Speculation

Ning Shaojie's mind exploded with a roar, leaving it utterly blank.

Entering Immortality through Martial Arts!

Each of those four words weighed more than a thousand catties, smashing viciously into his heart.

How was that possible?!

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible..." Ning Shaojie muttered, his voice dry and hoarse, trembling beyond his control.

Records from the Classics churned wildly through his mind, and two thunderous names abruptly surfaced—Great Xia Ancestral Emperor Ren Tianming! Emperor Yuancheng, the Restorer of the Dynasty!

Since time immemorial, only those two had been clearly recorded as having successfully Entered Immortality through Martial Arts in the Great Xia Dynasty!

Ren Tianming had been the founding ancestor of Great Xia. Legend said he had shattered the shackles of heaven and earth and ascended from the Lower Realm, founding the magnificent Great Xia with one hand. His mighty name had awed the heavens.

Emperor Yuancheng had been a figure of the recent ancient era. He had proven the Dao through martial arts, restored Great Xia, and achieved merits that overshadowed a thousand ages.

Such figures were legendary existences, stars gazed upon by countless martial artists!

And now, this young Yun Family Head before him had actually set foot upon that path as well?

No wonder!

No wonder the Yun Clan's martial artists were so formidable!

No wonder the Yun Family Matriarch was pregnant, yet Yun Long had not seemed particularly desperate for the Dragon Whisker Golden Tail Fish of Wanfang Lake, which could increase the chances of a fetus possessing a Spiritual Root!

So he himself was their greatest source of confidence!

Ning Shaojie's breathing grew heavy, and the look in his eyes as he regarded Yun Long changed completely.

The shock and disbelief from before had all turned into an almost fearful reverence.

Why did the people of the Great Xia Dynasty, from imperial nobles to humble peddlers and laborers, all revere martial arts?

It was because although Great Xia Ancestral Emperor Ren Tianming had long vanished without a trace, his life and death unknown, Emperor Yuancheng was still alive!

Even though Emperor Yuancheng had long ceased concerning himself with court affairs, his very existence was the greatest affirmation and encouragement for Mortal Stage Martial Dao!

Yun Long's expression remained calm. He picked up the wolf-hair brush from the table and began filling in the blank spaces of the "Yun Clan Household Registry" with unhurried composure.

Yun Long, Yun Hu, Yun He, Yun Ji, Li Lingyue, Shi Tie, Shi Chen... Names fell one after another, his brush dancing like dragons and serpents.

In the section for origin, he wrote only four words: "Citizens of Great Xia."

There was no need to say anything else.

At this moment, Ning Yongrui and his son had long lost the composure and probing attitude they had arrived with. Stormy waves churned within their hearts, though they strove to maintain calm expressions.

Once Yun Long wrote the final stroke, he gently pushed the household registry document back.

"Commander Ning, please examine it."

Ning Yongrui took a deep breath, picked up the document, and swept his gaze over it. After confirming that nothing was amiss, he solemnly stored it in his storage pouch.

"Yun Family Head, farewell." Ning Yongrui cupped his hands. His tone no longer carried its earlier casualness, replaced by a few measures of sincere solemnity.

"Wait, Commander Ning. There is one small matter in which I would like to ask the Ning Family for assistance," Yun Long suddenly said.

"Please speak, Yun Family Head." Ning Yongrui cast Yun Long an inquiring glance.

"Our clan crossed mountains and ridges in haste to move here. Aside from the most important Classics, we brought nothing else with us, which is not conducive to teaching the younger children..."

"No problem. Yun Family Head, wait a few days longer. I'll have people copy some and send them over," Ning Yongrui said immediately, before Yun Long could finish.

Ning Yongrui knew that it was no longer suitable to continue the conversation any further. His state of mind was not right.

Ning Yongrui led the still somewhat dazed Ning Shaojie out of the hall.

"Commander Ning, travel safely." Yun Long rose and saw them off with a smile.

Upon reaching the edge of the training ground, Ning Yongrui's steps halted, and his gaze was drawn involuntarily into the field.

Those Yun Clan men who were shouting as they trained were still practicing the same set of Arhat Fist.

