Chapter 7: Body-Refining Dao

In the Changchun Courtyard.

He Jianlan sat on that polished golden silk nanmu grandmaster chair with a dignified demeanor. She listened to the report of the young servant in front of her, who was trembling with fear, and her heart moved slightly.

She had long heard that the child was early-witted and very smart, but it was a pity that he had no martial arts talent, wasting this cleverness.

Thinking of that family letter from the border, He Jianlan sighed secretly in her heart and said faintly: "Xuejian, go and watch that child, just don't tear the books."

"Yes."

Beside her, a woman with apricot eyes, red lips, and fair skin responded softly.

The instructions from the Changchun Courtyard were conveyed outside the Listening to Rain Building. Li Hao looked at the little girl who came to supervise him, somewhat surprised, but didn't care. After all, he was too young, and it was normal for the First Lady not to trust him to enter the building alone.

Both were servants, but Zhao Bo's status was obviously lower than this little girl named Xuejian, and he was blocked outside the building by the other party.

Inside the ancient building, the light was slightly dim, and a layer of dust had accumulated on the ground.

Rows of bookshelves were displayed in the building, towering and huge. Li Hao walked and looked. These bookshelves had wooden signs on the sides, classified by category.

There were sword techniques, blade techniques, spear techniques, as well as weapon categories, poison categories, etc.

Various books were numerous and complex, almost everything one expected to find.

Li Hao couldn't help but sigh.

This small building almost contained half of the martial arts world.

Not long after, Li Hao found the body-refining secret manuals. The bookshelves were densely packed with various body-refining hard skills.

"Diamond Formula", "Nine Changes of the Divine Turtle", "Seven Star Seal", etc.

Li Hao casually took down a secret manual called "Stone Skin Hundred Refinements" and leaned against the bookshelf to read it.

The building was extremely quiet, with only the breathing sounds of a large and a small person.

Xuejian followed Li Hao like a shadow, her demeanor appropriate, and her temperament was even more outstanding than ordinary noble young ladies. She looked at this young master who had been the focus of attention since birth, and a trace of curiosity was revealed in her eyes.

Really early-witted, he even seems to be literate.

And he is reading so seriously, can he really understand it?

Time passed.

Li Hao read the first chapter of the secret manual repeatedly, understanding it word by word. After an unknown amount of time, a message that made him happy finally appeared:

"Already learned the basics, do you want to collect it?"

Li Hao directly chose yes.

Soon, the panel before his eyes jumped out.

【Name: Li Hao】

【Age: 4】

【Cultivation: Mortal】

【Sword Dao: Second Stage】

【Skill: Sea Has No Bounds·Tide (Ultimate) 【Forbidden】】

【Body-Refining Dao: Not yet entered】

【Skill: Stone Skin Hundred Refinements (Not yet entered) {Forbidden}】

【Chess Dao: Second Stage (18/1000)】

【Chess Manual Collection: 0】

【Artistry Points: 0】

Seeing the successful collection, Li Hao was somewhat surprised. His guess was correct. In this way, he could officially step into practice.

But before that, he still needed to accumulate Artistry Points.

Thinking of this, Li Hao felt distressed again.

He could brush experience quickly by himself, but it was much slower when playing against others.

It took three days to accumulate 18 experience points, and the tool person had been scared away.

Must find a way to find a stable tool person... Li Hao muttered in his heart, stuffed the secret manual back into the bookshelf, and then turned to ask the little girl behind him: "Where is the best body-refining secret manual?"

Xuejian was slightly surprised. Does this child really understand body refining? Who taught him?

Could it be that military captain who established his foundation?

Meridian blockage, so he wants to take the path of pure body refining... Xuejian's eyes flashed with a trace of realization, and she said softly: "Reporting to young master, the strongest body-refining secret manual collected by Listening to Rain Building is on the sixth floor. I will take you there."

"Not on the seventh floor?"

Li Hao was somewhat disappointed and said: "Strongest should mean unique, right?"

"Because one is complete and can be practiced, and the other is a remnant, which can also be practiced, but cannot reach the peak." Xuejian said.

Li Hao was somewhat surprised. A remnant can enter the sixth floor? Soon, led by the little girl, Li Hao was carried by her to the sixth floor.

