Chapter 211: Chapter 127: Four Symbols Realm

Discovering he was a genius was, after all, a happy occasion. The corners of Chen Cheng’s mouth lifted into a faint smile.

’Only one point of comprehension progress to go, so there’s no need to rush.’ He had no idea how much time had passed while he was observing the Fundamental Diagram. Chen Cheng turned to examine the other Martial Arts Classics in the study.

Dragon’s Roar Iron Cloth Shirt, Tendon-Separating Bone-Crushing Hand, Dragon Elephant Bone Forging Technique...

Seeing Mr. Zheng’s famous Cultivation Technique Manuals just casually placed on the shelf, Chen Cheng’s eyes lit up again.

’Forget it. In Martial Arts Cultivation, one shouldn’t be overly ambitious. I need to take it one step at a time. Knowing Master’s personality, I’ll be able to learn these Cultivation Techniques sooner or later. There’s no need to rush.’

He picked up the Dragon’s Roar Iron Cloth Shirt secret manual and flipped through it. On the title page, he saw a small annotation stating that it was best to cultivate this technique only after reaching the Bone Forging Realm. Chen Cheng decisively placed the manual back and went on to examine other texts on the concept of Realm.

There were indeed a few such texts, most of them originating from the Great Dao Sect.

By now, Chen Cheng was no longer a clueless greenhorn; he had some understanding of the Great Dao Sect.

In the current Great Yu, the Imperial Court shared dominion over the world with the Sects and Noble Families. The Court controlled the region around the Capital City, while the various states and prefectures were carved up and ruled by the Sects and powerful Noble Families.

The Great Dao Sect occupied the entirety of Su State. From the State City down to the six Prefecture Cities under its jurisdiction, the teachings of the Great Dao Sect were considered the orthodox Martial Arts.

The martial arts lineage of the Great Dao Sect was further divided into several branches, and each of these branches was known as a Peak.

Most of the Martial Arts Classics on the shelf were marked with the characters for "Great Dao Sect, Xingyi Peak." Evidently, Mr. Zheng hailed from Xingyi Peak.

Among these texts, Chen Cheng found a book titled True Understanding of Realm. Its contents were far more detailed than the Great Yu Martial Canon, which was widely circulated by the Great Yu Government Office.

"The ancient sages who ruled the world observed the celestial phenomena and the stars above... they looked down to observe the transformations of the earth’s veins... they observed birds, beasts, insects, and fish, comprehending the virtues of the divine and the nature of all living things... from this, they deduced the Great Dao... transforming it into Yin Yang... the Three Powers... the Four Symbols... the Five Elements..."

After carefully reading through True Understanding of Realm, Chen Cheng closed his eyes. He now had a deeper understanding of the Martial Dao’s Momentum and Realm.

The ancient system of Martial Arts Cultivation placed greater emphasis on External Martial Arts Skills, and thus, these various skills were researched to an extremely profound and esoteric degree.

Momentum, on the other hand, was only the most superficial of martial methods. Only by comprehending a Realm could one truly be considered to have begun their journey on the Martial Dao.

Momentum and Realm differed based on the Cultivation Technique, resulting in a vast and all-encompassing variety.

All forms of Momentum and Realm corresponded to the fundamental principles of Heaven and Earth, such as Yin Yang, the Three Powers, the Four Symbols, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, the Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends, and so on.

In other words, Momentum and Realm were comprehended from these fundamental principles of Heaven and Earth.

The martial arts cultivation of the Great Dao Sect focused primarily on Realms such as the Four Symbols, Five Elements, and Eight Trigrams. These various Realms were not entirely independent, but shared common ground.

The Four Symbols Realm is divided into four types—Cyan Dragon, Xuanwu, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger—which evolved from imitating the four legendary Divine Beasts.

The Four Symbols Realm is the core inheritance of the Great Dao Sect’s Xingyi Peak. The Dragon Soaring Realm that Mr. Zheng comprehended is a part of the True Dragon Realm, which itself is a component of the Four Symbols Realm.

In its manifestation, the True Dragon Realm shares some commonalities with the Five Elements Realm and the Eight Trigrams Realm. It possesses the heaviness of Earth and the hardness of Metal from the Five Elements, while within the Eight Trigrams, it leans toward the immense power of the Gen Mountain Realm.

Among all the Realms, the Four Symbols Realm is considered extremely difficult to comprehend, and its power is also exceptionally formidable.

’I feel like I understand, yet at the same time, I feel like I understand nothing at all!’ Chen Cheng murmured, closing the book.

His main takeaway was that the concept of Realm was a mystery of mysteries; even if one attained some level of comprehension, it was something that could not be put into words.

This was perhaps why Realms were so difficult to comprehend, even though they had Fundamental Diagrams passed down through generations.

On this point, Chen Cheng couldn’t help but admire the Martial Arts Ancestors of old. They had managed to depict the abstract concept of Realm in illustrations, to give it concrete form. He could only imagine the immense effort it must have taken; it would be no exaggeration to say they had exhausted their hearts and minds in the process.

It was clearly an incredibly difficult process. Otherwise, if every Martial Artist who comprehended a Realm could create a Fundamental Diagram for it, then Superior Cultivation Technique Manuals would be a dime a dozen.

’Even though I only have a half-baked understanding, it doesn’t matter,’ he thought. ’I can still cultivate a Realm!’

With that thought, Chen Cheng continued to flip through the other texts.

After skimming through them, a trace of disappointment appeared on Chen Cheng’s face.

