Nameless Incantation

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhou Yi was preparing to leave, regretful that he had failed to learn any secret art.

"I'm about to die!" Wei Chang suddenly said.

There were still a dozen or so days until his execution.

"Safe travels, hero. Before you go, I'll definitely find you a bottle of century-old vintage!"

Zhou Yi said slowly, "This is all I can do."

After more than half a month of delivering wine, Zhou Yi and Wei Chang had grown much closer. He knew Wei Chang had been continuously circulating his power to purge the poison, but the deadly toxin fed to him by the Brocade Guard clung like gangrene to the bone. In the end, all his efforts had been futile.

"This is already enough!"

Wei Chang said, "Wei never owes anyone a favor. If I can escape, I'll repay your wine a hundredfold. But with my execution imminent, I can only teach you martial arts to settle the debt."

Zhou Yi did not put on false modesty. He cupped his hands and said, "Please instruct me, hero!"

"Wei came from humble origins, no more than a country hunter in my youth. I only began practicing martial arts at fifteen. By twenty, I roamed unrivaled through one region; by thirty, I had scarcely any rivals in Yu Province. Everyone said the Flying Rainbow Swordsman possessed extraordinary talent, but that was not so!"

Wei Chang said, "The true reason was that while hunting, Wei chanced upon a Cave Estate left behind by an ancient predecessor and obtained a Nameless Incantation."

Delight flashed in Zhou Yi's eyes. Secretly, he guessed it was some peerless cultivation art.

"This incantation is quite mysterious. After Wei married and established his household, I tried passing it on to my children, yet not one could cultivate it. Later, I passed it to my clansmen, with the same result!"

Wei Chang said, "Today, I'll pass this incantation to you. If you cannot sense its mysteries, I'll teach you another cultivation art."

"Thank you, hero!"

Zhou Yi said, "Even if I cannot cultivate it, should I meet one of your descendants in the future, I will pass this incantation on to them."

"Hmph! You crafty little fellow. Wei disdains using schemes to harm others."

Though Wei Chang said so, he still felt comforted. He had originally intended to teach Zhou Yi an ordinary martial art, but upon hearing those words, he changed his mind and chose a superior cultivation art.

"Listen carefully!"

"Heaven and Earth give birth to yin and yang, transforming all things..."

The Nameless Incantation contained just over three hundred characters in total. Zhou Yi memorized it after listening carefully a few times. After reciting it twice to Wei Chang without a single mistake, he immediately sat cross-legged in meditation within the cell.

"...Let the heart be tranquil and natural, the breath slow and even; gather the divine light, and reach the heart of Heaven..."

Following the guidance of the Nameless Incantation, Zhou Yi calmed himself and sought to comprehend Heaven and Earth. Yet there was no response whatsoever. He could not sense the clear, ethereal qi Wei Chang had described.

Less than half an hour passed before Zhou Yi's legs, folded beneath him, began to ache. He could only rise and stretch.

Seeing Zhou Yi's expression, Wei Chang naturally knew the result. "No need to lose heart. Of Wei's hundreds of clansmen, none managed to cultivate it either."

What discouraged Zhou Yi was not the failure of the cultivation art, but another suspicion lurking in his heart.

"Hero, have you ever investigated the origins of the Nameless Incantation?"

"As for the origins of that Cave Estate, I found no trace of anything. But..."

Wei Chang hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps it was connected to the immortals of legend. Yet tales of cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao are vague and insubstantial. After investigating for several years, Wei gave up."

"The Path of Immortality!"

Zhou Yi murmured to himself. He knew for certain that immortals existed in this world.

The Nameless Incantation cultivated by sensing the clear, ethereal qi between Heaven and Earth. The martial cultivation arts sold on the market—body tempering, inner qi, and the like—began from the human body itself.

Such utterly different methods of cultivation were, nine times out of ten, an immortal cultivation art.

By that reasoning, cultivating immortality might require some kind of talent, such as innate physique, spiritual roots, spiritual veins, or something similar.

Conversely, those who could not cultivate immortal arts simply lacked the talent to cultivate immortality!

"..."

Zhou Yi shrugged helplessly. Sure enough, where there was gain in this world, there was loss. He felt somewhat disheartened, but he was not reduced to utter despair.

The Longevity Dao Fruit granted an endless lifespan.

That represented limitless hope. Since immortal cultivation arts required special talent, then he would create a cultivation art that required no talent.

The Great Dao numbered fifty, Heaven derived forty-nine; all things possessed a thread of life!

"Besides, the Nameless Incantation might not necessarily be an immortal cultivation art. Perhaps it is some martial secret art requiring a special physique."

Zhou Yi was not one to wallow in self-pity. In an instant, his spirits rose again. "Hero, I have no affinity with the Nameless Incantation. I must ask you to teach me an ordinary cultivation art."

