Ask Wudang Chapter 142

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Ye Qingfeng teaching Hong Lingbo and Lu Wushuang the Nine Yin Manual was naturally not a complete transmission. The Nine Yin Manual was profound and extensive; if fully taught, it would take an eternity. Therefore, he only selected the martial arts suitable for the two from the manual.

The Muscle-Changing and Bone-Forging chapter, which could improve aptitude, naturally couldn’t be omitted.

The General Outline Heart Method, all-encompassing, where yin gives birth to yang, was the foundation of everything and also couldn’t be omitted.

Then, he also taught the Nine Yin Divine Claw, White Python Whip Technique, Eight Trigrams Roaming Dragon Palm, Taiyi Profound Gate Sword, and other skills.

The teaching took about half a month. After both of them had grasped the basics and memorized the essentials, Ye Qingfeng began his seclusion.

The sword technique Ye Qingfeng intended to create during his seclusion was naturally the Dugu Nine Swords.

That’s right, it was indeed the Dugu Nine Swords.

During his sword intent clash with Dugu Qiubai, whether it was the “Youth’s Sharp Sword, Unintended,” or the “Young Man’s Soft Sword, Impermanent,” or the “Middle-Aged Man’s Heavy Sword, Without Edge,” or the “Elderly Man’s Wooden Sword, Unmatched,” none of these sword intents mentioned the Dugu Nine Swords.

Dugu Qiubai, simply because he was skilled in the sword, then sincere with the sword, and finally obtained the sword and forgot the sword, was naturally able to break all techniques with a single sword.

And in the original novel of The Return of the Condor Heroes, it was clearly stated that Yang Guo only, based on the condor’s vague memories, through the tempering of mountain floods, developed a set of Profound Iron Sword Techniques. This set of sword techniques was just simple, ordinary sword moves, combined with fierce and unmatched internal energy, thereby exerting great power; it was fundamentally not the Dugu Nine Swords. On the other hand, the entire Condor Valley did not leave even a single trace of records about the Dugu Nine Swords manual. Therefore, Ye Qingfeng deduced that perhaps the Dugu Nine Swords never existed in the world, and the Dugu Nine Swords learned by Feng Qingyang and Linghu Chong in later generations were most likely created by someone after the Condor era, under the guise of Dugu Qiubai’s name.

It was precisely because of this deduction that Ye Qingfeng decided to create this sword technique himself.

His desire to create this sword technique was not a momentary whim but a form of “returning the favor.”

He had obtained Dugu Qiubai’s sword intent, from which he comprehended deeper martial arts mysteries, which was equivalent to obtaining Dugu Qiubai’s “Dao.” Having received something from others, one should naturally return the courtesy; this was Ye Qingfeng’s principle.

Dugu Qiubai had already left this world, so Ye Qingfeng could not return his sword intent to him. Therefore, he could only create this Dugu Nine Swords under his name, allowing his name to be known by future generations.

As for whether Ye Qingfeng could create the Dugu Nine Swords, the answer was certain.

Leaving aside everything else, his self-created Grand Profound Sword Art was a profound sword technique no less intricate than the Dugu Nine Swords.

As is well known, the numbers of the “I Ching” encompass all phenomena in the universe: Taiji gives birth to two polarities, two polarities give birth to four images, four images give birth to eight trigrams, and eight trigrams give birth to sixty-four hexagrams. This is the core of the “I Ching.” In short, a single “I Ching” contains the roots of both Daoist and Confucian schools, truly the source of the Great Dao and the chief of all classics. And the numbers of “Tai Xuan” are equally profound and unfathomable, also encompassing all phenomena in the universe. The various changes in the “I Ching” are all expressed in another way in “Tai Xuan,” so much so that the two can be said to be on par, running neck and neck.

The Grand Profound Sword Art created by Ye Qingfeng was based on the numbers of “Tai Xuan,” with various subtle changes pointing directly to the mysteries of the sword Dao. Therefore, this sword technique is almost infinite and can never be fully learned; the deeper one’s insight and the richer one’s experience, the higher one’s sword technique becomes.

Furthermore, Ye Qingfeng had obtained Dugu Qiu, gaining a profound understanding of Dugu Qiubai’s sword techniques.

Therefore, his desire to create the Dugu Nine Swords technique was truly unfounded.

