Chapter 44: The Meaning

  Yunzhou City, although it's just a county town, its vast area exceeds Chen Hao's imagination, comparable to the world's metropolises, with the only difference being the lack of those tens or hundreds of stories high-rise buildings.

  Xiao Ding led the crowd, walking for a good half an hour before arriving at the Xiao family's residence in Yunzhou City. Although the main branch of the Xiao family was located on Tianzhu Mountain, as one of the four major families in Yunzhou, they naturally had a residence in the city, with a grand and majestic estate.

  After a simple reception, Chen Huan, Xiao Jihan and the other ten disciples who participated in the competition all went to their specially arranged rooms. Today, even Chen Huan only meditated for two hours before stopping his cultivation and entering a rare state of true sleep...

  Since the Mystic Cloud Mountain Range, Chen Huan had not slept a single day of true sleep. This sleep was particularly sweet and he didn't wake up until the next morning when Xiao Mei knocked on the door, still feeling dazed...

  ……

  "Xiao family has arrived!"

  When Xiao Ding led the Xiao family disciples to the entrance of the vast and boundless martial arts arena, with a radius of nearly a thousand meters, the guards standing at the entrance, emitting a strong aura, suddenly drummed up their vital energy and let out a loud, resonant voice.

  What shocked Chen Huan and Xiao Jiaxiang's fellow disciples was that the huge martial arts arena was already packed with people, and in the center of the venue stood a gigantic fighting platform amidst ten other platforms. The stands around the venue were filled to capacity with dense crowds, and at the front of the stands, flags fluttered in the wind, bearing the uniforms of various major powers' disciples.

  "Xiao family's master, this way, please!"

  A skilled guard of the city lord's mansion spoke respectfully and then led the way forward, leading the Xiao family to their arranged seats.

  Under the gaze of the crowd, the disciples of Xiao's family were slightly excited, especially those who had never seen the Yunzhou Martial Arts Conference before, and their hearts were even more passionate. They secretly made up their minds to work hard and cultivate themselves, striving for a day when they could participate in the Yunzhou Martial Arts Conference as contestants rather than spectators!

  "Xiao family head, this is where your Xiao family stands."

  More than ten minutes later, the city master's guards brought Xiao Ding and others to a seat with the Xiao family flag standing upright, saying respectfully.

  "Ah, thank you!"

  "Please, honorable guests. Xiao Family Head, Sixth Elder, please take your seats at the main table!"

  "En, we'll go later." Xiao Ding glanced at the viewing platform assigned to the Xiao family, a smile spreading across his face. His eyes imperceptibly swept over Little Ling'er, who had already taken a seat on the platform, and he seemed extremely pleased as he clasped his fists together.

  "Alright then, I'll take my leave first!"

  ……

  Xiao Ding briefly explained a few words to the crowd and then quickly sat down with the Sixth Elder Xiao Bo at the chairman's platform on the edge of the central main stage.

  As one of the four major families, it has two seats for members of the Yunzhou Martial Arts Association's Arbitration Committee. Xiao Ding and He Lian, Mo, and Sima, the heads of the three families, serve as deputy directors of the Arbitration Committee, while the director is Li Ran, the lord of Yunzhou City.

  The Xiao family had been performing poorly in the Cloud State's martial arts conference for several years. Although it was said that a thin camel is bigger than a horse, someone still needs to acknowledge that this camel has not died yet. Now, the position of the Xiao family's disciples watching the stage can tell everyone that the Xiao family is still one of the four major families in the eyes of the City Lord's Mansion, and is one of the four major forces in Cloud State. However, whether they can convince others remains to be seen...

  "Dong...... dong...... dong......"

  At the end of Chen time and the beginning of Si time, that is, at 9 o'clock in the morning, a loud and sonorous bell rang out, and the long-awaited Yunzhou Wu Conference finally began!

  At this moment, a figure rose slowly from the center of the podium, as if floating in mid-air, but strangely, there was no fluctuation of yuan force around him, and he descended slowly onto the main platform accompanied by the melodious bell sound.

  At that moment, the originally noisy venue suddenly fell silent, and everyone's eyes were fixed on that figure like a god.

  This is an old man with white hair and a youthful face, exuding a refined aura all over his body. If not for witnessing the old man's extraordinary skill that ordinary people can't achieve, no one would have known that he was a master.

  Indeed, there wasn't a single fluctuation of yuan force on the old man's body.

  "This senior is the master of the City Master's Mansion, Li Ran, and his cultivation is even stronger than that of our ancestors by a margin of three parts!"

  When the host of the city lord's mansion, Li Ran, began to announce the list of participating forces in this Cloud State Martial Arts Conference as usual, and read out the competition rules, Xiao Mei lowered her voice and whispered to Chen Huan.

  "Isn't it strange how he can hover in mid-air without any fluctuations in his yuan energy?"

  "Huh? Yeah......" Chen Huan was slightly stunned, he didn't sense any fluctuations in the yuan force, but his innate sharp intuition sensed a completely different kind of power from the yuan force. It was like a gentle breeze, invisible and formless, yet it gently lifted up the old man's body. However, upon hearing Xiao Mei's words, Chen Huan didn't explicitly say anything.

  "Li Ran is a cultivator who is completely different from Wu Zhe, and he is extremely rare in our entire Yuan Wang Kingdom!"

