“You are now suffering from a conflict between your spirit and body, with hidden ailments in your soul. You cannot calm your mind to enter meditation and comprehend the profound arts; you can only cultivate martial arts. By tempering your body through martial cultivation, you can promote the fusion of soul and flesh, and only then will you be able to preserve your life and once again embark on the path of cultivation…”

“Martial cultivation to temper the body?”

Henry Brooks repeated to himself in a murmur. Although Edward York’s memories within the Yao clan were already fragmented beyond repair, after sorting through Edward York’s memories, Henry Brooks still had a rough understanding of cultivation.

Whether it was profound cultivation, martial cultivation, or other extremely specialized forms such as ghost cultivation, artifact cultivation, yin cultivation, external alchemy, or dual cultivation, ultimately, one must absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body, thereby directly mastering the vast and mighty power between heaven and earth, and attaining great supernatural abilities. Yet, the foundation of cultivation still lies within oneself.

The vital essence within the body, also known as “essence energy,” flows through the bones and meridians. Through cultivation, it becomes abundant, breaking through blockages in the meridians. After merging and refining with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within the body, it transforms into true essence—only then does one truly step onto the path of cultivation.

From then on, this will also be the first major realm of cultivation: the Tongxuan Realm.

Whether martial or profound cultivation, as long as one has the aptitude and sufficient resources, entering the Tongxuan Realm is not difficult. But after the Tongxuan Realm, there are further realms such as the Biling Realm, Mingqiao Realm, Daodan Realm, and Daotai Realm. The choice of which path to cultivate makes a difference at this stage.

In the Biling and Mingqiao Realms, there is still a certain proportion of martial cultivators, but by the time one reaches the Daodan Realm, the proportion of martial cultivators drops sharply. Among the dozen or so peerless experts at the Daotai Realm in the Great Yan Empire, only one is a grandmaster of martial cultivation.

Therefore, within the Great Yan Empire, martial cultivation is not valued in Yanzhou, or rather, it is very difficult to achieve great success.

The children of noble families and the core disciples within sects rarely take the path of proving the Dao through martial arts; only the lower and middle-ranking Dao soldiers trained by the sects and Dao academies, mainly to supplement the lower ranks of the military, focus primarily on martial cultivation.

However, for Henry Brooks to overcome the hidden soul ailment caused by the body-snatching, and to once again harmonize his soul with his new body, he has no choice but to take the path of martial cultivation.

Chapter 7: The Snake Bracelet

Henry Brooks was unconcerned with anything else, more worried that martial cultivation would be too difficult, and that before he could reach any profound realm, his hidden soul ailment would erupt completely.

If that happened, he’d be dead for sure—not even the gods could save him.

After a long silence from Earl Lefton, Henry Brooks grew anxious and called out:

“The memories of this body’s previous owner, Edward York, seem to have been deliberately erased—there’s no knowledge of the Yao clan’s cultivation methods in my mind. I doubt Leonard Brooks would break the sect rules and secretly teach me any profound arts or immortal techniques. Right now, I’m not even a basic Dao soldier disciple. Who knows how many years it’ll take before I can step into the Biling or Mingqiao Realms? Senior Earl Lefton, you have to give me a cheat code!”

At this point, Henry Brooks already had a general understanding of the cultivation realms for disciples of the Great Yan Empire: mainly the Tongxuan, Biling, and Mingqiao Realms.

But what these cultivation realms truly entailed, Henry Brooks still couldn’t quite figure out. Seeing that Earl Lefton hadn’t responded for a long time, Henry Brooks nearly burst into tears, begging for three or five cheat codes.

You could say Henry Brooks had already experienced death once. Since this concerned his very survival, how could he afford to be careless?

“What cheat code?” Earl Lefton’s voice was already extremely weak, and he asked in confusion.

“I mean, open a back door for me. What’s the deal with the snake bracelet that Senior Charles King mentioned?” At this point, Henry Brooks didn’t dare offend Earl Lefton, and asked cautiously, thinking to himself: Dragon Emperor Charles King is already dead, would Earl Lefton keep that snake bracelet for himself and not give it to me?

“The inheritance of the divine temple must not be leaked. The martial cultivation techniques that Dao soldier disciples of Taiwei Sect can learn are crude, but sufficient for you to lay your martial foundation. Besides, since the Dragon Emperor insisted on choosing you as his successor, I must fulfill his last wish. I will not keep the snake bracelet from you, but I hope you will not waste the thirty percent of my power consumed for this…”

Immediately after, Henry Brooks saw the light above the desk begin to ripple, as if water waves were spreading. Then, with a “ding-dong,” an object fell onto the desk.

It was a snake-shaped blood-red bracelet, opened and laid flat on the desk, five or six inches long, shaped like a spirit snake. Every blood-red scale was exquisitely lifelike, and the two snake heads, each the size of a fingernail, had complete fangs and eyes. It seemed that with a single breath, this snake bracelet could come alive.

Judging by Earl Lefton’s tone, it seemed that just teleporting this snake-shaped bracelet into his bedroom would consume thirty percent of his power. Henry Brooks thought, isn’t Earl Lefton a bit too weak? Or perhaps it was Charles King’s thunderous form atop the great hall that looked so mighty and domineering—pity that Charles King’s soul had already returned to the heavens.

…

If not for the snake bracelet in his hand, Henry Brooks would have doubted whether everything that had happened was just a hallucination.

“The snake bracelet is bestowed by the divine temple for use by the Heavenly Martial Divine Guards. The ritual is very simple…” Earl Lefton’s voice came through.

Henry Brooks sensed that Earl Lefton was already at the end of his rope, and there was no need to toy with a small fry like him. So, following the method he was taught, he slipped the snake bracelet onto his left wrist. Instantly, the two heads bit together, tightly coiling around his wrist.

Next, Henry Brooks pressed his index finger against the snake’s fangs and pushed hard. With a slight prick, the snake’s fangs, just like the Canglong Black Cauldron, began to absorb the blood from his body.