An hour passed.
Bian Ruxue's medicine bath was completely clear, with not a drop of medicine left. The maidservants helped her change into clean clothes and dried her hair. She stood quietly next to Li Hao's medicine bath, not understanding the significance of it all, just waiting for Li Hao to come out.
On the other hand, Li Hao was still soaking in his medicine bath, forced to do so by Lin Haixia's strong insistence. The bath water remained a glaring purple.
The maidservant accompanying Bian Ruxue glanced over and was left speechless.
As another hour went by, other servants and maidservants heard the news and rushed over to take a look, all of them shocked. They had spent years in the Divine General's residence, so they naturally understood what this meant.
At that moment, they exchanged glances, and in each other's eyes, they saw the sky falling down.
The son of the esteemed Marquis of Criminal Justice couldn’t practice martial arts?
This was the bloodline of the Li family!
Such a thing was simply unbelievable.
But the reality was right in front of them.
The whole courtyard was quiet. Soon, one of the servants reacted and hurriedly ran off. Not long after, a large group of colorful figures rushed into the courtyard.
The ladies from each courtyard arrived, surrounding the medicine bath. They learned from the nearby servants about the duration of Li Hao's soak and were all in disbelief.
Liu Yueren stood among the crowd, her heart racing.
Could it be because of that medicine?
But she hadn’t heard that the medicine had such strong side effects!
She felt a wave of panic in her chest, but her face remained calm, quickly showing signs of urgency and sorrow.
Inside the bath, Li Hao, looking lifeless, noticed the second lady’s excellent acting skills. From her eyes, he even saw a hint of genuine panic.
Could this second lady be scared?
Li Hao couldn't help but chuckle in his heart.
As the noise in the courtyard grew louder, the first lady ordered everyone to leave, keeping only the ladies from each courtyard. She instructed that this matter must not be leaked!
Seeing that the foundation-building medicine showed no signs of weakening, Lin Haixia's heart sank completely.
This couldn’t even be described as “slow” anymore.
He thought of some terrifying constitution and shivered. Could it be that this marquis's child was truly a waste who couldn’t cultivate martial arts at all?!
Not wanting to continue, Lin Haixia pulled Li Hao out of the medicine bath.
Seeing Li Hao’s body, pale and oxygen-deprived, with his skin shriveled, the ladies had various expressions.
They learned that Li Hao had been soaking for six hours.
But the foundation-building medicine showed no signs of change, highlighting the seriousness of the situation.
Liu Yueren saw Li Hao’s lips turning white from the soaking and was convinced that this was not a trick.
Her heart sank; she only wanted to weaken this child’s divine blood but didn’t want to completely ruin him!
After all, if he became a complete waste, it would be too suspicious!
This was the powerful bloodline of the Li family, and he couldn’t cultivate?
What if the reason was investigated…
The first to regain her composure was the first lady. She immediately instructed Lin Haixia to take good care of Hao’er and had one of her maidservants bring some nourishing herbal soup to help Li Hao regain his strength.
The next day.
Lin Haixia prepared two more barrels of foundation-building medicine, having Li Hao and Bian Ruxue soak separately.
Lin Haixia watched Li Hao closely as he entered the bath.
Li Hao felt helpless, knowing it was pointless and a waste of resources, but he couldn’t go against Lin Haixia and had to comply.
He figured it wouldn’t take long before Lin Haixia would give up.
At that moment, the same prompt appeared as yesterday.
[Detected unknown substance, analyzing…]
[Analysis failed, automatically isolated.]
Li Hao had anticipated this, so he wasn’t too surprised. He obediently stayed in the medicine bath, fiddling with his toes, feeling bored.
As time passed, the medicine showed no change, and the short soldier beside him could no longer hold back, letting out a low growl of frustration.
“How could this happen?!”
Lin Haixia was agitated, seemingly more in disbelief than Li Hao.
He paced back and forth beside the medicine bath, banging his head: “The medicine can’t be wrong; it’s impossible! Could it be that the marquis’s child really can’t cultivate?!”
This was the bloodline of the Li family!
Li Hao wasn’t too upset, after all, he had his panel. He could grow stronger without relying on these medicines.
However, seeing his teacher so distraught made him feel a bit embarrassed, and he tried to comfort him, saying, “Uncle Lin, it’s okay, don’t be so sad.”
Hearing this, Lin Haixia’s body shook.
He looked at the child in the medicine bath, feeling tears welling up.
Child, you don’t know the fate that awaits you!
