Chapter 2
Yun Hao was troubled by the lack of control he had on his strength, although he had sheer raw power, it would do him no good without the technique to utilize said strength. It seemed that the system could not grant him a fist technique- although slightly disappointed, he understood that it really meant it was a 'Passive' Skill system. Then he tried picturing his fist solidifying into an iron-like state and he got the notification.
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for acquiring the passive skill "Immortal Golden Skin, Heavenly Iron Bones".'
Yun Hao, who was expecting something to happen, was surprised- this seemed to be quite the skill indeed! However as he focused on the skill, he was disappointed.
'Immortal Golden Skin, Heavenly Iron Bones is at the Crude level, spend points to improve? Requires 1000 passive skill points for the next level'
He was disappointed because he did not have the points to upgrade it, however, he could feel his bones grow dense, so dense that his spiritual sense was not strong enough to see through them. It seems that he is still a ways away from being in complete control of his body, nevertheless this is a good thing.
Going back to the banquet…
After Yun Tianwu arrived and settled the messy situation, the competition ended with no winners since Yun Baihu's example struck deep fear into the other geniuses of the families. They did not even step out to claim victory. The Yun Elders stopped worrying about betrothing any of their children since their future seemed to be directed by a shining star in the form of Yun Hao. The Emperor promptly settled into the banquet hall and gave Yun Hao one of his old swords as a gift, an Immortal-Grade longsword called "Fleeting Wind Dragon Claw", it could be clearly seen that the Emperor was investing heavily in Yun Hao, since this was just below becoming a legendary spiritual artifact. The other nobles were relieved that they still gave suitable gifts, but they could not be as rich as the Emperor. Those who still harbored displeasure keenly noted this and stayed discreet in their thoughts, Yun Hao better be strong enough to keep the Emperor's gift…
Yun Hao could still detect a vague wave of malicious intent, and simply noted the general direction he felt it from, at this point he knew where each family's guests were seated quite well. The Bai clan would definitely not let go of this so easily, and still had intentions of taking revenge. He was not afraid, if they dared to try, then he would gladly welcome the points he would receive due to their foolishness. He would prefer to mind his own business and live peacefully, so long as he was not provoked unnecessarily.
The banquet therefore ended on a mostly happy note for the Yun clan, while the happiest were Yun Zhuyang, Lin Xu Yue and Yun Linjue, as they knew that Yun Tianwu also truly doted upon Yun Hao. Not to mention that their decade-long efforts seemed to have led to actually helping Yun Hao's constitution and aptitude to recover. Although this was far from the truth, it showed that Yun Hao was not lacking one of the things he sorely lacked in his previous life, a decent family. At the end, when all the guests were leaving, Lin Yuling walked up to Yun Hao and kissed him on the cheek, giving him a mischievous smile after that seemed to say, 'I know that you're stronger than you showed everyone', this cousin of his seemed to have a stronger background than he understood. Yun Hao simply blushed and smiled back at her.
The Lin and Yun clan Elders exchanged knowing glances and saw the smiles hidden in each other's eyes. It was truly a happy event today, although it was not according to the contest rules they normally used, they had already formed a new relationship for the future it seemed.
Not only was that a cause for happiness but the fact that Yun Hao, the formerly 'crippled' young master had actually recovered his constitution and not only had he recovered completely but had such strength that completely overshadowed every one of his peers. It was too joyous, even the Emperor himself gave preferential treatment to him while praising his strength and character- not to mention, the gift of an Immortal grade weapon.
On the way back to his courtyard, Yun Hao finds his mother and father waiting for him, smug smiles adorning their faces, "Ah, my son has grown up so quickly… he already has an exceptional girl chasing him", remarked Lin Xu Yue, "Hahaha, of course! He is my son after all!", Yun Zhuyang added. Immediately he yelped as his wife pinched his waist, "Oh? What exactly do you mean by that… dear husband?", carefully, Yun Hao walked up to the two with a wry smile on his face, it was a little awkward to see his parents smile like this, since they always had looks of worry around him. However he also felt a lightness in his mind, he would no longer be a burden to his parents. "So, my little brother does not see anyone worthy of his dear sister huh?", said Yun Linjue cheerfully as she walked over, trailing behind Yun Hao by a minute.
