Supreme Perfection

Supreme Perfection. One hour.

The medicinal bath in Bian Ruxue's barrel had become completely clear, without the slightest trace of medicinal liquid remaining.

The maidservants changed her into clean new clothes and dried her hair. Standing beside Li Hao's barrel, she had no idea what any of this meant and simply waited quietly for Li Hao to emerge.

As for Li Hao's barrel, under Lin Haixia's adamant insistence, Li Hao could only obediently remain immersed within it.

Yet the liquid in the barrel was still a glaring purple.

The female attendant accompanying Bian Ruxue took one look and stood dumbfounded.

After another hour passed, the other servants and maidservants heard the news and came over to take a look. Every one of them was shocked.

Having lived in the Divine General Residence for years, they had naturally absorbed enough knowledge to understand what this signified.

They looked at one another, and in each other's eyes, they saw the sky collapsing.

The son of the dignified Xingwu Marquis actually could not practice martial arts?

This was Li Family blood!

It was simply unbelievable.

But the truth lay right before their eyes.

The entire courtyard fell quiet. Before long, one household servant came to his senses and immediately ran off in a panic. Not long afterward, a great swarm of colorful figures poured into the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard.

The madams and ladies from every courtyard had arrived. Surrounding the medicinal barrel, they learned from the nearby servants how long Li Hao had been soaking, and all found it impossible to believe.

Standing among the crowd, Liu Yuerong's heart skipped a beat.

Could it have been that medicine?

But she had never heard that the medicine had such severe side effects!

Her chest tightened with panic, yet her expression remained composed. At once, she put on a look of urgency and grief.

Inside the barrel, Li Hao, looking utterly bereft of the will to live, also saw his remarkably skilled Second Madam. In her eyes, he even caught a trace of genuine panic.

Could this Second Madam really have been scared? Li Hao sneered inwardly.

As the courtyard grew increasingly noisy, First Madam gave the order with a grim expression for all the servants to leave. Only the madams from the various courtyards remained. She warned them that this matter absolutely could not spread outside and must not be leaked!

Seeing that the Foundation Establishment Liquid had not weakened in the slightest, Lin Haixia's heart went completely cold.

This could not even be described as "slow."

Thinking of a terrifying constitution, he shuddered. Could it be that the Marquis's Qilin Child truly was rubbish completely incapable of cultivating martial arts?! He did not continue any further and pulled Li Hao from the medicinal barrel.

Seeing Li Hao's body pale from soaking to the point of oxygen deprivation, his skin shriveled and wrinkled, the madams all wore different expressions.

They had learned that Li Hao had already soaked for six hours.

Yet the Foundation Establishment Liquid had not changed at all, fully demonstrating how grave this matter was.

When Liu Yuerong saw that Li Hao had soaked until even his lips had turned white, she became certain this was no act.

Her heart leaped into her throat. She had only wanted to cripple the child's Divine Blood, not cripple him completely!

After all, if he became a total cripple, that would be far too suspicious!

This was the bloodline of the powerful Li Family, yet he could not cultivate?

If they investigated the cause later...

First Madam was the first to recover. She immediately instructed Lin Haixia to take good care of Hao'er, then had her personal maidservant bring over some warming medicinal soup to nourish Li Hao's weakened body.

The next day.

Lin Haixia prepared another two barrels of Foundation Establishment Liquid and had Li Hao and Bian Ruxue soak separately.

Lin Haixia stared intently as Li Hao entered the bath.

Li Hao was somewhat helpless. He knew it was futile and would only waste medicinal ingredients, but he could not defy the man and could only comply.

He would probably give up after only a few more attempts.

At that moment, the same style of notification as yesterday appeared.

[Unknown substance detected. Analyzing...]

[Analysis failed. Automatically isolated.]

Li Hao had expected this, so he was not too surprised. He obediently stayed in the medicinal bath, picking at his toes with his little hands in utter boredom.

As time passed and the medicinal liquid remained unchanged, the short, stocky man from the army finally snapped, letting out a low roar.

"How could this happen?!"

Lin Haixia was emotional, seeming even more unable to believe it than Li Hao.

He paced in circles beside the medicinal barrel, knocking on his own head. "The medicinal liquid is right. It cannot be wrong. Could it be that the Marquis's child truly cannot cultivate?!"

This was Li Family blood!

Li Hao was not terribly upset. With the panel, he could become stronger without relying on these medicinal liquids.

But seeing his teacher so grief-stricken, he instead felt a little apologetic and comforted him. "Uncle Lin, it's fine. Don't be so sad."

Lin Haixia's body trembled when he heard those words.

Looking at the child in the medicinal barrel, he suddenly felt tears threatening to spill forth.

Child, you have no idea what fate awaits you! Seeing the child's bright, clean eyes, Lin Haixia felt as though his heart had been torn open.

