Taking a Master, Entering Martial Dao

This martial artist was the only extraordinary power she could currently come into contact with. Now she could only hope that pill would work. As long as he woke up, she would have hope.

After a long quarter of an hour, the man's lips twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"You're awake."

Following the voice, the man saw that the person before him was merely a mortal girl without the slightest ripple of spiritual power. Then he swept his gaze over the mud walls and thatched roof around him, and the wariness in his eyes finally eased by more than half.

So he had been saved...

"This is our village chief's home. He found you in a mountain ravine outside the village." Su Yueli briefly explained what had happened.

The man let out a long breath and struggled to sit up, only for pain to drain the color from his face.

He clasped his fists weakly. "Thank you for saving me, miss. But I know my own injuries. My heart meridian has shattered. The herbs of this remote village cannot keep me alive."

"Herbs really are useless."

Su Yueli thought for a moment. "I gave you a pill just now. I don't know what kind it was, only that it was meant to treat injuries."

Upon hearing that, the man closed his eyes and carefully sensed the flow of qi and blood within his body.

A moment later, his expression turned complicated. "It was a Spring Return Pill for healing injuries, but it was the lowest-grade defective kind, with far too many impurities."

"This life of mine has been preserved, but my meridians were severely damaged. It will leave behind hidden injuries that cannot be cured. I fear my Martial Dao realm will never advance another inch for the rest of my life."

Su Yueli was slightly stunned by his words.

A defective pill?

Shen Qing'an's decisive face flashed through her mind.

Shen Qing'an was a mortal like her and did not know how to judge a pill's quality. Obtaining pills must have cost him no small price.

"Miss, your grace in saving my life is no less than giving me life anew."

With a solemn expression, the man clasped his fists again in a formal salute. "I am Lu Chen. If there is an opportunity in the future..."

"No need to wait for the future."

Su Yueli interrupted his pleasantries. She rose, stepped back, then dropped to both knees and kowtowed once. "I want to enter the Martial Dao. I beg you, Senior, to teach me."

Lu Chen froze, clearly not expecting this.

"Do you have spiritual roots?"

"No spiritual roots. I throw ten thousand punches every day, yet have not improved in the slightest."

Lu Chen fell into thought. He did not agree at once, merely pointing to the open space before the bed. "Throw a punch. Let me see."

Su Yueli got to her feet, lowered her stance, and spread into the horse stance she had fumbled out on her own these past few days. Using all her strength, she punched at the air.

"Whoosh—"

The force of her punch was weak, light and drifting.

Lu Chen watched, then shook his head. "You have nothing but brute strength. No matter how long you practice punching every day, aside from sore muscles, your body will not truly grow any stronger."

Su Yueli's heart sank. Over these past days, she had indeed thrown thousands, even tens of thousands of punches every day, and it had been exactly as he said.

"Because you have no spiritual roots, your meridians are completely blocked."

Leaning against the headboard, Lu Chen spoke weakly. "Cultivators have spiritual roots. They can draw the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into their bodies to temper themselves. We mortal martial artists have nothing. We can only seek inward and squeeze our own flesh and blood dry."

"What you are doing is called scattering qi. Practice for a lifetime, and you still will not touch the threshold of Martial Dao."

"How can I gather the qi?" Su Yueli asked.

"You must create a reservoir within your body."

Lu Chen lifted a finger and pointed to his chest. "That reservoir is the Martial Dao breathing method."

He paused, looking at the ruthless determination in Su Yueli's eyes that would not rest until its goal was achieved.

Whether this girl could endure the hardship or not, he had to repay the debt of saving his life.

"I'll teach you a most basic breathing art. Cultivators look down on it, but among martial artists, it is the best method for tempering qi and blood through hardship."

Lu Chen took a deep breath. "Watch my rise and fall. Listen to my rhythm."

"Three long breaths and one short—sink the qi into your lower abdomen!"

Knowing this was her only chance, Su Yueli immediately closed her eyes and began trying according to Lu Chen's instructions.

Three long inhalations, then one short, sharp swallow.

She forcibly changed the instinctive rhythm of human breathing, pressing a mouthful of cold air toward her stomach.

After only three attempts, an intense tearing sensation and suffocation rushed straight to her head.

A mortal's five viscera simply could not bear such savage compression. Su Yueli felt sweetness rise in her throat as the stench of blood flooded her mouth.

"Don't spit it out!"

Lu Chen shouted sternly, "When mortals train in martial arts, what they train is this breath of death that has swallowed every hardship! If you spit it out, the qi will scatter. Swallow it—let it burn into your blood!"

Su Yueli opened her eyes, gritted her pearly teeth, and swallowed that mouthful of blood back down.

