Nurturing the Great Medicine

Duan Yun opened his eyes, wild with joy.

On his very first try, he had succeeded!

Duan Yun felt as though he were dreaming in broad daylight.

According to the Jade Sword True Canon, this breath would rise from the dantian, pass through the great channel of the Central Pivot, Body Pillar, and Governing Vessel, then enter the Yang Ravine, Clasped White, and Hand Three Li acupoints in the arm, gradually becoming like liquid.

True Qi that was like liquid was Jade Sword True Qi.

Once that "like liquid" sensation appeared, it meant the True Qi had formed.

And he had truly done it just now!

Could that old man have been telling the truth? Was he really born with exceptional bones, a peerless genius of the sword path among ten thousand?

Duan Yun drank a bowl of water, calming his excited heart slightly.

Since he had raised the banner in victory, he chose to press his advantage.

That strand of True Qi just now had ultimately been too tiny. Forget making it like a raging python; it at least needed to grow thicker.

After all, if his True Qi was too thin, fellow cultivators might mock him as a skinny dog in the future.

As he breathed in and out and circulated his Qi, the True Qi flowing through Duan Yun's body became increasingly distinct, at times like a babbling stream.

All of a sudden, he had the strange illusion that several people were breathing in and out with him, nine shallow breaths followed by one deep breath.

Their faces overlapped, as though they were constantly whispering among themselves.

Duan Yun opened his eyes. A single lamp on the table glimmered like a bean, and everything had returned to normal.

He could not help wondering, "Sigh, have I cultivated for too long and muddled my mind?"

Almost at the same time, a pair of twin brothers dozens of li away opened their eyes, still maintaining the posture of the Jade Sword Stance.

The two brothers both looked like middle-aged uncles, broad and brawny, their faces full of bold spirit. They had the air of heroic wanderers roaming the martial world.

At that moment, the man on the left twitched his nose and said between belches, "Brother, it smells so good. We just finished eating, and already there's fresh Great Medicine. Not bad talent."

The man on the right replied, "There's no need to rush with free-range Great Medicine. It has only just sprouted, and it's such a fine seedling. Let it grow for a while longer. Then we brothers can split it evenly and break through in one stroke."

"Excellent. Then the road of heroic chivalry for us brothers will surely be much smoother."

"Of course. Hahaha!"

For a time, bold laughter rang out from the attic.

Since cultivating the Jade Sword Stance too much had given him hallucinations, Duan Yun decided to begin the Jade Sword True Canon's second move, Water-Moon Slash.

Water-Moon Slash meant channeling the Jade Sword True Qi cultivated within one's body through the sword itself and slashing it out, its form like water and moonlight.

Put simply, it was Sword Qi shaped like a watery moon.

Reading this, Duan Yun became even more convinced that the secret manual was genuine, because the annotation in the margin told him so.

That meant someone had cultivated this manual before, and to a considerable degree, before leaving behind these notes of experience.

This senior had truly been a good person.

Once Jade Sword True Qi had been cultivated, Water-Moon Slash was naturally a matter of water flowing into its channel. One simply had to extend the Qi channels to the Middle Rushing and Lesser Rushing acupoints, then send it charging from the sword edge.

Duan Yun charged ahead the moment he said it!

But he had no sword at present, so he could only fetch a kitchen cleaver from the kitchen as a substitute.

Duan Yun drew a deep breath, sank his Qi into his dantian, and swept out with the cleaver!

The air ahead twisted. A crescent-shaped burst of force truly flew from the blade, striking the earthen wall a meter away.

Fuck!

Duan Yun hurried over, afraid he had sliced apart his own wall.

In the end—

Only a tiny bit of dust fell.

Yes, dust, not dirt.

When that crescent-shaped burst of force broke from the cleaver, its light had been obvious and its momentum frightening. Who would have thought it was nothing but a flashy fake?

"It shouldn't be like this," Duan Yun muttered.

Sword Qi that could not even kill a mosquito—did it deserve to be called Sword Qi?

Duan Yun tried again!

This time, he exerted even more force. The Sword Qi immediately became broader. If the previous strand had been a crescent moon, then this one was a true half-moon.

With a tap, the half-moon Sword Qi passed over the straw curtain of the outhouse, making it dip inward slightly before returning to normal.

Duan Yun panted heavily and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

It still could not kill a mosquito.

Duan Yun could not help suspecting that perhaps his Jade Sword True Qi was too thin and lacked sufficient strength.