Wei Chang asked, "Martial cultivation is divided into body tempering and inner qi. Which do you wish to learn?"

Zhou Yi answered without hesitation, "An inner qi cultivation art!"

Wei Chang said, "Young man, do not be greedy. Do you know why inner qi cultivation arts are so rare?"

Zhou Yi guessed, "Because they are exceedingly precious?"

"They are not precious."

Wei Chang shook his head. "External body-tempering methods have low requirements for talent and progress quickly. Temper the skin and flesh for three to five years, and you become a third-rate expert. Refine the tendons and bones for seven or eight years, and you become a second-rate expert."

"If your talent is not too poor, after twenty or thirty years of body tempering, you can reach the first-rate realm of organ refinement!"

"In comparison, cultivating inner qi places high demands on aptitude and comprehension. An ordinary person may meditate for twenty or thirty years, only to possess martial strength roughly equal to the skin-and-flesh realm."

"Fifty years of inner qi can reach second-rate. A hundred years can reach first-rate. Only two hundred years of cultivation can match the strength of marrow refinement!"

"Two hundred years? Who could live for two hundred years?"

Zhou Yi was stunned. He had thought inner qi cultivation arts were hard to come by because they were precious. It turned out they were simply too much of a white elephant.

"That is for ordinary people! Those disciples of great sects possess exceptional talent. From childhood, they nourish their bodies with medicinal baths and cleanse their tendons and bones with true qi. Their inner qi cultivation progresses three to five times faster than that of ordinary people."

Wei Chang said, "Add to that the profundity of their cultivation arts and the various pills they consume, and after bitter cultivation for merely twenty or thirty years, they can attain two hundred years of cultivation!"

"Body tempering has low requirements for aptitude and its strength rises quickly, so why go through the trouble of cultivating true qi?"

Doubt arose in Zhou Yi's heart. He did not care if it took several hundred years, but disciples of great sects expended tremendous resources to cultivate inner qi to completion. There had to be a reason.

"Both body tempering and inner qi belong to the acquired realm. Above them stands the Innate Grandmaster. Cultivating inner qi makes breaking through to Innate far easier than relying on horizontal training and body tempering!"

Wei Chang pondered briefly, then said, "Wei once attended a martial alliance gathering and listened to an Innate Grandmaster expound on martial arts. Some of the essentials of cultivation he spoke of bore some resemblance to the Nameless Incantation."

Zhou Yi's thoughts stirred. "Please teach me an inner qi cultivation art, hero!"

"You have decided?"

Wei Chang reminded him, "Wei will teach only one. It will be enough to repay the favor of your wine deliveries!"

Zhou Yi nodded. "A man must always have dreams. What if I manage to break through and become an Innate Grandmaster?"

"Innate Grandmaster... If one day you truly break through to Innate, please go to the northern frontier and look after my wife and children."

Wei Chang suddenly thought of his family, exiled to that bitterly cold land. "Offer them Wei's apology. I was the one who dragged them down!"

Zhou Yi solemnly said, "I will not fail your trust!"

"The inner qi cultivation art Wei practices is called the Return to Origin Skill. Its nature is upright, balanced, and peaceful. It is a true transmission of the Qingcheng Daoist Sect..."

Wei Chang recited the Origin Returning Art word by word, sentence by sentence. The complete art was several times longer than the Nameless Incantation.

It contained more than two thousand characters. Zhou Yi spent a full hour reciting it silently before committing it to memory.

Zhou Yi asked, "Hero, can body tempering and inner qi be cultivated together?"

Body tempering could strengthen the tendons, bones, and internal organs. Once mastered, one would possess muscles of steel and bones of iron, difficult for blades and weapons to injure. Internally refining true qi could nourish the organs; after falling ill or being poisoned, one could circulate qi to treat illness and purge toxins.

If he cultivated both the inner and outer paths to great completion, Zhou Yi would have no worries for his life in the mortal world!

Body tempering could effectively reduce injuries from external forces, while true qi could nourish the five viscera and six bowels, preventing illness. If both the outer and inner paths were cultivated to great completion, he would have no worries for his life in the mortal world.

"Yes! Wei cultivates both inner and outer paths. I cultivate inner qi as a secondary practice to nourish my organs, which can hasten body tempering. Most experts in the martial world do the same!"

Wei Chang reminded him, "Human strength eventually runs dry. When one grows old and frail, martial cultivation not only ceases to advance but declines instead. So even when cultivating both, you must decide which is primary and which is secondary."

"Thank you for your guidance, hero!"

Zhou Yi cupped his hands in thanks. He possessed the Longevity Dao Fruit. Even if cultivating both inner and outer paths was slower, after several hundred years of cultivation, he would probably be able to slap an Innate Grandmaster to death!