Strength Threshold Martial Artists, Qi Refining Experts, Titled Martial Path—The Road Lies Beneath Your Feet!

Martial artists: Three Gates, Nine Realms!

Hearing Duan Chenzhou's words,

Ji Xiu pricked up his ears, unwilling to miss a single detail that followed.

Previously, he had repeatedly tried to win Qin Biao over, treating him to wine and meat, all because he wanted to ask about the secrets of martial artists.

But after several rounds of tipsy drinking, Ji Xiu had finally figured him out.

Qin Biao was merely a decent-born man who had spent half his life's savings in his early years, unwilling to accept his fate and hoping to turn his life around.

When he was young, somewhere within Anning County's five hundred li, he had found an obscure little martial hall. He paid several dozen taels of silver, served tea and water, and entered its gates.

But after studying for several months without producing any results, he was thrown out and struck from its rolls.

Unwilling to give up, he clung to that martial art manual, whose explanations of even Entering Force were vague, and trained for another ten-odd years.

That drained his entire family fortune, yet he still failed to make anything of it. Worse, he accumulated all sorts of loans and gambling debts.

With no other choice, he sold himself into the Lin Residence and clawed his way along until now.

That was why, when Ji Xiu had set his heart on seeking the Martial Dao, Qin Biao had offered him a few words of advice. It was because he himself had stumbled badly down that very road.

He only half understood the path of martial artists, nor did he believe Ji Xiu could walk it through. That was why his words had been vague and unreliable.

But.

Now, Ji Xiu had walked it through.

And before the stone table in the cool courtyard, where dusk had faded and moonlight spilled down, Duan Chenzhou was about to impart the true teachings to him!

So Ji Xiu hurriedly took down the boiling water heating on the stove, set out the tea bowls, and brewed the tea.

Then he respectfully presented it to Duan Chenzhou before returning to his little stool. Sitting upright and proper, he put on the look of a good student.

Duan Chenzhou nodded in satisfaction.

"The kid has some sense. Just like I did back then."

With that, he lifted the tea bowl, took a light sip, and moistened his throat.

"Before that,"

"I want to ask you, Ji Xiu—what do you think?"

"How strong can a martial artist become?"

How strong could a martial artist become?

Ji Xiu considered it, somewhat uncertain.

"Splitting rivers and severing waters, riding qi through the sky?"

Duan Chenzhou shook his head.

Ji Xiu clenched his fist, his pupils shrinking as he could not help guessing even higher.

"One man becoming an army, carrying mountains and chasing the sun?"

Duan Chenzhou still shook his head.

Ji Xiu's heart trembled, and he could not stop himself from thinking, Could the Martial Dao in this world truly have reached such unfathomable heights—enough to stand beside immortals and gods!?

Just as the thought arose and he was about to speak, Duan Chenzhou tapped the rim of his cup and said leisurely,

"You may be wondering why I asked you all this."

"Because"

"when I, Duan Chenzhou, sought a master and learned my arts in those days, this was the first question my teacher asked before passing on his skills."

"The hall had been full of people then, yet not one of them could answer."

"And for a poor boy to think as far as you have is already remarkable. It is enough to show the wild ambition burning in your chest."

"But I must still tell you: it is not enough."

Duan Chenzhou clenched one hand into a fist and slammed it against the stone table, then cried out sharply,

"My late master, whose cultivation had reached that of a Qi Refining Expert, once said,"

"Though martial arts are bound by their rules and frameworks, known as the Three Gates, Nine Realms, throughout the ages there have never been no people capable of shattering those shackles."

"Thus,"

"it is said that at the beginning of the Profound Monarch Martial Codex, which Great Xuan used to teach its princes and imperial descendants, there were these words:

"The realm of martial artists is boundless and endless."

"The broader the heart, the greater the height!"

"Afterward, once these words spread, many sects recorded this maxim and used it to teach disciples who had just entered their gates. It was called 'Setting Aspirations'!"

