Li Muxiu froze at Li Hao's words.
He stared fixedly at Li Hao, then suddenly laughed, though a trace of sorrow showed in his eyes.
"So many affairs, ancient and modern, all dissolve into laughter and conversation. How laughable that so many people in this world see less clearly than a child."
As he spoke, he actually turned away.
Li Hao suddenly noticed the old man secretly wiping away a tear.
This was an expert on par with the Sword Saint, yet even he shed tears. What had he remembered?
Li Hao wisely chose to remain silent. A moment later, Li Muxiu seemed to have composed himself. He turned back and smiled at Li Hao.
"As I was saying, there are two ways to break through to the Circulation Realm. The Hundred Dragons Chapter is one, and the other is the Heavenly Circulation Art."
"The Listening Rain Pavilion has two such arts, both of the highest caliber. At completion, one allows a hundred and eight heavenly circuits through a single meridian, while the other allows a hundred and twenty-eight. Both stand among the finest in all of Great Yu. As for anything surpassing this Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art, there is probably only the All Heavens Heavenly Circulation Art practiced by the Imperial Clan in the Imperial Palace."
"A hundred and sixty-eight heavenly circuits. It stands alone, peerless in the world."
"That powerful?"
Li Hao was astonished. Seventy-two heavenly circuits already qualified as a superior art, yet the Imperial Clan's art more than doubled that. Didn't that mean the Imperial Clan was practically invincible within the Circulation Realm?
"Of course. How else could the Imperial Clan hold the world in check?"
Li Muxiu continued, "This is called monopolizing cultivation arts. Outside the Imperial Clan, no one may practice or learn it. Why else do powerful lineages endure without declining? They rely on monopolizing their own domains."
Li Hao nodded. Wasn't the Listening Rain Pavilion exactly the same?
This tower alone was enough to ensure the Divine General Residence's prosperity for generations.
"However, the better an art is, the harder it is to cultivate. It places extremely high demands on comprehension, and isn't something just anyone can master. Take our Li Family. Although quite a few practice the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art, more still choose the other one, the Tian Gang Heavenly Circulation Art."
"The reason is simple. If it takes you five years to master the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art, but only three to master the Tian Gang Heavenly Circulation Art, then in a contest three years later, the one studying the Tian Gang Heavenly Circulation Art will definitely win!"
"You might think you can surpass them after another two years, but never underestimate those two years. By the time you bring the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art to completion, they might already be in the Soul Succession Realm. Get one step ahead, and you stay ahead at every step!" Li Muxiu said.
Li Hao nodded.
One should practice an art suited to one's aptitude. Sensible.
Otherwise, it was like an elementary school student studying high school material. They learned nothing and instead fell behind children who advanced step by step, wasting their time for nothing.
"Since your talent for Body Refining is exceptional, I suggest using the Hundred Dragons Chapter to break through to the Circulation Realm. With your comprehension, you should have a chance of mastering it within three years."
Li Muxiu said, "Then you'll reach the Circulation Realm at ten, with One Meridian, One Hundred Circuits. That would put you only slightly behind your father."
"He was that impressive?"
Li Hao was surprised.
For an ordinary person, reaching Power Through Realm Completion at ten was already quite good.
The Divine General Residence was full of monstrous geniuses, so naturally its standards were higher. Still, reaching the Circulation Realm at ten should qualify someone as a genius, shouldn't it?
"If I remember correctly, Xiao Qi's talent was slightly inferior to Xiao Jiu's. He reached Power Through Realm Completion at seven, your current age, Circulation Realm Completion at nine, Soul Succession Realm Completion at twelve, and Spirit Wandering Realm Completion at sixteen... After that, the boy joined the army. I don't know much about what happened afterward," Li Muxiu said, shaking his head.
Li Hao inwardly clicked his tongue. That was practically a monster.
After all, Uncle Lin had middling talent, yet he was still in the Spirit Wandering Realm in his forties.
Meanwhile, geniuses... reached completion at sixteen.
And even that was inferior to Ninth Uncle?
Li Hao was somewhat speechless. But when he remembered that Ninth Uncle's talent ranked among the absolute best of the hundreds of millions of martial artists across Great Yu's Nineteen Provinces, he felt reassured.
"Once you enter the Circulation Realm, you'll need to study its Meridian Opening arts alongside qi circulation. Within two years, your father cultivated both the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art and the Dragon River Divine Meridian, two extremely difficult, top-tier martial arts, to reach Circulation Realm Completion. Outside the Imperial Clan, he stood above all the other prodigies."
Li Muxiu said, "Just as Qi Circulation Methods differ, so do Meridian Opening arts. Ordinary arts open one meridian per layer. At the tenth layer of the Circulation Realm, you have ten meridians!"
"Mid-tier Meridian Opening arts give you eighteen meridians at completion. Superior arts give you thirty-six!"
"The very best arts give you fifty-four!"
"The Dragon River Divine Meridian is our Li Family's finest Meridian Opening art. Each of the first nine layers opens five meridians, and completion of the tenth opens nine!"
Li Muxiu looked at Li Hao and smiled. "Now do you understand just how vast a difference top-tier Meridian Opening and qi circulation arts make compared with ordinary ones?"
Li Hao counted back and forth on his fingers, then drew a soft breath, shaken.
Even at the same Circulation Realm Completion, the difference between top-tier and ordinary practitioners could exceed fiftyfold. Truly the difference between clouds and mud!
With ordinary qi circulation and Meridian Opening arts, ten meridians and ten heavenly circuits produced explosive power only slightly greater than that of a first-layer Circulation Realm practitioner using a top-tier qi circulation art.
