Chapter 389 - 221: The Path of the Grandmaster, Resistance in Jinling (2)

Chapter 389: Chapter 221: The Path of the Grandmaster, Resistance in Jinling (2)

The others all thanked Xie Yuan, but Qin Zhenyang fell into deep thought. After a moment, he said:

"Junior Brother Zhang, your insight is indeed impressive. It already has the makings of a Grandmaster."

"Huh?"

It wasn’t just Xie Yuan; Ning Zi, Lin Zhen, and Huang Zifeng were also greatly surprised.

Ning Zi muttered:

"Senior Brother Qin, even if he came up with a good idea that saved all our lives, you don’t have to praise him like that, do you?"

Qin Zhenyang shook his head:

"I’m not joking. To perceive the heavens and earth, to attune oneself to nature—this is the very path of a Grandmaster."

Hearing this, Ning Zi looked Qin Zhenyang up and down. Seeing his completely serious expression, she couldn’t help but glance back at Xie Yuan and tutted:

"Junior Brother Zhang, you’re going to become a Grandmaster?"

Lin Zhen and Huang Zifeng also felt Qin Zhenyang was exaggerating a bit. It was just a boat ride; how could he see the path to becoming a Grandmaster in that?

Xie Yuan himself felt it was an overstatement and scratched his head:

"Senior Brother Qin, I just got lucky."

’The path of a Grandmaster, huh...’ He had, in fact, just gathered the two fundamental methods of External Training and internal cultivation that led directly to the Grandmaster Realm, truly opening the path for himself.

But as for comprehending the realm of the Two Bridges of Heaven and Earth, and how to walk the path ahead, he was still completely clueless.

Qin Zhenyang looked at Xie Yuan and said:

"Junior Brother Zhang, why is it that you were the one who got lucky, and no one else was? Because you had the right idea. The method of looking inward, of observing the self, is something every Martial Artist knows. The closer one gets to the Qi Blood Third Transformation, the more proficient they become until it is almost an instinct. But conversely, the ability to look outward, to seek from the outside, is gradually forgotten by Martial Artists.

"Most Martial Artists trust only in themselves. Especially after reaching the peak of human transformation, it becomes very difficult for them to wholeheartedly observe the outer world, to comprehend the myriad things of nature, and to find a Dao within them that they can integrate into themselves. A Martial Artist always thinks of fighting against heaven and earth on their own. The moment they encounter a predicament, they rely on their Blood Qi to fight their way out, rarely considering the idea of taking half a step back to find a wider world. But forget the Qi Blood Third Transformation Realm—even Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters, can they truly fight against heaven and earth? Once you reach the stage of the Qi Blood Third Transformation, it’s no longer about how to make yourself stronger, but about how to discover and comprehend things from the world around you.

"Even I had only heard these principles from my master and committed them to memory, but I never truly understood them. Now, thanks to these stormy seas, this boat, and your guidance, Junior Brother Zhang, I finally grasp what it all means. Junior Brother Zhang, thank you!"

Qin Zhenyang gave Xie Yuan a solemn fist-and-palm salute, which made the stunned Xie Yuan wave his hands repeatedly, saying with some embarrassment:

"Senior Brother Qin, you’re too kind! I really didn’t think that far ahead."

Qin Zhenyang shook his head:

"It’s not like that, Junior Brother Zhang. I’ve long felt that it’s not just your comprehension ability; your way of thinking is often different from others. You can always see the heart of a matter and analyze it with meticulous clarity. For example, looking inward is something all Martial Artists can do, but few can see as precisely as you, nor would they think about it in the same way. As for observing nature and attuning to the world, that’s a concept most Martial Artists below the Grandmaster rank have never even considered.

"This is what makes you different from ordinary people, and it is your treasure. The path of the Martial Dao after the Grandmaster Realm requires even more individual thought and comprehension, which will be much easier for you, Junior Brother Zhang. You truly are cut out for the Martial Dao."

Seeing Qin Zhenyang being so serious and delivering such a long, eloquent speech, the other disciples became pensive, carefully committing his words to memory.

As the head disciple and the one in the Sword Sect closest to the Grandmaster Realm, Qin Zhenyang’s talent and insight were naturally extraordinary. After his analysis of the Grandmaster Realm, the others treated his words as gospel, nodding repeatedly.

However, when they heard Qin Zhenyang praise Xie Yuan so highly and even thank him with such solemnity, they all stared in a daze.

A simple little trick to prevent seasickness was actually connected to the Grandmaster Realm?

Little Junior Brother Zhang was just praised by Senior Brother Qin himself, who said he had the talent of a Grandmaster and was born to practice martial arts? Ning Zi’s mouth was about to form a perfect O.

At first, Xie Yuan also thought Qin Zhenyang was exaggerating, but as he listened, his expression gradually turned serious, though a strange look appeared in his eyes.

’Why does it feel like Senior Brother Qin is lecturing on worldview and methodology?’

He listened for a good while, a sense of realization dawning on him. This speech was quite similar to what his university professor had taught in his Marxist Philosophy class.

When it came to his perspective on the world and how he analyzed problems, he was indeed very different from the people here... He had noticed it himself many times, but after so long, he had gotten used to it and didn’t think much of it. He never expected that in the eyes of the observant and meticulous Qin Zhenyang, he would still seem so peculiar.

The Martial Dao leads to divinity. It is a path of changing oneself and pursuing the ultimate, but it can also be described as a path of constantly understanding oneself, then understanding the world, and finally, understanding the Great Dao.

To reach the Grandmaster Realm, a Martial Artist who has already tempered their body to its absolute limit must re-examine the world through that vessel. They must use this body, which has been trained to near-perfection, to accept the Dao of heaven and earth, and in doing so, find a new path to a breakthrough.

Viewed this way, the ability to think and perceive in a way that analyzes oneself and understands nature was indeed crucial. Although Xie Yuan did this almost every day, many of the other Martial Artists here had never systematically attended school or read books. They simply didn’t have this way of thinking and could only rely on fumbling through trial and error to gain enlightenment.

But for him, this was second nature, wasn’t it? It was something he had been doing unconsciously for the past ten or twenty years of his previous life, something he instinctively applied even when practicing martial arts using his system panel.