Martial Dao Myth

Between their talking, they already didn't know where the horse had carried them.

Yan Nu could not ride a horse at all, so the entire way this warhorse had led the way itself.

Running and running like this, until the sun hung high overhead, a village appeared ahead.

This was a true village, rather than a magnate's fortified manor. In this day and age, settlements with neat farmhouses like this were already very rare, with most having suffered through disasters and gone to attach themselves to local magnates.

"In the past, Tea Mountain Village was also like this..." Yan Nu looked at a village like this, revealing a nostalgic smile.

Yet a village like this clearly wasn't peaceful either. Defensive works were constructed around its perimeter, the entire village was surrounded by fences, and peachwood talismans for blessing and warding off evil hung from door to door.

"This uncle, is here... Hey, don't run!"

Yan Nu let the horse bring him to the village entrance, and he spotted a middle-aged peasant carrying a hoe. Just as he was about to ask directions, that person was so frightened he turned and ran.

While running, he even shouted, "The horse thieves are coming! The horse thieves are coming!"

Yan Nu looked left and right, where were there any horse thieves?

Shen Leling giggled. "They mean you!"

"Look at yourself, bare-chested from the waist up, covered in scars, and your trousers covered in blood. You really do look like a horse thief bandit."

Yan Nu said innocently, "I don't even have shoes; at a glance, I'm a lowly commoner."

"Hmph, you are quite down-and-out, yet you happen to ride a fine steed with an extremely exquisite saddle, and you're carrying me, a great beauty, on your back behind you, just like a looted prominent family's young miss." Shen Leling spoke as she put on a weak and reserved posture, teasing him.

Seeing her in such a soft state, Yan Nu cared for her. "Has your injury gotten even more serious? You look so weak."

"..." Shen Leling was speechless.

Right at that moment, a group of peasants carrying hoes and hay rakes ran out from the village, most of them quite advanced in age.

"Are they horse thieves? They don't look like it..."

The village elder quickly saw that Yan Nu was no horse thief. He was covered in injuries, utterly wretched, weaponless, and merely riding a horse while carrying a beauty.

Yet this horse tack was too expensive; could he be an escaped slave who had kidnapped a prominent family's young miss and stolen a horse while fleeing from a fortified manor?

"Villagers, I'm not a horse thief! I'll leave right now!" Seeing them shrink back in hesitation, Yan Nu tugged on the reins, wanting to leave.

He and Shen Leling were currently being hunted down, so they ought to find a quiet place to quickly treat their injuries.

Yet Yan Nu truly could not ride a horse. As he pulled the reins, the horse instead spun around in place.

"Sit in the back, I'll do it!" Shen Leling couldn't bear to watch any longer. She had Yan Nu jump off the horse and hitched herself forward.

At this moment, an elder among the crowd stepped out with trembling steps. "Young man, you... are you from Tea Mountain Fort?"

Yan Nu never lied. "That's right, that's right! The Zhang Family of Hua County is searching everywhere for me, wanting to kill me."

The peasants' expressions turned terrified. Being hunted down by local magnates, was there any need to say it with such righteous confidence?

"Forget it, forget it... Village chief, hurry and make them leave."

Hearing that they were being hunted down by Zhang Family members, the peasants were terrified of getting involved. Who knew what kind of matter it was, and what if they were killed too?

Most of the peasants were thinking of quickly sending them away, yet the village chief mustered up his courage and asked, "Allow this old man to ask a question, do the two of you know the battle situation over at the Ji River?"

"The young and strong of our village all went to join the army, and there hasn't been news for a long time... Do you have any news from Tea Mountain Fort?"

The young and strong of natural villages like this were required to serve in the military.

And after the crushing defeat at Ji River, northern Qingzhou was thrown into utter chaos, yet officially, not a single person had gone into the villages to pass on news.

With remote small villages having no passing travelers, their news was naturally cut off.

Seeing that Shen Leling was stunningly beautiful and possessed an extraordinary bearing, the village chief figured she was a young miss from Tea Mountain Fort. Since magnates possessed channels for news, she would definitely be aware of the battle situation, and it was only because of this that he tried his utmost to ask.