So he turned back to cultivate the first move, Jade Sword Stance, strengthening his True Qi.

For three days in a row, Duan Yun cultivated bitterly.

His Jade Sword True Qi had actually progressed quite well. It had gone from being fine as a thread at first to now rushing like a stream, yet the power of his Moonlit Water Sword Qi had not changed much.

Forget Sword Qi killing people like in novels—it was hard-pressed even to brush away dust.

Duan Yun did not know that by ordinary methods, cultivating even a mouthful of True Qi was extremely difficult. Even those with decent talent needed several years at minimum. As for transforming True Qi into Sword Qi, that took even longer.

In a sense, the Jade Sword True Canon was already an unorthodox divine art, allowing one to cultivate True Qi and Sword Qi ahead of time.

It was merely that the Sword Qi and True Qi cultivated this way were relatively insubstantial and needed to be supplemented until the hollow became solid.

And to turn the hollow into the solid, one had to take medicine.

The Jade Sword True Canon he had seen was actually only half the manual—the half that taught one how to cultivate True Qi and Sword Qi. The other half explained how to treat sword cultivators who had cultivated True Qi and Sword Qi as Great Medicine, then completely devour and absorb them with a unique cultivation method.

As long as one absorbed Great Medicine, one could rapidly increase the power of one's True Qi and Sword Qi, turning the hollow into the solid.

To encourage the "Great Medicine" to cultivate diligently, the Jade Sword True Canon actually contained annotations specifically urging the "Great Medicine" to continue cultivating, claiming that after focusing on sword practice for four or five months, changes would occur.

Four or five months was precisely when Great Medicine was at its plumpest and most succulent, perfect for harvesting.

Unfortunately, this secret manual had passed through who knew how many hands, and the annotations were covered by stains. Duan Yun could not make them out at all.

Nor did he know that he was becoming someone else's Great Medicine.

Seeing that the power of his Sword Qi had improved almost not at all, Duan Yun still had not found the trick for the moment, but he did not wish to give up.

He considered his talent in the sword path quite good. There was no reason he could rapidly cultivate True Qi and Sword Qi, yet be unable to rapidly increase their power.

Something had to be wrong somewhere.

That night, Duan Yun was making mapo tofu.

Even after transmigrating, he still liked Sichuan cuisine, the kind that went big and bold.

Not savory enough? Add lard. Not spicy enough? Add chilies. Not numbing enough? Bring on the Sichuan peppercorns.

As long as there were enough seasonings, it was hard for a dish to taste bad.

What about Sword Qi?

His Moonlit Water Sword Qi lacked power. Could it be that it did not have enough ingredients?

What ingredients could Sword Qi even have?

Duan Yun had always worried that he had gone wrong somewhere on the first page of the manual, which was why his Sword Qi had so little power.

After all, the acupoint diagram on that page was unclear, and some of the words could not be read either.

Outside the window, the night was cool as water. Moonlight spilled over the little courtyard like frost.

A spark suddenly flashed through Duan Yun's mind.

Lunar Essence!

The second move of the Jade Sword True Canon was called Water-Moon Slash. Could this move be related to the moon?

The Jade Sword Stance used stance work as its foundation to breathe in and out and cultivate Qi.

When breathing in and out, he could clearly feel the surrounding air entering the meridians in his body.

If air could be breathed in and out, why could Lunar Essence not?

In novels, did people not often absorb Lunar Essence to cultivate divine arts?

Part of the page on breathing in and out had previously been covered in grease stains. Perhaps those details had been omitted.

Why not give it a try?

Try it, then!

After finishing his mapo tofu, Duan Yun did exactly as he said. During his breathing exercises, he no longer limited himself to drawing in and expelling air.

After all this time spent breathing in and out, he could already sense many details within the air.

For example, its temperature, humidity, floating pollen, dust, and an especially clear, pure kind of Qi.

He could sense that this clear, pure Qi was the key to forming Jade Sword True Qi.

No one had taught him what it was, and the manual did not say either. Duan Yun could only understand it in his own way, attributing it to something akin to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from novels.

And Lunar Essence?

Before this, he had never paid attention to Lunar Essence and had no idea what it was like.

But when Duan Yun began to focus on it, he discovered that Lunar Essence was icy and moist, like spiritual energy of heaven and earth draped in a faint frost.

So he drew it into his body with his breath and sank it into his dantian.

Duan Yun, standing with his eyes closed as he breathed in and out, did not see that the Lunar Essence, originally like light, transformed into milky-white liquid and entered his body.