Combat Atrium

"Sicken Ning managed to survive. He's a tough one!"

"Just by being alive, that sick person is causing trouble for everyone. If the Old Marquis didn't spend so much Combat Qi to extend his life, I'm sure he would have advanced to another level."

"It'd be great if he died! Him being alive is just causing trouble for everyone."

Ning Xiaochuan's death and resurrection had caused an uproar in Marquis Jiange's Residence. Many of them sighed as the plague they had just gotten rid of had returned.

It was only natural that Ning Xiaochuan was unaware of the uproar within the Marquis' Residence as his body was simply too weak. By the time he returned to the residence, night had fallen and he was sound asleep. 

In bed, Ning Xiaochuan's soul left his body. It gradually shrank until all that remained was a bright point. It flew into his head, passing through strains of structurally-complicated veins and arrived at his heart.

"Am I dreaming?"

Ning Xiaochuan was rather confused as he stared at the beating heart in front of him.

"Why is my heart structured like this? It has three atriums and four ventricles. Is this the legendary Seven-orifices Exquisite Heart?"

The average Joe only had two atriums and two ventricles.

However, the Ning Kingdom was different as it was diverse and had an abundance of Heaven and Earth Qi. A small number of people here had stronger hearts than the average folk. These people had three atriums and two ventricles.

The additional atrium was located at the center of the heart. It was only the size of a marble and was called the Combat Atrium. This was where Combat Qi was stored.

Only those who possessed the Combat Atrium were able to gather Heaven and Earth Qi, which was necessary to train their body and learn Divine Martial Arts. These people would become unrivaled powerhouses that are able to soar in the sky, squirm in the earth, move mountains, and part the sea.

However, only a handful of people possessed the Combat Atrium. In fact, only one out of a hundred people.

The remaining ninety-nine people were doomed to be poor citizens. No matter how hard they trained in martial arts and techniques, they could only ever be slightly stronger than the average person. They would never be able to compete with those who possessed the Combat Atrium.

Naturally, other Unique Atriums besides the Combat Atrium existed. There were the Blood Glass Atrium, Heavenly Atrium, Five-colors Atrium, and so on. Sometimes, as an infant, a person's heart could even mutate into shapes such as a heaven lotus, a rosary, a Qilin1, a humanoid, et cetera.

Those who possessed a Unique Atrium were extremely rare. They were born to be unrivaled and were often fought over amongst the nobles and Martial Art Sects as their future was filled with unlimited potential.

Ning Xiaochuan's Combat Atrium was a unique one, possessing three atriums and four ventricles. It was called the Seven-orifices Devil Heart.

When he was born, the Old Marquis discovered that Ning Xiaochuan possessed the Seven-orifices Devil Heart and had been delighted for several days. The old man immediately issued a gag order, preventing the news from spreading as he feared that Ning Xiaochuan might be assassinated during his development. Hence, besides Ning Xiaochuan's parents and the Old Marquis, nobody knew that he possessed the Seven-orifices Devil Heart.

However, nobody expected his heart to be clogged up from birth, rendering him unfit to be trained in any Divine Martial Arts.

The Old Marquis had spent a lot of energy and wealth secretly inviting the best Heart-nourishing Masters in the Yulan Empire to treat Ning Xiaochuan's condition but they all came to the same conclusion. "The strength of his heart is causing it to clog up and there's no way to clear it up. He won't survive for more than ten years."

Even the Heart-Nourishing Masters felt pity for the boy. The Seven-orifices Devil Heart was an incredibly rare existence. If Ning Xiaochuan could learn martial arts, he would certainly be bestowed with the title of Martial Supreme or Divine. However, Heaven was jealous of his talent and God shut off his path to Cultivation.

The Old Marquis ultimately gave up on finding a famous doctor, but he could not bear to witness his grandson's horrible fate. Hence, the Old Marquis would channel a huge amount of Combat Qi to Ning Xiaochuan to nourish his body. The old man had even spent an astronomical amount of wealth on Heart-nourishing Pills and Heart-nourishing Liquids. It was thanks to these actions that Ning Xiaochuan was able to survive until the age of sixteen.

"I'm certain that his heart is seriously clogged up."

Ning Xiaochuan stood right in front of his powerful and unique heart, observing it.

In his past life, Ning Xiaochuan was known as the best cardiology doctor. When he was still studying, he was unrivaled in his "Cardiac Anatomy" class. He knew the structure of the heart and its surrounding arteries better than anyone else.

Although the martial artists in this world had a different heart structure than the commoners, there was not much difference overall. Hence, he was able to tell what the root problem was instantly.

'If only I had a set of scalpels and some local anesthetic. I really want to challenge myself by performing surgery on myself.' Ning Xiaochuan thought. He was a daredevil and always tried to attempt things nobody else dared to do.

A streak of red light appeared while he was thinking.

A small, delicate sword shone in the center of the heart.

The shortsword was covered in blood and, had it not been shining, Ning Xiaochuan would not have spotted it. Not even the Old Marquis had noticed it when performing checks on his body.

The shortsword transformed into strands of blood-red vapor as it left the heart and gathered around Ning Xiaochuan's hand. It then condensed into a blood-red shortsword that matched the length of his palm. The body of the sword was etched with a strange pattern. It looked like a sacrificial pattern, used by an ancient civilization to perform ritual sacrifice to the devil.

"Hmm… It seems like I'm really dreaming. This doesn't make any sense! But since this is all a dream, I won't feel any pain so there's no need for me to use any anesthetic. Today, I shall perform heart surgery on myself!"

"Would performing surgery in my dream have any effect? Ah! It hurts so much…"

Ning Xiaochuan was in so much pain that he clenched his teeth, his entire body trembling.

