Chapter 3
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Chapter 3: The Grand Method of the Will-Sword Form
Six moons had waned and waxed since Fengyun Wuji ventured into the somber depths of the underground passage. As he ducked beneath the hallowed threshold of the sanctuary and once again beheld the light of day, a sense of temporal dislocation enveloped him.
“I had anticipated a full year’s toil before your emergence. Your swift appearance has surprised me,” remarked the attendant, standing with his back to Fengyun Wuji, his tone detached.
“Have you settled on the martial path you wish to tread?”
Fengyun Wuji gazed upon the brooding heavens, where a perpetual shroud of dark clouds cast an immense pall over the land, as if the earth itself was cloaked in gloom. He strode past the attendant, his voice neutral, “Indeed,” and then he vanished from sight.
The plaza outside the sanctuary was akin to an endless plain. Constructed of countless cerulean slabs, each was matched by the presence of a disciple. Yet, daily, some would rise from their meditation and descend the mountain, while others would ascend, taking their place upon the stones.
After a half-day’s wait, Fengyun Wuji discovered an unclaimed slab beneath a towering banyan tree, its height reaching dozens of fathoms. He seated himself there.
On the adjacent slab, four practitioners sat in deep contemplation, so engrossed in their self-cultivation that they paid no heed to Fengyun Wuji’s arrival.
The Spirit Will-Sword Form, at its first celestial tier, is divided into three stages: Refutation Sword, Control Sword, and Command Sword. To Fengyun, these were once mere legends of swordsmanship, yet here, in the doctrine of the Spirit Will-Sword Form, they represent only the most rudimentary level.
In the ancient eras, the mastery of any martial secret to its pinnacle could shake the heavens and weep for the spirits, an awe that no technique could match, not even the ‘Destruction Demon Heart Sutra’ he once created.
Famed for his swordsmanship and martial enlightenment, the Refutation, Control, and Command forms, though abstruse, held some semblance of understanding for him. The greatest challenge lay in the fact that the vital energy within him, once formidable in his old world, was here utterly inadequate. The aura unconsciously emitted by the four cultivators around him was so potent that it overwhelmed him; one seemed to wield an extremely Yin force, chilling him to the bone.
In the secular world, the Refutation, Control, and Command swords are the ultimate techniques, yet here, after mastering the Spirit Will-Sword Form’s heart method, Fengyun Wuji perceived that at least three thousand individuals bore the art of swordsmanship, with several having already achieved mastery over the Control Sword.
The plaza’s confines did not permit the expansive movements of cultivation, thus the sole method of practice was through mental dedication.
The Refutation Sword, a pure skill of swordsmanship. The character ‘Refutation’ suggests swiftness with the ‘horse’ radical and duality with the ‘double swords’ radical, indicating a technique where two swords repel and strike each other, altering the path of the sword. This is the most fundamental martial art for cultivating advanced swordsmanship.
With eyes focused on the nose, and the nose on the heart, he sat cross-legged, entering a state of tranquility, undisturbed like an ancient well. Even with Fengyun Wuji’s talent, this most basic of sword skills consumed a month of meditation. Upon awakening from his reverie, a half-inch blade of light radiated from his eyes. His left hand executed the sword skills from his past, while his right performed the Refutation Sword, practicing a dual-wielding combat style. The outcome was clear: the Refutation Sword technique, ranked as the ultimate in the secular world, naturally had its merits. The slightest collision of the two swords could alter their trajectory, and under such a versatile Refutation Sword technique, even the most flawless sword moves would reveal vulnerabilities, leading to a decisive strike.
After completing the first layer of the heart method, Fengyun Wuji was astonished to find that the aura he had sensed from others was less than one-thousandth of their actual strength. Among the tens of thousands of people in the field, more than ten thousand were as lifeless to his senses as the dead.
Fengyun Wuji understood that to achieve the ability to conceal one’s aura as the attendants did, one must possess an extremely high level of skill, and naturally, their martial arts would not be lacking. Comparing himself to them, even after completing the first layer of the heart method, Fengyun Wuji was still the weakest, far from any of the others. Although he knew this was a natural phenomenon for new ascensions, he was still somewhat dissatisfied, which further fueled his motivation to advance.
The second layer of the heart method, the Control Sword. The Control Sword technique, also known as ‘Sword Control by Qi,’ is a legendary Sword Immortal technique that allows one to defeat enemies from afar. This is not merely a legend, as Fengyun Wuji had already come into contact with this sword technique. The character ‘Control’ signifies swift flight with the ‘horse’ radical and the use of qi with the additional stroke on the ‘x’ radical, indicating that one sword is now replaced by qi, using qi to change the trajectory of the sword.
The practice of the Control Sword technique demands a very strict and substantial internal power, and it is extremely consuming. Therefore, to practice the Control Sword technique, one must first possess formidable internal strength. Unfortunately, the heart method of the Spirit Will-Sword Form does not include a formula for enhancing internal power, as if the founder assumed that those who practice this set of heart methods are already strong martial artists with a certain level of cultivation.
