Chapter 200 - 132: Nine Heavens Chaos Technique, Body Tempering -

He could flush these stars with his Inner Qi.

This would temper his acupoints.

Once an acupoint was fully tempered, one of the stars inside Li Chang’an’s body would light up, unleashing untold marvels!

’What an incredible treasure! This Cultivation Method for developing acupoints alone would be one of the few Martial Dao Evolution Paths in the Main World that leads directly to the higher realms. Its value is immeasurable!’

Feeling the changes within his body, Li Chang’an grew ecstatic.

He had been worried that his foundation in the Martial Dao wasn’t strong enough to contend with Cultivators. But now, after comprehending the Body Tempering Chapter, Li Chang’an felt much more confident!

Having finished reading all the books on his floor of the Library Pavilion and unable to access the higher levels, Li Chang’an wasn’t in any hurry. He took out a mottled gray-and-white elixir from a small, sealed box.

Holding the elixir in his mouth, Li Chang’an closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

These were the Celestial Soul Pills that Empress Su Ying had sent him. Li Chang’an had taken two before, and their effects were truly remarkable.

The Empress had originally promised to give Li Chang’an one every three months.

However, after giving him four, the Empress was rebuked by her Royal Clan Relatives. Eventually, bowing to the pressure, she had to cut off his supply of Celestial Soul Pills.

The reason for their rebuke was simple: they felt the Empress had given such a precious elixir to an outsider—an outsider whose trustworthiness was still in question.

In the eyes of the conservative Clan Elders, such an act was naturally unacceptable.

In truth, the Royal Family had objected from the very first elixir the Empress gave Li Chang’an. The next three elixirs had all come from her own personal share.

After giving him the fourth, she was truly unable to procure any more from the Inner Treasury. She had even wanted to find other ways to compensate Li Chang’an.

But Li Chang’an, seeing her predicament, refused her kind offer, insisting that four elixirs were already more than enough.

Su Ying was a woman, and in the traditional view of the dynasty, the very idea of a female Emperor was met with great resistance.

Couple that with the fact that, over the years, she had done many things the Clan found unacceptable.

Naturally, the pressure she had endured over the years was immense.

The four elixirs were indeed enough. In fact, Li Chang’an could have broken through even without them.

His cultivation had simply slowed considerably over the past three years due to his focus on reading. Now that he finally had some free time, he naturally had to make up for it.

The bottleneck for the Grandmaster Realm was simple.

Li Chang’an broke through in just a few months.

Becoming a figure of Martial Arts Mythology, however, was another matter entirely.

The so-called Martial Arts Mythology in this world wasn’t merely a title for a Realm; it was a genuine path one had to walk. This path, however, was not a tangible one.

Li Chang’an had to first see himself as a Martial Arts Mythology, and then he had to make the vast majority of the world acknowledge him as such.

Only then could one truly step into the Martial Arts Mythical Realm.

According to his original destiny, Li Chang’an’s path to the Martial Arts Mythical Realm was rather odd. He was meant to achieve the status of a Martial Arts Mythology by killing all the scumbags in the world.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this strange path to achieving his mythical status that Li Chang’an’s combat prowess, after becoming a Martial Arts Mythology, wasn’t particularly strong, to the point where he couldn’t even put up a fight against the Cultivators.

...

As new waves drive the old, the old waves die upon the shore.

Due to his years of silence, any mention of Li Chang’an had all but vanished from the Jianghu.

It couldn’t be helped. The Jianghu was a forgetful place.

The Martial Arts Examination was held every three years, and each time, it produced a new Martial Champion Scholar for people to gossip about. As long as Li Chang’an, the former Martial Champion Scholar, didn’t stir up any new trouble, the Jianghu would quickly forget his name.

But while the Jianghu Martial Artists might have forgotten Li Chang’an, that didn’t mean the Buddhist and Demon Sects had. Nor did it mean the two great Sects were willing to swallow their pride.

Especially after Empress Liyang ascended the throne and the Imperial Court began making frequent moves, the two great Sects grew deeply wary of the Liyang Dynasty.

—This young Empress, barely twenty years old, seemed unwilling to let the Li Yang Dynasty simply fall into decline and face a slow death. Over the past few years, she had used every means at her disposal to stir up storms in the Jianghu, hoping to recruit more talent for Li Yang amidst the chaos.

To this end, she had gone so far as to drain the Imperial Family’s coffers, offering vast amounts of gold and silver to recruit Martial Artists.

This behavior clearly infuriated the Demon Sect and the Buddhist Sect.

The two Sects were already wary and on guard against the Li Yang Imperial Court after the incident with the Martial Arts Examination. They certainly weren’t about to stand by and watch the Empress breathe new life into the dynasty.

...

「Late in the ninth month of that same year.」

The triennial Li Yang Martial Arts Examination began once more.

This time, however, the world’s attention was not on the Martial Arts Examination, for the Demon Sect and the Buddhist Sect had joined forces, amassing nearly ten thousand elite warriors just outside of Kyoto.

Looking down at the unfurled banners of the two great Sects below the city walls, Empress Su Ying’s expression turned grim. She gritted her teeth and demanded, "What do you think you’re doing? Raising your flags in rebellion?"

Neither the Empress of the Demon Sect nor the Buddha of the Buddhist Sect had come in person. The ones present were merely Elders from the two great Sects, along with their numerous elite disciples.

This was perhaps the only piece of good news.

The fact that the two figures—among the handful of Martial Arts Mythologies in the Jianghu today—had not appeared meant the situation was not yet completely beyond redemption.

An Elder from the Demon Sect with a stark white beard and hair stepped forward from the crowd and replied, "Your Majesty, if we truly intended to rebel, we would be storming the city right now. Why would we stand here wasting our breath?"