Ask Wudang Chapter 028

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Opening the North Profound Divine Art manual first, the opening passage read: “The ‘Zhuangzi’ Free and Easy Wandering states, ‘To the north of the barren lands, there is a dark sea, which is the Lake of Heaven. There is a fish there, several thousand li in breadth, whose length no one knows.’ It also says, ‘If the accumulation of water is not deep, it will not have the strength to support a large boat. If you pour a cup of water into a hollow, a mustard seed can become a boat. If you place a cup in it, it will stick, because the water is shallow and the boat is large.’ Therefore, the primary purpose of this art is to accumulate internal energy. Once internal energy is profound, all martial arts under heaven can be used by me, just like the North Profound, which can carry all boats, large or small, and contain all fish, large or small.”

As a transmigrator, how could Ye Qingfeng not know the fame of the North Profound Divine Art? It could be said without exaggeration that this art was almost among the strongest divine arts in Jin Yong’s martial arts, even surpassing divine arts like the Nine Yin, Nine Yang, and Yi Jin Jing.

The greatest feature of this North Profound Divine Art was its ability to absorb others’ internal energy for one’s own use, without any side effects.

The first lesson of this art, the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, stated: “The Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian and the Ren Meridian are the foundation of the North Profound Divine Art. Among them, the Shaoshang acupoint on the thumb and the Danzhong acupoint in the chest are especially important. The former is for absorption, the latter for storage. Humans have four seas: the stomach is the sea of water and grain, the Chong Meridian is the sea of the twelve meridians, the Danzhong is the sea of Qi, and the brain is the sea of marrow. Eating water and grain and storing it in the stomach is something an infant can do from birth, without needing practice. Absorbing others’ internal energy through Shaoshang and storing it in my sea of Qi is something only the orthodox North Profound Divine Art of the Carefree Sect can do. Humans consume water and grain, but excrete it all within a day. When I absorb others’ internal energy, I absorb a portion and store a portion; it never depletes, accumulating more and more, like the vast expanse of the North Profound Lake of Heaven, capable of floating a Kun of a thousand li.”

Ordinary internal arts primarily focused on the Dantian Qi Sea, but this art focused on the Danzhong Qi Sea.

From this point, it could be seen that this art was completely different from ordinary internal arts, even going against them.

Precisely because of this, the conditions for cultivating this art were extremely stringent. One’s entire body must not contain even a trace of true qi; otherwise, the true qi would clash, leading to qi deviation in minor cases, and death in severe cases. To master this art, one either had no martial arts foundation whatsoever or had to dissipate their existing cultivation.

With Ye Qingfeng’s current cultivation, he was almost at the pinnacle of the martial world. Asking him to dissipate his cultivation to switch to the North Profound Divine Art was clearly impossible. However, he would not easily give up this divine art. Because, in his understanding, Xiao Yaozi possessed the North Profound Divine Art, the Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Only I Am Supreme Art, the Lesser Phase Art, and various other martial arts, indicating that this divine art could be compatible.

After a quick browse through the manual, Ye Qingfeng calmed his mind and began to cultivate according to the divine art’s methods.

“Poof!”

After half a cycle of internal energy circulation, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian already damaged.

Fortunately, his Pure Yang Limitless Art had reached the realm of perfection without leakage, and his true qi circulated smoothly, allowing him to stop the damage in time.

Calming his qi and blood, Ye Qingfeng muttered to himself, “It really can’t be cultivated without dissipating cultivation. However, after this attempt, I’ve also figured out a little something. It’s not impossible to master this art without dissipating cultivation. This art originates from ‘Zhuangzi’s’ Free and Easy Wandering, and is a pure Daoist martial art. Its core lies in the four words ‘all rivers flow into the sea.’ If it couldn’t be compatible with other martial arts, that would be strange. It’s just that my foundation isn’t deep enough yet. Once my foundation is sufficient in the future, I will naturally find a way to cultivate this art.”

After muttering to himself, he temporarily set aside the thought of cultivating the North Profound Divine Art and instead picked up the Lingbo Weibu manual.