For a moment, the other villagers also stared eagerly at the two of them, all wishing to know how their own children were doing.

"Ji..." Yan Nu's eyes turned slightly red. Seeing the villagers desperately caring about the matter of the Battle of Ji River just like he had before, he wanted to truthfully tell everyone.

Yet Shen Leling furrowed her brows slightly and said, "Don't know!"

Immediately afterward, she yanked Yan Nu behind her and spurred the horse away.

On the road, Yan Nu remained silent.

Shen Leling took the initiative to say, "You wouldn't want them to be heartbroken either... Anyway, they'll find out sooner or later. When the Hu Barbarians push south, there will be more and more refugees fleeing over."

"We shouldn't waste time here."

Yan Nu said in a low voice, "I know... I'm thinking about how to stop the Hu Barbarians."

"Ah?" Shen Leling rolled her eyes. "None of your damn business! The most urgent task right now is to deal with the Zhang Family!"

"Listen, if a person doesn't have sufficient strength, they aren't qualified to think about so much."

"Understood..." Yan Nu nodded heavily. "Please, Sister, teach me to become strong."

"Of course!" Shen Leling mused. "Your constitution is special. Although you cannot cultivate, by constantly consuming grass and refining qi, you can rapidly become strong... Um, but the premise is that you must undergo body tempering."

Along the way, Shen Leling recounted some basic principles of martial arts practice to Yan Nu, and broke down the body tempering techniques of the Great Emperor White Jade Scripture for him to hear.

"You always practice qi and return it to essence, which is such a waste! That's primarily a method used by others to heal injuries. Although it can also strengthen the physique, it merely enhances physical strength, and the enhancement of human physical strength has a limit. This path was long proven to be a dead end."

"This cultivation method has specialized body tempering methods. As long as you learn them, with your current profound cultivation and your constitution that squanders true qi at will, you can very quickly achieve Primordial Body Tempering!"

Shen Leling was filled with deep emotion. Yan Nu's special constitution was like having a limitless supply of true qi, and given time, he would certainly become the entity with the most surging true qi in all under heaven.

After she finished explaining the body tempering method once, Yan Nu failed to understand large portions of it. "It leaves me so bewildered. What is the Vermilion Palace? What is the Purple Mansion? What does it mean to inwardly penetrate the celestial spirit, illuminate downward amidst the five viscera, and feel every part illuminated both inside and out, causing one's entire body of bones and blood to undergo a metamorphosis?"

"Isn't having true qi enough? Why do we still need body tempering?"

Shen Leling explained, "Body tempering is body tempering, and true qi is true qi."

"Sixth Stage Body Tempering is meant to let you use true qi better, use true qi more, and even change the manifestation form of true qi. It is a path that brings about a rebirth and a sublimation of life, turning decay into a miracle."

"Just like Strengthened Bones and Plump Muscles—it is not describing the enhancement of tendon and bone strength as literally written, but rather enhancing the tendons and bones' capacity for energy, causing them to be tempered into a mysterious substance. It allows for the high-intensity infusion of one's own energy, and subsequently making numerous changes."

"Therefore, body tempering is not confined to the human body. Can't my clear spring physique also undergo body tempering just the same?"

"True qi and magical power—these are like water contained within a bucket, while body tempering changes the quality and increases the efficiency of your outflow."

"Without body tempering, the more energy you have in your true qi and magical power, the easier it is to harm yourself! At most, you can only instantly burst forth with twenty years' worth of an ordinary person's true qi; any more is equivalent to self-detonation."

"So without body tempering, even if you have five hundred years of true qi, you'll only have strong stamina."

Yan Nu listened quite dazedly. True qi will harm yourself? Is that a thing?

He struck his own head with a full-strength palm strike, and nothing happened either. Even other people's true qi being infused inward was all accepted by him.

Yan Nu silently figured that perhaps it was simply because he wasn't afraid of palm force, so he didn't ask further.

Shen Leling continued speaking, "At the same time, this is why cultivators need Strengthened Bones and Plump Muscles—it is precisely to increase our spellcasting speed and might, without overly relying on magical implements and treasures."

