BXBX NOVEL Chapter 5: The Ultimate
An hour passed.
The medicinal concoction in Bian Ruxue’s tub had completely cleared, leaving no trace of the medicinal liquid.
The maids dressed her in clean, new clothes, and dried her hair. Standing silently beside Li Hao’s tub, she did not understand the significance of all this. She just quietly waited for Li Hao to emerge.
In contrast, under Lin Haixia’s insistent demands, Li Hao could only obediently soak in his tub.
The color of the liquid inside his tub remained a glaring purple.
The female servant accompanying Bian Ruxue glanced over and was dumbfounded.
As another hour went by, other house servants and maids heard the news and rushed over to take a look, all of them were shocked.
Having been influenced year-round within the Divine General Mansion, they naturally understood what this signified.
They looked at each other at this moment, each seeing in the other’s eyes a sky that had fallen.
The noble son of the Martial Marquis being unable to practice martial arts?
This was the bloodline of the Li Family!
Such a thing was simply unbelievable.
But the reality was right in front of them.
The whole courtyard fell silent. Very quickly, a house servant snapped out of it, and, in a flustered rush, ran off. Before long, Mountain and River Courtyard filled with a multitude of brightly colored figures.
Ladies from various courtyards arrived. They gathered around the medicinal tub and, upon hearing from the servants next to them the duration of Li Hao’s soak, everyone was in disbelief.
Liu Yue Rong stood in the crowd, her heart skipping a beat.
Could it be that medicine?
But she had not heard of such a severe side effect from that medicine!
Her chest felt panicked, but she remained composed on the surface, her expression turning to one of urgency and sorrow.
Meanwhile, within the tub, Li Hao, who felt life was no longer worth living, also saw the second wife with her outstanding acting skills. From her eyes, Li Hao even detected a hint of genuine panic.
Had the second wife been startled?
Li Hao sneered inwardly.
As the courtyard grew increasingly noisy, the chief wife wore a stern face and ordered the servants to leave, only allowing the ladies from various courtyards to stay. She instructed that this matter must not be spread and must not be leaked!
Seeing that the Foundation Establishment elixir showed no signs of diminishing, Lin Haixia’s heart went completely cold.
This couldn’t even be described as “slow”.
He thought of a terrible constitution and shivered. Could it be that the Lord’s Kylin child was indeed a total waste who couldn’t cultivate martial arts?!
Without continuing any further, Lin Haixia lifted Li Hao out of the tub.
Seeing how Li Hao’s body had become oxygen-deprived and pale, his skin wrinkled and contracted, the ladies looked on with various expressions in their eyes.
They learned that Li Hao had been soaking for six hours.
Yet the Foundation Establishment elixir showed no change whatsoever, highlighting the gravity of the situation.
Liu Yue Rong, seeing that even Li Hao’s lips had turned white from the soak, was certain that this was not a ruse.
Her heart tightened, she had only intended to destroy the boy’s Divine Blood, not completely ruin him!
After all, becoming a complete invalid would make the matter too suspicious!
This was the powerful bloodline of the Li Family, unable to cultivate?
If the reason were to be investigated later…
The first to snap out of it was the chief wife. She immediately instructed Lin Haixia to take good care of Hao Er and had her own maids bring some warm and tonic medicinal soups to nourish Li Hao’s weakened body.
…
…
The next day.
Lin Haixia prepared two tubs of Foundation Establishment elixir for Li Hao and Bian Ruxue to soak in separately.
Lin Haixia watched intently as Li Hao entered the bath.
Li Hao felt somewhat helpless, knowing it was a futile effort and a waste of herbs, but he could not win against the other party and only complied.
He estimated it would not be long before they gave up hope.
At that moment, the same font prompt as yesterday appeared.
[Detection of unknown substance, analyzing…]
[Analysis failed, automatic isolation initiated.]
Li Hao had expected this and was not too surprised. He obediently stayed in the medicinal bath, fiddling with his toes out of sheer boredom.
As time passed and the elixir stayed unchanged, the short man from the military completely lost his composure and let out a low growl.
“How can this be?!”
Lin Haixia was agitated, seemingly more incredulous than Li Hao.
He paced back and forth beside the tub, striking his own head: “There’s nothing wrong with the elixir, it can’t be wrong. Could it be that the Lord’s child truly cannot cultivate?!”
This was the Li family bloodline!
Li Hao didn’t feel too upset, after all, he had the panel and could become stronger without relying on these elixirs.
But seeing his teacher so distressed, he felt somewhat awkward and consoled him, “Uncle Lin, it’s okay, don’t be so sad.”
Hearing this, Lin Haixia’s body shook.
He looked at the child in the tub and suddenly felt tears welling up.
The child, you don’t know what fate lies ahead of you!
Seeing the child’s optimistic and untainted eyes, Lin Haixia felt as if his heart were being torn apart.
