World’s Best Martial Artist

Auspicious Sun City.

The moment students who failed the physical assessment left, the hotel immediately had many unoccupied rooms.

For those like Fang Ping who had passed their assessment, they were then given their own rooms and no longer had to stay uncomfortably with others.

…

With that, Fang Ping finally had the chance to practice the Methods of Honing.

Once in the room, he closed the door behind him, got into stance and began the process of honing. Soft, cracking sounds echoed from his bones as his body swayed lightly.

If there was another martial artist watching Fang Ping at this moment, they would recognize that he had completed the preliminary stage of the bone honing process.

One of the basics of becoming a martial artist was to completely hone all the bones in the body.

By completing the honing process, one’s Vitality could then be increased to 150cal and above, which would further nurture one’s physique.

Eventually, they would be able to breakthrough and become a true martial artist!

…

Half an hour later, the honing process was complete.

Fang Ping stood back up, cracking sounds erupting from his bones as he moved his limbs. At this moment, he could clearly feel his bones absorbing Vitality continuously.

‘Is this is how one physically appears after completing the preliminary process of bone honing?’

He recalled in Basic Cultivation Methods that upon completing the preliminary process of bone honing, the most obvious sign would be the increase in interchanging speed between the inside and outside of the bones, or according to some people — the bones would begin to breathe.

Typically, just like breathing, normal human bones would still undergo the interchanging process with the Vitality in the body.

However, with regular people, they would not be able to feel it happening.

With the preliminary honing of the bones completed for martial artists, however, the signs of interchange would become more obvious, thus experiencing clear signs of it.

‘With the bone honing complete, that means my body will be able to contain more Vitality.’

Fang Ping had been stuck at 149cal for some time now, which to others may seem like a short period of time. For Fang Ping, however, it was anything but. Compared to before, he would have already leveled up by roughly 7 to 8cal in Vitality within the same amount of time.

He had even consumed a Vitality Pill the last time which had the effect of condensing Vitality. He had felt the elevation effect way earlier.

At present, with the bone honing complete, Fang Ping noticed a change in the statistics appearing in his vision:

Wealth: 4895000

Vitality: 146cal (152cal)

Mentality: 168Hz (175Hz)

“Hmm…”

Fang Ping was quite surprised by this. Not much Vitality was consumed during the honing process this time yet the limit had increased by quite a bit.

He had thought the result would likely only be an elevation by the usual 1cal. Who would have thought it would be by 3cal instead.

Since his bones had undergone the preliminary honing, the amount of Vitality he could take in had also become higher than before.

“Come to think of it, I suppose I can now choose to breakthrough anytime I want?”

As long as his Vitality reached 150cal and the bone honing process was completed, he could start consuming pills and proceed to gain a Vitality Outburst, enabling his Vitality to tear through more heights.

If those of Rank-1 chose to hone their upper limbs, the meridians of the arms would be perforated. On the other hand, if the lower limbs were honed then the meridians of the legs would be perforated instead.

The Methods of Honing could only help with perforating the major vessels during the preliminary honing process whereas the breakthrough perforated more minor vessels.

That way, bones, and vessels could be honed in a more detailed and thorough manner.

With that said, perforating minor vessels was much riskier.

This was why people like Wang Jinyang advised having a Rank-4 martial artist around during the entire breakthrough process so that they could supervise.

“I am honing my lower limbs at Rank-1, which means I should perforate more of the meridians in my lower limbs during breakthrough. I still don’t have a clear understanding of minor vessels so it would be too risky for me to carry out the breakthrough hastily…”

Fang Ping still lacked a deeper understanding of his own self and for him to go through a breakthrough then would have likely left him crippled.

Moreover, he remembered from his notes that 150cal was just an attainable limit for a regular person. Even though Fang Ping’s Vitality limit had easily surpassed 150cal to reach 152cal, he chose not to breakthrough at this point.

Fang Ping thought about his next training while washing off the stains on his body.

“I can continue to hone my bones, to enhance my Vitality which would feedback into my physique. It would make the advanced stages of honing much easier later on…”

Besides, his Vitality was already very strong and his bones were tougher than the regular person.

Was it time to start training some basic moves?

For martial artists, it was important for both their Vitality and combat power to be strong.

It was not common for someone to choose to train the basic moves first before even becoming a martial artist. Instead, most opted to focus on improving their Vitality and strengthening their physique.

At this time, time was crucial for anyone who was not yet a martial artist.

Vitality-enhancing, bone-honing, physique-maintaining, stance-training, cultural studies learning…

All these were enough to make things difficult to handle and so it was very uncommon to have anyone start learning any attack moves when they still have not broken through as martial artists yet.