"Only by continuously tempering like this will the output upper limit become greater! One Yuan, Second Cycle; One Yuan, Third Cycle; One Yuan, Fourth Cycle. With every extra cycle, the efficiency is twice that of the previous. Theoretically, it seems there is no limit."

"I am already at One Yuan, Ninth Cycle, while some mighty figures are said to reach One Yuan, Eighty Cycles. After all, to us, only Primordial Body Tempering is relatively useful; the rest are dispensable."

"If one breaks through to the 'Dao Attainment Realm', body tempering is not needed at all. The Heavenly Dao will temper a Golden Body Jade Physique, and even if there is energy capable of destroying the heavens and earth inside the body, it can be instantly released without any further restrictions."

"Of course, these matters are meaningless to martial artists. Mortals have limited lifespans and it is hard to have more than sixty years of true qi, so One Yuan, First Cycle is already sufficient to use."

Yan Nu came to a realization. "But I should be different, right? I can cultivate a lot of true qi!"

"Right, so Primordial Body Tempering is extremely important to you; it determines the upper limit of your output." Shen Leling sighed with emotion. "Many martial artists do not understand body tempering methods, and consequently remain at the third-rate level until death."

"After Primordial Body Tempering, breaking through the upper limit and bursting forth to a limit of forty years of true qi counts as a second-rate expert. Of course... normally one doesn't have that much true qi, and it's actually about the same as you are now. Yet such experts are now so numerous they can form armies, because many magnates bring out body tempering methods to cultivate their retainers."

"Second Stage Body Tempering, strength reaching all the bones and joints, can concentrate the whole body's strength into a single point. Plucking flowers and flying leaves possesses immense might, and even the tongue can kill people! This qualifies as first-rate."

"And wanting to step into the top-tier ranks requires Three Essences Body Tempering. True qi can project and spread outward just like magical power, and blade and sword qi can traverse several zhang away. This is the peak that can be learned."

"In short, remember the methods well, and I will explain the parts you don't understand to you one by one later. Once you lay a good foundation, your future prospects will be boundless. The first three essences of body tempering will not pose any difficulty for you at all."

Seeing that she stopped talking, Yan Nu hurriedly pursued the question, "Then what about the last three essences?"

Shen Leling said somewhat lack-afraid-of-confidence, "Uh... I am not a martial artist, and I am only at Primordial Body Tempering myself. As for deeper martial arts realms, I actually don't understand them very well either."

"As long as your true qi volume is sufficient for the first three essences and you have the corresponding methods, you can achieve them. It's nothing more than a matter of time... This Great Emperor White Jade Scripture has sufficient explanations."

"However, the last three essences require qi and intent to blend, and intent and spirit to blend. It is the dual sublimation of state of mind and physique."

"Intent Piercing the Celestial Spirit, Presence Like Dragon and Tiger, Water and Fire Harmonized—these all seem like realms of cultivation, and are even harder. Because cultivation allows one to comprehend the heavenly heart every day and accumulate Dao-virtue, and as long as one's Dao-virtue is sufficient, one can break through even with abysmal comprehension! This is precisely Heaven rewards diligence!"

"But your martial dao... that relies purely on individual talent. Starting from the fourth essence, even with guidance from a famous teacher, a breakthrough is not guaranteed. Once you do break through, you are a World-Shocking Martial Artist capable of fighting cultivators."

"Therefore, all martial artists worship the Hegemon King. He single-handedly and purely by his own strength developed the martial dao to a height comparable to the Calamity Tribulation Stage."

Listening with great relish, Yan Nu asked, "You've mentioned the Hegemon King several times; who on earth is he?"

Shen Leling was very surprised. "You don't know the Hegemon King?"

"Do you still remember I said that in that era over five hundred years ago, there was at most Three Essences Body Tempering, until a Hegemon King emerged?"

"He was a born commander and strategist. At age twenty-four he raised troops and waged war on the battlefields, until he slit his own throat at age thirty-one without suffering a single defeat!"

"He once smashed the cauldrons and broke the cooking pots to cut off his retreat, fifty thousand utterly shattering five hundred thousand. Amidst clashing metal and galloping horses he comprehended the fourth essence, battle intent soaring to the heavens, penetrating and connecting to the celestial spirit."

