Chapter 10

As the sun rose three feet high.

In the courtyard, the light of the blade disappeared, and Dao Baifeng, holding the hilt in one hand and the tip of the blade in the other, simply pulled it around his waist, and the soft embroidered sword coiled like a belt. Qin Luedao shook his hand, and the heavy-backed broadsword fell onto the rack under the tree: "Chaor, stop playing, let's go eat!"

"Ah? It's fine, I'm not hungry, you don't have to be so polite." Qin Chao's small hands were still making gestures in a serious manner.

Dao Yufeng squinted and smiled.

"You're just being silly. Who said you were hungry? You're not hungry, but your father and mother are. Come on, let's go!" He walked forward, grabbed Qin Chao, and headed for the gate. Qin Luedao wiped his sweat and laughed, asking, "Xiaor, how about it? You seem to be learning seriously. How many moves did you remember? Show us a few?"

"Show, um, sure." Qin Chao lifted his head proudly, "I can do it from start to finish!"

"From start to finish?"

Dao Baifeng and Qin Luedao were taken aback: "You remember it all? How is that possible?" They looked over and saw Qin Chao make a gesture, raising a single palm, which was the starting move of the sword technique. Then he made another gesture, which was the final move. Instantly, the couple's eyes narrowed with laughter: "That's right, our little Chao is smart, hahaha, a whole set of sword techniques from start to finish."

Qin Luedao and Dao Yufeng were delighted, but they didn't notice that when Qin Chao made the two gestures, although his small arms and legs seemed a bit clumsy and strange, if you looked closely, the essence and the standard simplicity of the movements were so refined that even some seasoned practitioners might not have done it so beautifully.

"By the way, Chao." Qin Luedao suddenly remembered something, his smile fading and his face turning serious, "The book of 'Seven Evils' you stole from Father's room, you've played with it for so many days. It's time to put it back after we finish eating!"

"Father, why are you in such a hurry?" Qin Chao rolled his eyes and said in a clear voice, "It's just an old book. Chao guarantees with his honor that he will return it."

"Guaranteed with your honor?" Qin Luedao's eyebrows twitched. This little rascal was so young, yet he spouted strange and interesting new words one after another. Even the learned elders in the village couldn't speak so well. Dao Yufeng laughed: "Alright, Chao, you're just a child. What honor do you have? Guarantees with your honor? Listen to your father and return the book. The 'Seven Evils' is very precious, not something for children to play with."

"Okay, Chao understands." Qin Chao blinked.

Dao Yufeng was speechless, knowing that this little rascal wasn't taking it to heart. Qin Luedao frowned: "Chao, if you don't return it, Father will tell you, the book is very precious. You can play with it, but you mustn't damage it, or Father will really be angry."

Qin Chao nodded.

"Father, how precious is the book?"

"How precious, hahaha!" Qin Luedao laughed, "Xiaor, you like martial arts, right? This book, Father will tell you, contains the secrets of martial arts!"

"Martial arts secrets?"

Qin Chao's heart skipped a beat, and he listened intently.

"Chao, remember this: the book contains the path to the heavens, and the knowledge in the book is the source of our martial arts. That's why Father is so concerned about the book."

"Ah?" Qin Chao's eyes brightened, glancing at his father's serious face.

"Father, have you found the path to the heavens in the book?" Qin Chao asked curiously.

"Found the path to the heavens in the book?" Qin Luedao's expression froze, and Dao Yufeng giggled.

"Ahem!" Qin Luedao blushed for the first time, coughed twice, "Father and big characters have a grudge from a past life, but it doesn't matter. Father has his sword. The path to the heavens in the book, Father doesn't care about. Hahaha, let's eat, why do you ask so many questions, child!"

Qin's family had a housekeeper, so Dao Yufeng didn't have to do the housework herself. They entered the dining room and started eating. Qin Chao finished his bowl in a few quick bites and put it down: "Eat early, eat full at noon, eat less at night, I'm off!" He jumped off the chair and ran out the door.

"Don't run, be careful you don't fall!"

"It's fine, I won't die from falling!"

...

"This child is getting more and more mischievous." Dao Yufeng sighed.

Qin Luedao frowned and sighed as well. The couple wasn't worried about Qin Chao's mischief.

"The imperial physician and Doctor Yao both said... Well, if that's the case, why should we be so strict? Let him live a few years according to his own will, it won't be in vain to come to this world." Qin Luedao sighed softly.

It was with the mindset that little Qin Chao might not live long that the couple indulged him, letting him do as he pleased.

