Entering the Sect

Military Advisor Ji's face, still somewhat pale, broke into a comforting smile as he said, looking at Li Yan, "Are you willing to formally become my disciple?"

Li Yan had already made his decision, so without further thought, he replied, "Yes."

"Good! Your teacher has always been of a quiet disposition, and dislikes those tedious rituals. Kowtow to your teacher three times, and that will be considered your entry into the sect." With that, he adjusted his posture, sitting upright behind the table, his expression solemn. Three sticks of incense in a small tripod on the table emitted wisps of smoke before him, giving him the air of a sect leader.

Li Yan stood up, straightened his coarse cloth clothes, knelt before the incense table, and kowtowed three times respectfully to Military Advisor Ji behind the table.

Military Advisor Ji stroked his beard, a faint flush rising on his pale face, his smile growing wider. "Hehe, alright, get up."

Li Yan stood up, a look of joy on his face. After standing, he bowed again, then knelt back at the table to listen to his teacher's teachings.

Military Advisor Ji said, "Now that you are a disciple of the Wood Shadow Gate, I will now teach you the entry-level methods of our sect."

Li Yan was taken aback by these words. Military Advisor Ji noticed his expression and asked, "Do you have any questions?"

Li Yan paused for a moment, then said, "No, please continue your instruction, teacher."

Hearing this, Military Advisor Ji did not press the matter, and continued, "All disciples of our sect must cultivate both Martial Arts and the way of herbs. However, Martial Arts is the foundation upon which we Jianghu practitioners base our lives, and many of the more precious herbs and medicinal flowers grow in places rarely visited by humans, places that ordinary people cannot reach. Therefore, new disciples generally must first cultivate Martial Arts for the first few years, achieving some small success, before they can cultivate the way of herbs. And Martial Arts is divided into inner cultivation methods and combat techniques. Inner cultivation methods are the mother of all Martial Arts. No matter how familiar you are with combat techniques, if you do not have the assistance of inner power, you will not be able to unleash their true power. At most, it will just be a common brawl. But if your inner power is strong, even ordinary boxing techniques and Martial Skill can split mountains and shatter rocks, pluck leaves to injure people, and be extremely powerful. Therefore, inner cultivation methods are the foundation upon which each sect bases its existence, and are regarded as treasures within the sect."

Military Advisor Ji slowly explained everything to Li Yan. This explanation lasted for the time it takes to drink several cups of tea, from the classification of inner power to the division of major sects, Martial Arts realms, acupoints, meridians, and so on. He also took out a small, exquisitely carved wooden figure, its body naked, with red and green lines crisscrossing it, and many dense dots. Next to the dots and lines were annotations in tiny characters. This wooden figure actually depicted the various meridians and acupoints within the human body, and he explained them to Li Yan in detail.

"What I have

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said is the foundation of cultivation. You must remember it in detail, and you must not make any mistakes. Now, let's talk about our sect's inner cultivation method. As I told you before, inner power is the mother of all Martial Arts, and our sect's inner cultivation method is divided into ten levels, called 'Wood Yin Skill'. Its power is astonishing. It strengthens the physical body by absorbing the essence of herbs and trees refined by our sect's secret method, unblocks the meridians throughout the body, fills the body with vitality, allows inner strength to circulate swiftly throughout the body, and accumulates a strong inner force in the Dantian. When fighting with others, it unleashes super-strong combat power, which is incomparable to the inner cultivation methods of secular sects. Even I have only cultivated to the peak of the third level."

Hearing this, Li Yan was greatly shocked, his face showing disbelief. With his teacher's current Martial Arts, he was already a match for ten thousand men. Yet, he had only cultivated "Wood Yin Skill" to the third level. If he cultivated to the tenth level, wouldn't he be an immortal on earth?

Military Advisor Ji glanced at Li Yan and continued slowly, "However, before cultivating this skill, you must first cultivate our sect's 'Qi Guidance Art'. This art guides the essence of heaven and earth, and then stimulates the Qi of the Dantian. Only after the Qi of the Dantian is successfully stimulated can you formally cultivate 'Wood Yin Skill'."

At this point, Military Advisor Ji smiled slightly, and with a simultaneous flick of his black-robed sleeves, his fair and slender hands appeared on the table. In his left hand, he held a book that was neither gold nor jade, and with his right hand, he pulled out a piece of paper from the book that was slightly larger than the book's pages. The paper was densely covered with writing, and it was clear that this paper was not a page from the book. Judging by the ink, it looked like it had been written not long ago.

As Military Advisor Ji moved, Li Yan noticed that the material of the book in his teacher's left hand was peculiar. He had read many books since he was a child, but he had never seen this kind of material. Moreover, one-third of the book was a different color from the other two-thirds, as if two books had been glued together.

Li Yan also remembered that from the time he met his teacher yesterday until just now when he took out the paper, his teacher seemed to only use his right hand. Whether it was testing the needle yesterday or doing other things, he had never used his left hand. He must have been holding this book in his sleeve all the time.

This could not help but make him curious about the book. What kind of book would make a person inseparable from it? But he knew that these things were not something he could ask about now. After all, he had just entered the sect. Perhaps after he became familiar with his teacher, he could satisfy his curiosity.

