Chapter 6: Great Flame’s Martial Saint
Spring passed and autumn came.
Ning Qi was already nearly one year old.
However, with Innate Qi nourishing him, supplemented by peerless medical arts for conditioning, his body developed very quickly, now roughly the same as a three-year-old child.
Ning Qi optimized the Innate Bone Nourishing Technique several more times.
Finally feeling it had reached the point of no further improvement.
It had already reached the limit of what he could achieve now.
He estimated that at the current pace, he would have his bone structure fully formed by age three!
This was much faster than Dragon Mountain Daoist had previously estimated.
It might seem like just a few years earlier, but one must know that the earlier it is, the harder it becomes; practicing martial arts at three is not simply twice as good as at six—it could be several times the gap.
He practiced daily with his exclusive medicinal ointment.
His bone structure accelerated in formation day by day.
Not only that, it even accelerated his physical growth.
A body that was too young was always inconvenient, and Ning Qi hoped to grow up faster.
Unable to research the Martial Way yet, Ning Qi did not waste time; he read classics every day, of all types, solely to build his foundation.
He bore max level comprehension, unprecedented in history, but creation never comes from nothing.
Take medical arts as an example.
Even without predecessors’ classics for reference, Ning Qi could still experiment, summarize, and innovate on his own, pioneering the medical way and even reaching unprecedented profound realms, but the time it would take would inevitably multiply manyfold.
Since that was the case, why not stand on the shoulders of predecessors and gaze afar?
Others might have inferior comprehension to Ning Qi, but the accumulation of generation after generation was not to be underestimated; some flashes of spiritual insight and ingenious ideas were astonishing.
The same held true for other fields.
Though he had not yet begun practicing martial arts.
Ning Qi had already started preparing.
Learn from others, learn from classics, learn from heaven and earth, learn from nature.
Gather the strengths of a hundred schools to open the path ahead.
This was the correct way to wield max level comprehension.
True Martial Sect had numerous classics, enough for Ning Qi to read for a long time; sometimes after one read-through, a second reading brought new insights, especially the Daoist Sect classics, which contained profound reasons that benefited Ning Qi immensely—these were all his foundation, needing only a key to unlock the treasure.
“If I have the chance in the future to peruse all Great Yan classics, my foundation will likely become unprecedentedly profound.”
“One day, to obtain the ingenious ideas of all living beings—what a thrill that would be; the way of longevity would probably be within reach!”
Just thinking of that scene.
Ning Qi himself felt a bit yearning.
He had not forgotten that his ultimate goal was longevity.
These days.
Senior brothers and senior sisters occasionally went down the mountain for experience, and upon returning, they brought Ning Qi some novel little trinkets or shared some tales of what they had seen; as Ning Qi showcased more and more extraordinary traits, they had subconsciously stopped treating him as a child under one year old.
Thanks to this.
Combined with records in the classics.
Ning Qi gained a deeper understanding of the dynasty he was in.
“Great Yan World has thirteen provinces, vast in territory; even just Qingzhou is larger than his previous life’s homeland, and martial arts sects abound in the world, but they basically rely on imperial authority and require imperial permission.”
“For example, when Master rebuilt True Martial Sect earlier, not only did he win the True Martial foundation from the Divine Sword Mountain master through a bet, but he also needed the Qingzhou governor’s endorsement to finally gain recognition.”
He flipped through the Great Yan Chronicles in his hand, his eyes showing some astonishment.
“But the most amazing thing is that Great Yan has stood for two thousand years; just this one dynasty’s lifespan already matches nearly half of his previous life’s ancient history!”
“This should be related to martial artists’ longevity in this world; Heavenly Human Realm reaches eight hundred years of lifespan, and with some lifespan extension methods, one might live over a thousand years; as for Martial Saint, they might truly live several thousand years!”
“And the founding of dynasties often has direct ties to Martial Saints; a Martial Saint is invincible in the world, even experts at Heavenly Human Perfection are no match before a Martial Saint; if a Martial Saint wants to establish a dynasty, it’s indeed not difficult—Great Yan Dynasty was single-handedly opened by Great Yan Martial Saint.”
