Thundering Palm

In the Ye Family Village, a young man walked on the cobbled road leading to the Martial Instruction Pavilion.

"Now that I have my Martial Spirit, I can go to the Martial Instruction Pavilion to find a Martial Skill to practice. This way, I can utilize my Yellow Martial Spirit." The young man was Ye Tian, and as he looked up at the Martial Instruction Pavilion, his face was covered with excitement.

He had wanted to explore this Martial Instruction Pavilion for a long time, but he had never been qualified to enter. Now that he had ascended to a Martial Warrior, however, he could sweep through in a domineering fashion.

On the Shen Zhou Continent, the importance of having a Martial Spirit on the path to becoming an expert was unquestionable, but the Martial Skills one used were also incredibly important. Only with a powerful Cultivation Technique could a warrior unleash the full capabilities of their realm and perhaps even surpass the limitations of their Martial Spirit.

In the terminology of Ye Tian's old world, the Martial Spirit was the gun and the Martial Skill was the bullet. Neither could be omitted and it was only in combination that one's full strength would be put into play.

The Martial Instruction Pavilion was the building in which the Ye Family Village stored its Martial Skills. It was their village's most important building, and several Village Elders stood guard at all times, each one of them at least a Level Seven Martial Warrior expert.

Whenever someone in the village became a Martial Warrior, they would come to this pavilion to select a suitable Martial Skill. Ye Tian had been looking forward to this treasure trove, but when the news came out that he had no Martial Spirit, he was forbidden entry.

But now that he finally developed his Martial Spirit, he was completely qualified to come and pick a Martial Skill.

"Eh? Ye Tian, why are you here?" An old, bearded, white-haired man opened his eyes and peered at Ye Tian as he stopped in front of the Pavilion, frowning as Ye Tian approached.

Everyone in the village knew the acclaimed number one genius, and everyone knew that Ye Tian had no Martial Spirit, so the old man was very surprised at Ye Tian's arrival.

En? After the Village Chief confirmed that I have no Martial Spirit, how suspicious would they be now that I've suddenly developed one? Ye Tian suddenly realized that he had overlooked an important problem in his excitement.

It was unheard of for someone like him who initially had no Martial Spirit to suddenly develop one. It might be the first case in all of Shen Zhou Continent, and if news spread, then it would definitely pique curiosity and might even bring danger to his home.

The old man frowned deeply when Ye Tian didn't reply. As the boy before him stood quietly, looking downwards, he couldn't blame Ye Tian, sighing as he spoke: "Ye Tian, I know that you cannot accept it, but without a Martial Spirit, you couldn't cultivate a Martial Skill even if I gave you one."

"The Martial Dao requires the meridians to be opened throughout your body, and to open the meridians, you need vigorous and powerful True Qi. Without a Martial Spirit, you will never be able to cultivate your True Qi, and you will never be able to cultivate a Martial Skill. Go home, ah!"

The old man shook his head with regret and closed his eyes.

"Martial Spirit…" Ye Tian murmured, his eyes glittering. He did have a Martial Spirit now, and it was of the Yellow Grade. He was the only one in the Ye Family Village with one!

"Hmph. As long as I don't reveal myself, how could anyone guess the existence of the Martial Spirit Devouring Technique? I just need to say that the Village Chief made a mistake or that my Martial Spirit is abnormal and has only just awakened. Our Chief is only a Level Ten Peak Martial Warrior anyway—I refuse to believe that he can see through this technique."

After thinking it over, Ye Tian made up his mind. He looked up at the old man before him and called out loudly: "Elder, I have already entered the Martial Warrior Realm. According to our village's rules, I'm allowed to enter and select a Martial Skill."

"Ye Tian, why are you still here? What! What did you say?" The old man had just begun reprimanding the foolish boy before him when he heard Ye Tian's words and shot upright in surprise.

"Elder, I have ascended to become a Martial Warrior," Ye Tian repeated, confidence filling his eyes.

