33. Soul Inheritance

Chapter 33: Soul Inheritance

"The mischievous monkey..."

Li Hao broke off a piece of the fragrant pastry, savoring it slowly as he continued to recount the rest of the story to the three eagerly listening children.

In the pavilion, Zhao Bo and Li Fu watched from a distance, both smiling wryly.

The young master, who knows where he found these stories, could surely achieve something great if he put this level of thought into his physical training. However, they had seen Li Hao's relaxed demeanor for so long that they had come to accept things as they were, letting nature take its course. As the second granduncle said, the vast Li family doesn't lack a strong practitioner, but the child might miss out on a happy childhood. After all, without his parents around, this was perhaps his only joy.

As the sun set, and the story concluded, Li Hao sent the three little ones on their way, giving a parting reminder to the most mischievous of them, Li Yun:

"Behave when you get home, or you'll get spanked by your mom again."

Previously, when Li Yun had heard the part about the havoc in the heavenly palace, he got overly excited and, despite his young age, showed rebellion, arguing with his mother about switching from sword to staff training. He soon found out, with his mother's direct guidance, that swordsmanship was more suitable for him.

"Okay." Li Yun blushed and ran off quickly.

"Brother Hao, I'll come see you again tomorrow," his sister, Li Zhining, said sweetly with a gentle smile.

"Brother Hao..." The chubby Li Yuanzhao seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

"Go on, scram."

Li Hao waved them all away with a smile.

Once the children left the courtyard, Li Hao returned to his painting.

After accumulating dozens of painting experience points, the moon had already risen in the sky.

Having dinner with Li Fu and Zhao Bo, Li Hao returned to his room, picked up a martial arts book from the Tingyu Pavilion, and began to read.

This book was not a technique manual but a compendium of knowledge about different cultivation realms.

"Soul Inheritance Stage, as the name suggests, is about inheriting ancestral souls!"

"If you have no background, commoners seeking soul inheritance can turn to the martial temple, and if they receive the favor of heroic souls, they may obtain soul inheritance."

"Alternatively, one could join the military and gain the soul legacy of great warriors who died for Dayu, receiving a thread of soul essence from their heroic spirits!"

"Furthermore, joining a revered mountain sect or a prestigious teacher or sect could also lead to encountering ancestral spirits..."

Li Hao read quietly, his eyes gleaming with understanding.

He called up his status panel.

[Name: Li Hao]

[Age: 8]

[Cultivation: Celestial Stage, Level 10]

[Swordsmanship: Level 3 (Flying Section) (Hidden Bow)]

[Sword Skills: Boundless Ocean · Tides (Transcendent) Falling Snow Swordsmanship (True State)]

[Body Cultivation: Level 5 (All-Encompassing) (Tiger Suppression)]

[Body Skills: Stone Skin Millenium Refinement (True State) Thousand Dragons Holy Body Level 4 (Thousand Dragons Body Initiation) Primal Beginning Level 3 (Perfected Ethereal Body) Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body Level 4 (Dragon Soul Body Initiation) ...]

[Martial Arts: Level 3]

[Skills: Heavenly Gang Celestial Method (Perfected) Hundred Battles Celestial Method (Perfected) Dragon River Divine Meridian (Perfected) Nine Revolutions Star Technique (Perfected) ...]

[Chess Mastery: Level 4 (28/10000)]

[Fishing: Level 2 (97/1000)]

[Painting: Level 2 (231/1000)]

[Cooking: Level 2 (736/1000)]

[Chess Diagram Collection: All-Encompassing, Tiger Suppression, Flying Section, Hidden Bow]

[Fishing Collection: None]

[Famous Painting Collection: Thousand Mountains Birds Fly, Snowy Mountain Spirit Fox, Kirin and Steed]

[Cooking Recipes Collection: None]

[Mental State: Chess Heart (Embedded)]

[Artistry Points: 0]

...

The panel was noticeably longer than before, even with Li Hao skipping over dozens of body cultivation techniques; it was still a long list.

The six artistry points gained from painting, cooking, and fishing were all used, raising his body cultivation from Level 3 to Level 5. In crossing from 3 to 4, there was a threshold similar to chess mastery, requiring a mental state to continue progressing.

Then, following a prompt from the status panel, the condensed chess heart, akin to a chess diagram, could be embedded.

However, embedding the chess heart into body cultivation, though it allowed him to surpass the mental state threshold, did not diminish his love for chess.

Conversely, even though he overcame the mental state barrier in body cultivation, his affection for body cultivation didn't increase, remaining as it was initially.

