"Twenty taels of silver to learn martial arts. You'll study for three months, and each month you'll receive three doses of Foundation Building Soup to aid your cultivation..."
"After three months, if you want to stay at the martial hall, you'll need to pay ten taels of silver each month..."
"You understand all these rules, right...?"
The speaker was a tall, straight-backed young man, handsome and dressed in a white robe embroidered with pine branches. The aura surrounding him was remarkably imposing.
He was undoubtedly an Eighth-grade martial artist.
"I understand." Lin Yi cupped his hands.
The young man smiled. "My surname is Liu, and my name is Liu Lie. Just call me Senior Brother Liu. Have you had your bones tested?"
Lin Yi replied, "I went to the Hidden Origin Chamber of Commerce earlier and had a martial artist test them. I don't know how accurate it was..."
Liu Lie nodded and reached straight for Lin Yi's shoulder.
Lin Yi's expression shifted. His body tensed, and he quickly concealed the yin energy of the Corpse Puppet Path.
Just then, Liu Lie's voice came from beside his ear.
"I'll test you again. Take a deep breath, don't hold it in. It'll hurt a little, so bear with it. Feeling dizzy is normal..."
As he spoke, Liu Lie's hand probed inch by inch over Lin Yi's shoulder, collarbone, and spine...
As he examined him, Lin Yi's bones crackled all over.
"Hm?" Liu Lie's eyes lit up, and he gave a little gasp. "Not bad! You actually have Grade B- Bone Structure..."
Lin Yi felt a little relieved and bowed to Liu Lie. "Thank you, Senior Brother."
Liu Lie waved a hand. "It's nothing."
Seeing that Lin Yi had good talent, Liu Lie grew more inclined to chat.
"Do you know why martial halls place so much importance on bone structure?"
Lin Yi replied, "To a certain extent, it determines the speed of cultivation and the heights one might reach in the future."
Liu Lie smiled. "You're right, but also wrong."
"Bone structure is very important. It has a huge effect on the speed of cultivation."
"Master Yuan once said that one cultivation session for someone with Grade A Bone Structure is equivalent to ten sessions for someone with Grade B Bone Structure, or a hundred sessions for someone with Grade D Bone Structure. The efficiency is roughly like that."
"What's more, bone structure often determines how quickly you recover after training. Recovery is vital in martial cultivation. It's the beginning of progress, and we call it supercompensation."
"Even if someone with Grade D Bone Structure works hard, their limited talent means they can train at most once a day. Any more will only deplete their body's potential. But someone with Grade B Bone Structure recovers quickly. After one session, they can rest for half a day and train again."
"And the incredible thing about Grade A Bone Structure is that you can train five times a day."
"Over the years, people with Grade A Bone Structure naturally grow much stronger than those with other grades."
"But the most important thing is that Grade A Bone Structure may come with a Destiny."
Lin Yi grew interested. "A Destiny?"
"That's right. According to us qi cultivators, a Destiny is what you experience when your talent exceeds your body's natural gifts. For example, if your bone structure surpasses Grade A, that excess may attract the favor of Heaven and be transformed into a Destiny."
"So there's a saying: anyone with a Destiny must have Grade A Bone Structure, but not everyone with Grade A Bone Structure has a Destiny."
So, by rights, Lin Yi had been born with a Destiny.
Anyone with a Destiny should also have been blessed with Grade A Bone Structure.
But the thing he had received from his birth mother was the [Jade Cicada Cocoon]. Once it broke open, it would grant him a Destiny with absolute certainty.
However, its gestation required the nourishment and support of his mother's [Molting Jade Cicada] Destiny.
Given how his birth mother had wanted nothing more than to kill him by throwing him down, getting her to nourish and support it was utterly impossible.
Thus, over the decades, the [Jade Cicada Cocoon] could only be nurtured through Lin Yi's own efforts: gathering precious mountain materials from all over the mountains and continually consuming his bone structure's potential.
His bone structure had been depleted somewhat as well.
That was how it had fallen from Grade A to Grade B.
"But now that the [Empathic Corpse Dissection] Destiny has finally emerged from the [Jade Cicada Cocoon], all my efforts haven't been in vain." Lin Yi thought to himself.
Still, he felt the small sacrifice of his bone structure's potential was well worth gaining a Destiny that let him absorb the knowledge and experiences of the dead simply by touching their corpses.
Combined with [Know Heavenly Fate], which allowed him to clearly understand his own condition and see his cultivation progress, the two together made martial cultivation feel almost like cheating.
With this Destiny in hand, and Hu Ma's experience as an Eighth-grade martial artist, Lin Yi felt that breaking through the Martial Pass, condensing True Qi, and embarking on the Martial Way within the remaining three months wouldn't be all that difficult.
