Chapter 2: The Ten Layers of the Acquired Realm

  Ignoring the extremely lively atmosphere, ignoring the surrounding people's mocking or disdainful eyes, Gu Chao continued to practice his knife skills, trying to get familiar with the flow of internal energy. When he got serious, he could ignore everything around him, a small trick that Gu Chao had mastered in his past life. With this little trick, he could focus more on completing one thing.

  This steel long knife in hand is three feet five inches long, one inch thick, with a slightly mottled and curved blade.

  Gu Chao slashed diagonally with one knife and then retracted it before slashing vertically with another knife.

  Gu Chao was drawing his sword while getting familiar with the flow of internal energy when he did so.

  Gu was practicing and suddenly, many things flashed through his mind. Gu had only been in this new body for about two days, which wasn't a long time, and he had wasted some of it on traveling and other things, so the original owner's memories weren't very clear yet. Now, as he practiced with the sword, his memories of martial arts were becoming clearer. The original owner of the body had studied martial arts at a dojo in Wu, where the masters would also teach some basic knowledge about martial theory, so there was some theoretical knowledge about martial arts in his memories.

  The first boundary of martial arts is the acquired boundary, which is further divided into ten layers:

  1. Qi Sensation Boundary

  2. Qi Birth Boundary

  3. Qi Prosperity Boundary

  4. Ren Mai Boundary

  5. Du Mai Boundary

  6. Dai Mai Boundary

  7. Chong Mai Boundary

  8. Zhong Mai Boundary

  9. Wei Mai Boundary

  10. Extraordinary Vessel Eight Pulse Boundary

  These ten layers are from one layer to tenth layer, each layer is about one order of magnitude stronger than the previous one.

  The first layer of Qi feeling is the simplest, and a normal person can reach it by practicing for about 100 days. It's called "having Qi feeling in 100 days". In memory, Gu Chao relied on the internal skill method of the martial arts hall in the city to cultivate for four months and succeeded.

  The second layer of Qi birth is about to give birth to internal energy, and the power of this realm will increase significantly compared to the first layer of Qi sensation. The current ancient superhuman body is in this realm - the middle period of the second layer of acquired realm. However, this realm relies on memories of practicing in a martial arts hall, and it's found that there's nothing impressive about it, just about 20 pounds more strength than a normal person. After reaching the second layer of acquired realm, one needs to cultivate internal energy, requiring better internal skills and techniques. Relying solely on the poor internal skills and techniques from the city's martial arts hall is impossible. The original owner of this body spent two whole years in this realm without making any progress, barely reaching the middle period of the second layer of acquired realm.

  The third layer of Qi, at this level the internal energy in the lower abdomen is even more powerful. At this level, there is some power, if this internal energy is applied to a weapon, such as a steel knife or a long sword, it can cut out or pierce a large hole in a thick wooden board the size of a bowl mouth.

  The fourth layer of Renmai, reaching the fourth layer of acquired Renmai, injects internal energy into the weapon held in hand, and can cut a thick yellow hardwood bowl mouth in half at once.

  The fifth layer of Du Mai Jing, injects internal energy into the weapon to cut with the weapon, can pierce or cut in half a one-foot diameter yellow hardwood.

  The sixth layer of the boundary of the pulse, injects internal energy into the weapon, and with a swing of the weapon, can leave a three-inch deep slash mark on extremely hard granite.

  Martial arts theoretical knowledge ends here, and the martial arts school only teaches this much. The original ancient super also only knows this much.

  As he continued to practice with the sword, Gu Chao gradually felt that he had grasped the swordsmanship and the flow of the mysterious inner power within him to a certain level. In fact, being able to grasp it so quickly was due to two reasons: one, the original owner's understanding of both swordsmanship and inner power were very superficial; two, Gu Chao's repeated practice had also recalled some of the original owner's memories. The fusion of these memories resulted in many moves becoming natural and smooth for Gu Chao as he danced with the sword.

  Half a time later, temporarily holding Buddha's feet was also held roughly, and sharpening guns at the last moment was also sharpened roughly.

  He performed a knife trick, the blade originally facing forward but suddenly bent back by one hundred and eighty degrees, then the three-foot-five-inch snow-bright long knife returned to the black scabbard. This trick of returning the three-foot-five-inch snow-bright long knife to its sheath was the most practiced and standardized movement of the original owner's body, according to memory, the original owner had practiced it specifically for showmanship, while other practical techniques were relatively ordinary.

  After Gu Chaoyan stood still, the people around him saw that there was nothing more to see here and dispersed after discussing for a while. No one paid attention to this strange guy anymore.

  。。。。。。

  Gu Chao stood alone, observing his opponent for this round. He glanced around at the hundreds of young boys and girls, wondering what their abilities were like. Knowing oneself and knowing one's enemy, he already knew and had a general grasp of his own strength, now it was time to know the strength of his opponent. Just as he was hesitating, his shoulder was suddenly patted. Gu Chao was startled, quickly turning his head around, only to see an eleven or twelve-year-old boy standing behind him. The boy was slender and had a lively and mischievous air about him.