If he climbed by himself, he would have been tired by the third floor. The higher he went, the fewer secret manuals in the building. By the sixth floor, only a few short bookshelves remained. A rough look showed that the secret manuals on them added up to only twenty or thirty.

However, Li Hao didn't look down on this quantity. The thousand-year accumulation of the Li Clan, these twenty or thirty books thrown outside, were estimated to be priceless existences.

Soon, Xuejian brought the two body-refining secret manuals she mentioned to Li Hao.

One was "Thousand Dragon Sacred Body".

The other was called "Tai Chu".

The covers were somewhat damaged and old. If thrown into an ordinary family, they would likely become broken things to pad the table legs.

Li Hao took them and flipped through them one by one.

Just the opening chapter of the secret manual made him feel a huge gap from what he saw on the first floor earlier.

He... completely didn't understand.

The words on it were obscure, like reading classical Chinese, oh no, it should be said to be oracle bone script. It was hard to recognize a few words, but when put together, he completely didn't understand.

Li Hao's little face wrinkled together.

He bit the bullet and read for a while, and finally decided to give up.

It was very difficult for him to even reach the basics.

"When I watched that little brat practicing sword before, I also watched for several days before collecting 'The Sea Has No Bounds'. That was watching someone perform directly, this is self-study..."

Li Hao shook his head, still waiting for himself to accumulate Artistry Points and improve Body-Refining Dao before trying.

He asked Xuejian to carry him downstairs.

As for other types of secret manuals, although Li Hao wanted to learn, he obviously didn't have so much energy for the time being.

Without Artistry Points, everything is useless. The problem returned to... the lack of tool people.

Out of the Listening to Rain Building, Li Hao said goodbye to this little girl who had a good sense of proportion, and then returned to the Mountain and River Courtyard with Zhao Bo.

"Brother Hao."

Seeing Li Hao return, Bian Ruxue ran over, her little feet tripping, almost falling.

"Don't rush, don't rush." Li Hao said hurriedly.

"Where did Brother Hao go? Take me with you in the future, okay?" Bian Ruxue pouted, looking at him with eager eyes.

Over the past year, the little girl had stuck to Li Hao, and at night she would hold her pillow and drill into Li Hao's room, only then willing to sleep obediently.

Li Hao drove her away several times at first, but the little girl woke up in a fright several times in the middle of the night, crying and running to find Li Hao, her teary appearance finally making Li Hao unable to be cruel.

Fortunately, the bed was big, and his body was small, so one more didn't matter, and the little girl slept quite peacefully and didn't make noise, so he let her be.

"You have to be good and listen. As long as you stay here, I will come back wherever I go." Li Hao said, touching her little head.

The servants and maids around were long accustomed to this scene and were not surprised.

"Pinky swear."

Bian Ruxue stretched out her little hand.

Li Hao was helpless, coaxing her to pinky swear.

"Don't change, you said it, whoever changes is a puppy." Bian Ruxue pouted slightly and said.

"Fine, fine, fine." Li Hao was helpless.

In the following days, Li Hao decided to show his Chess Dao talent and began to arrogantly demand that these servants and maids accompany him to play chess.

Whoever didn't obey would be punished with three boards by Zhao Bo.

After three boards, although it wouldn't tear the skin, it was enough to make their butts not dare to touch the chair for half a day.

Under the young master's lascivious might, these maids and retainers could only take turns at the table to accompany him in his play.

As time passed day by day.

Two scenes appeared in the courtyard: one was a large and a small figure, Lin Haixia teaching Bian Ruxue simple sword arts and boxing.

This didn't count as official practice, just practicing the posture and familiarizing with martial arts sense.

The process was occasionally a bit painful, but the little girl's temperament was quite stubborn, and she never cried because of such things.

And on the other side, it was hot and noisy.

A group of servants gathered in the pavilion, Li Hao was playing against one of them, and the others were ordered by him to learn on the side.

Among these servants, some knew nothing about chess, and some learned a little from somewhere. Li Hao found that when playing against those who knew chess, if he won, the experience gained was not 1 point, but 2 points, and occasionally 3 points! Conversely, when playing against those who didn't understand, even if he won, it was only 1 experience point.

If the other party accidentally fouled, the whole game would be void.

So, gradually, these servants didn't need to take turns anymore. Li Hao found the two best at chess from them to accompany him to brush experience every day.

In the blink of an eye, Li Hao was five years old.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 8 =====