A Leap of a Thousand Miles

The Zhushan Arena Tournament was Zhushan Town's annual martial arts tournament.

In this world where martial might reigned supreme, from the imperial capital down to little towns, any place where people gathered would have such martial arts tournaments. Their purpose was simple as well: to spur progress through combat.

Generally speaking, martial arts tournaments were divided into two groups. One was the youth group for those under eighteen; each city's Youth Ranking was produced based on the matches in this group, making it the main event of the tournament. The other group was for martial artists to spar and exchange pointers with one another. Relatively speaking, fewer people took part in it, and it focused more on exchange, without rankings.

Three days later would be Zhushan Town's annual martial arts tournament, the Zhushan Arena Tournament. A small place like Zhushan Town cared even more about nurturing and discovering the younger generation, so it placed great importance on the youth group's competition. As long as one was a youth under eighteen, one was qualified to participate.

To prevent some youths from hiding their strength and to encourage them to seize good rankings, Zhushan Town rewarded the top ten on the Youth Ranking every year, and the prizes were all extremely precious.

Jiang Feng had never participated in the Zhushan Arena Tournament before. First, all his energy had been poured into cultivating the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures, leaving him no mind to take part. Second, with his original strength, even if he joined, he would only be asking for humiliation—and might even be beaten to death.

Strictly speaking, taking lives on the arena stage was not permitted. After all, every youth participating in the matches was the town's hope. But with martial contests, who could guarantee no one would die? So every year, people died at the Zhushan Arena Tournament. Even if it was clearly known that someone had deliberately killed an opponent, there was no way to measure it. Aside from being criticized by some elders, the killer simply could not be convicted.

Once Jiang Feng lost to Nie Xiaoyue at the Zhushan Arena Tournament and was "accidentally killed" by her, then with Nie Xiaoyue's status, there probably would not even be anyone to accuse her.

However, Jiang Feng would not give Nie Xiaoyue that chance.

With Jiang Feng's current strength, it would be easy for Nie Xiaoyue to defeat him, but if she wanted to kill him, she would still have to spend quite a few methods. However, three days later, once Jiang Feng completed the first level of the Golden Body of the Wisdom King, he would truly have the ability to fight even a real martial artist.

Once the first level of the Golden Body of the Wisdom King was completed, he would possess a full two thousand jin of brute strength. If he then activated the golden body bloodline, he could erupt with five times that again, possessing ten thousand jin of brute strength for a short time. In terms of strength alone, he would be on par with an ordinary peak Yellow Martial Realm martial artist.

According to the records, after Emperor Longxiang cultivated the first level of the Golden Body of the Wisdom King back then, before opening his Dantian Qi Sea, he had slain a peak Yellow Martial Realm martial artist in one stroke, and from then on set foot upon the path that defied the heavens.

With the wager made, Jiang Feng cultivated even harder. His divine sense frantically guided the Sun and Moon Power among all things around him.

Two days later, at night, in a secluded alley, Jiang Feng was still sitting upright.

A powerful aura revolved around Jiang Feng in a regular rhythm. That was Sun and Moon Power guided to its extreme, difficult for the naked eye to see. However, within Jiang Feng's divine sense, this Sun and Moon Power was like a flood, spinning around him and being rapidly absorbed by his body. His body was also swiftly undergoing transformation because of it, and the strength of his fleshly body was about to climb to the limit—two thousand jin.

In this world, people who could sense the existence of Sun and Moon Power could be counted on one's fingers. Therefore, in this tiny Zhushan Town, no one could sense the powerful transformation hidden within this quiet alley.

"Crack..." A crisp sound burst out from within Jiang Feng's body. That was his bones splitting open after being soaked by Sun and Moon Power. Such agony was perhaps something only Jiang Feng, whose soul was extremely powerful, could endure without even furrowing his brow.

Through his divine sense, it could be seen that after the bones split, the cracks were swiftly repaired by Sun and Moon Power. The bones after being repaired became extremely sturdy!

With this cycle repeating, every bone in Jiang Feng's body transformed one after another. At the same time, the skin, flesh, blood, and meridians on his body were also undergoing transformation.

Visible to the naked eye, Jiang Feng's body began to swell, even tearing apart the cloth robe on him. At this moment, his physique had nearly become three times its original size. His thick muscles looked as if they had been cast from steel, and under the influence of Sun and Moon Power, strange patterned lines appeared on the surface of his skin. These lines gathered across his body, like an intricately drawn tattoo.

After the strange lines covered Jiang Feng's entire body, they began to slowly sink into him, while Jiang Feng's body also gradually returned to normal.

The torn cloth robe hung casually on his body. As the night wind blew, his hair and strips of shredded fabric moved with the breeze, and Jiang Feng slowly opened his eyes.

"Finally succeeded." The corners of Jiang Feng's mouth lifted slightly. "The Golden Body of the Wisdom King really does feel different."

At this moment, Jiang Feng felt as if his entire body was filled with power. He liked this feeling.

In his previous life, he had been an assassin with abilities beyond ordinary people. He had stood high at the peak of Earth's assassin world, looking down on everyone. Carrying his memories through reincarnation into this world, he had endured in silence for fourteen years, and now he finally had a certain amount of strength.

Jiang Feng was not swept dizzy by joy. He knew full well that although he had completed the first level of the Golden Body of the Wisdom King, compared to those martial arts experts, he was still like an ant. Never mind the Qi Family—even within Zhushan Town, there were countless martial artists who could casually cut him down.