Lingbo Weibu was an extremely advanced lightness skill, based on the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching. The cultivator moved by stepping on the hexagram positions in a specific order, completing a large circle from the first step to the last. This footwork was exquisitely subtle and required profound internal energy to master. With Ye Qingfeng’s current cultivation, practicing this footwork was naturally no problem.

Ye Qingfeng opened the manual and meticulously studied each page. Each page had four footprints drawn on it, connected by dashed lines, and accompanied by text explanations. Every step’s name and how to breathe when stepping were clearly written. The entire book had about a hundred pages, and with four footprints per page, there were four to five hundred in total, truly complex beyond measure.

However, for martial arts cultivated to Ye Qingfeng’s current realm, this complexity was nothing.

Immediately, Ye Qingfeng took a deep breath and began to cultivate according to the footwork’s secrets. At first, due to unfamiliarity with the footwork and limited space, his cultivation felt a bit sluggish, and his breathing was not smooth. After he completed one full cycle of the sixty-four hexagrams, the situation improved greatly. Not only was his breathing smooth, but his internal energy also circulated much more smoothly. This Lingbo Weibu cultivated internal energy through dynamic movement. After stepping through the sixty-four hexagrams, his internal energy naturally completed a cycle, so with each cycle he completed, his internal energy improved by a fraction.

He walked more than a dozen times in a row, until his footwork was completely proficient, before Ye Qingfeng temporarily stopped.

After walking more than a dozen times with Lingbo Weibu, not only did he feel no fatigue, but even his previously damaged Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian had recovered.

After mastering Lingbo Weibu, Ye Qingfeng took out the Six Meridians Divine Sword manual and meticulously studied it.

The Six Meridians Divine Sword was the highest absolute art of the Dali Duan clan. The so-called divine sword was not a real sword, but rather using fingers as swords to unleash invisible sword qi to harm enemies, with astonishing power. According to the monks of Tianlong Temple, to learn the Six Meridians Divine Sword, one must first learn One Yang Finger as a foundation, because the Six Meridians Divine Sword was an advanced version of One Yang Finger. This statement was actually not entirely accurate. Duan Yu and Kumozhi had not learned One Yang Finger, but they still learned the Six Meridians Divine Sword. The reason, in the end, lay in one’s personal cultivation. If one’s cultivation was sufficient, one would naturally learn it.

The six meridians that unleashed the Six Meridians Divine Sword were the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian, Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao Meridian, and Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian. The six Zang organs were Yin, and the six Fu organs were Yang. The six meridians on the hand were symmetrical on both sides. The five fingers of the right hand plus the little finger of the left hand formed one set, and the five fingers of the left hand plus the little finger of the right hand formed another set. Theoretically, the left hand should also have a set of Six Meridians Divine Sword, but because swords are generally wielded with the right hand, and the right hand is more flexible than the left, the Six Meridians Divine Sword is mostly performed with the right hand.

The right thumb was the Shaoshang Sword. This sword technique was powerful and robust, with the power to shatter rocks and the momentum of an approaching storm.

The right index finger was the Shangyang Sword. This sword technique was clever and flexible, ethereal and agile, difficult to grasp.

The right middle finger was the Zhongchong Sword. This sword technique was grand and expansive, majestic and imposing, with heroic vigor.

The right ring finger was the Guanchong Sword. This sword technique was profound yet appeared clumsy, complete yet seemed flawed, winning by its clumsy simplicity.

The right little finger was the Shaochong Sword. This sword technique was light and swift, fast as lightning, unpredictable.

The left little finger was the Shaoze Sword. This sword technique was known for its, with exquisite and ingenious sword paths, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, with infinite variations.

With Ye Qingfeng’s current cultivation, although he was still far from Duan Yu, and also far from Kumozhi, he was much stronger than the old monks at Tianlong Temple. Since those old monks could master the Six Meridians Divine Sword, he naturally could too.

After reading the manual, Ye Qingfeng began to cultivate according to the methods.

“First is the Shaoze Sword, corresponding to the Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian.”

He saw him draw a semicircle with each arm, then successively tap six major acupoints on his left and right shoulders, simultaneously channeling his true qi from the Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian to the various acupoints in his shoulders and arms. In an instant, he felt his entire right arm warm and incredibly comfortable.

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