Heaven-Defying Comprehension—Who Would Practice Martial Arts If They Could Cultivate Immortality?

"Your Majesty, Ren Xiaoyao released a Demonic Maiden of the Mystic Moon Demonic Cult. His crime merits execution!"

"Your Majesty, as the Sect Master of the True Martial Sect, I failed to discipline my son and allowed him to commit such a grave mistake. I too should be severely punished!"

"Your Majesty, if Ren Xiaoyao is not executed, the people's outrage will never be quelled!"

Inside the imperial court.

All the civil and military officials had gathered, their faces burning with indignation.

They seemed to wish they could swallow Ren Xiaoyao alive and flay him on the spot.

The Empress Tianyuan of Great Gan sat high upon the Imperial Throne.

She did not accept the ministers' counsel, merely saying coldly,

"His crime cannot be lightly forgiven. However, in consideration of the True Martial Sect Master's service to the state, I shall show leniency. Strip Ren Xiaoyao of his title as Marquis Xiaoyao and demote him to the Imperial Observatory. He may not leave the observatory without a summons."

Ren Xiaoyao groggily opened his eyes and discovered that he had arrived atop a mountain.

Before he could properly observe his surroundings,

a flood of information, like scenes flashing past on a revolving lantern, frantically poured into his mind.

"I transmigrated!"

"I am now Ren Xiaoyao, the second son of the True Martial Sect Master of Great Gan."

"Three days ago, my half-brother from the same father, Ren Ruohai, was bewitched by a Demonic Maiden of the Mystic Moon Demonic Cult and secretly released her from the Heavenly Prison. My father then forced me to take the blame for my brother. I was stripped of my title, and the previous owner of this body died from depression. Today, I transmigrated here!"

As the endless stream of memories flooded Ren Xiaoyao's mind,

he finally gained a preliminary understanding of his circumstances.

This was a world where the Martial Dao reigned supreme.

The previous owner's father was Ren Xuanji, Sect Master of the True Martial Sect of Great Gan.

His mother was Luo Mengshen, the first Pavilion Master of Great Gan's Facing Heaven Pavilion.

When he was born, the Empress of Great Gan had acknowledged him as her adopted son and bestowed upon him the title of Marquis Xiaoyao.

But good times did not last.

Not long after Ren Xiaoyao was born, his mother, Luo Mengshen, was struck by a grave illness and soon passed away.

After Ren Xiaoyao's mother, Luo Mengshen, died of illness, he entered the darkest period of his life.

At such a young age, he suffered countless cold stares and was bullied by everyone.

Because the person who loathed him most was his own father, Ren Xuanji.

Ren Xiaoyao had originally possessed peerless talent.

The moment he was born, the Director of the Imperial Observatory had declared him the greatest prodigy Great Gan had seen in centuries.

He could have become a legend of the Martial Dao.

Yet his father forbade him from cultivating and used vicious methods to seal every Acupoint throughout his body.

He had been utterly reduced to a cripple!

After enduring all this, the original Ren Xiaoyao had long since become disheartened.

He acted with extreme caution, barely surviving in this world, never daring to overstep his bounds in the slightest.

Yet he had never expected to meet such a miserable end regardless.

Though the current Ren Xiaoyao was a transmigrator,

after absorbing the information in the original owner's memories, he could not help but sigh.

How miserable!

This world revered the Martial Dao above all else.

The original Ren Xiaoyao had been destined to shine brilliantly in this world, yet his father had personally ruined his future.

Now, he had been wrongfully condemned with hatred in his heart, reduced to a servant, his life plunged into darkness with no hope of ever rising again.

Just as Ren Xiaoyao was lost in thought, lines of text appeared before his eyes.

Name: Ren Xiaoyao

Lifespan: 16/18

Race: Mortals

Talent: Heaven-Defying Comprehension

Cultivation: None

Cultivation Art: None

Spell: None

Magic Item: None

Could this be a system?

Ren Xiaoyao's heart surged with excitement.

With such a catastrophic beginning, if he had not received a system, he feared he could only look to the heavens and sigh before dying in depression. Fortunately, Heaven still had eyes and had given Ren Xiaoyao a chance to turn the tide against the wind.

Then more lines of text appeared before Ren Xiaoyao's eyes.

[System activation detected. The Path of Cultivation may now be opened. You have the following choices.]

[One: Practice martial arts. You may obtain the Martial Dao cultivation art, Northern Darkness Heavenly Marsh Technique, and embark on the path to becoming the supreme ruler of the martial world.]

[Two: Cultivate immortality. You may obtain the immortal cultivation art, Supreme Primordial Beginning Art, and embark upon the path to becoming a great sage of the immortal way.]

Without the slightest hesitation, Ren Xiaoyao chose the second option.

Who would practice martial arts if they could cultivate immortality?

After making his choice, an incomparably mysterious cultivation art appeared in Ren Xiaoyao's mind.