"All right, enough talk." Liu Lie said, "I'll pass on our martial hall's qi-entry technique to you."
"The qi-entry technique is specifically for breaking through the Martial Pass, entering the realm of True Qi, and becoming a martial artist."
"Once you successfully enter the qi realm and become a martial artist, come find me to exchange for a martial technique."
With that, Liu Lie led Lin Yi into the cultivation instruction room.
Thanks to Hu Ma's experience, Lin Yi was already very familiar with the Long Rainbow Technique, the qi-entry method.
He played along and went through a couple of the motions.
An incense stick's time later.
Liu Lie looked at Lin Yi in surprise. "I didn't expect you to have not only good bone structure, but also such remarkable comprehension."
Lin Yi offered him a compliment. "That's because you taught me well, Senior Brother."
Liu Lie accepted this as a matter of course. "That's true."
Still, he didn't forget to remind him, "Your bone structure and comprehension are both good, but what matters most in martial cultivation is perseverance. Don't get arrogant."
Afterward, he took Lin Yi to the large dormitory where the martial hall's apprentices lived.
It was the apprentices' dormitory.
Lin Yi's dorm room was shared by four people.
There weren't as many people at the martial hall this year as there usually were.
So Lin Yi's room wasn't full. Besides him, he had two roommates.
It seemed that neither of them was in the room today.
"There are two other people in your room. Their families have some influence; they're with the Fishermen Gang, and they stick together pretty tightly. Be a little careful. If anything happens, tell me."
After giving this final instruction, Liu Lie left.
Once he could begin training, Lin Yi didn't waste any time.
He headed straight to the training grounds and walked toward a rather dilapidated practice post in the corner.
He lowered his stance and set his qi and blood circulating.
In his mind, he almost instinctively followed Hu Ma's experience practicing the Long Rainbow Technique.
He struck the practice post in front of him according to the method's movements.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With each dull, heavy blow,
a line of small text appeared before Lin Yi.
[Long Rainbow Technique proficiency +5]
Feeling his proficiency increase and the qi and blood surging through his body,
Lin Yi couldn't help feeling overjoyed.
Lin Yi could clearly feel it.
Each time he circulated the Long Rainbow Technique, his whole body made visible progress.
Seeing this, Lin Yi stopped letting his mind wander.
Instead, he devoted all his attention to practicing the Long Rainbow Technique.
Fists, legs, knees, elbows, qi and blood surging.
Lin Yi felt every cell in his body follow the technique, working and training at the highest efficiency he could currently achieve.
He threw himself into the practice and didn't notice time passing.
Time slipped by. Most people trained for an hour, then rested and replenished themselves with meat and dry rations.
Overdoing it never paid. Training too long squeezed the body's energy too hard, and without replenishing it, one could damage their foundation instead.
Soon, the people replenishing themselves at the training grounds noticed the odd one out: Lin Yi.
There was no other reason. Lin Yi had already been training for two hours without stopping.
"Who's that guy? He's been going for two hours without a break?"
"He just got here, I bet. A greenhorn. Keep training like that and he'll wreck himself before long."
"Shame to waste his family's money."
"Exactly. At this rate, he won't break through. He'll just damage his foundation."
"..."
Everyone shook their heads with mocking smiles.
Greenhorns who had just learned martial arts were often diligent for a while, pretending to work hard. Once they faced reality, they'd slink away. There were far too many of them, so the old hands at the martial hall barely gave them a second thought.
"So, have all of you broken through the Martial Pass?"
A chilly voice came from behind them.
Everyone instinctively turned around. A tall, straight-backed young man was walking out of the martial hall's inner courtyard, his stride steady and commanding.
"Senior Brother Liu!" Everyone straightened up at once and hurried to their feet, respectfully greeting him.
The Rainbow Martial Hall had four inner disciples in all.
The Senior Brother Liu before them ranked third.
The Long Rainbow Hall Master had recently taken his inner disciples to a neighboring county to exchange pointers on martial arts, leaving only Senior Brother Liu behind.
Now, Senior Brother Liu was essentially in charge of the entire Rainbow Martial Hall.
"I asked you: have you broken through the Martial Pass?" Senior Brother Liu snapped.
His aura was so imposing that everyone couldn't help shivering.
"Not yet..."
"Not yet through the Martial Pass, and you're still slacking off? You've got time to gossip behind someone's back? You think the likes of you deserve to practice martial arts?"
Senior Brother Liu's voice was cold.
Then he glanced at Lin Yi, who was practicing with total concentration. Noticing that the qi and blood in Lin Yi's body remained fairly abundant and that he hadn't exhausted himself, he showed a trace of surprise but didn't interfere.
He had already given Lin Yi his warning, after all.
Then he headed straight for the inner courtyard.
Everyone looked at one another, their faces flushing and paling by turns. They had nothing more to say.
Before you continue