Chapter 6 – Martial Arts
"The first realm of martial arts is the Body Tempering Realm."
Shen Jie spoke calmly, his voice carrying a trace of gravitas.
"The human body is like a lump of unrefined ore—raw, impure, and rough. Even if you possess the potential to become a divine weapon, you're still just a common, broken stone until forged."
"The Body Tempering Realm is about refining the orifices, tendons, and bones using qi and blood-based martial arts. It excavates latent potential, purges impurities, and shapes the body into a 'metal blank'—a vessel ready for greater strength."
"In the language of Qi Refiners, this is akin to Foundation Establishment—the forging of a supreme foundation."
As Shen Jie finished that thought, he downed the last of the tea in his cup and cleared his throat. A servant moved forward to refill it, but Shen Jie waved him off with a slight smile. Instead, he took the teapot himself, lifted it to his lips, and drank straight from the spout. A hearty swig later, his spirit was visibly lifted.
He then turned to face the Li family—Li Muyun and his wife, seated beside their son, Li Xinghui. The trio had been quietly listening the entire time. Shen Jie gathered his thoughts and continued.
"The moment a martial artist condenses their first thread of qi and blood, they officially step into the first realm—Body Tempering."
"The Body Tempering Realm has nine levels, grouped into three minor stages. These are jokingly referred to as the Human Strength Realm, the Tiger Force Realm, and the Dragon Force Realm."
At this point, Shen Jie looked at Li Xinghui with clear admiration in his eyes.
"Human Strength is equivalent to several hundred jin of power. Tiger Force can reach several thousand jin. Dragon Force? Tens of thousands."
"Typically, even a talented martial artist at the peak of the Human Strength Realm will only have around one thousand jin of raw strength. But Young Li—without even stepping through the gates of martial arts—already possesses strength nearing eighteen hundred jin. That's Tiger Force-level might."
"And this isn't due to cultivation or techniques—it's pure, raw physique. He's a prodigy the likes of which appears maybe once in a century!"
"Once he officially enters the path of martial arts, he'll be like a dragon rising from the abyss—a future leader among the younger generation of Qingyan Country."
This, in truth, was why Shen Jie—a well-known Melting Furnace Realm expert and Fourth Inner Elder of the Purple Cloud Gate—was humbly sitting in the Li household, explaining martial arts fundamentals to common folk.
Li Xinghui's innate talent was simply too exceptional to ignore.
Consider this: most sect disciples, even those who had cultivated since childhood, would still be stuck in the early stages of Human Strength by the age of twelve or thirteen. Their strength would only be in the low hundreds of jin.
Even among the personal disciples of sect leaders or elders, very few at this age could break into the Tiger Force Realm— and even then, only with the help of elite techniques, high-quality qi blood pills, and abundant resources.
Li Xinghui, on the other hand, had done it all with nothing but his natural body. The implications were staggering.
In fact, Shen Jie strongly believed that once Li Xinghui stepped into the Human Strength Realm and began cultivating qi and blood, he could even take on martial artists at the peak of the Tiger Force Realm!
So Shen Jie made his intentions plain.
"Patriarch Li," he said solemnly, "your son possesses heavenly aptitude. It would be a crime to let such a talent wither away in a small place like Ding'an City."
"I hail from the Purple Cloud Gate, located in the Hundred Broken Mountains—a top-tier sect within Qingyan Country. I, Shen Jie, serve as the Fourth Inner Elder and am moderately well-known in the martial world."
"Having encountered such a rare gem, I wish to take your son as my personal disciple."
"I understand this is sudden. Please take time to discuss it with your family. I'll return tomorrow. If you have any concerns or requests, feel free to bring them up."
With that, Shen Jie stood, and Li Muyun personally escorted him out of the manor.
After all, when taking someone's child away to train, one must at least offer them time to process it—especially since Li Xinghui had only just turned thirteen.
But talent wasn't the only reason Shen Jie was so eager.
He had done his homework. Prior to arriving at the Li residence, he'd heard no shortage of rumors—informal accounts, gossip, scattered bits of praise and curiosity—about Li Xinghui.
And they all shared one theme: righteous, but a little unorthodox.
When he was just a child, he outwitted child traffickers, fought off thugs, and rescued abandoned elders and children.
As he grew and learned some basic martial arts, his skirmishes escalated into rural warfare.
But he wasn't picking fights—he was eliminating evil.
Once he grasped spear technique, he dismantled Ding'an City's so-called "Beggar Gang."
Despite the pitiful name, they were vile. A cesspit of human traffickers and monsters, they mutilated orphans and abducted children, crippling them to beg for money. If they didn't earn enough, they were beaten. Those who were attractive were sold as slaves or brides, or worse—abused and discarded.
Li Xinghui, with only a few guards and a spear, obliterated every stronghold of the Beggar Gang in Ding'an. Dozens of monsters were captured and skinned alive in the forest outside the city—brutal, yes, but a terrifying warning to all evildoers.
And he didn't stop there.
He continued to patrol Ding'an City, hunting down criminals in the countryside. Over the course of a year, he took things even further.
At the age of twelve, with a single spear, he annihilated the infamous Black Tiger Stockade—a fortress of several hundred bandits.
That wasn't the end—it was the beginning.
Wolf Smoke Stockade, Swallow's Nest, Green Dragon Mountain, Fierce Tiger Forest...
Seven stockades, over three thousand bandits—all wiped out.
And each time, it wasn't just a victory—it was a massacre. Li Xinghui left no survivors.
Since then, Ding'an City had known peace. Bandits, mountain lords, and mounted marauders vanished. They were either dead or long gone.
Only after doing all this did Li Xinghui finally celebrate his twelfth birthday.