Nine Yang Sword Saint

“I have Xuan Energy already?” Yang Dingtian asked excitedly.

“Go and practice punching for three hours.” The old man said, “The most important thing when practicing punching is not the motion but how you interact with the Xuan Energy in your abdomen. You need to merge your punch and Xuan Energy and learn how to control the Xuan Energy in your abdomen. You must learn how to not only gather the Xuan Energy from your veins to the Sea of Energy in your abdomen but also learn how to spread the Xuan Energy in your Sea of Energy throughout all your veins. Only then will this punch be useful in a fight.”

(Note: Sea of Energy is a place between the navel and the pubic bone, on the middle line. It is an area 2 fingers wide that is used to store Xuan energy.)

“What type of interaction?” Yang Dingtian asked.

The old man said, “Go and feel it.”

After saying that, the old man closed his eyes again.

Yang Dingtian started practicing the first technique of Zhen Yang Punch. In the beginning, he practiced with his eyes wide open to avoid making any mistakes. However, he didn’t feel any reaction from the Xuan Energy in the Sea of Energy in his lower abdomen. After practicing another ten times, he still perceived no response from the Xuan Energy. Thus, Yang Dingtian tried to interact with the Energy with his eyes closed, not caring whether his moves were accurate or not. The results were surprising. The rat inside him moved slightly. However, it was only a small movement. The attractive force exerted by Yang Dingtian wasn’t strong enough and couldn’t draw the energy throughout his veins.

Yang Dingtian continued practicing with his eyes closed and tried very hard to feel and get closer to the rat. However, contrary to expectations, the more he tried to get closer to it, the more reserved it became. At first, it had moved slightly. Now, it just ignored him and no longer responded.

Thus, Yang Dingtian opened his eyes again and practiced the moves precisely dozens of times, ignoring the small Xuan Energy rat. Then, he practiced with his eyes closed again, trying to feel the small Xuan Energy rat.

Surprisingly, just as he started practicing with his eyes closed and using his heart to feel the small rat, the rat started jumping so aggressively that it almost spread throughout his veins to all parts of his body.

Yang Dingtian was extremely happy as this small Xuan Energy rat felt like a real rat. It was sometimes close and sometimes far. When you try to get closer to it, it ignores you; when you ignore it, it comes right to you.

Yang Dingtian immediately started practicing again with his eyes closed to feel the Xuan Energy. This world of martial arts was too wonderful. Yang Dingtian freely embraced it and was becoming addicted.

“That’s all for today. Don’t practice anymore,” the old man said.

“But, that rat jumped aggressively. I’m already about to succeed,” Yang Dingtian said.

“It will not jump into your veins again since it just jumped aggressively. You have already achieved the greatest result for the day.” The old man said, “Stop practicing or there will be regression instead.”

“Ai! When you compare one person to another, it will only cause frustration.” The old man sighed and then slowly closed his eyes.

Yang Dingtian didn’t believe him and continued practicing in secret. However, it turned out that the old man was correct. Instead of improving, he experienced a huge regression in results. The rat slowly became less active, and eventually, it just rested inside him without moving at all.

On the second day, Yang Dingtian continued practicing Energy for an hour. He felt that the small rat had grown slightly bigger and had become more active as well.

However, in the following three hours when he practiced Zhen Yang punch style, although the rat had been jumping actively, he still failed to summon the Energy out of it. It was as if the small rat was way too drawn to the Energy that it couldn’t bear to go out.

The third day, fourth day, fifth day!

Finally, Yang Dingtian managed to lead the small rat out of the Sea of Energy in his lower abdomen. It felt just as real as a living rat running around his body and couldn’t be completely controlled. Each area of his body the rat entered would become hot and would feel like it was bulging. Yang Dingtian once again started making a ruckus.

The old man opened his eyes once again. When he saw how Yang Dingtian was simply running around, he sighed and shook his head. Again, he muttered, “When you compare one person to another, it will only cause frustration.”

While other people would need to practice for three months before they were able to draw the Xuan Energy from the Sea of Energy into the veins, Yang Dingtian had accomplished it in only five days.

“Sit down and adjust your breathing. The Xuan Energy will eventually return to the Sea of Energy by itself.” The old man continued, “The first technique of Zhen Yang Punch is the ability to vent ‘Energy.’ Gather the Xuan Energy from your veins and send it to the abdomen bit by bit until there is a lot. This process makes your Xuan Energy more powerful. Then, you draw this Xuan Energy out of your Sea of Energy and back through your veins.

“That’s why you are considered to have completed the first technique.” The old man said, “The second technique teaches you how to guide and control this Xuan Energy. It will teach you when to hold back, when to let it out, and how to send the Xuan Energy anywhere as required.”

“The third technique teaches you how to divide Xuan Energy as you shouldn’t use all of your Xuan Energy whenever you fight someone. Sometimes, you are only teaching someone a lesson and are not intending to kill him. You would only release your Energy bit by bit.”

“The fourth technique teaches you how to draw the Xuan Energy out of your abdomen to attack your enemy. But, this time, you would be able to stop the Xuan Energy halfway through your veins, storing it to be released later.”

“The fifth technique teaches you how to quickly gather new Xuan Energy from all parts of your veins while simultaneously using Xuan Energy to attack. Thus, you would be able to prepare for the next attack while launching the current one.”

“The fifth technique is the most important technique,” Yang Dingtian affirmed.

