The Name of Eternals

Chapter 9: The Primordial Body

Power like that of a lion or elephant roamed within Li Hao's body as he lightly clenched his fists, feeling as if his small hands could easily crush boulders!

A moment ago, he had been an ordinary human, but now, in a short amount of time, he had become a cultivator!

The Tongli Realm is the first realm of martial arts, focused on practicing strength!

Strength that permeates the entire body is the hallmark of Tongli.

Over long ages, the standards for each level of the Tongli Realm have been clearly defined: one level equates to lifting one tripod, which is 200 jin of arm strength.

Ordinary people, through regular diet and training, can barely reach the equivalent of the first level of the Tongli Realm.

But for anything higher, unless they are naturally strong, they must rely on cultivation.

Each level increased means one more tripod.

At seven levels, that's seven tripods, meaning that Li Hao, with his five-year-old body, could lift 1,400 jin.

And that's just arm strength. The explosive power of his whole body could easily let him leap a hundred meters, move like lightning, and effortlessly fight a hundred strong men.

"Finally, I can cultivate. At least now, I have the power to protect myself."

Li Hao felt excited, sensing that just a little exertion would make his whole body tense, and his skin felt incredibly solid. Though still tender, it would not tear easily, instead becoming as tough as taut leather, impossible to pinch or twist!

"However, this should just be the limit of the Hundred Refinements of Stone Skin. If I cultivate those two other techniques, my cultivation should improve further!"

Li Hao thought to himself.

He took a deep breath, adjusted his physical state, waited for the red hue of his skin to fade back to normal, and then left the room.

Subsequently, Li Hao called for Uncle Zhao and asked him to send someone to notify the First Lady.

Quickly, the First Lady responded, and once again, the maid named Xue Jian came to accompany him.

This time, he went straight to the sixth floor, where Li Hao picked up the two manuals and began to read them one by one.

With the understanding and insight gained from having reached the first stage of the Physical Body Path, Li Hao suddenly understood many of the previously incomprehensible words.

"Have learned the basics, do you want to record it?"

Yes!

He recorded both manuals onto the panel within moments, then asked Xue Jian to take him downstairs.

Xue Jian, although helpless inside, did not show it on her face. To her, it seemed like she was just accompanying him for fun. As for reading the manuals, well, even if he spent days on it, if he could understand them, it would be a miracle.

Even the manuals on the first floor, when taken outside, were considered intermediate, and learning even the basics would be difficult without three to five days of comprehension.

Not to mention the manuals on the sixth floor.

The more powerful they were, naturally, the harder they were to master, with higher cultivation thresholds.

Li Hao, unaware of what the young girl was thinking, wouldn't care even if he knew. Who would argue with a child, after all?

Back in the Shanhe Courtyard, before starting his training, Li Hao asked the maids to prepare some food and drinks.

Earlier, when he was practicing the Hundred Refinements of Stone Skin, he felt a significant energy drain from his body, and now he felt ravenously hungry.

"Who is this little bit supposed to satisfy?"

"Bring another plate. I mean, bring another plate of each. I'm still growing, do you think I can't eat more?"

Under the astonished gazes of the maids, Li Hao devoured the large table full of meat, wiped his greasy little mouth, and felt only about 60% full.

But fearing he might frighten them, he didn't eat more, swaggered back to his room, and began training.

The previously obscure Thousand Jiao Sacred Body had four levels, and when recorded onto the panel, only the first two levels showed as mastered.

The first level, the Jiao Demon Body, once mastered, hardens the bones throughout the body, with skin like dragon scales, impervious to blades.

The second level, the Jiao Dragon Body, contains half the power of a dragon, further enhancing the body in all aspects.

Whoosh!

Li Hao assumed a stance, his body like a crouching tiger, back arched like a drawn bow, with bones making slight cracking sounds.

Through the comprehension of the first level of the Physical Body Path, he opened the hidden gates within his body.

The cells throughout his body seemed to be activated, and his blood flow accelerated once again. This time, Li Hao also felt a cool energy trickling in from the outside, seeping into his body.

This was the Taiyin energy within the world.

As the Taiyin energy entered his body, the redness of Li Hao's skin gradually returned to normal, and his flesh rapidly underwent a transformation.

With the hidden gates opened, he used the energy of the heavens to temper his body.

As more Taiyin energy poured in, Li Hao's skin gradually turned pale and then took on a faint bluish hue, like a corpse. Even his skin's surface showed faint, weak protrusions like dragon scales.

After three incense sticks' worth of time, he completed the first level of cultivation.

Li Hao checked his cultivation level and saw that it had progressed from the seventh to the tenth level, achieving the pinnacle of the Tongli Realm!

In the Tongli Realm, the difference between the first nine levels is not substantial, each defined by an increase of 200 jin, but the transition from the ninth to the tenth level is a threshold where strength doubles!

The tenth level signifies complete mastery of the Tongli Realm, strength permeating the entire body, unified in power!

And the weight he could lift would reach 3,600 jin!

Thrilled, Li Hao felt his body carefully, somewhat regretting that the divine blood had not awakened.

For those with divine blood inheritance, the divine blood awakens when they reach the pinnacle of the Tongli Realm, and their strength increases to 7,200 jin!

Such a difference would allow those with divine blood to easily sweep through others in the same realm, compensating for any gap in technique, using pure force to break through!

It's like the difference between a pay-to-win player and a regular player in a game.

