"Earlier, I explained that once you comprehended this Whole Strength through stance training, you could be called a martial artist."
"But this was only the starting point for a martial artist. The martial path had six realms and two tiers: the lower tier consisted of Bright Force, Dark Force, and Transformed Force; the upper tier consisted of Qi Refinement, Liquid Condensation, and Returning Elixir. The lower tier trained strength, while the upper tier trained qi. Thus, a Bright Force martial artist was the lowest rank among martial artists."
"Although Bright Force was merely the starting point of the martial path, reaching that starting point was still a journey of a thousand hardships and ten thousand difficulties. Of the tens of millions who practiced martial arts across the land, ninety-nine percent were barred outside the gate."
"Take our Tai Xuan Sect, one of the Upper Six Sects. Among five thousand Entry Level disciples, fewer than four hundred were martial artists above Bright Force. That was already an extraordinary achievement."
"To be more specific, our Yan Province Academy currently had fifteen martial artists. From what I knew, there were only around forty martial artists in the entire Yan Province Prefecture."
"So, for a single county to produce one martial artist, while it might not compare to producing a court jinshi, it was not far off."
On the lecture hall's platform, You Shiliang sat behind a desk and explained the fundamentals of martial arts. The crowd below listened with rapt attention, and occasional gasps of amazement rose from them.
Liu Yuanzhou naturally already knew these basics, but he still listened carefully, unwilling to miss even the slightest detail.
"I am not saying this to discourage you. I want you to see reality clearly and choose a path suitable for yourselves. Martial arts ultimately