Chapter 125: The Three Grandmasters

When Lu Yan took out the finger bone, the Dao Scripture emitted a powerful sense of longing.

"Such intense longing suggests that the energy contained within this finger bone is extraordinary. Could it be enough to elevate the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade to the realm of 'Man and Weapon as One' in a single stroke?"

At this thought, Lu Yan hesitated. Having reached the second level of the Martial Marquis realm, he had naturally begun considering the path to becoming an Inner Energy Grandmaster. Similar to the Over-Limit martial artist and the Martial Marquis realm, the Inner Energy Grandmaster stage is about unlocking one's own potential. However, an Inner Energy Grandmaster focuses on developing the internal organs. Therefore, the first step toward breaking through to this level is for "Bone Energy" to enter the organs, starting with the heart.

The heart is the source of life—mysterious yet fragile. Bone Energy, conversely, is tyrannical and overbearing. Once it enters the heart, it can easily cause damage; a single misstep could destroy the heart, leading to death. Lu Yan’s quantity of Bone Energy already far exceeded that of ordinary people. If he were to achieve the Postnatal Martial Body, would his Bone Energy increase even further, making the breakthrough to Grandmaster even more difficult and dangerous? This was the source of his hesitation.

"Fussing and wavering—how can one practice the martial way like this? Ancient texts record that there have been peerless congenital martial bodies with vitality like elephants and dragons, their total vitality far exceeding that of ordinary people by more than tenfold, yet they still crossed into the Grandmaster realm and dominated the world. If such figures could achieve it, what do I have to fear?"

Lu Yan’s gaze gradually hardened. He recalled how major clans placed immense importance on congenital martial bodies, sparing no effort to cultivate them. The Gao family of Nanyi City even offered conditions of marriage or breeding just to obtain such a body. While this was partly because congenital martial bodies were powerful—once they reached the rank of Martial Marquis, they were rarely trapped by minor bottlenecks and could almost always reach the peak of the Martial Marquis realm with enough time and resources—he did not believe that was the only reason. A Martial Marquis at the peak of a congenital martial body is the strongest combat power below a Grandmaster, but how many Grandmasters are there? The major clans would not exhaust such efforts if those with congenital martial bodies could only stop at the Martial Marquis level. There must be a way to break through.

Without further hesitation, he communicated with the Dao Scripture and consumed the finger bone.

As the bone was swallowed, the Dao Scripture glowed with a brilliant, iridescent light. Simultaneously, the avatar of the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade was enveloped in this radiance, beginning to train and improving at a speed visible to the naked eye. Insights and inspirations regarding the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade flooded Lu Yan’s mind continuously.

"Return to the blood vein site first."

Before leaving, Lu Yan dug a pit to bury the iron box, then returned to his residence. He sat on his bed with his eyes closed, observing the Dao Scripture and the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade avatar. The scripture did not enter a 'dormant' state like last time, but continued to emit a gentle glow.

By dawn, the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade had reached the state of perfection, yet it did not stop and continued to cultivate. During the day, Lu Yan acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to spar with Wang Dao. By noon, the blade technique gradually neared the realm of 'Man and Weapon as One.' Lu Yan made an excuse about having gained an insight and retreated into a training room. Soon, the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade officially broke through to the realm of 'Man and Weapon as One.'

*Swish! Swish! Swish!*

As Lu Yan swung his blade, the movement felt as heavy and imposing as a mountain. Endless, invisible energy from the heavens and earth converged toward his body.

"A long-missed feeling." Lu Yan’s eyes brightened, and a smile appeared on his face. As expected, when a top-tier martial art reaches the 'Man and Weapon as One' stage, it can forge a Postnatal Martial Body.

A few hours later, the heavenly gift concluded. Lu Yan observed the changes in himself. The number of his Bone Energy strands remained at six, but each had thickened significantly, pushing his cultivation a large step forward toward the peak of the second level of the Martial Marquis realm and saving him a vast amount of martial food and time. Beyond this, his body had been refined; his fascia, muscles, and bones had all improved, and even his internal organs had been slightly tempered. Finally, his total vitality had increased, though it was difficult to quantify exactly.

After all, the Martial Marquis stage is completely different from the Over-Limit stage; it is not as intuitive. The body, as a 'water vat,' had indeed expanded, but one would only know how much more water it could hold once it was filled.

Although the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade had reached the realm of 'Man and Weapon as One,' the energy from the finger bone was clearly not yet exhausted. The Dao Scripture continued to glow. With a thought, he linked the energy of the scripture to the 'Second-Grade Yinuo Lizard Meat.' The progress of the culinary skill began to rise.

"This finger bone has such concentrated energy," Lu Yan grinned. It would be fantastic if he could also raise the 'Second-Grade Yinuo Lizard Meat' to the maximum level. The Dao Scripture did not disappoint. Late that night, the progress of the 'Second-Grade Yinuo Lizard Meat' reached the realm of 'Man and Food as One.' Various experiences in cooking the meat flooded his mind. He felt that if he were to cook it now, not only would the quantity he could prepare at once increase significantly, but his success rate would reach one hundred percent. If one could not achieve a hundred percent success rate in the 'Man and Food as One' realm, there would be no point in practicing. Even a master martial chef could not reach this realm with such a dish.

