Wasting the Divine Blood

When his consciousness stirred, a great flood of information suddenly surged into his mind.

Li Hao clutched his head, feeling his skull swell as if it were about to be forced open.

Pain showed on his face.

"Hao'er, what's wrong?"

Liu Yuerong noticed something was off with Li Hao and jumped in fright, hurriedly asking with concern.

Li Hao clenched his teeth.

The chaotic currents of thought in his mind gradually settled, and only then did Li Hao realize that a great deal of knowledge about swords had appeared in his head.

It was as if he had practiced swordsmanship day and night for two or three years.

Damn it, this headache feels just like when my chess rank went up back then...

Li Hao rubbed his head and panted heavily. He was still too young now, his brain not fully developed. The vast, tangled information brought by the way of chess and the way of the sword was a terrifying impact on his fragile mind.

He did not speak, working hard to calm himself.

"Did you get sick from standing in the snow?" Liu Yuerong touched Li Hao's forehead, but felt no fever, and could not help feeling puzzled.

By then, Li Hao had completely recovered. Looking at Second Madam's startled, doubtful eyes, he pointed at his own mouth and said in a milky, indistinct voice, "Bit, bit my tongue."

Liu Yuerong froze, then immediately let out a breath of relief and rolled her eyes speechlessly.

Li Hao muddled through it and paid her no more attention, instead secretly looking at his own panel.

Name: Li Hao

Age: 1 year old

Cultivation: Mortal

Sword Dao: First Rank

Skill: Boundless Sea Tide (Perfect) [Forbidden]

Arts mastered: Chess Dao

Chess Dao: First Rank (82/500)

Chess manual collection: 0

Art Skill Points: 0

Li Hao was somewhat shocked. The Art Skill Point at the end was gone, but Sword Dao had actually changed from "not yet entered" to "First Rank"! Moreover, the skill below, Boundless Sea Tide, had also changed from not yet entered to perfect! Li Hao had heard the military teacher who taught Li Qianfeng speak of it before.

Any technique was divided into three levels: entry, nimble, and perfect! Entry meant being able to skillfully perform an entire set!

Nimble meant that beyond skillfulness, one could also apply it flexibly, having completely understood it and wielding it as easily as the heart desired!

Faced with different situations, one could see the move and break the move, rather than rigidly follow a fixed routine! As for perfect.

It meant one had already completely integrated the technique, directing it as if with one's own arm and fingers. Even if performed in reverse, it could be done with ease, without exposing any flaws! Unless the flaw lay in the technique itself!

He had heard that above perfect, there were even higher realms.

That kind of realm could even make up for the flaws of a technique, raising its power to another level!

And at this moment, after Li Hao's Sword Dao had risen to First Rank, his sword skill in the first layer of Boundless Sea had actually reached perfection directly! That would require at least over ten years of bitter work to train! The Li Qianfeng before him had reportedly practiced Boundless Sea for only half a year and had already entered the first layer, Tide, making him worthy of being called a sword dao genius.

Then what did he count as now? A monster?

Seeing that Second Madam was not paying attention to him, Li Hao also turned his gaze back to the courtyard.

At this moment.

The child in the courtyard was still practicing swordsmanship, but in Li Hao's eyes, it no longer amazed him as it had before. Instead, he saw at a glance that the boy's techniques were immature and his posture stiff!

If it were someone who knew how to use a sword, with just a light strike, they could knock the wooden sword from his hand! "Not bad." The burly middle-aged man was very satisfied with Li Qianfeng's performance.

His root bones were excellent, and his comprehension was also extremely good. In another two years, this first layer would reach nimble.

One had to know that Li Qianfeng was still only a child at this moment, his mind not yet fully developed. To be like this already was exceedingly rare.

Time flowed by.

As Li Hao watched and ate the snacks Second Madam fed him, he gradually felt a trace of drowsiness and boredom.

He yawned, lay in Second Madam's arms, and slowly closed his eyes.

Something seemed to sweep past before his eyes, but Li Hao had already fallen asleep.

Hearing the faint breathing in her arms, Liu Yuerong lowered her head, a trace of complexity flashing through her eyes.

But when she raised her head and looked at her son practicing swordsmanship in the snow, the complexity in her eyes vanished again, and her gaze returned to calm.

She rose, carried Li Hao out of the small pavilion, returned to the bedroom in her own rear courtyard, and gently placed Li Hao on her bed, tucking the covers over him.

Her movements were gentle, as if she were his own birth mother.

Li Hao was sleeping in a daze. Feeling his body being set down, he woke a little.

He felt warmth at his chest, a faint heat. That was the Dragon Blood Jade Pendant bestowed by the Yu Emperor, which he always wore close to his body. It was also the reason he could stand in the snow without feeling the slightest cold.

Just as Li Hao was about to roll over and continue sleeping soundly, he suddenly heard a deep voice coming from outside the room.

"You truly fed that thing to the child?" It was an unfamiliar man's voice.

"Things have come to this. I had no other choice."

This was Second Madam's voice, but there was no soft intimacy in it, only a coldness like she was dealing with a household servant.

"You saw it too. How hard my son works, and he is a talent seen once in a hundred years! The people from Boundless Mountain have already come to see him. When Qianfeng turns six, they will bring him to Boundless Mountain to cultivate. When his divine blood awakens in the future and he inherits the power passed down from his father, he will surely shake the world with his name!"

"I must pave the road for him!"

Li Hao slightly opened his eyes a crack, a little puzzled in his drowsy, sluggish mind.

Who was Second Madam talking to? "For now, we still do not know what talent this child has. This move is rather too rash," the deep-voiced man sighed.

Outside the door, there was a brief silence.

Then Liu Yuerong's voice rang out, only colder, with an added trace of mockery in her tone. "When parents love their child, they make far-reaching plans for him!"

