Returning to Childhood

"Greetings, Old Li. This junior is entering the library to study martial arts. Here is my identity token."

At the entrance to the Scripture Pavilion, Li Ji'an sat with his eyes closed on the Grand Tutor's Chair where Old Stone used to sit, quietly resting. A young man with no hope of becoming an Immortal Seedling bowed respectfully before him.

Without opening his eyes, Li Ji'an waved a hand. "The evening drum is the signal. Don't miss the appointed time."

"This junior understands. Thank you, Old Li."

After the young man disappeared into the Scripture Pavilion, Li Ji'an slowly opened his eyes and smiled, shaking his head.

"Without even noticing, I've become an 'old man'..." Unlike the "old" in Old Cripple Li from his previous life, this "old" was an honorific, the utmost mark of respect.

When Prince Yun ascended the throne, Li Ji'an had just turned thirty, successfully avoiding the possibility of becoming an Immortal Seedling. Thanks to his relationship with the Imperial Grandson, he remained in the Imperial Palace's Scripture Pavilion.

Seven years later, Old Prince Yun's old wounds from the "campaign to rescue the sovereign" flared up. He never got to see the immortal pill promised by the Immortal Master, and died on the dragon throne.

Zhao Yunsheng's father succeeded to the throne without a hitch, and Zhao Yunsheng naturally became the Crown Prince.

At the time, Li Ji'an devoted himself to cultivating his inner arts. He had already made modest progress in Marrow Cleansing, and after another three years, he reached completion. He then threw himself into Organ Refining, achieving perfection in eight years and successfully entering the ranks of Qi and Blood Grandmasters at the age of forty-one.

It was then that he outlived Old Stone and took over his position, rising from guard of the Scripture Pavilion to its elder.

For the next twenty years, he presided over the Scripture Pavilion, gathering the world's martial arts beneath his roof. While continuing to temper his qi and blood in pursuit of this world's martial peak—the Grandmaster realm—he also devoted himself to studying martial arts, using the highest-level techniques in the Martial Arts Ranking as his foundation. He left the pavilion only twice.

The first time was ten years ago. Taking advantage of his position, he had access to more top-tier martial arts than anyone in the world. After ten years of intensive study, he unexpectedly realized that every top-tier technique capable of unleashing more than seventy percent of its power through qi and blood shared a certain trait: in that instant, it could replenish the user's own qi and blood.

The greater the power unleashed, the better the replenishing effect.

Though the effect was slight in every case, and vanished in the blink of an eye,

Li Ji'an was still thrilled, and a wildly imaginative idea took shape.

So he shut himself away for three months, forgetting food and sleep.

At last, just as his head felt ready to burst, he seized that flash of inspiration, as fleeting as a flower that bloomed only once!

If he could fuse the methods for activating qi and blood along the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Primary Meridians found in the top-tier techniques, then, in theory, he could create an unparalleled martial art that activated nearly a hundred percent of his qi and blood. It would also greatly enhance his inner cultivation.

Unfortunately, although the top floor of the Scripture Pavilion held as many as seventy-nine top-tier manuals, many of their activation methods followed the same meridian pathways. He was still missing two top-tier techniques with different activation routes.

So, when he attended Prince Qing Ning Haichan's funeral, he took the opportunity to visit Prince Qing's residence. There, while paying his respects to Ning Haichan, he obtained the inherited fist art Chen Xiaosheng had left behind, along with the Su Family's Stormy Pear Blossom Needles.

They happened to contain methods for activating qi and blood along the two different meridian pathways he needed.

Three years later, he successfully created the ultimate martial art of this world. It could activate ninety-nine percent of his qi and blood, greatly improve his body's tempering as he cultivated, and double the speed of his inner cultivation.

With this divine art, it took only another six years for his qi and blood to surge like a dragon, and for him to successfully enter the Qi and Blood Grandmaster realm.

On top of that, his self-created ultimate martial art could unleash ninety-nine percent of his qi and blood's power. He was in his prime, with qi and blood at their peak, and he had mastered the signature arts of every other Grandmaster in the world... His place as the world's greatest was all but assured.

It was around that time, a year ago, that he went out for the second time.

