Without a spiritual root, gathering qi was impossible, and the door to cultivation was completely welded shut. However, this world did not only have cultivators; there were also mortal martial artists!
Martial artists trained their blood and qi, tempering their physical bodies.
Although the combat power of a mortal martial artist was far inferior to that of a cultivator, it was still better than remaining a common mortal!
Even though... it severely drained one's lifespan, and even if one trained to the Grandmaster realm, they would only live to about a hundred years old before their blood and qi withered, leading to death.
Even so, she wanted to experience the power of moving mountains and parting seas, so as not to live this life in vain.
All roads lead to Rome. If she couldn't cultivate, then she would practice martial arts!
Since she lacked talent and cultivation techniques, she would make up for it with sheer effort!
If punching a thousand times a day wasn't enough, she would punch ten thousand times. If she couldn't develop hidden force in ten years, she would train for a hundred!
Without talent, then repeat!
Su Yueli lowered her legs slightly, sinking into the most basic horse stance.
Taking a deep breath of the cold morning air, she faced the rising sun and fiercely threw her first punch.
“Whoosh—”
The wind from her fist was weak, yet it sounded exceptionally clear in the dead silent courtyard.
The martial path began with this ordinary sound of breaking the air.
In one hour, Su Yueli threw 1,500 punches.
In two hours, 2,700 punches. In three hours, 3,600 punches.
“Phew...”
Su Yueli took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked at her trembling hands, knowing it was time to rest again.
But could practicing punches like this every day really allow her to step onto the martial path?
Su Yueli didn't know, but there was no other way. In this cultivation world that valued aptitude above all, without Bone Talent, one couldn't even access the most basic knowledge.
She could only crash around like a headless fly.
Just then, several shouts echoed from outside the door. “Hurry, another immortal has come to our village!”
“What immortal? I heard he can't fly on a sword. He's probably a martial artist, right?”
“Who cares! If we don't go now, he'll be dead.”
Resting under a tree, Su Yueli was startled awake by these words. She quickly stood up and ran over.
She asked two women, “Aunties, what happened?”
The women stopped. Seeing it was Su Yueli, one of them said cheerfully, “Oh, Yueli, you don't know yet? A heavily injured man collapsed in our village! They say he can fly and tunnel through the earth!”
“Yes, yes!”
The other woman added with exaggeration, “They say he can shatter a boulder with a single punch! Oh, let's not chat anymore, hurry up and take a look.”
Having said their piece, the two women dashed toward the village chief's house.
Their rapid pace left Su Yueli feeling ashamed. They were all village women who worked daily, and their stamina was incredible.
“Flying, tunneling through the earth, and shattering boulders with a single punch?”
Su Yueli muttered to herself. Since he couldn't fly on a sword, he really must be a martial artist.
She couldn't be sure without seeing him, but if he really was a martial artist, perhaps she could ask him for guidance.
Provided, of course, that the man was willing.
With that thought, Su Yueli stepped out of her gate and ran toward the village chief's house. She wanted to see what kind of person could cause such a stir.
Within fifteen minutes, the courtyard of the village chief was packed with people.
Su Yueli finally arrived at the outer edge, but there were too many villagers, and her small frame couldn't squeeze through at all.
She could only hear questions echoing from all around.
“Village Chief, how is the immortal... oh, no, that martial artist? Will he live?”
“Yeah, yeah! My kid has no Bone Talent, but he's very strong. He's definitely cut out for martial arts!”
“My son goes hunting with me every day and has excellent archery skills. He definitely won't be bad at martial arts. Village Chief, could you ask for me?”
The villagers chattered and squeezed inward.
Yesterday, when the immortal tested their Bone Talent, only a few could follow him back to the sect to cultivate. The villagers were naturally unwilling to accept this.
But Bone Talent was something you either were born with or not. If you didn't have it, you simply didn't, and it was almost impossible to acquire later in life.
To obtain power, they could only take the second path.
Practice martial arts and become a martial artist!
Although a martial artist's power was far inferior to a cultivator's—even at their peak, they couldn't defeat a Golden Core expert—
And while a Fifth Realm cultivator could live for seven hundred years, a Fifth or even Tenth Realm martial artist's lifespan was no different from a mortal's.
At most, their martial training kept them healthy enough to live another twenty or thirty years, and they aged very quickly.
