Ye Mingyuan was conspicuously present.
Qin Tianlong narrowed his eyes slightly and said quietly, "It is not just the Zhang Family. Nearly every lineage in Sea City, large and small, has come."
Ye Wudao frowned tightly and asked, "Great Master, I saw Ye Mingyuan, but from what I know of him, he should not have advanced to the Houtian stage yet."
"Could it be that these descendants of great families have no cultivation requirement for gathering Spirit Rhino Grass?"
Qin Tianlong shook his head. "I don't know that either!"
"The commander of the Demon Slayer Guard stationed at Sea City's spatial Rift has not arrived yet, so we do not know the specifics."
"I reckon these great families have some privileges."
Before you continue