Of the twenty treasures, Yang Wu could use five to increase his body's strength, the others had other purposes such as being used as raw material for weapons.
Four of those treasures are pieces of five-colored jade, a rather rare mineral even in his first world. It had within itself the energy of the complete five elements and would have been normally used to forge tools in his first life, but because of his special martial method, he could use them to increase his Five Elemental Qi Blood and strengthen his body overall.
And the most valuable treasure of those five, the Earth's Nectar, could be used to increase his body's talent for martial arts. It had the effect of refining the marrow and tempering all bones, which are the root of the body. Improving the potential of those two would also improve the potential of the blood and all organs and muscles.
All one had to do to refine the Earth's Nectar was...
Yang Wu grasped the Earth's Nectar and marveled, it was just like a piece of common amber, but had beautiful natural patterns in it, with something red in its core.
He played with it a few times by throwing it in the air with his hand and then swallowed it directly, burping just after.
"Tasteless..." Yang Wu clicked his tongue and sat on a cushion calmly to begin to refine the treasure.
In his stomach, the earth's nectar was slowly being liquified by his Qi Blood, turning into a viscous liquid that was quickly digested through his digestive system. A few hours later, Yang Wu began to feel a tingling through all his body, it was coming from deep inside his bones, slowly spreading outside, it was the medicinal effects of the earth's nectar finally taking its place.
His body began to tremble by itself as if it was suffering an earthquake on its insides. And indeed, his insides were being tempered violently.
His marrow changed first, giving birth to an also transformed blood. Then, his whole bones began to change subtly, not exactly hardening but still transforming. His organs were washed by the new blood, being transformed in the process.
The body tried to expel its impurities through Yang's Wu pores, but he held them inside his body, the reason? His Five Elemental Qi Blood had the characteristics of the balanced five elements, which in the purest form could dissolve anything into pure energy. Although his Qi Blood was still far from being able to truly dissolve anything, it had a rather powerful ability.
He circulated his Qi Blood through all his body again and again, refining all its impurities into energy that his body could use. Although he was unable to refine all of them, about 95% were "recycled." The rest was then sent by him to his intestine and kidneys to be excreted through normal means, rather than turning his body and clothes smelly.
Two days later, Yang Wu opened his eyes with a smile on his face. Although his Realm hadn't changed, his future practice would be easier.
He then looked at the door and was satisfied by the royal couple's patience. They didn't disturb him at all after he spent two whole days inside his room.
He left his room for a short rest and took the time to also inform the king and queen he would stay behind closed doors for a while to "digest his gains." The king and queen had no choice but to wait.
After resting for half a day, he returned to his room and took out the four pieces of five-colored jade. He could feel the strong elemental energy contained within them, and it was as strong as his happiness.
The second level of the Five Mysteries Art focused on transforming the Five Elemental Qi Blood even further. If before it just had the characteristics of the five elements, it would transform to contain and maintain the true energy of the balanced five elements.
Wood, Fire, Water, Earth, and Gold. Out of harmony, they were just one or more of the Five Elements, but when they are finely balanced and perfectly harmonized, the five energies fuse into the energy called Five Elements*¹. It had the same five colors and also could contain in itself the ability of each of the Five Elements, but it also could absorb, transform, and derive everything. It was the most powerful type of energy in the world according to what Yang Wu knew.
¹[I know it might sound confusing to English speakers, but it is how it is. I could address the Five Elements as five different energies, but also as a single energy when they were in perfect harmony.]
The five-colored jade were the perfect treasures to be used as raw material to craft tools, but to Yang Wu, they were the perfect treasures to increase his Realm and Martial Method.
He grasped one of them and crushed it with the help of his Qi Blood, turning it into smaller fragments. He continued to crush them again and again, always careful to not drop anything on the ground. When they were the smallest they could get in his hands, he simply swallowed them.
He concentrated and used his Qi Blood to refine everything in his stomach. As the energies of the five elements were extracted, he carefully guided them into his Qi Center, not refining it completely into his Qi Blood just then.
Only after the whole jade was refined in his stomach he turned his attention to his Qi Center. There, a ball of five elements' energies formed, and now he had to turn those five different energies into one, a dangerous process that could kill him.
Yang Wu didn't hesitate or give place for his mind to fear it, he simply emptied his mind first to then concentrate on his job. He began to separate the five elements first, turning the huge ball into five smaller ones, each of which was composed of different energies.
The smallest ball was the one made of Gold Energy, so he had to equalize the other four balls to be of the same size *and thus possess the same quantity of energy* as it.
