Martial Artist Level Two

Ye Tian had reached the pinnacle of Level One Martial Artist four or five days ago, but every time he had tried to break through to the next level, he had failed. In the end, Ye Tian concluded that his realm was still too unstable and that he didn't have a solid enough foundation to break through the bottleneck.

But today, after defeating Ye Wei and regaining his fame in the village, Ye Tian's mind and heart were calm and clear, and he prepared once more to break through the barrier. Of course, he didn't have much expectation, still quite satisfied with the speed of his cultivation.

So it was with slim hopes that Ye Tian focused on his Dantian, carefully circulating his weak Peak Stage Level One Martial Artist True Qi through his meridians, slowly pushing forward into a neighboring, unopened meridian.

Everyone's body contained ten principal meridians which together formed the Great Circle of Vital Energy, and it was only after completely opening up all ten principal meridians that a practitioner could be considered to have truly entered the halls of Martial Warrior.

According to the continent's categorization, a Martial Artist Realm practitioner could be considered to have broken through to the next level once they fully developed any of the principal meridians.

And as a Level One Martial Artist, Ye Tian had fully developed a single principal meridian and was now focusing on breaking open the next.

Undeveloped meridians were filled with filth and bodily corruption, and it was only through opening up the meridian and washing it with the flow of True Qi that the meridian could grow strong and robust enough to contain more Qi.

As Ye Tian sat, he turned his inner gaze towards his Dan Tian, examining his developed principal meridian. After days and weeks of cultivation, this meridian was filled with the mist of True Qi seemingly on the verge of liquefying.

Ye Tian focused, carefully controlling all the True Qi in the meridian and bringing it slowly towards the entrance to the next principal meridian.

This fragile, second meridian was still unclean and un-strengthened by the touch of True Qi, and Ye Tian proceeded with extreme caution as he prepared for a breakage. It had to be said that the strength of Ye Tian's control over his True Qi benefitted greatly from the mixture of his previous life's memories. The strength of his soul far outstripped that of others.

Ye Tian began by separating out a thin, dense strip of True Qi, wielding it as a needle as he struck forward towards the second meridian, drilling forward and slowly opening up a growing hole through the blockage.

The task was incredibly exhausting and frighteningly dangerous, and once his soul's strength was exhausted, his task would fail.

But today, Ye Tian had struck a peculiar balance between peace and energy, his heart and mind tranquil but his spirit seemingly burbling with vitality as he moved confidently for another breakthrough attempt.

"I must succeed!"

Ye Tian repeated to himself, focusing on the True Qi in his meridian, ever-wary of even the slightest lapse.

After an hour, he had finally managed to drill a hole and he could begin pushing forward more of his True Qi to slowly widen the gap.

Now that he had reached this point, the rest was simply a matter of time.

Ye Tian let out a sigh of relief but still couldn't relax. Although the next step wasn't difficult, it would require a sufficient amount of concentration and exertion, and he still needed to maintain his control over his True Qi to the end.

Time moved by steadily, and the small pinhole gradually widened under the steady flow of True Qi.

But even now, compared to the thick and vigorous channel in Ye Tian's developed principal meridian, the flow in the second meridian could only be likened to pouring cups of water over burning carts of firewood.

Sweat covered Ye Tian's face as his concentration weakened, and even though he didn't know what exactly this Soul Power was, he could still gauge its depletion by the mental exhaustion filling him.

As he expended more and more of this soul energy, Ye Tian grew more and more exhausted, and out of his weariness grew a desire to give up and sleep.

But as this thought grew in his mind, the scene from the square filled his mind, every eye turned toward him, filled with expectation and hope.

"From today forth, you are the hope of our Ye Family Village!" Village Chief Ye Shi's voice rang clearly in his mind.

Suddenly Ye Tian's heart and soul seemed to tremble and his weariness was washed away. It was as if he was on the verge of success or failure. His soul had broken through its limits and suddenly grew in power, and his control tightened over his True Qi as he pushed forward and struck the last vestiges of filth and corruption blocking his meridian.

"Yes, I am the hope of our village! I can't give up! I must grow strong!"

"Ah…."

Ye Tian cried out within himself and his True Qi violently erupted, washing forward and pushing through into the principal meridian, and this last wave carried off the last bits of filth. With the flow of True Qi, it was pushed up and discharged from his skin.

Soon, black smudged appeared across the surface of Ye Tian's body.

Extraordinary excitement filled Ye Tian's heart!

He had finally broken through!

He had broken to Martial Artist Level Two!

Chi chi…

As soon as Ye Tian had broken through, the Spiritual Qi around him swirled into a vortex and rushed into his body.

Within him, the newly opened principal meridian consumed Qi like a starved sponge, rapidly absorbing the Spiritual Qi and converting it into True Qi.

Very quickly, Ye Tian's True Qi tripled in size.

This growth in Qi brought new energy to Ye Tian, completely washing away all his weariness. When he finally opened his eyes, a piercing light flew forth, brilliant like a sharp blade.

"Early Stage, Level Two Martial Artist!" Ye Tian murmured, his eyes flaring with emotion, his face filled with confidence.

In under two months, he had transformed himself from a cripple without a Martial Spirit into a Level Two Martial Artist—such a terrifying rate of advancement would stun everyone.

"And I could never have done it without the old White Tiger's gift… without the Devouring Martial Spirit ability, I would be nothing. Tiger spirit, rest in peace. I will take good care of your child."