It was different for Fang Ping because his Vitality increased faster than others and thus, it was not necessary for him to slowly accumulate his Vitality like the others.

Among the books that Wang Jinyang gave him, there were some that were related to actual combat, such as Basic Boxing, Basic Leg Maneuvers, and Summary of Cold Weapons.

However, without proper guidance, it could be very problematic to cultivate these cultivation methods.

The reason why Fang Ping suddenly had the intention to cultivate some attack moves had to do with Huang Bin.

For most students, there was no opportunity for them to experience combat as society was still stable.

However, what worried Fang Ping was the possibility of another encounter with someone like Huang Bin.

It was not enough to just have an appropriate level of Vitality. Without actual combat ability, one would still get beaten up regardless of their high Vitality.

At that stage, Fang Ping had high Vitality and he knew of some combat moves from pole-standing. However, pole-standing was not exactly an offensive skill which meant it only had limited effectiveness against enemies.

With all these thoughts in mind, he knew that there was no point in rushing and that he would just have to take it step by step.

After some thought, he called Wang Jinyang.

…

A few minutes later.

Fang Ping hung up the phone, dumbfounded.

“Not in the service area. Just where did this guy go?”

Not being able to get through to Wang Jinyang left Fang Ping feeling somewhat helpless.

He shook his head lightly. Since Old Wang was not here, he could only go to Tan Zhenping to chat.

…

Third Floor Coffee Shop.

Upon hearing Fang Ping’s question, Tan Zhenping responded with mild surprise. “You are only going to attempt a breakthrough after sustaining your Vitality at above 150cal?”

Tan Zhenping was not stupid. Although Fang Ping did not mention it explicitly, he understood what he was thinking as soon as he heard his words.

After pondering for a moment, Tan Zhenping said, “Most people would choose to breakthrough the moment they complete the preliminary bone honing process and when their Vitality reaches 150cal.

“It’s not to say that these people can’t continue to nurture their Vitality, it’s just that it’s not worth it!”

“Not worth it?” Fang Ping asked confused.

Tan Zhenping nodded. “Yes, not worth it.”

“That’s because if you choose to not undergo advanced bone honing once your Vitality exceeds 150cal, your Vitality will level up very slowly. It’ll be a tremendous waste.

“Let’s say when you’re at 140cal and you take one Vitality Pill, it will likely raise your Vitality by 1cal. Once you’ve reached 150cal and above, however, the same pill will only serve as a supplement as it can’t elevate your Vitality level any further.

“By then, you’ll need a Rank-1 Vitality Pill and that kind of waste is just too much!

“Besides, you should continue honing your bones if you want to level up your body’s limit further.

“If you don’t open your minor vessels and only rely on your major vessels and bone honing, the outcome won’t be good. The best way would be to consume the Bone-honing Pill to hone your bones.

“What’s the price of one pill?

“Many times, it’s not that people don’t want to level up their Vitality, it’s that they can’t.

“To elevate it above 150cal, most people would need a Rank-1 Vitality Pill or a Rank-1 Bone-honing Pill and they cost 300 thousand and 500 thousand respectively!

“Take pills worth 800 thousand and you may only be able to level up your Vitality by 1 or 2cal, or at most 3-5cal.

“How many people would be willing to waste money like that?

“Not to mention, you’re wasting a lot of time too!”

Seeing Fang Ping was still deep in thought, Tan Zhenping continued, “Right, when you’re still an aspiring martial artist, the higher the limit of your Vitality, the easier it would be to train later on. Not only that, but your potential will also be greater than others.

“Comparatively speaking, however, most people would rather breakthrough as martial artists first because the time and resources wasted before breaking through as a martial artist would be much better utilized then during training.

“By the time you breakthrough Rank-1, others may have already broken through Rank-2.

“Even if you have strong Vitality and can last a long time in battle at Rank-1, you are far from equal footing when you’re up against someone who’s Rank-2.

“That’s why I said it’s not worth it…”

Fang Ping understood the man’s words clearly, but he was different. All of Tan Zhenping’s concerns could be made up for it with his wealth.

“Uncle Tan, if aspiring martial artists continue to level up their limit, what is the highest level reachable?”

Seeing Fang Ping’s determination, Tan Zhenping decided not to advise him any further.

Young people were like that, always thinking they were one in a million. If he were to advise him any further, Fang Ping may take it as him trying to hold him back or even him being jealous.

Not only that, the fact that Fang Ping was able to reach his limit at this time also spoke highly of Wang Jingyang’s support as well as his own talent and hard work.

Folks like this aspired for a grand and bright future, therefore advice was futile on them.

“I guess, it varies according to individuals. With that respect, however, I still don’t know too much about it.

