Back in his room, Duàn Yì shut the door tight. Without even consulting the sword manual or its mental cultivation method from his memories, he kicked off his shoes and lay down on the bed.
Holding the two secret manuals in both hands, he immersed his mind within the Longevity Lock at his neck. In a daze, he had already arrived inside the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts.
With a sweep of his thoughts, Duàn Yì quickly found the two newly generated manuals in the tower. Taking them out and examining them, he found that one was the sword manual for Songshan Swordplay, while the other contained the mental cultivation method for Ice True Qi. He could not help marveling at the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts' vast divine abilities.
"Ice True Qi will be the focus of my cultivation and study from now on. I might as well save it for last and first see what mysteries this Songshan Swordplay holds."
Holding the two manuals, Duàn Yì left the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts and sat cross-legged on the ground before its gates. He opened the sword manual. With the boost from his peerless comprehension, he retained everything at a glance, as though aided by the gods. Before long, he had memorized the entire sword manual and gained a general understanding of it.
Taken as a whole, this sword manual could be divided into two sections, each building upon the last.
The first section, recorded at the beginning, was not the true inherited Songshan Swordplay, but basic sword arts. It included thrusting, chopping, pointing, sweeping upward, lifting, snapping, intercepting, slashing, and other sword techniques—moves that every swordsman had to learn and master.
The countless sword arts and endless paths of the sword that followed were all derived and transformed from these foundations. The more solid and proficient one's basic sword arts were, the more beneficial they would be to one's comprehension and cultivation of other sword arts.
Among the great swordsmanship families and powerful sects renowned for their swordplay, their descendants and disciples would likewise begin with basic sword arts if they wished to learn the sword. No one would teach profound Sword Paths right from the start.
Duàn Yì could indeed skip this section and directly cultivate the Songshan Swordplay that followed. But with an unstable foundation, he might make enormous progress in the short term, only to inevitably hit a bottleneck once he reached a certain stage. That would be a shortsighted, mouse-eyed course of action, not worth taking.
The second part of the sword manual then entered the main subject: the Outer Nine Paths and Inner Eight Paths, seventeen paths of Songshan Swordplay in total, encompassing long and short, swift and slow. It was truly broad and profound.
As Duàn Yì studied it closely, he discovered that Songshan Swordplay was actually a general term. Split apart, these seventeen paths were seventeen sword arts with different emphases and styles. Everything learned by Songshan Sect disciples was contained within them.
The Outer Nine Paths were simply Sword Techniques. Even those who did not understand internal cultivation could perform them, though their power would be greatly reduced. The Inner Eight Paths, meanwhile, were methods of Controlling Sword with Qi. Qi followed the sword's course, and only those who had achieved success in internal cultivation could practice them.
These Inner Eight Paths could also be called the essence of Songshan Sect swordplay: majestic and domineering, with an austere and imposing bearing.
Furthermore, these seventeen paths of swordplay were not separate and independent. They could connect and transform into one another. If one could master them all and then condense and elevate them, they would become a complex and formidable sword art. Though it could not compare to the likes of the Nine Swords of Dugu, it was still a treasure among superior arts.
Zuo Lengchan had once achieved this very feat. His seventeen paths of swordplay had merged into a seamless whole, solemn and magnificent, like ten thousand galloping troops charging forward, unstoppable in their momentum.
Even Yue Buqun had been at a disadvantage and in dire peril before using Bixie Swordplay, which showed just how powerful this sword art was.
More importantly, Songshan Swordplay alone was enough to serve as the foundation of an entire sect. He simply did not know whether Bái Xī Wén had passed this sword art on to the disciples of the Golden Cauldron Sect.
The more he studied it, the more unbearable the itch in his heart became. With a thought, Duàn Yì formed a longsword in his hand with his mind. Its blade gleamed like snow, and its texture felt utterly real.
This was also a little trick Duàn Yì had explored before. It did not truly exist, but was formed by the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts according to his will, just like the physical body he possessed here.
Rising to his feet, he began practicing the sword arts recorded in the manual. He started with one of the slow sword forms among the Outer Nine Paths, moving from slow to fast, then from the Outer Nine Paths to the Inner Eight Paths.
By the time he had gone through them all once, his entire body had turned weak and sore. Some sword arts also required special mental cultivation methods and True Qi to activate them, so he could only imitate their forms, with none of their power.
"Sure enough, this is unlike the uninhibited smoothness I felt when learning Minor Capturing Hand. There are many more restrictions. Clearly, this sword art is extraordinarily profound and complex, far beyond the reach of those basic martial arts.
"But the fact that I can perform the entire set after just one run-through also shows that beneath my transcendent comprehension, even Songshan Swordplay is only a paper tiger. Sooner or later, I'll master it."
Duàn Yì had not truly intended to practice it just yet. He merely wanted to experience it once in advance. If he truly wished to train, he still had to begin with the basic sword arts recorded in the manual. With the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts' support, he would surely forge a certain foundation quickly and gain the qualifications to learn Songshan Swordplay.