Mr. Zheng’s collection of martial arts texts ended at the concept of Realm. There was barely any mention of how to cultivate a Second Layer Realm.

As for what lay beyond Realm, the texts recorded only a single word: Domain! And then, nothing more.

Legend had it that when one’s Martial Arts Cultivation reached the absolute pinnacle and they became a Martial Saint, they could annihilate an entire army with a mere wave of their hand.

His master was merely a Bone Forger Realm Martial Artist, worlds away from the level of a Martial Saint.

As far as Chen Cheng knew, a figure like a Martial Saint was on par with the Martial Arts Ancestors of antiquity.

In the past thousand years, throughout the entire Great Yu Dynasty, only the Great Yu Founding Saint Emperor had reached the Martial Saint realm.

It was unknown whether this Martial Saint was still alive, but given the decline of the Great Yu Dynasty, one could infer a few things. Even if this Martial Saint was still alive, his power had likely waned long ago.

’Heh, and I just told myself not to get ahead of myself. How did I end up thinking about a legendary realm like Martial Saint?’

’For now, the right path is to focus on Cultivating the Martial Dao and preserving my own life in these chaotic times.’

Shaking his head slightly, Chen Cheng continued to wander around the study, focusing on the books related to the Martial Dao.

He found his master Mr. Zheng’s collection of incomplete Inner Breath Techniques rather interesting. They all seemed to focus on methods for recuperating the body, and the techniques were wild and varied. Some focused on breathing exercises, others on conditioning with Medicinal Materials and diet, some on stretching the muscles to invigorate qi and blood, and there were even those focused on Yin Yang Unite, such as Yin Yang Replenishment and Absorbing Yang to Nourish Yin.

Mr. Zheng had made annotations on most of the secret manuals.

Such as: "This method has some merit."

"A futile effort!"

"Unacceptable!"

...

On the incomplete Iron Armor Skill manual and the Red Sun Root Technique, however, Mr. Zheng’s annotation read: "This method is excellent and worthy of study!"

After flipping through them, a suspicion suddenly formed in Chen Cheng’s mind. Perhaps the reason Mr. Zheng didn’t cultivate the Martial Dao every day wasn’t that he was lazy, but because he was nursing an injury that required conditioning.

A man as brilliantly talented as Mr. Zheng had been stuck at the Bone Forging Realm for most of his life. The only plausible reason was that he had fought someone of a higher Realm in his youth, which had resulted in damage to his fundamental constitution.

’I should learn from my master’s cautionary tale. From now on, I must be more careful and cautious. Unless I am absolutely certain of victory, I must never fight an enemy whose Realm is higher than mine.’

’In my future cultivation, I must focus on both my Martial Arts Realm and my External Martial Arts Skills, pursuing a two-pronged approach. Crushing opponents with the sheer superiority of my realm and strength—that is the ultimate path!’

Having thought this, Chen Cheng reined in his thoughts and opened the door to the study.

In the courtyard, a graceful figure in a cyan dress was practicing a set of Swordsmanship—it was Mu Xiaowan.

Mu Xiaowan was completely absorbed in her practice. Her breathtakingly beautiful, fair face was slightly flushed. Her footwork was light and nimble, her posture slender and graceful. The Short Sword in her hand seemed to possess a Spirituality of its own as it danced through the air. She truly looked like a sword-dancing Fairy who had descended to the mortal realm.

Chen Cheng couldn’t help but smile.

’Xiaowan’s Body Technique speed must be approaching Great Success in the Skin Grinding Realm. And her Phantom Sword Technique is even more impressive; it’s just a step away from the Perfect Level.’

’As expected of my wife. Truly a peerless beauty!’

"Brother Cheng, are you done with your reading?" After finishing a set of her Phantom Sword Technique, Mu Xiaowan saw Chen Cheng standing there with a smile. She beamed and hurried over to him.

"Mhm." Chen Cheng smiled and stepped forward, pulling Mu Xiaowan into his embrace. He caught her familiar, orchid-like scent. Her smooth, jade-like forehead was faintly beaded with sweat.

"Xiaowan, why are you sweating?"

Mu Xiaowan laughed. "I’ve been practicing the Phantom Sword Technique out here for four hours, of course I’m sweating."

"Four hours?" Chen Cheng was taken aback for a moment. He glanced at the sky and realized it was almost dusk.

He had arrived at the Zheng Martial Arts Hall and entered the study in the morning, but in the blink of an eye, several hours had passed. Most of that time must have been spent comprehending the Great Strength Eagle Claw Skill Root Map. No wonder he had gained several dozen points of comprehension progress in a single session.

"Time really flies," Chen Cheng said with a laugh.

Mu Xiaowan blinked her beautiful, limpid eyes. "Brother Cheng, you were so focused on comprehending the Great Strength Eagle Claw Skill Root Map in the study that you made things hard for Senior Brother Min."

"He got so hungry he couldn’t take it anymore, so he asked me to come wait for you. And I’ve been waiting for nearly four hours myself."

"What a shame," Chen Cheng sighed softly. He had planned on spending some quality time with Mu Xiaowan after viewing the Fundamental Diagram.

Mu Xiaowan asked, puzzled, "What’s a shame?"

Chen Cheng gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek and said softly, "It’s a shame our time together was so short. I have to go back now."

"Ah..." Mu Xiaowan’s pretty face grew even redder.

Just then, a soft cough echoed from the corridor. Chen Cheng followed the sound and saw Shen Qingshuang and Min Wei standing there, watching them from a distance.