Chapter 26- The Next Path

"No, today I am going to have a day off. I thought Liu was here, so I wanted to invite him to take a stroll in the city. Did he train in the usual place today?"

"Hmm, I don't think so. He said he needed a calming, peaceful, and natural place so he went to such places most likely. And the city doesn't fit the descriptions, maybe he went to the outskirts?" Xin told his guess.

Hearing this, she turned back and walked away.

"Wait, Princess! Where are you going?" Xin exclaimed.

Adori stopped for a moment and said without turning back. "I am going to look for him."

"Then, I will go too. I am a scout, I am much better than a fisherman like you at finding things, princess." Said Xin as he looked at her confidently.

"Then, let's not waste any more time." Adori said curtly and walked away toward the outskirts as Xin followed behind her.

. . . . . . .

As they were trying to find him, a few miles from the giant ship on a sea of ice, Liu Guanyi was standing alone shirtless. He stood tall even with the cold, arctic wind blowing his body. There was a big block of ice on his back with his hands holding it tight as he performed squats.

His skin was reddish. Steam was coming out from his whole body as his hot body slowly unfreeze any ice that made a contact with his skin. It looked like he fought the cold environment with the heat from his body. It was inhuman to see how much heat he could produce compared to a normal human.

After a few sets, he stopped and dropped the block of ice, and sat atop it.

'My body is ready after being stimulated by the training and baptized by the cold winds.' He thought as he looked up to the clear, blue sky.

'Finally, after three years I am ready to advance further on the Martial Path. With the help of the miraculous effects of Shinsu, I made it in just three years.'

Liu Gunayi was still amazed by the magical substance the people of the tower called "Shinsu". How a single substance could do so much job by itself? But seeing was believing. After he witnessed it himself, he didn't doubt it anymore. It seemed that Shinsu had many secrets behind its magical capabilities.

Finished with his musing, he closed his eyes as he changed his sitting position to a lotus position. After becoming an Initiate Warrior, a Martial Practitioner could feel their inner energy naturally and instinctually. However, this didn't mean that their control was good, no, it was the opposite.

To walk further as an Initiate Warrior, a Martial Practitioner must improve their control over inner energy and strengthen their body. After they managed to do it to a certain level, they had to purify and restructure their blood vessels to accommodate the functions of inner energy more effectively.

There were three types of blood circulation found within the human body. The systemic circulation, pulmonary circulation, and portal circulation.

Systemic circulation described the movement of blood from the heart via arteries to the periphery, and back to the heart through the veins. Pulmonary circulation depicted the movement of blood from the heart to the lungs and back to the heart. And portal circulation portrayed the movement of blood from the gut area via the liver to the heart.

Based on the blood circulation knowledge, ancient Martial Masters also separated the way of Initiate Warrior into three parts. The first of half Initiate Warrior represented the purification of blood vessels in the systemic circulation.

The Second half of Initiate Warrior represented the purification of blood vessels in the pulmonary circulation. And finally, the third half of Initiate Warrior represented the purification of blood vessels in the portal circulation.

After completing the three of them, a Martial Practitioner could finally step on the next path, the Nascent Warrior.

Different from Initiate Warrior, Nascent Warrior was the stage where a Martial Practitioner would be considered a true warrior, not a wannabe.

At this stage, one's body would be tempered at full swing by their own energy to prepare them for the next stage.

However, the difficulty of refining the three blood circulations was far greater than unlocking the inner energy. The main reason for this was because of the time limit.

A human body must be in balance for it to work properly. The warriors were not excluded from this rule as well. Unfortunately, refining the blood vessels was an act against the balance itself.

If the imbalance was maintained for too long, it would inflict a hidden wound that would damage the Martial Practitioner's potential, hindering them from achieving great accomplishments on the Martial Way or even cutting short their lifespan.

This way, they had to finish the first half quickly, then the second half, and finally, move on to the third half within a short timeframe to avoid the imbalance.

This was the reason why Liu Guanyi hadn't made any attempts to advance to Nascent Warrior before he was finally prepared.

However, just like any problem, there was a solution to this problem. Liu Guanyi just had to finish the first half and the second half of purification at the same time.

This was exactly what he did in his previous world. He trained his body a lot to increase his capacity of inner energy to the maximum as an Initiate Warrior and exercised his control over it for a long time.

But this time, with his previous experience, much greater control mastery over the inner energy, and the amazing effects of shinsu on his body, Liu Guanyi was confident to go over all the three halves and attempt it one go!

Liu Guanyi didn't want to merely redo his past achievement, no, he wanted to go beyond it. He was much stronger than when he was an Initiate Warrior back in his world thanks to shinsu, why would he be afraid of some acceptable potential risks?

This was the Martial Way!

Everyone risked their lives the very first time they decided to walk on it!

Didn't he risk his life when he refined two halves at once in his previous world?

He merely repeated that with a higher target. This was the mindset that he adopted as he walked on the Martial Way.

'Without Martial Path, life won't be that interesting. How can I be satisfied with mundane life? Growing up, working hard every day, marrying someone, having children, growing old, and finally dying. Many people might prefer such life, but I, Liu Guanyi, do not!'

'Dying while walking on the Martial Way is much more satisfying and wonderful! At least I experience its beauty and see its greatness.' Liu Guanyi smiled as his resolve burned brightly and he began meditating.