Crooked Logic Sparring, Old Wu Tou Understands Misaligned Energy

The iron stake was stuck in the mud, its tip no longer vibrating. Chen Wuya's fingers moved away from the crack, his palm resting on his knee, his breathing calmer than before.

Old Wu Tou walked back and sat beside him, his cane leaning gently against the wall. A half-step separated them, silent as before, but the atmosphere had changed. The tremors from distant footsteps still lingered, their frequency unchanged, as if the source was still miles away, circling.

"You said earlier that your energy was too wild, couldn't even control yourself," Old Wu Tou suddenly spoke, his voice low and steady. "What did you mean by that?"

Chen Wuya turned his head to glance at him, his lips twitching slightly. "My energy path doesn't follow the meridians; it rushes backward. Others exert force with smoothness and continuity, but I prefer to twist it. The System recognized this 'mistake' and replenished my true energy path. As a result, the energy became effective, but my body couldn't handle it."

"So after you fight someone, you're about to fall apart yourself?"

"Pretty much." He chuckled. "It's like scooping water with a bamboo basket; all the effort leaks out, and the basket breaks too."

Old Wu Tou frowned. "Martial arts emphasize a solid foundation, with energy generated from within. How can you rely on crooked logic? Your method sounds unstable."

"But it works." Chen Wuya opened and closed his palm. "Seven people surrounded me, swords and blades coming at me all at once. I didn't block a single strike; I made them all break their own weapons. This isn't clever energy; it's rebound force—the harder they push, the stronger the rebound."

"Rebounding…" Old Wu Tou murmured, his eyes a little unfocused, as if recalling something.

Sensing his strangeness, Chen Wuya continued, "Look at flowing water. If it rushes straight at a rock, it'll be blocked. But if it bypasses and curls back, it can hollow out the mud and sand underneath. My energy is designed to exploit directions others wouldn't think of. Don't you believe me? Think about when you escort silver; what do you do when a horse gets spooked? If you pull forward, you'll be dragged along. Don't you have to pull back, yank diagonally, or even loosen the reins before yanking hard?"

Old Wu Tou's body stiffened.

Thirty years ago, during a Silver Escort Mission through the mountains, a sudden downpour struck. The lead horse panicked and bolted. In his desperation, he didn't just yank the reins; instead, he loosened them, following the horse's head movement, and violently twisted backward. Using inertia, he dissipated the charging force, preventing the carriage from tumbling down the cliff.

His master had scolded him for acting recklessly, but later said, "A crooked move can save your life, which means it has its own logic."

Recalling it now, that feeling of "this shouldn't work, but it does" faintly resonated with what the young man before him was saying.

"Are you saying… energy can be exerted unconventionally?" Old Wu Tou asked slowly.

"Routines are dead." Chen Wuya leaned back against the wall, looking up at the night sky. "People are alive. If you reach the end of your training and find the righteous path is impassable, should you accept fate? I don't believe so. Mistakes are also paths; as long as they lead somewhere, they are correct."

Old Wu Tou remained silent, slowly raising his right hand to push the air in front of him. The motion was extremely slow, but his wrist was deliberately twisted, palm facing down, then circling upward, like wringing out a wet cloth.

He closed his eyes, a trace of residual internal energy flowing with his thoughts. Suddenly, a subtle resistance rose from the outside of his forearm, as if a current of air was trying to push upward against the normal flow. Though it was fleeting, it made his fingertips tingle slightly.

He snapped his eyes open.

"This energy… it's not pushing outward, it's pulling inward? No, it's not pulling either, it's climbing upward in a spiral?"

"That's right." Chen Wuya smiled. "Most people punch by pushing energy from shoulder to elbow to wrist. What I'm teaching you is to think the opposite—let the energy swirl within your arm, storing it like twisting a rope, and then exploding when it makes contact. That move you just did, though without true energy support, conveyed the idea."

Old Wu Tou stared at his hand, as if seeing it for the first time.

"I've practiced aligned energy my whole life, emphasizing 'force reaching the fingertips' and 'a single continuous line.' No one ever told me energy could travel like this." His voice trembled slightly. "But that moment just now… it was indeed different. Not stronger, but more alive."

"That's the point." Chen Wuya nodded. "The righteous path emphasizes rules, while misaligned energy emphasizes change. The more you think it's impossible, the more likely it is to be effective. Because your opponent can't defend against it—they themselves don't believe anyone in this world fights like this."

Old Wu Tou looked down at his cane and suddenly said, "You said you were kicked out of the Academy, and everyone called you trash?"

"Mm."

"And now… are you still trash?"

"I don't know." Chen Wuya looked at the scattered broken blades on the ground. "But I know those broken swords don't lie."

Old Wu Tou was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, "Can you teach me?"

Chen Wuya was taken aback.

"I don't want to learn how you beat people," the old man looked up at him. "I want to know if this kind of energy can heal injuries?"

"Heal injuries?"