Was this truly the future awaiting the commander-in-chief's only son?

Yet there was nothing he could do.

For Li Hao's condition, he could think of only one possibility: congenital blockage of the meridians.

This was a standard Martial Dao Wasteland Physique! If it had appeared in an ordinary household, it would have been normal. Eight or nine out of every ten commoners in the world were like this, so it was hardly unusual.

But this was the Li Family!

The Li Family, where true dragons emerged generation after generation!

Even the least talented Li Family children were outstanding compared to ordinary people.

Not to mention the true dragons of the Li Family—who among them had not been a figure renowned throughout the land?

And this child before him...

Lin Haixia choked wordlessly. Even he, a man who could face mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield without changing expression, now did not dare look at this child any longer.

Those clean, innocent eyes were heartbreaking.

"It's all right, it's all right..." Seeing that this man was truly sad for him and not pretending, Li Hao also felt warmth in his heart.

He stood up in the medicinal barrel and tugged at the man's trouser leg, trying to comfort him.

The second attempt with Foundation Establishment Liquid was declared a failure.

The news swept through the entire Divine General Residence like a hurricane. This time, the news that Li Hao could not cultivate was thoroughly confirmed.

The madams and servants of every Li Family courtyard were all shocked and unable to believe it upon hearing the news.

Over the following days, Li Hao did not soak in any more medicinal liquid. Instead, people came one after another to examine his body, but all of them eventually left shaking their heads.

Li Hao also listened in and learned that, in their eyes, this condition was a Martial Dao Wasteland Physique.

This constitution did not mean one absolutely could not cultivate.

It was simply exceptionally difficult.

One could not absorb pills or external energy and could only rely on bitter training to achieve even a little success.

Moreover, one could only cultivate to the second realm.

To break through further required communicating with the energy of heaven and earth, so the second realm was the limit.

The news apparently reached the Yanbei Battlefield as well. Before long, a family letter was rushed back over a thousand miles.

Yet the contents of that letter shook the Divine General Residence once more.

The Xingwu Marquis had actually already reached the Three Immortalities Realm! The letter stated that First Madam must not give up on Hao'er because of this. No matter how bitter or difficult it became, she had to ensure he stepped onto the path of martial arts.

Even if he only made an initial entry, once his Divine Blood awakened in the future, he could still accomplish something. Though he would no longer have any chance of becoming a genius, he could at least secure a post at the level of a centurion in the army.

That way, he would not disgrace the name of a Li Family son.

First Madam was from the He clan, named Jianlan.

Though He Jianlan was over sixty years old, she looked only a little over forty. After reading the family letter, she merely sighed softly. "Hao'er has a bitter fate. It is all that slut's fault."

No one knew whom the "slut" in her words referred to.

In the days that followed, Li Hao felt that life had returned to how it had been before.

There was no need to undergo Foundation Establishment anymore. He heard they planned to let him try Blood Fusion once he turned four.

With that, Li Hao had nothing to do every day and had even more time to secretly play chess. His experience steadily rose at a rapid pace.

No one knew who had leaked the news of Li Hao's Martial Dao Wasteland Physique, but it spread beyond the residence.

In Qingzhou City's taverns and restaurants, there were suddenly new topics for discussion. Yet most people only took it as a gimmick invented by storytellers, and no one truly believed it.

After all, that was a Li Family son.

However, once it reached the ears of certain Li Family political rivals at court, it immediately drew their attention.

After sending people to investigate carefully and discovering that the matter was indeed true, many people in their residences were both delighted and alarmed.

They were delighted that the Li Family, whose glory had endured for a thousand years, had finally suffered a ruined bloodline!

But they were alarmed that the Xingwu Marquis had hidden himself so deeply. He had actually reached the Three Immortalities Realm long ago and only revealed it now.

Fortunately, his son had a Martial Dao Wasteland Physique. Otherwise, he would most likely become another Li Junye in the future!

In the blink of an eye, Li Hao turned four.

After a year of secret effort, Li Hao's Chess Dao successfully entered the second stage.

At the same time, he obtained another Art Skill Point.

Without hesitation, Li Hao used the Art Skill Point on Sword Dao.

His Sword Dao thus rose to the second stage as well.

Compared to the even richer and more chaotic flood of information when he advanced to the first stage, four-year-old Li Hao could now barely endure it. His head merely felt a little swollen.

As his Sword Dao advanced, the skills on the panel also changed.

Name: Li Hao

Age: 4

Cultivation: Mortal

Sword Dao: Second Stage

Skill: Boundless Sea - Tide (Supreme Perfection) [Forbidden]

Mastered Art: Chess Dao

Chess Dao: Second Stage (0/1000)

Chess Manual Collection: 0

Art Skill Points: 0

However, after Chess Dao entered the second stage, Li Hao discovered that continuing to play against himself could no longer repeatedly farm experience. He needed to find someone to compete against.