The First Sword of the Universe

Chapter 235 Return to Origin
The moonlight penetrates the branches and leaves of the trees, casting abstract shadows on the ground.

Zhang Sanfeng looked at the astonished faces of Xu Xingchen and his six disciples and couldn't help laughing.

After a long while, Xu Xingchen smiled bitterly, sorted out his messy emotions, and bowed solemnly to Zhang Sanfeng: "Please teach me, Master Zhang!"

"Okay, okay!" Zhang Sanfeng put away his smile and said something earth-shattering: "We went wrong halfway through our martial arts training."

"What?" A hint of surprise flashed in Xu Xingchen's eyes.

"wrong?"

The six Wudang heroes cried out in surprise at the same time, then looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

If these words came from someone else, they would definitely not believe them and would just think they were nonsense.

But these were words spoken by their master, Zhang Sanfeng, the number one man in the world, so no matter how unbelievable it was for the six of them, they had no reason to refute it.

Zhang Sanfeng glanced at the seven people and stretched out his right hand, bathing in the silver moonlight.

It was a broad, fleshy hand, without any sign of muscle atrophy of old age. Under the moonlight, everyone could clearly see the texture of the palm and the finger joints which were slightly thicker than those of others.

"Look, does my palm look like an old man's hand?"

Upon hearing their master's question, the six Wudang heroes shook their heads like wave drums in unison.

Xu Xingchen also shook his head slowly. He thought of the scene where the broad hand clenched his fist and punched him. He thought to himself, "This hand is probably the most powerful hand in the world!"

Zhang Sanfeng turned his palm over, his eyes fell into deep thought, and he said slowly: "Over the years, I have been thinking about the future of martial arts. However, as far as I can see, I only feel that the martial arts god is the highest peak of the martial arts. If I want to climb up, I can no longer see the way forward."

"This matter has troubled me for many years, and I can't figure it out!"

"Until a few years ago, when I was healing my disciple Wuji and protecting him from the cold poison, I discovered that the cold poison from the Mysterious Nether Divine Palm had penetrated deep into Wuji's internal organs. There was no other way except for someone who practiced the Nine Yang Divine Art to help him expel the cold poison, or for him to practice the Nine Yang Divine Art himself and expel the cold poison from his internal organs bit by bit."

"Later, my friend, you taught Wuji the Nine Yang Magic Skill in Butterfly Valley and saved his life. Only then did I have the leisure to start thinking about some things."

"What I first thought of was that if a person's internal organs were strong enough, they could resist the invasion of the cold poison of the Mysterious Nether God Palm on their own."

“This reminds me of the close connection between the true qi of those of us who practice martial arts and our internal organs.”

"One day, I suddenly realized that when we practice martial arts, we combine internal energy with the energy of the five internal organs and five elements to produce all kinds of strange true energy. In addition to enhancing our own combat effectiveness, is it also beneficial to our health and longevity?!"

When Zhang Sanfeng said this, the six Wudang heroes all fell into deep thought. This angle was a direction they had never thought about before, and it was also something they had never thought about before.

Xu Xingchen, who was well-versed in Taoist classics and had reached the pinnacle of martial arts, could think of much more than the six heroes of Wudang after hearing Zhang Sanfeng's words. For a moment, ripples flickered in his eyes, indicating that his thoughts were running fast in his mind.

Zhang Sanfeng glanced at his six disciples who were frowning in thought and shook his head, knowing that their martial arts skills had not yet reached their peak and they lacked some insights into some things.

When he looked at Xu Xingchen, whose eyes were shining, he nodded and thought, "This young man's martial arts have reached the pinnacle, and he is familiar with the Taoist Canon and the Book of Changes. He should have thought of something."

Xu Xingchen pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up at the immortal figure and said firmly, "Master Zhang, the reason you converted your true energy into internal strength is to strengthen your foundation and strengthen the five energies, right?"

"Hahahahahahaha" Zhang Sanfeng laughed out loud again, his eyes revealing some admiration: "My friend is very intelligent, you can understand ten things after hearing one thing, and you can draw inferences from one thing. This is exactly what I was thinking at that time."

The six Wudang heroes all looked up, with more or less confusion in their eyes.

Consolidate the foundation and cultivate the yuan
Strengthen the Five Qi
They can understand these two words, and haven't they been on this path in their martial arts training for so many years? !

Whether it is training the muscles, bones and skin externally or training the breath internally, isn't it all about strengthening your spirit? ! Isn't it all about strengthening the foundation? ! Isn't it all about strengthening the five qi? !

Why did the old man and the young man in front of them "bring up old things" again, talking about something that is well known and taken for granted by martial artists? !

It can be seen that if a martial artist does not practice to a certain level and does not climb to a certain peak, he will not be able to understand some truths and see some other scenery.