"He also once led an isolated army around the rear, his tyrannical spirit resolute and confident in absolute victory. With a paltry thirty thousand, he counter-encircled the rear of a sixty-thousand-strong allied coalition, defeating all the feudal lords of the entire world at that time—including the military sage of the same era—and forcing Han Gaozu with no road of escape, almost driving him to suicide. In this battle, he broke through to the fifth essence, tyrannical spirit forming presence, dragons and tigers intersecting."

"Finally, at the Battle of Gaixia, he encountered the ten-sided ambush of a million-strong grand army. When his beloved died by her own sword in his embrace, he broke through to the sixth essence. I don't know the specific details, only that the Penglai Great Immortal called it 'Water and Fire Harmonized'."

"This sixth essence, he never personally passed down. Because shortly after, to prove that 'Heaven is destroying me, it is not the fault of battle', he led his remaining troops to cut through the encirclement, then gave up leaving, and single-handedly counter-killed thousands of enemy troops before slitting his own throat to present his head to the former old friend on the opposite side."

"Seven years of battlefield career, he forcefully elevated the body tempering stage all the way to six essences! None before him, and none after!"

"When he slit his throat, above the clouds, a host of immortals looked down, seeing him off on his journey. For over five hundred years since, the body tempering yuan-degrees he pioneered have still not been fully explored."

As she spoke, Shen Leling saw that Yan Nu was only deep in thought without a trace of astonishment, and she instantly became speechless. "Are you not astonished? Do you know how many people hold the Hegemon King as a myth in their hearts?"

"Why did the myth slit his own throat?" Yan Nu asked with curiosity.

"..." Shen Leling froze for a moment, then said, "Perhaps this was Heaven's will. He truly was 'not the fault of battle', because on the battlefield he never lost a single time. Even in the final desperate situation, he cut through the encirclement and could have made a comeback, and even almost single-handedly crushed a million-strong army to prove to people that he could actually win."

"Yet he gave up... Perhaps his beloved died and his heart turned as cold as ash, which is why he was unwilling to cross the river, sending away his steed and returning to meet his death. And because no one was able to kill him, he ultimately chose to slit his throat."

Yan Nu felt something wasn't quite right. "Is that how it was? I thought it was because his friends kept getting fewer and fewer the more he fought, and his enemies kept getting more and more the more he fought, that his heart turned cold."

"Eh?" Shen Leling was startled.

Yan Nu said innocently, "Look here, he won every single time, but the enemy was always more than ten times his number every time. You also said he defeated all the feudal lords of the entire world, but why were there still even more people wanting to kill him at the end?"

"And you said he slit his throat to send his head to an old friend; why was his old friend in the opposing enemy camp?"

"This..." Facing this rapid succession of questions, Shen Leling was unable to reply.

She hadn't expected to be stumped by a foolish child. Yan Nu, solely from her stray words, seemed to have seen the crux of the matter, and she was actually unable to refute it.

She could only say, "Fine, fine, I read little and only heard others speak about his attainments in martial dao; for the rest you have to ask scholars..."

"Oh..." Yan Nu nodded, then asked again, "What stage has that 'Tu Fa Yak' you mentioned last time reached? Has he surpassed the Hegemon King?"

Shen Leling frowned and said, "Him? In terms of martial arts attainments, certainly not, because he's only at the fourth essence! Yet the might of his sword intent is extremely great, and his speed and strength are also terrifyingly strong, unlike a mortal! He must have enhanced his combat strength through some other method."

"Speaking solely of body tempering, after the Hegemon King's death, no one has reached the sixth essence. After all, he didn't personally pass it down, and only cultivators have recorded some insights through observation, but every school has its own theories and they're all rather abstruse."

"Right, Intent Piercing the Celestial Spirit can use any 'intent'. Sword intent, blade intent—these I cannot guide you on, but if you want to break through to the fourth essence, you can emulate the Hegemon King and comprehend your own 'battle intent' from battlefield conquests."

"With the world in chaos right now, this path is the simplest and most direct. More than half of World-Shocking Martial Artists are military generals."

p.s: Sorry.