“When I was still in the martial arts training class, some people had already increased their Vitality limit to 159cal.

“This was still a martial arts training class. If it’s within a martial arts university, some people who came from superior family backgrounds who were also equipped with great talent might have even higher amounts.

“However, the nines are always the hardest to conquer, the higher it gets, the tougher it is.”(TN: The Chinese pronunciation of 9 is ‘jiu’ which is also how the word for ‘long’ is read. There is a belief that when one’s age ends with 9 (or is a number multiple of 9), they would face some difficulties. Some also say that by reaching 9, it would become difficult for them to pass the number like how one would get pass a ‘level’ since it takes a long time. The author seems to have appropriated it within the present context of training.)

“So normally, what is the Vitality level of a Rank-1 martial artist?’

“The elevation for most Rank-1 martial artists isn’t actually that high. Mainly it depends on the progress of their bone honing…”

“In my case, when I was done honing the bones of my lower limbs, my Vitality was able to hit up to 250cal during my peak Vitality period.”

“Meanwhile, for beginners, 170 to 180 are within the normal range. To reach beyond 200cal just requires you to hone your bones until you reach that certain stage.”

Fang Ping nodded again and then asked some common questions on cultivation.

Lastly, Fang Ping also asked questions regarding methods of actual combat.

Tan Zhenping shook his head and said, “I suggest you to not start training combat skills before becoming a martial artist.

“It is a waste of time!

“Not to mention, we’re in an era of peace now so there are actually some people who do not learn any combat moves at all even after they become martial artists. They only hone their bones and nurture their Vitality.”

“Hmm?”

Fang Ping was stunned for a moment. Did what Tan Zhenping meant was that a lot of martial artists were just for show?

What he said seemed slightly different from what Wang Jinyang had said.

He had spoken with Wang Jinyang a couple of times and what he mentioned was that “martial artists should mainly focus on combat” and that rankings only acted as a support element.

If rankings were all that mattered, then Brother Ma would not have needed to battle Tem and could have just shown off his ranking when he broke through to Rank-8.

Was this a boundary caused by a difference in vision?

Ever since Tan Zhenping graduated from martial arts training class, he had been a casual martial artist. Using his identity as a martial artist, he somehow muddled his way into a position in the government.

Nevertheless, he had been stuck at Rank-1 for many years.

Staying in Sun City, there was surely no chance for combat. Even if there were cases of crimes being committed by martial artists, they would still be the responsibility of the Department of Investigation Services.

Maybe it was not that Tan Zhenping was lying when he told Fang Ping that learning combat moves were unnecessary. It could be something he actually believed.

Although Fang Ping was still listening, he did not believe it. He did not want to become a martial artist just for the looks. Ever since he witnessed the aftermath of a battleground after a fight between two grandmasters, Fang Ping had become very much interested in being a real-life personification of an RPG.

However, looking at Tan Zhenping who was not interested in combat skills, Fang Ping decided not to ask further, as the Vice Department Head may not know any information related to combat skill cultivation.

Initially, Fang Ping had thought there would be a chance for him to get some guidance in this topic from Tan Zhenping, but it seemed there was no need for him to bring up the topic anymore.

“I should go back and ask Old Wang later…”

In Fang Ping’s perspective, Wang Jinyang was more reliable compared to Tan Zhenping. Not only was Wang Jinyang currently at Rank-3, but he was also a cold-blooded, lethal killer.

When it came to people like Wang Jinyang, one should understand that even if they did not show off their combat ability, that did not mean that they were weak.

Otherwise, Old Wang would not have dared to pursue Huang Bin on his own when he was only Peak Rank-2.

After chatting with Tan Zhenping for a while, Fang Ping thanked him and left.

Realizing Fang Ping had paid the bill, Tan Zhenping smiled. He actually noticed Fang Ping’s disapproving attitude during their talk earlier.

“As expected, such high ambition…” Tan Zhenping sighed softly.

If he was in Fang Ping’s shoes, reaching the threshold of a real martial artist even before entering Martial Arts University, he would probably have even more ambitious thoughts.

…

Upon returning to his hotel room, Fang Ping tried calling Wang Jinyang again but like before, Wang JinYang was still out of the service area.

Fang Ping felt gloomy. ‘Where has Old Wang gone off to?’

Fang Ping actually wanted to ask Old Wang about his Vitality elevation during his time as an aspiring martial artist so that he would have something to refer to.

However since Wang Jinyang’s phone was still unreachable now, Fang Ping had no choice but to ask him a few days later. Since he had only just broken through to 152cal, it was still very early anyway.

Following that, it was probably better for him to focus on preparing for the other subjects in the martial sciences examination. It would not be too late to enquire for more information even after the examination.