"Master Zhang, you succeeded?!" Xu Xingchen asked inquiringly, and then he clapped his hands and shouted in annoyance: "Oh, look at the way I asked this question, Master Zhang must have succeeded, otherwise, he wouldn't be so happy."

At this point, he bowed to Zhang Sanfeng again and said solemnly: "I wonder how Master Zhang feels after returning to his original state? Please feel free to give me some advice!" Zhang Sanfeng stroked his beard and sighed: "It is because of this return to his original state that I realized that our martial arts path has gone astray."

“The three treasures of the human body are essence, energy and spirit. Essence belongs to the body; energy is stored in the five internal organs; spirit is born from the heart.”

"Each of the three should be in their proper place and perform their respective duties"

"The Taoist scriptures say: Refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, which explains the order of cultivation."

"However, this is the practice method of the ancients. We, the people of later generations, cannot practice according to the ancient method. It seems that there is something important missing between heaven and earth."

"So, we, the martial artists of later generations, divided the steps of refining essence into qi into two parts. First, we condense the essence of the human body into internal strength to complete the step of 'refining essence', and then proceed to the second step of 'transforming qi', which is to combine the qi of the five internal organs and the five elements to generate true qi."

"There is nothing wrong with the first step of refining inner strength. The mistake is in the second step. No, maybe it is not a mistake, but a choice."

"After refining the essence into internal force, how to strengthen one's own five elements of Qi, our predecessors do not seem to have found a good way. Or maybe it is because the Qi generated by connecting the five elements of Qi with internal force has all kinds of incredible and powerful combat power, which has attracted thousands of people to follow suit, and gradually eliminated and abandoned other cultivation methods."

"After that, the process of refining qi into spirit is to comprehend the charm of spirit and understand the divine appearance of martial arts."

“This road seems to be a logical one, and it seems that we can go on forever, but those who really reach the end, like you and me, will find that this is a dead end, a dead end, with no way forward.”

"Of course, there won't be one person like us who have reached the pinnacle of martial arts in hundreds of years, so other martial artists won't have the troubles we have."

"The only solution I can think of is to return to the origin and return the five elements to their original positions and see what happens."

"But I never expected that this tactic of retreating to advance would produce such a miraculous effect."

"My true energy is quite strong. After returning to its original state, it has gradually returned to its original state of balance after a period of circulation."

"After a long period of nourishment by the five energies, my body has actually begun to undergo a transformation. My old body has returned to its youthful state and is even stronger than when I was young."

Having said that, Zhang Sanfeng clenched his hands into fists. The back of his hands, wrists, and forearms faintly visible through his wide sleeves all showed strong tendons and muscles, exuding a sense of "strength" from the inside out.

"Now, I only need to circulate my internal energy. The power that bursts out from my muscles, bones, blood and flesh is even stronger than when I use my true energy. This is a pleasant surprise."

After listening to Zhang Sanfeng's story, the six Wudang heroes showed expressions of sudden enlightenment and joy, and they were all wondering in their hearts whether they should also learn from their master's method, return to their original nature, and convert their true energy into internal strength.

But Zhang Sanfeng dissuaded them, saying, "You guys don't have to do this. According to my master, your Qi is not pure and deep enough. Even if you return to the origin, I'm afraid it won't be enough to transform your body. So, just follow the original path of cultivation and keep going."

"When you have cultivated to the level of Master and Young Friend Xu, then we can consider returning to our roots."

Hearing this, the six Wudang heroes couldn't help but smile bitterly, thinking: "You two are both at the pinnacle of the martial arts world. I'm afraid we won't be able to reach your level of martial arts in this lifetime. It seems that we won't have a chance to practice this method of returning to the origin."

However, for Xu Xingchen, everything Zhang Sanfeng said meant: When you are at the end of your rope, there is always a way out.

The great joy of finding the way forward in martial arts made him unable to hold back a smile. If he had not been a calm person, and if there had not been other people present, he would have probably danced and laughed out loud.

Even so, he couldn't help but bow deeply to Zhang Sanfeng in joy and said loudly: "Thank you Master Zhang for your teachings! Thank you Master Zhang for your teachings!"

I said "thank you" twice, and only then did I barely release some of the joy in my heart.

Zhang Sanfeng laughed and said, "My dear friend, you have helped my Wudang Sect a lot. It is only natural that I can provide you with some ideas on cultivation."

After both sides were polite to each other, Xu Xingchen asked curiously, "May I ask Master Zhang, without the inner energy that can be released, can we still use the martial arts divine form that we have comprehended?"

The six Wudang heroes also turned their attention to their master. They were also very curious about this question.

Zhang Sanfeng stroked his beard and said, "Of course you can. However, this matter is a little difficult to describe clearly in words. My friend, are you still willing to continue to learn from me?"

Seeing the surprised looks of several people, he laughed and said, "Ever since this body became younger, I have wanted to find someone to exercise with. Now that my friend is here, how can I miss this opportunity?"

(End of this chapter)