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Li Hao wondered, if he had his bones measured again, what the result would be.
But there was only one chance, and no one thought the old Daoist at Qingqiu Mountain could be wrong.
Since that day of bone measurement ended, he could clearly feel that the liveliness at the Mountain and River Courtyard had diminished. In the past, the ladies from various courtyards would often bring their children over to play or take him to eat some small cakes or fresh fruits from border areas or tributary states. Then, they would let their children play with Li Hao, trying to form a close bond from a young age.
But now, two months had passed, and only the First Lady, Fifth Lady, and the young Ninth Lady had come to visit him.
Once they saw he was fine, they didn't come back again.
However, occasionally he would receive pears and cakes sent from the Eternal Spring Court.
Now that winter had arrived, he also received two sets of short beast-fur-lined cotton pants, coats, and a scarf.
Li Hao draped the scarf around the little girl's neck.
...
The next day.
Just before dawn, Lin Haixia was already practicing swordsmanship with Bian Ruxue in the courtyard.
Earlier at the weapon rack, Lin Haixia let the child choose various weapons, practicing them one by one to test her weapon talent. Bian Ruxue ultimately chose the sword.
As the practice went on, Lin Haixia discovered that she indeed had talent in the Sword Dao, so she taught with dedication, occasionally sternly.
It was only around noon when Li Hao finally woke up leisurely. He wasn't yet six years old, so he didn't have to abide by family rules and visit the First Lady in the Eternal Spring Court to pay respects every morning, allowing him a comfortable sleep-in.
Seeing the small figure diligently practicing in the courtyard, Li Hao shook his head slightly and silently pitied her. Then, under the care of his personal maid, he washed up and had breakfast. Afterward, he routinely summoned the two house servants who could play chess to set up a game in the pavilion.
Before long, a game of chess ended, but Li Hao found that he didn't receive an experience value increase notification, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Soon he saw words appearing before his eyes:
{Chess Tao Third Stage requires a Chess Heart to continue advancement.}
Chess Heart?
Li Hao was puzzled.
As if sensing his thoughts, the words gradually disappeared, and another line appeared:
[To cultivate a Chess Heart, one must have only chess in the heart and be passionately devoted to it.]
It was a very straightforward explanation.
Li Hao was somewhat surprised that he could interact with this text.
"Hello?"
The words disappeared.
Li Hao tried calling out several times but received no response, so he didn't think much more about it and began pondering, passionately devoted to chess?
Did he need to first condense a Chess Heart before gaining experience?
At the Divine General Mansion, Li Hao had heard of Sword Heart, Spear Heart, and even a tongue as sharp as a knife with a soft heart.
But he had never heard of a Chess Heart.
That's right, chess and such minor arts were considered mere entertainment tricks by the Divine General Mansion.
However, a Chess Heart should be something similar to a Sword Heart, right?
He recalled the casual conversations he'd heard when various ladies held him, such as some young lad who practiced swordsmanship every day from childhood, holding a sword even while eating and sleeping. After condensing a Sword Heart, his Sword Dao cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.
So, to condense a Chess Heart himself, would he need to do the same?
But did Li Hao like Chess Tao?
In his previous life, he had only slightly understood it, but really just a tiny bit.
*Chess… Who in their right mind would love chess?*
*Playing cards is more fun than playing chess.*
*Work was exhausting enough; who had the time for such a brain-draining activity?*
*Unless it was for novelty, switching up entertainment occasionally.*
*Even with a panel to boost Chess Tao experience, Li Hao only viewed it as a tool to rack up Skill Points rather than something to genuinely love and be devoted to.*
*It was difficult.*
Li Hao, slightly incredulous, had the house servants accompany him for another round.
Then he started to believe the absurdity.
This left Li Hao somewhat troubled, scrunching up his little face. After just tasting the sweetness of cultivation, they told him he couldn't gain experience from chess anymore. How was this fair?