The Commander-in-Chief’s only son, could this really be his future?
But, he could do nothing about it.
In Li Hao’s case, he could only think of one possibility, innate meridian obstruction.
This was the classic sign of a martial arts cripple!
If it had happened in an ordinary family, it would be normal, as eight or nine out of ten commoners are like this, not an extraordinarily rare occurrence.
But this is the Li Family!
The Li family that produces True Dragons generation after generation!
Even the least talented children of the Li family are superior compared to others.
Not to mention those True Dragons of the Li family—aren’t they all figures renowned throughout the world?
And yet, this child…
Lin Haixia was choked with emotion, rendered speechless. Even on the battlefield, where he could look directly upon mountains of corpses and seas of blood without changing color, at this moment, he dared not look at the child any longer.
Those clean, innocent eyes were heartbreaking.
“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Seeing that the man was genuinely sorrowful for him and was not pretending, Li Hao felt a warmth in his heart.
He stood up from the medicinal bath, pulling at the man’s trouser leg, trying to offer some comfort.
…
…
The second Foundation Establishment elixir was declared a failure.
The news spread throughout the Divine General Mansion like a hurricane. With this, the news of Li Hao’s inability to cultivate was solidified.
The madams and house servants of the various Li Family Courtyards were all shaken and incredulous.
In the following days, Li Hao no longer soaked in the medicinal baths. Instead, people came one after another to examine his body, but all left shaking their heads.
Li Hao also took the opportunity to overhear them, learning that in their eyes, his condition was one of a Martial Arts Disabled Body.
This physique did not completely preclude cultivation.
But it would be exceedingly difficult.
Unable to absorb elixirs or external energy, one could only rely on grueling self-cultivation for a modicum of achievement.
Moreover, one could only cultivate up to the Second Realm.
To break through, one needed to connect with the energy of heaven and earth, and thus the Second Realm was the limit.
The news apparently reached the Northern Yan battlefield. Not long after, an urgent family letter was sent back over a thousand miles.
Yet the information in the family letter once again shocked the Divine General Mansion.
The Grand Marshal had actually reached the Three Immortal Realms!
The letter stated that the Lady of the House must not give up on Hao Er. No matter how arduous or difficult, she must see to it that he starts on the Martial Path.
Even just beginning would suffice. In the future, once the Divine Blood awakens, he could still achieve something. Although he might no longer have the potential to become a genius, he could at least secure a centurion’s position in the military.
Thus, he would not fall short of the name of a Li family boy.
The Lady of the House was from the He Family, named He Jianlan.
He Jianlan, though over sixty, appeared only to be in her forties. After reading the family letter, she sighed deeply:
“Hao Er’s fate is bitter, it’s all because of that despicable woman.”
Nobody knew whom she referred to as that despicable woman.
…
…
In the days that followed, Li Hao felt as if things had returned to normal.
Foundation Establishment was no longer necessary; it was said that when he turned four, they would try the Blood Melting for him.
As such, Li Hao, having nothing else to do, found even more time to secretly play chess, and his experience points grew quietly and rapidly.
However, the news of Li Hao’s Martial Arts Disabled Body somehow leaked out and spread beyond the mansion.
Inside Qingzhou City, the teahouses and restaurants suddenly had a new topic of discussion, but most people took it as just a storyteller’s fancy and didn’t truly believe it.
After all, he was a Li family boy.
But to some enemies of the Li family in the royal court, the news immediately caught their attention.
Upon sending people to carefully investigate and confirming that it was true, many within the family were both delighted and astonished.
They were delighted that the Li family, glorious for a thousand years, finally showed signs of a failing bloodline!
The astonishment was due to the depths of the Grand Marshal’s concealment, having achieved the Three Immortal Realms long ago, and only now being revealed.
Fortunately, his son was disabled in Martial Arts; otherwise, in the future, he would likely have become another Li Junye!
…
…
In the blink of an eye, Li Hao turned four.
After a year of sneaking around and working hard, Li Hao had successfully entered the second tier of Chess Tao.
He also gained another Artistic Skill Point.
Without hesitation, Li Hao used the Artistic Skill Point in Sword Dao.
His Sword Dao was thus elevated to the second tier.
Compared to the first tier’s overwhelming barrage of information, the now four-year-old Li Hao could barely withstand it, only feeling a slight swelling in his head.
With the improvement in Sword Dao, the skills on his panel changed as well.
[Name: Li Hao]
[Age: 4]
[Cultivation Level: Mortal]
[Sword Dao: Second Tier]
[Skills: Endless Sea·Tide (Perfected)[Forbidden]]
[Known Art: Chess Tao]
[Chess Tao: Second Tier (0/1000)]
[Chess Catalogue Collection: 0]
[Artistic Skill Points: 0]
However, after advancing Chess Tao to the second tier, Li Hao found that playing against himself no longer earned experience points; he needed to find someone to compete against.