Before long, the two of them arrived at a spacious cave.
After tidying it up a bit, they lit a campfire.
Su Yueli slept inside, while Lu Chen slept near the entrance to guard the cave.
“Master, is my next step to keep practicing the breathing technique?”
Su Yueli asked what was on her mind. After all, she hadn't learned a single real move or stance yet.
After a brief silence, Lu Chen said, “Cultivators absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their bodies; they refine external things. Martial artists have no Bone Talent, so they refine themselves.”
“The martial path is about repeatedly hammering your skin, flesh, bones, and internal organs like a piece of iron...”
Su Yueli listened intently, without any of the sleepiness she used to feel when studying in her past life.
This was her first contact with truly extraordinary power. Cultivators were uniquely blessed. Starting from the lowest levels of Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core, there were fifteen realms in total. Each step was like climbing to the heavens, and their lifespans easily spanned hundreds or thousands of years.
Some could even live for as long as ten thousand years.
The martial path, however, was divided into only ten realms.
Skin Tempering, Bone Forging, Blood Exchange, Internal Strengthening, Martial Opening, Astral Qi, Divine Strength, Flawless, Golden Body, and Martial God.
“Master, why are there only ten realms for martial artists?”
Su Yueli asked, “Are martial artists naturally inferior to cultivators?”
Hearing this, Lu Chen fell silent for a long time.
Finally, he let out a long sigh. “Indeed. Bone Talent is a divine gift. It allows mortals to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and obtain extraordinary power. This is something ordinary mortals cannot compare to.”
“And martial artists are ultimately still mortals.”
Lu Chen paused, and after a while, he spoke with resignation, “Therefore, no matter how strong a martial artist's power is, they cannot defeat time.”
“Even if a martial artist reaches the Ninth Realm or even the Tenth Realm, those who live past a hundred and fifty years old can be counted on one hand!”
“Even if they use divine treasures to extend their lifespans, they still possess mortal bodies and cannot hold out for long.”
“Thus, without enough time to deduce and break through to the Eleventh Realm, they grow old and die along the way.”
These ten realms were not the end of the martial path, but rather the limit of a mortal's lifespan.
Su Yueli lowered her gaze, her mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.
Mortals practicing martial arts and cultivating immortality were worlds apart, but this was her only way to touch extraordinary power.
At the very least... experiencing it would ensure she didn't waste this transmigrated life.
Pulling herself together, Su Yueli asked, “Master, what realm are you in now?”
“The Third Realm, Blood Exchange.”
A trace of pride appeared on Lu Chen's face. He stood up and walked out to the open ground outside the cave. “Besides the breathing technique, you also need fist techniques. Mundane martial arts are useless in actual life-and-death combat.”
“This is a fist technique I created myself while surviving amidst piles of corpses. It has no name and consists of five stances, designed solely to kill!”
Lu Chen let out a breath, sank into a firm horse stance, and threw punches like the wind.
He executed the five stances in one smooth, continuous motion. “First stance: Mountain Splitter!”
“It's a strike of pure, raw strength that abandons all defense to break through the enemy's guard!”
“Second stance: Bone Entangler!”
“Third stance: City Destroyer!”
“Fourth stance: River Blocker!”
“Fifth stance: Life Burner!”
After finishing the five stances, Lu Chen withdrew his fists, his expression incredibly fierce. “The final stance is a move to drag your enemy down with you in a desperate situation. You must alter your breathing technique to burn your blood qi in exchange for limit-breaking explosive power. Never use it unless you are driven into a corner!”
Standing at the cave entrance, Su Yueli watched the stone that had been deeply dented by his feet, her breathing quickening.
She immediately nodded, overjoyed. “Yes, Master!”
“So, how much of these five stances did you manage to see clearly?” Lu Chen asked.
Su Yueli walked out of the cave and assumed the starting posture of the first stance, Mountain Splitter.
With a serious expression, she said, “I saw them clearly. From this day forth, your disciple will practice them a thousand times, ten thousand times a day!”
Lu Chen laughed upon hearing this, dismissing it as the ignorant boast of a youth who didn't know the depth of the world.
He watched Su Yueli begin to practice and swing her fists.
Occasionally, he would offer guidance or demonstrate the moves himself.
Spring came and autumn went; winters gave way to summers. Twenty years flew by in the blink of an eye.
The withered leaves in the mountains fell and grew anew, piling up outside the cave entrance into layers of rich, decaying earth.
Generations of wild beasts came and went. A white-fronted tiger that once ruled the mountainside had died of old age in its den fifteen years ago.
To the mortal world outside the mountains, twenty years was enough for a babbling toddler to grow into a man carrying heavy burdens, and long enough to turn a high-spirited youth's hair entirely white.
