Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 372 Master's Instruction, Martial Arts

What kind of treatment will be given?
Du Xiaofeng and Lin Chen, master and disciple, exchanged glances, trying to decipher the deeper meaning behind their sect leader's words.

In Lin Chen's view, having passed the personal disciple assessment and become a disciple of a master, he was now a personal disciple of an elder of the Canglan Sect and would certainly be able to enjoy the privileges of a personal disciple.

As for anything higher, he didn't know.

I'll leave this matter to my master. I've only just joined the sect, so it's not good for me to appear too greedy.

Du Xiaofeng's old eyes darted around, and he smiled, "Sect Master, given Lin Chen's situation, it's not unreasonable for the sect to give him the treatment of a personal disciple, is it?"

Ji Cangtian was speechless: "Elder Du, stop playing these tricks. Let me tell you the truth, any disciple who scores over 200 points in the assessment will receive an extra reward from the sect."

"There's such a thing? Why am I unaware of it?"

Du Xiaofeng was surprised. As an elder of the sect, and having served as an elder for nearly thirty years, he had never heard of any additional rewards for direct disciples.

"Few people know about this matter, but I'm afraid it might cause the disciples to overexert themselves in order to get high scores on the assessment."

Overdrawing potential?

Upon hearing this explanation, Du Xiaofeng immediately understood. How could a disciple overdraw his martial arts potential? This was because they were afraid that if the elders found out about this, they would use methods to forcibly enhance the disciples' strength, including their potential, in order to obtain more resources from the sect.

The Yan Dynasty still possesses some special methods, but these methods can have side effects on martial artists, and if one is not careful, it will be extremely difficult to make progress on the path of martial arts.

Those elders whose disciples scored over 200 points must have received instructions from the sect leader that this secret must not be revealed to outsiders.

"Anyone who scores over 200 points in the assessment will receive two additional benefits from the sect, in addition to the normal assessment treatment for direct disciples. The first is that you will be able to break through to the Innate Realm within three months."

Ji Cangtian turned his gaze to Lin Chen: "The sect will help you break through to the Innate Realm, and there will be no situation of forcing growth. It will not have any impact on your subsequent martial arts cultivation path."

Du Xiaofeng's eyes lit up: "The Flawless Innate Pill?"

"Ah."

Seeing Ji Cangtian nod, Du Xiaofeng looked at Lin Chen and said, "Disciple, this Flawless Innate Pill is an extremely precious item. Even if I were to prepare it for you, I might not be able to find it. Taking this pill can allow a first-grade martial artist to directly step into the Innate Realm. However, if you try to break through on your own, even if you gather all five elements of energy, you may still fail to break through."

Breakthrough failed?

Lin Chen thought to himself, "This disciple could never fail to break through."

With the blessing of destiny, as long as one absorbs all the energy of the five elements, one can smoothly break through to the innate level.

"Sect Master, what is the second benefit?"

When Ji Cangtian heard Lin Chen ask about the second option, a smile appeared on his face. He guessed that Lin Chen would choose the second option.

A young genius who emerges from a desolate place must have enough confidence in martial arts to break through to the Innate Realm on his own.

"The second benefit is that I will give you a spot in the Canglan Secret Realm."

"Choose the second one!"

Du Xiaofeng looked resolute. Seeing his master's expression, Lin Chen knew that the Canglan Secret Realm was definitely a good place. Without waiting for the sect leader to ask, he said directly, "This disciple will choose a spot in the Canglan Secret Realm."

Ji Cangtian was not surprised by Elder Du's reaction, but he did not expect that Lin Chen would trust Elder Du so much so much after only recently becoming Elder Du's disciple, and would make his choice without even knowing what the Canglan Secret Realm was.

"Alright, then I will give you a spot in the Canglan Secret Realm, but whether you can ultimately enter the Canglan Secret Realm depends on your own abilities."

Seeing the puzzled look on Lin Chen's face, Ji Cangtian didn't explain, trusting that Elder Du would explain it to Lin Chen.

Having said everything he needed to say, Lin Chen followed his master out of the main hall.

"Let's talk about it when we get back to my residence."

Du Xiaofeng knew that his disciple had many questions, but he waited for Lin Chen to return to his residence before speaking: "Do you have any questions about the Canglan Secret Realm? The sect leader promised you a spot, so why did you have to fight for it again?"

"Yes, this disciple has some doubts."

Lin Chen nodded, and facing his master, he didn't hold back: "I always feel that the sect leader didn't say everything he wanted to say today."

"I haven't said everything because I can't say everything. In short... when you reach my level someday, you'll understand."