*Did this really mean he had to hold onto chess every day?*
*But without experience, why would he hold it?*
*Maybe he should first switch to practicing another art?*
*But the usefulness of the Chess Heart was a mystery; it was better to mull it over first.*
In the days that followed, Li Hao moved the chessboard to his bed, laid a blanket over it, and used it as a pillow.
During meals, he placed the chessboard next to him, almost as if offering tribute to a deity.
But this kind of formalism didn't seem to have any effect.
Li Hao no longer sought out the house servants to play chess. When bored, he would watch the little girl practice her sword or browse various books at the Listening Rain Tower.
One day, while flipping through books at the Listening Rain Tower, Li Hao came across several pages of chess manuals in one of them and was surprised.
The book contained anecdotes of a renowned figure from hundreds of years ago, where this significant figure had been humiliated in his youth, and when seeking revenge later, his enemy abandoned martial arts for chess.
The significant figure had once said that when he sought revenge one day, he would completely overpower the other party, causing them utter despair before he slew them.
As it turned out, his opponent had been studying chess for years.
He immediately proposed a chess match.
The significant figure suffered a devastating defeat, yet stubbornly did not kill his enemy on the spot.
However, he did kill off the enemy's entire family, sparing no women or children, leaving only his foe, saying he would return one day.
But in the end, he died without ever solving this chess puzzle.
Li Hao couldn't help but laugh after reading this.
The enemy seemed to know the significant figure very well. Although his Martial Arts talent couldn't compare, he was clever enough to learn this trick to avoid a fatal danger.
Suddenly, Wei felt that playing chess could be somewhat interesting.
*You can't blame the Li Family, even himself, for in this Martial Arts world, fundamentally believing that chess was just a leisurely diversion and lacked any significance.*
*But now, that perception had slightly shifted.*
{Detected the chess manual 'All Phenomena,' would you like to record it?}
Words suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Li Hao was surprised, suddenly recalling that the panel had a chess manual archive.
It also indicated that he indeed wasn't interested in Chess Tao, having only treated it as a tool for gaining experience, as he hadn't recorded any chess manual for five years.
He felt a slight sense of shame.
Li Hao immediately chose yes.
Soon, an additional chess manual titled "All Phenomena" appeared in the panel's archive.
Simultaneously, there was a prompt at the end showing it could be embedded.
Li Hao was puzzled and tried selecting to embed it.
At this moment, a line of words popped up:
{Please choose an embedding target: Physical Body Dao or Sword Dao.}
Li Hao was surprised, what did this mean?
After thinking for a moment, he chose the Physical Body Dao.
Having just embarked on cultivation and having experienced the sensation of strength surging through his body, he looked forward to the Physical Body Dao.
[Embedding successful.]
At this moment, Li Hao suddenly felt a strong surge of information.
This feeling was very familiar to him; in a moment, he had absorbed it all. Viewing his panel afterward, he saw at the end of it:
[Physical Body Dao: First Stage (All Phenomena)]
And in his mind, the fragmented information revealed to him what had actually happened.
All Phenomena: Allows the target to be immersed in the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth, making it impossible to detect, able to conceal all forms of energy.
Li Hao slightly exerted it, and his entire aura suddenly became reserved. The surging power and energy within seemed to retract into countless pores and cells, unable to be observed.
"Special attribute?"
Li Hao was shocked. He hadn't expected the chess manual to have this kind of effect; it was simply unbelievable.
With his Second Stage Chess Tao, he could somewhat understand this chess manual. It contained large traps within small traps, with pitfalls at every turn. No wonder that significant figure couldn't solve it throughout his life.
Yet, when embedded in the Physical Body Dao, it brought similar effects.
If he had chosen to embed it in Sword Dao, would his swordsmanship carry some deceptive effects, making it impossible for others to detect the real killing moves?
If combined with the Tidal Sword Skill's immensely ornate sword move, it would likely be even more dazzling.
Li Hao glanced at the panel, noting that the ability to embed the "All Phenomena" chess manual had disappeared, meaning he could only choose one.