"Martial Warrior? Do you know what this means? Only those with a Martial Spirit can become a Martial Warrior. Do you have a Martial Spirit then?" the old man asked, calming down and interrogating Ye Tian.

"Elder, why don't you test me?" Ye Tian laughed calmly, pouncing forward with the speed of a cheetah and punching out.

The old man was calm and impassive, laughing as Ye Tian shot forward: "Good! I want to see what trick you're playing, little brat. If you're lying to your elder, I'm going to have to spank you!"

As he spoke, the old man lightly reached out for Ye Tian's fist.

A powerful Level Eight Martial Warrior, the old man moved with vigor and power as if the eighty years he had lived had no hold on him. His simple movements carried the strength of a tiger, jolting Ye Tian with amazement upon seeing another powerful Martial Warrior.

"Hong!"

Ye Tian's fist hit the old man's palm as if striking a steel plate, incapable of stirring the hand even an inch.

"Elder is too strong, Ye Tian is no opponent for you!" Ye Tian smiled, retreating after the single strike.

He wasn't disappointed in the slightest. After all, his current strength was utterly incapable of competing with that of a Level Eight Martial Warrior. He simply wanted the elder to acknowledge his ability.

The old man took back his hand, but his face was covered with shock as he stared astonished at Ye Tian.

"You…you really have a Martial Spirit now?"

The old man could barely believe what had happened, but Ye Tian's strike had clearly exceeded that of a Martial Apprentice's abilities and was even somewhat more powerful than a normal Early Stage Level One Martial Warrior. There was no other possibility—he was a Martial Warrior.

"Didn't the Village Chief say you had no Martial Spirit? What's going on? Quickly tell this old man," the old man asked, his heart was filled with confusion as he stepped forward and pulled Ye Tian over.

Ye Tian told his prepared lie, but whether the old man believed him was completely out of his control.

Unexpectedly, the old man nodded without any sign of doubt, stroking his beard and happily replying: "Good! This old man has heard about this before. Some people fail to awaken their Martial Spirit at first but can accidentally awaken it later. This is rare even throughout the entire Shen Zhou Continent, but it's not unheard of. Kid, you've really lucked out."

The old man was filled with emotion as he held Ye Tian, looking him up and down.

Now that Ye Tian had awakened his Martial Spirit, the title of number one genius would quickly return to him, and all the expectations that had accompanied his previous talent would be renewed. Perhaps in the future, the Ye Family Village would also have a Martial Master realm expert.

"Good! Good! Good! Brat, since you've awakened your Martial Spirit, you need to cultivate well! Don't disappoint us old fogies! In the future, the village will be in the hands of you young people." The old man urged him one final time before personally accompanying Ye Tian up to the Martial Instruction Pavilion.

"Elder, you can trust me. Ye Tian will not disappoint you!" Ye Tian replied respectfully, finally entering the martial treasure trove that he had dreamed about.

The Martial Instruction Pavilion had stood in the Ye Family Village for several hundred years already, and when the door opened, an ancient aroma seemed to welcome him in. Ye Tian's spirit felt refreshed as he hurried forward to begin his search.

The Martial Instruction Pavilion was simple and unadorned and only held five rows of bookshelves, each packed with books, and every book containing Martial Techniques.

A small village has so many Martial Skills? Ye Tian thought with shock, hurriedly pulling down a few books and immediately absorbing the material.

There were indeed many Martial Skills here, but most of them were unpopular. They had been created by some of the powerful Martial Warriors of their village, but on the Shen Zhou Continent, they couldn't even be considered the lowest-ranking Martial Skill. This was why there were so many.

Ye Tian couldn't help his disappointment. He had hoped and dreamed about picking up a powerful Martial Skill, but it turned out that this was only a pile of garbage.

On the Shen Zhou Continent, Martial Skills were ordered in different ranks. From highest to lowest, the six ranks went God Rank, Saint Rank, Heaven Rank, Earth Rank, Black Rank, and Yellow Rank, and of course the difference between each rank was the difference between heaven and earth.