"Is… Is this really a dream?"

Naturally, it was not!

In the world of martial arts, it was called Inner Control.

Only martial artists who had reached the Divine Body Realm could do this. They could condense their Combat Soul to enter their bodies and control their blood flow. They could even briefly stop their heart from beating.

Incredibly powerful martial artists could even use their Combat Soul to manipulate their bodies, allowing them to keep fighting even after being decapitated.

Although Ning Xiaochuan had yet to attain the Divine Body Realm, he was able to achieve Inner Control. This was because his soul had yet to fully merge with his body. Since it was unstable, he was able to achieve an out-of-body experience, gaining control of the shortsword to fix his heart.

Obviously, now that he had begun, he could not stop. Hence, Ning Xiaochuan decided to work through the pain.

Upon completing the surgery, he was completely exhausted and fell asleep without a hitch.

The next morning.

When Ning Xiaochuan awoke, he did not feel any post-surgical pain in his chest. He smiled wryly. "It looks like it's just a dream. Wait a minute! Why do I feel something gushing within my heart?"

Ning Xiaochuan was shocked as he realized that he could see his organs if he closed his eyes.

He had not realized that he had reached the Qi Realm where he could "see" what was inside his body.

Although he had never cultivated anything since his youth, the Old Marquis would channel Combat Qi into him to nourish his heart on a monthly basis. Ning Xiaochuan had also consumed a significant amount of Heart-nourishing Pills and Heart-nourishing Liquids. Hence, the Combat Qi and Heart-nourishing medicines remained in his body and were stored within his blood.

Last night, he used the shortsword to fix his own heart. To begin with, his condition had been rather minor and Ning Xiaochuan was fully recovered after being nourished by the Heart-nourishing medicines overnight. That was why he did not feel any pain.

Now that his heart condition was fully cured, the Combat Qi that had been lying dormant in his blood exploded out, forming into the lowest grade Combat Qi due to being stored in his Combat Atrium.

The Combat Qi flowed along with Ning Xiaochuan's blood, travelling through every part of his body. The Qi nourished his tendons, bones, skin, muscles, and organs. His body was greatly enhanced and began to gradually change.

A week later, his blood returned to his heart and the Combat Qi in his Combat Atrium increased slightly.

This went on, week after week.

Ning Xiaochuan could not understand what was happening to his body and he did not dare to tell anyone. Hence, he decided to search for the answer himself.

"Do we have a library here?" he asked.

Ning Xiner widened her eyes in surprise. She had no idea what he was referring to.

Ning Xiaochuan immediately adjusted his thoughts and said carefully, "Is there a book vault in this residence?"

The girl appeared confused as she looked at Ning Xiaochuan. After a long while, she spoke, "Oh, you're referring to the book chamber! Brother, did you lose your memory?"

Ning Xiaochuan replied, "Medically speaking, The brain's main functions stop when one dies. It's entirely possible that they would lose some part of their memories if they were brought back to life."

Although Ning Xiner did not understand what he was saying, she felt that what he said made sense.

Ning Xiaochuan did not give her time to ponder upon it and he made her lead him to the book chamber.

Marquis Jiange's Residence's book chamber was huge and had a collection of a thousand and two hundred books. Its contents were varied and included; ancient scrolls, bamboo slips, leather rolls, and even knife paintings. Naturally, the most common were paper scrolls and books.

He proceeded to camp inside the book chamber for the entire day and had Ning Xiner personally deliver his lunch to him.

She was happy when she saw her brother put in so much effort into reading. Ning Xiner watched him standing at a bronze bookshelf from afar and stealthily wiped away her tears. "Brother doesn't seem to look down upon himself anymore."

Ning Xiaochuan had never been able to learn any martial arts, which was the reason why many people called him "Sicken Ning". Although he did not want to admit that he was a sick man, as time passed he could not help but hate himself.

That was the reason why he had gone to the brothel when the rich kids invited him.

The girl saw hope in the current Ning Xiaochuan. In the past, her brother had never been so hardworking when it came to reading. Perhaps he was planning to walk down the path of academia.

He had no choice but to go down this path since he could not learn martial arts.

The Yulan Empire was an empire that had heavy preference for martial arts, thus the world of academia did not have much of a future in it. However, it was still much better than doing nothing.

Ning Xiaochuan sat on the ground as he leaned against the bookshelf. He closed the book titled "Basic Martial Arts Theory" and let out a long sigh. He uttered, "According to this book, my Qi is already in the realm of Stage Two where it flows in my blood, enhancing my body greatly. The blood will carry my Combat Qi along and I'll be able to punch with a force of 1060 pounds."

"Oh my god! 1060 pounds of force! The king of boxing, Tyson is able to produce roughly 1350 pounds of force at his best. Does that mean I've almost caught up to the king of boxing?"

Ning Xiaochuan scratched his head. If this was the realm of Stage Two for his Qi, his strength would skyrocket to 1720 pounds of force when he reached the realm of Stage Three. By then, he would be just as strong as the king of boxing. Certainly, no ordinary person would be able to endure his attacks.

"No wonder the book says that those who have a Combat Atrium are strong and are the ones who rule the world. It's difficult to imagine just how powerful the strongest man in this world is. Are they really able to burn the sky, boil the sea, cut mountains, and part rivers?"

It was already dark by the time Ning Xiaochuan raised his head.

He proceeded to pick three more books titled "Geography of the Yulan Empire,""Heaven and Earth Qi,""History of Marquis Jiange's Residence". He took these three books along with him, leaving a record with the old man in charge of managing the place before heading back to his and Ning Xiner's courtyard.

…