Thus, most martial artists in this world found their lifespans exhausted upon reaching the Fifth or Sixth Realm, unable to progress any further.
“Alright, alright, quiet down!”
Leaning on his cane, the old village chief walked out of the room, interrupting Su Yueli's train of thought.
Looking at the excited villagers, he tapped the nearby stone table. “The man is on his last breath, and we can't save him. Stop daydreaming!”
Hearing this, disappointment washed over the villagers' faces. Their hopes had been dashed once again.
Su Yueli was unwilling to give up.
This martial artist was currently her only connection to that world. If he died, she would be stuck in this tiny village for the rest of her life, unable to ever enter the path.
This was true for the immortal path, and it was the same for the martial path.
If she went to a large city, who would pay attention to someone from the mountains like her?
Without money, connections, or anything to her name, she might even end up being taken advantage of.
That was something Su Yueli could never accept; she would rather take a knife to the back.
But then, she suddenly thought of something, and her expression brightened.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the pill Shen Qing'an had left behind, which he claimed was a sacred healing medicine.
She didn't know if this could save him...
Su Yueli decided to take a gamble and shouted, “Village Chief, I can save him!”
The surroundings fell silent. The villagers automatically parted to make a path, looking at Su Yueli in confusion.
“Girl, you know medicine?”
“Yeah, this is a martial artist, someone as powerful as an immortal. Can you really save him?”
“What does a girl who spends all day holding her breath know? Stop causing trouble, stop causing trouble.”
Over the past few years in the village, apart from getting along with Shen Qing'an, who was also an outsider, Su Yueli had kept to herself and rarely interacted with others.
She was either holding her breath or practicing her punches. How could she know anything about medicine? The villagers were highly skeptical.
The village chief walked up to Su Yueli, also doubtful. “Lass Su, can you really save him?”
Su Yueli nodded.
The village chief felt a headache coming on, but since they were completely out of options, he had to treat a dead horse as if it were alive.
If the martial artist died in the village and no one came looking, it would be fine.
But if his companions arrived and took their anger out on them, the entire village would likely suffer.
The two of them entered the room, and Su Yueli saw a man in his forties lying unconscious on a wooden bed.
His face was pale, his messy hair was stuck to his forehead by cold sweat, and a scar ran across the bridge of his nose on his rugged face.
At this moment, there was a massive gash on his abdomen, which the village chief had only haphazardly wrapped with coarse burlap and herbs.
The blood could not be stopped at all, dripping through the gaps in the bed boards onto the dirt floor. The entire room was filled with the stench of blood.
“Is this a martial artist...”
Su Yueli looked at the middle-aged man. Even though he was unconscious with his eyes closed, he still exuded a fierce, murderous aura of someone who lived on the edge of a blade year-round.
“Yueli, what do you think we should do?” the village chief asked anxiously.
Su Yueli snapped out of it, quickly retrieved the pill Shen Qing'an had given her, and slipped it into the man's mouth.
After much effort, she finally got him to swallow it.
Seeing this, the village chief grew even more puzzled. “What is that? Could it be a pill, a legendary immortal elixir?”
“You must be joking, Village Chief. How could mortals like us possess an immortal's treasure?”
Su Yueli didn't mention it was from Shen Qing'an. She didn't know if it would work either, but the letter had said it was for healing.
She casually made up an excuse. “These are just herbs I gathered while practicing punches in the mountains, rolled into a small ball to make it easier to swallow.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” the village chief agreed, nodding.
Immortal treasures were incredibly precious; how could they end up in the hands of mortals like them?
It was only natural for Su Yueli, who often got injured while practicing punches, to gather some herbs to treat her wounds.
For now, they could only leave it to fate.
“Village Chief, there are too many eyes and ears outside. Why don't you go out and calm everyone down first? I'll stay here and look after him,” Su Yueli said, looking at the old village chief.
The old village chief glanced back at the villagers peeking through the doorway and nodded. “True. I'll leave this to you then. Call me immediately if anything happens.”
The wooden door closed, shutting out the noise.
Su Yueli pulled over a wooden stool and sat by the bed, her gaze falling on the middle-aged man's face.
She wasn't acting out of the goodness of her heart. In this cultivation world where life was as cheap as grass, sympathy was the most useless thing.
She was saving this man for one purpose only—the martial path.
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