When the two strikes collided, powerful blast winds surged outward in successive waves, producing a harsh, buzzing sound. Fortunately, although the shockwaves of this power were vast, they did not breach the competition arena. The outer perimeter of the arena had been fitted with a qi barrier by Chang Xing, the Iron Mountain Sect's foremost powerhouse. Such a barrier could only be generated once one's martial arts cultivation reached a certain level, and it was entirely sufficient for matches among Martial King level combatants.
Speaking of martial arts cultivation, there were a total of three watersheds—meaning three bottlenecks that were the hardest to break through. The first was a martial artist breaking through to become a Martial Master. In the Dawu World, this bottleneck could block nearly half of all people. In a place like the Iron Mountain Sect, being able to break through to Martial Master meant one was ready to graduate and could be considered exceptional. Out of roughly seven or eight hundred Iron Mountain Sect disciples, only a handful managed to break through to Martial Master.
Of course, this was true for every batch of departing disciples: only a few reached the Martial Master level.
Chapter 877