No Talent? Then Do It Again and Again!

Without spiritual roots, she could not gather qi. The door to cultivation had been welded shut completely. But this world held more than cultivators; there were also mortal martial artists!

What martial artists cultivated was vital energy and blood; what they tempered was the fleshly body.

Though mortal martial artists were far weaker than cultivators in battle, it was still better than being an ordinary mortal!

Although... it consumed lifespan to an extreme degree. Even upon reaching the Grandmaster Realm, one would live only around a hundred years before ultimately dying as vital energy and blood declined.

Even so, she had to experience the power to move mountains and overturn seas, lest this life be wasted.

All roads led to Rome. If she could not cultivate immortality, then she would train in martial arts!

Since she had neither aptitude nor martial manuals, she would make up for them with effort!

If throwing a thousand punches a day was not enough, then she would throw ten thousand. If ten years could not produce hidden force, then she would train for a hundred!

Without talent, then do it again and again!

Su Yueli lowered her legs slightly and assumed the most basic horse stance.

She drew in a breath of cold air, faced the rising morning sun, and fiercely threw her first punch.

"Whoosh—"

The wind from her fist was weak, yet it sounded exceptionally clear in the deathly silent courtyard.

The Martial Dao began with this ordinary sound of tearing through the air.

In one hour, Su Yueli threw 1,500 punches.

In two hours, 2,700 punches. In three hours, 3,600 punches.

"Whew..."

Su Yueli took a deep breath, wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, and looked at her continuously trembling hands. She knew it was time to rest again.

But could practicing punches like this every day truly let her enter the Martial Dao?

Su Yueli did not know. But she had no other way. In this cultivation world where everything depended on aptitude, without innate talent, she could not even come into contact with the most basic knowledge.

She could only blunder about like a headless fly.

Just then, several shouts came from outside the gate. "Hurry up! Another immortal has come to our village!"

"What immortal? I heard he can't fly on a sword, so he should be a martial artist, right?"

"Who cares? If we don't go now, he'll be dead."

Hearing this while resting beneath a tree, Su Yueli sprang to her feet with a jolt and hurried over.

She asked the two women, "Aunties, what happened?"

The women stopped walking. Seeing that it was Su Yueli, one of them said cheerfully, "Oh my, Yueli, you don't know? A badly injured man fell into our village. He can fly through the skies and burrow through the earth!"

"Yes, yes!"

The other woman spoke exaggeratedly. "They say he can punch straight through a huge boulder with one fist. Oh, never mind that, hurry and go take a look."

After saying this, the two women took off running toward the village chief's house.

Their speed made Su Yueli feel ashamed. They were merely women who did farm work every day, yet their stamina was incredible.

"Flying through the skies and burrowing through the earth, shattering huge boulders with one punch?"

Su Yueli muttered to herself. Since he could not fly on a sword, he should be a martial artist, right?

She could not be certain without seeing him. But if he truly was a martial artist, perhaps she could seek his guidance.

Of course, that was only if the man was willing.

With that thought, Su Yueli stepped out through the gate and ran toward the village chief's house. She wanted to see what sort of person could cause such a stir.

Within half a quarter-hour, the outside of the village chief's courtyard was packed with people.

Su Yueli finally reached the outskirts of the crowd, but there were too many villagers. Her slight frame simply could not squeeze through.

All she could hear were questions from every direction.

"Village Chief, that immortal... oh, no, that martial artist—how is he? Can he survive?"

"Yeah, yeah! My kid has no innate talent, but he's strong as an ox. He's definitely cut out for martial arts."

"My son hunts with me every day, and his archery is first-rate. He surely wouldn't be bad at martial arts either. Village Chief, could you ask for me?"

The villagers talked over one another as they kept squeezing inward.

Yesterday, when the immortal had tested their innate talents, only a sparse few had been able to follow him back to the sect for cultivation. Everyone else was unwilling to accept it.

But innate talent was something one either had from birth or did not. If one lacked it at birth, then one truly lacked it; it was almost impossible to develop later.

If they wanted to gain power, then they could only take the second road.

Train in martial arts and become martial artists!

Though martial artists were much weaker than cultivators, even one who trained to the peak could not necessarily defeat a Golden Core cultivator.

And while a fifth-realm cultivator could live seven hundred years, a fifth-realm—or even tenth-realm—martial artist had no greater lifespan than an ordinary mortal.

