The barrier to the Martial Master realm did not look like a wall. It didn't sound like a gate, and it didn't feel like a physical obstruction.
Ash sat cross-legged in the center of Training Room Seven, his eyes closed, his breathing slow and steady. Inside his mindscape, the conceptual threshold hovered just beyond his reach. It felt like standing at the edge of a vast, invisible cliff. On one side was the mortal shell of the Martial Apprentice realm—a state of perfect physical and energetic refinement. On the other side was the Martial Master realm, a state of qualitative life evolution.
To cross it, a cultivator had to fundamentally change what they were.
Ash reviewed the mechanics of the breakthrough in his mind, pulling from the Martial Saint's memories and the academy's standard teachings. The standard method was straightforward, though incredibly difficult to execute.