Nevertheless, it provided a glimpse into a new world, suggesting that chess manuals were the true path!
If he could collect various other chess manuals, wouldn't he be able to add special buffs to his attacks?
Thinking about this, Li Hao was filled with enthusiasm and began searching around the tower.
Yet Listening Rain Tower was the holy land for martial artists, not chess players. Several days passed with him immersed in the tower, yet he found only three chess manuals, one of which was used to prop up a bookshelf.
"Flying Phase," "Hidden Bow," "Tiger Press."
After acquiring these three chess manuals, Li Hao delved into them, pondering their attributes based on their characteristics, and embedded "Flying Phase" and "Hidden Bow" into the Sword Dao.
"Tiger Press" was embedded into the Physical Body Dao.
Flying Phase: Increases attack range by double, enabling long-distance striking.
Hidden Bow: Conceals a killing move, terminating in one step.
Tiger Press: Slightly enhances strength, giving an intimidating effect.
The three chess manuals brought great improvements to Li Hao.
Unfortunately, although the Divine General Mansion had everything, as a Martial Arts family, they didn't have the habit of collecting chess manuals.
Li Hao returned to the courtyard, only to find that his house servants were reluctant to help him find chess manuals outside, fearing to lead the young master further down a "fruitless" endeavor.
Unable to persuade them otherwise, Li Hao had to offer generous rewards to entice them.
In the days that followed, while waiting for chess manuals, Li Hao also slowly began to ponder chess skills.
He removed the blanket draped over the chessboard at his bed's head, returned it, and took away the chessboard set up on the dining table. Occasionally, apart from wandering the courtyard, he would watch the little girl practice her sword.
Perhaps because she had lost her parents at a young age and lived a wandering life, the little girl was incredibly diligent. Under Lin Haixia's tutelage, her swordsmanship advanced steadily.
"No, that's not right. This move isn't right."
On this day, while instructing swordsmanship, Lin Haixia displayed the severity of a military officer. Even though he was internally very satisfied with Bian Ruxue's Sword Dao talent, he continued to criticize sternly whenever she practiced incorrectly.
The little girl held back her tears, stubbornly practicing over and over.
Li Hao looked on, shaking his head helplessly. Though Lin was good-natured, he might not always teach students in accordance with their abilities.
The stern words made the little girl's sword moves almost change shape.
When night came, Li Hao watched the small figure still practicing endlessly in the courtyard and called her over.
"This posture isn't right, your arm should be bent a little, yes, like that, don't stiffen your waist too much…"
With no one around, Li Hao secretly provided individual guidance to the little girl, instructing her hand by hand.
Bian Ruxue was not foolish and certainly had Sword Dao talent. Under Li Hao's teaching, she quickly got her posture right, exuding a sword aura.
"Brother Hao, do you also know swordsmanship?" Once she had practiced correctly, the little girl eagerly looked at Li Hao. "Can we practice together tomorrow, please?"
"Don't talk nonsense, I surely won't get up early," Li Hao quickly replied in shock.
"If Uncle Lin found out you also know swordsmanship, he'd definitely be very happy," Bian Ruxue said expectantly. Although she didn't fully understand many things, she could see that the elders around seemed somewhat disappointed with Li Hao.
The young girl, working so hard, was keeping a resolve in her heart, feeling that even though everyone said Brother Hao wasn't capable, she believed he was actually very clever.
"I don't know swordsmanship, don't make up things," Li Hao quickly said. "Little girl, don't repay kindness with betrayal and ruin my good fortune of sleeping in—I'll really cry."
Bian Ruxue was confused. "But you clearly..."
"Shoo, shoo, go to sleep, go to sleep." Li Hao rolled his eyes and sent the little girl away, warning her not to speak carelessly.
The next day.
In the courtyard, Lin Haixia watched Bian Ruxue executing sword moves, his eyes gradually widening in astonishment.
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