Chapter 5
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Heavenly Martial Body
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Ruyan finished organizing the firewood in his hands and waited a moment, and Blanc returned with a kindly smile.
"It's been a while since your last bath, hasn't it? Today, I'll show you that water toy you love so much."
Water toy. It was a unfamiliar term, but it was also in Ruyan's memories.
When Ruyan was younger, Blanc would use water-element magic to create shapes like ducks and rainbows in the bathtub.
'Memories, huh...'
Those simple toys had been Ruyan's only source of entertainment, and he remembered genuinely enjoying them.
Of course, Ruyan had no idea how much mana Blanc expended just for those fleeting water tricks.
'Even in the martial world, there are fewer than twenty martial artists who can shape their inner energy into forms directly.'
Magic and martial arts were completely different realms, but both involved manipulating the energies of nature.
It was clearly no easy feat even with magic.
As Ruyan reminisced, Blanc approached with a smile and let out a grunt as he scooped him up.
"Your Highness, shall we go?"
Blanc's arms and legs trembled as he carried Ruyan outside, but he didn't lose his smile.
Stepping out of the shabby house revealed a lush forest. They were deep in the mountains, far from any village.
This scene was in Ruyan's memories too, but seeing it firsthand brought fresh emotions.
Definitely a different world from the Central Plains.
'Still, it's not so bad.'
Maybe because Blanc was right there beside him. His mood wasn't half bad.
Moreover, the surrounding forest brimmed with pure natural energy.
There was no better place for Ruyan to heal his body and restore his martial prowess.
Outside the house sat a small wooden tub filled with steaming hot water, vapor rising thickly.
'No wonder it was ready so fast. He heated it with mana.'
Ruyan could sense the artificial flow of energy in the bathwater.
Blanc skimped on mana for his own chores, but he never held back for Ruyan.
Arriving at the tub, Blanc set Ruyan down beside it and deftly removed his top with practiced hands.
Ruyan hadn't even thought about having to undress and floundered in sudden embarrassment.
"I-I can do it myself."
"Hahaha! What, you think you're all grown up now?"
Blanc burst into hearty laughter at Ruyan's sudden reaction, unfazed.
Watching him, Ruyan's embarrassment eased a bit.
This wasn't some stranger. It was his father.
There was no reason to be ashamed.
Suddenly feeling playful, Ruyan grinned mischievously and glanced up slyly at Blanc.
"Then wanna bathe together, Dad?"
"Huh? The tub's kinda small for that."
Blanc's eyes widened, but he didn't refuse.
In fact, he seemed delighted.
He had longed for these everyday moments with his son his whole life.
That day, Ruyan used his barely regained strength to wash his father's back with his frail hands.
Blanc's back was just as gaunt.
Just as the moon rose, Blanc finished his bath and promptly fell asleep.
Even in sleep, his groans showed how grueling his day had been.
'Tsk tsk, poor man.'
Ruyan gazed at him pityingly, then sat cross-legged.
His internals were unstable from overexerting his inner energy earlier, but he didn't want to delay further.
'Not in perfect condition, but it'll do. If things go as planned, no issues.'
Ruyan focused his mind again and began drawing in natural energy.
Now, he didn't need to condense it externally. His fully open upper dantian meridians sucked it all in.
Far more efficient and easier than handling external energy.
After three hours, his upper body was filled with energy equivalent to thirty years of inner energy.
It wasn't storable yet, nor truly his, but it invigorated his body nonetheless.
Ruyan savored the fullness briefly, then sent it all surging downward in one go.
Same method as before.
A massive flow gathered in his lower abdomen, split in two, and raced toward his legs.
'This time, I'll finish it perfectly.'
Starting with the right Leg Sea point and left Sliding Door point opening, explosions erupted nonstop inside him.
Kukukukung.
Natural energy pierced blocked meridians, melted impurities, and stretched twisted channels.
As collisions repeated, a refreshing coolness enveloped him more than pain.
In under a minute, the two flows reached the Bubbling Spring points at his soles and paused.
Bubbling Spring, the final gateway of the lower body!
The last bastion where all his body's impurities, fleeing the natural energy, had gathered.
Ruyan gritted his teeth against the impending shock and shoved with all his might.
Kwaaang!
As expected, a tremendous clash erupted. The impurities dominating his body blazed blue.
But even as they burned away, they resisted to the end.
Hwaruruk.
The impurities thrashed wildly, trying to destroy his body entirely.
Futile resistance, of course.
Wherever impurities splattered, pure energy had already taken hold, holding firm against the blue flames.
'That's far enough. Time to end it.'
Ruyan protected his body and seized the fleeing impurities, annihilating them completely.
With the last traces gone, the Bubbling Spring point shyly opened.
In that instant, a dramatic change occurred.
Shwaaa.
Ruyan's body, which had rejected natural energy before, opened every pore and began merging with nature.
Free and transparent as if wearing nothing, it let everything pass through unhindered.