Ye Tian turned to pet the little white tiger sleeping soundly beside him, swearing a solemn oath.

The old White Tiger had changed his life and given him a road to power—this favor was something that Ye Tian would never forget.

After a final kind look at the sleeping tiger, Ye Tian stood, opened his door, and exited his room.

The first rays of the dawning sun spilled over Ye Tian's body, lighting up his youthful, vigorous form, filled with vitality.

Ye Tian looked out into the village as if seeing before him a broad road to his future. With his Devouring ability, his path was brilliant and wide and his future was filled with limitless possibility.

He breathed deeply, containing the happiness in his heart as he strode forward to the courtyard where he began practicing the Thundering Palm.

Cultivation is the foundation but Martial Skills cannot be neglected; if I had chosen to use Thundering Palm yesterday, then Ye Wei might have even died with one strike.

Ye Tian practiced, thinking to himself.

Everyone on the continent believed in the Martial Dao, and Martial Warriors could only bring forth the full potential of their strength with Martial Skills. Sometimes, a powerful Martial Skill could even create miracles, enabling Martial Warriors to fight and slay opponents of higher cultivation.

Such was the allure of Martial Abilities!

Ye Tian had once heard his father speak of a Black Rank Martial Skill appearing in White Cloud Town, and before the skill was finally claimed by a foreign warrior, it had brought with it a storm that poured forth a river of blood through their streets.

It was clear how precious a powerful Martial Skill was to any Martial Warrior!

Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong!

Palm shadows flew out in succession as Ye Tian practiced, piercing wind filling the yard, howling with the power of True Qi-filled blows. As Ye Tian's palms struck the air, eight muffled blows slapped forward as if thunder roared in the wake of his attack.

After performing a full set of Thundering Palm, Ye Tian rested, his body warm, comfortable, and filled with energy. With every move, a sense of power flowed within the Martial Warrior.

And this is only with the Qi of a Level Two Martial Artist; if my cultivation was higher, then the might of this Thundering Palm would be even more powerful, Ye Tian thought in admiration. Even though he was still stuck at eight palm shadows, the power of the skill was undeniable.

The incomplete Thundering Palm was only a Low Yellow Martial Ability and could barely qualify as a Martial Skill, but in a remote and poor place like the White Cloud Town, it was already great to possess such an ability. In other, smaller villages, they didn't even have true Martial Skills.

In all of White Cloud Town, only the Wang Family Village had a complete Mid Yellow Martial Skill—Heaven Crippling Feet. With Heaven Crippling Feet and the only Martial Master realm powerhouse in the region, the Wang Family Village intimidated the entire town region and was able to rule over the small town.

After finishing his set of Thundering Palm, Ye Tian returned to his home, walked into the living room and heard his mother calling him for breakfast.

"Dad, mom!" Ye Tian called out in greeting as he walked forward, stumbling upon his father, bent over and vomiting with his mother Lin Mei beside him rubbing his back.

"My wonderful son, you're awake!" Ye Meng called out happily at Ye Tian's voice, but he immediately had to vomit some more, only able to stop after a long moment.

"Hu, hu, that's finally over!" Ye Meng breathed out heavily, propping himself up onto a stool and beginning to wash up.

Lin Mei scolded him: "Let's see if you still drink in the future. You're such a lightweight yet you still drink so much; you threw up all night." As she spoke, she filled a bowl of porridge for Ye Tian.

"Tian er, you can't be like your father and drink so stupidly. He doesn't even care for his life!" Lin Mei continued.

"En, mom!" Ye Tian obediently nodded, a big smile on his face.

Hua La!

Ye Meng finished washing up and returned, laughing as he spoke: "It was just because I was too happy yesterday; it won't happen again. Such an impressive son, giving his father so much face, haha!"

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Suddenly, the sound of knocking filled the house and when Lin Mei went to open the door, Ye Feng and Ye Ba walked in.

"Captain...? And… Ye Ba? What are you doing here?" Ye Meng greeted Ye Feng respectfully, but his face immediately darkened at the sight of Ye Ba.

Ye Tian continued eating his porridge, paying no mind to the adults.

"Brother Meng, I… I…" Ye Ba began awkwardly, trying to speak, his face covered with shame and the words unable to leave his mouth.

"Ye Ba, why are you here so early? Aren't you supposed to go pick up your daughter-in-law? Why are you in my house?" Ye Meng asked again, his voice cold as he remembered what Ye Ba and his son had done the day before. He had never been friends with this man even before that, and there were no previous exchanges between the families.

"Brother Meng…" Ye Ma said again, a bitter smile on his face.

"I'll explain. It's like this…" Ye Feng spoke up, helping Ye Ba explain the awkward situation.

The matter was about Ye Wei and Lin Jiao's marriage.

Yesterday, Ye Wei was supposed to go to the Lin Family Village to greet Lin Jiao as his bride, but after being injured by Ye Tian, he was naturally unable to complete the marriage ceremony. Of course, this matter was Ye Wei's own doing, and Ye Ba didn't dare to blame Ye Tian—he only wanted to bring a group to escort the bride to their village.

But the Lin Family Village didn't agree, incredibly unsatisfied with Ye Wei having missed this auspicious greeting, absent from the greeting party. A young man of theirs came forward with a challenge, saying that Lin Jiao wouldn't leave unless a young man from the Ye Family Village around the same age as this Lin Family youth could defeat him in a sparring exchange.