Five Immortal Sects

Chapter 14: Becoming A Sect Member

When Master Ji said this, his pale face seemed to turn red. His voice suddenly became solemn, and his eyes were fixed on Li Yan.

“Are you willing to formally become my disciple?”

Li Yan had already made up his mind and didn’t hesitate.

“Disciple Li Yan pays his respects to his teacher!”

“Good! As your teacher, I’ve always been straightforward and don’t like unnecessary formalities. You can just kowtow three times to officially become my disciple.”

After saying this, he adjusted his sitting posture, sitting upright behind the desk with a serious expression. The three incense sticks on the small incense burner in front of him wafted a gentle, soothing fragrance, exuding an air of authority.

Li Yan stood up, adjusted his coarse cloth robe, and then knelt down again in front of the incense table, respectfully kowtowing three times to Military Advisor Ji.

Military Advisor Ji stroked his beard, a hint of redness rising to his pale face as he smiled more broadly.

“Ah, that’s enough! Get up!”

Li Yan stood up with a joyful expression on his face, and then bowed again before sitting back down in front of the desk to listen to Military Advisor Ji’s teachings.

“Now that you’re a Wood Shadow Gate disciple, I’ll teach you the fundamental principles of our sect.”

Li Yan’s expression changed slightly as he listened to these words, not expecting Military Advisor Ji to start teaching him so soon after becoming his disciple. But thinking about Military Advisor Ji’s physical condition, he felt relieved.

Military Advisor Ji noticed his expression and asked, “Do you have any questions?”

Li Yan hesitated for a moment before responding, “No, please continue teaching, teacher.”

Military Advisor Ji didn’t pursue the matter further and continued, “All our sect’s disciples must cultivate martial arts and herbalism. However, exceptional martial arts skills are the foundation of our survival in the martial arts world. Many precious herbs grow in remote, inaccessible areas, making it difficult for ordinary people to obtain them. Therefore, new disciples usually focus on cultivating their martial arts skills for a few years before learning herbalism.”

“Martial arts are divided into internal energy and combat techniques. Internal energy is the foundation of all skills, and combat techniques require mastery. Even if you’re familiar with combat techniques, without internal energy, you won’t be able to unleash their true power.”

“A punch or kick, no matter how skilled, is just an ordinary person’s fighting technique. But if you infuse it with internal energy, even a simple punch or kick can shatter rocks and injure people.”

“Therefore, internal energy is the foundation of our sect’s survival, and it’s considered the most precious treasure in our sect.”

Military Advisor Ji slowly explained everything to Li Yan, taking the time to elaborate on the classification of internal energy, the boundaries of martial arts, acupoints, and meridians. He spoke for a long time, equivalent to the time it takes to drink several cups of tea.

He then took out a intricately carved small wooden figure, its body naked, with red and blue lines crisscrossing its surface. The wooden figure had many small, dense dots on its surface, with tiny annotations next to the lines and dots. This wooden figure was a detailed representation of the human body’s meridians and acupoints, which Military Advisor Ji explained to Li Yan in detail.

“…What I’ve just said is the foundation of cultivation. You must remember it clearly and not make any mistakes.”

“Now, let’s talk about our sect’s internal energy. As I mentioned earlier, internal energy is the foundation of all skills, and our sect’s internal energy is divided into ten stages, known as the ‘Wood Shadow Technique’. Its power is astonishing.”

“When cultivating this technique, you’ll need to supplement it with our sect’s secret method of refining herbal essence to strengthen your body, connecting the meridians and making your body’s energy more abundant.”

“This will allow you to accumulate more internal energy, and when fighting others, you’ll be able to unleash extraordinary combat power, unmatched by other sects’ internal energy. As for me, I’ve only reached the third stage so far.”

Li Yan’s face showed his incredulity, thinking that if Military Advisor Ji, who was already a formidable warrior, had only reached the third stage, what would happen if he reached the tenth stage? Wouldn’t he become a god on earth?

Military Advisor Ji glanced at Li Yan and continued, “However, before cultivating the ‘Wood Shadow Technique’, you must first master our sect’s ‘Breathing Guidance Technique’, which guides the essence of heaven and earth to stimulate the Dantian’s energy. Only after the Dantian’s energy is stimulated can you formally cultivate the ‘Wood Shadow Technique’.”

As Military Advisor Ji spoke, he swept his black robe’s large sleeve, revealing his white, slender hands on the desk.

In his left hand, he held a book that seemed to be made of neither gold nor jade, while his right hand drew out a piece of paper from the book. The paper had many densely written characters, clearly not from the book, and the ink seemed fresh, as if written recently.

As Military Advisor Ji moved, Li Yan noticed that the book in his left hand was made of a peculiar material. Li Yan had read many books since he was young, but this material was unlike anything he had seen before. Moreover, the book had a distinct color difference between its upper and lower parts, as if two books were glued together.

