Chapter 11: Damn it!
After finishing reading the pirated copy of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》, Shi Feizhe read the 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》 he had copied during the day. This secret manual was relatively simpler compared to the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》.
“Blood and Qi Barrier” is the first barrier in martial arts. Through breathing techniques, training methods, and consuming appropriate medicine and food, one can strengthen their physique and train their internal organs!
The so-called “Blood and Qi” refers to the point where, after training one’s muscles, bones, skin, and flesh to a certain level, one can easily perceive the flow of their blood throughout their body, feeling as if there is “Qi” within. Only when one can move their blood and Qi, control their muscles, and sense their internal organs can they be considered to have passed this barrier.
As long as a person isn’t born with weak or defective muscles and bones, they can achieve this with perseverance and financial resources.
The 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》 records four training methods called “Rewarding Good Fist, Punishing Evil Leg, Yin Law Stance, and Inspecting Stance,” used to train muscles, bones, skin, and flesh. It’s important to note that these four sets of fists are not for fighting but are purely training methods like calisthenics.
As for fighting techniques, there is a corresponding 《Forest of Souls Palm》!
Although it’s called a palm technique, when you hold a saber, it becomes Forest of Souls Saber. When you hold a sword, it becomes Forest of Souls Sword! The application of the palm technique is not limited to fists, palms, or weapons, making it very flexible. It truly overturned Shi Feizhe’s impression that palm technique experts only use their palms and that sword technique experts become weaker when they switch weapons.
The secret manual is very detailed. As long as you can understand it, you can practice it step by step.
The only problem is that half of this secret manual is based on guesswork, and the Blood and Qi Barrier requires a large amount of medicinal herbs and food. With Shi Feizhe’s current financial situation, he only has two to three taels of silver. In this expensive tourist area, it’s probably only enough for a month?
He didn’t even eat dinner last night. In his previous life, he skipped dinner to control his weight. In this life, he skipped dinner purely because he couldn’t afford it!
If he had the living conditions of his previous life, breaking through the Blood and Qi Barrier would be very easy!
What a pity…
Thinking about these things, Shi Feizhe continued to study the “Essence and Spirit Barrier”.
The “Essence and Spirit” in the “Essence and Spirit Barrier” is not the “spirit” in “mental illness” from Shi Feizhe’s previous life, but is divided into “Essence” and “Spirit”.
“Essence is the root of life.” The so-called “Essence” is a person’s vital energy, the foundation of life, not something strange like “semen.” When training Blood and Qi, one needs to use methods to nourish the Essence, simultaneously strengthening and expanding it to make the vital energy abundant.
“Spirit” is more mysterious. Externally, Spirit is called the Heavenly Spirit, the creator and ruler of all things in heaven and earth. For humans, Spirit is also the master of their thoughts and actions. However, ordinary people are full of distracting thoughts and cannot perceive their “Spirit,” so they need to visualize deities, borrowing the false to cultivate the true, to make their “Spirit” manifest.
According to the 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》, one should visualize the Ten Kings of Hell, from the first King Qinguang to the tenth King of Reincarnation. When one can simultaneously visualize all ten Kings of Hell, it means their “Spirit” cultivation is complete.
At that time, Blood, Qi, Essence, and Spirit will be united, and upon seeing the truth, True Qi will be formed!
How do the four unite? How to unite them? What if they can’t be united? This part of the 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》 is summarized in a single sentence, leaving Shi Feizhe confused.
It was already based on guesswork, and now it’s so vague, making Shi Feizhe scratch his head!
He couldn’t practice the methods for the Blood and Qi Barrier at the moment, so why not try the visualization method of the Essence and Spirit Barrier?
The visualization method was simple. One just needed to meditate and outline the visualized deity in their consciousness.
There’s no harm in trying, even if it’s wrong.
Shi Feizhe immediately sat cross-legged, emptied his mind, and quietly entered a meditative state.
The result… He fell asleep while meditating.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already dawn! The landlord’s family had already started boiling hot soup and cooking.
Only then did Shi Feizhe realize that meditation also requires practice!
He chose this place because the family provided hot soup （boiling water） and a meal of coarse grains every morning.
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The family was an elderly couple in their fifties or sixties. When he rented the room, he heard them say they had a son who went out to wander the Jianghu and hadn’t returned for several years!
Shi Feizhe washed his face and hair with hot soup and ate a bowl of coarse grain porridge and two coarse grain cakes. Originally, he wanted to practice Sword Stance, but thinking about the two secret manuals from last night, he decided to skip his practice and go out directly.
Today, he wanted to find a copy of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 and then go to the Three Talents Manor to discuss the 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》. Yesterday, when he was copying the 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》, he saw many people copying it, so he thought they must have many questions as well.
The 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 was indeed common. Shi Feizhe found a copy after asking only two bookstores.
Under the curious gaze of the bookstore attendant, Shi Feizhe opened the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》. After simply glancing at a few pages, he returned it to the attendant and left, leaving the attendant puzzled.
The attendant looked at the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》. To be honest, he had secretly practiced it too. Who hasn’t had a moment of dreaming?
But it was just a waste of time!
Shi Feizhe went to the next bookstore and opened the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》. It was fortunate that this was such a bizarre martial arts manual, otherwise, he might not have been allowed to browse it.
“Hey, hey, hey, do you want it or not? If not, stop flipping through it!” This bookstore didn’t have an attendant, and the owner was a stingy person. Seeing Shi Feizhe flipping through this garbage book, he couldn’t help but say.
“No, I don’t want it!” Shi Feizhe tossed the book back to the bookstore owner and continued towards the next bookstore.
“Damn kid!” The bookstore owner looked at Shi Feizhe’s back and couldn’t help but curse in his local dialect.
Shi Feizhe didn’t care about this owner. He ran to every bookstore in Three Talents Town, looked at all the copies of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 in every bookstore, and finally spent four wen to buy another copy.
He returned to his rented room in a daze and laid out the three copies of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 in a row.
The first one with bloodstains, the second one he bought yesterday, and the third one he bought today.
Each of these three copies was different!
There were two versions of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 in Three Talents Town. One was like the second one he bought yesterday, although there were occasional formatting errors, the content was basically the same. The other version was the one he bought today.
This version differed greatly from the bloodstained one and also differed greatly from the one he bought yesterday.
Three copies with the same name, 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》, but with different contents!
Which the hell is the right one?
Shi Feizhe’s scalp tingled, and he cursed in his mind, “Damn it!”
No wonder that jerk said anyone who practices martial arts goes crazy. Even a widely circulated garbage book has several versions, let alone others?
There might be other versions of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 in the Jianghu!
How could he prove which of these three versions of the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 was correct?
There was only one way!
That was to practice the other two versions as well!
Practicing martial arts is insane!