"During my escort missions, I sustained old injuries. My meridians are severely blocked, and medicine can't penetrate. I've managed to maintain it with acupuncture, massage, and hot compresses. But if true energy can flow in reverse, could it also clear the blockages?"

Chen Wuya was stunned.

He had never considered this question before.

The essence of misaligned energy was the System rationalizing errors and completing the operational path. If a person's meridians were blocked, and conventional energy circulation couldn't pass, could reversing the flow bypass the obstruction?

"Theoretically… it's possible." He said slowly. "But no one has tried it. After all, who would dare gamble with their own meridians? Practicing it incorrectly could lead to paralysis at best, or sudden death at worst."

"I've already been paralyzed once." Old Wu Tou said calmly. "Ten years ago, during a winter night journey, the cold seeped into my bones, and my left leg was useless for three months. The doctor said another bout of cold would leave me needing a cane for the rest of my life. But I can still walk, still patrol at night, which means heaven left a crack."

Chen Wuya looked at him, suddenly feeling the old man was tougher than he imagined.

"You want to try?"

"I don't want to have lived a lifetime for nothing." Old Wu Tou gripped his cane. "In my youth, I only knew to follow the rules. Now I know that sometimes, rules can't save a life. Your crooked logic might just be the crack I need."

Chen Wuya took a deep breath and sat up straight.

"Alright. I can tell you how to think and how to act, but you're responsible for the consequences. And you're older; your meridians aren't as flexible as a young person's. If you go wrong…"

"I know." Old Wu Tou interrupted him. "As long as I don't die."

Chen Wuya smiled. "Good. Then let me ask you—in what direction do you think 'push' is?"

"Forward."

"Wrong." Chen Wuya shook his head. "Push can also be backward. For example, if you push a wall, and the wall doesn't move, the reaction force pushes you back. If, while pushing, you twist your wrist and press the energy downward, that rebound force becomes a rotational force. You don't need to actively exert force; you just need to guide it."

He extended his right hand, palm facing forward, then slowly turned his wrist, his fingertips gradually pointing toward the ground.

"The energy isn't in the hand; it's in the moment of transition. You need to learn to feel that 'pivot point' and let it burst open on its own."

Old Wu Tou followed suit, his movements clumsy but earnest.

One time, two times, ten times...

With every palm flip, he tried to capture that subtle feeling of reverse thrust. At first, there was no reaction. It wasn't until the thirteenth time that he suddenly felt a jump at his Jianjing acupoint, as if a thin thread had been yanked hard.

"Got it!" he exclaimed softly.

Chen Wuya's eyes lit up: "Do it again, slower."

The old man raised his hand again, pushing his palm outward, then slowly rotating it. Just as his wrist reached its limit, he deliberately slowed his movement, focusing his intent on the inside of his arm.

A faint stream of energy rose from deep within his elbow, surging an inch upward against the Sanjiao meridian before dissipating.

But he felt it clearly.

Not an illusion.

Not a delusion.

It was true energy, flowing in a way he had never experienced.

"So... energy can flow like this too!" He looked at Chen Wuya, his eyes no longer filled with doubt, but with shock. "You kid, you've really got something real hidden in all that nonsense!"

Chen Wuya grinned: "I told you, even a wrong path is still a path."

Old Wu Tou panted, sweat beading on his forehead. The brief moment had clearly taken a heavy toll on his spirit. But he didn't stop, raising his hand again.

"Don't rush," Chen Wuya put a hand on his shoulder. "You can only try three times a day. More than that will drain your spirit. You're not training right now, you're relearning how to use your body."

The old man nodded, finally stopping.

The two fell silent again, but something invisible had entered the air—like a spark falling into dry grass, just waiting for the wind.

The distant tremors continued rhythmically; the enemy had not yet approached.

The camp had sparse lights, with figures only moving at the sentry posts.

Chen Wuya leaned against the wall, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing. Old Wu Tou sat beside him, his fingers constantly drawing arcs on his knee, as if practicing a newly learned language.

After a long while, Old Wu Tou suddenly said, "If this crooked logic of yours gets out, it's going to cause a lot of trouble."

Chen Wuya opened one eye: "Why?"

"People in the Jianghu won't tolerate deviants," the old man said in a low voice. "They'll say you broke the rules, shook the foundations. At best, they'll attack you; at worst, they'll kill you."

"But I've already broken them," Chen Wuya closed his eyes again. "And I think rules are made by people. Since they can be made, they can be changed."

Old Wu Tou said nothing more.

He slowly raised his right hand, tracing that twisted trajectory in the air once more.

Palm down, then flipping upward, like wringing hemp, like untying a knot.

As he completed the final circle, his fingertips suddenly trembled.

A clearer stream of energy than before surged upward from the inner side of his forearm, reaching his shoulder blade!

His whole body trembled, his eyes snapping open.

Chen Wuya immediately noticed and sat up sharply.

Old Wu Tou's hand remained in mid-air, trembling slightly, but his face held an expression unseen for decades—

Like a lost person who had finally seen the light.