Upon hearing his master's words, Lin Chen's pupils constricted. Judging from his master's words, it seemed that the Yan Dynasty still had some secrets, but only those who reached a certain level were qualified to know them.

Even the sect leader and the master were very wary of this secret.

"The Canglan Secret Realm is a secret realm that our Canglan Sect opens to martial artists at the Innate Realm. If we calculate the time, there are only six months left before the Canglan Secret Realm opens. This means that if you want to enter the Canglan Secret Realm, you need to break through to the Innate Realm within six months. Otherwise, you will have to wait another five years for the next opening of the Canglan Secret Realm."

Lin Chen understood. The so-called "striving" meant that he had to break through to the Innate Realm within six months. Otherwise, even if the sect leader gave him a spot, he would not be qualified to enter.

"Master, what's inside the Canglan Secret Realm?"

How much do you know about innate martial artists?

Instead of answering directly, Du Xiaofeng asked about Lin Chen.

"This disciple only knows that a Xiantian martial artist needs to absorb and refine five Xiantian energies before he can enter the realm, and that the Xiantian realm is divided into six levels in total. As for the others, I don't know anything else."

Lin Chen smiled wryly. He didn't know much about the Innate Realm. When an Innate Realm warrior appeared in the Nine Kingdoms, he was busy challenging him at Martial Dao Mountain. Not long after the Martial Dao Alliance was established, Deacon Gao arrived.

On the way here, Gao Zemin didn't tell Lin Chen much about the Innate Realm. It wasn't that Gao Zemin didn't want to tell Lin Chen, but rather that he had his own ulterior motives.

In his view, after Lin Chen joined the sect, he would definitely be taken in as a personal disciple by an elder. However, Lin Chen was not a disciple trained by the Canglan Sect from childhood. By becoming an elder's disciple and having the elder inform Lin Chen about the situation of the Innate Realm, the elder could feel like a master and the relationship between the master and disciple could be deepened.

It can be said that they put a lot of thought into it.

He had already prepared his excuse: he was only at the second level of the Innate Realm, and he couldn't guarantee that his understanding and knowledge of the Innate Realm was absolutely correct. In order to avoid misleading others and causing Lin Chen to have a distorted understanding of martial arts, he dared not say more.

"It's normal that you don't understand the Innate Realm since you're on an overseas island. Today, your teacher will explain the Innate Realm to you in detail."

Du Xiaofeng, being an experienced and shrewd man, could guess why Gao Zemin hadn't told Lin Chen much about the Innate Realm on the way here.

"The Innate Realm is divided into six realms. The first realm is the Transformation Realm. The Transformation Realm is the transformation of the body's energy into Innate Qi. This requires the gathering of the five elements' energy. Only the five elements can transform into Innate Qi."

Du Xiaofeng slowly clapped his hands out, and Lin Chen could clearly feel the surrounding air surging like ripples on water.

"But do you know why refining the five elements' energy can create innate qi?"

"Disciple doesn't know."

"That's because when you gather the energy of the five elements, and the energy of the five elements merges with your own blood and qi, new energy will appear. In the martial arts world, this is called innate power." "This innate power flows in your body, and as the innate power increases, it eventually condenses into innate crystals in the acupoints, which is the second stage of the innate realm, the crystal condensation realm."

"If each of the twenty-four acupoints condenses a primordial crystal, one can step into the second realm. If one can condense three hundred and sixty-five primordial crystals, one can try to break through to the third realm of the primordial realm."

Du Xiaofeng told Lin Chen about the first and second stages of the Innate Realm in one go. After Lin Chen had digested it, he continued, "In addition, the martial will of Innate Realm warriors is also different."

"Master, what exactly is the difference between martial will and divine soul?"

Lin Chen asked a question that concerned him, as he still didn't quite understand the difference between the divine soul and martial will.

In Daliang, several adults told him that martial will is derived from the soul and is a product of the soul.

However, Senior Brother Pei was able to make even innate martial artists wary with his second-grade strength, relying on his sword will, while Senior Brother Pei's soul grade at that time was at most first grade.

Since martial arts will originates from the soul, how can it be stronger than the soul?

Hearing his disciple's question, Du Xiaofeng smiled slightly, pointed to a tree in the courtyard, and asked, "Is this tree a threat to people?"

"No?"

"Ah."

Du Xiaofeng nodded, and the next moment his withered hand reached out and grabbed a tree branch, cutting it off. The leaves fell off the branch, leaving only a bare trunk, which then flew into Du Xiaofeng's hand.

"Now, is holding this branch a threat to anyone?"

"Have."

