32: Chapter 32 Alienation
"Second-rate Realm, Internal Energy flowing endlessly..."
Ji Yebai murmured in deep thought.
The biggest difference between a Third-rate Martial Artist and a Second-rate one lies in the level of Internal Energy.
To advance to a Second-rate Martial Artist, one needs to open the acupuncture points throughout the body and draw in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to wash over the physique.
There are three hundred and sixty major acupuncture points in the human body; only by opening one hundred and twenty points at once can a stable pathway be formed.
With a stable pathway, the body can directly absorb and refine Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Therefore, the 'endless flow' of the Second-rate Realm actually means being able to refine Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi anytime and anywhere to replenish Internal Energy.
The essence of a Martial Artist's cultivation is to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to drive life's evolution.
When a Third-rate Martial Artist cultivates, they can also draw Qi into their body by circulating Internal Energy.
But the efficiency of this method is actually very low.
To put it simply, if a Third-rate Martial Artist absorbs ten units of Qi by running a Mind-Cultivation Technique, then a Second-rate Martial Artist, having opened their major acupuncture points, breathes in a hundred units of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Consequently, it is basically difficult for a Third-rate Martial Artist to contend with a Second-rate one.
Even in a war of attrition, a Second-rate can exhaust a Third-rate to death.
Unless in very exceptional circumstances.
Furthermore.
As time passes, the strength of a Second-rate Realm Martial Artist will experience an explosive surge.
By channeling Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, their Moves naturally contain more Spiritual Qi, making them peerlessly powerful.
If described using TV dramas, a Third-rate Martial Artist would be like 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber', while a Second-rate Martial Artist would be like 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'.
However, the hundred-year-old Zhang Sanfeng and Peak Zhang Wuji would count as Second-rate Martial Artists.
"If Zhang Sanfeng is a Second-rate Martial Artist, then Yang Guo could be called First-class!"
Ji Yebai pondered slightly.
In the Late Stage of the Condor Heroes, Yang Guo achieved Major Achievement in the Melancholic Palm, possessing Divine Will; his Moves contained not just the power of heaven and earth, but also his will, making their power incomparable.
However...
"According to what I saw and heard in my previous life, the strength of Yang Guo and the Five Greats in the Condor Heroes barely stepped into the First-class Realm. A true First-class is someone whose strength can rival Xiong Ba from 'The Storm Riders'!"
"Rivaling Xiong Ba, which is why the First-class Late Stage is called Overlord!"
Ji Yebai felt somewhat emotional.
In 'The Storm Riders', Xiong Ba's strength was extremely formidable, but in the environment of Spiritual Qi recovery, in just three short years, thirty-seven First-class Realm experts appeared in his previous life.
This shows the benefits of the Spiritual Qi recovery.
"There's still over two years until the recovery of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. As long as I can cultivate my own strength to the Second-rate, I might be able to use the great Spiritual Qi explosion to step into the Second-rate Peak Realm in one fell swoop."
Ji Yebai lowered his gaze, thinking continuously.
He didn't harbor the extravagant hope of directly entering the First-class Realm.
That wasn't realistic.
His state of mind wasn't sufficient.
He hadn't comprehended his own Divine Will.
The First-class Realm involves spiritual will, not just a matter of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
"It's too early to think about those things. For now, I should focus on my own Breakthrough!"
At this thought, Ji Yebai quickly reined in his mind and focused his attention on the current issue.
In fact, it wasn't that difficult for him to break through to the Second-rate Realm.
Breaking through to the Second-rate Realm requires opening at least one hundred and twenty acupuncture points at once, which is a severe test of Internal Energy.
As long as one's Internal Energy is strong and abundant enough, they can open the points one by one and complete the Breakthrough.
This point was a major obstacle for conventional Third-rate Martial Artists.
But for Ji Yebai, it was the opposite.
