Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 232: Chapter 165: Ultimate—Start Killing

”Don’t bring this up again for now!” Qin Yuming’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was decisive.

Fu Hai didn’t speak, merely watched him.

Qin Yuming adjusted his glasses. After a long silence, he finally spoke slowly, ”I understand what you mean. Logically speaking... this line of thinking isn’t entirely off the table. The problem is its feasibility. The mother-body is strong enough, but what about the father-body? Do you have a suitable candidate? This isn’t a game. There are too many factors involved—technical, security-related... If any part of this goes wrong, we can’t bear the consequences. So, let’s wait.”

A flicker of understanding crossed Fu Hai’s eyes. He nodded slowly, the corner of his mouth curving into a barely perceptible smile.

He understood.

’His teacher said ”let’s wait,” not because he was rejecting the idea, but because the time wasn’t right.’

’As long as that layer of substance is sufficiently broken, and as long as a ”suitable” father-body is found, this experiment... might not be impossible.’

He turned his head and looked at the woman again.

She lay there, oblivious to time, oblivious to life and death, breathtakingly beautiful.

This only served to strengthen the resolve in Fu Hai’s heart.

’No one can stop my plan for longevity.’

’No one!’

...

...

Morning came. The late December air in the Holy City was growing colder.

A thin layer of frost coated the windowpanes. Through the blurry patterns, one could see the gray, overcast sky outside.

The sycamore trees lining the street were bare, their branches trembling slightly in the cold wind.

Pedestrians hurried along, their necks shrunk into their collars.

Fewer and fewer people were riding bicycles; the buses had been packed with people lately.

In the distance, steam rose from the baskets at a breakfast stall, mingling with the aroma of fried dough sticks.

The radiator in the living room clanked and groaned, barely managing to drive away the chill.

Wan Ze sat at his desk. Sprawled before him were several professional textbooks thick enough to kill a man. Beside them was a stack of scratch paper, densely covered in calculations.

From outside the door, he could faintly hear Father Wan and Xiaoyu talking.

”Dad! Dad! Dad! For the cabinet color, can we go with the lighter one I picked? Please?” Xiaoyu’s voice was bright and clear.

”Alright, alright. Whatever you say,” Father Wan replied with a smile.

”What about the curtains? I want pink ones!”

”Didn’t you say you liked blue last month?”

”Well, now I like pink!”

Listening to their conversation, the corners of Wan Ze’s mouth turned up slightly.

The door was pushed open with a BANG. Xiaoyu poked her head in, her hair in a ponytail and her eyes sparkling.

”Big Bro! We’re going to check on the new house renovations! Today’s the last day, wanna come with us?”

Wan Ze didn’t even look up. ”I’m busy today.”

Xiaoyu pouted, her lips sticking out so far you could hang an oil bottle from them. ”Why not?! Your room is done too, don’t you want to see it?”

”Busy.”

Xiaoyu leaned in and glanced at the dense text on his desk, her little face scrunching up. ”Big Bro, you’ve really changed. You’re looking at this stuff all day long!”

”I’ll pass it all on to you someday. Don’t be in a hurry.”

”...”

Without looking back, Xiaoyu turned and ran, as if afraid Wan Ze would grab her right then and there. But she stopped at the door, turned back, and said brightly, ”I’ll bring you back a cupcake! But you’re not allowed to give me any more practice problems!”

With that, the door slammed shut with a BANG, and the sound of her skipping footsteps faded away.

Wan Ze shook his head and let out a soft chuckle.

He went back to burying his head in his books.

Then he picked up his pen and wrote ceaselessly on the scratch paper.

One page, two pages, three... A series of complex formulas was continuously derived and calculated, quickly filling the entire sheet.

After more than half an hour, Wan Ze paused to flip through a book, read a few lines, and then resumed writing.

Outside, the sun slowly rose higher. The frost melted into droplets of water that trickled down the glass.

He wrote for who knows how long.

Suddenly, in a certain moment, it was as if something in Wan Ze’s mind clicked open with a SNAP.

The feeling was subtle, like a window had suddenly been thrown open, letting a cool breeze rush in.

He understood it all in an instant.

Wan Ze put down his pen, momentarily dazed. Once the feeling in his mind faded, he called up his attribute panel.

...

[New Effect: Intelligence +0.02]

...

On the attribute list, the Intelligence line clearly read: 2.51!

”Finally...”

Wan Ze let out a long breath, leaned back in his chair, and stared up at the ceiling.

All his recent toil, day and night—practicing martial arts during the day, studying at night, doing stance training against the wall when he got sleepy, and diving back into problem sets when he woke up.

That pile of professional textbooks grew from one to ten, from ten to one or two hundred. He’d read so much his eyes almost went blind.

But... it was all worth it.

His All Attributes had finally reached 2.5, which meant he could now begin the Cultivation of that Soldier Immortal Technique.

Wan Ze sat up straight and took the thin booklet from his drawer.

He had personally witnessed Qin Jiu’s final explosive state—the surge of qi and blood, the bulging muscles—it was even more exaggerated than his own Horizontal Training Technique.

Interestingly, this instantaneous power boost was remarkably similar to the Secret Palace’s Divinity Transformation, only it didn’t turn you into one of those inhuman, ghostly figures.

Opening the booklet again, Wan Ze silently read the familiar words:

[...Use the five viscera as a furnace and qi and blood as fuel. Ignite the true fire to incinerate the body, releasing the shackles of the mortal form. The first resolution, of the liver wood, is like a sharp blade piercing the abdomen, a pain that seeps into the very marrow... When the five resolutions are complete, the five viscera will be reforged as if in a crucible, and qi and blood will be endlessly generated. Then, neither blades nor axes can kill you, and neither water nor fire can extinguish you...]

He had long since memorized these words.

He flipped to the end and found the incantation: ”...The liver belongs to wood, its radiance is in the nails. When the first Soldier Resolution is opened, wood qi soars to the heavens. The heart belongs to fire, its radiance is in the face. When the second Soldier Resolution is opened, fire incinerates the nine heavens...”

Wan Ze stared at the lines of text, lost in thought.

’In other words, the duration of the Soldier Resolution State depends on my own bodily functions. Theoretically, the higher my attribute values, the stronger the explosive effect of the Soldier Resolution. But the booklet also states clearly... that after the Soldier Resolution, I will rapidly enter a period of weakness.’