The Supreme Primordial Beginning Art.

According to its guidance, Ren Xiaoyao only needed to comprehend this cultivation art to begin cultivating immortality.

"This world reveres the Martial Dao. Since I cannot practice martial arts, I was already destined for a miserable life. But now that I can cultivate immortality, everything has taken a turn."

Ren Xiaoyao clenched his fists.

In the blink of an eye, Ren Xiaoyao had spent three days in this world.

He had also gained a general understanding of it.

This world resembled ancient China, and it was currently ruled by the Great Gan Dynasty.

The current Son of Heaven was the first woman in history to hold that position.

The Empress Tianyuan!

Below the Empress,

the True Martial Sect,

the Facing Heaven Pavilion,

and the Imperial Observatory

were the three most powerful institutions in Great Gan.

Among them, the Sect Master of the True Martial Sect was Ren Xiaoyao's father, Ren Xuanji, while the founder of the Facing Heaven Pavilion was Ren Xiaoyao's birth mother, Luo Mengshen.

As for the Imperial Observatory, it had originally been Great Gan's foremost institution of power. It had assisted Great Gan's founding emperor and possessed the merit of establishing the nation. At the beginning of the dynasty, its power had overshadowed the entire realm, with none able to rival its prestige.

Yet in the current Empress's era, it had been deliberately suppressed and had already declined beyond measure.

Ren Xiaoyao was now a Stargazing Servant under the Imperial Observatory.

Unlike the early days of the dynasty, when the Imperial Observatory oversaw everything, its responsibilities had now been drastically reduced to merely observing celestial phenomena. Naturally, its status was worlds apart from what it once had been.

Observing celestial phenomena was further divided into observing the sun and observing the night.

As a servant, Ren Xiaoyao's daily work was to handle odd jobs for the Master responsible for observing the night.

There were only a handful of people left in the Imperial Observatory during this generation, so its hierarchy was not particularly strict. Superiors and subordinates addressed one another as Master and disciple.

Ren Xiaoyao's direct superior, his Master, was named Li Chunfeng. He was the youngest disciple of the current Director of the Imperial Observatory.

According to Li Chunfeng himself, he had once been a legend of the Martial Dao. In his early years, the Director had sent Li Chunfeng to roam the martial world, where he suppressed an entire generation of peers. Later, having grown tired of a life of fighting and killing, he returned to the Imperial Observatory.

Only after taking on the task of observing the stars and moon at night did Li Chunfeng come to understand the vastness of the universe and the infinity of space-time.

What was the Martial Dao?

What was power?

What were the Director and the Empress?

Compared with the boundless universe and endless space-time, they were nothing more than ants and dust.

Li Chunfeng had attained enlightenment. With the universe in his heart, he was invincible beneath the heavens. He did not wish to fight, nor did he deign to contend with anyone.

However, Ren Xiaoyao could also see that Li Chunfeng had not completely let go.

Whenever he was drunk, Li Chunfeng would tell Ren Xiaoyao stories from his youth—how he drew his sword on West Shu Mountain and slew the Devil Master, flicked a finger on the Heavenly Plateau and killed a Dharma King, wiped out an Evil Sect with one hand in the Northern Pasture Sea...

The tales filled Ren Xiaoyao, a transmigrator who had only just entered this world, with yearning for those scenes of swift vengeance and unrestrained passion.

However, Ren Xiaoyao also knew clearly that although he cultivated immortality, he was still quite weak at this stage. He had to keep a low profile and develop quietly.

"According to the cultivation art's guidance, as long as I absorb enough spiritual energy, quantitative change will trigger qualitative change. At that point, spiritual power will arise within my body. Then I will enter the Dao Realm First Heaven and become a true Cultivator."

Ren Xiaoyao muttered to himself.

Cultivating immortality was supposed to be an incomparably difficult undertaking. Ren Xiaoyao was also exploring it entirely on his own. Under normal circumstances, it would take at least three to five years to sense qi.

But Ren Xiaoyao possessed the innate talent of Heaven-Defying Comprehension, making his cultivation feel as though he had activated a cheat.

In only three short hours, Ren Xiaoyao sensed qi.

After touching upon that sensation of qi, Ren Xiaoyao did not waste a moment and cultivated with tireless diligence.

Over the following days, while cultivating, Ren Xiaoyao also learned more about the Imperial Observatory.

The Imperial Observatory had originally been Great Gan's foremost institution of power, so its official residence had naturally been within the Capital City. But under the Empress's suppression, it had been moved out of the Capital City to Fulong Mountain.

The Imperial Observatory had only two branches. One was Li Chunfeng's Night Observation Department, which had only Ren Xiaoyao as a servant disciple.

The other was the Sun Gazing Division, which had quite a few disciples: Senior Sister Bai Su, Second Senior Brother Lin Ping, and Third Senior Brother Dongfang Ye.

Recently,

the Sun Gazing Division had recruited another female servant disciple named Liu Ruyan.

