For example, below the level of Grandmaster, the "Ten Heavenly Stems" could be employed for classification!
The so-called "Ten Heavenly Stems" originally stemd from the era of the Yellow Emperor. Due to the chaos brought about by Chi You, the Yellow Emperor, concerned about the suffering of his people, fought a great battle against Chi You at the plains of Zhuolu, where blood flowed for miles and could not be stanched. Thus, the Yellow Emperor fasted, bathed, built altars to worship the heavens, and perford rituals for the land. Heaven then bestowed the Ten Stems and the Twelve Branches. The Emperor arranged the Ten Stems circularly, representing the heavens, and the Twelve Branches squarely, representing the earth. Only then could the turmoil be governed. He terd it—Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches!
Later, the progenitor Dà Náo categorized the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches into the sixty Jiazi cycle, setting the founding day of his realm as the Jiazi Year, Jiazi Month, Jiazi Day, and Jiazi Hour.
Among these, ’Jia,’ the first of the Heavenly Stems—which the *Shuowen* describes as "the burgeoning Yang Qi of the East"—unexpectedly replaced the Pseudo Grandmaster and beca the first realm below Grandmaster! Those who enter this realm must possess Hidden Force; thus, they are known as Level A Martial Artists!
Following this first realm, Level A, is Level B. Level B is described as being like spring grass twisting upward through the earth. When establishing this realm, Zhang Beixing faced so difficulties. This realm essentially corresponded to that of a martial arts master, but the definition of a martial arts master was far too vague. Zhang Beixing pondered for a mont and ultimately set the requirent for this realm as needing proficiency in any single martial art! It was only after he had elevated his own Martial Arts skills to great proficiency that he had grasped Hidden Force; and after achieving Great Accomplishnt in Martial Arts, he mastered the external release of Vital Energy. Although the System’s evaluation and reality certainly had so discrepancies, this could still serve as a reference.
Then, the subsequent levels were: Level C, Level D, Level E, Level F, Level G, Level H, and Level I! A part of this was based on the System’s standards as assessed by Zhang Beixing, and a part was devised based on his personal interpretations and insights into Martial Arts gained from books. After mulling it over for an hour and having set all the realms and their promotion requirents below the level of Great Grandmaster, the classification of the martial arts realms finally took shape. Henceforth, there were distinct categories and rules to follow!
Next, Zhang Beixing started designing the realms above Great Grandmaster. This was extrely important. It might not be very significant for ordinary Martial Artists, but for Zhang Beixing, it was crucial for determining the direction of his future advancent! And for this, Zhang Beixing already had a rough idea. Consider his present realm as an example.
Above Great Grandmaster, upon first entering Transcendent, it could be nad—Hidden Essence Realm!
After his breakthrough into the Transcendent, Zhang Beixing was able to freely manipulate his own blood, perceive the elusive ridians and acupoints, and ticulously control any part of his body, reaching the stage of Unbreakable Divine Sight! Such transformations made Zhang Beixing involuntarily think of the Ming Dynasty’s famous thinker Wang Mingyang, who once proposed a concept: Unity of Knowledge and Action!
Knowledge contains action; action contains knowledge. Knowledge defines action; knowledge determines action. This phrase is quite intriguing. Different people, viewing it from varied angles, can discern different anings. Before engaging with Martial Arts and reaching the Transcendent, Zhang Beixing’s understanding of the phrase was that everything you do lies within the scope of your understanding, not exceeding what you comprehend. Now that he had engaged with Martial Arts and reached the Transcendent, Zhang Beixing revisited this phrase from an entirely different perspective and discovered its aning had shifted sowhat!
Knowledge defines action; knowledge determines action. This signifies that knowledge holds a dominant position in the individual. If ’knowledge’ and ’action’ were interpreted as soul and body, respectively, it would imply that the soul controls the body, and the soul determines the body! The bridge that creates such a connection and serves as the linkage is the network of nerves and ridians throughout the body. Depending on each individual’s constitution, the "bridge’s" length varies, and so does the reaction ti. Even with significant differences, human reactions invariably take ti! This inevitably ans that ordinary people cannot physiologically achieve what Wang Mingyang described as Unity of Knowledge and Action.
But now, Zhang Beixing had reached the Transcendent. It was as if his body and soul had rged, achieving a state of complete integration. This was the Unity of Knowledge and Action. Or, in other words, Hidden Essence!
Thus, the first realm above Great Grandmaster was born, also the first Transcendent realm: Hidden Essence Realm!
SCRITCH. SCRATCH. SCRITCH.
After recording the realms he had defined on paper and writing down their nas, Zhang Beixing also noted the requirents for achieving them. Naly: [Achieve Unbreakable Divine Sight and Unity of Knowledge and Action, be able to fully discern one’s own acupoints and ridians, produce the Postnatal Five Qi, and thereby take the first step into the Transcendent realm!]
The beginning is always the hardest. After resolving this foremost and crucial first realm, with his profound martial arts attainnts, Zhang Beixing’s ideas flowed freely, and in one go, he wrote down the nas of the remaining realms as he conceived them.
However, while he had drafted them, only the Hidden Essence Realm had detailed specifics and features. The higher realms lacked such details, as Zhang Beixing himself had not yet reached those levels. They were recorded rely to differentiate the levels and establish future cultivation goals. Therefore, it could be said they were only nas for now, lacking real substance, with their corresponding abilities yet unknown.
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