"Of course! Elder Sister deserves someone who is at least her match in cultivation, if not better! That fool could not even take a single blow from me, how could he even dream of being worthy?", Yun Hao replied, his cheek was pulled by his sister who walked up and caught him off guard. "I thought you were dense to no end when Lin Yuling was clearly directing all her attention at you and you did not even acknowledge it, turns out you're a playboy huh?", she teased him. "I will speak to my sister tomorrow and ask her about sending a formal marriage proposal for our children hahaha", Lin Xu Yue was already preparing to get her son married. Although it rang some warning bells in Yun Hao's mind, he also understood that the common sensibilities of the modern age did not apply here, seeing as he could fully control his body to be whatever form he wished. As he thought of this, he asked them all to wait for a moment and revealed his true appearance, putting him just half a head shorter than his father.
The three of them were surprised, so he began to explain, "I have absolute control over my body structure, so I disguised myself to prevent any unnecessary suspicions at the banquet", Yun Zhuyang chuckled, finally understanding the real meaning behind his older brother calling Yun Hao a 'crouching tiger', his son was really too good! He had an exceedingly rare talent for cultivation, equally rare strength, a very high quality weapon, and he already had an exceptional young woman pursuing him! The Yun parents were quite happy at this time, "I am too young to consider marriage at all, and before I do, you must find a truly suitable husband for Big Sister", Yun Hao interrupted their merry thoughts. All four of them broke into laughter at this, and with that, Yun Hao's 11th birthday celebration ended in a very happy and prosperous fashion.
Back to the present…
Yun Hao stared at his fist which had turned into a lustrous gold color, and he could vaguely sense a kind of holy light emanating from his bones which were like the most solid iron, yet pliable enough to withstand the impact of his strength in battle. Overall, Yun Hao could keenly sense that his body was fully capable of him using sheer physical strength to dominate his opponents without the risk of harming himself while applying said strength.
Soon, he directed his attention to the 'Heavenly Wind Dragon Claw' longsword that he had received from his uncle Yun Tianwu. He could sense that there was something hidden within the sword and decided not to use his mind to inspect it- instead opting to try swinging it a few times and trying his luck with the System.
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for acquiring the passive skill "Immortal Sword Heart"!'.
Sure enough, he received a skill that sounded extremely overpowered. Nodding in satisfaction, Yun Hao focused on the skill notification, intending to see if he could take this new skill up a level.
'Immortal Sword Heart is at the Crude level, spend points to upgrade? Requires 1000 passive skill points for the next level.'
Yun Hao winced seeing the suddenly skyrocketing prices he has seen for the past few skills that he has gained- what a blackhearted system! You hardly give me points in the first place, do I have to keep killing for points??. Sighing heavily, he decides he could throw his insane comprehension at this to see what happens. As he sat down on his bed, he focused on observing the memories that he received along with the skill. Soon, a man who was actually not wielding any swords appeared in front of his eyes- tensing and preparing himself as he stood against what seemed to be millions of demons. Coming further into focus, a sea of blood and broken bodies was already surrounding the man, a cold smile hung on his face as he stared down the demon horde charging at him. In the next moment, the man raised his right palm up and made a slicing motion with it, as if he were slicing diagonally across the approaching mass of enemies. In the next breath, the demons in the army suddenly collapsed all together, their bodies appearing to have been cut cleanly in half as the man stood there welcoming the new river of blood he had created as it flowed up to his feet.
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for comprehending 'Immortal Sword Heart' to the beginner level!'
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for comprehending 'Immortal Sword Heart' to the Proficient level!'
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for comprehending 'Immortal Sword Heart' to the Mastery level!'.
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for comprehending a skill to Mastery level without spending points for the first time! Rewarding 5000 passive skill points!'
He began to feel like he would not be able to control this strength if he went any further and decided to stop comprehending it for now. Yun Hao could clearly feel as if the sword had become almost like an extension of his arm and he could vaguely visualize the budding form of a sword appearing in his heart.