Since the observation sites of the Sun Gazing Division and the Night Observation Department were located on separate peaks of Fulong Mountain—Sun Gazing Peak and Night Gazing Peak—Ren Xiaoyao had little contact with the Sun Gazing Division's disciples. They had only met a few times and were merely acquaintances who nodded in passing.

However, Ren Xiaoyao noticed that the newly arrived female disciple Liu Ruyan looked at him strangely. Her gaze was exceedingly suggestive, and she often locked eyes with him in a burning stare, making Ren Xiaoyao very uncomfortable.

Ren Xiaoyao admitted that he was very handsome in this life, handsome enough to slay women. It was normal for Liu Ruyan to fall for him.

But Ren Xiaoyao truly had no desire to pursue romance right now.

All his thoughts were devoted to cultivating immortality. He wanted to generate spiritual power as soon as possible and attain the Dao Realm First Heaven.

The love and entanglements of the mortal world would never be allowed to disturb his Dao heart.

However, Liu Ruyan seemed unwilling to give up on Ren Xiaoyao. Every few days, she would come from Sun Gazing Peak to Night Gazing Peak in an attempt to strike up a conversation with him.

Though Ren Xiaoyao always deliberately avoided her, Liu Ruyan seemed to become more courageous with every setback. She came to find him with increasing frequency, to the point that even Li Chunfeng could not help but advise Ren Xiaoyao.

"Ren Xiaoyao, I think Liu Ruyan is quite beautiful and has a gentle temperament. She would make a fine match. The fact that she has taken a liking to you is a blessing. Why not simply accept her?"

"It is precisely because she is too outstanding. Even the Director said she is a Martial Dao prodigy found once in ten thousand. She will certainly become a Grandmaster in the future. Yet I can never practice martial arts in this lifetime. I am nothing but a cripple, utterly unworthy of her. Even if I gained her, I could not keep her. I might even bring disaster upon myself."

Ren Xiaoyao said helplessly.

Though it was an excuse, it was also what Ren Xiaoyao truly thought.

This world respected the strong. Without strength, everything was Empty Talk.

When Li Chunfeng heard Ren Xiaoyao's words, he first froze, then chuckled. Knocking Ren Xiaoyao on the head, he said,

"You foolish Kid. You are young, yet you see matters quite clearly. But your Master will give you a saying too: if you refuse a free advantage, you're the son of a turtle and a bastard."

Ren Xiaoyao said nothing, but inwardly became even more resolute. Love and romance were nothing but beautiful skeletons; they would only harm him as he was now. Once he became invincible beneath the heavens, what kind of woman could he not have?

That night, Ren Xiaoyao felt that the spiritual energy contained within his body was nearly at its limit.

He had a premonition that tonight, he would be able to enter the Dao Realm First Heaven.

Ren Xiaoyao did not wish to delay. He also understood the principle of striking while the iron was hot, so he continued absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Suddenly,

Knock, knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

Ren Xiaoyao frowned. Who would come looking for him in the dead of night?

Could it be Li Chunfeng?

Puzzled, Ren Xiaoyao opened the door.

Liu Ruyan stood outside.

She smiled sweetly at him.

Liu Ruyan had deliberately dressed up tonight. She wore a Deep Purple long dress, its Skirt Hem gently swaying in the wind. Her jet-black hair was arranged in a cloudlike bun, with A Few Strands of loose hair casually Descended beside her neck, adding even more temptation to her appearance.

Even Ren Xiaoyao could not help but glance at Liu Ruyan a few more times.

He recalled an old saying from his past life: purple really had a certain charm.

The next moment, Liu Ruyan gave a coquettish huff and took the initiative to enter Ren Xiaoyao's room. By the time Ren Xiaoyao came back to his senses, Liu Ruyan was already seated on his bed.

In the middle of the night, a lone man and a lone woman.

Ren Xiaoyao fell into conflict.

Under these circumstances, should he remain unmoved even while holding a woman in his lap, or should he first pretend to be angry, then reluctantly yield, and finally let things follow their natural course?

Liu Ruyan also shot Ren Xiaoyao a coquettish look. She glanced around his room and laughed charmingly. "Young Master, what is it? Did this Saintess's initiative frighten you?"

"Saintess?"

Ren Xiaoyao caught the key word.

The next moment, Liu Ruyan stared at Ren Xiaoyao and smiled.

"Oh, right. Let me formally introduce myself. I am Liu Ruyan, the Saintess of the Mystic Moon Demonic Cult—the Demonic Maiden said to have been released from the Heavenly Prison by you, Ren Xiaoyao."

"Now, I am an Undercover Agent planted by the Mystic Moon Demonic Cult in the Imperial Observatory."

Hearing this, Ren Xiaoyao's heart skipped a beat.

He was not interested in Liu Ruyan's true identity.

But now that Liu Ruyan had laid her cards on the table before him,

he knew he had gotten himself into trouble!