Did you know how quickly a genius, an absolute martial arts genius, could create a martial art after understanding the principles of internal cultivation?
The answer was three days...
Three days, and it still wasn't quite perfected.
But even this imperfect internal cultivation art was better than most of the internal cultivation methods on the market.
Three days later, Zhang Sanfeng's self-created version of the Nine Yang Divine Skill went live.
After dinner, he eagerly called Zhang Qingyuan over and taught him the mnemonic formula and cultivation method.
The process went roughly like this:
"Brother Yuan, you understood the meridian diagram, right?"
"I did."
"Good. The circulation route for this cultivation art I created goes like this, then this, and then this. Understand?"
"I understand."
"Then there are two possible difficulties during cultivation. The first is that practicing the first level might be rather difficult. Once you have internal power in your body, the road ahead will be clear.
"Also, the second difficulty is that after your internal power returns to your dantian, you'll feel a blockage at the Taichong acupoint. But that's all right. Just push through it."
"Got it."
Communication between geniuses was always this simple.
It was just like those mathematical Olympiad geniuses at school: once they saw the formula, every problem of that type became as easy as turning over their hands.
That very night, Zhang Qingyuan tried cultivating internal power.
A quarter of an hour later, he felt warmth in his dantian.
Feeling that warm energy, he was overjoyed. So this was internal power.
After an hour, he completed his first minor circulation; after two hours, he had already opened up a full major circulation.
After a night, sensing the true Qi within him-still small in quantity, but already flowing continuously and circulating on its own-Zhang Qingyuan felt that his hard work over the past half month and more had been worth it!
Over the next few days, Zhang Junbao continued refining this cultivation art.
"This is the first internal cultivation method we've put together. What should we name it?"
At the dinner table, Zhang Qingyuan looked expectantly at Zhang Junbao.
The joy in his voice was like being back in his previous life, reaching King rank for the first time while duo-queuing with a friend.
Zhang Junbao was just as excited. He could finally advance another step.
For him, the hardest first step was already behind him. None of what remained counted as difficult.
"The cultivation art I created came from the concepts you gave me, Brother Yuan, so you'd better choose the name."
Zhang Junbao took a sip of tea. Yes, they finally had spare money to buy tea leaves.
You want me to name it? I'm hopeless at naming things! Zhang Qingyuan looked helplessly at Zhang Junbao, who remained perfectly unruffled.
In his heart, he had long since regarded Zhang Qingyuan as a true brother born to a different father and mother.
That was true enough. No world's Perfected Zhang was a bad person. Though their personalities might differ greatly, loyalty ran deep in their bones.
Brother Yuan gave me food, supported my studies, and found an expert to guide me. You could say that without Brother Yuan, I wouldn't have my current success!
Zhang Junbao felt that if he were a woman, he could even marry him.
The nurturing-type male lead had finally finished raising his very own "loli" today.
Though I had a purpose in raising Zhang Junbao, I really do consider him my brother.
"You do it. I'm really not good at naming things," Zhang Qingyuan said helplessly.
Zhang Junbao grinned guilelessly, his baby-fat face looking adorable. "Don't be so modest, Brother Yuan."
"Then how about Nine Yang Divine Skill?"
What choice did I have? I copied the concept from the Nine Yang Divine Skill, after all.
With Zhang Qingyuan looking into his eyes, Zhang Junbao thought for a moment. "A bit tacky."
Do you realize you'd get beaten up for saying that in a Jin Yong martial arts world? And weren't you the one who told me to name it?
Zhang Qingyuan froze. "Hey, you damn well went back on your word!"
"No, no, no." Seeing him getting worked up, Zhang Junbao hurriedly explained, "It's our first internal cultivation art, after all. We ought to give it a name that's imposing and meaningful."
"Then you tell me. What should we call it?"
"Don't rush, Brother Yuan. The name doesn't matter; we can discuss it together. How about 'Supreme Yang Meridian-Concentrating Divine Skill'? What do you think?"
Zhang Junbao raised his eyebrows. Praise me! Hurry up and praise me!
Zhang Qingyuan said irritably, "You call this discussing it with me?"
"Hehe, next time for sure."
Zhang Junbao was clowning around, and Zhang Qingyuan understood. Creating an internal cultivation method at seventeen-he would have gotten carried away too.
After the two finished dinner, Zhang Junbao went back to pursuing his undertaking.
Zhang Qingyuan held nothing back either, writing down every martial arts concept he could still remember from the novels and television shows of his previous life for Zhang Junbao to reference.
He also told him not to rush and to take his time. They had plenty of it.
During their occasional chats, Zhang Qingyuan even described some of them to him aloud.
Things like Sword Twenty-Three, the Nine Swords of Dugu, the principles of Tai Chi, Cloud Ladder, One Sword Opens Heaven's Gate, the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms...