A year ago, the new emperor had ruled for twenty-three years and was hosting the Immortal Ceremony for the third time.

But after the Immortal Master departed, the emperor was found gravely wounded in the Immortal Hall. He died before they could even carry him back to the palace.

No one knew exactly what had happened. The Immortal Seedlings selected that year had all been promising, so the only explanation was that the emperor had unintentionally uttered some forbidden words and angered the Immortal Master.

Afterward, a bloody struggle for the throne erupted in the palace: the Nine Dragons Seizing the Heir.

Poor Zhao Yunsheng. Though he was the most legitimate Crown Prince, he had the least talent for martial arts. The other princes did not even consider him a rival.

After all, when his father had named him Crown Prince, he had never intended to pass the throne to him. Martial artists tempered their qi and blood and lived relatively long lives. In particular, they might receive an Immortal Master's Longevity Immortal Pill every ten years. Apart from the Great Ancestor, the tradition was to pass the throne to the Imperial Grandson.

Li Ji'an had initially had no interest in the succession struggle. Zhao Yunsheng wasn't interested in the throne, anyway.

But the Eighth Prince was ruthless and merciless. Even after claiming the throne, he still wanted to wipe out the opposition root and branch.

So Li Ji'an left the Scripture Pavilion for the second time.

Zhao Yunsheng was forced to take the throne.

Li Ji'an was swept to the top of the Grandmaster Ranking.

"Am I already beginning to decline at just sixty-one?" After sensing it again and again and confirming there was no mistake, Li Ji'an frowned slightly, then smiled.

"Never mind. This life has already run its course."

Half a year earlier, he had begun to sense that the "return to youth" he had overlooked in his previous two lives came with signs in advance.

A Grandmaster whose qi and blood surged like a dragon could theoretically live close to a hundred years. But the prime of their life lasted only until around fifty or sixty. After that, their qi and blood slowly declined. The decline remained gradual until before seventy, then accelerated at eighty. By ninety, they would be in their twilight years.

Li Ji'an was already satisfied.

This life had far exceeded his expectations. He had reached the limits of the martial path, and, more importantly, had created an art that could accelerate inner cultivation and body tempering. He had full confidence in his next life.

More importantly, during the time he spent with Zhao Yunsheng in the imperial palace last year, he had unexpectedly discovered the secret records of the emperor from the time of the Martial Dao Calamity. He had also examined the talisman used to receive messages from the Immortal Master.

Martial Grandmasters really could injure cultivators!

That only strengthened his resolve to head to the Cultivation World in his next life.

Five days later, Li Ji'an bid farewell to Zhao Yunsheng, saying he planned to travel the world and seek out promising seedlings, doing his part to help with the Immortal Ceremony that had been troubling Zhao Yunsheng.

Afterward, Li Ji'an first returned to Qingzhou and visited Xiao Wu's grave. Then he went back to Purple Heaven Temple and saw Qingyun, whose hair and beard had turned gray.

Finally, after paying his respects to his master and senior brother, he drifted away.

Though he had already seen with his own eyes the maps charting the explorations of earlier experts and the imperial family, he still traveled all the way around the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty, partly to verify them.

Half a year later, as the sensation grew stronger and stronger, he quietly returned to the imperial capital and moved into a residence he had prepared long ago, the closest one to the Immortal Palace.

A month later, he awoke from a night's sleep and returned once again to the age of eight.

His body, which had been as powerful as a dragon only moments ago, suddenly became frail and feeble. Li Ji'an was a little unaccustomed to it.

But after closing his eyes and steadying himself for a moment, he smiled. His spirit was even more vigorous and his thoughts sharper than they had been at the peak of his previous life.

Without further hesitation, he took the Marrow Cleansing Pill he had prepared long ago from a hidden compartment and swallowed it. Then he poured the hot water he had boiled the night before, now at a suitable temperature, into a wooden tub filled with precious herbs and medicines no less valuable than the pill, and jumped in.

The Marrow Cleansing Pill washed through his sinews, bones, marrow, and organs from within, while the medicinal liquid cleansed his skin and flesh from without.

Li Ji'an felt as if he had been reborn and his bones remade in an instant.

"In this life, I'll enter the Cultivation World!"