Li Yan also recalled that since meeting Military Advisor Ji yesterday, the teacher had only used his right hand, whether it was testing his pulse or doing other things. He had never seen him use his left hand, and it seemed that he had been holding the book in his sleeve all along.

This made Li Yan curious about the book, wondering what kind of book could be so important that someone would carry it with them at all times.

However, he knew that this was not the time to ask questions, and he would have to wait until he was more familiar with his teacher.

Military Advisor Ji seemed to ignore Li Yan’s curious gaze and handed him the paper with many written characters. “This is our sect’s ‘Breathing Guidance Technique’. I’ll teach it to you now, and you can study it in detail later. If you have any questions, I’ll answer them one by one.”

He then explained the technique, dividing it into two types: innate and acquired breathing. “A fetus in the womb breathes without using its mouth and nose, which is innate breathing. After birth, it switches to acquired breathing, but loses the innate breathing ability…”

Military Advisor Ji’s explanation lasted for about an hour, and when he finished, he closed his mouth and didn’t say another word.

Li Yan was deep in thought, occasionally picking up the small wooden figure and the “Breathing Guidance Technique” paper to study them carefully. Military Advisor Ji, on the other hand, had his hands clasped together, hidden in his sleeves, and sat with his eyes closed.

Li Yan studied for about half an hour, and after confirming that he had memorized the technique and some key meridian routes, he finally felt relieved.

He had initially been worried that he wouldn’t be able to understand the internal energy, but after Military Advisor Ji’s detailed explanation, Li Yan felt that he could understand it, and his heart felt more at ease.

‘I guess this is just the basics of the technique, so it’s not too difficult to understand.’

After reviewing the technique again, Li Yan felt that he had no more questions, and he looked up at Military Advisor Ji, saying, “Teacher, I think I’ve basically understood the basics of the technique.”

Military Advisor Ji opened his eyes, smiled at Li Yan, and then asked him a few key questions. Seeing that Li Yan answered them fluently, he was very satisfied.

“From today on, you can start cultivating this technique. I estimate that in three to five days, or at most half a month, you’ll be able to stimulate your Dantian’s energy.”

“And as for this paper with the technique, I’ll take it back and destroy it. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but this is a common practice among the major sects. Except for the original books, everything else is transmitted orally, and any written records are destroyed immediately to prevent them from being lost or stolen.”

“Even the original books are usually kept by the sect leader, and it’s not possible to casually write down such important techniques on paper.”

Li Yan didn’t feel uncomfortable with this, as he understood that such important secrets couldn’t be written down carelessly. He respectfully returned the paper with the technique, and Military Advisor Ji smiled and took it back, storing it in his sleeve.

Then, Military Advisor Ji pointed to the small wooden figure with the meridian routes drawn on it and said…

“Take this, it’s something that requires a long time to get familiar with and memorize.”

Li Yan took the small wooden figure from the table, but he couldn’t see or touch the invisible meridians and acupoints, and he couldn’t fully remember them either. He bid farewell to Military Advisor Ji and left the stone house.

After Li Yan left, Military Advisor Ji gazed at the door, his eyes narrowing as he let out a soft sigh, muttering to himself.

“His talent is far inferior to the previous one, and I don’t know how long it’ll take for him to reach the peak of the first stage. My time is also running out, and this poison is getting harder to suppress, alas!”

With a wave of his right sleeve, the door several meters away silently closed. If General Hong had seen this, he would have been shocked, and even the top Transcendent Experts of the current martial arts world couldn’t achieve such a feat.

If one wanted to accomplish this, they would at least need to be a Transcendent Expert, and even then, they would need to shrink the distance by half, focus their energy, and then release it in a burst to achieve this. However, the door would likely be shattered into four or five pieces.

After finishing these actions, Military Advisor Ji pulled out the book that seemed to be made of neither gold nor jade, along with the “Breath Guidance Technique” paper, and placed them on the table again.

He flipped the book to the section with the colored dividing lines and placed it flat on the table. Then, he placed his hands on the back half of the book, silently operating his internal energy to infuse it into the book. However, the book didn’t react at all after a period of time.

Next, he turned the book in different directions, placing it horizontally and vertically, sometimes inputting internal energy and sometimes lightly tapping it, but the book remained unresponsive.

Finally, he made a strange gesture, picking up the book and placing the back half of it on his forehead, as if he was a scholar who had encountered a difficult problem and was thinking deeply.

He remained still for a long time, and then let out a sigh in the room.

“It’s still not working. I’ve tried all sorts of methods over the years, but I still can’t open it. I wonder what stage of cultivation I need to reach to trigger the opportunity. Perhaps the solution to the fire poison in my body lies here, but alas!”

After sighing, he picked up the “Breath Guidance Technique” paper with his right hand, and without any visible action, the paper suddenly burst into flames and turned to ashes in an instant.

“Internal energy transforms matter into substance,” this was merely a myth heard in the martial arts world.

Even the top experts in the current martial arts world could only shatter objects into fragments or powder using their internal energy, but no one could create fire out of thin air.