With a thought, this illusory sword appeared at his fingertip and he attempted to probe the thing hidden in the gift sword he received. Before he could touch the blade it started trembling, as if it was begging him not to do it. 'How interesting, this sword is already birthing consciousness? Did uncle know? I was worried he had other intentions but if he knew, why would he let it go?', he thought, as far as Yun Hao had learned, a legendary spirit weapon was not the absolute ceiling for weapon grades, it was almost as high as a true Heavenly artifact compared to ordinary weapons. Beyond it there seemed to be; Heavenly Tribulation Artifacts, Martial Dao Artifacts and finally Heavenly Dao Artifacts, although the latter two categories were only said to be rumors, Yun Zhuyang had once brought up these rumors in the stories he used to tell a younger Yun Hao to encourage him about his future in cultivation should the treatments produce positive results within his body…
Yun Hao shuddered as he tried to quantify the strength of the man he saw while he was comprehending, to be able to slay a million strong legion of demons simply by waving his hand. Such strength was not even present among the tales his father used to tell him, what level was that? How long would he himself have to cultivate to reach that terrifying threshold of strength? It seems to be the most domineering use of force and should allow him to keep to himself and live peacefully once he achieves it. Unknowingly setting himself a goal beyond living in peace.
Returning his attention to the seemingly conscious sword, Yun Hao thought about how to leave his mark on the sword and decided to try the crudest method- biting the tip of his thumb, he then lightly ran it along the length of the blade. An inexplicable connection seemed to have formed between the sword and his mind. The sword disappeared from his hand and appeared within his mind like a hologram, he willed it and the hologram approached his mental form. Although it did not mystically change form, it did have a voice- the voice of a young boy, "Master! I meant no harm! I had only just gained consciousness and you were already about to destroy me…", this child wailed. "Oh you can speak already? You said you just gained consciousness?", Yun Hao was inwardly surprised, he was progressing a little too quickly and decided to further limit himself from continuing to comprehend as it would only bring a detrimental effect if he did not have the corresponding skill to accompany all his newfound power.
Every bit of strength was inefficiently wasted without the right technique to maximize effectiveness. He decided that he would look into the Yun Family Martial Arts that he could not bother himself with before as it could not help him cultivate no matter what. With that Yun Hao's 11th birthday came to an end. This was just the beginning of a very, very long journey, and he didn't even know it yet…
Chapter 3
The next day, Yun Hao awoke at the break of dawn, after simply washing himself and changing into a simple set of white robes, he stepped outside of his room into his courtyard. For the first time in this life, he would use it to train. Although his body was already cultivated pretty much beyond perfection due to the 'Dragon Breathing' passive, Yun Hao felt that he should still complete some basic physical training everyday, just as a nod to his morning routine in his previous life. It could be said that he was not at the level of a professional athlete, however, in his past life, Yun Hao had set himself a fairly decent workout routine and would not miss a day. It could be imagined how stressful it was that for all the years of his life now that he could have continued the habit- just up until the previous day, his body literally could not handle him straining himself physically, ergo no exercise.
According to his old routine, he began with some warm up stretches. With all his current perception and control of his body, he could keenly make the distinction between each muscle that was flexing and relaxing as he stretched. If he were truly a musclehead it would be a dream come true for most, he savored the feeling since it seemed to bring back the normalcy he missed in his daily life. Soon he had finished stretching and began to do some sets of push-ups, sit-ups and squats of various types. After about half an hour, he realized that he felt no fatigue, but was now far more used to his body with all of its augmentations through his various skills and decided to have one of the maidservants prepare some hot water he could bathe in and prepare himself for breakfast.
After the bath was prepared, he got into the tub and sat down in the water. Just then it occurred to him that the system would have 'dinged' him as he was working out so he called it out in his mind.
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for acquiring the skill 'Chaos Physique'!'
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for upgrading the skill 'Chaos Physique' to the Beginner level!'
The notifications stopped there, and this puzzled Yun Hao. His confusion was soon lifted when he checked the requirements to upgrade the skill any further.
'Chaos Physique is at the Beginner level, spend points to upgrade? Requires 100,000 passive skill points for the next level'
'F***! That is insane! I only have about 7000 points! 100,000??', he exclaimed in his mind. By now his understanding of the system was that it granted him great power, but each time it gave him an exceptional skill it would cost exponentially more points to upgrade a higher quality skill. That would by extension mean that this 'Chaos Physique' was indeed an extremely exquisite skill compared to his other techniques.
