As Sword Wudao left with Bian Ruxue, the courtyard's wives and ladies all came to see them off. Their fluttering, chattering figures jostled to get closer, each hoping to squeeze in a word before he departed.
Some even arranged for their children to practice swordsmanship along his route out of the estate.
But none managed to attract Sword Wudao's attention.
The Sword Hermitage was not so easy to enter. That was precisely why people yearned so desperately to set foot inside.
All the courtyard's color seemed to drain away with the departing wives and ladies, leaving it empty and silent once more beneath the drifting autumn leaves.
Holding the sword Bian Ruxue had practiced with, Li Hao quietly watched the courtyard entrance. Only after a long, long time did he slowly withdraw his gaze.
He then handed the sword to Li Fu behind him and said, "Uncle Fu, put this on the sword rack in my bedroom for me. Tell the maids they don't need to clean it every day."
Li Fu took the sword dejectedly. Looking at Li Hao's profile, his eyes held pity, along with a measure of guilt and self-reproach. "Starting today, I won't indulge you anymore," he said gravely. "I'm confiscating your chessboard. It's time you cultivated!"
Li Hao froze, then looked up. "Uncle Fu, don't tell me you think that old man didn't take me as his disciple because I play chess. That's an unjust accusation!"
"I don't care."
Li Fu's expression darkened. "Thousand-mile steeds are common, but those who can recognize them are not. An opportunity came right before your eyes, and you failed to seize it because you weren't sufficiently prepared. From now on, you must always be at your best, ready for the one or two chances that might descend at any moment."
"Life offers few opportunities to begin with. Once you miss them, how can you ever amount to anything?"
Li Hao protested his innocence. Seeing that Li Fu was serious, he asked, "Then, Uncle Fu, what do you consider amounting to something?"
"A son of the Li Family should make his name known throughout the world, guard the frontiers, and defend the people of an entire nation. That is what it means!" Li Fu answered solemnly without hesitation.
"Then being a member of the Li Family is far too hard," Li Hao said with a wry smile.
"Since you bear the Li name and enjoy this heaven-high wealth and privilege, you ought to shoulder that responsibility," Li Fu said coldly.
Have I really enjoyed any of it? Li Hao smiled bitterly inwardly. But then he remembered that Fifth Madam's pastries and fresh fruit were quite good, and First Madam's nourishing porridge was delicious too... perhaps that counted.
"Uncle Fu, by cultivation, do you mean body refining?"
"Of course."
Li Fu glanced at him, as if to ask what other path he had besides body refining.
Body refining was unpopular because cultivation was painful, its ceiling was low, and it demanded exceptionally high comprehension, paired with techniques, to contend with other experts.
Some of those forced to choose body refining could grit their teeth and endure hardship, but they did not necessarily possess sufficient comprehension.
After all, the carving of pain might produce something exquisite, but it could also twist the soul.
After some back-and-forth, Li Hao and Uncle Fu finally reached an agreement. Li Hao would cultivate, but his chessboard could not be confiscated, and Uncle Fu had to play with him every day.
Li Fu could only agree, deciding to get Li Hao started on cultivation first.
In the days that followed, Li Hao was forced to spend some of his time cultivating according to a basic Body Refining Manual Li Fu taught him.
But with his understanding of the Path of the Physical Body, he progressed quite quickly. Li Fu was pleasantly surprised; he had never expected Li Hao to be such a promising candidate for body refining.
Li Hao restrained his progress a little, lest the man deprive him of all his leisure time. He took three months to bring the basic Body Refining Manual to great mastery.
Even so, the result moved the battle-hardened man to tears of excitement. He wrote to Northern Yan that very night, sharing the good news and his joy with the couple at the frontier.
And after a long accumulation, like water dripping through stone, Li Hao's third-stage Chess Dao finally advanced.
[Name: Li Hao] [Age: 7] [Cultivation: Tenth Layer of the Power Through Realm] [Sword Dao: Second Stage (Flying Section) (Hidden Bow)] [Skills: Boundless Sea Tide (Supreme Perfection), Falling Snow Sword Art (Supreme Perfection)] [Path of the Physical Body: First Stage (Myriad Manifestations) (Tiger Pressure)] [Skills: Stone Skin Hundred Refinements (Great Mastery), Thousand Dragons Sacred Body (Dragon Body, Minor Mastery), Primordial Beginning (Star Body, Initiation), Wild Bull Strength (Great Mastery)] [Chess Dao: Fourth Stage (1/10000)] [Chess Record Collection: Myriad Manifestations, Tiger Pressure, Flying Section, Hidden Bow] [State of Mind: Chess Heart] [Art Skill Points: 1]
Li Hao glanced at Li Fu, who followed him like a shadow, and chose not to spend the point immediately.
The Sword Dao would have been easy enough, since it only involved an infusion of memories. But he wanted to use this Art Skill Point on the Path of the Physical Body first. Securing his own strength would give him a sense of safety.
Insights into the Path of the Physical Body would inevitably cause changes in his Body Refining Manuals, affecting his body as well. The commotion would be too great.
One day.
Li Hao followed Li Fu to the Listening Rain Pavilion.
Upon learning that Li Hao had a talent for body refining, He Jianlan had granted him special permission to enter the Listening Rain Pavilion whenever he wished and select manuals inside.
Naturally, Li Fu was not allowed in.
Though he was Li Tiangang's trusted confidant, he was ultimately not a core descendant of the Li Family's direct line. Their statuses differed.
Li Fu did not mind. The Listening Rain Pavilion was a vital site of the Li Family. Though there seemed to be few guards around, no one would willingly come here to steal its treasures.
It was safer than any of the madams' courtyards.
