Chapter 5 Ultimate Perfection
```
One two-hour period.
Bian Ruxue's medicinal tub was thoroughly clear, leaving not a trace of herbal solution.
The maids helped her change into clean, new clothes and dried her hair. She stood next to Li Hao's tub, not knowing the meaning of it all, just quietly waiting for Li Hao to emerge.
In contrast, under Lin Haixia's insistent demands, Li Hao had no choice but to obediently soak in his tub.
The color inside his tub, however, remained a glaring purple.
The female servant accompanying Bian Ruxue glanced over, dumbfounded.
As another two-hour period passed, other house servants and maids heard the news and hurried over to take a look, all shocked.
They were well-accustomed to life inside the Divine General Mansion and naturally understood what this meant.
At this moment, they looked at each other, seeing in each other's eyes as if the sky had fallen.
The noble son of a prestigious Martial Lords... can't practice martial arts?
This is the Li Family's bloodline!
Such a thing was simply unbelievable.
But the fact was right before their eyes.
The entire courtyard fell silent. Soon, a servant snapped to action and rushed off in a panic; before long, Mountain and River Courtyard filled with a flurry of colorful figures.
Ladies from various courtyards all came, surrounding the tub. They learned from the servants about Li Hao's soaking duration, all in disbelief.
Liu Yue Rong stood amid the crowd, her heart lurching.
Could it be that medicine?
But she hadn't heard that the medicine had such strong side effects!
She felt a sense of panic in her chest, but her face remained composed, quickly showing an expression of urgency and sorrow.
Inside the tub, Li Hao, who felt as if life was not worth living, also saw his impressive second mother. In her eyes, Li Hao even glimpsed a hint of genuine panic.
This second mother of his, she couldn't have been scared, right?
Li Hao couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
As the courtyard noise grew, the main wife's face hardened as she ordered the servants to leave, keeping only the ladies of the courtyards. She strictly instructed them that this matter must not be leaked, not a word!
Lin Haixia saw the Foundation Establishment medicinal solution showing no signs of diminishing, and her heart sunk completely.
Even calling it "slow" was an understatement.
She thought of a certain dreadful constitution and shuddered; could it be that this lord's Qilin son was truly completely incapable of martial arts cultivation?
Without further ado, Lin Haixia pulled Li Hao out of the tub.
Seeing Li Hao's oxygen-deprived and pale body, with wrinkled, contracted skin, the ladies' gazes varied.
They learned that Li Hao had been soaking for six hours.
But the Foundation Establishment medicinal solution hadn't changed at all, underscoring the gravity of the situation.
Liu Yue Rong, seeing Li Hao's lips turned pale after soaking, was certain that this was no fraud.
Her heart tightened; she only wanted to ruin the boy's Divine Blood, not to completely cripple him!
After all, if he became a complete invalid, that would be far too suspicious!
This was the powerful bloodline of the Li Family, and he was unable to cultivate?
If the reasons were to be investigated later...
The first to recover her composure was the main wife, who immediately instructed Lin Haixia to take good care of Hao Er, and also ordered her own maid to bring some warm, restorative medicine to nourish Li Hao's weakened body.
...
...
The next day.
Lin Haixia prepared two more tubs of Foundation Establishment medicinal solution for Li Hao and Bian Ruxue to soak in separately.
Lin Haixia watched Li Hao's bathing intently.
Li Hao felt somewhat helpless, knowing it was a futile effort and a waste of good herbs, but unable to defy her, he complied.
He figured they would give up after a few more useless tries.
Then, the same warning appeared as had the day before.
[Detecting unknown substances, analyzing…]
[Analysis failed, automatically isolated.]
Li Hao had anticipated this, and wasn't too surprised; he obediently stayed in the medicinal bath, idly picking at his toes, bored out of his mind.
As time went on and the liquid showed no change, the short warrior from the barracks completely lost his composure, letting out a low growl.
"How can this be?!"
Lin Haixia got emotionally agitated, seemingly even more in disbelief than Li Hao.
She paced back and forth beside the tub, continuously striding around and tapping on her head, "The medicine can't be wrong; it's impossible to be wrong. Could it be, that the lord's child truly can't cultivate?!"
This is the Li Family bloodline!
Li Hao, however, was not too distraught. After all, with the panel he possessed, he could grow stronger without these medicines.
It was just that seeing his teacher so anguished, he felt somewhat guilty and reassured him, "Uncle Lin, it's okay, don't be so upset."
Hearing these words, Lin Haixia's body jolted.
She looked at the child in the tub and felt tears welling up.
Child, you have no idea of the fate you are about to face!
Seeing the child's optimistic and clean eyes made Lin Haixia feel as if her heart was tearing apart.
Would the commander's only son face such a future?
But, there was nothing she could do.
