CHAPTER 340: CHAPTER 011: IN FRONT OF THE GATE OF THE CELESTIAL BEING (THIRD UPDATE)

Outside Xiangyun City, amidst a bustling crowd, inside a quiet courtyard, Li Hu sat on a stone stool, holding a half-charred ancient bamboo slip in his hand, and sighed helplessly.

"Master, this matter arose because of the servant. Allow me to go explain clearly to those people."

At this moment, a young man dressed as a servant standing respectfully beside Li Hu stepped forward and spoke.

This person was clearly only about twenty years old, yet his face showed a weariness unexpected for someone of his age.

If someone familiar were here, they would surely be shocked, for the young man attending Li Hu was surprisingly Zhang Zhiqi, who had recently stirred great waves in the Martial World from the remnants of Hongfu Escort Agency!

"No need for that. Although these people have disrupted my plans, having them scout is not bad. The mountains outside Xiangyun City stretch for hundreds and thousands of miles. If I were to search alone, who knows when I’d find the place. If they can locate it, that would be excellent."

Li Hu shook his head slightly, speaking in a faint voice.

He tidied up the Martial Arts Origin Scripture in his hand and looked at the young man beside him.

"You need not do so. Although I granted you this strength, it was merely to find someone to test my skills. It was your luck that you survived and broke through to a half-step Grandmaster. Moreover, you offered the Martial Arts Origin Scripture to me. There is no debt between us."

His indifferent voice flowed like clear music in the air; Li Hu no longer looked at the person before him and slowly stood up.

With a few steps, he disappeared outside the door in an instant, as if shrinking the earth into inches, leaving only a faint voice resonating in the air.

"Go, you have avenged your great enemies. Do not demean yourself; I do not need a servant..."

"Master!"

Zhang Zhiqi was greatly alarmed, yet Li Hu’s figure had already drifted away, completely disappearing from his perception.

He stood motionless for a long, long time before bowing deeply towards the direction Li Hu left.

"Master teaches me Techniques, guides me onto the path, helps me to avenge, with grace as heavy as a mountain; how could a mere booklet be enough to repay?"

Zhang Zhiqi’s eyes reddened slightly, tears streaming down.

Alas, Li Hu had already gone far away.

The speculation in the Martial World was correct; the Martial Arts Origin Scripture was indeed acquired by Zhang Zhiqi that day.

But the Martial Arts Origin Scripture was not the cause of his transformation into a half-step Grandmaster; a mere ancient bamboo slip, even if influenced by the Purple Thunder Power, couldn’t possibly grant someone Heaven-Reaching Cultivation overnight.

If it truly could, the original lucky Hunter who first obtained the Martial Arts Origin Scripture wouldn’t have left no bones behind, and the Treasure Pavilion managers wouldn’t have perished under mysterious attackers.

...

Li Hu, drifting away, faintly perceived Zhang Zhiqi’s reaction behind him,

but he did not care.

During these three years, he transformed countless times and traveled everywhere, sometimes as the Shaolin Firework Head Monk, chopping wood and burning fires in the kitchen for half a year.

Sometimes he transformed into a merchant, selling local specialties on the street before Celestial Sword Manor.

Other times he became a barefoot doctor, traversing the South Wilderness Mountains.

In these three years, he practically traversed the entire world.

From the Sacred Land of Martial Arts at Shaolin Temple, to the seven major sects of the Central Plains, and even the Demon Sect Forbidden Cave, countless places have seen his shadow.

Simultaneously, with extremely powerful Spiritual Power’s help, every sect, every family, all their archived books and secret martial arts manuals have fallen into Li Hu’s hands.

The various secret martial arts of the entire Martial World were all explored and acquired by him, assimilated within himself.

This is the effect of extremely powerful Spiritual Power. Although various Talent Magic in the Main World cannot be utilized in this non-magical world, Spiritual Power, except for its physical endurance limit, has no restriction.

Even due to different Martial Arts, the powerful Spiritual Power has formed an effect similar to Divine Sense in Cultivation.

And it is because of this immense Spiritual Power that Li Hu not only acquired ninety-nine percent of the Martial Arts Secret Manuals as if in a realm without anyone, but comprehended them thoroughly, assimilating them within himself.

No one in the entire Martial World knows that their cherished martial inheritance has been utterly stolen by an unremarkable, ghostly wanderer, becoming his own possession.

And having assimilated ninety-nine percent of today’s Martial Arts essence, Li Hu’s Cultivation has reached the pinnacle unobtainable in worldly Martial Arts.

The pinnacle of Grandmaster!

Residing in this Realm, he can already touch the unseen yet existent ceiling above.

If he could break through the ceiling’s bottleneck constraints, he would enter another Realm—

Celestial Being!

The Celestial Essence Sect’s founder who left the Celestial Heart Treasure Manual only deduced the possibility of the Celestial Human Realm’s existence.

But now, Li Hu has truly seen the existence of that Realm, and stands before its door.

Li Hu’s strength is now undeniably the foremost in the Martial World.

However, Li Hu cares not for fame and fortune within the Martial World, having not acted for three years, leaving outsiders completely unaware.

Unfortunately, even though Li Hu has ascended to the peak of Martial Arts and thoroughly studied the secret manuals of ninety-nine percent of the world, possessing unfathomable knowledge, he still has no clue on entering the Celestial Human Realm.

To pave a direct path to breaking space-time, besides great wisdom and determination, one must at least reach the ultimate pinnacle of Martial Arts, only then having the possibility to pioneer with an advantage.

To achieve this goal, transcend the world.

The Martial Arts Celestial Being is the precondition for his testimony before that.

However, the barrier before Celestial Being remains insurmountable.

While Li Hu was pondering deeply, he inadvertently traveled to Xiangyun City and watched an interesting drama.

A fortunate Hunter survived disaster and acquired a treasure, the greedy Treasure Pavilion managers murdered to seize treasure, acted rashly and leaked the news, leading to the intervention of the hidden Demon Sect in the city.

Ultimately, amidst the chaos, it fell into the hands of Zhang Zhiqi, a disabled beggar for years.

Li Hu recalled the world’s rumors of the origin of Martial Arts, thinking of tracing back ancient origins that might reveal the hint to break into the Celestial Human.

Thus, he appeared before Zhang Zhiqi, proposing a trade to acquire the Martial Arts Origin Scripture.

This was the true situation.

The Martial Arts Origin Scripture merely recorded the words exchanged between the Dao Ancestor and the Martial Ancestor discussing the Dao years ago, with half of it already erased by Purple Thunder.

Although the mutual discussions within transport Li Hu through space-time, back to ancient times hearing two greatest ancestors’ lectures, the weave of various ideologies made him gain tremendously.

Yet, in reality, the Martial Arts Origin Scripture doesn’t possess such destiny-altering capability for ordinary people.

"Dao Ancestor and Martial Ancestor indeed possess the innate Saint demeanor. Just a few words recording their conversation already pointed me towards breaking through to Celestial Being. Their Cultivation has surely exceeded Grandmaster! Now, I’m just missing a hint to break into Celestial Human—that’s the extraterrestrial stone that fell beside Dao Ancestor and Martial Ancestor!"

Clearing his heart of clouds, Li Hu now found his direction, quickly stepping outside the city, his figure disappearing into the crowd.