Chapter 299.2: The Martial Will
In the courtyard of the residential complex, Yang Shan openly admired the power radiating off Qi Yuan. "You are, without a doubt, the most gifted Martial Dao practitioner I have ever seen. In just a few months, you've reached what took me over ten years. The martial peak, the actual martial peak!"
He still remembered meeting Qi Yuan for the first time, when the man had barely crossed the threshold of a martial apprentice. And now, mere months later, he stood at the peak as Yang Shan's equal.
Qi Yuan shrugged. "It's nothing special. The road from martial cultivator to the martial peak is just too short."
He meant it sincerely. For him, that stretch of Martial Dao was laughably brief. He'd barely broken a sweat before hitting the ceiling.
Yang Shan shook his head. "Too short? Most people spend thirty years and still never make it. By the time they do, their bodies are already failing them. What's the point of reaching the peak then?"
That was the reality. Someone like Yang Shan, who reached the martial peak before forty, was a genuine rarity. An ordinary person who trained diligently their whole life would probably reach the peak at sixty. What was the point of a sixty-year-old martial artist? As the old saying went, “The fist fears youth.” What use was peak prowess in an aging body?
Yang Shan’s expression shifted to something harder to read. "You might actually be the one who breaks through the martial peak..."
Since the founding of the Qin Yuan Kingdom, the youngest person to reach the martial peak had been thirty. Qi Yuan was younger by a frightening margin. Nevertheless, nothing was set in stone. Many had once been considered most likely to shatter that ceiling, yet all had failed.
In fact, a few years back, a billionaire had even poured enormous resources into researching the matter. The conclusion remained the same. The human body simply could not surpass the martial peak. Breaking through was, by all accounts, impossible.
Yang Shan offered the observation with goodwill. "Spend another year or two consolidating your base, and you have a chance to win the Martial Arts Tournament. The city-level rounds will be child’s play for you. The other peak martial artists in Tianyue City are all too old to bother competing."
Qi Yuan cut to the chase. "I'm not worried about the tournament. I came here to freeload wisdom from you. What do you know about breaking past the martial peak?"
He had his own ideas, but wanted to cross-reference them with someone else's thinking. Three heads are better than one, after all. Besides Great Wisdom, who had given him plenty of useful perspectives, Yang Shan had contributed a great deal to his martial journey as well.
Yang Shan fell quiet for a long while before explaining, "A theory had long circulated within martial circles. To go beyond the martial peak, one must forge what's called a Martial Will. A powerful enough Martial Will can push the body past its biological limits and force it to evolve.
"Though Martial Dao fundamentally revolves around tempering the body, a technique can only strengthen it so much. So you flip the equation. Use the will to drive the body upward. That's what we old-timers who've reached the peak have been working on ever since. Martial Will is a mysterious thing. Watch carefully, I'm going to channel my will through my gaze. It can rattle even the stout-hearted."
Yang Shan straightened himself up. He'd always known his martial talent fell short of Qi Yuan's, but his Martial Will was a different story. As a soldier, he had fought in war and killed. A Martial Will forged in blood and battle was something no sheltered young man could match. One look, and he'd shatter Qi Yuan's composure.
Yang Shan focused. Every ounce of his soul coiled and condensed behind his eyes. His temples pulsed visibly. His gaze sharpened into something bright, cutting, and alive with killing intent. Even seasoned fighters would be staggered mid-bout, let alone an average joe like Qi Yuan.
Unexpectedly, Qi Yuan blinked with mild curiosity. "Whatcha looking at?"
Yang Shan froze. "You're fine?"
How could the young man remain this calm and unbothered even after receiving his gaze?
Qi Yuan remarked off-handedly, "Of course. Your Martial Will needs work."
How many true elites had he encountered so far? He had even stood before Yang Spirits.
"But you did give me something to think about," Qi Yuan added.
Over these past weeks, Qi Yuan had been studying both Martial Dao and the bloodline of mutated sea monsters. He had long suspected that breaking past the martial peak would require not only a stronger bloodline, but also a stronger innate martial technique.
Thus, his mind shifted to his innate martial technique, the Exploding Bird-Slaying Fist. Did improving an innate martial technique have something to do with Martial Will?
Yang Shan wasn't thinking about any of that. "How did you even block my Martial Will?"
He was still hung up on the fact that his most fearsome technique had been brushed aside like nothing.
"Block it? I didn't need to." Qi Yuan grinned. "Honestly, it's simple. Kill more people. A few hundred thousand, a few million... That ought to do it."
He'd already diagnosed that the root of Yang Shan's so-called Martial Will was killing intent, pure and simple. That was something Qi Yuan had in spades. He had cut down so many enemies in games that when he practiced the Radiant Sword Art of Bright Palace, his aura glowed red while everyone else’s shone white.
Qi Yuan clapped Yang Shan on the shoulder with the easy confidence of a veteran. "So really, the problem is you just haven't killed enough."
Yang Shan stared at him, caught off guard. He then shook his head with a scoff.
"What are you on about? Just say you don't want to share! Kill more people? Kid, I haven't killed enough? Do you know the Guiran people causing all that noise on the internet right now?" He couldn't help puffing up a little. "I've personally taken out more than ten of them. Heh, including a priest, no less."
That was his crowning achievement, one he'd been itching to show off for ages. Now that he and Qi Yuan had grown closer, he figured a little bragging was perfectly warranted.
The Arch Star’s conflict was escalating. Yuelang Country was at war with Wugui Country, which clearly held the advantage. As a result, the Qin Yuan Kingdom’s online sentiment was dyed with rage. Citizens from every corner of the internet were clamoring for Guiran people to face justice. If Yang Shan ever went public with his Guiran body count, he'd be an internet celebrity within days.
"Less than a hundred." Qi Yuan nodded soberly. "That is a bit low."
Yang Shan felt his eye twitch. "Less than a hundred?! You've been watching too many videos online! Do you understand what killing a hundred enemies means? Back in ancient times, a soldier with a hundred kills would be handed a noble title without question!"
A man who had never killed anyone was telling him his count was low?
The country's most notorious serial killers had racked up maybe ten or twenty victims before being caught, and people called them monsters for it. Now Qi Yuan was claiming Yang Shan killed too little?
"You've just never met anyone with a genuinely high count." Qi Yuan was about to bring up his own tally when he remembered that murder was illegal here. "I know someone with over ten thousand kills."
"Ha! A friend of yours, is it? Funny how it's not you!" Yang Shan burst out laughing, certain Qi Yuan was pulling his leg with some internet joke. He fired back, playing along. "You haven't even put down a single Guiran person. You don't get to talk to me about this!"
