Dream of the Red Chamber: Starting from Immortal Martial Arts

Ningguo Mansion, underground secret chamber.

Jia Tang withdrew his divine sense, slowly opened his eyes, and a dazzling divine light burst forth from them, even causing the vortex of primordial energy in front of him to collapse.

He stood up, feeling the surging internal energy and the surging martial blood within his body. With a thought, the internal energy flowed out along with his consciousness, and the primordial energy surged in front of him. The two energies condensed in the void to form a lifelike miniature winged white tiger.

After roaring to the sky, it crashed fiercely into the Five Banners, bursting forth with brilliant light and a deafening roar.

The condensation of void is a characteristic of a second-stage martial arts cultivator's attack; the vital energy moves with the spirit, transforming into countless shapes.

Wherever divine sense reaches, both primordial energy and protective energy can combine, increasing power by more than three times compared to simply releasing protective energy, not to mention the distance and range.

Feeling his strength surge, Jia Tang couldn't help but grin.

Jia He and the others knelt on one knee before him, offering their congratulations: "Congratulations to the young master on advancing to the Condensed Pattern stage, your divine might is unparalleled, and your lifespan has greatly increased."

Jia Tang laughed heartily and accepted everyone's congratulations, saying, "Good, good, get up. This breakthrough was also due to some extraordinary encounter. Now I still have twenty-three strands of Qi and Blood left."

He paused briefly, then ordered his four generals to sit cross-legged around the Five Directions Flag. After a moment's thought about the power of the Tiger Tally's energy, he realized there was still enough for one more person and said, "Grand Elder, come here as well."

After saying that, he looked at the other three people with a hint of apology in his eyes.

Just as Wang Heyuan was about to decline, he was pushed over by Li Jia and the Zhao brothers. Li Jia saw Jia Tang's expression and comforted him, "Young Master, there's no need for this. It's fine if we old bones don't break through. We've already been blessed by Heaven to follow our lord in this life, and we've been supported by the Jia family and lived peacefully for over a hundred years. We have no regrets in this life."

Zhao Daniu laughed heartily and continued, "Originally, the five of us brothers had discussed that we would leave the underground palace before we died, go into the city to act as sorcerers to assassinate civil and military officials and create chaos, so as to attract the attention of the two prefectures. Who would have thought that the young master would say through the Tiger Fiend Flag that there was an opportunity to break through, so we waited patiently for a while."

Zhao Ergou, however, said something different. His tone was indifferent and his voice was chilling: "The master has the right to dispose of his things. If a servant dares to covet them, he is disloyal, and disloyalty means death."

Jia Tang sighed and shook his head: "You gentlemen have worked hard and made great contributions; you must not harbor any thoughts of dying."

After saying that, he reached out and pressed down, and everyone fell silent.

·····

As the pure energy of blood and qi continued to flow in, Jia and the other five began to practice the tempering method, absorbing the abundant primordial energy in the space to improve their cultivation.

After everyone began, Jia Tang turned around and walked to the central secret chamber, triggered the mechanism to open the stone door and stepped inside.

Inside, there was a futon and a stone table. On the stone table were two secret manuals of unknown material: "The Western Saint's Chapter on Crossing Calamities" and "The Secret Manual of Geng Metal for Breaking Evil and Suppressing Demons" and "The Secret Manual of Ding Fire for Burning the Sea and Exterminating Evil," a miniature boat, and a pair of gray rings.

Jia Tang first picked up the "Heavenly Chapter" and poured his divine sense into it. On the surface, it was a blank jade page of the second level, but under the illumination of his divine sense, it contained a large number of talismans and various kinds of information flowing into his mind.

The second stage of the Martial Dao Ascension Path is called Condensing Patterns: When a cultivator breaks through to the second stage, they can awaken their divine soul and generate divine sense. Divine sense can be released to explore and can comprehend martial arts supernatural powers from the traces of heaven and earth contained in the visualization diagram. After comprehending the supernatural powers, the divine sense inscribes the traces of heaven and earth in the Yellow Court to form martial patterns, and then the martial patterns fly into the Dantian for nourishment.