"There seems to be energy left," Lu Yan thought, looking at the glowing scripture with a pang of regret. He had no other martial art avatars or food avatars left to upgrade. Although he possessed two archery-style martial arts, he had been so focused on the Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade that he hadn't spent time pondering them, and thus had not condensed avatars for them.

"Wasteful. What a waste," Lu Yan swore to himself. From now on, whenever he obtained a martial art, he would prioritize understanding the basics and condensing an avatar. Who knew when he might encounter such a rare piece of Dao food again?

He left the room, washed up, and changed his clothes. The next day, he bid farewell to Wang Dao. Having sparred for many days, Wang Dao had gained insights and touched the threshold of a breakthrough, so he did not insist on Lu Yan staying.

Upon returning to the Three Absolutes Martial Hall, Lu Yan began consuming large amounts of martial food. The vitality within him grew thicker, filling his body. This process was different from the Over-Limit stage; it was extremely rapid. In just over ten days, his vitality was replenished. As it reached capacity, a surge of vitality flowed toward his bones, merging with a starlight point, and a new strand of Bone Energy was born. Immediately after, another surge followed, and a second strand was born. It stopped only after two new strands were created. Lu Yan now had eight strands of Bone Energy.

However, these new strands were relatively weak, far from comparable to the original six, equivalent only to the level of someone who had just broken through to the Martial Marquis realm.

"An ordinary person's worth of vitality births one strand of Bone Energy. Now that two have been birthed, it equates to twice the vitality of an ordinary person. This time, the Postnatal Martial Body has increased my vitality capacity by about thirty percent," Lu Yan estimated. It was a bit less than expected, but normal, given his foundation was already so thick—six times that of an ordinary person—and as a Martial Marquis, his foundation was constantly being tempered by Bone Energy. The increase was naturally limited. Even so, he had risen from six times the vitality of an average person to eight.

"The martial art avatars seem to have undergone new changes. I should find a place to test them," Lu Yan pondered. Eight days ago, the Dao Scripture had digested the energy of the finger bone, but Lu Yan had been busy accumulating vitality and had ignored it.

He went to a forest outside the city and, with a thought, a martial art avatar emerged from his glabella and landed on the ground. It was the Diamond Indestructible Skill avatar. It then dashed into the distance.

Five hundred meters. He could maintain control of the avatar within a radius of five hundred meters from himself. Once it exceeded that distance, he lost control. Unfortunately, he could still only manifest one avatar at a time. He retracted the Diamond Indestructible Skill avatar and tested the Nine Heavens Blade and Nine-Slaying Divine Thunder Blade avatars; all were limited to a five-hundred-meter range. There was no time limit; they could stay out as long as he wished.

For these past few days, Li Wenxuan had been incredibly restless. The experts sent to Dingxing City seemed to have vanished without a trace, like stones cast into the sea. They had previously sent word that they were close to success—why was there suddenly no news?

Just then, a trusted aide came in to report. "My lord, I have secretly contacted Wu Qi. He informed me that Liu Wan and his group had dug up the item long ago and left the Dingxing City blood vein site over ten days ago. As for their subsequent whereabouts, he does not know."

"Left over ten days ago? Then where are they? Did they abscond with the treasure? Or were they intercepted on the way?" Li Wenxuan frowned deeply. After a long pause, he asked, "During that time, how many Martial Marquises were in the Dingxing City area?"

"Besides the two Martial Marquises guarding the blood vein, Lu Shanchuan, the master of the Three Absolutes Martial Hall, was there, sparring in blade techniques with Wang Dao," the aide replied.

"Lu Shanchuan." A cold glint flashed in Li Wenxuan’s eyes. Because of the Li Cangxin affair, suspicions had once pointed toward Lu Shanchuan, but they had tested him and found he was only at the first level of the Martial Marquis realm, and without evidence, the matter had been dropped. Yet, he held no affection for Lu Shanchuan.

"Send people to investigate the route between Dingxing City and Baicao City. Also, increase efforts to monitor Lu Shanchuan and Wang Dao," Li Wenxuan ordered.

Just then, a knock at the door sounded. "Come in," Li Wenxuan said.

An old man entered and said, "My lord, the Ancestor requests your presence. There is an urgent matter to discuss."

"An urgent matter?" Li Wenxuan was suspicious, but he dared not delay and set off immediately. When he arrived at the council hall of the main Li family estate, he found that besides the Ancestor, Li Xingyuan, there were two others sitting on either side of him: an elderly woman with white hair and a burly, bald old man.

Li Wenxuan felt a chill. These two were no simple figures; they were elders of the Li clan and Inner Energy Grandmasters. All three of the Li family’s Inner Energy Grandmasters were present.

"Has my practice of the Martial Spirit been exposed?" This was the first thought in Li Wenxuan’s mind. But having seen great storms in his life, he remained calm. Another person walked into the hall—it was Li Wenxin. Seeing the three Grandmasters, Li Wenxin also looked puzzled. Soon, several others entered, all senior members of the Li clan.

A moment later, Li Xingyuan spoke slowly: "Now that everyone is here, I have an announcement. We have received news that the East Mountain Prefecture has undergone a massive change. A Demon King has emerged from the Demon Ridge Mountains and battled five Grandmasters of the East Mountain Prefecture. The five Grandmasters were soundly defeated—one is dead, and four are injured."