Ye Li's Identity Greatly Exposed!!!

The night of October 14th grew increasingly cold.

Ye Li sat alone in the courtyard on Changyuan Street, eyes closed as he regulated his breathing, waiting for the medicinal effects to dissipate.

The courtyard was pitch black, with only the cold moonlight filtering through sparse leaves to cast mottled, fragmented shadows upon the ground.

With the day's clamor faded, the world was silent—the perfect time for self-refinement.

Slowly opening his eyes, Ye Li rose and stood in the open space of the courtyard.

Only seven days had passed since he broke through to the Body Tempering Realm, and the progress on his panel was clearly visible:

Body Tempering Initial Stage (221/1500)

Cultivation Method: "Azure Dragon Force"

"Nine Chapters Fist Manual (3+480/500)"

Benefiting from the astonishing boost provided by the [Green] entry, Ye Li, while in a state of focused meditation, not only saw his reaction speed improve but also gained a 15% increase in cultivation efficiency out of thin air!

He poured this precious extra time without reservation into the tempering of the Nine Chapters Fist Manual.

With a steady supply of medicine and the dual support of the Dragon Tiger Pill and Body Tempering Pill.

Ye Li's realm experience increased steadily by 38 points each day, with all remaining energy poured into this mundane martial art.

In just two short days!

The experience points for this mundane martial art had soared from the initial 3 points to 483! The speed was simply inconceivable.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before this basic fist technique, taken from the gang's library, reached the realm of perfection in his hands.

At this moment, Ye Li's form shifted slightly; his feet took root, his waist sank, and he sat into his stance, executing the moves of the Nine Chapters Fist Manual with effortless ease.

Gone was the stiffness and hesitation of his early practice; every punch and palm strike was rounded and fluid, his force retracted and released at will, like a grandmaster who had immersed himself in the craft for decades.

His punches were as steady as mountains, his fist wind gusting, his footwork continuous and agile.

The transitions between moves were like flowing water, with force transmitted, condensed, and erupted through his muscles and bones, faintly producing crisp, snapping sounds—his sinews and bones resonating in unison.

In some worlds where the extraordinary is subtle, combat techniques are categorized as: Clear Force, Hidden Force, Transforming Force...

And at this moment, within that classification, Ye Li's attainment had already stepped into the threshold of minor success in Clear Force!

To reach this speed of progress in two days—anyone who heard of it would say he was "cheating!"

Of course, in this high-martial world, realm is everything!

The gap between realms only grows wider the further one goes!

Thus, in the eyes of martial artists in this world, so-called technique is nothing more than the clever tricks of the mediocre!

Only those unable to break through to higher realms would waste their thoughts on researching technique.

After all, a higher realm means sharper thinking, more cunning eyes, greater strength, and faster speed...

A Body Tempering Initial Stage martial artist, even if they possessed the techniques of Transforming Force, would likely appear as slow as a crawling snail in the eyes of a Post-Heaven Realm expert, their attack trajectories clear and easily blocked or countered.

As for Innate experts?

They possess insight and comprehension akin to human computers.

The exquisite moves of low-level martial artists are nothing more than children's play to them; they can discern the essence at a glance, or even deduce and optimize them on the spot.

Precisely because of this, cultivation methods that directly raise one's realm and temper the foundation of the body are the treasures of immense value.

Meanwhile, the various basic martial arts easily found on the market are often viewed as mere introductory ornaments or auxiliary means; few martial artists would spend significant effort to study them deeply during a critical period of realm advancement.

Ye Li had originally thought the same, which is why he had previously neglected martial arts training.

But things were different now.

These martial arts could trigger entries!

It was like buying a casket and getting the pearls inside; naturally, he had to push his martial arts training to the limit.

A single [Swiftness] entry had granted him a 15% increase in cultivation efficiency out of thin air, effectively extending his daily practice time.

What if he could awaken another similar, or even more powerful, entry?

What if it directly improved his aptitude or comprehension?

