After testing Wang Ming that night, Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze went down the mountain the next day to hunt down Tian Boguang, instructing Wang Ming alone to practice hard before leaving.
Wang Ming was cultivating at the stone platform on the mountain path leading up to Siguo Cliff.
The Purple Haze Divine Skill begins by stating that the martial arts of the world take the cultivation of qi as the orthodox path... when one achieves small success...
It was clear this was an orthodox Daoist cultivation technique, one that strictly tested one's temperament. He also understood why they had delayed passing it on to Linghu Chong; the latter's personality was too flighty, and giving it to him would have been his ruin.
Wang Ming had changed greatly over the years, his personality becoming extremely steady and preferring stillness over movement, which fit the temperament standards of this martial art very well.
Wang Ming had initially thought this skill would be extremely difficult to practice.
Because Elder Yue had only mastered it in his forties, he thought it must be a grinding process that relied on time to wear it down.
He never expected that as soon as Wang Ming started practicing, he would master it in three days.
Wang Ming had felt extremely strange at the time, but after studying it thoroughly for a while, he understood.
Yue Buqun had taken over as leader of Mount Hua at a very young age, at which time the Primal Chaos Technique was probably only at the third or fourth level. To increase his strength, he had set aside the Primal Chaos Technique to practice the Purple Haze Manual. Although the Purple Haze True Qi was more powerful than the Primal Chaos True Qi, its cultivation speed was like a crawling turtle.
Wang Ming was different, having already brought the Primal Chaos Technique to great completion before switching to the Purple Haze Divine Skill. Many of the meridians and acupoints that the Purple Haze Divine Skill needed to clear overlapped with those of the Primal Chaos Technique and the Indestructible Vajra Body, requiring only two additional meridians to be cleared.
Wang Ming had converted all the Primal Chaos Technique internal energy he had cultivated for over a dozen years into Purple Haze True Qi. The conversion rate was three parts Primal Chaos True Qi to one part Purple Haze True Qi.
When Yue Buqun went down the mountain, he had given Wang Ming the key to the Mount Hua medicine storeroom. This time, he had permission to use the medicinal herbs at will.
With no shortage of resources over the past few days, Wang Ming relied on the converted Purple Haze True Qi, aided by the assistance of the Indestructible Vajra Body, to forcibly clear the remaining meridians. Thus, Wang Ming had successfully cultivated the Purple Haze Divine Skill at this moment.
Perhaps someone might ask, was Wang Ming invincible then?
No, successfully cultivating the Purple Haze Divine Skill only meant that Wang Ming had gained the benefits attached to the divine skill; his amount of true qi had not increased.
True qi needed to be accumulated day by day, hence the talk of decades of internal energy.
Therefore, Wang Ming was currently circulating the Purple Haze Divine Skill frantically to accumulate true qi. Fortunately, resources were abundant, otherwise it would have been troublesome.
Wang Ming gained five benefits from successfully cultivating this Purple Haze Divine Skill:
First, internal energy attributes were enhanced. When the skill was first initiated, it was as if it were there yet not, soft like floating clouds, yet the stored strength was extremely resilient, and later on it became overwhelming and unstoppable.
Second, 3D surround sound effects. Speaking in his usual tone, he could project his voice within a range of three hundred meters, and it could be heard clearly.
Third, enhanced hearing. Circulating internal energy within dozens of meters allowed him to hear others whispering.
Fourth, fusing and dissolving heterogenous true qi.
Fifth, mutual conversion between the Indestructible Vajra Body and the Purple Haze Divine Skill.
With the sun directly overhead, Wang Ming could barely stand it anymore and planned to go back to eat first before coming back.
Fortunately, Tian Boguang finally arrived at this moment.
He saw Tian Boguang carrying two jars of wine on a shoulder pole, flying rapidly along the Mount Hua mountain path.
Damn, this lightness skill is awesome! No wonder he hasn't died despite carrying the reputation of a lecher.
Wang Ming also got up and decided to head up the mountain as well. Of course, Wang Ming wanted to trail behind; he didn't want to fight Tian Boguang first and scare him off.
After walking for a while, he saw Tian Boguang moving further and further away.
Such a good lightness skill, it is destined to be mine. Haha...
He had been slightly displeased at first, but upon second thought, it was a good thing.
Wang Ming followed up to Siguo Cliff, but did not go out. He hid by the rocks nearby and watched Linghu Chong bantering with Tian Boguang over there.
Then he watched Tian Boguang and Linghu Chong fighting over there. Through observation, he found that their moves were at a similar level, and the gap mainly lay in their internal energy.
No matter how many moves were exchanged, it was useless. The height of the Five Peaks Swordplay and the gap with Tian Boguang were not much, making it fundamentally impossible to bridge the gap in internal energy.
