Bab 10: Chapter 10: Myriad Attributes
Li Hao wondered, if he had his bones measured again, he didn't know what the result would be.
But there was only one chance, and no one thought the old Daoist from Qingqiu Mountain would make a mistake.
Since the day the bone measuring had ended, he could clearly feel that the liveliness of the Mountain and River Courtyard had diminished, where in the past, the ladies of the various courts would often take their children to play here, or fetch him to eat border or tributary kingdom's confections and regional fresh fruits, then let their children play with Li Hao, trying to be intimate from a young age.
But now two months had gone by, and only the main lady, Fifth Lady, and that young Ninth Lady had come to visit him.
They saw he was unharmed and didn't come again.
However, occasionally he would receive pears and pastries sent from Eternal Spring Court.
Now it was winter, and he even received two sets of short, fine-fleeced, sewn cotton trousers and jackets, and a scarf.
Li Hao hung that scarf around the neck of the little maid.
The next day.
Dawn was barely breaking, and Lin Haixia was already practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard with Bian Ruxue.
Previously at the weapons rack, Lin Haixia had the child select from various weapons and test each one to measure her talent for weapons, and Bian Ruxue ultimately chose the sword.
And after practicing, Lin Haixia found that she indeed had a talent for the Sword Dao, so she taught her diligently and was occasionally strict.
At noon, Li Hao leisurely woke up; he was not yet six years old and wasn't required to observe the family rules, didn't need to go to Eternal Spring Court every morning to greet Aunt and wish her a good day, and so he could comfortably sleep in.
Seeing the small figure practicing diligently in the courtyard, Li Hao shook his head slightly, muttering 'pitiable' to himself, then proceeded to wash up with the assistance of his personal maid, eat breakfast, and then, as usual, summon those two house servants skilled at chess to set up the board in the pavilion.
Before long, a game of chess was over, but Li Hao found that he did not receive any prompt for an increase in experience value, and he couldn't help but be startled.
Immediately he saw words appear before him:
{To advance beyond Chess Tao Third Stage, one requires a Chess Heart.}
Chess Heart?
Li Hao was puzzled.
Seeming to sense his thoughts, the words gradually faded away and then another line appeared:
[To cultivate a Chess Heart, one's mind must be filled with nothing but chess, to be utterly enamored with it.]
A very straightforward explanation.
Li Hao was somewhat surprised, he actually could interact with these words.
Hello?
The words disappeared.
Li Hao tried to call out a few more times, but there was no response, so he stopped dwelling on it and began to ponder instead, to be utterly enamored with chess?
To first form a Chess Heart before he could receive experience?
In the Divine General Mansion, Li Hao had heard of Sword Heart, Spear Heart, and even the Gentle Heart beneath a Knife-like Mouth.
But he'd never heard of a Chess Heart.
It was true, playing chess and the like was seen as trivial entertainment by the Divine General Mansion.
However, the Chess Heart should be similar to the Sword Heart, right?
Listening to the wives of the courtyard talking while holding him, like how some young man had practiced swordsmanship daily since childhood, would hold a sword even while eating, sleep with a sword, and after forming a Sword Heart, his Sword Dao cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds.
So to say, if he wanted to form a Chess Heart, he would need to do the same?
But did Li Hao like Chess Tao?
In his previous life, although he knew a little, it was really just that, a little.
Playing chess... who enjoys it among respectable people?
Even playing poker is more enjoyable than chess.
After a hard day's work, who has the energy for such mental exertion?
Unless seeking novelty, or occasionally looking to change up the entertainment experience.
Even with a panel that could improve chess experience, Li Hao saw it merely as a tool to grind for Artistic Skill Points, to truly fall in love and be captivated by it.
It seemed unlikely.
Li Hao, slightly stubborn, had the house servant play another game of chess with him.
Then he believed in the curse.
This left Li Hao somewhat troubled, his little face creasing in frustration, just getting a taste of cultivation's sweetness, and now you tell me I can't gain experience through chess, how can this be?