Looking into the child’s optimistic and pure eyes, Lin Haixia felt his heart tearing apart.
Could the commander’s only son really have such a future?
But he couldn’t do anything.
In Li Hao’s situation, he could only think of one possibility: his meridians were blocked from birth.
This was a standard martial arts waste!
If it were a common family, it wouldn’t be unusual; most common people were like this, so it wasn’t that surprising.
But this was the Li family!
The Li family that had produced true dragons for generations!
Even the least talented Li family children were still better than most others.
Not to mention those true dragons of the Li family, who were all renowned figures!
And this child before him…
Lin Haixia was speechless, even he, who could face the blood and gore of the battlefield without flinching, didn’t dare to look at the child any longer.
That pure and innocent gaze was heartbreaking.
“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Li Hao saw that this man was genuinely worried for him, not pretending, and felt a bit warmed.
He stood up from the medicine bath, tugging at Lin Haixia’s pants leg, trying to comfort him a bit.
The second round of foundation-building medicine was declared a failure.
The news spread like wildfire throughout the Divine General’s residence, confirming that Li Hao couldn’t cultivate.
The ladies and servants of the Li family were shocked and found it hard to believe.
In the following days, Li Hao didn’t soak in the medicine anymore. Instead, people came to check on his body, but they all shook their heads and left.
Li Hao listened in and learned that in their eyes, this was a martial arts waste.
This type of constitution couldn’t be considered completely incapable of cultivation.
It would just be extremely difficult.
He couldn’t absorb elixirs or external energy and could only rely on hard work to achieve some success.
Moreover, he could only reach the second realm.
To break through, he would need to communicate with the energies of heaven and earth, so the second realm would be his limit.
The news seemed to have reached the battlefield in Yanbei, and not long after, an urgent family letter was sent back.
The information in the letter shocked the Divine General’s residence again.
The Marquis of Criminal Justice had actually reached the Three Immortal Realm!
The letter stated that the first lady must not give up on Hao’er. No matter how hard it was, she must ensure he steps onto the path of martial arts.
Even if it was just the beginning, once his divine blood awakened, he could still achieve something. While he wouldn’t have the chance to become a genius, at least he could secure a position as a hundred-man leader in the military.
This way, he wouldn’t disgrace the name of the Li family.
The first lady was He Jianlan.
Over sixty years old, He Jianlan looked only in her forties. After reading the letter, she sighed softly:
“Hao’er is unfortunate; it’s all that wretched woman’s fault.”
No one knew who the wretched woman she referred to was.
In the following days, Li Hao felt as if everything had returned to normal.
He no longer needed to build his foundation and heard that they planned to wait until he was four years old to try blood dissolution.
With that, Li Hao had more time to play chess in secret, and his experience points were quietly growing rapidly.
Meanwhile, the news of Li Hao’s martial arts waste leaked out, spreading outside the residence.
In the taverns and restaurants of Qingzhou City, discussions suddenly increased, but most people thought it was just a storyteller’s gimmick and didn’t really believe it.
After all, he was the son of the Li family.
However, when it reached the ears of some rivals of the Li family in court, it immediately caught their attention.
After sending people to investigate, they found the situation was indeed true, leaving many inside the residence both happy and shocked.
They were happy that the Li family, which had maintained its glory for a thousand years, finally showed signs of a bloodline breaking!
But they were shocked that the Marquis of Criminal Justice had hidden it so deep, having already reached the Three Immortal Realm, only now being exposed.
Fortunately, his son was a martial arts waste; otherwise, it would likely have been another Li Junye in the future!
Time flew by, and Li Hao turned four years old.
After a year of secretly working hard, Li Hao smoothly reached the second stage of chess.
At the same time, he gained a new skill point.
Without hesitation, Li Hao invested the skill point into swordsmanship.
His swordsmanship thus improved to the second stage.
Compared to the first stage, the information he received this time was richer and more complex. Now, at four years old, Li Hao could barely handle it, feeling only a slight swelling in his head.
As his swordsmanship improved, the skills on his panel also changed.
[Name: Li Hao]
[Age: 4]
[Cultivation: Mortal]
[Swordsmanship: Second Stage]
[Skill: Endless Sea · Tide (Ultimate) [Forbidden]]
[Mastered Art: Chess]
[Chess: Second Stage (0/1000)]
[Chess Manual Collection: 0]
[Skill Points: 0]
However, after entering the second stage of chess, Li Hao found that he could no longer gain experience by playing against himself; he needed to find someone to compete with.
(End of chapter)