He had initially thought that his body was as perfect as it could be and as he focused on the skill the related cultivation memory entered his vision, an elderly man sat calmly amidst the vast expanse of the universe, what seemed to be stars and planets were maintaining a stable orbit centered around this man. It seemed to be an illusory projection, as the man opened his eyes, Yun Hao could distinctly see the same projection of planets and stars in orbit reflected in the man's eyes. In the next instant, the man's physique underwent a drastic change and he turned from an elder with a relatively weak-looking physique into a towering giant with a body carved with sharply defined muscles. As Yun Hao paid attention to it, he saw a monster appear in front of this man. It was so large, at a scale that Yun Hao could not even fathom, yet with just one simple, technique-less fist the man had crushed the terrifying beast into a fleshy mess that floated in space. Just before the vision ended, Yun Hao could faintly perceive that the 'stars' around the man that were not illusory, were in fact whole universes.
'Ding!'...
'Ding! Congratulations to the Host for comprehending the skill 'Chaos Physique' to the Proficient level'.
Yun Hao opened his eyes and found that another layer of scab-like substance had formed all over his body. He felt that he had seen a lot more than he should have, at the end of the vision. It dawned on him that the man was not sitting in space, or the universe- but he was beyond the barrier of the Universe. Vague insights about the Universe and Chaos seemed to go through Yun Hao's mind as he recalled some details from the novels of his past life… Beyond the Universe, there seemed to be Chaos, the source of all life, and the source of all death. The entire universe was already a scale that was too enormous for Yun Hao who was simply living in some Empire on a planet that was far too small to even be considered a speck of dust in the grand scale of what he had just perceived.
He felt another kind of energy appear in his body, and it grew alongside his Qi. It is worth noting that this new energy seemed to further perfect each of the past six meridians as it perfectly interacted in a symbiotic way with the Qi river in Yun Hao's body. All 9 of his main Qi Meridians were quickly perfected and expanded to their absolute limit. This began to strain his body to the point where he felt that he would explode, but soon he felt a kind of metaphysical barrier shatter. He could now somewhat perceive that there were a total of 120 Qi Meridians in his body, the three digit count seemed terrifying because it made no sense and his father had never even exaggerated the capabilities of the 'Immortals' in his stories to this level. Yet, Yun Hao could clearly perceive these meridians that seemed to exist but at the same time were illusory- as if they existed in a different space. Although he could perceive the meridians, he felt an immense pain because his new Qi that we can call 'Chaos Qi' did not seem to be condensed enough to break through their barriers.
Instead, Yun Hao could see that the Qi in his nine meridians was condensing sharply and the Chaos Qi was speeding up the process significantly as it began to form solid crystal fragments that then made their way into his dantian and continued to multiply in number as more of his Qi reserves were condensed. Hundreds of thousands of these crystals had formed in a few moments- Yun Hao observed these crystals and understood why they were continuing to grow into more needle-like shapes. Deciding to try his luck at one of the new 'hidden' meridians, his single thought sets off a reaction among the qi crystals in his dantian- the first of the crystals sharply flew at one of the closest of those meridians causing immense pain to erupt in Yun Hao's body, mind and extending into his soul as well. Yun Hao was no stranger to immense pain like this and soon, the mental exhaustion caused him to faint, but his body was unharmed.
Unbeknownst to our protagonist, this sudden breakthrough he had just undergone had caused a heavenly phenomenon to appear across the skies of the continent followed by a resounding heavenly chant. Many hidden powerhouses and the experts of surrounding empires could tell that an extremely heaven-blessed genius had been born. However, due to the System's tactfulness, nobody could pinpoint the location of this genius and some with the powers and skills of divination even faced backlash from the Heavenly Secrets as they tried to brute force their way to perceive the location of this once in an era genius.
The bout of unconsciousness did not last for long as Yun Hao awoke again, he could now sense that 11 of the 111 hidden Meridians in his body had been unblocked and had an extremely pure Chaos Qi stream flowing calmly in each of them. Gauging how he felt, it seemed that he was even some match for those Imperial Knights who had attended the banquet and gave him an unfathomable feeling, not to mention the strength of his highness the Emperor who seemed to not need their protection which now felt approachable to Yun Hao.