Natural Body!
With all meridians open, reverting to the primordial pure form.
The perfect vessel of martial arts that even peak masters dreamed of had descended upon Ruyan.
But the changes didn't end there.
As his body permitted nature's flow, obstructing elements popped out.
Bones, organs, meridians felt awkwardly out of place. A normal human body didn't suit the Natural Body.
Sensing this, his body began transforming itself.
Wooduduk.
Bones twisted. Meridians forged tougher, wider new paths.
Skin peeled like a snake's shed.
Tzueuk.
Fresh, pale, resilient skin oozed black pus.
All that clashed with nature's flow was purged and reborn.
Marrow Cleansing!
Upon achieving Natural Body, the perfected inner vessel underwent Marrow Cleansing to reach the pinnacle of martial forms.
In the Central Plains, only one martial artist had attained both: the Divine Bow.
He called this state the 'Heavenly Martial Body' himself.
Of course, no one else knew of such a realm, so it was his personal term.
'I've finally reached this point.'
In just two days, Ruyan had achieved a body beyond most people's wildest dreams.
But his feeling stopped there.
For Ruyan, even the Heavenly Martial Body was just the beginning.
No matter how sturdy the vessel, empty it was meaningless.
What you fill it with determines if you're a third-rate fighter or transcendent master.
'Achieving Heavenly Martial Body without even a dantian. What a contradiction.'
Ruyan chuckled wryly at the absurdity.
Glancing up, dawn was breaking outside the shack. Too focused, he hadn't noticed staying up all night cultivating.
Turning, he saw Blanc tossing in sleep, on the verge of waking.
'Better wash up before he freaks out.'
Seeing his son covered in white scales and black filth might give Blanc a heart attack.
"Huff huff, Ruyan. You really okay?"
"You look more beat than me, Dad."
Ruyan smiled and glanced back. Blanc followed, drenched in sweat.
As promised yesterday, they were taking a walk.
Blanc had woken to see Ruyan standing steadily on his own feet and thought he was dreaming.
But astonishingly, it was real.
His son, bedridden for fifteen years, was doing strange exercises with a brighter expression than ever.
Blanc still had no clue what those exercises were, but honestly, it didn't matter.
'He said he wanted to go for a walk, so I figured he'd want a piggyback...'
It wasn't the first time, really.
Lying in bed all day gets stuffy, so he'd carry Ruyan for walks now and then.
But today, Ruyan walked ahead of him, perfectly fine!
His back ached dully, but Blanc never wanted to stop this walk.
He just hoped it would last forever.
Truth be told, Ruyan felt the same.
He didn't show it, but he was exhausted enough to collapse.
Heavenly Martial Body or not, his frail frame wouldn't bulk up overnight. Training was needed to revive his muscles.
And jumping straight into this strenuous hike was pushing it hard.
'Can't overdo it anymore. Time to call it.'
Not just for himself—Blanc would collapse first at this rate.
"Dad, if you're tired, want me to push from behind?"
"What? Haha! Never thought I'd live to see the day."
Blanc laughed heartily but waved it off. He wasn't so weak as to lean on his frail son yet.
But Ruyan circled behind without hesitation and supported his waist.
Gathering natural energy in his palms, he gently infused it into Blanc's back.
Woooung.
So subtle even a genius mage like Blanc couldn't detect the mana flow—just a tiny amount.
'About half a year's worth of inner energy for now.'
Ruyan could wield natural energy with will alone, but interfering in another's body was different.
Adjusting someone else's energy with foreign power of different nature.
Not easy. Theoretically impossible.
Only Ruyan's skill allowed even half a year's worth.
The stealthily infiltrating energy softly enveloped Blanc's necrotic muscle tissue.
"How's that? Easier with my push, right?"
"Huh? It really is. When did our boy get so strong?"
Blanc's back pain eased, lightening his expression as he laughed openly.
But Ruyan's face, who wrought the miracle, wasn't bright.
'Worse than I thought.'
He'd known Blanc's back was damaged, but not this severely.
'Too much damage. And impurities piled up between the necrotic muscles.'
Impurities in the muscle channels, not meridians.
Like Ruyan's case, but congenital for him, acquired for Blanc.
'How does a 4th Circle Mage neglect his body like this!'
A martial artist's body never deteriorates this far unnoticed.
Early intervention could've fixed it with minimal inner energy.
'How old is this injury...? Clearing these impurities needs at least thirty years' worth.'
Just for the back.
Fixing the whole-body imbalance from the twisted spine would take a full cycle's worth—at least a hundred years.
Even Ruyan couldn't heal Blanc now. He'd need a dantian and a cycle's inner energy first.
'That'd take at least ten years...'
Even with Return Heart Technique, six times faster than common methods, gathering a cycle took ten years.
'Need another way. Can't leave him suffering that long.'
The Divine Bow, who etched new history in the martial world, resolved to pioneer yet another path.