Blood Qi Like Quicksilver

The night was deep. Lin Qing slowly pushed open the somewhat weathered wooden door and stepped steadily into the courtyard. The door softly closed behind him, shutting out all the clamor of the outside world.

The scene of encountering three uninvited guests in the alley flashed through his mind.

When the three had first surrounded him, Lin Qing could not help feeling a trace of tension. After all, it had been his first direct life-and-death battle since transmigrating here.

But when the dagger in his hand sliced through the air and precisely cut across Third Brother's throat, when he saw the savagery in the other man's eyes instantly turn into fear and his body drop to its knees, his wildly pounding heart suddenly fell silent, without the slightest ripple.

His fear of the martial world's cold rules vanished with Third Brother's death, leaving behind only icy clarity.

In the martial world, the strong devoured the weak. Since they had harbored ill intent and wanted to make a move against him, there was only one road for them: death. Softheartedness and fear were deadly poisons on the path of martial arts.

Thus, when he killed Second Brother and Eldest Brother afterward, he became cold-blooded and ruthless.

He had looted eight hundred and fifty taels from the three men. Adding the twenty taels he had left, his wealth had surged to eight hundred and seventy taels.

For a long time to come, he would no longer need to worry about silver. Over the next few days, Lin Qing threw himself into frenzied cultivation.

On the first day, he cultivated for six hours. The progress of Qingyun Stance Skill reached 130/300. He consumed six jin of ferocious beast meat, leaving eighteen jin.

On the second day, he tempered himself with Qingyun Stance Skill for another six hours. Its progress reached 250/300. He again consumed six jin of ferocious beast meat, leaving twelve jin.

On the third day, he still cultivated for six hours. Qingyun Stance Skill reached completion, and he began cultivating Thunderstrike Stance. By the end of the day, Thunderstrike Stance had reached 70/200. He consumed eight jin of ferocious beast meat, leaving four jin.

On the fourth day, he cultivated for only four hours. Thunderstrike Stance reached 150/200. That night, he went to the Black Market and bought twenty jin of First-Tier ferocious beast meat. After returning, he cooked and ate another four jin, leaving sixteen jin.

On the fifth day, Thunderstrike Stance reached completion, and he began cultivating Coiling Dragon Stance Art. By the end of his evening cultivation, its progress had reached 70/100. He consumed nine jin of ferocious beast meat, leaving only seven jin.

On the morning of the sixth day, Coiling Dragon Stance Art reached completion. At the same time, the Mountain-Suppressing Stance Art he had never cultivated automatically reached completion as well. The Earthheart Marrow's effects still had half an hour remaining, so he cultivated Basic Leg Art for a while longer. Only after the medicinal effect faded did he open the panel.

[Host: Lin Qing]

Realm: Mortal (Breakthrough Time: 20 days)

Fused Cultivation Arts: Mountain-Suppressing Stance Art, Coiling Dragon Stance Art (Expand)

Recorded Cultivation Arts:

Body Control Rating: Advanced Mortal Tier (Basic Movement Art, Basic Fist Art, Basic Sword Art)

Recorded Martial Arts: Basic Leg Art (24/40), Basic Saber Art (0/40), Basic Spear Art (0/40)

The breakthrough time on the panel had already shortened to twenty days. In other words, as long as he ensured his body had enough energy, he would officially step into the First-Tier Martial Artist Realm after twenty days.

What delighted him even more was the heavy, majestic blood qi slowly surging through his body. He knew that he had already met the prerequisite for breaking through to a First-Tier Martial Artist—Blood Qi Like Quicksilver.

If he wished, he had a chance of becoming a Certified Martial Artist within the next day or two. However, he did not intend to do so.

For one thing, breaking through on his own was not only arduous, but also carried a high chance of failure. For another, since the system had not told him to break through now, that meant now was not the best time. He chose to trust the system.

So-called Blood Qi Like Quicksilver meant that the blood qi within one's body had been condensed to the extreme. It was no longer loose and thin like that of ordinary cultivators, but became like mercury—heavy, viscous, and condensed. As it surged, it was steady and powerful, and every circulation provided immense support to the fleshly body.

In this martial world, Blood Qi Like Quicksilver was the core prerequisite for charging into the Martial Artist Realm.

After attaining Blood Qi Like Quicksilver, one could charge toward becoming a Certified Martial Artist, though failure was still possible. But without attaining Blood Qi Like Quicksilver, forcing a breakthrough into the Martial Artist Realm was absolutely impossible.

This was the experience left behind by countless martial artists over countless years.