  "Oh, it's you, monkey! You really scared me!"

  Gu Chao recognized this young man, whose surname was Hou and was the second child in his family, simply known as Hou Er. He was Gu Chao's new neighbor. This guy was always lively and restless, liked to gesticulate when speaking or doing things, and since he was thin and wiry, everyone teased him by calling him a monkey. However, it seemed that Hou Er's level was similar to his own, both being at the second layer of the Post-Heaven realm, but he hadn't expected him to also participate in this Tai Shan Sect outer disciple recruitment.

  After recognizing the other person as an acquaintance, Gu Chao nervously imitated his past tone of speech, avoiding the other party from discovering the difference after crossing over.

  Hou Er didn't get angry, he was already used to being called "monkey" as a nickname. He just smiled wryly and said: "I didn't expect that you, Gu Shao, would also be sent here to participate in this assessment, and you even dare to perform in front of everyone's eyes. I have to give you credit! Actually, I had already investigated beforehand, the guys who came to participate in the Tai Shan Sect's outer disciple assessment this time, although they are not few from various large and small families across the country, due to their similar age, their martial arts training time is not long, generally only three or four years. Their strength will definitely not be too strong, mainly around the Post-Heaven Realm second layer to fourth layer. But occasionally there are also Post-Heaven Realm fifth layer experts. This time I came to Tai Shan half a month in advance specifically to collect intelligence on the top students participating in this assessment." Hou Er had a self-satisfied expression, clearly proud of his ability to gather information.

  Hou Er said with excitement, pointing to a steady and slightly thick-browed young man in yellow clothes sitting cross-legged about ten or more zhang away: "See that? This young man is called Fang Yin, from the middle-class Fang family. He has the strength of the fourth layer of the Post-Heavenly realm, and is one of the most dazzling among this group of examinees. It's said that he has mastered the family-transmitted Pear Blossom Knife Technique to a high degree, and ordinary experts of the same level can't even get close to him."

  Golden Gate faction, Silver Gate faction, Bronze Gate faction, Black Iron family, middle-class families, lower-class families, and so on. This one is from a middle-class family. Although the middle-class family is at the bottom of this six-layer pyramid, it is higher than the merchant families like Gu Chao and Hou Er.

  Hou Er pointed to the southeast direction, where a handsome young man with a face as beautiful as a peach blossom was standing in the distance: "This person is called Zhang Tao. It's said that he has the strength of the fourth layer of the Post-Heaven Realm, and is also one of the most powerful among the examinees. He excels at footwork, Peach Blossom Footwork! This set of footwork is particularly formidable, especially in terms of dodging and evading attacks."

  Hou Er pointed to a few more people, all of whom were at the mid-to-late stage of the Fourth Layer of the Post-Heaven Realm. Finally, he pointed to a white-clad youth standing in the center of the square, who had a red birthmark on his forehead and an extraordinary aura about him. "Look, that's Mu Rongying of the Black Iron-level Mu Rong family! He's always been known as a child prodigy, and now he's at the peak of the Fifth Layer of the Post-Heaven Realm - far stronger than any of us. I've heard that several White Silver-level sects, even more powerful than the Tai Shan Sect, have invited him to test his skills, but he chose to come here instead. He's said to be skilled in many famous martial arts, particularly the family-transmitted Star- Turning Knife Technique - probably the reason he chose this place, since the Tai Shan Sect is renowned for its knife techniques throughout the land."

  Gǔ Chāo heard the words and couldn't help but size up the past, only to see that the white-clothed young man with a red birthmark on his brow was standing with his hands behind his back, expressionless, exuding an extraordinary air of arrogance. By his side, several brocade-clad young men and women stood around him like stars accompanying the moon.

  This man is truly a pride of heaven.

  Listening to Hou Er's intelligence, Gu Chao secretly analyzed and calculated in his heart for a moment before drawing the conclusion: With his own strength at the mid-term of the second layer of the acquired realm, he was absolutely the weakest among these people! The other examinees were basically all at the second, third, and fourth layers of the acquired realm, with the strongest being at the late stage of the fourth layer. As for those at the fifth layer of the acquired realm, there was only one person, known as the young genius Murong Ying, who was strong among the strong.

  The opponent is very strong!

  A master is hard to find!

  But what's the difference, if I could win every time in my past life, then I can also win every time in this life.

  The more and stronger opponents are, the more passionate Gu Chao becomes. He even feels that his blood flow in the blood vessels has accelerated a bit.

  How interesting!

  It's too interesting!

  Such a strong opponent, then come on.

  Gu Chao's eyes had a hint of arrogance and sharpness.

  In this age, the spring breeze blows and war drums beat, who fears whom!