Martial runes are one's own understanding and imitation of Dao traces. After being condensed, they are activated by divine sense. The Qi is enhanced by the Dao traces and the damage is multiplied.

Martial runes can also be refined and compressed within the dantian until they condense into liquid, thus aggregating the martial runes to form a martial arts divine talisman and advancing in rank.

The cultivation realm is divided into three stages: early stage, with 30% of the body's Qi condensed into liquid and martial patterns concealed; middle stage, with 60% of the body's Qi condensed into liquid and patterns appearing on the body's surface; and late stage, with 90% of the body's Qi condensed into liquid and martial patterns manifesting in the world.

This realm features a variety of techniques and supernatural abilities that are unconventional, capable of summoning wind and rain, lifting mountains and overturning peaks, and exhibiting numerous variations, making it extremely extraordinary.

Jia Tang took a deep breath, observed the Dao traces, cultivated supernatural powers, and finally began to formally experience the unpredictable power of martial arts in this world.

The Heavenly Chapter in my mind conveyed five images radiating inexplicable Daoist essence, and in a mysterious instant, I knew their corresponding names: Golden Tiger Covering the Mountain, Thunder Tiger Fighting, Divine Tiger Falling from the Sun, Azure Tiger Demon, and Mountain Lord Guarding the Cauldron.

This is another aspect of Jia Tang's inner strength, and also one of the Jia family's secrets. The vital energy that Tianzhang cultivates is not just the external metal element, but can cultivate all five elements of wind and thunder!

The paintings exuded a profound and mysterious energy, and Jia Tang personally experienced the dynamic changes in each painting, as if he were there in person, as if all sorts of events were happening right before his eyes, with every detail clearly visible.

As Jia Tang continued to comprehend with his divine sense, his martial body began to absorb vital energy autonomously. His protective energy burst forth from his body and began to change inexplicably, as if an invisible hand was weaving various divine forms into it.

Within the Yellow Court between his eyebrows, Jia Tang, in a state of spiritual consciousness, had his eyes slightly closed, his right arm raised, and his fingers moving involuntarily.

After a while, a divine rune radiating golden light appeared above the Yellow Court Palace. The next instant, the divine rune disappeared from the Yellow Court and emerged in the Dantian, slowly rotating around the Dantian.

Jia Tang opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing within them, and murmured, "Divine Power—Golden Tiger Suppressing the Mountain is a defensive divine power. My divine sense is still sufficient, and my soul is not fatigued. I will continue to comprehend it."

Once again, I closed my eyes tightly, emptied my mind, and five visualization images emerged from my sea of ​​consciousness, continuing to comprehend supernatural powers.

···

After an unknown amount of time, Jia Tang opened his eyes in the stone chamber, looking exhausted. He rubbed his extremely painful brow with his fingers, swayed as he slowly got up, feeling utterly listless, and shook his head with a bitter smile.

"I acted impulsively. Martial runes are imitations of visualization diagrams. If you observe them for too long, you will become addicted to them and your soul will depart. Fortunately, the tiger talisman warned me and I was able to wake up."

However, thinking about the new martial runes in his dantian, he felt satisfied again.

Jia Tang forced himself to cheer up, picked up the gray rings, and poured his divine sense into them but received no response. He shook his head in disappointment, then opened his mouth and inhaled, drawing the small boat beside him into his dantian for nourishment.

The small boat is named the Golden Rainbow Boat, a second-tier top-grade Yuan weapon. When activated by Yuan energy, it can travel 24,000 li per day.

A typical late-stage first-tier cultivator using full-power Qi manipulation can fly 750 li in an hour, but with advancement, the distance doubles to 1500 li.