From his whole body, four different energies began to be expelled. When the fire energy contacted the wood of the decoration, it began to ignite, but Yang Wu just raised his eyebrow a little and sent a gush of water energy in the direction of the spark, extinguishing the danger.
The process of sorting the energies took a whole day, but Yang Wu didn't stop because of his mind tiredness. Seeing that the five balls of energy were equal in size and density, he began to combine them again into a larger ball. But it wasn't enough to fuse them. He had to begin a chain reaction.
"The five mysteries of the world," Yang Wu suddenly muttered, "The mystery of life."
He bit the bullet and separated a bit of Blood Essence from his heart, the pain almost made him collapse. But he managed to send this Blood Essence to his Qi Center and contact the Five Elements.
When his Blood Essence just touched the ball of Five Elements, everything exploded, literally, but in the process fusing the five energies. Thanks to the special nature of the Balanced Five Elements and the fact it was engraved with his own life, the energy didn't kill him. But it badly damaged his heart and almost destroyed his Qi Center.
But thanks to his strong mind, he was able to begin the circulation of the newly born energy through his Qi Veins and thus eliminate most of the burden his heart and Qi Center were experiencing.
He coughed blood on the floor, but it didn't make him stop the circulation of the balanced five elements. He began to spread it all over his body, from his marrow to his skin, it was the most important phase. He not only spread it but also actively merged it with the smallest bits of his body. That was the longest process of all.
After two days, when there was no more energy in his Qi Veins, he began to circulate his Qi Blood. Because the root of the Qi Blood was the whole body and its essence when he spread the balanced five elements throughout his body and the two of them, his own Qi Blood also changed its nature successfully.
It was still five-colored and still possessed the characteristics of the five elements. But now, it truly had the energy of the Five Elements (the single energy).
But because it was a higher level of energy, the quantity in his body was smaller. He had to make up with more resources.
Yang Wu looked at the three other pieces of jade and smiled, "I'm truly fated with old couples."
He was tired, mentally and physically. But he knew he had no time to rest. He was badly wounded when transforming his Qi Blood and he had to focus on healing.
"What a pity," he muttered and began to refine another piece of five-colored jade, this time all the energy went to his healing.
Outside, the old couple was getting anxious as days passed by. They wondered what Yang Wu was doing inside his room, but had no guts to interrupt him. Moreover, they were also occupied with exchanging information with the empire.
It wasn't only their plan to invite Yang Wu, but also the empire'. Although none of them had ill intentions, all of them had selfish desires and wanted something from Yang Wu.
After eight days since transforming his Qi Blood and thus completing the second level of the Five Mysteries Art, Yang Wu woke up from his sleep and stretched his body lazily.
He already refined all the available jade, not only healing his heart and Qi Center but also bringing him to the Peak of the Qi and Body Realm, just a step before the Martial Adept Realm.
In fact, he could break through at any time since his energy was full and ready, but because his mind was still a bit excited because of his advancements, he chose to calm his excitement first to avoid problems during his breakthrough.
And even without breaking through, he was already dozens of times stronger than when he just reached the Qi and Body Realm, thanks to his transformed Qi Blood and spent resources.
He left his room stealthily and began to wander the palace without letting himself get noticed. It was easy for him with his new strength and senses.
During his "secret walk," he heard many things from many people, he discovered the schemes of the empire and the cause and effect of it "messing" with the Ling State.
But he didn't care much about their desires, as long as they didn't try to directly harm him. They just wanted the knowledge to be as strong as him and live longer, but they didn't seem to possess the courage to fight him for those things.
Yang Wu was willing to teach the old couple some medicinal recipes and health-preserving techniques for them to live a few decades longer, but he wasn't willing to spread martial arts.
He thought the world was better without martial arts, since this way commoners had the chance to fight and win against the corrupt nobles.
But he also knew his appearance as an inhuman being had a high probability of bringing something similar or equal to martial arts to that world. He knew some kind of geniuses only needed to know it was possible to make it a reality, he saw many of them in his first life.
But he wasn't the same burdened man as before, and he didn't let the future shackle himself as much as before.
"Ashes to ashes, so it is..." was his new motto of life.
After spending some days wandering the capital and calming his mind, be it fishing or wasting his vitality in the red district, he returned to his room and began to arrange his breakthrough.
The Martial Adept Realm was named the way it was because in Yang Wu's first life, a commoner of mediocre talent only needed to practice from a young age to achieve it during his old age, but didn't need to live for martial arts. They only needed to make it part of their lives, but not the most important thing.
It didn't have any special characteristics, and could even be considered a continuation of the previous realm. The focus was still to strengthen the whole body and the Qi Blood.