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for breaking through the physique limit of the world! Rewarding 100,000 passive skill points!'
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for comprehending 'Heavenly Wind Dragon Breathing' to the Innate level without spending points! Rewarding 20,000 passive skill points'
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for comprehending 'Immortal Golden Skin, Heavenly Iron Bones to the Innate level without spending points! Rewarding 50,000 passive skill points'
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for upgrading 'Sage's Comprehension' to the Innate level without spending points! Rewarding 60,000 passive skill points'
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for upgrading 'Heavenly Phantom's Myriad Disguises' to the Innate level without spending points! Rewarding 50,000 passive skill points'
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for upgrading 'Twelve Extremes Perception Field' to the Innate level without spending points! Rewarding 20,000 passive skill points'
'Ding! Due to the 'Chaos Physique' skill's exceedingly superior quality, All current [Innate] skills have been assimilated.'
'Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully fusing the new passive skill 'Chaotic Immortal Sage Physique'!'
'The System will now proceed to upgrade. Time required, 44d:23h:49m:56s, best of luck to the host'
The series of notifications baffled Yun Hao, as he sat there in the bathtub. All of this seemed long, but it really had only been about 10 minutes since he began to bathe. He was still unaware of the phenomena that his sudden cultivation breakthrough had caused and he could even feel that the Qi in his surroundings was exceedingly thin, as well as poor in density. Almost starving his physique, which he now felt that every pore of his skin was naturally absorbing and completely passively enhancing each step of his cultivation. All of this seemed to be polishing his very foundation of martial arts to the extreme limit as he had yet to cultivate a single Skill or Secret Art, yet had progressed to a strength level far beyond any of his peers could even imagine let alone the fact that not even his Father's fantastical stories could keep up with just how powerful Yun Hao's physique would become once he could start to cultivate the new meridians he discovered.
He seems to have received a bumper harvest of skill points but will not be able to use them as the system seems to be in a dormant state during its upgrade, according to the last of the notifications it would take 45 days to upgrade. Even then, he feels like he has been reborn once again and could completely continue to cultivate and exceed himself until the system completed its upgrade.
With this in mind, Yun Hao concluded his bath, and headed for his mother's handmade breakfast dressed in a simple purple robe with minimal gold embroidery.
He found this set of clothes already prepared to his size in his wardrobe, it seems a servant had already placed it there while he was bathing. He marveled at how quickly clothes had been tailored for him since he only told his parents about his true appearance the night before. Knowing his mother, she probably was the one who sat up all night and put it together for him. In fact, his guess was right- as he entered the dining hall, his mother was there preparing breakfast only by ordering the maids around while she had two other maids with her and she was discussing something else with them.
As Yun Hao entered the room, he noticed the dark circles under his mother's eyes, confirming his guess. "Yun Hao greets you mother", all the hustle and bustle paused for a moment and Yun Hao could swear that all the female maidservants seemed to have stars in their eyes, Lin Xu Yue simply smiled and replied, "Ah good child, it seems the robes fit you perfectly! Mother was worried it would be too small still", Yun Hao chuckled to himself, 'Dearest Mother, even if it was not fitting me perfectly, do you think I would not fit myself according to the clothes you made for me?'. The clothes did fit him in his true appearance perfectly however, which further impressed him about his mother's skills.
Soon he concluded his breakfast, and headed to the Yun Clan Secret Arts Pavillion in the castle. On the way there, he had to pass through a few parts of the capital city of Tianzhong, Tianshui. It was a lively morning. He lamented not being able to see this when he was younger, because the bustle was far greater than any morning market he had seen in his past life. He calmly made his way to the castle according to the map his father had shown him long ago of the Capital city that they lived on the border of. Although Yun Zhuyang had described to the best of his ability, the liveliness of the city was still a genuine surprise to Yun Hao.