With sufficient internal energy, a late-stage first-order cultivator can only travel 9,000 li in a day. However, the full-force flight of a late-stage first-order cultivator can only last for four hours due to the abundance of internal energy. Therefore, cultivators in the world mainly travel by horseback or boat.

···

When Jia Tang walked out of the underground palace, he found that it was already broad daylight. When he returned to Ruihu Courtyard and called Qingwen to help him bathe, he realized that today was the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

After bathing and changing, Jia Tang got up and went to his study to examine the secret letters from the past year and a half. The first one read, "On the tenth day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Changwu, the clan head went out to a banquet. After the banquet, he went to the Sanguan Temple and, upon returning home, inquired about a woman."

At the same time, all the servants and maids in the mansions went out to hold a grand banquet in both mansions, entertaining people from all directions.

Ningrong Street was packed with people from mid-morning. Besides members of the Jia clan, there were also neighbors from the surrounding area, followed by relatives from various families. Among those who arrived were: Earl of Jinxiang, Earl of Chenting, Marquis of Chuanning…

Qiu Liang, grandson of Marquis Jingtian, is a hereditary third-class baron and holds the position of commander of the western city of the Five Cities Military Command.

Qi Jianhui, grandson of the Marquis of Xiangyang and hereditary second-class baron, was appointed as the Vice Commander of the Capital Guard.

Jiang Zining, grandson of the Marquis of Pingyuan and hereditary second-class baron, and Xie Jing, grandson of the Marquis of Dingcheng and hereditary second-class baron, were both commanders of the Beijing Garrison.

Ma Shang, grandson of Ma Kui, Duke of Zhiguo, was a hereditary third-rank general of the Weiyuan Army and commander of the Right Guard of the Left Army.

Chen Ruiwen, grandson of Duke Qi, was a hereditary third-rank general of the Weizhen Army. He was promoted to first-class viscount due to his association with Liaodong and became the commander of the capital garrison.

Hou Xiaokang, grandson of Duke Xiaoming of Xiuguo, inherited the title of First-Class Viscount and was promoted to Third-Class Earl, and was appointed as the Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army.

Liu Fang, grandson of Liu Biao, Duke of Liguo, inherited the title of First-Class Viscount and was promoted to Second-Class Earl. Later, he became the Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Military Prefecture.

Niu Qing, grandson of Zhenguo Gong, is currently the first-class earl Niu Jizong, who holds the position of Minister of War.

Following them were Shi Nai, the former commander of Shanxi, the Marquis of Baoling, Shi Ding, the Marquis of Zhongjing, Wang Ziteng, the military governor of the capital garrison, and finally Shui Rong, the Prince of Beijing.

The group entered the main hall and sat down in order, chatting and reminiscing.

At Rongguo Mansion, the three ladies, Xing, Wang, and You, along with their respective daughters-in-law, stood at the ceremonial gate to welcome the ladies-in-waiting from various mansions to Rongxi Hall.

The Ning and Rong mansions were filled with distinguished guests, who mingled and drank, creating a lively atmosphere.

A large banquet was also set up on Ningrong Street. Neighbors and common people could take a seat as long as they cheered. The place was bustling with noise and every seat was taken.

After the banquet, the ladies from each household left first. Apart from Shui Rong, who left after drinking two cups of wine, and Wang Ziteng, who left after the banquet, the rest of the Ningguo family went into the main hall.

Wang Ziteng was a confidant of Emperor Changwu. He had served Emperor Changwu, who had not yet ascended the throne, since he was promoted by the Jia family to the position of military governor of the capital garrison.

After Emperor Changwu ascended the dragon throne, he ordered Prince Teng to quickly take control of the Beijing Garrison. Unfortunately, the garrison was firmly controlled by the generals of the Kaiguo and Chongwu factions, making him a figurehead with titles but no real power.

Nowadays, after the founding of the nation, people from all walks of life drink tea and discuss matters without him. Forcing him to stay would only make him lose face.