Early the next morning, while the sky was still dim, the village rooster began crowing. Duàn Yì turned over on the couch, muttered something, and slowly opened his bleary eyes.
Once his mind had fully cleared, he stretched lazily, looking refreshed and invigorated. It seemed he had slept well; every organ and tissue in his body had received ample rest, and he was now brimming with energy.
Touching the Longevity Lock at his neck, Duàn Yì felt reassured. He dressed, pushed open the door, and stepped outside, intending to boil some water and wash up. There, he saw that Yuè Jiāo Nú had apparently risen even earlier than he had and was practicing swordplay.
She was still dressed in black, still as lovely as ever, yet utterly different from the yielding manner she showed before him. Duàn Yì thought of one phrase: spirited and heroic.
Her eyes followed her hands, her body followed her sword. Her footwork shifted and turned, yet within that tiny space, Xiàng Yāng felt as though she were strolling through the Moon Palace. Her bearing was graceful, supple to the extreme.
That longsword nearly dazzled Duàn Yì blind. It swept back and forth, silver blossoms blooming before his eyes, yet it filled him with a hair-raising chill. There was clearly killing intent hidden within.
Clap, clap, clap. "Excellent swordplay! May I ask what this sword art of yours is called, Sister Yue? Could you teach it to me?"
This was not special effects from television, nor a description in words. This was a real martial art, something that truly existed in the world before his very eyes. Duàn Yì was instantly excited. As he applauded and praised her, he shamelessly asked for instruction.
Though Duàn Yì was making a request, he was quite certain she would be willing to teach him. Since Yuè Jiāo Nú regarded him as her Young Master, she naturally would not withhold anything from him.
Yuè Jiāo Nú stopped practicing at his words and smoothly sheathed her sword, setting the pearl flower in her hair swaying. Though she had just exercised, she was not even breathing heavily, her complexion as normal as ever.
Then she walked several steps to Duàn Yì, gave a slight bow, and said with an odd expression,
"It is not that Jiaonu wishes to keep secrets from you. This Branch-Breaking Swordplay was passed down by the Moon Worship Palace. Together with the New Moon Heart Method and Moon Palace Steps that I also learned, it is part of the direct lineage and was made for women to use."
The smile had not yet faded from Duàn Yì's face before it froze, turning unpleasant. He hurriedly asked what she meant.
Yuè Jiāo Nú smiled and told Duàn Yì to wash up and eat first, promising to explain afterward. Only then did Duàn Yì realize that she had already boiled the water, cooked the meal, and prepared everything for him.
He could not help but feel a touch of gratitude. What a good person.
Once the sky had fully brightened and the sun had risen, Duàn Yì finally learned from Yuè Jiāo Nú how the martial arts of the Moon Worship Palace differed from ordinary martial arts.
Put simply, the Moon Worship Palace had recruited only female disciples since ancient times. Its internal arts, lightness arts, and techniques all came from the same lineage, designed specifically for women and suited to the female body and its physiological characteristics.
Take the New Moon Heart Method Yuè Jiāo Nú cultivated. It was an internal martial art comprehended from the Bright Jade Skill. After cultivating it, it could nourish a woman's yin qi, moisten her skin, delay aging, and even treat menstrual pain. It was truly a blessing for women.
If a man learned it, there would be no issue in the short term, but over time, yin would inevitably flourish while yang declined.
Yuè Jiāo Nú did not say it outright, but the way she pursed her lips and secretly smiled already confirmed Duàn Yì's guess. The final result would be becoming a neither-man-nor-woman monster.
For men, it was a useless martial art that could achieve the same effect as the Sunflower Manual without even needing to be castrated.
As for Branch-Breaking Swordplay, its eighteen Sword Techniques followed the path of agility and grace. Its stances were intricate, with change as their foremost principle, suiting women's naturally lesser strength. It was meant to be paired with the Moon Palace Steps and New Moon Heart Method.
Even if Duàn Yì mastered the swordplay, without the corresponding internal art to channel his strength, it would be nothing but an empty framework. Besides, this Sword Path was soft and feminine. When a woman danced it, she would be as beautiful as a fairy among flowers. If a man used it instead, just imagining the sight was intoxicating enough.
Imagining himself wielding a sword with orchid fingers pinched together, Duàn Yì shuddered himself awake and abandoned the thought of learning swordplay. Still, he could not help feeling gloomy and anxious.
