Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

Seeing that Ye Xiao had no intention of backing down, Tang Qi smirked: "If you want to join the martial arts school, the first condition is that the tuition fee is two strings of cash."

"Okay," Ye Xiao replied readily.

He reached under the hem of his tattered cotton coat and pulled out a rag from inside his waistband. He untied the rag layer by layer, revealing a string of copper coins, their surfaces dull and cool with body heat and sweat.

Then he bent down and pried another penny out from the sole of the shoe.

He raised his hand and handed over the two strings of cash with a dull "clatter," as if a life had been pulled from his chest and smashed into the light.

Tang Qi subconsciously reached out to take it, but his brows furrowed the moment his fingertips touched the handful of copper coins.

Xue Chan's gaze also paused for a moment.

Two strings of cash aren't much in the lower city. But in the Silent Alley, it's a sum that can crush a person.

Tang Qi rubbed his thumb against his fingertip, as if he had just touched something he shouldn't have, staring at the copper coin. His voice deepened, becoming scrutinizing, as if he wanted to find something 'dirty' hidden beneath the coin's surface.

"Where did the money come from?"

"Top the furnace," Ye Xiao said calmly.

Tang Qi's eyes widened slightly.

Xue Chan showed a distinct change of expression for the first time. She had heard of the "top furnace" but had never actually seen anyone who came out of that place.

Tang Qi suppressed the slight tremor, a cold smirk playing on his lips:

"Turns out he was a ghost who died young."

"Even if you join a martial arts school, you won't last long."

Ye Xiao didn't argue or explain; he turned to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Xue Chan spoke, her voice still cold, but it had a more proper feel than Tang Qi's coldness that "stepped on people".

Tang Qi frowned: "Senior Sister..."

Xue Chan raised her hand to stop him, turned to look at Ye Xiao, and spoke calmly and clearly:

"My father said that as long as you can afford the tuition, you are qualified to learn martial arts."

Tang Qi, suppressing his anger, was still unconvinced:

"Learning martial arts requires talent, physical constitution, foundation, and resources. Someone like him has none of these. Taking him in would harm him and tarnish the reputation of the Canglong Martial Arts School."

Xue Chan ignored him, pushed the rules forward, and said to Ye Xiao:

"Two strings of cash are enough to be an outer disciple for one month. When the time is up, pay another two strings."

Meals and accommodation are not included.

"We only teach one style of boxing and one type of stance training."

"Okay." Ye Xiao nodded decisively, as readily as if he had just dropped a knife.

Tang Qi wanted to say more, but Xue Chan only raised her eyes, so he could only swallow the rest of his words.

Xue Chan suddenly asked:

"There are many martial arts schools in the lower city, why choose us?"

Ye Xiao looked at her without hesitation:

"Because it's cheap."

Xue Chan: "..."

She felt a lump in her throat, but quickly regained her composure. This was an answer she had never considered.

Tang Qi was also speechless, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Xue Chan accepted the money and opened the door:

"Come in."

The moment the door closed, the sound of the wind outside seemed to be cut off.

The heat, sweat, medicine, and rust mixed together, creating a rather unpleasant smell, but for Ye Xiao, who came from the Silent Alley, this felt more like being truly alive than the musty cold, the smell of corpses, or the stench of blood.

The training ground was spacious, and the bluestone was polished to a shine by countless footsteps, with layers of sweat seeping into its texture.

Hundreds of outer disciples practiced their boxing, their shouts and the sound of their punches echoing like muffled drums, making one's chest tighten.

As Ye Xiao entered the room, he suddenly remembered what Lin Yan had said.

Now... he has finally reached that door.

Tang Qi glanced at Ye Xiao, his tone casual yet loud enough for those around him to hear:

"It's laughable that a mute person who can't see tomorrow wants to practice martial arts."

The surrounding students' gazes were like pebbles thrown at them.

"From the Silent Alley? People from there deserve to live in the mud."

