Sword Roaring in the Sky

Chapter 5: Practicing True Qi
Miao Youxiu smiled slightly, let Sun Yanwan go to rest, swallowed another pill, closed his eyes and meditated on the bed, practicing Qigong to heal his injuries.

It was pure luck that he was able to kill Hu Fengwei. Although he killed this archenemy with one knife, he was hit by a Hunyuan Palm and it took him at least a year and a half to recover.

After staying in this big inn for three days, Miao Youxiu swallowed several pills, meditated to heal his internal injuries, and then set off again, heading south, traveling during the day and sleeping at night. After walking for more than ten days, the weather gradually warmed up. Although it was still winter, it was not so cold. When passing by a big city, Miao Youxiu sold the good horse and exchanged it for a big cart, which made the journey less tiring.

When the master and disciple arrived at Chongyang City on Qiangnan Road, Sun Yanwan finally understood the general geography of the world and the old and new affairs of the world.

Now there is a court, the country is called Dalang, which divides the world into 19 routes and 35 circuits. Routes are provinces, with governors handling government affairs and having great power. Circuits are where troops are stationed, with general managers in charge of the army, who are arbitrary and despotic. With government and the army separated, the world is generally not peaceful. People in the underworld are rampant and lawless. There are many gangs that occupy the mountains and become kings. They resist donations and taxes and establish their own regimes. The two great powers, Xia in the South and Yan in the North, invade from time to time, and the border wars never stop.

Miao Youxiu arrived in Chongyang City and found an inn to stay in. He stayed there every day, concentrating on recuperating. After more than half a month, his health had improved significantly. He called Sun Yanwan over and said, "In addition to the martial arts passed down in our family, our Miao family has also collected six or seven first-class martial arts. When our family members learn martial arts, they can learn by analogy and use them as reference." At this point, he sighed and said, "Our Miao family used to be a large family, but now I'm afraid there are not many left."

Sun Yanwan didn't know how to respond to this. She couldn't just say "my condolences", so she could only remain silent and try not to ruin the atmosphere.

Miao Youxiu felt uncomfortable for a while, then said, "You picked up Hu Fengwei's Demon-Slaying Sword the other day, so you must have a connection with swordsmanship. I will teach you the Hu family sword technique!"

Sun Yanwan was surprised and asked, "Master, do you also know the Hu family sword technique?"

Miao Youxiu laughed and said, "Our two families have been feuding for generations. We've been killing each other for over a hundred years. How could we not try every possible means to find out each other's background?"

"However, our Miao family can only collect the introductory skills of the Hu family sword. We are unable to obtain the most profound Hunyuan Sword Sutra."

Sun Yanwan thought to herself, "Are the martial artists in this world so wild? I'm afraid the methods used to acquire these martial arts skills are not very glorious. Perhaps they involved torture, forced confessions, or ambushes and undercover operations."

However, Sun Yanwan didn't care much about the grudge between the Miao and Hu families. As long as he could learn martial arts, who cared where these martial arts came from.

Miao Youxiu said, "The Hu family's martial arts are also very famous in the martial arts world. To get started, you first learn the 36-move Hunyuan stance. After standing on it for a few years and naturally developing internal strength, you can then practice the more advanced 72-move Demon-Slaying Sword Style."

"However, the Hu family's most profound martial arts is the Hunyuan Sword Sutra!"

"Didn't you also see that Hu Fengwei could force out a half-foot green light on his long sword? That's the result of his successful cultivation of the Hunyuan Sword Sutra. He has cultivated a sword aura that can cut through gold and jade, breaking through anything. Its power is even greater than that of divine weapons."

"The Hu family's martial arts are different from our Miao family's. They emphasize long-term accumulation and then bursting into action. When they are young, the Hu family's martial arts are often not very good, but when they are in their seventies and eighties, their skills are very strong. They study the Hunyuan Sword Sutra and cultivate the Hunyuan Sword Gang. Other sects can hardly defeat them."

"The ancestors of the Miao family have pondered over and over again, but they have never been able to find a way to break the Hu family's Hunyuan Sword Energy."

