Saber Technique

Ordinarily, Lu Li would have found it difficult to grasp the crucial bottlenecks within the fist technique.

But now, his mind was exceptionally clear and sharp, and he gradually came to understand many things...

The difference between a mastered fist technique and a perfected one lay in those bottlenecks.

Take White Ape Offers the Peach, for instance. Its bottleneck lay in uniting, not concealing.

Force methods, movement techniques, timing, transitions between attack and defense—inside and outside had to become one.

Once he understood the bottlenecks of all eight fist forms, the technique would be perfected.

Lu Li was neither exhilarated nor overly agitated. He maintained a detached, icy calm.

He had ample time now. He could remain in this special domain for an entire year.

Why a year? He did not know. Would every future epiphany grant him a year?

Could that one-year limit change?

He had no answer for now.

His thoughts drifted for a moment before returning. With his fist technique perfected, he could practice the saber.

The saber technique began.

Martial arts were undoubtedly a world ruled by weapons.

Weapons were extensions of the arms, and what they emphasized was "listening to force."

When wielding a saber, one must never simply chop with the wrist. The saber had to be treated as part of the body.

So-called "listening to force" meant that, the instant two weapons collided in battle, one had to use the vibrations transmitted through the weapon to judge the opponent's strength and the direction of their weapon in a heartbeat. Only then could one either dissolve the attack by following its momentum or borrow force to strike back.

The saber manual in his mind began turning its pages...

A saber appeared in Lu Li's hand.

He began circling according to the manual. The Eight Trigrams Saber Technique was quite similar to the fist technique, emphasizing ethereal footwork, roving movement, and entangling combat.

He assumed the opening stance, his feet tracing the circle of yin and yang. His body spiraled like drifting clouds, the saber turning with him—one circle, one stance; one spin, one kill...

Lu Li immersed himself in it, practicing again and again.

Time was plentiful. Here, he could think at leisure and assume the most precise movements and postures. The slightest flaw would be corrected, and once learned, it would never be forgotten.

Though he was practicing the saber technique, Lu Li discovered that he could also calmly examine himself.

This silent, special space felt extraordinarily real to him.

He knew perfectly well that only his consciousness had entered this place, yet this cultivation seemed capable of feeding back into his body.

[Martial Arts]:

"Eight Trigrams Saber Technique" Beginner (123/800)

"Bagua Fist" Perfected (800/800)

"Eight Trigrams Moving Stake" Perfected (800/800)

"Eight Trigrams Embracing-Circle Stake Art" Perfected (500/500)

[Realm]: None (Early Branch Force)

By rights, with his fist technique perfected, his Internal Force should have been able to break through the gate. Yet he felt no sign of a successful Gate-Breaking.

At this moment, he was clear within and without, his mind cold and still. He began pondering every aspect of himself.

As he practiced the saber, his mistakes grew fewer and fewer.

Until at last, his movements were exactly as recorded in the fist manual, without the slightest flaw to pick apart.

He once more sensed the subtle changes in his body.

His qi and blood had long since been filled to their peak, yet the Internal Force he had cultivated remained at the early Branch Force stage.

The martial path of this world emphasized cultivating both inside and out—refining force within and tempering the body without.

His master had once said that Internal Force was divided into four levels: Branch Force, Ring Force, Fusion Force, and Sinking Force.

Once one reached the peak of Sinking Force, one could break through the gate.

In this state of absolute calm, Lu Li began to consider that, at its core, a martial artist's cultivation of Inner Force was a form of squeezing oneself dry—constantly breaking the body's old state and rebuilding a stronger fleshly vessel.

In the process of simmering qi and blood to refine Internal Force, one continuously consumed qi and blood, while also straining the muscles and bones and clogging the meridians. In the end, the sinews would stiffen and qi and blood would grow deficient, leaving one stuck before the gate, unable to advance another inch for life.

Meat supplements and medicinal baths were forms of nourishment and care—one replenished from within, while the other treated from without.

Meat supplements replenished the consumed qi and blood and nourished the fascia, while medicinal baths expanded the channels for qi and blood and repaired accumulated strain.

