Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

Just as Lord Lingdi was speaking, there was a knock on the door.

Then, Lin Hao’s voice rang out from outside.

It was already lethargic, but at the sound of Lin Hao’s voice, its cat-like eyes dimmed even further, and it put on a listless, half-dead act.

Yingxue, on the other hand, was full of excitement. Her figure blurred, and she was already at the door.

She pulled open the door, her lovely eyes curving into smiling crescents.

"Brother Hao." Yingxue’s voice was sweet enough to make one’s bones melt.

Lin Hao, however, was slightly taken aback. He sensed an indescribable aura about Yingxue, a feeling he had never gotten from her before.

With a small smile, Lin Hao nodded before turning to look at Lord Lingdi.

"Sister Ling, are you alright?" Lin Hao asked with concern.

He owed everything to Lord Lingdi just now; otherwise, he would have been finished.

Lin Hao was very concerned, as Lord Lingdi had been wounded by the Demon Saber at the end of the fight.

"If I were fine, I wouldn’t have called for you," Lord Lingdi said feebly, looking as if it was about to croak.

Yingxue, who was beside Lin Hao, gave it a disdainful look. She was about to speak when her face suddenly turned pale, her eyes filling with dread as she gazed at Lord Lingdi.

Unsuspecting, Lin Hao asked, "You mean I can help you?"

"Of course. Xiaoxuanzi’s Cultivation Technique is one of the ultimate Yang techniques in the world. By circulating your Cultivation Technique, you can purge the annihilation damage caused by the Demon Saber."

Lord Lingdi had indeed been wounded by the Demon Saber, but it was nowhere near as severe as Lin Hao imagined.

But Lin Hao didn’t know that. Hearing its words, he walked over, took one of its paws, and began circulating his Cultivation Technique with all his might.

Using an imperial-level skill on a cat—this was certainly a first for Lin Hao.

However, Lin Hao discovered that Lord Lingdi’s body was not much different from a human’s.

Its meridians were filled with faint traces of black energy, which immediately collapsed and disintegrated upon contact with Lin Hao’s ultimate Yang True Essence.

Then, Lin Hao froze.

He had discovered a ball of black energy concentrated in a spot inside Lord Lingdi’s body, similar to a human’s Dantian.

The black energy was only the size of a thumb, but it radiated a terrifying, heart-stopping aura.

After a moment’s thought, Lin Hao started to direct his Cultivation Technique toward that black energy.

But Lord Lingdi suddenly wrenched itself free from Lin Hao’s grasp, its fur standing on end. It cried out in a trembling voice, "Are you insane?!"

Lin Hao looked both innocent and aggrieved.

"Don’t you dare touch that thing! Even if your cultivation were to reach the heavens, a single careless move would turn you to dust and ashes!" Lord Lingdi finally warned him.

"Alright, alright, I’m fine now. You can go do whatever it is you need to do." Lord Lingdi suddenly grew impatient and shooed Lin Hao away.

Lin Hao turned to leave, but then suddenly remembered something.

"Sister Ling, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you about."

"Speak."

"Today, while I was observing martial skills in the Scripture Pavilion, I found a martial skill for the Third Layer of Blood Coagulation Realm that felt a bit off. Could you help me take a look?" Lin Hao then described the Body Technique and the martial skill.

In reality, this wasn’t his true goal.

He was merely hoping to use this as an opening to eventually ask about the stunning "Flying Immortal Sword" technique Lord Lingdi had used in its duel against Yue Fanshan.

Who knew that his clever plan would fall flat.

He only heard Lord Lingdi say with a look of utter contempt, "You are a complete disgrace to Xiaoxuanzi."

Lin Hao was confused.

"The Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill is an imperial-level skill. With it as your foundation, learning any Blood Coagulation Realm martial skill should be twice as effective with half the effort. You can replicate any Yellow-level Martial Skill, yet you can’t figure out a mere skill from the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm?"

"You can deduce low-level martial skills from high-level ones, so how hard can it be to perfect an existing low-level one?"