With Li Hao's condition, she could only think of one possibility: innate meridian obstruction.
This was a definite martial arts invalid!
If it happened in any normal family, it would be ordinary. After all, eight or nine out of ten common people were this way, not a particularly rare occurrence.
```
But this was the Li Family!
A family that produced True Dragons generation after generation!
Even those with the poorest talents among the Li children were still considered excellent compared to others.
Not to mention those true dragons of the Li Family, each of whom was a renowned figure in the world.
And this child before her...
Lin Haixia was at a loss for words, so choked up that she, who could stare at mountains of corpses and seas of blood without changing color on the battlefield, now found herself unable to take another look at this child.
Those pure and innocent eyes were heartbreakingly endearing.
"It's okay, it's okay..." Li Hao saw that this man was genuinely sad for him, not just pretending, and felt a warmth in his heart.
He stood up from the medicine tub, tugged at his pants, and tried to comfort him.
...
The second attempt at the Foundation Establishment bath had failed.
The news spread like a hurricane throughout the Divine General Mansion, solidifying the fact that Li Hao could not practice cultivation.
The wives and house servants of the various courtyards of the Li Family were all shocked, finding it unbelievable.
In the following days, Li Hao stopped soaking in the medicine bath. Instead, people came over to examine his body, but all of them left shaking their heads.
Li Hao also listened in on their discussions and learned that, in their eyes, he was considered to have a Martial Arts disabled body.
This kind of physique could not be said to be completely incapable of cultivation.
It was just extremely difficult.
He couldn't absorb pills or external energy and could only rely on hard training to achieve some accomplishments.
And even then, he could only reach the Second Realm.
To break through, one needed to communicate with Heaven and Earth Energy, so the Second Realm was the limit.
Soon, the news even reached the Northern Yan battlefield, and not long after, an urgent family letter was sent back home.
The information within the letter once again shook the Divine General Mansion.
The Marquis of Militant Martial Arts had actually reached the Three Immortal Realms!
The letter stated that the chief wife should not give up on Hao Er, that no matter how difficult or bitter it was, she had to ensure he stepped onto the path of Martial Arts.
Even if it was only the beginning, once the Divine Blood awakened in the future, he could still make something of himself. Although there was no longer a chance to become a genius, at least he could secure a position of a captain in the army.
In this way, he wouldn't let down the name of the sons of the Li Family.
The chief wife was Ms. He, named He Jianlan.
He Jianlan, who was in her sixties but looked to be only in her forties, sighed softly after reading the family letter:
"Hao Er has a hard life, all because of that worthless woman."
No one knew who the worthless woman she referred to was.
...
In the days that followed, Li Hao felt like things had returned to normal.
There was no need to work on Foundation Establishment anymore, and he heard that they planned to try the Blood Melting method when he turned four.
Therefore, Li Hao, having nothing else to do every day, had even more time to secretly play chess, and his Experience Value was rapidly increasing.
The news of Li Hao's Martial Arts disabled body somehow leaked and spread beyond the mansion.
In Qingzhou City, in the taverns and restaurants, suddenly there were whispers and discussions, but most people thought it was just storytellers looking for sensational stories and didn't believe it.
After all, that was a son of the Li Family.
However, when this news reached the ears of some of the Li Family's adversaries in court, it immediately caught their attention.
Once they sent people to investigate and found the situation to be true, many in the mansion felt both joy and surprise.
Joy because the illustrious Li Family that had continued for a thousand years finally had a break in their bloodline!
But the surprise was the depth of what the Marquis of Militant Martial Arts had hidden; he had already reached the Three Immortal Realms and only now was it revealed.
Fortunately, his son had a Martial Arts disabled body, otherwise, in the future, there might be another Li Junye!
...
In the blink of an eye, Li Hao turned four.
After a year of secretive effort, Li Hao's Chess Tao had smoothly advanced to the second stage.
He also gained another Artistic Skill Point.
Without hesitation, Li Hao invested the Artistic Skill Point into his Sword Dao.
His Sword Dao was also upgraded to the second stage as a result.
Faced with the surge of even more complex and abundant information than when he had first improved his skill, Li Hao, now four years old, was able to bear it, feeling only a slight swelling in his brain.
As his Sword Dao advanced, the skills on his panel changed as well.
[Name: Li Hao]
[Age: 4]
[Cultivation: Mortal]
[Sword Dao: Second Stage]
[Skills: Endless Sea·Tide (Ultimate Perfection) [Forbidden]]
[Mastered Arts: Chess Tao]
[Chess Tao: Second Stage (0/1000)]
[Chess Manual Collection: 0]
[Artistic Skill Points: 0]
However, after advancing to the second stage in Chess Tao, Li Hao found that playing against himself was no longer enough to gain Experience Value; he needed to find someone to compete against.