Chapter 44

"Then just persuade a bit more."

Shen Yunqing smiled, skipped this joke, and said to the two: "You two should also go to the stone tablets and take a look. The spots for each class are limited. Today is already the second day of our academy's recruitment, which means that besides today, there is only one day left for comprehension. You two must hurry."

Li Yuanzhao hurriedly said: "What if the spots for Grade A are full?"

"Then you can only go to Grade B, but don't worry. After a month, there will be a test. If you have confidence, you can challenge Grade A and replace the class."

Shen Qingyun smiled: "No matter which class you are in, it's not a once-and-for-all thing. Cultivation is competition—competing with the heavens, competing with demons, and most importantly, competing with people!"

"If you want to get the most resources and the best treatment, you must stand above the crowd to be qualified."

In the Divine General's Mansion, as direct descendants, their parents would prepare cultivation resources for them, but in the Tan Palace Academy, everything had to be competed for by themselves.

Hearing this, Li Yuanzhao hurriedly pulled Li Hao and walked toward the stone tablet that Li Yun and his sister were observing.

Apparently, that was the stone tablet for the Upper Grade cultivation technique.

In front of this stone tablet, there were only a dozen or so people contemplating. The number of people in front of the other stone tablets was twenty or thirty. The number of people in front of the stone tablet for the Middle Grade cultivation technique was the largest. After all, most people, although confident, still chose to be safe.

Li Hao glanced at it. What was recorded on the stone tablet was a fist technique.

Fist techniques were almost a compulsory cultivation technique for martial artists. If fist and foot techniques were practiced to proficiency, practicing other weapons would also be twice the result with half the effort.

He toured it carefully, and characters appeared before his eyes:

{Already comprehended the fur, whether to record it? } Li Hao chose yes.

Soon, the panel had an extra record of this fist technique, but the layer was not entry, nor was it perfected or ultimate.

{Upper Grade cultivation technique: Wind-Slashing Fist (True State)}

One step, reaching the limit!

Regarding this, Li Hao didn't feel surprised.

During the five years of fishing with Second Uncle, when the old man learned that he hadn't inherited the soul in the ancestral hall, although he was angry, in order to protect him in the future, he also pointed out some fist techniques to him on weekdays.

Therefore, on the panel, besides the Sword Dao, another path was recorded: Fist Dao.

Already raised to...... six stages! Besides the Fist Dao, other paths like the Body Dao, Sword Dao, and Imperial Dao were all raised to six stages by Li Hao! Over these five years, he had been busy all day, and many arts had been greatly improved.

Fishing 5 stages, chess 5 stages, cooking 6 stages, painting 5 stages.

Poetry and books 3 stages, playing the zither 3 stages.

A total of 27 art points were brought.

Now 24 points were used, and 3 points were abundant, kept for emergencies.

Li Hao originally wanted to raise a single path to the limit before saying anything, but after exploring, he found that any path realm had a threshold every three stages.

From three stages to four stages, it required entering the heart.

When the cooking path was raised to 6 stages of full experience, it prompted that it needed to comprehend the Spirit of Cooking to continue raising.

If entering the heart was focus, and could be achieved by thinking about it and loving it, then entering the spirit required talent, requiring the mastery of Dao rhyme.

Cooking dishes required making delicacies that broke tradition, injecting soul into the dishes.

Chess was also like this.

Placing a piece was not just about winning or losing, but also required having one's own wisdom and spiritual rhyme, which was the so-called God's Hand, amazing chess, a wonderful move beyond secularity and insight! Li Hao knew that this was not just the panel's requirement. If there was no panel, if one practiced martial arts normally, reaching a certain realm would also require entering the heart and entering the spirit. According to Second Uncle's words, this was a state of mind that must be reached when practicing any cultivation technique.

Otherwise, one would at most be a second-rate expert, difficult to reach the peak.

If you want to be strong, enter madness first! It was said that above entering the spirit, there was a higher realm, which was entering the sage.

But even Second Uncle, who was called the Fist Saint, only had a state of mind that entered the spirit in fist techniques, but failed to enter the sage.

The word "Sage" was the supreme word in Great Yu, an existence that could not be offended.

Whether it was Fist Saint, Sword Saint, etc., they were not in the Sage Realm. This kind of title was more of a commendation, referring to them reaching a very high peak in a certain path, close to a Sage! Li Hao guessed that when he reached nine stages in the future, he might need the state of mind of entering the sage.

It was hard to imagine what kind of state that was.

