[In the 300th year of the Daqing era, you achieved minor success in the "Heavenly River Circulation" technique. You fought Wang Ye again, and this time, with the additional enhancement of your martial arts skills, your ability to change your internal energy increased slightly.]
So you had the upper hand in this fight, but you didn't gain a significant advantage. Furthermore, since it was just a friendly spar, it ultimately ended in a draw.
[In the 301st year of the Daqing era, you escorted Bai Liguang, the 21-year-old disciple of the sect master, to Qitian Peak to participate in this year's Young Talents Competition. Bai Liguang's martial arts cultivation had already reached the limit of a second-rate martial artist, and he was only one step away from being able to release his internal energy and become a first-rate master like you.]
The Young Talents Competition is a stage for martial artists under the age of 25 to make their name... Perhaps in this world, it should be replaced with a martial arts arena.
You couldn't help but recall twenty-five years ago, when you were actually qualified to participate in that year's Young Talents Competition, and might even have won a top-fifty place. Unfortunately, you were tied to the Qinghe Gang at the time, and focused on flattering the enigmatic master Zhu Baowen.
[Afterwards, he experienced various setbacks in his martial arts, causing his progress to stagnate. Otherwise, he could have reached the first-rate level before the age of thirty-five.]
Although you don't regret it.
On your way to Qitian Peak, you encountered a band of bandits, numbering over 60, many of whom possessed the strength of third-rate martial artists. You watched as Bai Liguang single-handedly dispatched more than ten of them in a short time. It's truly remarkable how much stamina young people have.
[Having seen that over thirty bandits had already been killed, you observed from the rear and felt that Bai Liguang's internal energy and stamina were almost exhausted. Just as you were about to make your move, the bandits, fearing for their lives, fled.]
【You thought that was the end of it, but just a few days later, as you passed through a small town, you were ambushed by three hundred soldiers who claimed that it was you two who had gone mad and slaughtered an entire village outside the town, leaving no survivors.】
But as luck would have it, a passerby witnessed everything. He quietly hid and later reported it to the city lord, exposing your evil deeds to the light of day!
You and Bai Liguang stared silently at the righteous whistleblower, one of the bandits who had escaped from your ranks a few days earlier. His sausage lips were all too memorable.
Bai Liguang angrily began to argue, but before he could say more than a few words, the soldiers wielding long spears drew closer and closer, gradually forming an encirclement... You immediately grabbed him and ran.
The situation is quite clear: the city lord and the bandits are in cahoots. Their relationship goes far beyond that of a mere front man; the bandit leader might even be the city lord's brother-in-law.
Otherwise, why would he always kill two members of his own side whenever he mobilized troops, or even when he massacred a small village?
[At the same time, he used the power of language to intimidate the soldiers: "We have martial arts masters behind us! Are you sure you want to offend a martial arts master who can take your life at any moment for the sake of those bandits?!"]
But the city lord wasn't there and didn't hear it.
Even if there were second-rate martial artists and first-rate martial artists combined, it would be impossible to kill all 300 soldiers, especially since these soldiers had undergone some training and could barely be considered second-rate martial artists.
[Although there are many soldiers, their speed is not as good as yours, until they send out cavalry... You kill the knights with a few strokes, and mount your horse together with Bai Liguang.]
[Upon arriving in the neighboring city, the two of you should visit the local martial arts school and spread the word about this matter widely. Then, as if nothing had happened, go to Qitian Peak to participate in the grand competition.]
Since you're not the main character in the competition, your job is to eat and drink and watch from the sidelines.
Bai Liguang won 24th place in the competition and ranked 71st on the "Prominent Youth Ranking".
On your way back, you received several carriages filled with silver, various martial arts tonics, and an apology letter from the city lord.
[The gist of it is that a temporary deputy city lord accepted a bribe from bandits and brazenly tried to frame an innocent young hero, but luckily he discovered it in time...]
"A world where martial artists are the elite," Yun Shou sighed.
But that's to be expected. An ordinary second-rate martial artist can kill twenty or thirty well-trained soldiers, which means that if he wants to leave, one or two hundred people simply can't stop him.
A truly skilled first-rate martial artist can fight against a hundred or even two or three hundred opponents single-handedly. Even after exhausting their energy, they remain far beyond the reach of ordinary people. This means they can easily pierce through an army of a thousand ordinary soldiers, take the general's head, and then leave triumphantly.
As for martial arts masters, they basically possess the power to pierce through an army of ten thousand, single-handedly defeating an army of a thousand, and even horses cannot keep up with the normal trotting speed of such beings.
A martial arts grandmaster, unless he foolishly engages in a head-on battle, will remain unscathed even against a million-strong army and a hail of arrows, and can demolish a house with a single palm strike...
So—how could the city lord be an enemy of a martial artist, how dare he be an enemy of a martial artist?
Previously, when he ordered three hundred soldiers to surround and suppress the enemy, he only knew that the opponent was a relatively good second-rate martial artist, or two of them. If he had known that Yun Shou was a first-rate martial artist, then the two of them would not have encountered any obstacles when they entered the city!
If the city lord knew that the two were backed by a martial arts master, he might even offer to host a small banquet to apologize.
Now that the apology has been received, you no longer care about the truth. Perhaps the bandit leader is the city lord's brother-in-law, or perhaps the city lord's younger brother, unwilling to accept the shock, became a bandit henchman and was killed instantly by Bai Liguang's sword... As long as the money is in hand, that's enough.
[In the 302nd year of the Great Celebration, you are 47 years old. Your foundation is at 161%, and the progress of your internal organs reaching 30%. You feel that many of your body's internal functions have improved, such as your heart's blood circulation, your lungs' respiratory capacity, and your stomach's digestive capacity.]
[The strengthening of these internal organs did not directly increase your combat power, but it enhanced your hidden strengths in various aspects, such as making your martial arts training more effective.]
[Your strength has increased by 30% since you first reached the first-class level four years ago. Now, when you spar with Wang Ye, you can only manage a slight victory.]
Although you are nearly 50, you feel as healthy as someone in their thirties. This gradual increase in physical strength, besides being due to improved combat power, also seems to have some effect on extending your lifespan.
[Martial artists don't have the extraordinary lifespans of cultivators. Even grandmasters only live for about two and a half cycles of sixty years, around 150 years. But you feel that if you keep increasing your foundation like this, you might even live to be 200!]
[In the 303rd year of the Daqing era, one night, a crimson meteor streaked across the sky (ps: this is just a metaphor). No one knew that this would begin a cataclysmic upheaval!]
On April 7th, overnight, Xingcheng was transformed into a death zone. Hundreds of thousands of lives perished in the entire city, the blood-soaked sky stained crimson, and the city was littered with broken bones and flesh.
When the merchants spread the news, the whole world was astonished!
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