Was he really supposed to hold onto a chessboard every day?
But without experience, why would I hold it?
Should he, perhaps, shift to training another art?
But the use of this Chess Heart, he didn't know, first ponder it some more.
For the following days, Li Hao moved the chessboard onto his bed, spread a blanket over it, and simply used it as a pillow.
Even while eating, he placed the chessboard beside him, treating it like a statue of Buddha.
But such formalities seemed ineffective.
Li Hao didn't continue to play chess with the servants, instead, he would watch the little maid practice swordsmanship or go to Listening Rain Tower to flip through various books.
That day, while Li Hao was browsing books in Listening Rain Tower, he came across several pages of a chess manual, and he was taken aback.
The book recounted anecdotes of a famous figure from hundreds of years ago, how, as a youth, he was humiliated and sought revenge later on, only to find his nemesis had abandoned Martial Arts in favor of chess.
The great figure once said, when he returned for revenge, he would utterly crush his opponent, drive him to despair before killing him.
But by then, the opponent had already been studying chess for many years.
They contended with each other through chess skills on the spot.
The great figure was utterly defeated, and despite his stubbornness, he didn't kill his nemesis right there and then.
However, he did slay the nemesis' entire family, sparing no woman or child, leaving only the nemesis alive, stating he would return again one day.
But he failed to solve the chess problem until his death.
Li Hao finished reading and couldn't help but want to laugh.
It seemed the nemesis knew the great figure very well; though unable to match him in Martial Arts talent, he was clever enough to learn this trick to avoid a fatal disaster.
He suddenly felt playing chess might be somewhat interesting.
No wonder the Li Family, even he, deep down in this world of Martial Arts, felt that playing chess was just an entertainment pastime, and it held no real value.
But now, this idea had slightly changed.
"Detected the chess manual 'All Phenomena', would you like to add it to your collection?"
Text suddenly floated before his eyes.
Li Hao was surprised and suddenly remembered that the panel interface had a function to collect chess manuals.
It also showed how uninterested he was in Chess Tao, considering it merely as a tool to grind for experience. In five years, he had never bothered to collect a single chess manual.
At this moment, he felt a bit ashamed.
Li Hao immediately chose yes.
Soon, an additional chess manual named "Myriad Imagination Chess Manual" appeared in the collection on the panel interface.
At the same time, there was a prompt at the back, indicating it could be embedded.
Li Hao was puzzled and tried selecting embed.
Then a line of text jumped out:
"Please select a target for embedding: Physical Body Dao, Sword Dao."
Li Hao was astonished, what did this mean?
He thought for a moment and chose Physical Body Dao.
Having just started his cultivation and experiencing the surge in physical power, he was looking forward to the Physical Body Dao.
[Embedment successful.]
At that moment, Li Hao suddenly felt a complex surge of information assaulting his senses.
He was all too familiar with this feeling and digested it after a short while. Li Hao saw the following addition to his panel:
[Physical Body Dao: First Stage (All Phenomena)]
And the speckled pieces of information in his mind told him what had happened.
All Phenomena: It places the target amidst myriad phenomena, unobservable, concealing all traces of one's aura.
Li Hao made a slight effort and his presence instantly became restrained. The surging power and qi inside his body seemed to retract into countless pores and cells, becoming unobservable.
"Special attributes?"
Li Hao was shocked, he had not expected the chess manual to produce such an effect, it was simply inconceivable.
With his rudimentary Second Stage mastery in Chess Tao, he could somewhat understand this chess manual. Inside, large confusing arrays were nested within smaller ones, each step a trap, a dilemma. No wonder that great figure had never managed to unravel it in his lifetime.
However, after this chess manual was embedded into the Physical Body Dao, it surprisingly brought similar attributes.
If he had chosen to embed it into the Sword Dao, would his swordsmanship gain some deceptive effects, making the true lethal moves unobservable?
Combined with the Tidal Sword Skill's extremely flashy sword moves, it would likely be even more dazzling.
