After breakfast, Bái Xī Wén took Duàn Yì to his study and handed him a diagram of the human body's meridians and acupoints, traced in black ink with red lines. He said,
"Qi training begins at the dantian and gradually advances through the circulation of the meridians. Therefore, you must memorize this meridian and acupoint diagram until you know it by heart. You must not be careless, or if your qi takes a wrong path in the future, at best you will suffer Qi Deviation and lose all your cultivation; at worst, you will die on the spot.
"The meridians are divided into the regular and extraordinary pathways. There are twelve regular meridians—the three yin meridians of the hands and feet, and the three yang meridians of the hands and feet. They are the main channels through which the body's qi and blood, as well as future internal energy, flow.
"The extraordinary meridians, meanwhile, number eight: the Governing Vessel, Conception Vessel, Penetrating Vessel, Belt Vessel, Yin Heel Vessel, Yang Heel Vessel, Yin Linking Vessel, and Yang Linking Vessel.
"Within these meridians are countless acupoints scattered throughout the human body. The one hundred and eight acupoints marked above are the most crucial of all. You must commit them to memory properly."
Hearing this, Duàn Yì solemnly accepted the meridian and acupoint diagram. Though he yearned for martial arts such as Ice True Qi, he also understood that haste made waste.
Bái Xī Wén waved a hand and sent him away. By his estimation, one would memorize the diagram, then forget it, then repeat the process several times before truly mastering the distribution of the meridians and acupoints. Even if Duàn Yì was rather clever, it would still take at least three to five days—perhaps even longer.
Yet, to his surprise, less than two hours later, Duàn Yì stepped into his study once more. After greeting him with a bow, he said that he had memorized every meridian and acupoint on the diagram without a single mistake.
"What? Are you joking with me? Duàn Yì, I know you are eager to practice martial arts, but you cannot gamble with something as important as your own life."
Bái Xī Wén looked at the serious-faced Duàn Yì, who was spouting such absurd claims, and felt rather irritated. Back then, despite his own sharp talent and exceptional comprehension, it had taken him a full two days to memorize it all. Could Duàn Yì truly be even more formidable than him?
"Whether I am talking nonsense or not, won't Brother Bái know after testing me?"
A faint smile rested on Duàn Yì's lips, while confidence shone brightly in his eyes, lending even more color to his handsome face.
After taking the human meridian diagram back to his room, he had not immediately begun memorizing it. Instead, he first sent his consciousness into the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts, hoping to use its peculiar nature to save himself some time.
Strictly speaking, this human meridian diagram could also be considered foundational martial knowledge, so it was very likely that the tower contained records of it.
The result was just as he had expected. On the third floor of the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts, a bookshelf indeed displayed a secret manual titled Comprehensive Guide to Human Meridians and Acupoints.
With the boost from his peerless comprehension, Duàn Yì had committed it to memory beyond all doubt in a mere two hours. When he returned to reality, that portion of his mental memory remained, allowing him to turn the impossible into possible.
Another reason was that the Minor Capturing Hand Duàn Yì had once practiced also involved meridians and acupoints, saving him no small amount of time.
"Good. Then point out where my Fengchi acupoint is."
The Fengchi acupoint was located behind the head, on either side of the large tendons and level with the earlobes. It was exceedingly hidden and difficult to remember, making it perfect for a test.
Bái Xī Wén walked up to Duàn Yì to test him. Then Duàn Yì reached out and tapped his Fengchi acupoint with a finger, perfectly accurate, which surprised him greatly.
After Fengchi, Bái Xī Wén tested Duàn Yì on more than twenty other acupoints in succession. Every one of them was tucked away in obscure, difficult-to-find locations, far less conspicuous and memorable than points such as Baihui or Taiyang.
Yet Duàn Yì did not disappoint him, handing in a perfect score.
Since he had already memorized the acupoints, the meridians formed by linking those acupoints naturally posed no difficulty for him either.
