Chapter 9: The Primordial Beginning
A power like that of a lion or elephant surged within him. Li Hao clenched his fist slightly, feeling as though his small hand could easily crush a large stone! Just moments ago, he’d possessed only the strength of an ordinary person; now, within a short span, he had become a cultivator!
Tongli Realm—the first realm of the Martial Path—focused on the mastery of strength. When strength permeated the entire body, it was known as Tongli. Over countless ages, the standards for each level within the Tongli Realm had been precisely defined. The first level involved lifting a single ding in weight, which equaled approximately 200 jin of arm strength.
With a steady diet and regular training, even a common person could barely reach the strength of Tongli Realm’s first level. However, to advance further required either innate strength or cultivation. Each level’s strength increased by one ding, and at the seventh level, Li Hao, with his five-year-old physique, could now lift objects weighing as much as 1,400 jin.
This was only the strength in his arms; with his entire body’s explosive power, he could easily leap a hundred meters, move as swiftly as lightning, and fight hundreds of ordinary strong men.
"At last, I can cultivate; at the very least, I’ll have the power to protect myself from now on."
Filled with excitement, Li Hao flexed slightly, feeling his skin tighten until it became as tough as hide. Though his flesh was still tender, it could no longer be easily pinched or torn—it had the resilience of taut cowhide, resisting even twisting!
“However, this seems to be merely the limit of Stone Skin Hundred Refinements. If I train with those two manuals, my cultivation might increase even further!” Li Hao thought to himself.
He took a deep breath, adjusted his physical state, and waited until the redness on his skin gradually faded to normal. Only then did he leave the room.
Afterward, Li Hao summoned Zhao Bo and had him send a message to his aunt.
Soon, a response came, and once again the maidservant Xuejian arrived to accompany him.
This time, they went straight up to the sixth floor, where Li Hao picked up the two manuals and began reading through them.
With his recent comprehension of the Physical Path, Li Hao noticed that many phrases that had previously baffled him suddenly made sense.
“Basic concepts grasped. Record?”
“Yes!”
Within moments, Li Hao recorded both manuals into his mind panel, and then asked Xuejian to take him downstairs.
Though Xuejian felt slightly helpless, she did not show it. He was, after all, just a child; she figured she’d simply indulge him in this playful exploration. As for actually understanding the manuals—she chuckled to herself. With this short time, even several days of study wouldn’t be enough to gain any insights.
Even the manuals on the first floor, if left in the outside world, were considered of moderate difficulty. It would take three to five days of contemplation just to grasp the basics.
Let alone the manuals on the sixth floor. The more powerful the technique, the higher the cultivation threshold.
Li Hao, however, was oblivious to the young girl’s thoughts. But even if he knew, he wouldn’t care; after all, who would take a child’s words to heart?
Returning to the Shanhe Courtyard, Li Hao asked the maidservants to prepare some food and drink before beginning his cultivation. His earlier training of Stone Skin Hundred Refinements had left him feeling greatly depleted, and he now felt an intense hunger.
“This little bit is for whom exactly?”
“Bring another platter. I mean bring an extra serving of each item! I’m still growing; did you think I wouldn’t be able to eat it all?”
Under the maids’ astonished gazes, Li Hao devoured a whole table of meat, wiping his small, greasy mouth with satisfaction, feeling only sixty percent full. Not wanting to alarm them further, he held back, swaggered back to his room, and began cultivating.
The Thousand Serpents Sacred Body, which had seemed incomprehensible before, consisted of four stages, but only the first two had shown up as mastered in his panel.
The first stage, Serpent Demon Body, would harden his bones and toughen his skin like dragon scales, rendering him immune to sword and blade.
The second stage, Flood Dragon Body, bestowed him with partial dragon strength, further enhancing all aspects of his physique.
Exhaling sharply, Li Hao took up his stance. His body hunkered low like a fierce tiger, spine arched like a drawn bow, his bones creaking softly.
Through his initial understanding of the Physical Path, he opened the hidden vaults of his body. His cells seemed to awaken, his blood flow accelerated once again, and this time, he felt a cool, refreshing energy seeping in from the outside world, flowing into his body.
It was the power of the Taiyin, the dark side of heaven and earth.
As Taiyin energy entered his body, Li Hao’s red-hued skin gradually returned to normal, and his flesh and blood began to transform at an astonishing speed. With the hidden vaults opened, he could now temper himself with the energy of the world.
With more and more Taiyin energy entering, his complexion paled, then gained a hint of blue-green, like a corpse. Subtle, scaly ridges began to emerge on his skin, reminiscent of dragon scales.
After the time of three incense sticks, he finished the first stage of cultivation.
Looking at his progress, Li Hao found that he had not only broken through the seventh level of Tongli Realm but had reached the tenth, the realm of Perfection!
...
Within the Tongli Realm, the increase in strength between each of the first nine levels was relatively minor, with each level adding a threshold of 200 jin. But advancing from the ninth to the tenth level was a transformative step, doubling his power!
The tenth level marked the peak of Tongli, where strength fully integrated with the body, forming a seamless unity. His arms could now bear up to 3,600 jin!
Though overjoyed, Li Hao couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. If his divine blood hadn’t been rendered useless, those with divine blood typically awakened its power at the tenth level of Tongli Realm, unleashing their latent bloodline potential.
Divine blood at the tenth level would have doubled his strength again, reaching an astonishing 7,200 jin. This gap allowed Divine Blood cultivators in the Tongli Realm to easily overwhelm others in the same realm, able to overcome martial skills purely with brute force! It was like the difference between a player who’d invested heavily in a game versus a regular player.