This speech left Lin Hao completely stunned. In the end, he gave an awkward laugh and took his leave.

’Heh, you little rascal. Don’t think I don’t know what you were plotting,’ Lord Lingdi thought smugly once Lin Hao was gone.

Then, a look of anticipation crossed its face as it murmured to itself, ’The Golden Roc Soaring and the Great Roc King Fist... the supreme martial skills of the Celestial Roc Race. I’d like to see just how far this kid can perfect them.’

Meanwhile, halfway back, Lin Hao was fuming. ’That damn cat is way too cunning. Trying to pull one over on it is no easy task.’

Back in his residence, Lin Hao had no choice but to solve the matter he had promised Yang Peng himself.

His Spirit Platform was serene and clear. The complete martial skill mantras for the Golden Roc Soaring and the Great Roc King Fist manifested in his mind.

Within his sea of consciousness, it didn’t take long for Lin Hao to grasp the essence of the Body Technique and the martial skill.

At first, Lin Hao didn’t notice anything unusual.

Then, Lin Hao began to channel the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill to activate the Golden Roc Soaring and the Great Roc King Fist.

And that’s when Lin Hao discovered something was wrong.

These two martial skills were incomplete!

This discovery invigorated Lin Hao, and he immediately began trying to deduce and perfect them.

A Martial Artist at the Blood Coagulation Realm presuming to perfect a martial skill—if word of this got out, it would be utterly shocking.

After all, perfecting a martial skill created by someone else was known to be even more difficult than creating one from scratch.

But that was exactly what Lin Hao was doing now, and at first, he didn’t find it difficult at all.

However, the more he deduced and perfected, the more astounded he became.

He discovered that these two seemingly ordinary martial skills were actually incredibly profound, and this feeling only intensified the more he worked on them.

Take the Golden Roc Soaring Body Technique. It originally consisted of just one simple form, but as he deduced and perfected it, Lin Hao found it shared a similar underlying principle with the Heaven-Stepping Step.

In his sea of consciousness, Lin Hao seemed to see a Golden Roc emerging from the edge of the heavens. It struck the water, sending up waves for three thousand li, then soared upward on a whirlwind.

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Lin Hao.

Drawing on the memories inherited from the Carefree Divine Monarch, a famous passage surfaced in his mind.

From Zhuangzi’s "Free and Easy Wandering": "When the great Roc migrates to the Southern Ocean, it thrashes the water for three thousand li. It mounts a whirlwind and ascends ninety thousand li."

"PFFT—"

Suddenly, Lin Hao spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and snapped back to reality.

Despite this, when Lin Hao opened his eyes, his face was filled with excitement.

"What a magnificent Golden Roc Soaring! If deduced to its absolute limit, it wouldn’t be much weaker than the Heaven-Stepping Step!"

Just now, using the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill, Lin昊 had deduced and perfected the Golden Roc Soaring Body Technique, expanding it from one form to three!

After that, he could proceed no further.

His realm was simply too low.

But even with just two additional forms, the Body Technique he had deduced was countless times stronger than the original. By mastering these three forms, he could probably truly thrash the water for three thousand li.

"Sigh, it’s still not enough," Lin Hao sighed, still not satisfied.

To have deduced the next two forms of the Golden Roc Soaring at the Blood Coagulation Realm might have seemed like nothing to Lin Hao, but anyone who truly understood this martial skill would be shocked beyond belief if they were to find out.

Because the origins of this martial skill were terrifying beyond measure.

But Lin Hao didn’t know that.

So, after being unable to continue his deduction of the Body Technique, he turned his attention to perfecting the Great Roc King Fist.

The Great Roc King Fist had only two moves, and as Lin Hao practiced them, he felt something was very wrong.

Whenever he transitioned between moves, Lin Hao felt a slight stagnation of True Essence at his Yuan Ye Acupoint, located three inches beneath the armpit.

In a real fight, such a lag would be absolutely fatal.

