The Number of Martial Saints in the Five Domains

Seeing that you only looked at it once and then started picking up food to eat, as if you didn't need it anymore.

The Valley Master couldn't help but remind you.

"Brother Chen, if you want to try refining the Five Domains Holy Pill, you might as well take this pill recipe back and study it carefully, so as not to waste the five great supreme spiritual materials."

You said indifferently.

"There's no need. I have memorized it all. The pill recipe is precious, so Pill Fragrance Valley should keep it safe."

Accidentally, you showed off again, causing a massive shock to the hearts of these little old men.

Memorizing a pill recipe was not like reciting ancient poetry filled with catchy rhymes.

The contents of a pill recipe were convoluted and completely irregular. Let alone glancing at it once, it was perfectly normal not to remember it even after studying it for ten years.

Otherwise, why would ancient sages record pill recipes using precious jade slips? It was because even they couldn't remember every step and had to figure it out step by step!

After leaving Pill Fragrance Valley, you and Li Lingyue went to search for the flower of the Southern Border.

"Judging from the pill recipe, this flower of the Southern Border should be the kind you ate back then, called the Unstained Flower."

"That's right, that's what my master said too."

"Supreme spiritual materials have very long growth cycles. Since you ate one, who knows if there is a second one in the Southern Border."

Li Lingyue smiled faintly.

"There is."

"You've seen a second one?"

"There are no fresh ones left. Do you want a 'sun-dried' one?"

What Li Lingyue called "sun-dried" did not mean actually exposing the spiritual material to the sun to remove its moisture.

For alchemists, "sun-drying" a spiritual material was a special processing technique to ensure that the material's spirituality basically did not dissipate, allowing it to be preserved for a longer time.

The pill recipe recorded that the five main materials did not need to be in large quantities or particularly fresh; meeting the minimum quantity and medicinal properties was sufficient.

A "sun-dried" one was naturally not a problem.

Li Lingyue told you that her master was a hidden expert.

The terrain of the Southern Border was complex, with an endless stream of bizarre and treacherous places.

She could gather spiritual materials that others couldn't.

Every time the Unstained Flower bloomed, she would pluck it.

This was also the reason why she had appeared in Soul-Severing Valley back then.

"Then let's go find your master now. Where is she?"

"After I ascended the throne, my master left my side and no longer shielded me from the wind and rain. I really don't know where she is now, but..."

Saying this, Li Lingyue took out a somewhat shriveled Unstained Flower covered with a layer of white frost from her storage ring.

"I still have one here. It was given to me by my master to help with my second Holy Body awakening."

Joy appeared on your face, and you were about to take it, but suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

"If I use it to refine the Five Domains Holy Pill, how will you undergo your second Holy Body awakening?"

"Who knows when the second Holy Body awakening will happen. Furthermore, I was a mortal back then; without external help, I couldn't have awakened my Holy Body. Now, I am completely different from before... Even without this flower, I can still achieve my second awakening!"

Li Lingyue's confidence carried an unquestionable grandeur.

It was as if every word she said was an imperial decree... Wait, it actually was an imperial decree.

The fifty-seventh year, seventy-five years old.

With the large amount of spiritual materials provided by Li Lingyue, you consumed even more pills to increase your cultivation every day.

The trait "Bad News from the Martial Arts Circle" continued to exert its power.

Your cultivation broke through to the eleventh level of the Spirit Sea Realm!

Seeing that you were getting closer and closer to the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm, and having only obtained one material for the Five Domains Holy Pill so far, you non-stop hurried to the Central Plains with Li Lingyue to look for the "Soil of the Central Plains."

The Great Qian Dynasty had already agreed to the Southern Border's peace talks, consenting to a temporary ceasefire, with territorial divisions to be discussed later.

It wasn't that Great Qian was easy to talk to.

But rather, your eldest brother in the north was simply too fierce. It was best if they could avoid fighting in the south.

The Northern Border cavalry roared south, crushing everything in their path and beating Great Qian's regular army until they abandoned their armor and fled.