Previously, in his eyes, it had been nothing more than a crude mundane martial art. It was suitable for strengthening the body, perhaps, but could never grace a grand hall.

Yet now, as he looked again, he felt that every movement and stance of the fist technique seemed to contain some indescribable charm.

Those boxing forms that had once seemed ordinary, even rough and crude, now appeared to have every move secretly conforming to some profound principle. Every precise motion carried an inexpressible flavor.

He abruptly came to his senses. It was not that the Arhat Fist had truly undergone a complete transformation overnight; it was that his own state of mind had changed.

Because of Yun Long, because of those words: "Even without a Spiritual Root, one is no weaker than others."

He had possessed a Spiritual Root since childhood and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Immortal Dao. He had not delved deeply into mundane martial techniques, so his perspective had naturally been limited.

Thinking back on it now, the fact that the Yun Clan could teach this fist technique to tenant farmers and even enable them to break through into the Body Tempering Realm meant it must possess unique merits of its own.

Ning Yongrui forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart. His gaze shone as he silently committed those fist forms to memory, intending to study them carefully upon his return.

The road between the field ridges that they had taken on their way here remained unchanged, but as they walked it now, their state of mind had been turned upside down.

The wind within Evergreen Valley seemed to carry an inexplicable chill. Blowing against Ning Shaojie's face, it cleared his muddled mind somewhat.

Ning Shaojie's steps were unsteady. Yun Long's words—"Even without a Spiritual Root, one is no weaker than others"—echoed through his mind again and again.

Earlier, his father had asked him what the Yun Clan sought by bestowing favors upon the tenant farmers and buying people's hearts.

At the time, he had merely thought it was an ordinary method for a martial arts lineage to establish itself.

But now, a horrifying thought grew wildly in his heart, nearly breaking through the earth.

He suddenly stopped and looked at Ning Yongrui beside him. His voice trembled slightly with excitement. "Father! I understand now!"

Ning Yongrui glanced sideways at his son's flushed cheeks and those eyes burning with a strange light.

"Yun Long! He bestows favors far and wide, teaches that Arhat Fist, and goes from house to house checking children's bone structure, claiming it is to see whether they have talent for martial arts..." Ning Shaojie breathed rapidly, forcing each word out through clenched teeth. "He is not simply trying to buy people's hearts!"

"He is searching for gifted children! He wants to see whether he can replicate his own achievement! He wants to carve out for the Yun Clan... a reliable path to Entering Immortality through Martial Arts!"

By the end, Ning Shaojie's voice carried a trace of fear.

He remembered Shi Chen, the child practicing swordsmanship on the training ground, the child his father had pointed out as possessing a Spiritual Root.

A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.

"That Shi Chen!" Ning Shaojie's voice suddenly rose, carrying an incredulous accusation. "He clearly has a Spiritual Root! Yet Yun Long made him practice some mundane sword technique!"

"Father, he is using children with Spiritual Roots as experiments! He means no good at all!"

"Rather than cultivating immortality when one has a Spiritual Root, he instead cultivates that so-called mundane Martial Dao. If it fails, that child's entire life will be ruined! So much precious cultivation time will have been wasted for nothing!"

The more Ning Shaojie spoke, the more terrified he became. He looked at Evergreen Valley as though it were a dragon's pool and tiger's den waiting to devour people.

Ning Yongrui's mind was in complete turmoil. How could he have the heart to carefully distinguish the details in his son's words?

Yun Long's unfathomable strength and that earth-shattering declaration of "Entering Immortality through Martial Arts" weighed on his heart like two great mountains.

He only felt that Ning Shaojie's words seemed to make some sense, so he nodded noncommittally without saying much.

His thoughts had already drifted far away.

Wanfang Lake had already been a pool of roiling undercurrents because of the Three Treasures.

Now, this hidden dragon of the Yun Clan—no, perhaps it should be called a fierce tiger—had already bared its formidable claws.

The distribution of benefits in the future was likely to be turned upside down.

So long as Yun Long remained alive, his Ning Family had best maintain good relations with the Yun Clan.

But how great a price would they have to pay, how many benefits would they have to offer, before they could fill the belly of this fierce tiger with its unfathomable appetite?

A deep gloom settled between Ning Yongrui's brows.