The instant it entered her stomach, the breathing method finally pried open the tiniest crack in her body.

A thread of blood qi silently exploded within her stomach.

Su Yueli was slightly dazed. Looking at her hands, now brimming with explosive force, her eyes were filled with astonishment.

She could even hear the rush of blood through her body. Without borrowing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, she relied solely on squeezing the limits of her flesh and blood from within to break the shackles of mortality.

"So this is Martial Dao..."

"Correct. As long as you diligently practice martial arts, you can continue breaking through." Lu Chen nodded with a faint smile.

Yet a tempestuous sea had already risen in his heart. Though this breathing method was simple, for someone who had never truly practiced martial arts, it took at least more than a month to get started and formally step into Martial Dao.

For himself, it had taken twenty-three days just to barely enter the gate.

In this remote mortal village, there was actually a genius who could learn it in just a few breaths?

Lu Chen's expression was complicated. It seemed even the Heavenly Dao did not wish for his legacy to be cut off, sending someone with such talent to him.

"Master."

At that moment, Su Yueli interrupted his thoughts. Clasping her fists, she said, "This disciple wishes to learn fist techniques and become stronger."

Lu Chen suppressed the delight in his heart and nodded calmly. "Good. Your disposition is resolute. From today onward, you are the first disciple of Lu Chen."

"Mm..."

Su Yueli fell silent, a trace of confusion flashing through her eyes.

Just moments ago, he had not seemed willing to take a disciple. He had refused to commit and had only taught her a breathing method. Was he changing his tune that quickly?

Still, she could not concern herself with that. She knew she had now truly come into contact with extraordinary power.

At last, she was no longer a mortal...

She clasped her fists, her eyes curving as she looked at Lu Chen. "Master!"

"Good, good."

Lu Chen nodded, exceedingly pleased with this disciple.

At that moment, the wooden door creaked open, and the old village chief entered carrying a bowl of coarse flour porridge.

"Elder."

Leaning against the headboard, Lu Chen said, "I cannot repay the grace of saving my life. This girl has exceptional talent for martial arts, and I have already accepted her as my disciple. Once my injuries ease somewhat, we will leave."

The village chief's hand holding the bowl trembled. He looked at Lu Chen, then at Su Yueli.

He understood in his heart. Since she had no spiritual roots and could not become an immortal, in this world where even a passing demon beast could destroy an entire village, a martial artist capable of shattering rocks and splitting mountains was far more practical than those illusory immortals.

"Good, good..." The village chief sighed, setting the bowl on the table. "The village is poor, and there's nothing much to offer. For this girl to receive such an opportunity, it's her good fortune."

Su Yueli looked at the old village chief, her feelings complicated.

Other than Shen Qing'an, during the years since she had transmigrated here, only the village chief had shown her such care.

"Village Chief, thank you for taking care of Yueli these past years."

"..."

The village was not large to begin with, and the news soon seemed to grow legs, spreading through the entire village in less than half a day.

That afternoon, when Su Yueli went to fetch water at the village entrance, she occasionally heard the villagers whispering.

"Have you heard? That girl Yueli has taken a martial artist as her master. She's going to learn how to fight!"

"She really has good fortune. My boy went to ask for instruction just now and was turned away."

"Tch. A young maiden like her can't become an immortal, yet instead of settling down and living properly, she wants to practice martial arts. Isn't that something men do?"

"Exactly. What family would dare marry her afterward?"

"Shh, keep it down. She's here..."

Carrying two buckets of well water, Su Yueli heard their gossip but did not step forward to refute them. She only found it amusing.

In the eyes of mortals, living past sixty was already a long life. Marrying, bearing children, and digging in the dirt for food was the end of one's life.

But she was unwilling to live an ordinary life like that.

With a man's soul in a woman's body, unable to marry, unable to be married, unable to love, only Immortal Dao and Martial Dao were worth pursuing for her entire life.

Besides, who said women could only cultivate immortality and not practice martial arts?

Feudal...

Summer insects cannot be told of ice.

Three days later.

At the first pale hint of dawn, Su Yueli was summoned into the courtyard.

Lu Chen's injuries had recovered considerably under the effects of the defective Spring Return Pill. At the very least, he could now get out of bed.

"To practice martial arts, you must first train your qi and blood. I'll take you into the mountains."

Lu Chen pointed toward the mountain ridges beyond the village. "There are many wild beasts and venomous insects there. They will benefit you."

"Alright." Su Yueli agreed.

She could not have wished for anything more. Though she did not wish to heed the village gossip, hearing it too often was irritating.

Whenever she practiced her punches, villagers would occasionally come to disturb her, greatly affecting her state of mind.

The two only went to inform the village chief before entering deep into the mountain ridges.