Fengyun Wuji, with his extraordinary talent, was born with the ability to remember everything he sees. In the underground passage of the sanctuary, there were as many as 100,000 martial arts secrets engraved, and even with his mental strength, it was impossible to remember them all. Therefore, he selectively memorized those that revealed a powerful aura in their writing. Roughly estimated, there were several thousand, which was almost his limit. The stronger the technique, the greater the burden on the mind, and the more there were, the more it consumed mental energy.
After much consideration, Fengyun Wuji ultimately chose the most powerful ‘Nine Turns of Life and Death Mysterious Skill.’
The Nine Turns of Life and Death Mysterious Skill has very strict cultivation conditions, requiring the practitioner to go through nine life-and-death trials. Each time, the martial arts are doubled, and so on. However, practicing this skill requires the practitioner to destroy all their previous cultivation and only practice this martial art, which is intolerable for some strong individuals who have reached a certain level of cultivation. But for Fengyun Wuji, although his internal power was profound, this depth was only relative to the world before his ascension. Here, anyone could kill him as easily as crushing an ant, so he was more at ease.
The first step in practicing the Nine Turns of Life and Death Mysterious Skill is to disperse one’s power, to sever all the seven meridians and eight veins, allowing the internal energy to dissipate completely. After the first step of the heart method, there is a message from the creator: This step is extremely dangerous, with a survival rate of six out of ten, and should not be practiced unless one has a firm will.
Dispersing power is not an easy task; severing all the seven meridians and eight veins almost makes one a disabled person, let alone practicing martial arts. Anyone with a little martial arts common sense would not believe in this set of formulas. Over billions of years, the number of people who have practiced this set of formulas would not exceed a few dozen. Most people, upon seeing the first step of this skill, or even before the first layer of the heart method, would immediately retreat. But Fengyun Wuji still chose this set of skills. According to his understanding, the more demanding and peculiar the conditions for practice, the more astonishing the power of this kind of skill would be once mastered.
Ah! Fengyun Wuji roared in extreme pain, his voice shaking the heavens, echoing in the square, with thousands of blood threads seeping out of his pores, even his eyes, nose, and ears were oozing blood. This extreme pain, even he, who considered himself a tough man, could not bear. In just a moment, a pool of blood had accumulated under him.
Once all the internal energy in the body was exhausted, Fengyun Wuji endured the heart-wrenching pain and began to practice the first turn of the Nine Turns of Life and Death Mysterious Skill. The first turn of the heart method, life and death are determined by fate. This is a very profound internal skill; as soon as he recited this set of formulas in his heart, the pain on his body was greatly reduced. Soon, the magic of the first turn of the heart method was manifested. The broken meridians and veins seemed to be injected with vitality, and new buds grew out at the broken ends, entwining together, and soon a broken meridian was connected. The process of connection was still very painful. Until this moment, Fengyun Wuji understood why the Nine Turns of Life and Death Mysterious Skill was described by its creator as having very demanding conditions, yet not detailed. Just this process, which is equivalent to building the foundation, is unbearable for ordinary people, and this pain is nothing compared to the later cultivation process.
Another month of silent meditation, without speaking or moving. During this month, the seven meridians and eight veins in his body were finally connected, and by the time the last meridian was connected, a weak but extremely pure stream of true qi had miraculously appeared in his body.
The more pure the true qi, the greater its power, which is almost common sense for martial artists.
The first turn of the heart method, life and death are determined by fate, can be considered as practiced, and what needs to be done later is only to increase the purity and quantity of the true qi in the body. After the first turn of the heart method, there is another passage of text, which seems to be the heart method after the completion of the foundation. Fengyun Wuji did not hesitate to run this set of heart methods in the body. However, to his surprise, after running this set of heart methods, the originally agile true qi in the body suddenly became stagnant, and the running speed dropped to one-thousandth of the original. A breath of qi condensed in his chest, almost suffocating him.
As a true martial artist, having a firm will is his nature. Fengyun Wuji is such a martial artist. He has been persistently promoting the circulation of this set of heart methods, and when the true qi in the body runs a week according to this set of heart methods, Fengyun Wuji only felt a shock throughout the body, and then all the pores of the body were greatly opened, and the huge amount of elemental qi between heaven and earth rushed into the body from the pores. Fengyun Wuji was overjoyed and imported all these elemental qi into the body, and ran according to that set of heart methods.
However, Fengyun Wuji did not know that because of him, a huge whirlwind appeared on the square of the sacred hall, and there was a trend of getting bigger and bigger.
The martial artists around Fengyun Wuji were awakened by the huge noise on the side, and they opened their eyes one after another, looking at the whirlwind formed by the elemental qi between heaven and earth, and a group of people entered the body of the boy on the side. As the range of the whirlwind expanded, even some martial artists with high cultivation were awakened, because they found that the elemental qi outside the body was being sucked away by a black hole-like whirlpool. More and more people stood up on the square, and there were less than three thousand people who were still sitting.
On the square, the martial artists were all surprised to look at the boy in the center of the whirlwind. Through the breath induction, they clearly felt that this boy’s martial arts cultivation was not high, and the only reason was that the skill of this person was so powerful.
Finally, even the attendants at the door of the sacred hall were awakened, and they all got up and rushed to the center of the whirlwind…
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