His body had been weak to begin with. Without meat supplements and medicinal baths, his bodily functions had acted on instinct. Thus, although his stake art was perfected, his Internal Force had not advanced an inch.

Fortunately, he had not forcibly shattered his body's shackles. Otherwise, one epiphany would have left his body with its oil spent and its lamp extinguished.

He remembered his master saying that Root Bone could be improved. Later, he would have to find an opportunity to ask how.

Though it disappointed him that his fleshly body could not keep pace with the changes here, returning with all these insights and flawless fist and saber techniques still left him fully satisfied.

Lu Li opened his eyes.

In an instant, his body trembled slightly, but his body and emotions soon settled back into calm.

During an epiphany, one could not feel the passage of time. A year had passed in no more than an instant.

In that instant, he had not only perfected Bagua Fist, but had also brought the saber technique to mastery.

"Eight Trigrams Saber Technique" Mastered (168/1200)

"Eight Trigrams Moving Stake" Perfected (800/800)

"Bagua Fist" Perfected (800/800)

"Eight Trigrams Embracing-Circle Stake Art" Perfected (500/500)

During this process, he discovered that the bottlenecks of Bagua Fist were exceptionally difficult to comprehend. If not for that state of heightened perception, he would never have been able to cultivate it to perfection.

It required long years of accumulation and refinement. Under normal circumstances, reaching perfection without ten or twenty years would be difficult.

He wondered whether his master's Bagua Fist had already reached perfection.

As for the inner court disciples, presumably none of them had managed it.

Furthermore, with his now-perfected Bagua stake art, the speed at which he cultivated Inner Force probably did not lose out to someone with Upper-Grade Bone Aptitude.

The more proficient he became in Bagua Fist, the faster he could cultivate Internal Force.

In other words, in half a month at most, he could break through the gate!

The night was thick.

After finishing his medicinal bath, Lu Li felt excellent.

He was still staying at the martial hall solely for the three meat meals a day and the medicinal bath at night.

There was no need for him to keep staying at the martial hall the rest of the time.

After changing back into his own clothes, he left the martial hall.

When he returned to his auntie's home in Apricot Blossom Alley, Ma Xiaoling was somewhat surprised.

"A-Li, why are you back so early today?"

"Auntie, I've simmered my qi and blood enough. I can take it easier from now on."

Ma Xiaoling came before Lu Li and lightly squeezed his sturdy body, a gentle smile in her eyes.

These past days, Lu Li could clearly feel his body changing.

At first glance, he still looked thin, but no longer frail. His muscles were drawn in tight, like a blade that had yet to leave its sheath.

You could not tell whether it was sharp while hidden in its sheath; only after it was drawn would you know.

Half a month of constant meat supplements and medicinal baths had finally given him something of a martial artist's bearing.

The scarred calluses on his body had long faded, and his body had grown much leaner. His entire bearing had changed as well.

"A-Li, before dinner, Manager Liu from Hometown Inn came by again. She said you absolutely had to go to the inn, that the matter was urgent and involved Old Li."

Lu Li frowned. This Liu Rushuang came looking for him every few days; he had no idea what exactly she wanted.

Originally, Lu Li could not be bothered with her, but since the matter involved Old Li, he had no choice but to go.

Back in Ox Family Village, Old Li had been the one who cared for him most. The lonely old man would split even a bowl of thin porridge in half for him.

Later, Old Li had brought him to Blackwater City to make a living. Relying on his skill at weaving grass shoes, they barely scraped together enough to eat.

"Auntie, in that case, I'll make a trip there."

"A-Li, the Outer City hasn't been peaceful lately, so be careful. Our days have only just begun to show some hope. If it's trouble we shouldn't provoke, endure it and it will pass. What matters most is that our family stays safe and sound."

Worry filled Ma Xiaoling's eyes. She had originally wanted to hide Liu Rushuang's visit from him, but she feared delaying something important and earning Lu Li's displeasure for nothing.

"Don't worry, Auntie. I'll be back soon. Lock the door at home and wait for me."

Ma Xiaoling nodded, quietly concealing the worry in her eyes.