The Martial Unity

Rui had to admit that he hadn’t so much as detected a whiff of the poison, both literally and metaphorically.

Yet, by the time he knew of it, it had already been coursing through his veins. His body felt like it was on fire, yet, simultaneously, he felt himself losing control. It appeared that the poison’s primary purpose was paralysis. It made sense, considering how hard he had damaged Master Zentra with his Yin-Yang Spear technique after the SOUL System had kicked in. Had Rui been able to move at all, he would have won regardless of what the poison did to him since he was already so close to victory.

“Damn it…” Rui cursed as he focused on trying to regain control of his body.

Master Zentra, on the other hand, was seeing far beyond him.

“Your Highness…” He coughed. “Why don’t we call this a draw?”

His condition was poor, so much so that even getting up and finishing Rui would require a tremendous amount of exertion, more than he was able to muster. It was highly unlikely that Rui would be able to overcome the poison if he hadn’t already.

An opponent either could deal with poison or they couldn’t. There was seldom any in between.

“Rgh…!” Rui gritted his teeth. “Damn…!”

“The poison was constituted in my body after subjecting samples of your blood to various tests to see what poison would be quickest-acting and most effective.” Master Zentra coughed. “My system of thought allowed me to synthesize the best poison for the circumstances. You won’t be able to overcome it. I would suggest that we call it a draw and seek medical treatment.”

Rui stopped struggling for a moment as he considered the esteemed Master’s words.

Frankly, the only reason he was reluctant was because he wanted to defeat his opponent. However, as far as the purpose of the battle went—gaining experience—he had already achieved it.

“…Fine.” Rui heaved a tired sigh. “A draw it is.”

Master Zentra smiled softly. “It was a good fight.”

Soon after, the two Martial Masters received the medical attention that they needed, rapidly returning to their peak conditions. Rui needed to undergo more elaborate medical procedures due to the fact that the poison had to be extracted from his bloodstream. Thankfully, Master Zentra cooperated with the medical team to help them diagnose it sooner.

Seeing that the medical team couldn’t do it on their own, Rui couldn’t help but grow more curious about the technique and system of thought that helped Master Zentra equalize the game and extract a draw from him.

“You need to have real knowledge of chemistry and esoteric chemistry to be able to synthesize poisons inside your body in the middle of a battle,” Rui remarked with interest, approaching the man after his medical treatments were complete. “Other poison Martial Artists don’t synthesize poisons inside their body; they just condition their body to grow immune to them.”

Master Zentra shifted his gaze to Rui. “It wasn’t just a matter of learning about poisons. I also needed to have an intimate understanding of how the human body worked. I needed to develop an understanding of how both poisons functioned and how the human body worked in order to develop the relevant poison-creation technique and the system of thought to be able to diagnose my opponent’s various poison resistances. This knowledge was the reason that I was assigned as the evaluator of the value of your Hungry Pain technique.”

Rui recalled his presentation of the Hungry Pain technique soon upon his return to the Kandrian Empire nearly a decade or so ago. It had been his first time meeting Master Zentra.

“It’s an incredibly unique technique and system of thought,” Rui offered. “I don’t think I’ve ever come across a system of thought this divergent and different.”

“It is an honor to hear that from the master of systems of thought, but you will come to learn that it isn’t revolutionary among poison-oriented Martial Masters,” Master Zentra calmly stated. “It is unique in that only someone with my Martial Body could execute it to such a degree. One of the reasons that you didn’t see it coming is precisely due to your inexperience. A more experienced Martial Artist who had been exposed to a large variety of Martial Masters in combat would have intuitively recognized the dangers.”

Rui heaved a sigh. “Ever since I reached the Master Realm, I have been confronted by my lack of experience time and time again.”

Master Zentra regarded him with a knowing look. “Frankly, it would not have mattered nearly as much had you not broken through to the Master Realm. While your inexperience wouldn’t have suddenly disappeared due to your lower Realm, it wouldn’t have mattered nearly as much because Martial Artists of the Senior Realm are far younger on average. Thus, the gap would be smaller and less relevant.”

Rui nodded, heaving a sigh. “As of right now, I have the experience of a young Senior.”

“Well, I do not mean to put you down. But as of right now, you have the experience of the average Martial Squire.”

Rui winced at the man’s words. “I suppose that is much harder to refute than to digest.”

Master Zentra grew sympathetic to his predicament. “The worst part would undoubtedly be the fact that, even with this training manifold, you cannot fully overcome it. At most, you can mitigate it by gaining some basic experience. Any more is a waste of time and a waste of youth.”

Rui nodded knowingly, heaving a sigh. “At some point, the returns from spending time on gathering experience will diminish to the point that it’s no longer worth spending that time on gathering experience as opposed to spending it on training a new technique.”

Until that point came, however, he would spend some time grinding to expose himself to what was possible in the Master Realm. It was objectively the best for both short-term and long-term benefits at this moment.

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