It was not that he absolutely had to learn swordplay. He was simply eager to verify the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts' function, which was why he seemed somewhat impatient.
Yuè Jiāo Nú did not know what Duàn Yì was thinking. Seeing her Young Master upset, she hurriedly consoled him,
"Besides the Moon Worship Palace's martial arts, Jiaonu also knows a family-inherited Minor Capturing Hand worth seeing. If Young Master does not disdain it, I am willing to teach you this art."
The moment Duàn Yì heard that he could learn the Minor Capturing Hand, he perked up and looked at Yuè Jiāo Nú with eager anticipation.
He was not trying to use it to cultivate peerless martial arts. He only wanted to verify his idea. Whether it was swordplay or a Capturing Hand, what difference did it make?
Yuè Jiāo Nú was equally straightforward. Right there in the courtyard, she carefully explained her Minor Capturing Hand to Duàn Yì. As she spoke, she would sometimes demonstrate a move herself. She was remarkably patient.
It had to be said that the path of martial arts was indeed broad and profound. Even a mere Minor Capturing Hand, without any internal art to support it, was surprisingly complex.
Leaving aside the mnemonics, basic moves, and combinations, it required not only methods for applying force and releasing power, but also the ability to identify the human body's joints and acupoints. Had Duàn Yì's two souls not fused and granted him an exceptional memory, he might not have been able to remember it all.
During this, Yuè Jiāo Nú also taught Duàn Yì some basic knowledge about martial arts.
For instance, internal cultivation was divided into three levels: True Qi, True Essence, and True Core. True Qi was further divided into four stages: Qi Sensing, Qi Nourishing, Meridian Unblocking, and Essence Condensing. True Essence had two levels: Inner Gang and Outer Gang. As for the realms beyond that, Yue Jiaonu did not know due to the limits of her knowledge.
Take the traitor Yuè Bì Nǔ, who was from the same generation of disciples as Duàn Yì's mother. Though the martial arts she learned were profound, her aptitude was average. Even now, her internal cultivation had only reached Great Accomplishment in Meridian Unblocking. She counted as an expert, but not a first-rate one.
Qū Dōng Liú of the Golden Cauldron Sect was different. He had reached Great Accomplishment in Essence Condensing, and his martial arts were formidable. According to Yuè Jiāo Nú, he possessed the cultivation expected of the head of a sect.
Of course, these were merely differences in the realm of internal cultivation and did not represent differences in combat ability.
The level of the martial arts one learned would also affect a martial artist's combat strength.
In this regard, Yuè Jiāo Nú likewise passed down the experiences of those who came before to Duàn Yì.
Any martial art, depending on one's level of cultivation and mastery, could be divided into three major realms and nine minor realms.
The three major realms were Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and the Extreme Realm.
The Minor Accomplishment realm was further divided into Beginner's Practice, Effortless Familiarity, and Sudden Enlightenment.
The Great Accomplishment realm was divided into Entering the Hall, Comprehending by Heart, and Perfected Skill.
The final Extreme Realm consisted of Peak of Perfection, Return to Simplicity, and Transcendent Saint.
Even an ordinary Shaolin Arhat Fist, if cultivated to the Extreme Realm, would see its power rise dramatically and might not be inferior to the Seventy-Two Peerless Skills at Great Accomplishment.
But that was simply too difficult. Even if an ordinary martial artist studied martial arts for decades, being able to cultivate one martial art to Perfected Skill was already enough to call them an expert.
Duàn Yì was deeply puzzled by this. By his understanding, these martial arts levels were equivalent to a practitioner's proficiency with the art they had learned. The higher the proficiency, the greater the power. But since it had not been quantified, how could one know what level one had reached?
For example, the boundary between Comprehending by Heart and Perfected Skill was truly vague.
And then there were Return to Simplicity and Transcendent Saint. They were practically synonyms. It was hard to say which realm was higher.
Yuè Jiāo Nú remained quite calm at Duàn Yì's question.
"Young Master truly is gifted. You thought of this so quickly.
"Actually, this classification merely helps martial artists better comprehend the martial arts they have learned and advance step by step. It is impossible to apply it universally to everyone. In fact, some seniors have raised objections to this very system.
"Young Master only needs to know that the depth of one's cultivation in a martial art affects its power."
