I Can See Your Combat Power

Cultivation does not lie. Although families cannot see the process of a martial artist’s spiritual power accumulation from quantitative change to qualitative change, the Martial Hall keeps records of each martial artist’s cultivation.

Through comparison of thousands upon thousands of data, a simple conclusion can be drawn: as long as one cultivates diligently without stopping, it takes at most ten years for a martial artist of the Mortal Realm to break through to transcend the mortal coil. Starting from the completion of Foundation Building, approximately eight years and three months are sufficient for martial artists to complete the cultivation from the Mortal Realm to transcendence. This applies even to those with the most ordinary talent.

Many martial artists with good talent can break through in just seven and a half years, and those with exceptional talent only need six years and ten months.

The so-called prodigies are generally those who manage to complete the accumulation necessary to proceed from the Mortal Realm to transcendence within seven years.

Based on the standard of completing Foundation Building at the age of nine, it means that by the age of sixteen, those with prodigy-level talent are already martial artists who have transcended the mortal realm. All of these martial artists who break through to transcending the mortal realm within seven years, as long as they aren’t stopped at the threshold of unity of spirit and intent, can complete all spiritual power accumulation from transcending the mortal realm to the Fierce Realm within thirty-one years and start forging their divine spirits!

This also means that as long as prodigies do not court death, they will firmly become powerful beings of the Fierce Realm by the age of forty-seven.

The reason why Tang Luo’s breakthrough to transcendence at the age of thirteen draws attention from the Martial Saint Mountain is just this. Talent can save a martial artist one to two years of diligent cultivation time when they break through from the Mortal Realm to transcending the mortal realm. But as they move forward, talent becomes more and more important. The difference between ordinary talent and prodigy talent in the Fierce Realm is a full seven years.

Although lifespan of martial artists is longer than that of ordinary people, seven years is not a small number to anyone. If you cultivate diligently, others can reach the Fierce Realm seven years before you. This is the significance of talent.

The reason Tang Siyuan said ordinary martial artists were inadequate lies in the fact that even martial artists of clan lineage generally break through to the Fierce Realm when they are over sixty years old, and some spend their whole lives stuck at the peak of transcendence.

Therefore, martial artists who have achieved unity of spirit and intent are considered top-notch powerhouses for ordinary people, but in the Tang Clan, they are only at the Sitting Hall Realm level, amounting to nothing.

The martial artist from the No. 2 cultivation field is much stronger than Tu Tong, but he is unlikely to break through to the Fierce Realm before the age of sixty either. It’s not because his talent is not good, but rather because the accumulation period in which cultivation upgrades are not felt is too hard to endure. Most ordinary martial artists cannot tolerate this feeling of not growing stronger.

Those who can persist for one or two years, or even for five or ten years in this kind of cultivation that does not yield visible results are already exceptional. However, for those with the most ordinary talents, it takes a persistent effort of twenty-seven years. Even martial artists with prodigy-level talent need twenty-two to twenty-three years to complete the accumulation of spiritual power from transcending the mortal realm to the Fierce Realm (the two-year discrepancy reflects the time it takes to accumulate from the initial stage of transcendence to the peak of transcendence). This is even more so for ordinary martial artists.

This is why even after the flourishing of martial arts for thousands of years, martial artists of the Fierce Realm are still called powerhouses today. The ability to endure decades of arduous cultivation without visible results is truly difficult. Many martial artists in the Tang Clan who are known as geniuses even start to abandon their martial arts cultivation after reaching the peak of transcendence because they can’t stand this torment.

Tang Siyuan said with distress: “The ordinary martial artists we have been cultivating since childhood turn out to be of only this level. Does Elder Luo really think there are martial artists worth recruiting among the ordinary people?”

It’s not that they are unwilling to provide better martial arts techniques, but most ordinary martial artists are likely to consider the peak of transcendence the end of their martial arts career, which is definitely disheartening. Martial artists who are at the peak of transcendence but haven’t practiced the Combined Attack Technique are indeed nothing special in the eyes of powerhouses like him.

“However, I think the saying ‘Hidden dragons and crouching tigers are among the common people’ does have some truth to it. Thus, the probability of excellent martial artists emerging from among ordinary people is not small. It’s worth a try,” Tang Luo completely disagreed with Tang Siyuan’s statement. Although the orphans in the Charity Hall are also martial artists brought up by the clan since childhood, the efforts put in and the environment are obviously different from those of the noble children. How could they be denied simply on the basis of the results?

However, for these senior members who already have a fixed impression, Tang Luo’s attitude appears to be a young man’s stubbornness, insisting on proving himself from the bottom. His Grandmaster, Tang Hongtao, said, “The saying ‘Hidden dragons and crouching tigers are among the common people’ doesn’t apply to martial arts, but to side and miscellaneous studies, like the Five Elements, Eight Actions, and Nine Gates. These people, who delve into strange and exotic skills and intend to integrate them with martial arts, indeed have some peculiar characteristics. They are mediocre in actual combat power, but they are more than enough to fool the ordinary people. They might even make people believe they have supernatural powers. However, most martial arts with minor intentions and no clear future have limited achievements. Let alone the Fierce Realm, even the peak of transcendence could be considered a great master in these schools of thought, but in reality, they are easy to defeat.”

Although it was merely an explanation, who could not discern his well- intentioned reminder?

As a great elder of the Secret Arts Pavilion, no one knows more about the vastness of martial arts than he does. Therefore, he hopes to dissuade Tang Luo from his inexplicable admiriation of the saying “the true masters are among the common people” through his explanation.

The so-called “true masters are among the common people” refers to some obscure and extinct skills. These skills may be considered treasures by the masters among the common people, but in the eyes of this martial arts researcher, they are just some insignificant tricks. If they were to be genuinely compared to martial arts research or actual combat power…

True masters, how could they possibly be among the common people!?

Upon hearing Tang Hongtao’s words, everyone at the table nodded in agreement. Although they had vaguely felt that there was something wrong with the saying “true masters are among the common people,” it was indeed greatly beneficial for them to have the Elder pinpoint the problem precisely. Tang Siyuan initially thought Tang Hongtao would unconditionally support Tang Luo’s folly because of his relationship with Tang Sen, but it turned out that this Elder of the Secret Arts Pavilion was still the wise martial arts researcher he knew. Feeling relieved, he continued to speak to Tang Luo, “From the perspective of ordinary people, a martial artist at the peak of transcendence is already invincible. So, naturally, they would deify such martial artists. The truth is, these martial artists even lack complete martial arts techniques. After learning a killing move, they painstakingly study it. They are nothing but frogs at the bottom of a well. Even if you recruit thousands, tens of thousands of these kinds of martial artists, they are still nothing but cannon fodder!”

Seeing everyone at the table united in trying to shoot down his foolish idea, Tang Luo could only sigh secretly that his statement was untimely. However, he had a complete set of plans and intended to stick to them. Giving up was out of the question. All he could do was to tell everyone, “Great Elder and Grandmaster, please don’t try to persuade me anymore. I have made up my mind. Let the fact prove whether this decision is right or wrong in the future of the Marshal Star Pavilion.”

Tang Siyuan and Tang Hongtao looked at each other and heaved a silent sigh, then stopped persuading him.

It might be a good thing for a young man to bump into a south wall. An all-too- smooth journey of a prodigy isn’t a good thing for anyone. In the three realms of martial artists, the realm of seeing the world is for recognizing how one’s world and the real world can deviate from each other.