A thought arose in Ning Qi’s mind, and he couldn’t help sighing aloud:
“Great Yan’s national fortune has lasted two thousand years; I wonder if Great Yan Martial Saint is still in the world?”
Martial Saint was his goal, but existences of this level were far too rare; some eras might even have only one, like a dragon seen but its tail not.
A giggling voice came from afar:
“He must certainly still be in the world; otherwise, the world would have long been in chaos.”
Ning Qi looked over.
He saw a figure speeding over, landing before him in a few leaps; the blue Daoist robe was slightly loose but still couldn’t hide her slender and exquisite figure; looking up further, her beautiful almond eyes carried a smile.
Ye Qinghe first pinched Ning Qi’s fair and tender cheek, then laughingly hugged him tight, leaving Ning Qi breathless.
“Little Nine, did you miss Third Senior Sister?”
Ning Qi frowned repeatedly, struggling to jump out.
“Senior Sister, you’ve been drinking again!”
He smelled a strong alcoholic scent, quite pungent.
Ye Qinghe giggled, pulled out a gourd like a magic trick, and took a hearty swig; the wine liquid flowed down her fair neck into the Daoist robe.
“Wine is a worldly treasure; a woman who doesn’t drink isn’t a good woman—Little Nine, you’re still too young to understand.”
She produced a small wine cup from somewhere and filled it.
“Want to try?”
Seeing Ye Qinghe’s expectant gaze, Ning Qi was covered in black lines.
Bringing a one-year-old child to drink?
You really have some nerve!
Ye Qinghe tempted:
“Drink a little, and I’ll tell you a secret about Great Yan Dynasty.”
Ning Qi helplessly took a sip; this bit of wine had no effect on him, and what Ye Qinghe drank was all premium stuff, harmless to the body; he just wasn’t much interested in alcohol.
Ye Qinghe clapped and laughed:
“Still, Little Nine understands me; unlike Qin Yun and the others, no fun at all.”
Ning Qi just rolled his eyes.
Ye Qinghe took the Great Yan Chronicles from Ning Qi’s hand, curled her lip, and said:
“There’s too much official jargon here; it’s true that Great Yan Dynasty’s national fortune has lasted two thousand years, the longest in history, but there have been plenty of upheavals in between.”
Ning Qi immediately perked up.
“None of them overthrew Great Yan?”
Ye Qinghe shook her head:
“No, every time at the critical moment, a Martial Saint of Great Yan would act, suppress all enemies, and extend the national fortune.”
“Great Yan Martial Saint is still alive? He hasn’t ascended in two thousand years?” Ning Qi’s eyes widened.
Ye Qinghe tilted her head back for a gulp of wine.
“Actually, what I said before about Great Yan Martial Saint still being in the world might not be accurate.”
“Rumor has it the Martial Saint has reached the limit of the Martial Way and can break through realm and ascend; over these many years, each era’s Martial Saint appears, shines for a time, then falls silent, as if unable to linger long in this realm.”
“Thus, the preceding dynasties of Great Yan didn’t last exaggeratedly long; most were several hundred years, at most a thousand.”
“But Great Yan is an exception.”
Ye Qinghe tilted the gourd, watching the last few drops of wine liquid slowly fall; she frowned in dissatisfaction but still carefully swallowed them into her belly.
She said lingeringly:
“Some say Great Yan Martial Saint is a peerless genius but greedy for imperial authority, unwilling to ascend; he used some secret technique to evade the world’s suppression, allowing him to remain long-term but unable to act lightly, appearing only when Great Yan faces dire crisis.”
“Others say Great Yan Martial Saint ascended long ago, but he created a world-shaking secret technique that lets Great Yan Dynasty’s imperial family continuously produce Martial Saints, so Great Yan Dynasty endures prosperously; every Great Yan Martial Saint uses the secret technique to cultivate a new one before ascending.”
“So, Great Yan definitely has a Martial Saint; whether it’s the original one, no one knows—no one has seen his true face.”
Ye Qinghe shrugged slightly.
Ning Qi’s eyebrows twitched, and he was silent for a long time; he hadn’t expected Great Yan Dynasty to harbor such a secret.