The disparity was simply inconceivable!
It also showed Li Hao just how precious and important resources were on the path of the Martial Dao.
Without backing, ordinary martial artists could only practice common arts and become cannon fodder among those of the same realm.
Such a disparity likely drove countless martial artists to climb higher by any means necessary. Whether through currying favor and building connections or struggling on their own, it was a bloody road of competition that could cost them everything they owned.
Precisely because of this, top martial artists possessed everything and enjoyed renown throughout the world.
This road was not easy to walk.
"If your meridians have been blocked since birth, opening them will be harder, and that will slow your progress. Still, with our top-tier arts, at worst you'll fall out of the ranks of the most monstrous prodigies. In the eyes of ordinary martial artists, you'll remain an unattainable genius," Li Muxiu said.
Too many geniuses had been born into the Li Family.
Having occupied their lofty position for so long, they had also seen countless monstrous talents from smaller factions and lineages rise like comets.
Thus, only supreme prodigies like Li Tiangang and Li Junye drew the attention of old fellows like them. The rest, like the many children of concubines in the Martial Arts Arena, were merely qualified members of the lineage.
Li Hao nodded slightly without speaking.
"The fish is cooked."
Li Muxiu lifted the earthenware lid, and the aroma of fish wafted out.
He extinguished the fire and swept away the firewood, then told Li Hao, "Eat first. Afterward, practice here on your own. I'm going out this afternoon. If there's anything you don't understand, ask me tonight."
"All right," Li Hao answered.
The "chopsticks" stripped of bark yesterday hadn't been thrown away, and the old man handed them to Li Hao again.
Imitating him, Li Hao rubbed them against his clothes, then reached into the pot and began picking out pieces of fish.
This time, Li Hao noticed no fishiness, enjoying only the sweet, tender flavor.
Once they finished, Li Muxiu put away the pot and chopsticks together. After leaving Li Hao a few instructions, he flicked his sleeve, stepped forward, and vanished into the sky.
Li Hao stretched and browsed the nearby cultivation arts. He soon found the books the old man had mentioned, all kept in glass cabinets on the Seventh Floor to greatly slow their deterioration.
Of course, Li Hao believed the Li Family must have copies of these arts stored somewhere secret.
The books on display might even be copies themselves.
Li Hao leafed through the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art and the Dragon River Divine Meridian, but couldn't register them in his panel right away. They truly deserved their top-tier status.
He brought up his panel, looked at the two Art Skill Points he had accumulated, and unhesitatingly assigned both to the Path of the Physical Body.
An immense torrent of information instantly poured into his mind. As soon as the first wave ended, a second swept in.
It took a full quarter of an hour for Li Hao to gradually digest it all, understanding dawning in his eyes.
He brought up the panel and saw that the arts he had mastered had undergone earth-shaking changes.
[Name: Li Hao] [Age: 7] [Cultivation: Tenth Layer of the Power Through Realm] [Sword Dao: Stage Two (Flying Section) (Hidden Bow)] [Skills: Boundless Sea Tide (Supreme Perfection), Falling Snow Sword Art (Supreme Perfection)] [Path of the Physical Body: Stage Three (Myriad Manifestations) (Tiger Pressure)] [Skills: Stone Skin Hundred Refinements (True State), Thousand Dragons Sacred Body, Third Layer (Hundred Dragons Body, major mastery), Primordial Beginning, Third Layer (Profound Passage Body, major mastery), Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body, Third Layer (Leaping Shell Body, major mastery)...] [Chess Dao: Stage Four (5/10000)] [Fishing Dao: Stage One (112/500)] [Chess Manual Collection: Myriad Manifestations, Tiger Pressure, Flying Section, Hidden Bow] [Fishing Collection: None] [State of Mind: Chess Heart] [Art Skill Points: 0]
With the Path of the Physical Body raised to Stage Three, the Thousand Dragons Sacred Body had advanced directly to major mastery of its third layer. Meanwhile, Primordial Beginning and the Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body had also reached the third layer, both at major mastery!
Yet what surprised Li Hao most was the low-grade Body-Tempering Art, Stone Skin Hundred Refinements.
The proficiency listed after it had actually reached (True State)!
Countless pieces of information about Stone Skin Hundred Refinements automatically gathered in Li Hao's mind. If he performed it now, he would already be beyond completion.
The levels of Body Refining were similar to those of techniques: beginner, minor mastery, major mastery, and completion.
These corresponded to beginner, dexterity, perfection, and Supreme Perfection for techniques.
But what the hell was this True State?
A higher level beyond completion and Supreme Perfection?!
Besides Stone Skin Hundred Refinements, the many other low-grade Body-Tempering Arts were the same, all marked with (True State)!
Wild Bull Strength (True State). Li Hao could sense this Body-Tempering Art's original flaws. Instinctively, he began performing it according to the insights in his mind.
Power coursed through his entire body, strength erupting as his meridians bulged like a bull's sinews, gathering into his fist at his mental command.
With a whoosh, he punched. The wind from his fist actually sent the curtains on a terrace over a dozen meters away fluttering!
At True State, Wild Bull Strength gave him a far greater increase in power than before, fully four or five times as effective!
Moreover, it carried a sense of returning to simplicity and truth. His movements transcended the essence of Wild Bull Strength itself, containing a trace of an indescribably wondrous, perfectly rounded force.
It was as though this was Wild Bull Strength's true face!
Then Li Hao began practicing the Thousand Dragons Sacred Body.
In an instant, the vast strength within his dantian surged into motion, spinning like a windmill.
(End of chapter)
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