It seems unfair, but it's understandable because divine blood inheritance requires one's father to reach the Three Immortals realm. In the entire Great Yu dynasty's nineteen provinces, the number of people at this level can be counted.

Without the support of divine blood, Li Hao was not discouraged. After a brief adjustment, he continued to cultivate the second level of the technique.

Half an hour later, he finished, slowly opening his eyes, which seemed to emit divine lightning, his pupils darker and deeper.

Feeling his body, the strength was clearly far greater than before. He even wanted to spar with someone to test his strength.

Pulling up the panel, Li Hao was surprised to see no breakthrough in the realm; his cultivation was still at the tenth level of the Tongli Realm.

Although his power had clearly increased, it hadn't reached the Zhoutian Realm?

Li Hao paused, then realized he still didn't know how to circulate energy.

Upon reaching the pinnacle of the Tongli Realm, something called "qi" had appeared within him. Power and energy; when power is full, energy arises.

This "qi" felt like the power when his biceps bulged.

However, the qi wandered through his body, and he couldn't control it.

Suddenly, Li Hao remembered that the second level of the Thousand Jiao Sacred Body didn't mention how to circulate qi.

And the third level, he still couldn't comprehend with his current Physical Body Path.

"The Jiao Dragon Body contains half the power of a dragon. I wonder what my strength is now?" Li Hao mused. He could feel his power was significantly greater, at least double, maybe even more.

Not in a hurry to test it, Li Hao turned to the other body refinement technique:

The Primordial Fragment.

With the aid of his comprehension of the Physical Body Path, Li Hao quickly grasped many insights and began practicing immediately.

According to the general principles of the Primordial fragment, this body refinement method has five levels.

But the fragment in Li Hao's hand only contained the first two levels, with the latter three lost to time.

Just the first chapter, the Primordial Secret Art, required opening the hidden gates of the body, sensing the sun's power within the world, and the Taiyin energy, achieving the simultaneous entry of yin and yang energies to temper the body.

Without the help of the Physical Body Path, the first step would be nearly impossible for ordinary people.

Yet, Li Hao seemed familiar with the process, handling it with ease.

As yin and yang energies converged in his body, his flesh continually transformed.

By the second chapter, it involved using the yin and yang energies within to draw in the power of the stars, cultivating the Stellar Battle Body.

This physique is even more dominant than the Jiao Dragon Body, containing both Taiyin and solar energies within, with a core like a stellar furnace, radiating immense heat and strength.

When Li Hao opened his eyes again, it was already midnight.

Unknowingly, he had cultivated for seven or eight hours.

His gaze was calm and subdued as he opened his eyes, his breath deep and long like a coiled Jiao Dragon.

His hearing and vision were greatly enhanced.

Li Hao could even hear the faint sound of wind in the courtyard, not the sound of wind but of a sword.

Someone was practicing swordsmanship.

With his level of swordsmanship, Li Hao could mentally reconstruct a person's sword practice posture just from hearing the wind sound.

It was the little girl.

Was she working hard too?

Li Hao smiled slightly, then opened the panel.

Name: Li Hao

Age: 5

Cultivation: Tongli Realm, Tenth Level

Swordsmanship: Second Stage

Skills: Boundless Seas, Tides (Perfect) [Restricted]

Physical Body Path: First Stage

Skills: Stone Skin Hundred Refinements (Great Accomplishment), Thousand Jiao Sacred Body (Jiao Dragon Body Minor Accomplishment), The Primordial (Stellar Body Initiated)

Chess Path: Third Stage (0/5000)

Chess Diagram Collection: 0

Art Skill Points: 0

"Still in the Tongli Realm?"

Li Hao was somewhat surprised. He could sense significant changes in his body, much stronger than before when he first reached the tenth level. He even felt that, with his current physique, he could perform the Perfect-level Tidal Sword Technique without any pressure. Yet, he hadn't broken through.

However, he still didn't know how to circulate energy through the Zhoutian.

The first two chapters of the Primordial body refinement technique seem to be used only for the Tongli Realm.

But the power it brings has already far surpassed the Tongli Realm.

The only problem is that cultivation is extremely difficult!

With his current understanding of the first stage of the Physical Body Path, he barely entered the initial stage. For ordinary people, it might take ten to twenty years to reach this level.

And by that time, they might have already stepped into the Zhoutian Realm.

Compared to advancing to the Zhoutian Realm, this seems even harder.

Li Hao stood up, adjusted to his body, then opened the window and saw that, indeed, in the courtyard, a small figure was practicing swordsmanship under the starlight.

However, to Li Hao's surprise, compared to the clumsy swaying sword practice from the morning, it was now well-formed.

The little girl has some talent.

Li Hao smiled and then pressed his palm to the ground, leaping out of the window, landing lightly.

He went to another part of the courtyard where there was a rockery. Uncle Zhao had mentioned that his father had carried this rockery back single-handedly in his youth, weighing a hundred tripods!

Li Hao crouched slightly, everyone was asleep, and the guards were patrolling elsewhere.

Taking advantage of no one being around, he went to the rockery, looked at it, placed his hand in a concave stone hole, and tried to move it.

Rumble!

To Li Hao's amazement, when he exerted all his might, this rockery, weighing over ten tons, was lifted by him!

As the rockery moved, the pond water surged and flooded its base.

In the Tongli Realm's tenth level, without divine blood, lifting 20,000 jin!

Li Hao was so startled that he quickly and gently released his grip, setting the rockery back down.