Grinding Cultivation Toward Martial Saint

"I'm twenty-four!" Qin Xuan gave both men a glance, and spoke first.

Yuan Fei's face darkened, "Twenty-seven!"

"Eighteen!" Jiang Ning chimed in decisively.

Upon hearing this, all three men looked at Jiang Ning in surprise.

Although Jiang Ning's age was no secret and many people were aware of it, it didn't include the three of them.

Before today, they hadn't acknowledged the existence of someone named Jiang Ning.

Not to mention investigating any information on him.

Merely judging from his appearance, they could only estimate his rough age, unable to discern his exact youthfulness.

Thus, the three had no inkling that Jiang Ning was a mere eighteen years old.

"Brother Jiang is so young?" Qin Xuan's face showed his astonishment.

Yuan Fei's gaze shifted towards Jiang Ning, turning sharply focused at this moment.

Learning Jiang Ning's age, his heart was filled with shock.

He was acutely aware of how arduous the journey to his current state had been.

The path of Martial Arts, for them, reaching Ninth Grade wasn't difficult, from the day they began cultivating, a fast learner could achieve it in a year and a half, slow ones in a couple of years.

Reaching the level at Ninth Grade where the skin was as tough as copper and impervious to blades and spears wasn't particularly hard.

With his talent, it had taken merely two years.

But by that stage, he was already eighteen.

Advancing from Ninth Grade into Eighth Grade wasn't difficult; tempering the muscles to add five hundred jin of strength would be considered stepping into Martial Arts Eighth Grade—if relying on external means, it could be achieved in mere days.

However, relying on external means had little significance.

It served only to prematurely enhance strength.

At the Eighth Grade level, the toughest task was to temper every muscle in the body without exception.

Such meticulous work could not be assisted by external means.

It required a supremely high level of control over one's Power and equally high mastery over the physique.

This step was a grueling grind.

From Ninth Grade Great Success, he took three months to step into Martial Arts Eighth Grade.

And at that level of Eighth Grade, he spent a whole five years to truly achieve Perfection in tempering muscles throughout the body,

A stage where he could progress no further.

As far as he knew, besides relying on continual laborious efforts like water grinding stone, there were not many shortcuts.

Unless one had an exceptional talent and constitution, the higher the talent and constitution, the more efficient the tempering of muscles would be, allowing one to refine the muscles at a speed far exceeding an average person's, naturally saving time.

The other was possessing outstanding spiritual power, reaching the level of introspection throughout the body.

With significant spiritual power, the higher the level of control over one's physique, especially when one can perform an introspective view of the entire body, seeing any muscle yet to be tempered.

In that case, one could precisely use their Power to temper those muscles, inherently increasing efficiency by leaps and bounds.

And Yuan Fei knew he was neither of these types of people.

He was well aware of his own innate constitution.

It was merely above average.

Above average constitution might be heralded as a prodigy in a small locale,

But in the Martial Arts Garden, it was hardly worth mentioning and nothing special.

The reason he had come this far was not due to his extraordinary talent and constitution, but the resources from his family background,

As well as his good comprehension.

Being able to grasp Middle Grade martial arts clearly demonstrated his perceptiveness.

It was precisely because of his past experiences that Yuan Fei understood all too well how incredible a talent and constitution Jiang Ning must possess to have such strength at the tender age of eighteen.

A once-in-a-century prodigy!

These words instantly crossed Yuan Fei's mind.

The once-in-a-century he thought of did not refer to Luoshui County, but to the Martial Arts Garden of Dongling County.

Because, as far as he knew, no one in the Martial Arts Garden had achieved Eighth Grade Power Training Great Success at eighteen in the past few decades.

Only over a hundred years ago did Dongling County's Martial Arts Garden have a prodigy, eighteen years old, Martial Arts Seventh Grade.

That person later even stepped into the Grandmaster Realm, becoming famous in an instant.

With such thoughts, Yuan Fei's gaze towards Jiang Ning turned even more solemn.

Just at this moment,

The man overseeing the examination nodded slightly towards Jiang Ning, "Eighteen, huh? Not bad! Not bad!!"

Then he added, "You have no objections to my decision, right?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Xuan immediately shook his head, "I have no objections!"

Following that, Qin Xuan continued, "Youth implies a lack of battle experience and not being adept at fighting, but it also signifies a higher potential for talent, and naturally deserves some favorable consideration."