A powerful Martial Skill could even enable a Martial Warrior to defeat a higher leveled enemy, and so a Martial Warrior's lust for a powerful Martial Skill could be akin to madness.

But the Martial Skills that lined these shelves were simple punching and kicking techniques that couldn't even be considered Yellow Rank, so Ye Tian was filled with great disappointment.

"There are so many books here. I refuse to believe there isn't a single Yellow Rank Martial Skill!" Ye Tian refused to accept defeat and began searching, looking for hope in the midst of the ocean of books.

And he really need not have doubted, because he soon found an incomplete Yellow Rank Martial Skill.

"Thundering Palm: Mid Yellow Rank Martial Skill. But because the manuscript is incomplete, it can only be considered a Low Yellow Rank Skill. Difficulty: Hard. Note: The higher grade the Martial Spirit, the swifter the cultivation. Suggestion: Martial Warriors without at least an Orange Martial Spirit should not attempt to cultivate."

Ye Tian held the ancient book with excitement. He had actually found a Yellow Rank Martial Skill, and it was a mid-level one at that! The only shame was that it was incomplete and could only be considered a Low-Level Yellow Rank.

Even so, Ye Tian was incredibly excited. As far as he knew, the Village Chief cultivated a Low Yellow Rank Martial Skill, as did his father Ye Meng and the other powerful Martial Warriors in the village. To have this Low Yellow Skill was already quite decent.

Holding the Thundering Palm manuscript, Ye Tian excitedly ran back to the elder guarding the door to register.

The old man looked at Ye Tian's choice with some surprise, saying: "Ye Tian, this Thundering Palm is indeed quite powerful, but without a sufficiently talented Martial Spirit, it will be very difficult to cultivate. Many people have tried and none have successfully cultivated this skill. With your talent, when you become a Level 3 Martial Warrior, the Village Chief will grant you a Low Yellow Rank Martial Skill. Are you sure you want to spend your time on this Thundering Palm?"

Yellow Rank Martial Skills were very precious, and according to the village rules, only a warrior who had reached Level Three Martial Warrior could receive a Yellow Rank Martial Skill from the Village Chief.

This was a rule that was basically accepted by all the past chiefs. Since it took a lot of time and effort to cultivate a Martial Skill, if a warrior began cultivating the skill too early, it would naturally slow down their realm cultivation.

This is why the skill was only provided after becoming a Level Three Martial Warrior, so the villagers would spend more time improving their cultivation level before focusing on difficult Martial Skills.

After all, one's cultivation level was still the foundation. No matter how powerful a Martial Skill was, if one didn't have a sufficient cultivation level as a foundation, no Martial Warrior could bring out a skill's full potential.

Also, this rule would push villagers to cultivate more diligently as they worked to get their Yellow Rank Martial Skill.

"Elder, I've made my decision. I will choose this Thundering Palm," Ye Tian said firmly, his eyes filled with confidence. Others might have failed to cultivate it because their Martial Spirit Grade wasn't high enough, but Ye Tian's Yellow Martial Spirit far surpassed theirs.

 "Ay, alright. You're still young anyway, so you have plenty of time. When you realize how difficult it is to cultivate this Thundering Palm, you will still obediently come back for another book." The old man shook his head and registered Ye Tian, reminding him again and again that he needed to handle this manuscript with great care.

Even though nobody had successfully cultivated this Thunder Palm and its value to the village was basically nil, it was still a Yellow Rank Martial Skill and was incredibly precious.

Ye Tian nodded repeatedly, laughing as he replied: "Elder, you have to keep my Martial Warrior promotion a secret. You can tell the Village Chief at most. I want to surprise everyone at the New Year's celebration."

"Haha, brat… Forget it. I agree; I won't even tell the Village Chief and you can give everyone a big surprise." The old man smiled kindly. He knew that these past few days must've brought great headache and unhappiness to Ye Tian, for who could calmly handle a fall from genius to cripple?

A young man wanting to put on a show during the New Year Festival was something he could completely understand.

Ye Tian nodded thankfully and left filled with satisfaction.