At most, martial training made the body healthier, allowing one to live twenty or thirty more years, but aging came quickly.

Thus, most martial artists in this world would reach the fifth or sixth realm, only for their lifespan to run dry and their lamp oil to be exhausted, leaving them unable to advance any further.

"Enough, enough! Stop making noise!"

The old village chief emerged from the room, leaning on his cane, interrupting Su Yueli's thoughts.

Looking at the excited villagers, he knocked on the stone table beside him. "The man is nearly dead already. We can't save him, so stop thinking about so much!"

Regret climbed onto the villagers' faces. Their hopes had fallen through once more.

Su Yueli was unwilling.

This martial artist was the only connection she could currently reach. If he truly died, then she would never be able to enter the path while remaining in this little village for the rest of her life.

The Immortal Dao was like this, and so was the Martial Dao.

And if she went to a great city, who would pay any attention to a person from the mountains like her?

No money, no connections, nothing at all. She might even end up being taken advantage of.

Su Yueli could not accept that. She would rather have a blade stabbed into her back.

But then she suddenly thought of something, and delight flashed across her face.

She took from her robes a pill Shen Qing'an had left behind, claiming it was a miraculous medicine for healing injuries.

Could this save him...?

Su Yueli decided to gamble once. She shouted, "Village Chief, I can save him!"

The surroundings fell quiet. The villagers automatically opened a path, looking at Su Yueli in confusion.

"Girl, you know medicine?"

"Yeah, he's a martial artist, as formidable as an immortal. Can you really save him?"

"What could a little girl who spends every day holding her breath possibly know? Don't make trouble, don't make trouble."

During her years in the village, other than getting along with Shen Qing'an, who was also an outsider, Su Yueli spent nearly every day alone and rarely interacted with anyone.

She was either holding her breath or practicing punches. How could she possibly know medicine? The villagers did not quite believe her.

The village chief came before Su Yueli, equally doubtful. "Girl Su, can you really save him?"

Su Yueli nodded.

The village chief had a headache. With no other options, he could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

If the martial artist truly died in their village and no one came looking for him, that would be one thing.

But if his companions came and took their anger out on them, the entire village might suffer disaster.

The two entered the house, and Su Yueli saw a man in his forties lying unconscious on a wooden bed.

His face was pale, and his disheveled hair was stuck to his forehead with cold sweat. A scar ran across the bridge of his nose on his rugged face.

A massive gash split his abdomen. The village chief had merely wrapped it haphazardly a few times with coarse linen and herbs.

The bloody fluid would not stop flowing at all. It dripped through the gaps in the bed boards onto the earthen floor, and the entire room reeked of blood.

"So this is a martial artist..."

Su Yueli looked at the middle-aged man. Even with his eyes closed in unconsciousness, he exuded the fierce Killing Intent of someone who had spent years licking blood from the edge of a blade.

"A-Li, take a look. What should we do?" the village chief asked anxiously.

Su Yueli came back to herself and hurriedly took out the pill Shen Qing'an had given her, placing it into the man's mouth.

After fumbling with him for quite some time, she finally got him to swallow it.

Seeing this, the village chief grew even more puzzled. "What is that? Could it be a pill, some legendary immortal elixir?"

"You jest, Village Chief. How could ordinary people like us possess something belonging to immortals?"

Su Yueli did not say that Shen Qing'an had given it to her. She herself did not know whether it would work, though the note said it was for treating injuries.

She casually made up an excuse. "They're herbs I occasionally gathered while going up the mountain to practice punches. I kneaded them into a little ball to make them easier to eat."

"That makes sense." The village chief nodded.

Immortal items were so precious; how could they possibly be in the hands of ordinary people like them?

Su Yueli often injured herself while practicing punches, so it was only natural that she gathered some herbs to treat her wounds.

For now, they could only leave it to fate.

"Village Chief, there are too many people outside, and too many eyes and ears. Please go out and keep everyone steady first. I'll stay here and watch over him," Su Yueli said to the old village chief.

The old village chief turned back to look at the villagers peering in through the doorway, then nodded. "That's right. I'll leave this to you, then. Call for me anytime if anything happens."

The wooden door closed, shutting out the clamor.

Su Yueli pulled over a wooden stool and sat beside the bed, her gaze falling upon the middle-aged man's face.

She was not acting out of blind kindness. In this cultivation world where lives were as worthless as grass, sympathy was the most useless thing.

She had saved this man for only one purpose—the Martial Dao.