’The ultimate principle of the Great Roc King Fist’s second move is eruption—the fist’s power should gush forth like water from a spring. Why does it start from the Yuan Ye Acupoint? That seems improper.’

Lin Hao murmured, lost in thought.

An unknown amount of time passed before Lin Hao’s eyes lit up.

He executed the moves once more, and the feeling of stagnation had vanished.

"This move shouldn’t start from the Yuan Ye Acupoint, but from the Jiquan Acupoint! It’s the first acupoint of the Heart Meridian of Hand Shaoyin, which perfectly corresponds to this move’s ultimate principle!"

Having corrected this move’s flaw, Lin Hao’s fist flowed with incredible smoothness. The immense explosive power was even a notch stronger than the Lin family’s Stone Fall Fist.

Following this, Lin Hao began to deduce further.

One move, two moves, three moves...

After another unknown period of time, Lin Hao finally deduced the Great Roc King Fist up to a fourth move.

In his sea of consciousness, Lin Hao transformed into a Golden Roc, using the Golden Roc Soaring Body Technique to execute the Great Roc King Fist.

The Golden Roc thrashed the water for three thousand li, its enormous wings blotting out the sun and clouds. With a clap of its wings, it overturned rivers and seas—its might was boundless.

Only then did Lin Hao open his eyes.

Similarly, this was the limit of his deduction.

Having perfected these two martial skills, Lin Hao’s first thought was to go to the Scripture Pavilion and give them to Yang Peng.

Although the two skills had far exceeded his expectations and were definitely not simple Yellow-level Martial Skills, he had made a promise to Yang Peng, and breaking his word was not Lin Hao’s style.

While still a long way from the Scripture Pavilion, Lin Hao saw a large crowd gathered in front of it.

"He was just saying it, did you actually take him seriously? Don’t think so highly of yourself."

"Maybe he just said that as an excuse to hang around here and not leave."

"I think so too. I’ve never seen someone so shameless. Does he think he can stay here and freeload?"

"Get lost! The Heaven-Stepping Sect doesn’t support trash!"

From a distance, Lin Hao heard the Sect Disciples’ chatter, which grew more and more outrageous.

"What’s going on here?" Lin Hao stepped forward and asked with a frown.

"Hea... Head Disciple." A disciple turned around, and his expression changed upon seeing Lin Hao.

Then, the crowd hurriedly parted to make a path.

Now, Lin Hao could see clearly.

They were surrounding a man in tattered clothes who was not wearing the uniform of a Heaven-Stepping Sect disciple.

Upon hearing the two words "Head Disciple," the man spun around. Lin Hao was taken aback, for it was clearly Yang Peng.

Seeing Lin Hao, a flicker of excitement crossed Yang Peng’s usually stoic face.

He took two steps forward but then fell backward, stiff as a board. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Lin Hao’s feet blurred, and in the next moment, he caught the unconscious Yang Peng.

"What happened to him?" Lin Hao asked the crowd, his gaze sweeping over them.

"Head Disciple, four days ago, when Lord Lingdi was selecting outer sect disciples, this Yang Peng was determined to be unable to awaken his bloodline and was kicked out."

"But he overestimated himself and questioned Lord Lingdi’s authority, wanting to enter the Regeneration Pool again. He ended up betting and losing all of his possessions."

"Then, when that plan failed, he came up with another. He claimed that you, Head Disciple, told him to wait for you at the Scripture Pavilion. And so, he’s been standing here for three and a half days without eating or drinking."

"Head Disciple, you should just ignore a guy like him. Let us throw him out of the Heaven-Stepping Sect."

From their bits and pieces of conversation, Lin Hao pieced together what had happened.

He hadn’t imagined that his simple deductions and refinements had actually taken more than four days.

"I was indeed the one who told him to wait for me here. All of you, disperse," Lin Hao said, then lifted Yang Peng and walked away.

’Yang Peng’s aptitude isn’t bad, and more importantly, he has a tenacious and unyielding heart. Once a person like him awakens his bloodline, he will surely become a capable ally.’

Lin Hao had already made his decision.