However, one needed a parent at the Three Immortal Realm to possess divine blood. Across all nineteen provinces of the Great Yu Dynasty, those who reached this level could be counted on one hand.
Li Hao did not feel discouraged. He adjusted his stance briefly and continued cultivating the second stage.
Half an hour later, he finished and opened his eyes. A flash of divine light shot from his gaze, and his pupils appeared even darker and deeper.
Feeling his body, he sensed a newfound power far beyond his earlier state. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to find someone to spar with, just to test the extent of his strength.
Checking his progress panel, he noted with surprise that he hadn’t broken through to the Zhoutian Realm; he was still at the tenth level of Tongli Realm.
Despite the apparent increase in power, he hadn’t reached Zhoutian Realm?
It dawned on him that he still didn’t know how to circulate qi.
Upon reaching the pinnacle of Tongli Realm, a new force called "qi" had emerged within him. The saying "strength begets qi" referred precisely to this: a tangible sense of power that surged like a flexed muscle.
However, though the qi circulated through his body, he was unable to control it.
He suddenly remembered that the Thousand Serpents Sacred Body’s second stage didn’t cover the method of qi circulation.
And he wasn’t yet able to comprehend the third stage with his current understanding of the Physical Path.
“Flood Dragon Body, partial dragon strength… Just how much power do I have now?” Li Hao wondered. He could tell his strength had vastly increased, possibly even doubled.
But he didn’t rush to test it; instead, he turned to the other body-refining manual...
The Primordial—an incomplete manual.
With his comprehension of the Physical Path, Li Hao quickly grasped its meaning and began cultivating.
According to the general principles of the Primordial manual, this body-refining method consisted of five stages.
However, the incomplete manual in his possession contained only the first two stages; the last three had been lost.
The first stage of the Primordial Secret Art required opening the hidden vaults of the body to sense the Sun’s energy in the heavens, as well as the Taiyin energy, simultaneously drawing both forces into the body to temper it.
Without insight into the Physical Path, even taking the first step would be nearly impossible for most.
Yet for Li Hao, it felt natural, as though he were well-versed in it. Guiding the energies of the Sun and Taiyin into his body, he began reshaping his physical form.
The second stage required absorbing starlight energy to forge the body into a Star Battle Body—a physique even more formidable than the Flood Dragon Body, one containing the Sun’s searing heat and Taiyin’s icy force, like the core of a star, brimming with vitality and power.
When Li Hao opened his eyes again, he realized it was already the middle of the night. Unknowingly, he had been cultivating for seven or eight hours. His gaze was calm and steady, and his breathing was deep and powerful, like a coiled flood dragon ready to strike. Both his hearing and sight had become significantly more acute.
Li Hao could even hear the faint sound of wind stirring in the courtyard. It wasn’t the wind, though; it was the sound of a sword.
Someone was practicing swordsmanship.
With his level of Sword Dao comprehension, Li Hao could visualize the person’s stance and movements solely from the sound of the sword slicing through the air. It was that young maid.
Was she that diligent, too?
Li Hao smiled slightly, then called up his progress panel.
[Name: Li Hao]
[Age: 5]
[Cultivation Level: Tongli Realm, Tenth Level]
[Sword Dao: Second Stage]
[Skill: Boundless Sea - Tidal Flow (Perfection) [Sealed]]
[Physical Path: First Stage]
[Skills: Stone Skin Hundred Refinements (Advanced), Thousand Serpents Sacred Body (Flood Dragon Body - Minor Mastery), Primordial (Star Battle Body - Beginner Level)]
[Chess Dao: Third Stage (0/5000)]
[Chess Manual Collection: 0]
[Skill Points: 0]
"Still at the Tongli Realm?"
Li Hao was taken aback. He could feel that his body had undergone an immense transformation, growing far stronger than when he had just reached the tenth level. Now, he felt as if he could wield his Tidal Flow Sword Technique, at the level of perfection, with ease—yet he still hadn’t broken through.
However, he had yet to learn how to circulate qi throughout his body.
It seemed that the first two stages of the Primordial Body-Refining Art were intended solely for the Tongli Realm.
Yet, the power it bestowed already far exceeded the limits of that realm.
The only issue was that cultivating it was tremendously challenging. Even with his current level of comprehension in the Physical Path, he had merely scratched the surface of the Star Battle Body. For ordinary people, it might take twenty years or more to reach this level, by which time they’d likely have already stepped into the Zhoutian Realm.
After all, in comparison, reaching the Zhoutian Realm appeared far easier.
Li Hao stood up, adjusting to his enhanced physique, then opened the window to look outside. In the courtyard, under the starlit sky, a small figure was indeed practicing with a sword.
Surprisingly, compared to her clumsy, crooked movements from the morning, her current swordplay looked remarkably practiced.
The little girl, it seemed, had some talent.
Li Hao chuckled, then leaned out of the window, pushing himself lightly to leap down to the ground with ease.
He approached the courtyard’s ornamental rockery, a feature he had heard Zhao Bo say was brought here single-handedly by his father in his youth, weighing over a hundred ding.
Crouching slightly, Li Hao looked around, noting that all the servants were resting, with only a few guards patrolling at a distance.
Seizing the opportunity, he approached the rockery, placed his hands into one of its crevices, and gave it a test push.
Rumble…
To his shock, as he exerted his full strength, the colossal rockery—several tons in weight—began to lift off the ground!
As it moved, the surrounding pond water surged and poured beneath it, making Li Hao hurriedly release his grip to avoid causing a commotion. He slowly set the rockery back down, steadying it with care.