With another thought, the longsword in his hand vanished. Duàn Yì took several deep breaths, calming his turbulent mind and restless blood, then took out the mental cultivation method for Ice True Qi. This was the true foundation of his strength.
The cultivation method recorded within was extremely detailed. Like the sword manual, it was divided into several levels. It included how to sense Qi, how to turn the insubstantial into substance, how to nourish Internal Energy, how to circulate it and open the meridians, how to run the heavenly circuit, and more.
It simply contained no section on Essence Condensing, nor any cultivation methods beyond True Essence. He did not know whether all cultivation methods were like this, or whether Ice True Qi could only be cultivated this far.
As he read, Duàn Yì discovered a crucial point: the internal cultivation nourished by this method was not one of utter yin and extreme cold. On the contrary, it was remarkably open, upright, and balanced.
Only after cultivating Internal Energy did one need to use a special mental method to draw cold yin energy into the body and combine it with that Internal Energy, thereby transforming the quality of one's internal cultivation. Only then could it truly be considered Ice True Qi.
In other words, although the first wisp of True Qi Duàn Yì cultivated would be pure, it would possess none of the qualities of cold, heat, hardness, or softness. Only after he used the special mental method to absorb cold energy into his body and merge it with that wisp of True Qi could he be said to have entered the gates of Ice True Qi.
After entering the gates, the mental cultivation method would not be complete. One needed to pass through several stages before truly cultivating Ice True Qi to Great Accomplishment, so there was no need to elaborate on them one by one here.
After the mental cultivation method came the principles behind the use of the Ice Divine Palm.
Though it was called a palm art, it was actually a method for utilizing and releasing Ice True Qi through palm techniques.
There were three moves in total: Chilling Qi Presses Forth, Autumn Frost Spans the Heavens, and Snow Cellar, Icebound Sky. Each had its own profundities, and their power increased in turn. Used in conjunction with Ice True Qi, they possessed formidable might.
Duàn Yì carefully pondered the Qi Sensing section of the Ice True Qi cultivation method. Following its instructions, he sat cross-legged with his palms pressed together before his chest. His breathing became faint, almost nonexistent. After twelve full breaths, his posture changed, and his breathing turned short and forceful once more...
This Qi Sensing method consisted of six sets of movements. They were performed in alternating rotation, coordinated with breathing and visualization of Qi sensation forming within the body. So long as one practiced diligently, one would eventually develop a sense of Qi.
According to the manual, even someone with poor aptitude could develop a sense of Qi after one or two years of training. What came afterward was another matter.
But Duàn Yì differed from ordinary martial artists. His innate talent was exceptional, and he was within the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts, with the boost of peerless comprehension active. After completing the movements three times, he already felt his body grow faintly hot, as though he were soaking in warm water.
By the twelfth round, a warm current had already formed within his dantian. Yet it was extremely insubstantial and indistinct. Clearly, his sense of Qi had formed, but it had yet to turn from illusion into substance and truly generate True Qi.
According to the Ice True Qi cultivation method, the next step was to switch to the next level of cultivation principles and persist in training, refining essence into Qi. Only then could he genuinely nurture True Qi.
The faint yet discernible sensation of True Qi within his dantian was firmly etched into Duàn Yì's heart. With a thought, he returned directly from the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts to his physical body in reality.
Duàn Yì abruptly sat up from the bed, his face solemn. He set the cultivation method and sword manual in his hands aside, then closed his eyes and sat cross-legged to sense the changes within his body. Unfortunately, it was completely empty within him, with no sense of Qi having formed.
Within the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts, the cultivation of stances could not be fed back into his physical body. Duàn Yì had already verified this. It merely shortened the time needed for cultivation and achievement through his memories and experiences, granting him many conveniences.
But True Qi was different, existing somewhere between reality and illusion. That was why he had harbored a trace of hope.
Now that the illusion had shattered, he was not disappointed.
After composing himself, Duàn Yì began performing the movements according to the Ice True Qi cultivation method. He breathed in and out, visualized his dantian, then continued into the next set of movements and breathing patterns.
He continued like this until the sky outside darkened. At last, his physical body in reality experienced the exact same sensation he had felt within the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts.
A warm current formed within his dantian, yet it was so illusory and indistinct. This was precisely Qi Sensing arising on its own—the sign of stepping through the gates of internal cultivation.
In a single day, he had learned the meridians and acupoints of the human body, read and comprehended three profound martial arts, and successfully developed a sense of Qi through internal cultivation, with energy still left to continue practicing.
Even if such a performance could not be called unprecedented and unmatched through the ages, towering over his contemporaries, it was more than worthy of the title of prodigy.
One had to know that what he accomplished in this single day was something some Golden Cauldron Sect disciples had failed to achieve even after an entire year.
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