People were born with different physical constitutions and skeletal foundations. Even if one desperately cultivated stance arts and constantly replenished qi and blood energy afterward, once the body's strength reached its own threshold, it could no longer improve by even the slightest bit. That was one's personal limit.

If that threshold failed to meet the standard of Blood Qi Like Quicksilver, then without heaven-defying natural treasures to transform the body, that person would remain trapped in the Mortal Realm for life, forever barred from the martial world.

Likewise, advancing to the Second Tier also required meeting a certain standard. The prerequisite for advancing to the Second Tier was—Blood Qi Veil.

Take Shi Jian, the master of Bedrock Martial Academy. He had cultivated bitterly all his life, training his blood qi to the limit of his body, yet he had never attained the Blood Qi Veil realm required to advance to a Second-Tier Martial Artist. In the end, he remained a First-Tier Martial Artist for life, with no possibility of further improvement.

Presumably, the masters of the city's other three major martial academies were in much the same situation as Shi Jian. It was not that they had not worked hard enough, but that their innate skeletal talent limited them, something difficult to change.

That was the cruel reality of this world.

Once ordinary cultivators reached the realm of Blood Qi Like Quicksilver, they would immediately begin their charge toward becoming Certified Martial Artists.

They would prepare large quantities of ferocious beast meat or other qi and blood supplements in advance, then circulate their stance arts without sleep or rest until they either collapsed from exhaustion or successfully advanced.

Today, Lin Qing only had seven jin of ferocious beast meat to consume. He would have to make another trip to the Black Market that night.

When cultivating martial arts in the afternoon, Lin Qing did not consume Earthheart Marrow. He no longer had any cultivation arts left to cultivate, and it would likely be difficult to replenish them anytime soon.

Moreover, one drop of Earthheart Marrow lasted for two hours. If he consumed it, his remaining martial arts would reach completion in just over half an hour.

The Earthheart Marrow Sun Shaoping had left behind numbered only around eighty drops. If he collected cultivation arts later and continued cultivating, taking three drops a day would only last him a little over twenty days.

He also noticed something. The cultivation progress of Basic Leg Art was 24/40. After all his stance arts reached completion, he had cultivated Basic Leg Art six times.

In other words, as his stance arts reached completion and his aptitude improved, the Earthheart Marrow's effect on him had weakened. It had previously been fivefold, but now it was only fourfold.

Still, this was within his expectations. If such an outrageous multiplier could truly remain forever, then would he not still be able to use it after advancing to the Fifth Tier, Sixth Tier, or even the Seventh Tier and Eighth Tier?

If it were truly that heaven-defying, Sun Shaoping would not have been willing to give him any.

Time passed, and another two hours of cultivation came to an end. Basic Leg Art had reached completion, while Basic Saber Art had also reached 8/20.

As night gradually fell, Lin Qing took out his black robe again and prepared to visit the Black Market once more. He had only eaten seven jin of ferocious beast meat today and needed to replenish his supply as soon as possible.

However, the ferocious beast meat he usually ate was enough to last until the next morning, and it was only dinner time now, so he could still endure for the moment.

Tonight's trip to the Black Market had two goals. One was naturally to replenish his ferocious beast meat. The second was to seek a way to obtain higher-tier cultivation arts.

Normally, Second-Tier Cultivation Arts were cultivated only by Second-Tier Martial Artists, or First-Tier Martial Artists at the peak of their tier who were charging toward the Second Tier.

Ordinary Mortals and First-Tier Martial Artists all cultivated First-Tier Cultivation Arts.

But there were always peerless geniuses in the world. They did not need to wait until reaching the peak of the First Tier. After becoming First-Tier Martial Artists, they only needed another year or two of accumulation and polishing before they qualified to cultivate Second-Tier Cultivation Arts early.

Generally speaking, the geniuses on the Hidden Dragon Ranking possessed such strength. They often began cultivating the arts of the next realm ahead of time during the middle or late stages of a given tier.

Before the Fifth Tier, every martial artist's cultivation consisted of tempering the fleshly body. Great Xia had no Fifth-Tier Martial Artists. In other words, all martial artists in Great Xia cultivated by tempering their fleshly bodies, so cultivation arts from the First Tier to the Fourth Tier were universally applicable.

The reason cultivation arts were divided into tiers was based on their cultivation intensity.

For example, consider a certain cultivation art: a First-Tier Martial Artist could barely endure it because its intensity was too high; a Second-Tier Martial Artist could use it to temper the body efficiently; while a Third-Tier Martial Artist would barely feel any improvement from cultivating it. Such a cultivation art would then be classified as Second Tier.

Cultivation arts of other tiers were classified in the same way.

The sky had completely darkened, and Lin Qing once again arrived at the small courtyard by the Black Market entrance.