"Originally, I didn't want to do this either, but these wooden heads of the Li Family are foolish beyond saving!"

"If this child must blame someone, then blame his father. Who told Xingwu Marquis to be such a monster? Others don't know, but I know clearly that as early as when he was twenty-three, he had already stepped into that realm..."

"In other words, his child has a considerable chance of awakening divine blood too!"

"What?!"

The deep-voiced man was shocked. "At twenty-three, he stepped into the 'Three Immortalities'?!"

"That's right. The ancestor of the Li Family was a Founding God General of Great Yu, with a powerful bloodline, and the father inherited the ancestor's will. It is the same."

"In the previous generation, aside from Qianfeng's father, Xingwu Marquis was also a monster, and there was also the third, the sixth, and the ninth! Especially Ninth Lang, who was even more terrifying. Fortunately, he died early and left no offspring..."

"The third's wife watches over the child personally, and it's a girl who will marry out sooner or later, so she won't have much effect. Though the sixth also stepped into the Three Immortalities early, it was after marriage..."

Liu Yuerong said coldly, "The only one who can compete with Qianfeng is this child. Otherwise, why do you think the Yu Emperor bestowed a blessing on him? Even if his martial talent is mediocre in the future, once his divine blood awakens, he can still contend with the top geniuses!"

There was a stretch of silence outside the room.

The deep-voiced man sighed softly and said, "Since Madam has already made such a decision, I will say no more."

"You need not worry. I obtained this medicine from Boundless Mountain. After taking it, it leaves no shadow and no trace, and no clue can be found. Nor will there be any pain. I even wrapped it in a sugar coating, so the taste won't be strange. Though he is still young, it won't leave him any deep memory. After all, children eat too many candies."

"Taking a step back, even if they find out in the future that he cannot awaken divine blood, they cannot determine that it was our doing. In this Divine General Residence, anyone could have done it!"

"Besides, the bloodline of that realm may not awaken one hundred percent anyway. Perhaps his child was never capable to begin with?"

At this point, Liu Yuerong gave a sneering laugh. "It is all thanks to the war in Northern Yan. Ji Qingqing and Xingwu Marquis are deeply bound by love and loyalty, and she followed him to the battlefield. Only then did it give us such an opportunity. Otherwise, if this child grew a few more years and they returned, there would certainly be military generals secretly guarding him, and he really would not be easy to act against."

The man did not answer again, only gave a low sigh.

Before long, the footsteps of the two gradually receded into the distance.

Inside the room, Li Hao was now fully awake, his head numb, finding it hard to believe.

Second Madam actually wanted to harm him?

All that care and protection in ordinary days, that concern at every turn, was actually fake?

Li Hao was unwilling to believe it, but the facts lay before his eyes.

Although he did not understand what divine blood was, Second Madam had chosen to ruin him because she wanted to pave the road for her own child and felt that he would be an obstruction!

Li Hao's expression was ugly, and he clenched his fists slightly.

Those gentle smiles and words in ordinary days had lulled him into comfort. If Second Madam was like this, what about the others? Who else was sincere? Although he had only been here for a year and a half, being looked after and cared for in turns by these madams every day had still given Li Hao some feelings in his heart.

But now, it all felt as though it had turned into foam and shadows.

So this is the infighting of an ancient noble clan? He stroked his small hand over his body. Aside from the faint heat at his chest, there was no other sensation, and that warm current was also brought by the Dragon Blood Jade Pendant.

His mother had said that his body contained his father's power, but now... it was gone.

Li Hao secretly clenched his small hand. This grudge, he would repay in the future!

Spring went and autumn came.

In the blink of an eye, Li Hao was three years old.

Now, he spent most of his time in the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard. In daily life, he was also much more careful with the food sent by the madams of each courtyard. Sometimes he directly pretended he did not like eating it and refused, throwing a child's tantrum.

Gradually, the servants in the courtyard all understood that the young master was extremely picky about food and drink.

Three years old.

In the Divine General Residence, this was an extremely crucial age.

In ordinary families, children only began stepping onto the path of martial cultivation at seven or eight, or even in their teens.

Some even had root bones that were already set, and even if they had talent, it would be hard for them to achieve great things. Their family circumstances had delayed the best years for cultivation.

But the Divine General Residence was a martial aristocratic family, with the most rigorous cultivation methods. The children of the clan all built their foundations from childhood.

At three, Foundation Establishment.

At four, Blood Fusion.

At five, Bone Measurement!

By the time they reached six, it was basically the day to formally cultivate, without wasting the slightest sliver of time.

On the road of cultivation, tens of thousands struggled to cross the river; one step ahead meant every step ahead! Whether one had cultivation aptitude could be tested at Bone Measurement at five years old.

If the bones were fully developed and the marrow abundant and condensed, then after Bone Measurement at five years old, one could begin cultivation.

It was only that the Divine General Residence had deep foundations and followed the principle that haste made waste, setting the rule that formal cultivation could only begin at six, allowing the body to grow and consolidate for one more year so that cultivation would be smoother in the future.

Even the extraordinarily gifted Li Qianfeng was the same. After Bone Measurement, he could cultivate, but he still only went to Boundless Mountain at six.

In ordinary days, practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard was merely cultivating basic sword moves and developing martial sense. It did not count as truly stepping onto cultivation.

As for those with average Bone Measurement aptitude and delayed development, even at six they could not cultivate, and needed to develop for a few more years. It might be seven, eight, or nine years old.

However, the Divine General Residence had countless famed medicines and rare treasures to gently nourish the body and improve martial aptitude. For all these years, the worst case in the Divine General Residence had only begun cultivation at eight years old.

It was said that that person had been born prematurely and had been injured in the womb, which was what led to it.