Lin Chen nodded; the tree branch could still hurt.

"What about this?"

Du Xiaofeng once again made a grasping motion in the air, and this time the tree in the yard suddenly broke, its trunk seemingly cleaved by an invisible knife and axe, quickly transforming into the shape of a long sword, which then landed in Du Xiaofeng's hand.

Although it is made of wood, the tip of the knife is still sharp.

"The lethality has increased significantly."

Lin Chen looked at the wooden sword in his master's hand. A wooden sword can also hurt people, especially the sharp tip.

"The wooden sword comes from this tree, but it is only a small part of this tree. However, its destructive power is greater than that of the whole tree. Now you should understand the difference between the soul and the martial will."

"Disciple understands."

His master has explained it in such detail; if he still doesn't understand, then all his cultivation has been in vain.

"The soul is the foundation. All martial arts will evolves from the soul. But no matter how powerful the martial arts will is, it has a limit."

With a flick of his wrist, Du Xiaofeng placed a longsword on a weapon rack in the courtyard, which landed in his hand.

The black longsword and the wooden sword collided simultaneously, and the wooden sword was directly sliced ​​in two by the black longsword.

"If your soul is just a tree, even if you can cultivate your martial will to the extreme, it is nothing more than a wooden sword or a wooden spear. Its essence is still wood. If it encounters a weapon made of other materials, it will shatter at the slightest touch."

"No matter how sharp a wooden sword is, it is still not as good as an iron sword. No matter how powerful an iron sword is, it is still no match for a sword made of a more durable material. This is the relationship between the soul and the martial will. The strength of the soul determines the upper limit of the martial will."

Du Xiaofeng looked at his disciple: "What you're wondering about now is just how powerful your martial will is, right? Can it overcome realm barriers to defeat your opponent?"

"Ah."

"Martial will is divided into four levels: ordinary, refined, flawless, and perfect flawless... Most martial artists have ordinary martial will, a small number have refined, and a very small number have flawless martial will. As for perfect flawless... it's as difficult as ascending to heaven."

"Below the Innate Realm, one can overcome opponents of a higher rank by relying on the power of martial will. However, there is a huge gap between each of the six realms of the Innate Realm. Unless one has a flawless level of martial will, it is impossible to overcome opponents across realms."

"Besides levels, the comprehension of martial arts will also varies in difficulty, depending on the characteristics of martial arts will. Do you know any musical instruments?"

"Musical instrument?"

Lin Chen didn't know why his master suddenly brought up musical instruments.

"This disciple knows a little."

"Which of these instruments do you find difficult to learn: flute, guqin, pipa, guzheng, erhu, drumsticks?"

"A flute lasts ten years, a xiao lasts a hundred, a pipa lasts a thousand, a zheng lasts ten thousand, and a huqin lasts a lifetime."

Lin Chen remembered a rhyme he had heard in his previous life and blurted it out.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration, but the principle is roughly the same."

Upon hearing Lin Chen's reply, Du Xiaofeng smiled and said, "Just like musical instruments, martial arts will is also the same. Some martial arts will is more difficult to comprehend, so even if it is of the same ordinary level, it will be stronger than others. The sword will that Brother Pei you mentioned comprehended is one of the more difficult to comprehend, and the flawless sword will is even rarer. This is why he was able to make Xiantian martial artists wary even before he entered the Xiantian realm, just by relying on his sword will."

"Disciple understands."

The principle is that once you understand one thing, you understand everything else.

"Master, what is the most difficult martial arts will to comprehend?"

Lin Chen asked this question purely out of curiosity, not because he had such ambitions.

There is no answer to this question.

Du Xiaofeng shook his head and, seeing Lin Chen's puzzled look, explained, "Difficulty varies from person to person. Sword Dao Will is difficult, but your Brother Pei was able to comprehend the Flawless Sword Dao Will on his own without any instruction. In his opinion, Sword Dao Will is probably not difficult at all."

"Don't pursue powerful martial arts too much; what suits you best is the most suitable."

"Disciple has learned."

Lin Chen nodded, understanding that his master was worried that he was aiming too high and pursuing a powerful martial arts will.

"The level of martial will can be improved. Even if you comprehend a powerful martial will, you will always remain at the ordinary or refined level. Others may not have as much initial power in their martial will as you, but as they improve to the flawless level, their power will surpass yours."

At this point, Du Xiaofeng blinked his old eyes and said, "Now you should know what's inside the Canglan Secret Realm."

"Martial will upgrade".

Lin Chen's eyes lit up, and he understood why his master had made him choose the Canglan Secret Realm.

(End of this chapter)