  "What's that?"

  "Really?!"

  "What is it?"

  "The way of the mind and the way of martial arts are two completely different cultivation methods. The way of martial arts is to temper the body and enhance one's yuan force, while the way of the mind is to temper one's thoughts and enhance one's spiritual power, also known as mental cultivation. Compared to the way of martial arts, the way of the mind is much more difficult, especially in the early stages, where it cannot even compare to the way of martial arts. However, as spiritual power increases, especially after reaching a higher level, it possesses abilities that are even more extraordinary than those of the way of martial arts. Of course, this doesn't mean that the way of martial arts is weak; both cultivation methods ultimately lead to the same destination. Once one reaches the legendary realm of Martial Sainthood, there isn't much difference between them..."

  "Meaning to say..." Chen Hao furrowed his brow in thought, then said: "The ultimate goal of the Way is to temper the physical body and condense one's vital energy. The ultimate goal of martial arts is to temper one's will and elevate one's spiritual power. Advancing to the rank of Martial Saint means fusing two completely different energies into a single entity, right?"

  "How clever! After a martial artist enters the Martial Orthodox, they mainly temper their mind. On the other hand, after an Intender enters the Intent Orthodox, they mainly temper their physical body. The boundaries of Intent are divided in the same way as those of martial artists, it's just that the word 'martial' is replaced with 'intent'. Of course, although they may seem different, because of the difference in what they mainly cultivate, there still exist some differences. These, I also heard from Grandfather, perhaps one day you'll truly understand...” Xiao Mei's charming face revealed a hint of a smile as she whispered to Chen Huan's ear.

  A fleeting glimmer of desolation in his eyes, but it did not escape Chen Hao's notice.

  Chen Hao was clear that Xiao Mei didn't advance to 9th rank martial artist until she was 22 years old and became an inner disciple of the Xiao family. With such talent, advancing to 9th rank Martial Emperor according to conventional laws seemed fundamentally impossible, let alone surpassing Martial Emperor by two ranks to become a Martial Saint...

  "Sister, you seem to be very disheartened? I really can't understand it. What's the relationship between cultivation and age? Why is it that at twenty years old, one cannot advance to a ninth-grade martial artist, yet this can determine a person's lifelong achievements? This is truly an absurdity of heaven and earth! This is simply a self-hypnotic mental shackle, pure nonsense!" What made Xiao Mei astonished was that Chen Huan's eyes were actually shining with a hint of sharp light as he gazed at him, his voice low but leaving no room for doubt.

  Chen Hao's words made Xiao Mei's heart move slightly, but she immediately shook her head gloomily and said: "This is already a law summarized by countless generations of predecessors in the world of martial arts... Junior brother, I have long understood that it doesn't count as anything..."

  "Sister, I ask you, do you still have the confidence and passion for cultivation that you had before you were 20? Do you still have the bold and ambitious ideas you had before you were 20? Are you still crazily cultivating day and night to make breakthroughs?"

  Chen Hao suddenly fired off a series of questions, each one striking deep within Xiao Mei's heart.

  "I'm sure you don't!" Chen Hao didn't let Xiao Mei respond, and directly said: "Listen to me, don't care about that crap law, as long as you can break through this mental shackle, I believe you will definitely surpass yourself! Life is in your own hands, not in heaven's! You take that law as fate, it's self-imposed limitation on your path forward! It's ridiculous, who knows what kind of person summarized this law, it's despicable! Although I don't understand much, you can go check the data, I believe there are people, and many people, who haven't been constrained by this law..."

  "This..." Xiaomei's delicate face flushed with a hint of red under Chen Huan's repeated lectures, and after a brief moment of contemplation, she said: "No need to investigate, it is indeed true that there are people who did not advance to 9th rank warrior before the age of 20, but later advanced to Martial Emperor. These individuals, without exception, are all objects of admiration among warriors... Younger brother, what you said is really feasible?"

  "If someone else can do it, you can too. Don't even have this bit of confidence?" At this moment, Chen Hao, this little brat, had become Xiao Mei's personal instructor, with a look of teaching his junior, said.

  "Alright! Master sister knows what to do now......" Xiao Mei bit her lip, and a hint of determination flashed in her eyes as she said.

  ……

  "Please have the four major families, He Lian, Mo, Sima and Xiao, send their disciples to participate in the competition, come on stage to draw lots!"

  When Chen Hao and Xiao Mei's conversation came to an end, Li Ran's brief opening speech was also finished, and the pre-match draw began directly.

  The rules of the Yunzhou Wu Hui competition have been established and will not change. All participating disciples will be divided into ten small groups, with the first place winner in each group advancing to the top ten.

  Each faction's disciples, through a draw to determine their respective groups, can completely avoid meeting each other in the group stage and maximize the true strength of their sect.

  "Rumble, rumble, rumble..."

  As soon as the castle owner's voice fell, the disciples of the four major families who participated in the competition immediately offered their yuan power, and one by one quickly flew towards the main fighting platform.

  The four major families' disciples, undoubtedly the most outstanding contestants in each Yunzhou Martial Arts Conference, this is their first appearance, although not a fight, but actually also an underground competition.

  In an instant, the eyes of tens of thousands of spectators in the entire venue converged on a young but powerful figure.