Yet... it was as if time in the mountains had never passed.
Thud!
A dull sound echoed through the thick morning mist.
Atop a cliff, a young girl stood barefoot on the rocks, suddenly throwing a powerful punch.
The morning light outlined her slender, graceful figure. Her beautiful face was just as smooth and pristine as it had been twenty years ago, without a single wrinkle or hint of aging.
Twenty years—more than seven thousand three hundred days and nights.
Su Yueli couldn't remember how many punches she had thrown. She only knew that the boulders on the cliff, which were originally taller than a person, had cracked one by one.
Unlike ordinary martial artists who dryly practiced their breathing techniques to accumulate blood qi, she had completely integrated it into the execution and retraction of every single punch.
She started with Mountain Splitter.
A sonic boom actually rang out in the air, a display of absolute violence that pushed her strength to the absolute limit.
She shifted her stance to Bone Entangler.
Closing the distance, she transitioned into City Destroyer...
Through countless repetitions, the first three stances had long been mastered to the point of being engraved in her very bones—an instinct for slaughter etched into her soul.
As for the fourth stance, River Blocker, she had also reached the level of minor mastery.
“Hoo—”
Su Yueli slowly withdrew her fist. A stream of white vapor escaped her lips, lingering in the air for a long time.
Opening her hands, she felt the power within her that had crossed a threshold. After twenty years of hard work, she had achieved the Second Realm, Bone Forging. Next, she would focus on ascending the martial realms.
Coming to the familiar mountain lake, she scooped up a handful of cool water and splashed it on her face, washing away the light sweat from her practice.
The water rippled, and as the lake gradually settled, it reflected a face so breathtaking that even time seemed to stand still for it.
Her skin was fair, her features as beautiful as a painting, and the tear-drop mole beneath her clear eyes remained striking.
The youthful aura unique to a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl was still frozen between her brows.
Su Yueli's fingertips touched the reflection in the water, her brows furrowing.
“Twenty years have passed, yet I don't show any signs of aging at all...”
She muttered to herself, deeply puzzled.
Mortals practicing martial arts burned their blood qi. No matter how high their realm, it could only make their bodies robust and delay aging.
If a martial artist wanted to extend their lifespan, they could only do so through external things like heavenly treasures. Yet, she clearly lacked Bone Talent and was just a mundane martial artist.
Unable to figure it out, Su Yueli shook her head. Deciding not to overthink it, she walked back toward the cave.
Being long-lived was naturally a good thing. Who would complain about having too much lifespan?
Within half a quarter of an hour, she arrived at the cave entrance.
Lu Chen was dragging a black wild boar out of the dense forest. He was no longer the man in his thirties he once was.
The twenty years had been like a dull knife, scraping away at the man whose blood qi once burned like a furnace, leaving his beard white.
At some point, her master's back had become slightly hunched, and his scar had been swallowed by wrinkles, stripping him of his former fierce and menacing aura.
“Master,” Su Yueli greeted him, clasping her hands.
“Ah, Yueli, you're back from your fist practice?” Lu Chen turned and threw the black boar onto the ground, a warm smile appearing in his slightly cloudy eyes.
“Yes, I just finished.”
Su Yueli lowered her gaze to hide her complex emotions. She stepped forward and lifted the black boar. “Rest up, Master. Let me handle this.”
With swift, clean cuts, she skinned and deboned the animal.
Before long, the campfire was lit, and grease dripped from the roasting meat.
Su Yueli tore off a piece of meat and handed it to Lu Chen. Looking at his aged face illuminated by the firelight, she finally couldn't help but ask, “Master, what do you think is going on with this strange condition of mine?”
“Could it be that I'm actually a sealed immortal?”
Lu Chen took the roast meat and let out a dry, amused laugh that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “An immortal? What kind of immortal doesn't even have Bone Talent?”
“My disciple, if you were an immortal, the wild boars in these mountains would be flying on swords by now.”
“Mm...”
Su Yueli fell silent. That was true; what kind of immortal didn't even have Bone Talent?
Lu Chen took a bite of the meat. His gaze lingered on Su Yueli's face, which bore no trace of the passing years, and he let out a soft sigh. “Your master has traveled far and wide for half his life and heard of all sorts of things, but your situation... is indeed unheard of.”
“Without using spiritual medicine or practicing immortal arts, yet staying forever young—it makes no sense, and there's no logical explanation for it.”
But a moment later, he smiled in resignation. “If we can't figure it out, then let's not think about it. Whether it's an illness or fate, if the Heavenly Dao won't take you, then just live well. Live as long as you can.”
“See for your master how wonderful this world truly is.”
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