Chapter 14: Officially Becoming a Disciple
At this point, Strategist Ji's pale face seemed to flush with a hint of color. Suddenly, his voice became solemn, and his eyes locked onto Li Yan.
"Are you willing to formally become my disciple?"
Li Yan had already made up his mind in his heart, and at this moment, he didn't hesitate any further.
"Disciple Li Yan greets Teacher!"
"Good! I have always been indifferent by nature and dislike those overly complicated formalities. Just kowtow to me three times, and you shall be considered officially initiated."
After speaking, he adjusted his sitting posture, sitting upright and solemn behind the desk. His expression turned serious. Three sticks of incense burned in the small censer on the desk, their smoke curling gently upward, exuding the air of a sect leader.
Li Yan stood up, tidied his coarse robe, and once again knelt respectfully before the incense table. Facing Strategist Ji seated behind the desk, he solemnly kowtowed three times.
Strategist Ji stroked his beard, and a healthy flush rose to his once pale face. His smile deepened.
"Hehe, alright, rise."
After standing up, Li Yan showed a joyful expression on his face. He bowed respectfully once more, then knelt again before the desk to listen to Strategist Ji's instruction.
"Now that you are a disciple of the Woodshadow Sect, it's time I teach you the introductory method of our sect."
Upon hearing this, Li Yan was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected that immediately after becoming a disciple, Strategist Ji would begin teaching him cultivation techniques. But thinking of his teacher's health, he felt reassured.
Strategist Ji noticed his reaction and asked, "Do you have any questions?"
Li Yan snapped out of it and replied, "No. Teacher, please continue your guidance."
Hearing this, Strategist Ji didn't question further and continued.
"All disciples of this sect must cultivate both martial arts and herbal knowledge. However, powerful martial arts form the foundation for us martial world wanderers to survive and establish ourselves.
Moreover, many precious herbs and medicinal plants grow in remote and dangerous places, far from the reach of ordinary people. Therefore, new disciples must first train their martial arts to a certain level of mastery before they can begin studying herbalism.
Martial arts are divided into internal cultivation methods and combat techniques. Internal cultivation is the mother of all techniques. No matter how proficient one is in combat techniques, without the support of internal energy, one cannot unleash their true power.
At most, one's strikes are no different from ordinary street brawls. But if powered by internal energy, even basic punches and skills can shatter mountains and break stones, pluck leaves to harm foes.
Thus, internal cultivation is the very foundation upon which all sects build their survival and legacy, and it is considered a sect's most treasured secret."
Strategist Ji began to explain slowly and methodically. He spoke for the time it would take to drink several cups of tea, covering the categories of internal cultivation, the divisions among major sects, martial realms, acupoints, and meridians.
He even brought out a finely carved wooden figure. The figure was nude, with crisscrossing blue and red lines and densely dotted markings on its surface.
Tiny annotations were written beside each point and line in miniature script. It was clearly a model illustrating the body's various meridians and acupoints. Strategist Ji explained each in detail to Li Yan.
"…What I just told you is the foundation of cultivation. You must remember it thoroughly and cannot make any mistakes.
Now let me speak about the heart method of our sect. As I told you before, internal cultivation is the mother of all techniques. Our sect's internal method is called 'Wood Yin Art' and consists of ten layers. Its power is extraordinary.
While cultivating this technique, one must also soak the body in the essence of herbs refined by our sect's secret method. This strengthens the physical body and clears the meridians throughout the body, making the internal flow of energy more vigorous.
This allows one's internal force to accumulate and become increasingly powerful, so that during battle, one can unleash devastating combat strength. This heart method surpasses those of secular sects. I, your teacher, have only reached the peak of the third layer so far."
Li Yan's face was filled with disbelief. With his teacher's current level of martial arts, he was already a match for thousands. Yet he said he had only reached the third layer of the "Wood Yin Art"? If one reached the tenth layer, wouldn't they become a living immortal?
Strategist Ji glanced at Li Yan and continued slowly.
"However, before cultivating this method, one must first train in our sect's 'Breathing Guidance Technique'. This technique draws in the essence of heaven and earth to stimulate the qi within the dantian. Only after this qi is activated can one formally begin cultivating the 'Wood Yin Art'."
At this point, Strategist Ji swept his wide black sleeve, revealing his fair and slender hands above the table.
In his left hand, he held a book that appeared neither metallic nor jade-like. With his right hand, he drew a sheet of paper from the book, slightly larger than a page.
This sheet was densely covered with characters, clearly not a page from the book itself. Judging by the fresh ink, it looked recently written.
As Strategist Ji moved, Li Yan noticed the unusual material of the book in his teacher's left hand.
He had read many books since childhood, but had never seen anything made of such material. Moreover, a third of the book's color differed from the rest, it looked as if two books had been fused together.
Li Yan also recalled that from the moment he met his teacher yesterday until just now when he took out the paper, he had only used his right hand.
Whether during the needle test or doing other tasks, he never used his left hand. It seemed he had been holding the book in his sleeve all along.