Li Hao glanced at the panel; the embeddable option behind the Myriad Imagination Chess Manual had disappeared, signifying that he could only choose one.
But this had opened up a new world for him—the chess manuals were the real way to go!
If he could collect various other chess manuals, wouldn't he be able to endow his attacks with all kinds of special BUFFs?
With this in mind, Li Hao became very excited and started rummaging around the building.
However, the Listening Rain Tower was a holy place for martial artists, not a sanctuary for those following Chess Tao. After several consecutive days, Li Hao had only found three chess manuals, one of which was being used as a bookend.
"Flying Phase," "Hidden Bow," "Tiger Press."
After obtaining these three manuals, Li Hao studied them and pondered their attributes. He embedded "Flying Phase" and "Hidden Bow" into the Sword Dao.
"Tiger Press" was embedded into the Physical Body Dao.
Flying Phase: The attack range doubles, possessing long-distance striking effects.
Hidden Bow: Secretive killing moves, annihilating in one step.
Tiger Press: A slight increase in strength, with an intimidating effect.
The three manuals immensely boosted Li Hao.
Unfortunately, despite Divine General Mansion having everything one could want, being a Martial Arts Family, there was no practice of collecting chess manuals.
Li Hao returned to the courtyard and could only send house servants out to find chess manuals for him. However, these servants were all resistant, no one daring to further the young master's distraction from his proper pursuits.
With no other choice, Li Hao had to offer a substantial reward as temptation.
In the following days, aside from waiting for chess manuals, Li Hao also began to slowly ponder over chess skills.
He removed the blanket covering the chessboard at his bedside, placed it back, and also cleared the chessboard from his dining table. Occasionally, besides strolling in the courtyard, he would watch the little girl practice swordsmanship.
Perhaps because she had lost her parents at a young age and been through much hardship, the little girl was extremely diligent. Under Lin Haixia's guidance, her swordsmanship steadily improved.
"That's not right, this move is incorrect."
That day, when teaching swordsmanship, Lin Haixia showed her strictness as an officer. Even though she was very satisfied with Bian Ruxue's innate talent for the Sword Dao, she would still harshly criticize any mistakes in practice.
The little girl stubbornly practiced over and over, holding back tears.
Li Hao watched helplessly shaking his head, although Lin was a good person, he might not always teach according to the student's abilities.
With a few sharp words, the little girl almost deformed her sword moves.
At night, Li Hao looked at the little one who was still practicing repeatedly in the courtyard and called her over.
"This posture is wrong; your arm should be more bent, like this, don't let your waist be too stiff..."
With no one else around, Li Hao gave the little girl some extra tutoring, guiding her by hand.
Bian Ruxue wasn't slow-witted and indeed possessed talent for the Sword Dao. Under Li Hao's instruction, she quickly mastered the correct stance, which carried quite a sword charm.
"Brother Hao, do you also know swordsmanship?" the little girl asked eagerly after mastering the move, looking at Li Hao: "Then shall we practice together tomorrow?"
"Don't talk nonsense, I don't want to get up early."
Li Hao hastily replied, startled.
"If Uncle Lin knew you could also do swordsmanship, he would be really happy," Bian Ruxue said with hope, although she didn't understand much, she could see that the elders around seemed somewhat disappointed in Li Hao.
The little girl was so diligent and determined because she was holding her breath inside; everyone said Brother Hao was no good, but she thought, Brother Hao was actually really smart.
"I don't know swordsmanship, don't talk nonsense," said Li Hao quickly, you better not repay kindness with ingratitude, little girl, ruining my opportunity to sleep in, I'd really cry myself to death.
Bian Ruxue was puzzled: "But you clearly..."
"Go on, go to sleep, go to sleep," Li Hao rolled his eyes and shooed away the little girl, telling her not to talk nonsense.
The next day.
In the courtyard, Lin Haixia watched Bian Ruxue waving her sword moves and slowly widen her eyes.
Hadiah
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Power 
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