"Le Dao, Chao hasn't had an episode for 48 days since he recovered from his last illness." Dao Yufeng said softly. They were naturally very concerned about little Qin Chao's health. They could see that Qin Chao's body was getting stronger day by day, which gave them hope, but also made them more worried and afraid that it might be just a fleeting moment.

"Yes, 48 days." A glint of light flashed in Qin Luedao's eyes. "As long as our ancestors protect this child and let him live, even if he can't practice martial arts, I am willing."

"Not practice martial arts?" Dao Yufeng looked at Qin Luedao. Qin Luedao looked out the window: "Yufeng, the clan leader sent a message yesterday, Zhou Guangtong agreed."

"Zhou Guangtong, the skinflint, agreed." Dao Yufeng's eyes lit up. "The book contains the path to the heavens. Studying literature is about creating martial arts, while we pure martial artists just practice techniques created by others. Since Zhou Guangtong is willing to come to Qin Family Village to teach, we really should let Chao take the literary path."

"Yes, not just Chao, for the whole village of his age, even someone with a once-in-a-thousand-years bone structure like Qin Long, Le Jin and Lin Auntie will probably force him to specialize in literature. Others are even more so."

...

Qin Chao's bedroom.

"Tai Chi can nourish life, nourish the fist, and cultivate inner strength."

"Coming to the martial arts world and not practicing inner strength is a waste, but just practicing without exploring the secrets of inner strength is also being mediocre."

Qin Chao took small steps.

Just practicing the techniques created by predecessors, even if he collected all the great techniques like the Nine Yin, Nine Yang, Northern Mystic, Lingbo, Purple Mist, and Tai Xu, and practiced countless divine techniques, what good would it do if he didn't explore the secrets of inner strength? At best, he would be a copyist.

As a modern person, Qin Chao naturally didn't want to be a copyist.

"Let's take a look at the 'Seven Evils' first."

Qin Chao smiled and walked to the cabinet by the bed. On top of the cabinet was a one-inch thick, blue-bound book. Qin Chao reached out and grabbed the book, flipping it open.

"Seven Evils, the first evil..."

The elegant and beautiful calligraphy was written in vertical lines. This was a handwritten copy, clearly written by a woman. Qin Chao found it in a hidden compartment in his parents' room and was overjoyed, stealing it. The book was written in traditional Chinese characters, which Qin Chao, although he had learned simplified characters in his previous life, could still recognize.

"The greatest secret hidden in ancient texts is the secrets of martial arts."

Qin Chao read the first page of the book. After the re-emergence of the Yongle Encyclopedia in his previous life, the academic world had repeatedly sparked a craze for studying this encyclopedic masterpiece, especially the experts studying the "History of the Martial World" section. After hundreds of years of research, there were few secrets in the "History of the Martial World" that had not been cracked, and the most sensational and intriguing mystery was the secrets of inner strength recorded in it.

"In 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes,' Jin Yong wrote that Huang Shang read the Daoist scriptures, self-realized inner and outer strength, and wrote the 'Nine Yin Manual,' which triggered a fierce competition in the martial world. In the history, Li Bai created the 'Tai Xu Manual' and the 'Qing Lian Sword,' an unnamed monk read the Buddhist scriptures and created the 'Nine Yang Manual,' and Wang Chongyang read..."

The historical records of the "History of the Martial World" show that most of the great inner strength techniques were created by literati. Even in the text, as long as one understood the classics of ancient literature, Buddhist scriptures, or Daoist texts, it was absolutely possible to create martial arts techniques.

True martial arts masters were first literati and then martial artists.

Like the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, who could naturally understand without knowing how to read, were few.

But why could the secrets of martial arts be read from classic ancient texts like the "Tao Te Ching," "I Ching," "Lianshan," and "The Art of War," and why could they enable people to create divine techniques? Perhaps it wasn't a secret in ancient times, but it left modern people puzzled.

"In my previous life, Yi Shuihan speculated that ancient philosophy was the source of all techniques, but that was only useful in ancient times. In modern times, even if those techniques were placed before you, and Huang Shang, the unnamed monk, and Wang Chongyang personally taught you, you couldn't cultivate true qi or inner strength. The biggest reason is the environment, which is different from ancient times." Qin Chao dismissed this idea in his previous life.

"This Tai Chi was just a regular fitness exercise in my previous life, but now when I practice it..."

Qin Chao could naturally feel a bit of the strange nature of Tai Chi, which made him even more interested in ancient texts.

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