Top-Tier Body Refining

A letter from Sword Hermitage? Li Hao was slightly surprised, and that little girl who loved to cry could not help surfacing in his mind.

She had been at Sword Hermitage for several months now. He wondered how she was doing, and whether she was used to sleeping there.

He opened the letter and read it carefully.

The handwriting was delicate and unfamiliar, as if the little girl had written it herself. She said she was safe, and she said she missed him.

Perhaps chances to write and send letters were rare, for the paper was filled to the brim. She told him about the past few months of daily life in Sword Hermitage—taking a master, meeting fellow disciples, cultivating, learning sword manuals, and so on. No matter how trivial, she wrote it all down, word by word and line by line.

Though what she described was only daily life, what filled every line was longing.

At the end of the letter, the little girl seemed to finally realize there was not much space left for herself. She said she would cultivate properly and strive to descend the mountain as soon as possible, and that Li Hao must wait for her to come back.

Li Hao silently finished reading. Then he gently folded the paper again, slipped it back into the envelope, and tucked it into the brocade robe at his chest.

Beside him, Li Muxiu asked Li Fu what the situation with Sword Hermitage was. Clearly, this old man, who was either fishing in the wild everywhere or staying in Listening Rain Pavilion, did not understand matters among third-generation juniors like Li Hao. If the news that Li Hao was a cripple in the martial path had not caused too great a stir and led to discussions all across the residence, he would not even have heard of it.

After learning the whole story, Li Hao saw that the old man's first reaction was obviously to let out a breath of relief.

That expression seemed to say, oh, so it was not that Hao'er had talent in the sword path. I almost thought that Sword Saint wanted to take him away to cultivate.

Although he did not care about Li Hao's cultivation, if Li Hao truly had exceedingly high talent, he would not stop him either.

Afterward, Li Muxiu snorted coldly again, his expression displeased.

"That old fellow Sword Wudao, relying on his seniority to bully Sword Lan because she wouldn't dare talk back to him, hmph! A Ninth Grade Battle Body and a sword-path prodigy too—throw her outside, and what famous sect wouldn't fight to take her? He got the bargain and still played the obedient boy; he used one lousy Body Refining Manual to make up the numbers? Another day, I'll have to go up to Sword Hermitage and argue this out with him!"

Li Fu broke out in cold sweat listening, smiling bitterly in his heart and not daring to take up the thread.

For others to be able to enter the Sword Saint's tutelage was already enough to make them so excited they could not sleep at night. Who would still dare bargain over terms? "Second Uncle, how was today's catch? You must have gained a great harvest!"

Li Fu changed the topic. He knew the old man liked being lavishly praised for his fishing skills. This old veteran, who had always been upright and stern as iron in the army, now actually revealed a flattering, fawning smile, only it looked extremely awkward and embarrassed.

Forcing flattery when one did not know how was the most fatal.

Li Muxiu glanced at him blandly and said to Li Hao, "Hao'er, see that? This is the importance of our angling tradition. You have to let people take as many looks at your catch as possible, otherwise those who don't know might think you came back with an empty air force."

If you just went straight home, who would know you went fishing? Even if they knew, who would care... Li Hao grumbled inwardly.

"Let's go."

Li Muxiu paid Li Fu no more attention and led Li Hao into Listening Rain Pavilion.

Li Fu wanted to speak but stopped, standing where he was, hesitant and unable to move forward. Just before Li Muxiu entered the pavilion, he suddenly halted, but did not turn back. He said, "Little Fu, there's no need for you to keep worrying about Hao'er's cultivation. He does indeed have talent in body refining. When I'm fishing, I'll teach him along the way."

With that, he walked straight into the light and shadow inside the doorway.

Li Fu was stunned. The complicated and conflicted thoughts in his heart seemed to be cleared away at once, and he felt as if a heavy stone had fallen.

He hurriedly bowed deeply and long, thanked him, and could not help feeling happy and excited for Li Hao.

If Second Uncle could personally guide and teach him, that would absolutely surpass his own teaching. After all, this Second Uncle was an existence in no way inferior to that Sword Saint...

Although Li Muxiu looked like an old man who did not act his age, once he spoke, his words were like arrows loosed from the bow. In this, he had more or less been influenced by the family teachings of a Military Family household.

After entering the pavilion, Li Muxiu found some firewood and set up a stove on the terrace. While dissecting the fish demon he had caught today, he casually said to Li Hao, "If there's anything you don't understand when cultivating, just ask. I'll help answer it for you."

Li Hao shook his head slightly. "Not for now."

"Nothing?"

Li Muxiu said irritably, "Are you saying you haven't run into any bottlenecks yet? Hmph, this body-refining art is extremely formidable. It's already good enough that you can understand it. Forget it, demonstrate it once for me. Let me have a look."

Li Hao thought, There's no need, is there? But seeing that the old man truly wanted to teach him, he did not let down this kindness and obediently opened his stance to demonstrate it once.

Li Muxiu had originally wanted to give some pointers, but in the end discovered that there truly were no flaws. He could not help sizing up this little fellow again.

To be able to cultivate to this level by self-study counted as having astonishing comprehension!