As Yun Hao approached the castle gates, he was momentarily stopped by the guards until he showed them his identity token. They immediately apologized and heartily greeted him. "We greet young master Yun!", the guard who initially stopped him followed along for a moment, profusely apologizing to avoid the potential scorn of a very powerful young noble. Yun Hao naturally saw through his thoughts and dismissed him after simply accepting the apology. Soon, after asking for directions and surprising a few more guards, he made his way to the Secret Arts Pavillion only to find Yun Linjue waiting for him there. "Little brother! I was beginning to wonder if you got lost on the way here", she smiled and teased him. "Big sister, you know I have never been out by myself, of course I have to stop and ask for directions occasionally", Yun Hao replies with a half-smile.
She guides him into the pavilion to greet the Guardian Elder of this scripture hall. An elderly woman soon entered his vision, "We greet the guardian elder!", both Yun Hao and Yun Linjue bowed immediately, "Good children! Welcome to the Yun Clan Secret Arts Pavillion!"
The guardian Elder introduced herself as Yun Xiuming, Yun Hao could discreetly tell that she was at a level of cultivation beyond the Golden Core, or even the Nascent Soul- the boundary realm that separated martial artists from the true immortals. He could not detect these from anyone before and Yun Tianwu was most likely around the same cultivation as this Elder in front of him- if not, even slightly worse than her…
"My, my young one, it is quite rude to probe your elder's strength like that", she said, causing Yun Hao to flinch, "Many apologies elder, I have only recently broken through and unconsciously did so-", he replied but was interrupted, "Good child! That brat Tianwu has already informed this old lady to guide you well to select from among our Yun Clan's secret arts, he has great hopes for you", she chuckled, Yun Hao was not too surprised- he could read the room at the banquet hall last night after the Emperor had gifted him the Fleeting Wind Dragon Claw longsword. Yun Linjue heaved a sigh of relief as she had felt terrified that her surprisingly smooth-talking brother seemed to have irked a terrifyingly strong person- Yun Xiuming was actually their Great Grand Aunt and one of the strongest people beside their Uncle the Emperor. To whom she was his Grand Aunt, the sister of his grandfather. Such a prestigious and powerful person was the only one capable of watching over the Yun Clan's Secret Arts Pavilion. Yun Hao had never been introduced to her as it was basically impossible for him to move around freely without harming his body, let alone cultivating martial arts.
Now that introductions were complete, Yun Xiuming saw the sword strapped to Yun Hao's hip and guided them towards the core of the pavilion, before stopping nearly at the very deepest part of the library and handing him a jade tablet, "This is our Yun Clan's most powerful Sword Art, the 'Heavenly Wind Sword Art', it should go well with the sword you have strapped to your hip", she said, continuing, "Press this tablet to your head, the technique will be engraved into your memory directly", Yun Hao could feel an extremely domineering force leaking from the jade tablet in his hand, as he brought it close to his glabella, he could feel a surge of information flow into his mind. Although, compared to his passive skills there did not seem to be any 'vision' to perceive and knowing how insane his comprehension was, he did not rush to focus on it for the moment. "Yun Hao thanks Great Grand Aunt, this sword art indeed feels at least familiar in my mind already", he thanked, "If I may be presumptuous, would there be a fist art I can study as well?", he inquired immediately after, although this surprised Yun Xiuming, she did not think too much of it, she had seen many geniuses who were eager to learn more and simply guided the siblings towards another shelf nearby, handing him another jade tablet, "This is the Fist art known as the 'Heavenly Tiger Fist', it should be a good compliment to the sword art I just gave you, but beware child, too many geniuses before you have been eager to learn both, but ended up giving up on one of them over time", she warned as she dropped it carefully in his palm, "I thank the Elder for her thoughtful guidance, I will not force myself, but I must try first".
Yun Hao's thoughtful reply showed that he was not getting carried away and simply wanted to figure out his limits by himself. It was actually admirable that such a young boy, barely at the age of 11 had such maturity while his peers who were known as 'geniuses' were although dedicated in their cultivation, but still behaved like children. Yun Xiuming, being one of the strongest elders beside Yun Tianwu also had the knowledge of the extreme treatments that Yun Zhuyang had been searching for to help his son's fragile constitution. She simply smiled to herself and led the two siblings back out of the pavilion, sending her regards to their parents.