Turbid World: Martial Arts Master of the Republic of China Era, I Cultivate Immortality!

Four hours later,

That is, two hours later.

"..."

Su Ming stood at the entrance of the ritual hall, his face slightly pale. He had only one question on his mind: what if his junior brother Zhao had a mental breakdown?

Just suppose, just suppose, suppose his junior brother Zhao Zheng became what those foreign doctors call a vegetable.

His Uncle Tianyi probably wouldn't kill him to pay for his life, right? His Uncle Tianyi wouldn't be that cruel, would he?

"My martial uncle shouldn't be that cruel..."

Su Ming muttered to himself, then quickly came to his senses. He wanted to go up and call out to Zhao Zheng to see if Zhao Zheng was still conscious, but he was afraid of disturbing Zhao Zheng's cultivation.

Just as Su Ming was scratching his head in frustration, he saw Zhao Zheng move. He quickly darted across more than ten meters and arrived in front of Zhao Zheng in an instant.

"Junior brother, are you alright?"

"Um, do I need something done?"

"It's alright, it's alright..."

Su Ming let out a long sigh of relief. Zhao Zheng was silent for a moment because of his caring attitude. He then clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"Thank you for your concern, senior brother. However, I have a question that I wonder if you could answer for me."

"Ask away! Ask away! Whatever your senior brother knows, he'll tell you!"

Su Ming quickly spoke up, a sense of fear instinctively rising within him towards Zhao Zheng; it had been a full two hours.

He was just casually showing off, but wow, his junior brother actually did it!

According to what he knew, the longest anyone could practice this Thirteen Bodyguards Horizontal Training for the first time was half an hour.

Zhao Zheng, on the other hand,

We started with four times the strength of others!

Such a temperament, such ruthlessness towards himself, made Su Ming feel that if Zhao Zheng hadn't died, he would surely have achieved something in the future.

"Senior brother, is there another title for a ninth-rank martial artist...?"

Zhao Zheng asked, his gaze fixed on a line of text displayed in the realm panel, which was visible only to him.

After he mastered the Thirteen Bodyguards' Horizontal Training to the basics, a new line of text representing his martial arts realm appeared in the realm column.

[Realm Level: Early Stage of Ninth Rank (Early Stage of Skin Refinement)]

Zhao Zheng turned his gaze back to Su Ming.

"For example, a ninth-rank martial artist is also called a 'skin-refining martial artist'!"

"Junior brother, you..."

Su Ming's expression suddenly changed, and he swiftly covered more than ten meters in a flash, arriving in the courtyard and looking around.

He then quickly surveyed the courtyard at the same pace, and once he was sure no one was around, he swiftly closed the courtyard gate and returned to the ritual room.

Zhao Zheng frowned slightly as he watched Su Ming slam all the doors and windows of the ritual room shut almost instantly.

He looked at Su Ming with a serious expression, and Su Ming looked at him with concern and asked, "Junior brother, how did you know all this? And have you said this to anyone else outside? Have you said it to any outsiders?"

After saying that, Su Ming, without waiting for Zhao Zheng's reply, muttered to himself, "Yes, yes, this must have been told to you by my martial uncle..."

As he spoke, Su Ming looked at Zhao Zheng with a serious expression and asked, "Junior brother, tell me the truth, have you ever said this outside, in front of outsiders?"

"A skin-training martial artist?"

"Yes, you didn't say those four words, did you?"

Su Ming lowered his voice, and as he spoke, his figure flashed past the doors and windows of the ritual room, looking wary as if checking if anyone was eavesdropping outside.

"no."

Zhao Zheng shook his head, but his brows furrowed involuntarily. Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this: "That's good, that's good. Junior brother, you really startled your senior brother!"

"Because of... Da Chen?"

Zhao Zheng frowned slightly and asked in a questioning but extremely certain tone, to which Su Ming sighed.

"That's right, it's because of the Great Chen Dynasty..."

As he spoke, Su Ming looked at Zhao Zheng with a complicated expression: "Your martial uncle should have told you about the change of name in martial arts, right?"

Zhao Zheng wanted to answer that this matter was not told to him by Daoist Tianyi, but rather that he had learned about it unintentionally, but Su Ming continued on his own.

"The change of name for martial arts originated from the fabricated crimes committed by the Great Chen Dynasty. In fact... Senior Brother doesn't know much either. Senior Brother only knows that before the Great Chen Dynasty, that is, during the Great Zhao Dynasty, martial arts were not actually ranked according to the Nine Ranks system. Instead, it was about training the skin, forging the tendons, and tempering the bones..."

"Senior brother, what are the names of the next six realms?"

Zhao Zheng looked at Su Ming, who suddenly fell silent as he spoke, and asked him a question. After he asked, he saw Su Ming's eyes redden slightly and there were tears glistening in them as he smiled and said...

"Even my senior brother doesn't know!"

"..."

Zhao Zheng remained silent. Su Ming turned around, seemingly wiping away tears, and said in a low voice, "Junior brother, you must remember never to mention what we just said in front of outsiders. It's best not to say a single word..."

Su Ming paused here, then turned to Zhao Zheng: "Junior Brother should know that I work at Xinmin Martial Arts School, right?"

"I know, my martial uncle mentioned this on the way!"

"When Xinmin Martial Arts School was first established, a senior martial artist in the Yangyu area who had reached the third rank mentioned while drinking with an old friend that the ninth rank was actually called the Skin Refining Realm..."

Su Ming paused again, then grinned and said, "Do you know what happened to this senior afterwards? He drowned in a puddle that was barely ankle-deep!"

At this point, Su Ming burst into laughter: "This was a third-rank martial artist! A third-rank martial artist who could soar through the heavens and capture dragons in the sea! He... just drowned like that! Isn't that ridiculous? And what's even more ridiculous is that demons haunted this senior's house that night..."

Su Ming laughed heartily, clutching his stomach as he laughed. But whether it was from laughing too hard or something else, tears welled up in his eyes, causing Zhao Zheng to fall silent for a moment before speaking.

"Junior brother understands..."

"Haha, good that you understand. So, how was the story? Was it funny?" Su Ming patted Zhao Zheng on the shoulder with a smile.

Zhao Zheng didn't speak, but took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to Su Ming. Su Ming was stunned for a moment, his face flushed, and he took the handkerchief, turned around, and waved his hand without looking back.

"Alright, I've already had someone tidy up the whole yard for you. Go take a quick bath, you stink..."

"Thank you for your trouble, senior brother!"

Zhao Zheng clasped his hands in gratitude, but as he turned to leave the ritual house, he couldn't help but stop and turn back.

"Senior brother, is the Great Chen Dynasty truly doomed?"

"I don't know, I'm just a martial arts practitioner!"

"Um."

Zhao Zheng nodded slightly, turned around, opened the tightly closed wooden door of the ritual room, and stepped out of the ritual room without closing the door before leaving.

"I'm just a martial artist... a martial artist without talent..." Su Ming muttered to himself, his voice growing softer and softer.

"A hatred that even extends to his own master..."

Bang!

The wooden door of the ritual room closed again, causing Zhao Zheng, who had reached the courtyard gate, to pause. He took another deep breath, looked up at the setting sun, and murmured to himself.

"Master... I'm starting to understand why you always tell me you don't know when I ask you questions... It turns out... sometimes knowing too much is really not a good thing..."

The golden light in Zhao Zheng's eyes appeared as he gazed at the sun, growing brighter and brighter. In the blink of an eye, a crisp cracking sound, signifying a breakthrough in his cultivation level, rang out.

【Mahavairocana - Eternal Illumination Meditation Method (Completed)】