Bái Xī Wén nodded to himself. Though he had not even begun teaching Duàn Yì, he could not help feeling the pride of a renowned teacher producing an outstanding disciple.
Of course, a faint sourness also rose in his heart.
This brat was not only so handsome, but so clever as well. Had all the good fortune under heaven been claimed by him alone? Compared to him, one could simply die of envy.
"Good. Since you have memorized it all, I will now teach you the method of internal cultivation. Sit down first. I will help you circulate a heavenly cycle so that you can remember the sensation of qi."
Following Bái Xī Wén's instructions, Duàn Yì sat cross-legged on the floor, his hands resting on his knees and his eyes tightly shut.
When his back was pressed by a warm, powerful palm, he felt an intensely blazing current of qi flow from it. It gathered at the lower dantian in his abdomen, then coursed through his meridians.
After completing one heavenly cycle within Duàn Yì's body, that stream of true qi slowly dispersed, leaving Duàn Yì feeling as though he had awoken from a dream.
That intensely blazing, nimble current was Bái Xī Wén's true qi? It was so vast, so yang and unyielding, capable of tearing my body apart with ease. How terrifying.
Other than recalling the route that the true qi had traveled through his body, Duàn Yì also speculated about its origin. Was it true qi cultivated from the Invincible Treasure Codex, or from some other internal art?
"Duàn Yì, do you remember that feeling?"
"I used my own cultivation to help you comprehend the sensation of qi in advance. Once I teach you the mental method of Ice True Qi, you should be able to get started in as little as three days or as long as half a month. That means reaching the first stage of internal cultivation: the Qi Sensing realm."
Duàn Yì rose to his feet. Besides savoring the wondrous sensation of true qi flowing through his body, he was also curious about the mysteries of internal cultivation. Yuè Jiāo Nú had only given him a rough introduction before and had not explained it in detail, so he asked about it.
"Qi Sensing, reversed, is the sensation of qi. This stage is extremely easy to pass. Unless one's talent is exceptionally poor, even an ordinary person will eventually develop a sensation of qi with the aid of a martial arts mental method, thereby gaining the foundation to cultivate internal energy.
"Once you have a sensation of qi, you must nourish it until it fully transforms from illusion into substance, growing and strengthening. That is the second level of internal cultivation: Qi Nourishing.
"At this stage, true qi can already begin to display its power. It can improve your eyesight, hearing, sense of touch, and sense of smell; increase your strength; and strengthen your physique. Through special methods, you can also perform other martial arts, such as fist techniques, palm techniques, sword techniques, and lightness skills. Their power will be far beyond what ordinary people can contend with.
"Different people nourish different kinds of true qi, so the power they display naturally differs as well. In this regard, your Ice True Qi holds every advantage from the start.
"The third stage is Meridian Unblocking. As the name implies, it means using the true qi you have nourished within your body to open your meridians. There are twelve regular meridians in the human body, and only after opening every one of them can it be called Great Accomplishment.
"Only after opening the twelve regular meridians can you command your true qi through a heavenly cycle and comprehensively enhance every aspect of your body.
"However, this stage consumes the most time. The speed at which one opens the meridians varies from person to person. Those whose meridians are narrow or blocked will naturally be slower. Those who cultivate crude and mediocre internal arts will be slow as well. There are many who, even after decades, still linger within Meridian Unblocking.
"Some people, on the other hand, are born with all their meridians open. They need not undergo Meridian Unblocking at all. Once they successfully nourish their true qi, they can ascend to the heavens in a single step, rapidly advancing their internal cultivation as they circulate a heavenly cycle. They are truly favored children of heaven."
"As for Essence Condensing, it comes after Meridian Unblocking, when true qi has accumulated to a certain extent and can advance no further. One must then seek a qualitative breakthrough, attempting to compress and condense it into true essence.
"You may call Essence Condensing a realm of true qi, or the first stage of true essence. Neither would be wrong; benevolent people see benevolence, wise people see wisdom.