Aside from the Nine Swords of Dugu, a martial art that stood at the ceiling of move sets, it was useless for Linghu Chong to learn all the martial arts in the cave.
Seeing Linghu Chong defeated once again, Tian Boguang found it strange that every time Linghu Chong entered the cave, his martial arts grew stronger by a fraction, so he wanted to enter the cave to take a look. Linghu Chong then bluffed that there was someone inside.
"Haha! You're still coming down the mountain with me! Right now Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze are not here. Your Mount Hua's Qing-generation experts all perished overnight back then; there shouldn't be any high-level figures left, right? Haha! Now no one can stop me."
Tian Boguang spoke arrogantly, but before he could finish laughing, a figure flashed past and shook Tian Boguang back.
Then he saw an old man with white beard and cyan robes standing at the cave entrance, looking depressed with a face like gold paper. Wang Ming thought to himself, This must be Feng Qingyang.
Feng Qingyang said angrily, "Who says there are no more of the Qing generation? I will teach him a few moves, and I refuse to believe I cannot deal with you brat."
When Tian Boguang saw Feng Qingyang emerge, he asked Linghu Chong, but he was even more bewildered since Yue Buqun had never mentioned anyone from the older generation. In the end, Tian Boguang guessed it himself.
Tian Boguang stated his identity, and Linghu Chong immediately paid his respects. Feng Qingyang stroked his beard and accepted the bows calmly.
Then Feng Qingyang taught Linghu Chong a few applications of Mount Hua Swordplay and told Linghu Chong to go and fight Tian Boguang.
Feng Qingyang was very confident, but alas, no matter how good the moves were, the gap in internal energy remained large. When Linghu Chong went up to fight, he still lost.
Fearing that Feng Qingyang would discover him, Wang Ming kept hiding behind the rock and didn't dare to move at all, his legs going almost numb.
At midnight, Feng Qingyang finally began to teach his ultimate skills, and the two entered the cave.
Wang Ming circulated the Purple Haze Divine Skill, and the sounds from inside the cave reached his ears:
"Guimei tends toward Wuwang, Wuwang tends toward Tongren, Tongren tends toward Dayou; Jia turns to Bing, Bing turns to Geng, Geng turns to Gui; at the intersection of Zi and Chou, the intersection of Chen and Si, the intersection of Wu and Wei—wind and thunder make one change, mountain and marsh make one change, water and fire make one change; Qian and Kun stimulate each other, Zhen and Dui stimulate each other, Li and Xun stimulate each other; three additions make five, five additions make nine..."
Linghu Chong's voice said, "Understood." Closing his eyes, he silently contemplated the essentials of what he had learned that night, then suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Grand Uncle-Master, this disciple still has one matter that is unclear. Why are all these various changes strictly attacking moves, advancing only and never defending?"
Feng Qingyang said, "The Nine Swords of Dugu have advancement with no retreat! Every single move is an offense, attacking the enemy until they are forced to defend; naturally, you have no need to defend yourself."
Subsequently, the various forms of the Nine Swords of Dugu taught by Feng Qingyang were transmitted one after another, and then he told Linghu Chong to practice by himself while he lay down to rest.
Seeing this, Wang Ming stopped circulating the Purple Haze Divine Skill and began to recover his true qi, closing his eyes to rest his mind. He didn't dare to truly sleep; first, being out in the open was unsafe, and second, he was afraid of missing something.
Early the next morning, Tian Boguang issued a challenge outside the cave.
Wang Ming saw that this time, it took Tian Boguang only a few moves before Linghu Chong knocked him to the ground, and then let Tian Boguang leave.
Watching Tian Boguang's departing figure, Wang Ming desperately wanted to follow him and finish off this flower-picking bandit. In Wang Ming's view, killing however many martial world people could be forgiven; after all, in the pugilistic world, whose hands were free of blood? The moment one picked up a sword, one had the psychological awareness of being killed.
This lecher who ruined people's innocence was the most hateful, and on top of that, Wang Ming also had his eyes on his lightness skill.
Wang Ming hesitated for a moment, but still gave up on chasing Tian Boguang. There were still a few sword techniques that hadn't been taught in the cave yet.
When Tian Boguang went down the mountain, Wang Ming wouldn't need to make a move; Monk Bujie would handle him properly.
Wang Ming recovered his focus and turned his attention back into the cave, because opportunities to obtain the Nine Swords of Dugu only came this once! Once missed, they would be gone.
As for swapping manuals like in the previous world, Wang Ming wouldn't dare. Linghu Chong was not an honest fellow and his personality was unfathomable. Feng Qingyang wanted to find a successor before dying, so this authenticity was much higher.
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