His Internal Energy was incredibly profound, and his five internal organs were completely transparent, performing a Five Elements cycle at all times; he didn't worry about insufficient Internal Energy at all.
What he was considering now was how to increase his foundation.
His skeletal structure was extremely poor; that he could reach this point was entirely due to seizing the initiative and the five elements spirit beads.
Having previously used the Path of a Hundred Refinements to break through, the depth of the Internal Energy born from it allowed him to surpass his previous life in one go.
Because of this, he discovered the benefits of a profound foundation.
A sufficiently deep foundation makes it easier to support the progress of the Martial Dao.
"I still need to suppress my Realm and make my body more robust. That way, after advancing to Second-rate and drawing in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to wash over my body, I can obtain the maximum degree of improvement!"
In the end, Ji Yebai still felt he should suppress his Breakthrough for a while.
As for the timing, half a year from now would be just right.
Given his current level of Internal Energy, he estimated he could only suppress it for half a year.
"In that case, I'll go for a walk first. That wild boar on the back mountain has been evolving for a while now; it's time to have a taste of meat!"
Ji Yebai withdrew his aura and walked out of the cave.
A few months ago, a wild boar on the back mountain, influenced by Spiritual Qi, began its path of evolution.
Its body size also began to increase.
Based on the situation at the time, Ji Yebai predicted that it should have finished evolving about ten days ago.
Ten days ago, Ji Yebai was busy cultivating and didn't have time to attend to it.
Now, he remembered.
Under the influence of Spiritual Qi, if a plant evolves organs to store Spiritual Qi, it becomes a spiritual plant;
Similarly, animals can also evolve organs to store Spiritual Qi.
Because animals in the natural world follow the law of the jungle and are incredibly ferocious, evolved animals are called Vicious Beasts.
Most Vicious Beasts are massive in size.
In his previous life, Ji Yebai met his end in the jungle because he encountered a Vicious Beast giant wolf.
"The taste of a Vicious Beast is also exquisite!"
Ji Yebai subconsciously swallowed.
The flavor of Vicious Beast meat infused with Spiritual Qi was truly superb.
It far surpassed ordinary meat.
However, not everyone could eat Vicious Beast meat.
Vicious Beast meat contained Spiritual Qi and possessed strong infectious properties; if an ordinary person ate it, there was a high possibility of being tainted by the Vicious Beast meat.
According to research from his previous life.
This was a deep-level infection at the cellular level; in severe cases, it would change one's genes.
In the first three months of his previous life.
Many people were tainted by Vicious Beast meat and became Mutants.
Especially in the West.
They had even actively pursued mutation.
However, later, Bai Zhu emerged out of nowhere and stepped into the Innate Realm in one go, causing people to turn their eyes toward the Martial Dao.
Furthermore, in subsequent research, it was found that Mutants practicing the Martial Dao would stop at the Second-rate Realm.
Mutants would be influenced by Vicious Beast genes, their will would be impure, and they would be unable to condense Divine Will, cutting themselves off from the First-class Realm.
Consequently, the pursuit of mutation was terminated.
Mutation was also divided into different levels.
If only the cells were tainted, the person's body would become extremely powerful, even rivaling or surpassing the Divine Brave Body;
If the mutation reached the genetic level, the Mutant would go a step further, integrating Vicious Beast genes into themselves and becoming a half-Vicious Beast existence.
"Mutant Warriors, Fierce Beast Warriors—top-tier Fierce Beast Warriors can even rival the Peak of a Second-rate Martial Artist, but that's as far as it goes..."
Ji Yebai recalled this and stopped caring.
After all, it had nothing to do with him.
Any Martial Artist who has birthed Internal Energy can refine the foreign spiritual power of the Vicious Beast meat by circulating their Internal Energy, thus avoiding mutation.
"Delicious wild boar meat, here I come!"
With a leap, Ji Yebai instantly disappeared from the mountainside.
His speed was so fast he was almost invisible to the naked eye.