Although Zhang Qingyuan couldn't remember every principle behind these martial arts, once he gave a rough outline, Zhang Junbao could work out an understanding himself.
Of course, what he understood might not be the same thing as the original martial art, but with a direction established, the first step was taken. The rest depended on how he went about it.
He couldn't hand every problem to Brother Bao and have him create martial arts; Brother Bao still had to come up with his own ideas.
Zhang Qingyuan was like a leader who provided the broad direction. Once he set the policies and guidelines, he left their implementation to his subordinates. What leader did everything personally?
In the days that followed, Zhang Qingyuan continued earning money to support the household and his younger brother's studies.
During that time, Zhang Qingyuan bought every scripture available on the market, and borrowed those he couldn't buy from nearby Daoist temples.
With Zhang Qingyuan's ideas, the scriptures he supplied as supplementary material, and Zhang Junbao's ability to put things into practice, the two progressed as swiftly as rockets.
To help Brother Bao better understand martial arts, Zhang Qingyuan also frequently took him to watch nearby martial artists fight.
If there was one thing this world didn't lack, it was martial artists.
The stronger the fighters, in particular, the more ideas they could provide Zhang Junbao.
While watching, the brothers' favorite thing was to take one fighter as their reference, observe his moves and martial approach, then put themselves in the situation and discuss how to counter them.
When their ideas collided, unexpected sparks often flew.
It had to be said that this method of observation, practice, and interpretation really was extremely effective.
The brothers were like two melon-eating zha badgers, rushing wherever there was excitement.
Over time, whenever they heard that someone was fighting or dueling somewhere, both would instinctively grab a handful of sunflower seeds and hurry over.
In Zhang Qingyuan's words, "These are all our teachers."
Zhang Junbao chimed in beside him, "Brother Yuan is right."
Half a year passed. The brothers celebrated New Year in Sanhe Town, and before they knew it, spring had arrived and the willows were budding.
During those six months, Zhang Junbao created six martial arts.
Among them were two internal cultivation methods, one sword technique, one fist technique, one palm technique, and one lightness technique.
Besides the earlier Supreme Yang Meridian-Concentrating Divine Skill, he used the concepts of the Nine Yin Manual supplied by Zhang Qingyuan to create its opposite, the Supreme Yin Meridian-Concentrating Divine Skill; then came a sword technique named the Purple Firmament Thunder Ultimate Sword Technique, version one of Taiji Fist, the Nine Yang Palm, and the lightness technique Cloud Ladder.
Brimming with enthusiasm, Zhang Junbao wanted to keep putting his imagination to work, but Zhang Qingyuan stopped him.
Bite off too much, and you couldn't chew it. They should master these martial arts first.
Of these martial arts, only one had been named by Zhang Qingyuan. Taiji Fist and Cloud Ladder took their names from their underlying concepts and suited their characteristics; for the rest, Zhang Junbao truly gave him no chance.
In his words, "The martial arts I've created are so badass that Brother Yuan's names would hold them back."
Yes, Nine Yang Palm was the name Zhang Qingyuan had racked his brains to produce.
Everyone had things they weren't good at. He was just hopeless at naming things; there was no need to make a matter of principle out of it.
As for why Taiji Fist was version one, the concept of Tai Chi was extraordinarily vast, not something one could understand in a day or two. There was much meaning left to uncover.
For now, Taiji Fist only followed the approach of overcoming hardness with softness and combining hardness and softness. Whatever Zhang Junbao thought of in the future, he would continue adding to it.
So this fist technique was only version one.
"A duel! A duel! Hurry and have a look!"
Hearing the shouts outside, Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao instinctively stood up, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, and rushed out.
When they ran out of the alley, they saw two people fighting away in the distance.
Out of habit, they put themselves in the fighters' shoes, looking for ways to counter the other's martial arts.
Cracking sunflower seeds, Zhang Junbao said, "Brother Yuan, how would you counter that move the man in black just used?"
Zhang Qingyuan was cracking sunflower seeds too. "His saber light only reaches five feet, and his movements aren't fast. Look at his feet-his footing is unsteady. One look tells you he hasn't built a solid foundation. If I faced him, the third move of the Thunder Ultimate Sword Technique would break it easily!"
"What if you didn't use our martial arts?"
"On technique alone, I could take him without even using sword Qi. Nine ways-at least nine!"
Taking in Zhang Qingyuan's exaggerated expression as he spoke, Zhang Junbao didn't doubt his ability.
The brothers sparred every night, and their wins and losses were mostly split fifty-fifty.
"Hey, Brother Yuan?"
"Hmm?"
Zhang Junbao frowned slightly, lifting his head to look at the man getting beaten. "Don't you think he looks familiar?"
"He does look a little familiar."
Zhang Qingyuan took a closer look, and then they exclaimed in unison, "Holy shit, Brother Ju!"