"There will always be those who overestimate themselves and presume to stand with us."

A low, menacing snort came from the corner, yet it was all the more jarring:

"Among those who can rise through the ranks of the outer sect, perhaps only one in ten will succeed. How could someone living at the very bottom possibly hope to even get close?"

Ye Xiao remained calm, only glancing around to observe the movements, auras, and footsteps.

Habitual judgment: Who is the threat?

"Quiet."

Xue Chan looked up, her voice not loud, but like a blade touching her skin.

The noise subsided, and the arena fell silent for a moment.

She turned to Ye Xiao: "To formally join the martial arts school, you must first pass an assessment."

"How is the exam conducted?" Ye Xiao asked.

Xue Chan pointed to the sloping bluestone in the center of the arena, which the martial arts school used specifically for testing.

It was a huge rock that reached a person's chest, tilting downwards on one side. The surface of the rock was polished shiny by sweat and the soles of shoes, with fine lines crisscrossing it, and it was so slippery that it seemed to swallow people whole.

"Stand on it for thirty breaths without slipping down, and you'll pass."

Tang Qi sneered: "With his foundation, five breaths."

Several trainees couldn't hold back their laughter, which leaked from their noses.

Ye Xiao didn't look at them.

He stepped forward, approached the sloping stone, and raised his hand to press the stone surface.

Cold, hard, and slippery.

Ye Xiao stepped directly onto it.

The next moment, his shoes floated, his center of gravity shifted instantly, and the sloping surface pulled him down.

Ye Xiao gripped his toes tightly, bent his knees slightly, and pressed his entire foot down, the veins on the instep bulging. He then placed his other heel on top, expanding his support surface and gradually shifting his center of gravity.

Lean your waist slightly forward, tuck your hips in, straighten your spine like a line, and let your breathing rise and fall with it.

All of this was ingrained in his very bones.

The fifth breath.

Ye Xiao kept his gaze fixed on the tiny scratches on the stone surface, focusing his attention on every muscle in his toes, soles, knees, and spine. Wherever he felt unsteady, he pressed that muscle back down.

This was a familiar feeling to him.

Eighth breath.

Someone muttered under their breath, "Can they still hold on?"

The fifteenth breath.

The laughter gradually subsided.

Ye Xiao seemed nailed to a sloping surface; his legs weren't thick, but they were taut and clean, like a straightened string. That wasn't something that could be achieved by brute force; it was a stability built up inch by inch by the force of his stance.

"Something's wrong with this leg," someone whispered.

Tang Qi frowned: "People from the Silent Alley practicing stance training? They're courting death!"

Twenty breaths.

Ye Xiao thought it was nothing out of the ordinary.

It's much easier here than at the North Furnace, and you won't die if you fall.

Ye Xiao even estimated in his mind: he could stand for ninety breaths without any problem.

But it is not necessary.

Thirty breaths were enough; he didn't want to be remembered too deeply.

Twenty-five breaths.

One student gasped, "Twenty-five breaths on the first try?"

"I only managed seventeen breaths the first time..." someone's voice tightened, "It probably won't actually work, will it?"

Ye Xiao counted silently in his mind.

Twenty-seven.

Twenty-eight.

29.

thirty.

He drew a point in his mind, then pulled back the force of his feet, as if turning off a sluice gate that was pressing down on his entire body, and landed smoothly... with no energy left to dissipate.

Xue Chan glanced at him and said calmly:

"qualified."

"Not many people can hold their breath for thirty breaths on their first try."

Many people around changed their expressions slightly.

Tang Qi, however, remained unconvinced: "It's only because he's good at standing in the stance. If he hadn't trained, he would have fallen down long ago."

Xue Chan, however, seemed to have seen more, and spoke calmly and slowly:

"Standing exercises are not easy to learn. It takes real skill for him to have reached this level. He has already surpassed many new students."

She stared at Ye Xiao for a few moments, then finally said:

"From this moment on, you are an outer disciple of the Azure Dragon Martial Arts School."