But currently, he hadn't even achieved entering the spirit. Spirit, just like the word itself, was spirituality, spiritual light, soul! He had to do something that exceeded convention and was extremely exquisite to possess his own spiritual light, just like...... a Heavenly Human Tianren Zongshi, possessing his own Tianren Zongshi Dao! As the panel recording succeeded, much information about the Wind-Slashing Fist technique poured into his mind. Li Hao just closed his eyes slightly, and quickly digested it.

He was like having practiced this fist technique for fifty years, knowing all the moves of the fist technique like the back of his hand, having broken through to the ultimate, not only filling the defects of the fist technique but also deeply comprehending the true meaning of the fist technique's core.

Just like its name, the fist could slash wind, break wind, could be like a saber or sword, possessing destructive power beyond fists and feet!

This Upper Grade cultivation technique, in his hands, was enough to explode with power comparable to a supreme cultivation technique.

Li Hao's gaze withdrew from the stone tablet and turned to look at the dozen or so people around. He saw that they were all focused, gazing at the stone tablet seriously, contemplating carefully. Some lips were moving, as if following the description of the cultivation technique on the stone tablet, reading and contemplating its meaning carefully.

Some descriptions of the cultivation techniques were obscure and difficult. Just reading and understanding them was very difficult, but most of those who could come here were from martial arts noble families, influenced by martial arts since childhood, and could understand some summary-like obscure words.

Li Hao saw that Yuanzhao was also engrossed in watching on the side, his small eyes turning left and right line by line following the words on the stone tablet.

He didn't disturb him, scanned again, and saw that pair of siblings, Li Yun, also squatting in front of the stone tablet, their expressions solemn, sometimes deep in thought, sometimes frowning, their wrists turning lightly, as if practicing in their minds, extremely focused, not even noticing his and Li Yuanzhao's arrival.

They were all a group of hardworking children...... Li Hao sighed in his heart and turned away.

There were more people in front of the other two stone tablets. Some had some insights and were waving and practicing in the open space, but their postures were awkward. After practicing for a while, they felt that it seemed different from what they had conceived in their brains, and they returned to the stone tablets to continue contemplating.

Li Hao didn't squeeze over to record the cultivation technique on that stone tablet. The Li Clan was least lacking in cultivation techniques below Upper Grade.

As his gaze shifted, suddenly, Li Hao saw Shen Yunqing, who had brought him earlier, in a corner at the edge of the square.

In front of him was actually a chessboard.

Li Hao was stunned, his eyes lit up instantly, and he walked over.

"Let's see how you escape this time!"

"Hey, didn't expect this step, did you!"

Opposite Shen Yunqing, the gray-robed old man couldn't help but laugh loudly, having already occupied the upper hand on the chessboard. It was impossible to turn the tables; this game was stable.

Shen Yunqing sat cross-legged, ignored his old friend's pride, scratched his head and thought hard, and finally felt dejected, helplessly saying: "Fine, count it as you winning."

"What do you mean count it as me winning? It was me winning in the first place!" The gray-robed old man said angrily.

Then he reached out and said leisurely: "Hand it over, that Drunken Wind Brew, as promised!"

Shen Yunqing pouted unwillingly, took out the wine gourd from his waist, and handed it to his old friend: "Agreed on just one mouthful, you take it easy."

"I'm not like you; I keep my word," the gray-robed old man said angrily, then opened the wine gourd, tilted his head, and gulped it down.

Shen Yunqing was so scared that he hurriedly snatched it back, furious: "Agreed on just one mouthful!"

"This is just one mouthful; my throat hasn't even swallowed yet."

"You're a straight intestine!" Shen Yunqing held his gourd with a pained face, looked into the gourd's eye, and felt his heart go cold by half.

"I'll still keep the account of the previous game for you."

The gray-robed old man smiled, suddenly noticed something, turned his head to look, and saw a young man with red lips and white teeth, elegant and refined, standing beside him, dressed in exquisite and luxurious brocade clothes, noble and imposing.

"Mm? Young Tianren Zongshi of the Divine General's Mansion?"

The gray-robed old man recognized the sleeve pattern and jade pendant. After his expression calmed down and became serious, the words he was about to scold turned around.

"You two are playing chess." Li Hao said with a smile.

Living two lives, as a mature person, the first sentence of the opening is often a nonsense question that one knows the answer to, but it is just a fuse to open the conversation.

"Why aren't you contemplating the cultivation technique?" Beside him, Shen Yunqing looked at Li Hao in surprise.

Everyone else was racing against time to contemplate in front of the stone tablets. This kid was good, actually having the leisure to wander over here.

Could it be that this kid wanted them to secretly point him in the right direction?

(End of chapter)