True Martial World
chapter-171

Chapter 171: What it means to be a sage

Yi Yun walked to the metal box and picked out a Primal Arrow. The moment he touched the arrow’s shaft, the ice-cold metal caused his heart to palpitate.

With his legs firmly planted to the ground, his left arm forward and right arm in the back, he applied pressure to the Primal Arrow. He did not choose to use his shoulder to lift the Primal Arrow, he wanted to use his two hands to carry the thick divine arrow!

Baldy Qin was right. A spear had to be stabbed using one’s hands, so how could one lift it with his shoulders to stab?

“This kid!” Zhou Kui could tell what Yi Yun was up to.

Carrying the Primal Arrow with one’s hands was much more difficult than lifting it with one’s shoulders!

Taking a deep breath, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. Using his legs and hips, he exerted strength into his two shoulders and arms. He used all his strength at that moment.

Up!

Yi Yun’s muscles bulged as his veins twisted. The Primal Arrow was lifted up by him!

It was really ridiculously heavy!

Yi Yun clearly felt the terrifying weight of the Primal Arrow. It pulled on his arm muscles, nearly tearing them.

The Xuanwu Army members suffered a crushing defeat trying to lift the Primal Arrow, and it was not without reason.

“This kid really lifted it!”

When the Xuanwu Army members saw this scene their eyelids twitched.

But lifting the Primal Arrow was just the first step. The real difficulty was inserting the divine arrow into the purple tungsten wall.

With the Primal Arrow in hand, Yi Yun slid his arms forward to the middle of the Primal Arrow’s center!

They could see Yi Yun’s arm tremble. This was because his muscles could not bear the tremendous pressure from the Primal Arrow and they were protesting.

This proved that Yi Yun was at the verge of his limits.

If it was a month ago, it would have been impossible for Yi Yun to lift something like the Primal Arrow.

But now...

Within Yi Yun’s Dantian, his Qi was slowly circulating. This energy was from the primordial species’ Power of Desolates!

The primordial species’ energy was extremely pure. Upon entering Yi Yun’s bloodstream, it made Yi Yun feel rejuvenated, cleansing his marrows!

This primordial species’ energy had given Yi Yun strength ever since the frog-jumps. It had been slowly melting into Yi Yun’s flesh and blood.

“Brother Yi, all the best!”

“Yi Yun, go!”

The Jin Long Wei members clenched their fists and cheered for Yi Yun!

Yi Yun looked at the purple tungsten wall, and with his teeth clenched, he charged forward!

Every step he made on the ground caused a violent tremor in the special tiles on the ground. Yi Yun rapidly raised the Primal Arrow up.

Both his hands jerked forward!

“Dang!”

With a loud rumble, the Primal Arrow made a heavy impact on the purple tungsten wall. A tremendous rebound force sent Yi Yun backwards as his blood surged around his body!

So hard!

The purple tungsten wall was terrifyingly hard.

The Primal Arrow only managed to pierce half a foot deep into it. This depth was not enough to keep the Primal Arrow stuck within the purple tungsten wall.

Releasing it would make the Primal Arrow drop!

A vein appeared on Yi Yun’s forehead as he clenched his teeth. He took a few steps back and, using the strength from both his hands, he sent the Primal Arrow back in!

“Dang!”

The second impact made Yi Yun felt as if he heard all the muscles within his body tear.

Not far away, the people shuddered with fear. Yi Yun had actually used the Primal Arrow to pierce the wall twice.

But he had failed both times!

The strength of the second impact was weaker than the first. Although it sent the arrow deeper in, it was still less than a foot.

At this point, Yi Yun’s muscles and tendons had been injured from the tear. He could not carry on!

“Ding-Dang!”

The Primal Arrow fell to the ground.

Yi Yun’s arms trembled gently.

Training one’s strength could not be done overnight. Although Yi Yun had absorbed the primordial species’ energy from the Wilderness Divine Hall, he was still worse than those who have been training their strength for long periods of time and soaked in herbs from a young age.

Compared to peerless geniuses like Lin Xintong, the gap was even greater.

Yi Yun needed time to catch up!

“Weak!”

Baldy Qin’s evaluation was only a single word!

This word was used to evaluate the hundred people, including Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was silent. He knew the strength he displayed was considered normal.

In terms of movement skills, he had Minute Subtlety. But in terms of strength, he had no trump card. Just the training from the Flowing Mercury Gown did not give him reason to compare with those geniuses.

The atmosphere was solemn for a moment. After a long silence, Baldy Qin said, “Many years ago, when I was about the same age as you, I came to the Tai Ah Divine City. My first training lesson was also like this, and back then... I did not manage to pierce a single Primal Arrow!”

Baldy Qin’s words made many youths raise their heads towards the bald, middle-aged man.