The panel could transfer the mental state but seemed unable to transfer emotional inclinations.

Reaching Level 4 in body cultivation, all the previous lower-tier body techniques underwent a mysterious transformation, evolving into higher-level techniques.

The Stone Skin Hundred Refinement became Stone Skin Millenium Refinement, and the Mighty Ox Fist evolved into Bull Demon Mighty Fist, enhancing both techniques and their effects significantly, bringing enormous improvements to his physical strength.

Similarly, numerous other low-tier techniques also underwent transformation, leading to new enhancements and developments in all aspects of his physical form. His raw physical power alone had reached eighty thousand pounds!

However, the supreme body cultivation techniques didn't change in grade but progressed to Level 4.

Yet, at Level 4, he encountered some unique challenges.

Simply relying on earthly energies was no longer enough to meet the requirements for these supreme body cultivation techniques. Even if his body cultivation continued advancing to Level 5, it couldn't overcome the external conditions.

For instance, practicing the fourth level of the Thousand Dragons Holy Body required personally slaying a Flood Dragon, capturing its soul, and refining it within oneself, subduing and confining its dragon soul to help transcend the Celestial Stage and step into the Soul Inheritance Stage.

The Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body was similar; its fourth level, the Dragon Soul Body, required a drop of true dragon blood to be perfected.

Without solving these external conditions, no amount of body cultivation insight, despite knowing how to practice, could replace the need for essential materials.

Fortunately, these practice conditions were not difficult for Li Hao to fulfill.

If he asked, Li Muxiu could easily help him obtain what he needed.

However, these two methods of soul inheritance were more unorthodox and only considered mid-tier among Soul Inheritance practitioners, not particularly remarkable.

The strength of the Soul Inheritance Stage depends on the power of the inherited soul and the strength of its legacy.

Therefore, large factions maintain their advantage by creating significant gaps between themselves and ordinary practitioners.

Great mountain sects allow their disciples to pay homage to ancestral heroic spirits. If lucky, a disciple may receive the legacy of an ancestral heroic spirit, ascending in one leap, the best outcome.

After all, those able to pass on their heroic souls were often ancient figures, at least capable of reversing fate at the Four Pillars Stage!

Such powerhouses were few even in the entire Dayu kingdom.

A single soul essence from them, akin to a treasure chest key, was infinitely beneficial.

Practitioners without such background or lineage, unless possessing outstanding talents to gain a mentor on a revered mountain, could only opt for soul inheritance at the martial temple.

The heroic spirits in the martial temple ranged from weak to strong, scattered and uneven. The chosen heroic spirit depended on the inheritor's talent and character.

At the very bottom were flood dragons, ghosts, and mountain spirits, the demon kind.

These great demons were not stingy with granting souls, but the spirits of mountain spirits and ghosts were too weak, offering limited inheritance.

Born into the Li family, Li Hao had countless choices. The best option was to enter the Li family ancestral shrine.

There, ancestral spirits of the Li family were venerated, from the first generation—a founding general who helped the first emperor of Dayu establish the kingdom—to more than a dozen generations of formidable figures.

Due to familial blood ties, soul inheritance was more accessible, contributing to the enduring prosperity of martial families.

Legacy—what is legacy? It's the existence of perpetual transmission.

After succeeding in soul inheritance at the Li family shrine, continuing with the two supreme body cultivation techniques by capturing the dragon soul and true dragon soul essence would only bolster himself, not serve as the method of entering the stage, creating a vast difference.

However, before that, Li Hao planned to further solidify his foundation.

Martial Arts, as he suspected, corresponded to normal cultivation.

Breathing techniques, vein-clearing, future soul inheritance, and even wandering spirits would likely depend on Martial Arts mastery.

Using Martial Arts Level 3, he mastered both supreme family breathing techniques, reaching perfection.

It's important to note that even the most gifted individuals dared only to practice one, as each required rebuilding through the Celestial Stage's ten levels!

But with the insights from Martial Arts Level 3, Li Hao accomplished it effortlessly, completing it with ease after several practices.

The top-tier breathing techniques differed somewhat from the inherent ones within body cultivation techniques. These discrepancies, while significant, had enough overlap to create a rather dramatic outcome.

Li Hao's breath circulation soared from 143 cycles to a staggering...

248 cycles!

Yes, an incredibly exaggerated degree, surpassing the imperial family's "Heavenly Celestial Breathing Technique" at 168 cycles by a full 80 cycles!