"But you were born poor and lowly, and you serve as another's slave. All you see and seek is no more than the words 'turn your life around.' That will not do."

"So tonight,"

"I, Duan Chenzhou, will set your aspirations and unfold for you a map of the Martial Dao!"

"The road lies beneath your feet."

"As for how far you can walk, how high you can climb—"

He extended a hand in a gesture of invitation.

"That depends entirely on you."

Having set the tone and stirred Ji Xiu's fighting spirit, Duan Chenzhou quickened his pace and cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"Just as you said, my body is unbound, and the Martial Dao is limitless."

"With those words, you truly touched upon the essence of martial artists. It is hard to believe that you are merely a poor boy who sold himself into slavery."

"It was precisely because generation after generation of martial artists carried thoughts like yours, constantly exploring and opening new paths, that the realm of martial artists as it exists under heaven today came to be."

"The Three Gates are the Strength Threshold, the Qi Threshold, and the Intent Threshold!"

"As their names suggest."

"The Strength Threshold tempers one's strength and vigor. Once mastered, one can become invulnerable to blades, with water and fire unable to harm them; tearing apart tigers and leopards with bare hands would be nothing unusual."

"The Qi Threshold cultivates a breath of qi and turns it into blades and swords. One can kill in ten steps, send flying swords a hundred steps away, and take a man's head within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea!"

"As for the Intent Threshold—"

At this point, Duan Chenzhou's tone had unconsciously taken on longing and reverence, as though he were glimpsing the moon in the heavens.

"Even I do not know its depths."

"But,"

"some venerable elders have said that at that realm, one has already condensed Martial Dao Will and formed a school of one's own. They hold absolute faith in their own Martial Dao. It is said, 'With the Dao of utmost sincerity, one may know what is to come'!"

"Through thoughts that nearly influence reality itself, they can accomplish everything you just spoke of."

"At the Strength Threshold, one is called a martial artist; upon refining qi, one becomes an expert."

"Beyond that,"

"comes the Titled Martial Path, where one possesses one's own title!"

"Such figures can carve their footprints into the scroll of the boundless river amid this vast and ancient golden age of the Martial Dao."

"Compared with the countless martial artists beyond count,"

"they are pioneers, trailblazers, gods who have stepped onto their own paths—true martial artists!"

"And they are the lifelong pursuit of countless martial artists."

"Only, alas—"

Duan Chenzhou sighed softly.

"How difficult that is."

"Ninety-nine percent of all under heaven are not so fortunate. Take this Anning County of five hundred li, for example: gather every one of its hundred thousand-plus households together, and you still would not find a single expert who has broken into the Qi Threshold."

"Much less anything higher."

"I tell you this only to broaden your horizons, so that when you reach the end, you will not become one of those misers who guard a little foundation, wasting away in this five-hundred-li Anning County while lording it over others."

His expression grew solemn.

"The Strength Threshold has three realms: Sinew Tempering, Bone Tempering, and Skin Refinement!"

"Those Qi Threshold experts and Titled Martial Path figures I just mentioned are too distant for you. I spoke of them only to strengthen your aspirations."

"But these are practical matters, matters that concern your future."

"If you cultivate Sinew Tempering and cross the threshold—"

"not only will the authorities remove your Slave Status, but even your master will find every possible way to keep you."

"This is your stepping stone to becoming an honored guest."

"And if you achieve Bone Tempering, even if it is only Iron Bones, so long as you have not passed the age when blood and vigor decline and fists fear youth—"

"you can still rely on your martial arts to open a small martial hall and become a Hall Master, or the man at the helm behind a line of business!"

"If one day, by some stroke of fortune, your arduous cultivation brings Sinew Tempering to completion, Bone Tempering to success, and you step into the realm of Skin Refinement—"

"Heh."

Duan Chenzhou chuckled, rose to his feet, and pointed at the sky.

"One sentence."

"This five-hundred-li Anning County—"

"you will have the final say!"