This made him extremely curious. What kind of book would someone keep so close at all times?
But he also knew that this was not the time to ask such things. Since he had just joined the sect, perhaps once he became more familiar with his teacher, he might have the chance to satisfy his curiosity.
Strategist Ji acted as though he hadn't noticed the curiosity in Li Yan's eyes. He handed the sheet full of characters to him.
"This is the sect's 'Breathing Guidance Technique'. I will now teach it to you. Later, you must study it thoroughly. If you don't understand something, I will explain it to you."
"Qi is divided into innate and acquired. A fetus in the womb breathes innate qi without using the nose or mouth.
Once born, breathing shifts to the nose and mouth, this is acquired qi. But in doing so, the innate qi is lost..."
This explanation took another full quarter of an hour. As soon as he finished, Strategist Ji said no more.
At this point, Li Yan had already lowered his head in contemplation. Occasionally, he would pick up the wooden model and the "Breathing Guidance Technique" paper to study them carefully. Strategist Ji, meanwhile, brought his hands together and hid them within his sleeves, placing them over his abdomen, and closed his eyes in meditation.
Li Yan immersed himself in contemplation for quite some time. Eventually, after confirming he had memorized the method and the crucial meridian paths, he finally relaxed.
He had feared starting from zero in internal cultivation, but perhaps because Strategist Ji's explanations were so detailed, Li Yan found it surprisingly understandable and was greatly relieved.
"Maybe it's just because this is only the entry-level method, so it doesn't feel too hard to grasp."
After mentally reviewing the method one more time and confirming there were no unclear parts, he finally looked up at Strategist Ji and said, a bit nervously:
"Teacher, I believe… I believe I've gained an initial understanding of the entry method."
Strategist Ji opened his eyes upon hearing this, looked at Li Yan with a smile, and gently asked a few key questions. Seeing Li Yan respond fluently, his face revealed deep satisfaction.
"Then starting today, you may begin cultivating this method. I estimate that within three to five days at the earliest, or ten to fifteen at the latest, you will be able to activate your dantian qi.
Also, since you've memorized this heart method, return the paper to me for destruction. It's not that I don't trust you, it's simply the practice of all major sects in the martial world.
Aside from the original copies of cultivation manuals, all other materials are passed down orally. Any written notes must be destroyed immediately to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.
Even original texts are usually only kept by the sect leader."
Li Yan felt this was reasonable. He also understood that something so crucial to a sect's foundation couldn't be casually written down, or it would risk being leaked.
He respectfully returned the "Breathing Guidance Technique" paper. Strategist Ji smiled and accepted it, storing it inside his wide sleeve.
Then he pointed to the wooden model covered in meridian paths and said:
"Take this with you. It requires long-term familiarization and memorization."
Li Yan followed orders, picked up the small wooden man from the table, and left the stone house after respectfully bidding farewell. He hadn't yet fully memorized the intangible meridians and acupoints.
Strategist Ji watched him leave, eyes narrowed as he gazed toward the door. After a moment, he sighed and muttered to himself:
"His aptitude is far inferior to the last one. Who knows how long it'll take for him to reach the peak of the first layer. Yet I… my time is running short. This poison is becoming harder and harder to suppress. Sigh..."
As he finished speaking, he flicked his sleeve toward the door several zhang away. The heavy door closed silently without a sound.
If Marshal Hong had witnessed this, he would've been utterly terrified. Even the top-tier masters in the current martial world couldn't close a heavy door from several zhang away so effortlessly.
To perform such a feat, one would at least need to be a Transcendent Master. And even then, they'd have to be much closer, drawing deep from the dantian to surge internal force outward. Even then, the door would likely shatter from the impact.
After doing all this, Strategist Ji extended his left hand from his sleeve again, and the same book that was neither gold nor jade, and the "Breathing Guidance Technique" paper reappeared on the desk.
He opened the book to where the colored division line was and laid it flat on the desk.
Then, placing both hands on the later portion of the book, he silently circulated his inner energy and infused it into the book. After a while, nothing happened.
He then rotated the book in several directions, horizontal, vertical, channeling internal energy into it or lightly tapping it, but still there was no response.
Finally, he made a strange gesture, placing the back two-thirds of the book's latter half against his forehead.
Just like how a scholar might rest a book on their head in contemplation when faced with a difficult problem.
He remained motionless like that for a long time. Then, a long sigh filled the quiet room.
"Still no use. I've tried every method over the past few years, and still can't open it. Just how high must I cultivate before the opportunity appears? Perhaps within this book lies the solution to this fire poison in my body, but sigh..."
With a sigh, he picked up the "Breathing Guidance Technique" paper in his right hand. Without any visible action, the paper suddenly burst into flames and turned to ash in an instant.
"Internal energy transforming into flame," a feat heard only in martial world legends.
Even the top martial experts today can only crush objects into fragments or powder with internal force. But to summon fire from nothing, none can achieve it.
(Chapter End)