Or even just improved the absorption efficiency of his cultivation pills?

Thinking of this, Ye Li's fist wind grew faster, and his mental calculations became clearer:

"In half an hour, the experience points for the fist manual will reach the 500-point threshold of perfection. But after reaching perfection, to trigger an entry awakening, I must continue to invest experience until the carrying limit is reached..."

"The limit for the Azure Dragon Force is (2000/100), which takes a long time. As a mundane martial art, where will the limit for this Nine Chapters Fist Manual lie?"

"Is it the same 20 times the experience as the Azure Dragon Force, or is 2000 points enough? If the sunk cost is too high, I'll have to temporarily abandon it and wait until I break through to the middle stage."

At this moment, Ye Li set the sunk cost for this martial art at 2000 in his mind.

If no entry was awakened by the time he reached 2000 points, it would mean either the cost to awaken an entry for this manual was too high, or the martial art was incapable of awakening entries at all.

He would immediately choose to abandon the wager and shift his focus entirely to raising his cultivation realm.

While Ye Li was fully immersed in his cultivation, the narrative shifts elsewhere:

Turning our gaze to the Qing State, seven days had already passed!

Central Province, Daqing Dynasty, the summit of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Deep within the mist-shrouded Taoist temple, seven days of sleepless divination finally came to an end.

The Chief Eunuch held a sheet of heavenly secrets in his hands, his body shimmering with flowing light as he transformed into a streak of brilliance that tore through the night sky, spanning ten thousand miles to reach the brightly lit Qinzheng Hall deep within the imperial palace.

Inside the magnificent hall, candlelight flickered. The Emperor, clad in armor, sat upright upon the golden throne, radiating an unforced majesty.

The Prime Minister of the Daqing Dynasty stood before the steps holding a jade tablet, while the high-ranking officials of the court stood below with their hands hanging respectfully, their expressions grave.

Every eye was focused on the streak of light that had descended from the heavens.

As the light dissipated, the Chief Eunuch appeared, hurried forward, and his voice echoed clearly yet low through the silent hall:

"Reporting to Your Majesty! Celestial Master Zhang of Dragon Tiger Mountain has bathed, burned incense, and fasted for seven days. By invoking the power of the celestial stars, he has caught a glimpse of the origin of that golden entry in the Southern Border! The results of the divination are here; please, Your Majesty, take a look!"

The officials in the hall maintained composed expressions, though ripples of unease stirred within their hearts.

The Southern Border was remote, and clues were scarce.

Even when relying on a leader of the mystical arts like Dragon Tiger Mountain and utilizing profound divination techniques, the results obtained were often merely vague pointers or fragmented information.

Past experience had shown that nine times out of ten, such divination results would only plunge them into deeper confusion or even lead them astray.

If not for the fact that a golden entry was a world-shaking variable capable of threatening the foundation of the state, they would truly not wish to resort to such ethereal methods.

It was not that Celestial Master Zhang of Dragon Tiger Mountain lacked ability, but rather that every case they dealt with was a high-stakes affair.

After all, when there was sufficient information, one could directly rely on the Cause-Tracing and Effect-Tracking entry to reach a conclusion.

Only when even this orange-tier entry failed to yield a solid result did they cast the problem to the Celestial Master, placing their faith in metaphysics.

The Emperor's gaze was like lightning as he swept it across those below the steps; the Prime Minister understood and gave a slight nod.

The Chief Eunuch carefully unfolded the seemingly ordinary piece of white paper and presented it to the Emperor and the Prime Minister.

Upon seeing the writing on it, the brows of both the Emperor and the Prime Minister locked together almost simultaneously: What... was the meaning of this?

There were no poems, prophecies, or hexagram symbols on the paper.

There were only seventeen cold Chinese characters representing numbers, arranged abruptly, with a glaring capital "X" at the end!

The paper recorded:

Three Five Two Two Zero... Six Six Six One X!

(35220...6661X)

[Recommendation Ticket]

[Monthly Ticket]