In truth, the Central Plains soldiers were not weak; it was just too difficult for infantry to fight cavalry on the great plains.

If Beitong Pass hadn't been breached, Great Qian wouldn't have struggled so much.

As for why Beitong Pass was breached, the treacherous Prime Minister Qin Rong deserved the credit.

First, he withheld military pay, making the soldiers exchange military merits for their wages, which caused the soldiers and the imperial court to become alienated.

Second, he withheld military supplies. Many soldiers' weapons broke as soon as they entered the battlefield before they could even warm up; they were all defective goods.

Of course, you only deduced that it was Qin Rong's instruction because you knew the inside story.

But in reality, the one the imperial court eventually executed was just a scapegoat quartermaster.

Qin Rong even personally supervised the execution.

Li Lingyue decided to accompany you to the Central Plains to visit the Longzhi Emperor and demand the Imperial Mausoleum Nether Soil.

The "Imperial Mausoleum Nether Soil" recorded in the pill recipe was exactly the "Soil of the Central Plains" mentioned by the Sword Master.

"With me here, it will be easier for you to ask them for the Imperial Mausoleum Nether Soil."

Li Lingyue's decision was opposed by her subordinate ministers.

"Your Majesty's body is worth its weight in gold, how can you go to the Central Plains and risk danger?"

"What danger is there?"

"Great Qian views Your Majesty as a rebel official and wishes for nothing more than to eliminate you as quickly as possible. Although Your Majesty is a Martial Saint, the Li Imperial Family has even more Martial Saints. If they join forces against Your Majesty, then..."

"Lord Minister, you worry too much. Who here isn't surnamed Li?"

Li Lingyue's single sentence shut all the ministers' mouths.

They were all one family. Wasn't it a good thing for the Li family to have one more Martial Saint? Eliminate what? Were their brains fried?

Li Lingyue flew with you toward the Central Plains at an extremely fast speed.

Her cultivation was now as high as a Martial Saint, and her full-speed flight was much faster than the Martial King Realm.

You were quite curious about the three later martial arts realms: Martial King, Martial Saint, and Martial God, and you chatted a lot with Li Lingyue about related cultivation common sense along the way.

Including who the Martial Saint-level experts in the current Five Domains were.

Among the martial arts sects, only the Eight Pillars of the Five Domains had Martial Saints, with one or two in each sect, totaling twelve across the eight sects.

For example, the ones you had met—the Sword Master of the Limitless Sword Sect, the Pavilion Master of the Divine Weapon Pavilion Zhuge Zhujin, and the Sect Master of the Myriad Laws Sect Wan Sanqian—were all Martial Saints.

The Valley Master of Pill Fragrance Valley was not; he was in the Martial King Realm because his obsession with alchemy had delayed his cultivation.

However, among the Supreme Elders of Pill Fragrance Valley, there was a Martial Saint overseeing the sect.

Aside from the Eight Pillars of the Five Domains, there might be one or two Martial Saints hidden among the top martial arts aristocratic families in the Five Domains.

The Central Plains Li Imperial Family had a profound foundation and quite a few Martial Saints. Just the ones Li Lingyue knew of numbered at least five.

One of them was named Li Liushui, whom you had also met.

The Northern Border had two and a half Martial Saints.

That half a Martial Saint was your eldest brother, Chen Jing.

He was called a half because his actual realm was still the Martial King Realm, but his Taotie Tyrant Body could temporarily boost his realm to the Martial Saint level through binge eating and drinking during combat.

The Southern Border had two Martial Saints.

[One was Li Lingyue, and the other was the Grand Marshal of her three armies, a veteran general who was three hundred years of age.]

[The lifespan of a Martial King was two hundred years.]

[For a Martial Sage, it doubled to four hundred years. Thus, a three-hundred-year-old Grand Marshal at the Martial Sage realm could still be considered in the prime of his life.]

["Isn't your master a Martial Sage?"]