Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique Fragment

Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique Fragment

In the study.

Jiang Ning slowly walked along the bookcases set on the floor, his gaze swiftly sweeping over the titles of the books arranged upon them.

One row, two rows, three rows.

After he had examined all three rows of bookcases, he had gained a rough understanding of the books collected in Wang Jin's study.

These three rows contained works on governance, practical statecraft, various canonical texts and essentials, books studied for the imperial examinations, medical arts and herbalism, as well as an entire row of martial arts books.

He had also briefly looked through those martial arts books. They were basically all unranked martial arts manuals; only the topmost shelf held several low-grade martial arts techniques.

He had casually pulled one out and skimmed it just now. Learning it would naturally be somewhat helpful to him.

But Jiang Ning knew that his cultivation should focus on specialization rather than greedily pursuing too many things.

For him, biting off more than he could chew would only leave him unable to digest any of it.

In his hands, the truly wondrous and mysterious part of any technique only emerged after he had ground it to perfection and broken its limits.

Not only would its effects be further enhanced, but it would also grant him some extraordinary trait.

Take the technique Literacy, for instance. Breaking its limit not only made his thoughts run faster and strengthened his spiritual power, but most importantly, it had given him the trait of never forgetting anything he saw.

This trait had also helped him greatly.

So he would not abandon grinding experience for Literacy. Moreover, grinding experience for Literacy did not conflict with practicing martial arts or boxing in the slightest.

After all, a person's body could only bear so much!

If one overtrained, no amount of nourishing medicine would keep the body from collapsing.

Besides, reading enlightened wisdom and clarified principles.

Most crucially, it clarified the spirit.

The spirit referred to the spirit among essence, qi, and spirit. It was also spiritual power, and it was also the soul.

Studying the meanings of the classics and broadening one's knowledge could increase spiritual power and strengthen the soul. Such were the rules of this world.

Great Confucian scholars could send their yin spirits out of their bodies to roam heaven and earth, traveling Kunlun in the morning and Changwu by evening.

They could even command the power of heaven and earth with their souls. Their strength was not to be underestimated.

This was also what the lords of the court relied upon.

At the same time, many books mentioned the importance of the spirit. It was a path that had to be cultivated once one reached the later stages of martial arts.

Yet few martial arts experts chose this path to strengthen their souls, because achieving success in literary studies likewise required exceptional talent and decades of relentless study by the cold window.

Jiang Ning knew that if not for his powerful panel, he would likewise have been unable to pursue literary studies alongside martial arts.

Now that he could study, he would not give it up.

As long as he kept breaking the limits of Literacy, he would sooner or later reach the realm of the yin spirit. That would also be of immense help to his martial arts growth.

But to him, the time and energy he had each day were limited. Specializing in one or two techniques and skills was his best choice.

Only then could he maximize the experience he ground out, bring his skills to perfection sooner, and then break their limits.

Every time any technique broke its limits, it brought enormous changes. Of these, the traits were what Jiang Ning valued most.

All sorts of thoughts whirled through his mind. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

[Complete Intelligence Records of Luoshui County]

[Summary of Great Xia Rebellions]

At the same time, beside these two dossiers, he spotted a particularly eye-catching fragment.

The next moment.

He crossed the distance to the desk in two strides, his gaze landing directly on that fragment. His instincts told him that it was far from ordinary.

[Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique]

Upon seeing the five words on the fragment, his gaze immediately shifted downward.

The fragment contained only several hundred words.

Yet Jiang Ning spent the time it took to drink a cup of tea reading those few hundred words.

After a long while.

Huff—

He slowly exhaled and set down the fragment in his hand.

A golden elixir swallowed into the belly—my fate was mine, not Heaven's!

"What lofty intent! What profound method of internal strengthening!"

"What a pity!"

"What a pity it is only a fragment."

Jiang Ning shook his head inwardly.

After reading this fragment, he also understood what kind of technique the Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique was.

As far as he knew, the martial arts system included the realms of skin, flesh, tendons, and bones, as well as the martial arts realm of internal strengthening, where one nourished the five viscera and six bowels to produce inner breath.

And the Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique was a Daoist method of internal strengthening.

Practiced over a long period, it could prolong one's life and slow the onset of aging.

If cultivated to success, it could further produce inner breath, granting enduring stamina that flowed on without end.

If this technique reached perfection, one could condense an inner elixir within the dantian, achieving the intent expressed in its words: a golden elixir swallowed into the belly—my fate was mine, not Heaven's.

From then on, one could draw in the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, completing the transformation from skin, flesh, tendons, and bones to internal strengthening in just a few months.

This was the cultivation method of certain Daoist branches: cultivate one's nature first, then cultivate one's life.

"What a pity. It only records the method of breathing and qi circulation. At most, this can only count as the entry level. No wonder Wang Jin casually left this fragment on his desk."

After memorizing every word on the fragment, Jiang Ning placed it back on Wang Jin's desk.

[Skill]: Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique (Uninitiated 0/100)

"One hundred points?"

Looking at his panel, Jiang Ning's gaze suddenly narrowed.

Merely entering the gate required one hundred experience points. Could this Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique actually be so extraordinary?

Surprise filled his eyes.

It was probably because this was a high-level technique. In that case, I absolutely cannot let this technique slip away.

With the panel, perhaps even a fragment would not prevent this technique from advancing further.

After pondering it briefly, Jiang Ning felt that this guess was highly likely to be true.

Breaking limits could achieve effects that defied convention, creating something from nothing.

Not to mention merely completing a fragmented manual.

Comparing the two, completing a fragment was nowhere near as difficult.

Wang Jin had managed to find this fragment in order to prolong his life and restore his physical condition. Since a fragment existed, it was enough to prove that a complete record of the Inner Elixir Life-Nourishing Technique existed somewhere in the world.

Breaking limits, however, was different.

That shattered the understanding of ordinary people.

Then, his gaze fell upon the two dossiers before him again.

He picked up one of them and skimmed through it.

[Summary of Great Xia Rebellions]

In early January of the 839th year of the Xia calendar, a rebellion broke out in Wave Mountain County. The rebel army breached the county seat and swept through three counties before being suppressed by the Black-Armored Army, which arrived belatedly.

In early January of the 839th year of the Xia calendar, White Mountain Village was massacred by the rebel army. After they ravaged two towns, they were scattered by the Stone Mountain County garrison.

Mid-January of the 839th year of the Xia calendar.

Jiang Ning read through each entry. The more he read, the more astonished he became.

Several of the incidents recorded here had taken place within Zeshan Prefecture.

Zeshan Prefecture had many waters and many mountains, hence its name.

After a long while, when he had finished reading the dossier, Jiang Ning slowly withdrew his gaze. He immediately understood why Great Xia had opened the Inspection Office under the supervision of a Martial Saint.

In the previous year alone, six rebellions of varying scale had occurred in Zeshan Prefecture.

And that was only one prefecture. Great Xia had nine prefectures in total, and Zeshan Prefecture ranked only in the lower-middle range among them in number of rebellions.

One could imagine how many rebellions had erupted across all of Great Xia in the past year.