"All of you that are on the honor roll, your reputation shall be known in town and there will be a lot of social events at home. Relatives and friends will definitely visit. There is still more than two months until the reporting day at the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture from now. In these two months, please don't neglect your cultivation while you attend to all your social events. It's vital for you to know that even if you have been admitted into the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture, you are only halfway through the door of cultivation. You will only be recognized as a Martial Warrior after you have attained the Horse Stance stage, Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage, as well as Establishing Dantian stage. After then will you be considered as officially stepping through the main door of martial arts cultivation."
Fifty exam candidates, including Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng were standing solemnly in the lofty main hall of the academy arts academy while they listened to Shi Changfeng's speech. Each and everyone's mind was surging with emotions and many of them were enormously proud of their success.
"Being a Martial Warrior is only standing at the starting point of martial arts cultivation. So everyone, avoid feeling complacent and come to a standstill thus ultimately destroying your own future prospects. Our Gan Province had always been the lower province [1] around the Western Frontier of the Great Han Empire. For the past few centuries, we have also been in the chaos of war. We can hardly compare to the other prefectures regardless of population, economy or martial arts lineage. Take the Martial Arts County Trial Examination of Qinghe County this time as an example. All of you here are already the most outstanding individuals among the younger generation, yet there is still a large gap between you and the youths of other provinces in terms of cultivation. Among all of you, the people who have attained the Horse Stance stage are still less than a tenth. I went to Lan Province the year before to personally oversee the Martial Arts County Trial Examination in Moxie County. In that county that year, about 120 exam candidates were recruited into the martial arts academy of the Moxie County. Among these 120 exam candidates, more than forty had attained the Horse Stance stage; that was nearly a third of the exam candidates. Can you all imagine how spectacular that was? That Lan Province is nothing but a middle province [2]. Among the other upper provinces [3], wealthy and powerful clans and formidable sects, youths that have advanced as Martial Warriors at the mere age of twenty can be found everywhere. They are simply innumerable…"
Yan Liqiang was secretly astonished in his heart when he heard Shi Changfeng's words. If it wasn't for Shi Changfeng, he wouldn't know that there was actually such a great disparity between the Qinghe County that he was living in and the other provinces and prefectures. It seemed like the disparity in resources existed everywhere. Gan Province was probably an area where everyone was poor and it was incomparable with the other areas of the Great Han Empire.
After listening to Shi Changefeng's words, the smug look on the face of each and every single youth that had been complacent with their own achievement earlier vanished as their facial expressions started to turn grave.
Shi Changfeng's glance swept over every youth with satisfaction before he continued on with giving everyone a wake-up call. "And being a Martial Warrior only turns you into a gentry. If your objective stops here, then your vision is too narrow and your ambition in life is too low. That's because even gentry is divided into many ranks, and there are also aristocrats above gentry. The position, wealth and rank of aristocrats vary too. Therefore, to enjoy greater honor and stand at a higher position, there's no other way apart from continuing with your cultivation to obtain greater strength. There are more realms waiting for you all after you've become a Martial Warrior. Beyond Martial Warrior is the Supreme Martial Warrior. After the Supreme Martial Warrior, there's Martial Master, then followed by Martial Grandmaster. There are even higher realms beyond the Martial Grandmaster. The path of cultivation is just beneath your feet. If you are fortunate enough to advance as a Martial King in the future, you can instantly be recognized as a doyen among the Empire's Doyen Assembly. The glory that you will be basking in by then is simply incomparable to what you have now. Although you are being recruited by the martial arts academy of the county, you're not even the most basic Martial Warrior yet. So you have to continue working hard!"
Everyone, including Yan Liqiang, nodded after hearing this.
"The Silver Continent is a region of war which consists of a great number of countries where the weak are the prey to the strong. All of you are currently enjoying the peace and prosperity of Pingxi Prefecture. There are no weapons and soldiers in sight. But do you know that a few centuries ago, Pingxi Prefecture and Gan Province were still vulnerable to attack and were hardly an abode of peace? Even now at this very moment, wars and bloodshed still happen every day in territories outside of our Great Han Empire. Apart from us of Chinese ancestry, countless people are still living in a precarious state. They are constantly in fear and on edge, as their country may collapse at any moment. They can starve and women and children may be reduced to being slaves and toys to others in just a blink of the eye."
"Just last year, the Silla Kingdom, which is just north of the Great Han Empire, was destroyed by the Chaman Empire. There was a massacre that lasted seven days in the captured city of the Silla Kingdom. Blood ran like a river; seventy million people in the Silla Kingdom were reduced to only a few million in just two years, and all of the survivors were turned into slaves. The entire race was nearly exterminated. The skull of Silla's king was turned into a wine cup by the commander of the Chaman people, Geli. The king's imperial concubines and children became slaves and toys to the others. All the ministers and aristocrats of the Silla Kingdom were leashed and chained to a horse like dogs, and were all dragged across the ground until they died."
"After the people of Chaman destroyed the Silla Kingdom, Commander Geli of the Chaman people basked in the glory of his achievement. Last year, he had ordered a million cavalries to invade the border of our Great Han Empire's Jin Province. In the end, we didn't fight with them because a million troops from the Storm Army of our Great Han Empire were already fully prepared at the border of Jin Province. After the million cavalries of the Chaman people, the Thousand Pioneer Army invaded the Jin Province and destroyed a few villages at our border, killing thousands of villagers, the Thousand Pioneer Army was later wiped out by the cavalries of the Storm Army by the side of Xima Lake. Not even one soldier managed to escape. All of them were decapitated and their bodies were piled up into a mountain at Xima Lake as a display to the armies of Chaman people later. This was the reason why the great army of Chaman people didn't invade the Jin Province in the end! The fact that we are still able to live somewhat peacefully right now is all thanks to the countless warriors at the border through their sabers, spears, and blood. So you all shouldn't take everything for granted."
The silence in the main hall of the martial arts academy was deafening. Shi Changfeng swept his glance across everyone. The voice of his tone suddenly grew grave as he spoke earnestly. "The Chaman may have retreated this time, but what about next time? What if next time, they didn't come in with just a million but a few millions of armies? Do you think they will invade Jin Province? Apart from the Chaman Empire, there's still the Xiongnu Empire to the north, the Shatu Alliance, the Dark Ram Tribe to the west and the New Crescent Dynasty from the south. These tribes and nations are all extremely formidable. Each and every one of them are preying on us Chinese like tigers and drooling over our lands and wealth. Over the past few centuries, wars of varying scales and intensity between the Chinese and the other tribes have never ceased. Just think about it, everyone. If a war is to break out again one day, do you think you can march into the battlefield with your current attainment in martial arts and protect your nation, your parents and friends from becoming the enslaved by the other tribes!?"
Seeing how everyone was deep in their thoughts, Shi Changfeng's lecture finally came to an end. His final gaze rested on Yan Liqiang and the few who were standing at the forefront. The tone of his voice lightened, "Alright. When all of you go home, try to digest what I have just said today and you will know what to do in the future. As the saying goes, 'Think of danger in times of peace, as thinking leads to preparation and preparation averts calamities.' This world has never truly been peaceful. When you are at ease, the person who has the intention to kill you may be sharpening his knife. In two months time, that is on the twenty-eighth day of the eighth lunar month, everyone can report in at the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture. I hope by the time I see you all again two months later, you will have improved compared to now!"
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