He was thin and had a scar on his face. Compared to before, his expression now looked less foul, and had a tinge of nostalgia and tenderness.

Instructor Qin was also once a trainee in the Tai Ah Divine City?

Baldy Qin carried on, “My results made me discouraged, especially when I saw the Primal Arrow piercing record on the Sages Avenue.”

“Did you notice it?”

There were too many record platforms on Sages Avenue; hence, they did not see it all while they walked past. They shook their heads.

Baldy Qin said, “There is a special record for inserting the Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall. There are three requirements to leave a record. One, the cultivator has to be at fifteen-years of age or below. Two, their cultivation level has to be below the Yuan foundation realm. Three, there is a fifteen-minute time limit to insert using the Primal Arrow. Back then..the record was 109 pierces into the purple tungsten wall using the Primal Arrow!”

109!?

When they heard this, they drew a breath of cold air. This number was too ridiculous!

They felt a heavy pressure!

From Baldy Qin’s description, the person who used the Primal Arrow to insert 109 times was most likely at the peak of the Purple Blood realm.

This person’s cultivation level was higher than theirs, but not much higher.

Many of them could not even lift the Primal Arrow, not to mention insert it in. And that person had inserted it 109 times!

The gap was too wide.

Yi Yun looked at the numerous marks on the purple tungsten wall. He asked, “Instructor, I want to ask, how old was the person when he left the record?”

The ridiculous number that was 109 had also shocked Yi Yun.

“At that time... he had just turned 14. The requirements demand that a person not be above fifteen-years of age. But many geniuses would breakthrough to the Yuan foundation before fifteen-years of age. The fifteen-years age limit is just for geniuses who began their cultivation later...”

Fourteen-years-old...

Peak of Purple Blood at fourteen!

Yi Yun was almost thirteen years old and his cultivation level was only at the beginning stages of Purple Blood. He still had about a year to work towards his goal...

Baldy Qin said, “Now, that record has been unchallenged for 3000 years. In the past 3000 years, the nearest record was only 105. And that person who left the record eventually became a sage...”

“Do you have any concept of what a sage is?”

Upon mentioning sages, Baldy Qin’s expression turned into one of admiration.

“Sages are top human elites. In the Tai Ah Divine City, to become a sage, you can choose to become an Elder of the Divine City! A Tai Ah Elder has certain control over the Tai Ah Divine City’s resources. They stay above the 90th floor in the central divine tower. There are so many benefits!”

“Tai Ah Elders do not number more than a handful. The largest number of Tai Ah Divine City Elders has never exceeded ten in all of history.”

“And in the entire vast Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, including the royal family and reclusive families, there are more sages, but there’s not that many more. A sage’s lifespan can reach ten thousand years or above. By counting in this way, in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there might not be more than one sage every 500 years!”

“But do you know how many rookies are sent to train in the Tai Ah Divine City?”

“You probably know the numbers. There are 2000 a year. Each batch spends six years. Hence, the number of young elites training in the Tai Ah Divine City maintains an average of 12,000 people.”

“In this unshakable Tai Ah Divine City, there are no shortage of cultivators! There are 12,000 people in six years, 120,000 in sixty years. Then what about 500 years? It’s a million people!

“And these people are the elites from all around the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom! A million elites, and a sage might not even appear! Can you understand the concept of this probability?”

“People often say so-and-so has absolute talent, and is a youth sage! When their talent was evaluated, there is the so-called, Mystic rank human lord level, the Earth rank sage level, and the Heaven rank great emperor level...”

“But in reality, those geniuses who were called youth sages have a very low probability of becoming a sage. The young heroes who had been evaluated to be of Earth rank sage levels only have a chance, and would they be able to?”

“Difficult!”

Baldy Qin’s words made the young heroes present speechless.

A sage once every 500 years. A million Tai Ah Divine City elites might not even give rise to one...

Qin Haotian was currently the number one person on both the Heaven and Earth rolls of honor in the Tai Ah Divine City. He was labeled as a youth sage. But even he did not have a 1% chance of becoming a sage.

The atmosphere turned silent. Baldy Qin was not afraid to pour cold water on them. If their martial art compass could be so easily distorted by some cold water, then they were destined to never succeed.

Yi Yun ruminated over Baldy Qin’s words. Back in the Cloud Wilderness Tao tribal clan, Yi Yun had been evaluated and his results were just–Mystic rank grade five!

That was a human lord level. As for Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao, they were just at the Yellow rank, or human elites.

People evaluated as sage rank geniuses might not become a sage. He was just at the human lord level, and even amongst the human lords, his evaluation was not at the pinnacle. Then, he was still a long distance away.

But Yi Yun was not discouraged. After all, how long had he been practicing martial arts?

Not more than half a year.

In half a year, it was normal if he could not match those who came from martial art families and began training from the age of five.

The road ahead of Yi Yun was still long!