Duàn Yì stroked his chin and pondered in secret. This system was not entirely baseless. Beginner's Practice and Effortless Familiarity were clearly distinct levels. Not only could one feel the difference oneself, outsiders could see it as well. As for the rest, that was harder to say.
Thus, one taught while the other learned, and time gradually slipped away. It was not until Duàn Yì's stomach began growling that the two realized noon had passed without their noticing.
By the calculation of his previous life, it was around two or three in the afternoon. In this world's reckoning, it was between the second and third quarter of Weishi.
Having just begun learning the Minor Capturing Hand, Duàn Yì's heart itched with impatience. He sent Yuè Jiāo Nú away once more to prepare food. Once she had left, he returned to his room, shut the door tightly, immersed his consciousness in the Longevity Lock, and entered the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts.
At this moment, one shelf on the first floor of the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts was no longer empty. In one small compartment lay an additional book.
Upon entering the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts, Duàn Yì did not need to search. Having explored the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts for an entire night, he merely swept out with his thoughts and found the book on the shelf.
He walked over, picked up the manual, and felt it. It was a little over forty pages thick, with a blue cover. The four large words "Minor Capturing Hand" were written on it in the exact same script as the plaque outside the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts. The scent of ink wafted from it, as though it had just been written.
Duàn Yì could not help bursting into laughter. Holding the manual, he felt incomparably comforted. Sure enough, his guess had been right. He only wondered what benefits it would bring him.
Opening the book, Duàn Yì studied it closely, line by line and page by page. Combined with the diagrams of moves on several pages, he seemed to gain some insight.
First, compared to Yuè Jiāo Nú's instruction, this manual was more detailed and systematic. It even separately listed the identification and characteristics of certain joints and acupoints for Duàn Yì's study. It had probably been optimized.
Furthermore, Duàn Yì's mind was clear at this moment, and his thoughts flashed like lightning. He learned things unbelievably quickly.
Many obscure and unclear points from Yuè Jiāo Nú's earlier explanations were now completely unraveled. He even developed many insights of his own, things he had never considered before.
"Awesome. This is an enlightenment buff. In this state, my comprehension is several times, even dozens of times, greater than an ordinary person's. I can learn anything quickly. My golden finger has finally arrived."
Duàn Yì was full of high spirits, feeling that with the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts in hand, the world was his.
He set down the Minor Capturing Hand manual and walked onto the bluestone path outside the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts. Then he began following his memories, swinging his arms and practicing the postures.
Consort Folding Branches, Grand Duke Waving Banner, Taking Sheep Along the Way, Wind Sweeping Fallen Leaves, Golden Silk Binding Wrist, and Reverse Grasping Plow Harrow—six moves in all, each with three forms—were practiced in turn.
The first time was clumsy and halting. The second had begun to take shape. By the third, his postures and moves were smooth and pleasing to the eye, as though he had immersed himself in them for months or even longer. He was definitely not at the level of someone who had practiced only a few times.
By Duàn Yì's estimation, his understanding of the Minor Capturing Hand had already surpassed Beginner's Practice and had at least reached Effortless Familiarity.
Yet as he continued practicing, he could also feel that this martial art required a longer period of practice and contemplation before he could grasp it on a deeper level. It could not be accomplished in a single leap.
Put simply, the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts could not let him ascend to the heavens in a single step, but it allowed him to enjoy shortcuts and the boost of peerless comprehension.
Any martial art would be quick for him to enter and quick for him to cultivate.
Estimating that the time was about right and that Yuè Jiāo Nú would soon return, Duàn Yì withdrew from the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts and returned to reality. He began considering how to use the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts most quickly and efficiently to make himself stronger.
At the same time, he stepped outside and began familiarizing his real body with the Minor Capturing Hand's moves. Knowing was easy, doing was hard—an unshakable truth. He could not be all talk and no skill.
Because he had already gained a certain depth of mastery over this martial art within the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts, his progress when practicing it again was equally astonishingly swift.
Though lacking the boost of peerless comprehension, it was not as shocking as reaching Effortless Familiarity in fewer than three repetitions. Still, with a little more practice, he would be nearly there.
At this moment, he was no longer an ordinary person with nothing but brute strength. He was a beginner who had stepped through the gates of martial arts, with a promising future ahead.
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