With these words,

Qin Xuan took the initiative to step forward and came to the center of the leitai.

He held a sharp sword, pointing it obliquely towards the ground, "Brother Yuan Fei, do you choose to fight with fists and feet or with weapons?"

Qin Xuan looked calm and composed, as if he had everything under control.

Yuan Fei's gaze shifted slightly, landing on the edge of Qin Xuan's sword.

"I've heard your Sword Dao is extraordinary and you're not skilled in boxing. I, Yuan Fei, will not bully you! Let's compete with weapons!" Yuan Fei said with a composed face.

Hearing this, a faint smile inadvertently appeared on Qin Xuan's lips.

At that moment, Yuan Fei said to the official overseeing the assessment: "Please, sir, give me a wrought iron staff!"

"There you go!" The official immediately took a staff from the weapon rack next to the leitai and tossed it towards Yuan Fei.

Yuan Fei leaped up, catching the wrought iron staff with one hand.

Boom—

The moment he landed.

Dust flew, and there was a muffled sound between his feet and the ground.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

Yuan Fei swung the staff in his hand with ease, and in an instant, shadows of the staff danced about, whistling through the air as the dust on the leitai was blown away in all directions.

Seeing this, Qin Xuan's eyes suddenly hardened.

He realized he might have underestimated Yuan Fei.

Yuan Fei's arms were long like those of an ape, naturally hanging down to his knees—a born talent indicating a high aptitude for boxing.

But as soon as Yuan Fei took hold of the wrought iron staff, Qin Xuan immediately noticed a sudden change in Yuan Fei's demeanor, becoming even more different and confident!

"Are you ready, Qin Xuan?" Yuan Fei grinned, his stark white teeth suddenly exposed.

"Come on!" Qin Xuan responded indifferently.

The next moment.

Boom—

Yuan Fei pushed off the ground with his right leg, and the powerful recoil sent him speeding towards Qin Xuan like an arrow released from a bow.

Within one breath.

Whoosh—

A staff swung down, the wind howling.

Clang—

Qin Xuan dealt with the blow with his sword, like using the strategy of "using the force of four taels to deflect a thousand pounds," but at the moment of the collision of their weapons, his expression abruptly changed slightly.

The next moment.

The staff Yuan Fei had just brought down bounced back as if repelled.

As the staff was raised three feet high again, it came down even more swiftly.

At that time.

Jiang Ning saw Qin Xuan retreating repeatedly, just as he had been pressured by Feng Jiuge, clearly under Yuan Fei's control.

And as time gradually passed by.

Yuan Fei's offensive became more and more fierce, not giving Qin Xuan any chance to catch his breath.

One staff followed another, one attack after another.

In the air, Yuan Fei's staff created dozens of afterimages that completely enveloped Qin Xuan.

Accompanied by the sounds of wrought iron clashing, amidst the sparks, Qin Xuan retreated again and again.

During this process, Jiang Ning, through the numerous staff shadows, clearly saw Qin Xuan's face turning red from holding his breath, struggling to recover.

Moreover, there was sweat dripping from Qin Xuan's forehead.

"It looks like Yuan Fei is going to win!" Jiang Ning thought to himself.

It was only a brief moment.

Qin Xuan found himself in the same position Jiang Ning had been in just moments before.

Half a zhang behind him was the edge of the leitai.

Surrounded on all sides by layers of staff shadows, Qin Xuan was in a tight spot.

Just then.

Yuan Fei struck with his staff, and Qin Xuan lightly tapped it with the tip of his sword, using the force of the blow to make his body seem weightless like a floating weed drifting toward the edge of the leitai.

"Brother Yuan is truly formidable. I admire you!" Qin Xuan landed below the leitai, holding his sword in salute.

Even though he had been defeated just now, his demeanor was unshaken, still the graceful and elegant young nobleman.

As Qin Xuan finished speaking, he quietly exhaled a breath.

On the leitai, he had not been able to catch his breath, and once it faltered, Yuan Fei's wrought iron staff could have broken through his defense.

Being pushed to this point by Yuan Fei was completely unexpected for him.

Seeing no chance of victory and facing the risk of humiliation, he chose to concede with dignity.

Being swept off the leitai with a single staff strike by Yuan Fei was something he absolutely could not accept!