"Not bad. Your current cultivation should already be at the tenth level of the Power Through Realm, right?" Li Muxiu said. Although he had not carefully sensed Li Hao, being able to cultivate to the second layer, Dragon Body, meant his cultivation had definitely reached Completion in the first realm.

Moreover, compared to an ordinary Power Through Realm Completion, the physical strength brought by body refining was greater, making him slightly stronger than others of the same realm. Of course, this was during the early stage of cultivation, when body refining had an advantage.

As for the later stage...

Body refining had no later stage.

Just as everyone said, this was a road of bitterness. One had to know that normal cultivation was already extremely arduous, and for it to be called a road of bitterness by them showed just how bitter body refining had to be.

Thus very few people could persist to the end. Even if there truly were those with great perseverance, their cultivation progress was often too slow, causing their lifespan to wither. It was difficult for them to break through, and in the end, they died depressed and frustrated.

"Mm."

Li Hao nodded in admission.

"Not even eight years old, yet already at Power Through Realm Completion. This cultivation speed can be considered enough to chase the heels of those top geniuses."

Li Muxiu said, "Next is the Circulation Realm. When strength fills to become qi, qi circulates through the heavens. You have two ways to charge into the Circulation Realm. The first is to enter Hundred Dragons Body and forcefully break through with your fleshly body. The Hundred Dragons Body also involves the Qi Circulation Method. Cultivated to completion, it can bring you to the supreme level of one meridian and one hundred circulations."

"It is precisely because of this that this body-refining cultivation method could be placed on the sixth floor."

Seeing Li Hao sitting cross-legged and listening seriously, Li Muxiu explained even more carefully. "The Circulation Realm has ten levels, but the differences between them are enormous. In the Power Through Realm, one widens the gap through increasing strength with powerful cultivation methods and awakening divine blood. In the Circulation Realm, the gap between a heavenly prodigy and the mortal dust is widened through top-tier Qi Circulation Methods."

"Ordinary martial artists without a background mostly cultivate low-grade methods, around ten circulations in one meridian."

"With middle-to-high-grade methods, one meridian can reach thirty-six circulation cycles!"

"And with superior methods, it is seventy-two circulations in one meridian."

He looked at Li Hao and said, "As for supreme methods, they reach one hundred circulations in one meridian! This is the essence carried within the Thousand Dragons Sacred Body. Setting body refining aside, it can also be counted as a top-tier Qi Circulation Method."

"So that's how it is." Li Hao nodded slightly.

Regarding the Circulation Realm, he had flipped through some books and had a slight understanding. If one circulation in one meridian belonged to one's own single measure of strength, then ten circulations meant ten times that! One hundred circulations meant one hundred times. This was the gap.

Especially as the Circulation Realm advanced and each level opened a meridian, when this stacked gap reached the tenth level of the Circulation Realm, the difference between an ordinary Qi Circulation Method and a top-tier method was like cloud and mud.

Great powers, famous sects, heavenly prodigies—when these factors were added together, a top-tier Circulation Realm martial artist, even if they did not have one hundred circulations, would have at least seventy-two circulations. They could easily sweep through ordinary Circulation Realm martial artists and wandering heroes of the rivers and lakes without backgrounds.

"A supreme Qi Circulation Method belongs, in any famous sect, to a level close to a sect-guarding treasure. Most are only handed to personal disciples or final disciples."

"And in Listening Rain Pavilion, there are three such supreme methods. The Hundred Dragons Chapter of the Thousand Dragons Sacred Body counts as one of them."

Li Muxiu said, "But even so, in my Divine General Residence, it is passed to legitimate descendants, not to sons of concubines, lest the Tian Gang be overturned and people's hearts bring disaster and chaos."

"The gap in a martial artist's cultivation is ultimately for slaughter between people. Some people cultivate not to pursue the strongest, but to surpass others. Thus, when they cannot surpass others, cutting others down is also a method of surpassing, and is even easier than painstakingly training and improving themselves."

"This is why top powers and famous sects seal off peerless cultivation methods and do not pass them outside. Once leaked, the one who obtains it may instead invite a fatal disaster."

Li Hao asked, "Isn't cultivation for slaying demons?"

Li Muxiu's voice paused. He glanced at him and said mockingly, "Slaying demons is the business of a minority of martial artists, such as our Li Family and the other Divine General Residences. But most people live within prosperous, peaceful, and healthy borders, where demons and devils are forbidden to pass. How many chances would they have to slay demons? Even if there were chances, how many would dare?"

"Have you ever seen an ordinary hunter go hunt a fierce tiger or giant bear for no reason when there was no benefit?"

"My Great Yu is an age of prosperity. In an age of prosperity, all under heaven seek fame. Slaying demons is for fame, contests and duels are for fame, founding sects and establishing schools are also for fame!"

"For achievements, fame, profit, and rank, how many people charge forward one after another, their deaths not worth pitying!"

"Who doesn't want, ten thousand years after death, to still be remembered by the world, enter the Martial Temple, have a golden body cast, and smell incense for a thousand years?"

His voice was somewhat agitated, but it was not the agitation of yearning. Rather, there seemed to be some kind of suppressed anger within it.

"I don't."

Li Hao shook his head slightly and said, "If I had a choice, I'd want to keep living forever."