If he wanted to stand at the peak, he could only keep progressing!

The current Jiang Feng possessed a full two thousand jin of brute strength in his fleshly body, twice that of an ordinary ninth-level Body Strengthening cultivator. However, he did not intend to stop, nor did he even intend to rest.

He wanted to continue charging toward the next stage, striving to astonish everyone at the Zhushan Arena Tournament with a single cry, appearing as a martial artist!

At this moment, Jiang Feng already had enough capital not to place Nie Xiaoyue in his eyes. However, his goal was not merely to defeat Nie Xiaoyue, but to shake the entire Zhushan Town, and in one stroke cast off his identity as a beggar and become a young martial artist who received the empire's stipend!

Using brute strength to shake the dantian and open the Dantian Qi Sea—calling it difficult was not quite right, but calling it easy was not right either. In this world, even the most useless person could, after a long period of training, reach the ninth level of Body Strengthening and possess a thousand jin of great strength. However, those who could become martial artists were one in ten. It was precisely because of this step—shaking the dantian and opening the Qi Sea—that ninety percent of people were kept outside the gate of martial artists.

Opening the Dantian Qi Sea was divided into two steps. The first step was to shake the dantian and open a space. The second step was to comprehend Heaven and Earth Power, breathe it in and out to produce Qi Energy, and store it in that space. These two could be completed at the same time, or they could be completed step by step.

However, there was no doubt that only when both were completed could it be counted as successfully opening the Dantian Qi Sea.

For people with high natural talent, this was not difficult. But for people of ordinary aptitude or who were dull-witted, it was somewhat difficult, and there was even a certain degree of danger.

First, shaking the dantian to open a space—although there was guidance from the experience of predecessors, once an accident or mistake occurred, the light result would be internal injury, while the severe result could be damage to the dantian and meridians, leaving one forever without fate with martial arts.

Second, comprehending Heaven and Earth Power depended entirely on spirituality and aptitude. Those with good aptitude might be able to sense it in an instant; those with poor aptitude might never sense it in their entire lives. But this step was not as rigid as opening the dantian space. For this step, one could seek the help of external forces.

Some great clans and major sects, in order to strengthen their family's power and allow more of their disciples to become martial artists, studied many methods, and in the end developed a kind of pill—the Qi-Inducing Pill.

The function of the Qi-Inducing Pill was to help people with poorer aptitude guide Heaven and Earth Power and complete their first breath cycle, thereby forming the Dantian Qi Sea. As long as the Dantian Qi Sea formed, it would be relatively much easier to slowly sense Heaven and Earth Power afterward.

However, this Qi-Inducing Pill was quite complicated to refine, yet its function was singular. Not many people were willing to spend the effort refining it, so its price was relatively outrageously high. Only those great clans could afford to use it.

In short, opening the Dantian Qi Sea was not easy.

But to Jiang Feng, this was not an issue at all!

He could even comprehend the deeper-level Sun and Moon Power, let alone Heaven and Earth Power. Under the guidance of his divine sense, the efficiency of his breathing cycles was even outrageously high. As for shaking the dantian to open a space, that was even easier.

Therefore, Jiang Feng only used a brief moment before successfully opening the Dantian Qi Sea.

From then on, he became a true martial artist! As long as he was willing, once the sky brightened tomorrow, he could go to the Dragon Emperor Tower and complete his certification, becoming a young martial artist who enjoyed the empire's stipend.

However, Jiang Feng was not in a hurry. He still wanted to carefully feel the process of breathing in Heaven and Earth Power and forming Dantian Qi Energy.

After the Dantian Qi Sea was opened, martial artists could internally observe the mysteries within their own bodies. However, Jiang Feng possessed even more powerful divine sense, which let him see even more clearly and thoroughly than internal observation.

With this one look, Jiang Feng immediately discovered a pleasant surprise—the Eight Extraordinary Meridians within his body were actually all incomparably clear and unobstructed!

"This..." Even Jiang Feng himself was very surprised. What Yellow Martial Realm martial artists had to do was use Qi Energy to open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians within their bodies. When the Eight Extraordinary Meridians in the body became clear and unobstructed, a heavenly circulation could form within the body. At that time, Dantian Qi Energy could move according to the heart, traveling at will.

In other words, Jiang Feng now actually directly possessed peak Yellow Martial Realm cultivation!

"Let's try it!" Jiang Feng rose. With a thought, that wisp of Qi Energy just formed through breathing cycles swiftly shot out from his dantian and gathered on his arm.

"As expected, my current strength has probably already reached twenty thousand jin!" Jiang Feng could clearly sense the difference between before and after. A tenfold gap—he had no idea how to describe that feeling.

An ordinary peak Yellow Martial Realm martial artist, with the Eight Extraordinary Meridians fully opened, could reach ten thousand jin of strength. Because Jiang Feng had attained the first level of the Golden Body of the Wisdom King, he possessed twenty thousand jin of strength.

"Haha..." Even with Jiang Feng's steady temperament, he could not hold back the joy in his heart and burst into loud laughter. This leap in strength was truly enough to drive a man wild!

"Fourteen years old, peak Yellow Martial Realm!" Such an achievement was absolutely unprecedented!

Three days ago, he had still been a useless wretch without the strength to truss a chicken. Now, after only three days, he was already a peak Yellow Martial Realm martial artist possessing a tremendous strength of twenty thousand jin.

This increase in strength was simply a single leap of a thousand li!