“That’s right. The fifth technique is the most important and also the hardest one to master.” The old man said, “The veins in the human body are like a creek and Xuan Energy is like the water flowing in it. The Energy in the lower abdomen is like the sea. The creek flows into a small river. The small river then flows into a big river. The big river finally flows into the ocean. Xuan Energy comes from heaven and earth. Every human pore and every inch of this entire world absorbs Xuan Energy. When Xuan Energy in the Sea of Energy is released, the Xuan Energy in the veins can gather in the Sea of Energy more quickly. At the same time, every inch of the body begins to absorb Xuan Energy from heaven and earth. The whole process is endless as it forms a cycle. However, there are differences in speed. For example, if you were to release all your Xuan Energy in one punch, then it would take more than two minutes for your Xuan Energy to gather again. During that period, someone could kill you ten times over.”

Next, the old man began to draw the second, third, fourth and fifth techniques of Zhen Yang Punch in the snow.

“Summer is about to arrive. Snowy weather will eventually cease to come. Hence, you must be able to memorize all of these remaining techniques. Basically, I will not be opening my eyes anymore in the following days. You need to practice by yourself and keep my words in mind. Practice Energy for an hour and then practice punching for three hours,” the old man instructed.

“Are you not going to guide me anymore?” Yang Dingtian asked.

“Zhen Yang Punch style and The Art of Heaven and Earth are both enlightenment martial arts. They form the simplest foundation, which is also the most difficult and important one. A martial artist must practice both Zhen Yang Punch and The Art of Heaven and Earth to enter the next phase of martial arts practice. Teachers will not provide guidance as there is no possible guidance to give. Every martial artist has different feelings and sentiments. Even their methods of interaction with Xuan Energy vary. Any guidance would be of no help and would instead lead the martial artist down the wrong path.”

“Which is why Zhen Yang Punch and The Art of Heaven and Earth are the foundation which every martial artist must master. It could even be said that, by observing the practice of Zhen Yang Punch and The Art of Heaven and Earth alone, one could discern the highest attainments a martial artist would achieve in his entire lifetime.” The old man continued, “That’s why this is a period of enlightenment for us to see our true natures.”

After learning the importance of both Zhen Yang Punch and The Art of Heaven and Earth, Yang Dingtian asked, “Would those who are able to master The Art of Heaven and Earth and Zhen Yang Punch faster have higher achievements in the future?”

“That’s true for most people, but there are also exceptions. The key is to discern the martial artist’s understanding and feelings towards Xuan Energy during this enlightenment period, as well as his temperament and suitability. These are the criteria with which one could accurately predict a martial artist’s future.” The old man continued, “But of course, this is all related to Xuan Energy. A martial artist that is talented is born with the ability to absorb Xuan Energy from heaven and earth better. With a larger Sea of Energy, he will naturally have greater control over Xuan Energy.”

“In conclusion, under similar conditions, seventy percent of a martial artist’s achievements depend on his Xuan veins, while the other thirty percent depend on his nature.” The old man said, “Of course, when one’s talent and Xuan veins are equal in level, one’s nature should be roughly the same as well. Then, seventy percent would depend on one’s mentor, precious items and weapons, while thirty percent would depend on random opportunities. Of course, all of it ultimately depends on Xuan veins.”

“What about my Xuan veins?” Yang Dingtian quickly asked.

The old man showed a weird expression and closed his eyes again.

Yang Dingtian instantly became despondent. What did the old man’s expression mean? Could it be that I had no talent? That shouldn’t be the case, right? Yang Dingtian was still a person with high self-confidence who believed that he would excel in almost everything.

Thus, he continued practicing assiduously!

He merely spent five days to master the first technique.

However, for the second technique, he spent five days to learn the first part. He was able to control his Xuan Energy when punching. When he was able to use the Energy to blow the snow apart into smaller pieces, Yang Dingtian became even more excited. He was getting more and more addicted to this mysterious world of martial arts.

Then, continuing his practice on the second technique, he learned how to hold back, how to release, and also how to control the movement of Xuan Energy. He spent a total of 25 days to master these exercises.

All of his progress meant that he had spent a total of 40 days to master the second technique, which was eight times as much time as he’d spent on the first technique. This apparently slow progress made him slightly sad and caused him to slightly doubt his own talent.

Of course, if the old man had known of his rate of progress, he would have definitely muttered, ” When you compare one person to another, it will only cause frustration.”

The reality was that even those extremely talented individuals needed almost half a year to master the second technique.

Continuing with the third technique, Yang Dingtian became even more depressed as he needed to spend two months to master it.

During this entire period, the old man did not open his eyes even a single time. He had already passed all of the red Flame Pills to Yang Dingtian to consume every fifteen days. Other than practicing Energy and Zhen Yang Punch, he would make ice bricks whenever it snowed. As the small Xuan Energy rat grew bigger and bigger, he seemed to also gain a greater and greater resistance to the cold. He was also getting stronger, and his body was becoming much lighter and more agile.

Once Yang Dingtian completed the third technique, winter had already ended and it was well into the second half of summer.

Since it was extremely cold in the north, it was still snowing during the summer. It’s only the frequency and volume of snowfall that had decreased. Hence, the progress of the ice stairs Yang Dingtian was building ground to a slow crawl.

Therefore, Yang Dingtian wished that summer would end soon and that winter would come!

Yang Dingtian continued practicing Zhen Yang Punch. The first technique only took him five days to master, while the second technique took him forty days. He needed two months for the third technique. His accomplishments fully prepared him for tackling the fourth technique. He even set a four-month deadline for himself. However, it turned out that he only needed a mere three days to master the fourth technique, which made him extremely happy. At this point, he hoped that the old man would open his eyes and praise him or even react in shock towards his progress.

However, the old man still kept his eyes closed, which made Yang Dingtian slightly sad. He felt like someone who had gotten good results but didn’t get praised by his parents.