"Fortunately, our Miao family's Kuaizaifeng is the world's top swordsmanship, and his light body skills are unparalleled in the world. Even the Hu family can't do anything to him. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."

"My grandfather and father killed quite a few members of the Hu family when they were young. As long as the Hu family members hadn't cultivated their sword energy, they were no match for us Miao people. But later, they were besieged and killed by seven or eight elders of the Hu family."

"Hu Fengwei had already mastered the sword energy when he was over thirty years old. He was considered a genius in the Hu family. It's a pity that he died at my hands. Otherwise, in another ten or eight years..."

"That's unacceptable!" "Hehe!"

"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. I'll teach you the Hun Yuan Pillar first."

Sun Yanwan was so moved by what he heard that he didn't care whose martial arts he was learning from. He quickly shouted, "Thank you, Master, for teaching me this martial arts."

Miao Youxiu laughed heartily, very pleased with the obedience of his new disciple, and first taught Sun Yanwan the three-way stance.

When he was instructing Sun Yanwan on the stance, he hadn't expected this new disciple to have such a high level of comprehension and learn so quickly. After correcting a few minor flaws, he had already mastered the three-way stance. He couldn't help but feel delighted, thinking to himself, "I felt sorry for him originally, but I didn't expect him to have such a high level of comprehension. This opportunity is well worth giving him."

Miao Youxiu told Sun Yanwan that his martial arts were inherited from his family and could not be easily passed on to others, but he did not mention that the Hu family's martial arts had never been passed on to others. Learning martial arts secretly was a taboo in the martial arts world.

Sun Yanwan followed Miao Youxiu and practiced for more than a month, and learned all 36 Hunyuan桩 of the Hu family. He practiced this set of桩功 according to his master's instructions. His hands and feet gradually gained strength, his movements became lighter, and his health improved a lot. He knew that this method was indeed extraordinary, so he worked harder to practice it.

One day, Miao Youxiu left his disciple at the inn, saying that he was going to visit a friend.

Sun Yanwan had little interest in this ancient world. Everywhere looked like a big village, even worse than the wealthy villages of modern times. Even the famous city of Dalang was just average.

After Miao Youxiu left, he stayed at the inn, cultivating for two or three hours. Suddenly, his tailbone felt hot, and a surge of heat rose up along his spine, rushing up to the top of his head. It briefly swirled around the Baihui acupoint before transforming into a coolness that flowed along the brow, nose, throat, and chest, finally settling down to his dantian. This faint current of air, after a sharp turn in his dantian, re-entered his tailbone, creating a cycle of heat and cold within his body, rising and falling.

Sun Yanwan was extremely happy and secretly exclaimed, "Is this the birth of true energy?"

He received Miao Youxiu's guidance. Although he was surprised, he remained calm and did not move, allowing his true energy to grow gradually. After more than half an hour, the true energy settled in his dantian, and then he stopped practicing Hunyuan Zhuang.

Sun Yanwan secretly pressed his Dantian, and suddenly a thought came to him: "Master said: After standing for a few years, the internal force will naturally be generated, and then the Demon-Slaying Sword Technique can be taught. I need to ask Master, how long does it take to cultivate true energy? If it's too fast, I have to hide it first, lest it stand out in the forest and be destroyed by the wind."

"However, if I conceal my cultivation level, wouldn't it be self-defeating if it delays my learning of more advanced martial arts?"

He was feeling conflicted, but Miao Youxiu didn't come back that night.

Sun Yanwan waited for two or three days, but Miao Youxiu still didn't come back. He was worried about his master and afraid that this important person would suddenly be gone, so he couldn't help but want to go out to find out the news.

Miao Youxiu hadn't mentioned any friends he was meeting. Sun Yanwan, a time traveler after all, had quick thinking and thought to himself, "Master's friends are probably also martial artists!" He asked the shopkeepers about any famous local martial artists. After asking for seven or eight names, he immediately had a rough idea of ​​what to do.

Sun Yanwan quietly left the inn and happened to see a group of gang members hurriedly passing by him and entering the inn. He had an idea and turned into a nearby alley.

After a while, the gang members rushed out and chased down the street.

(End of this chapter)