"No matter which style of stance training you practiced before, I will teach you... Dingyue Stance."

"This is the best fit for you."

"Why?" Ye Xiao asked.

Xue Chan explained:

"There are countless stance training methods, all belonging to six systems. Each system has a different focus in strengthening, and the difficulty and energy consumption of training also differ."

"The Dingyue Stake belongs to the mountain-suppressing system. It is the simplest, most stable, has the least wear and tear, and has low requirements for food."

Ye Xiao nodded.

For most people with limited resources, this may be the best path.

But he had other ideas in his mind.

Xue Chan continued, "I will also teach you the Mountain Collapse Fist... Stance training and fist techniques complement each other, and practicing them together will yield twice the results with half the effort."

"Any more questions?"

Ye Xiao was silent for a moment, then asked:

"Beyond the stages of skin training, muscle strengthening, and bone forging... what level lies ahead?"

He doesn't know much about martial arts now, and he only learned about these three realms by chance when the old craftsman revealed them to him.

Tang Qi scoffed:

"You don't actually think you can reach the level of Bone Forging or higher, do you? With your background, even achieving the Perfected Skin Refinement stage is as difficult as ascending to heaven. There should be a limit to wishful thinking!"

Xue Chan hadn't intended to answer, but because of Tang Qi's harsh words, she spoke up instead:

"Skin training, muscle strengthening, and bone forging are the three stages of body tempering, and each stage is further subdivided into: early stage, middle stage, late stage, and perfect stage."

"Entry-level stance training corresponds to skin training; minor mastery corresponds to muscle training; major mastery corresponds to bone training; and perfection corresponds to perfect bone training, also known as quasi-martial artist."

"Only quasi-martial artists are qualified to break through the three realms of Blood Refinement: Blood Opening, Blood Boiling, and Blood Melting. Each step is a hurdle, and failure will damage one's foundation, making it even more difficult afterward."

She paused, then, thinking of Ye Xiao's background, continued:

"Therefore, only those with great perseverance and unwavering determination dare not attempt to break through to the three realms of Blood Refining."

Xue Chan glanced at him and added a few more words:

"The three realms of body tempering are ultimately about building a solid foundation."

"Don't be greedy for speed. The higher the talent, the more they will hone each level to their limit before striving for the next."

"Otherwise, if the foundation is weak, it will only backfire on you later."

"Only those who have reached the third level of Blood Refining are true martial artists. My father was at the Blood Opening Realm, which is considered the ceiling in our city."

"The Boiling Blood Realm is considered quite prominent in Upper City, while the Melting Blood Realm is a major figure in Upper City."

"As for going any further up..."

Xue Chan pursed her lips and didn't continue.

Ye Xiao memorized every single word.

For the first time, he truly realized that the path of a martial artist was far deeper and more dangerous than he had imagined.

The more dangerous it is, the more it proves... this is the only way to pull your life out of the mud.

Xue Chan concluded by saying, "Let alone a true martial artist at the third level of Blood Refining, as long as you have the opportunity to perfect your stance training and become a quasi-martial artist, you will be a prominent figure in the lower city."

"Thank you," Ye Xiao said.

At this moment, he also understood that he, who had achieved minor success in the Crimson Blood Stance, was currently in the Muscle and Muscle Realm.

"No need to thank me."

Xue Chan took out two booklets and handed them to him:

"These are the Mountain Collapse Fist and the Mountain Stabilizing Stance. Take a look first, and come find me if you have any questions."

Ye Xiao stuffed the book into his arms; the pages pressed against his chest, a little cool, yet it felt like a hard bone he was holding.

He turned to leave.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a person standing in the fog outside the martial arts school gate.

A thug from the Green Owl Gang.

He didn't enter, didn't speak, his hands tucked into his sleeves, staring at him from afar through the fog. His gaze wasn't fierce, but familiar, like someone watching prey from a silent alley.