On the Sword Tomb platform, Ye Qingfeng sat cross-legged with his eyes slightly closed, his five hearts facing the sky, his consciousness already entering another space.

In this mysterious space, he first recalled everything he had learned, seen, and heard from beginning to end. Then, he recalled Dugu Qiubai’s five levels of sword Dao true meaning one by one. Naturally, all the contents he recalled materialized in this space, like movie clips, constantly floating before his eyes and continuously intertwining.

After recalling, came the sorting, a process that was very long and distant.

One day, two days, three days…

It took a full three months for Ye Qingfeng to finish sorting everything.

Then, he began to create the sword technique.

“Gui Mei tends towards Wu Wang, Wu Wang tends towards Tong Ren, Tong Ren tends towards Da You. Jia turns to Bing, Bing turns to Geng, Geng turns to Gui. The of Zi Chou, the of Chen Si, the of Wu Wei. Wind and thunder are one change, mountain and marsh are one change, water and fire are one change. Qian and Kun stimulate each other, Zhen and Dui stimulate each other, Li and Xun stimulate each other. Three increases to five, five increases to seven, seven increases to nine…”

After another month, he finally created the General Formula, spanning five thousand words, pointing directly to the core of this sword technique.

With the General Formula, the rest was easy. In another two months, he created all the other eight forms: Breaking Sword Form, Breaking Saber Form, Breaking Spear Form, Breaking Whip Form, Breaking Rope Form, Breaking Palm Form, Breaking Arrow Form, and Breaking Qi Form.

At this point, the Dugu Nine Swords was considered complete.

Mastering this sword technique could, in theory, break all martial arts under heaven… Of course, this had to be based on actual circumstances. If the strength gap was too great, theory would just be empty talk, just like Linghu Chong couldn’t break Dongfang Bubai’s speed; it was the same principle.

Moreover, the core principle of this sword technique was very abstract, and each person’s understanding of the sword theory varied according to their comprehension.

Having created the Dugu Nine Swords, Ye Qingfeng planned to compile this sword technique into a manual, creating a mechanism like “kowtowing a thousand times” to ensure this sword technique would be passed down to future generations. He had not expected that hundreds of years later, a young man named Feng Qingyang would accidentally come to this valley, and by chance, trigger the mechanism he left behind, successfully obtaining the sword manual and eventually becoming a grandmaster of the sword Dao.

Of course, these are all later stories, so let’s put them aside for now.

Since the goal of his seclusion had been achieved, Ye Qingfeng no longer lingered and floated down from the Sword Tomb platform.

At this moment, in the open space in front of the thatched hut.

Yang Guo was prostrate on the ground, constantly puffing up and sucking in air, like a large toad. Beside him stood an old man with white hair and beard, disheveled and dressed in rags, looking like a beggar.

This old man was none other than the famous Ouyang Feng, the Western Poison, one of the Five Greats of the Central Plains.

Why was Ouyang Feng here?

It was all a matter of coincidence.

Back in Jiaxing, Ouyang Feng took advantage of Yang Guo’s poisoning to adopt him as his son. He was already mentally unstable, and over time, he truly regarded Yang Guo as his own son. Later, Yang Guo was taken back to Peach Blossom Island by Guo Jing and his wife. Because Ouyang Feng had a phobia of Guo Jing and his wife, he dared not trespass onto the island, so he had to wait patiently along the coast. After about a year of waiting, he finally saw Guo Jing taking Yang Guo off the island, so he followed them all the way to the Zhongnan Mountains. Guo Jing and his wife were his psychological shadows, and Wang Chongyang was also his psychological shadow. Seeing Guo Jing take Yang Guo up to the Chongyang Palace, he still dared not intrude and continued to wait bitterly at the foot of the mountain.

This wait lasted for five years.

Until recent months, he finally couldn’t bear it anymore, so he steeled his heart, stormed the Chongyang Palace, and turned the Quanzhen Sect upside down. He eventually learned from the Quanzhen Sect that his beloved son had come to Xiangyang, so he searched all the way there.

Unfortunately, after arriving in Xiangyang, his clues ran out, so he had to wander the streets, asking everyone he met.

As the saying goes, heaven helps those who help themselves.

Just a few days ago, Yang Guo went into the city to buy daily necessities, and the father and son finally reunited.

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