Li Fu waited downstairs while Li Hao went up alone.
He was now old enough to know better, so He Jianlan no longer had Xue Jian accompany him to keep watch. He went upstairs by himself.
Li Hao had heard that the old Sword Saint had sent over a Body Refining Manual two months earlier, which had been placed on the Sixth Floor. He headed straight there.
Soon, he found a newly added manual.
"Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body."
Li Hao began leafing through it.
With his first-stage understanding of the Path of the Physical Body, he soon grasped its rudiments.
Recorded.
Soon, this secret body-refining technique appeared on his panel, already at great mastery of its second layer.
The Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body had six layers, each of which could forge a different physique.
The first layer was the Still Cicada Body, which could detect the faint traces of air flowing across the skin.
The second layer was the Crouching Dragon Body, which accumulated the strength of a Dragon Elephant within the body.
The third layer was the Leaping Shell Body, which allowed one to channel strength and walk through the air.
His body crackled softly. Li Hao could feel another surge of strength emerging within him as he attained the Crouching Dragon Body. He estimated it at over ten thousand jin!
Although he was still at the Tenth Layer of the Power Through Realm, his strength was worlds apart from that of an ordinary cultivator in the same realm.
A thought stirred in Li Hao's mind. If he cultivated a few more Body Refining Manuals, could he accumulate even greater strength?
He acted on the thought immediately, searching through every floor of the Listening Rain Pavilion.
Before long, he found seven or eight Body Refining Manuals, all of middle or upper grade. Cultivated to their peak, they could barely bring someone into the ranks of first-rate martial artists.
As one manual after another was recorded on the panel, Li Hao felt his body undergoing strange changes, his hands and feet becoming sturdier.
The cultivation on his panel did not change. Li Hao had expected his strength to rise again, but it did not. However, some of these Body Refining Manuals trained claw techniques, some trained the legs and feet, and others tempered the bones or internal organs.
He could feel that, although they had not increased his strength much, those parts of his body had undergone a qualitative improvement.
Li Hao guessed that his physique was already so powerful that it had drawn out the vast majority of his physical strength. These somewhat inferior manuals therefore could not stimulate any more strength, but they could improve the corresponding parts of his body.
His Stone Skin Hundred Refinements manual could toughen his skin, but its effects were eclipsed by the Thousand Dragons Sacred Body's Dragon Demon Body.
The Dragon Demon Body strengthened his skin until it resembled dragon scales, an effect far more powerful than Stone Skin Hundred Refinements. Thus, the latter's effects were difficult to distinguish.
The other Body Refining Manuals, however, addressed areas that the previous Body-Tempering Arts from the Sixth Floor had not covered.
His bones, liver, ears, eyeballs, and other parts all improved accordingly.
Though his strength had barely changed, the power he could wield in actual combat had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
Li Hao understood now. He needed to gather different Body-Tempering Arts to temper himself. If he could cultivate every part of his body to the same standard, he would be flawless!
At that moment, the Listening Rain Pavilion's wealth of accumulated knowledge made Li Hao truly appreciate how precious this place was to a martial artist.
There were few chess records, but Body Refining Manuals? This place had them in abundance!
Wild with delight, Li Hao searched everywhere in the pavilion for Body Refining Manuals, recording them one after another.
Time passed.
Only when the sun sank into dusk did Li Hao emerge from the pavilion with a Body Refining Manual in hand.
In the distance, dusk crows seemed to sweep across the sky. The faint fragrance of food and burning firewood drifted over from the front courtyard. It was already time for dinner.
Li Hao stretched, loosening his muscles and joints.
There were far too many manuals in the Listening Rain Pavilion. After searching all afternoon, he had found only a tenth of them-and that was merely the body-refining category.
Li Hao had not recorded every manual. Something like Wild Bull Strength, which Li Fu had forced him to practice earlier, offered him little improvement, its effects eclipsed by stronger techniques.
For example, if two manuals both taught claw techniques, practicing the weaker one after the stronger would have little effect, because the stronger technique had already trained his hands to a very high level.
Unless the weaker one trained slightly different areas, in which case it could fill in the gaps.
"You finally came out."
Seeing Li Hao emerge, Li Fu was somewhat speechless. He had waited all afternoon. Had the boy been dazzled by all the choices?
He took the manual from Li Hao's hand and examined it. It was a middle-grade Body Refining Manual, Dragon Spine. One glance told him it mainly trained the back.
"This is what you chose?" Li Fu asked helplessly. "Didn't you go to the Sixth Floor?"
"I did. Couldn't understand them," Li Hao replied casually.
Li Fu thought that made sense. The manuals on the Sixth Floor were all supreme-grade. Never mind Li Hao-even he would have to practice diligently for months to grasp a few rudiments.
"Don't rush to practice this one. I'll ask First Madam later and see which manual in the Listening Rain Pavilion suits you. This one is too narrowly focused."
Li Fu hoped Li Hao could cultivate a comprehensive Body-Tempering Art that covered every part of his body, so he would not have too many weaknesses.
"All right." Li Hao did not refuse. "Come on, let's go back and eat," he said casually. "I'm starving. What should we have tonight?"
Li Fu felt rather helpless at Li Hao's lack of interest in the Martial Dao. The man and the boy turned and left the Listening Rain Pavilion.
Before long, they came face-to-face with an old man wearing a straw hat. He carried a fishing rod over his shoulder and a fish basket in his hand. Simply dressed, he looked perfectly ordinary.
The moment Li Fu saw him, his pupils contracted and his expression turned solemn. He hurriedly stopped and stepped aside, saying with utmost respect, "Li Fu pays his respects to Second Uncle."
(End of chapter)
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