"As for what comes after true essence, you cannot reach it for the time being, so there is no use telling you.
"And if you are truly clever enough, you should understand that whether it is true qi, true essence, or even a True Core, their essence is all the process of accumulating and nourishing true qi."
Bái Xī Wén's explanation taught Duàn Yì quite a lot. The path of internal cultivation before him now seemed completely clear—he only needed to proceed step by step.
"However, I still have a question. Brother Bái, when martial artists fight each other, does the one with higher internal cultivation always win?"
He had asked Yuè Jiāo Nú this question before, and she had denied it. Yet after learning more about internal cultivation, Duàn Yì realized that the differences between practitioners could truly be enormous, so he asked again.
Hearing this, Bái Xī Wén pointed at Duàn Yì, shook his head speechlessly, and rolled his eyes. Amused, he said,
"You, you. It is not wrong to say that your talent is extraordinary, yet you ask such a foolish question.
"People are born different, with different physiques. Even if they cultivate internal arts of the same realm, how could they possibly be judged by the same measure?
"Take you, Duàn Yì. Your meridians are naturally tough and broad. Not only can you store more true qi, but the explosive force your true qi can endure also far exceeds that of ordinary martial artists. You are practically a rare genius.
"Some people are born with narrow, fragile meridians. Even if they reach the true essence realm and possess ten or even dozens of times more internal energy than you, their ability to fight for extended periods may far surpass yours, but in an instantaneous burst, they cannot compete with you at all. Victory or defeat naturally depends on the methods each of you possesses.
"The division of internal cultivation realms is not primarily for martial artists to compare themselves against one another. Rather, it gives one's own cultivation a clear reference. You must understand which is primary and which is secondary."
When Bái Xī Wén had just circulated true qi through Duàn Yì's body, he had discovered that, beyond his strong Innate Talent and exceptional aptitude, Duàn Yì's meridians were also far from ordinary. Calling him extraordinarily gifted would be no exaggeration.
When such a person cultivated, not only would his internal energy advance far faster than an ordinary person's, but his true qi's explosive force and circulation speed would also hold immense advantages. He had simply been blessed with every advantage.
Generally speaking, however, such people were rare. Every one who appeared deserved to be called a genius.
Hearing this, Duàn Yì was secretly delighted. With such aptitude, he must have inherited Yán Fāngfēi's martial talent, said to appear only once in a century. Yuè Jiāo Nú had indeed been right.
Having inherited his father's looks and his mother's martial talent, Duàn Yì could be considered a model example of eugenics.
Bái Xī Wén was not finished yet. Seeing Duàn Yì seemingly lost in thought, he continued,
"You can think of internal cultivation as a person's strength. Strength alone is useless without skill.
"Besides strength and skill, a person's courage, decisiveness in battle, reaction speed, and other factors also determine their power.
"In short, do not ever bring up judging a person's strength by internal cultivation alone again. It will only invite ridicule.
"Alright. I will slowly teach you these things in the future, so you need not dwell on them too much.
"Now I will write down the mental method for Ice True Qi and the key formulas of the Ice Divine Palm, then give them to you together with the sword manual for Songshan Swordplay.
"After returning, you may read and study them. But if you wish to cultivate them, you must be cautious. If there is anything you do not understand, you must come ask me. Do not fear troubling me, understand?"
After speaking, Bái Xī Wén returned behind his desk and picked up his brush. In a sweeping flow, he wrote more than ten pages filled with mental methods and key formulas. If placed in the martial world, they would be considered top-grade arts, more than capable of causing a sensation and bloody strife.
As for the sword manual, it lay in a brocade box in another corner of the study. Its pages had already yellowed, presumably from Bái Xī Wén's frequent perusal.
Duàn Yì solemnly accepted the mental methods, formulas, and sword manual, his heart wild with joy. With these, the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts would finally have a place to demonstrate its worth, and it would surely allow him to grow strong in an extremely short time.
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