Military Advisor Ji, as if he didn't see the curiosity in Li Yan's eyes, handed the paper full of writing to Li Yan and said, "This is our sect's 'Qi Guidance Art'. I will now teach it to you first. Later, you can study it carefully on your own. If there is anything you don't understand, I will answer your questions. Qi is divided into innate and acquired. When a baby is in its mother's womb, it has innate Qi, and can breathe without its mouth and nose. After a person is born, they use their mouth and nose to breathe, which is acquired Qi, and they lose their innate Qi." This explanation took another full quarter of an hour. After he finished speaking, Military Advisor Ji closed his mouth and said nothing more, watching Li Yan, who was thinking with his head down. Occasionally, he picked up the small wooden figure and the "Qi Guidance Book" and carefully studied them. Then he folded his hands and hid them in his sleeves, placed them on his abdomen, and closed his eyes to meditate.

Li Yan spent half a day studying this, and finally, after confirming that he had memorized the method of performing the technique and some key meridian routes, he felt relieved. He was originally afraid that he had never been exposed to the way of inner power, and that if it was too profound, many problems would arise, which would be embarrassing in front of his teacher. Now that he felt that his understanding was correct, he felt much relieved. He thought to himself, "Maybe this is just the entry-level method."

He looked up at his teacher and said somewhat cautiously, "Teacher, this disciple feels that he has a preliminary understanding of this entry-level method."

Hearing this, Military Advisor Ji opened his eyes, smiled at Li Yan, and then slowly asked a few key questions. Seeing that he answered fluently, his face was very satisfied. "Then, starting today, you will begin to cultivate this method. I estimate that it will take three to five days at the earliest, and ten days to half a month at the latest, for you to stimulate the Qi of your Dantian. Also, now that you have memorized this paper of the inner cultivation method, hand it over to me for destruction. It's not that I don't trust you, but this is a common practice among the major sects of the Jianghu. Except for the original copy of the cultivation method, everything else is taught orally. Even if there are only a few words on paper, they must be destroyed immediately afterward, so as to prevent these cultivation method papers from being accidentally lost or snatched away by villains. Even the original copy of the inner cultivation method can generally only be kept by the sect leader."

Hearing this, Li Yan did not feel that there was anything wrong. Putting himself in his teacher's shoes, he understood that how could something that was the foundation of a sect's existence be casually written on paper? If that were the case, the major sects would have no secrets to speak of.

He respectfully handed the page of "Qi Guidance Art" back to his teacher. Military Advisor Ji smiled, took it, and put it in his sleeve. As for how he would deal with it, Li Yan would not ask too many questions. Then, Military Advisor Ji pointed to the small wooden figure covered with meridian routes and said, "Take this with you. This is

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something that needs to be memorized and familiarized with over a long period of time."

Li Yan took the small wooden figure from the table as instructed. However, he guessed that this small wooden figure was just carved more exquisitely. All Martial Arts sects should have similar entry-level items. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to explain clearly these invisible and intangible meridians and acupoints just by talking. Then, he bid farewell to Military Advisor Ji and left the stone house.

After watching him leave, Military Advisor Ji narrowed his eyes and looked at the door. After a while, he sighed softly and said to himself, "His aptitude is much worse than the last one. I wonder how long it will take him to reach the peak of the first level. But my time is running out. This poison is becoming increasingly difficult to suppress. Alas!" With that, he waved his right sleeve at the door a few yards away, and the door closed silently. If Marshal Hong saw this, his soul would definitely leave his body in fright. Even the most outstanding Transformation Realm Expert in the current Jianghu could not accomplish this so effortlessly from several yards away. If one had to do this, at least they would need to be a Transformation Realm Expert, and the distance would have to be reduced by more than half. Only after Qi had sunk into the Dantian and inner force had surged out wildly could it be done. However, in that case, the door would probably be torn to pieces.

After doing this, Military Advisor Ji stretched out his left hand from his sleeve, and the book that was neither gold nor jade and the page of "Qi Guidance Art" appeared on the table. He skillfully flipped the book to the one-third mark where the color division line was and placed it flat on the table. He placed his hands on the back half of the opened book and silently circulated his profound skill on it. After a while, the book did not react in any way. Then, he changed the direction of the book several times, placing it horizontally and vertically, and inputting inner force or tapping it, but the book remained the same. Finally, he made a strange move, picking up the book and placing the back two-thirds of the book on his forehead, just like a scholar who encounters a difficult problem and habitually places the book on his forehead to think while closing his eyes. He remained motionless like this. After a long time, a sigh echoed in the room, "It still doesn't work. I've used all kinds of methods in recent years, but I still can't open it. How many levels do I need to cultivate to before I can have this opportunity? If there is a method to solve the Fire Poison in my body in this book, but alas." After sighing, he saw him pick up the "Qi Guidance Art" paper with his right hand. Without any movement, the paper suddenly burst into flames and turned to ashes in an instant. "Inner Qi Transformation." This was just a myth heard in Jianghu legends. Even the most outstanding experts in the current Martial Arts world could only use inner force to turn objects into fragments or powder, but no one could create fire out of thin air.