This time, he did not go to the training hall.
Instead, he entered the solitude of his room, a place no one else would enter, and sat cross-legged on the floor.
This was different from his dynamic training. Cultivating internal energy required a space free from all external influence.
If someone disturbs me and my energy flow is disrupted, I could die.
He thought of the servants, who were careless to the point of negligence where he was concerned. The fear was justified. He had no desire to die young from a case of tangled energy pathways.
With a slow breath, he pushed the unpleasant thought from his mind. Yixian emptied his thoughts and began to turn his focus inward.
He had already grasped the principles of circulating internal energy, from the small heavenly cycle to the large one.
I’ll awaken my energy using the Wei Family Body-Forging Art method.
The first step was to inhale natural energy through the Breathing Technique and refine it. Not just the Wei family, but most martial arts schools, including the prestigious Taiyue Sect, used this method of circulation to assimilate the energy of the world. The power that fully adapted to and settled within a practitioner’s body was known as inner energy, or qi.
Just as his body had grown stronger by accepting that energy, Yixian intended to use it to enhance his own qi.
The training that began in the morning continued until the sun vanished behind the mountains.
“…Huh? This is strange.”
Yixian muttered, his face blank. He unfolded his legs, feeling as if he had only just sat down.
Why is my Tianmen Acupoint so wide?
Initially, he had planned to explore the kind of power this newly densified qi could exert, but it hadn’t worked. The qi accumulated in his dantian refused to overlap with any other energy, as if it were already a complete and perfect whole. He considered that his understanding might be flawed, but that wouldn’t explain the overwhelming power he’d felt from Elder Yue Yixin.
But all of that was now a secondary concern.
I’ve been polishing my body with the Wei Family Body-Forging Art for a year.
He had been so obsessed with this single path that he hadn't taken the time for self-reflection. In that year, the amount of energy passing through the crown of his head had become enormous.
I thought it was just growing inside me.
Yixian mumbled, his expression vacant.
“Am I going to die?”
The Tianmen Acupoint, which connected directly to the dantian in the head, required meticulous energy control. The thought of being found as a lifeless, brain-dead corpse terrified him. Comparing the differences now, he estimated he had less than five years before his consciousness faded completely.
The sudden awareness of his own mortality felt deeply unreal.
He stood, his hands trembling as he reached for the doorknob. Perhaps a breath of fresh air would spark a solution.
The moment he opened the door, his body froze.
For a long second, he couldn't move. The cool night air that washed over him carried the thick, metallic scent of blood.
His hand shot to the hilt of his sword. He had watched hunters slaughter and dismember their prey before. The smell was similar, but as he moved past the training hall, he saw no corpses. For the scent to be this strong, this pervasive… it was something out of the legends of the Asura Palace’s Blood Art.
A profound silence had fallen over the night sky. The entire household was deathly quiet.
Yixian began to walk, his steps slow and deliberate. He had a chilling intuition that the worst had already happened. It felt like stepping into a pitch-black swamp.
By the time he reached the garden of the main house, he saw it. The carnage.
The common martial world saying about rivers of blood was always an exaggeration. Here, the blood either seeped into the dark earth or dripped from the doorways of the surrounding buildings. Limp corpses of servants were scattered everywhere. Identical sword wounds were carved into their chests, as if someone had used them for practice. They lay perfectly still, as though they had never been alive at all.
Whether they had been in a trance, oblivious to the slaughter, or whether their attackers were simply too powerful to resist, he would never know.
Finally, a loud crash echoed from beyond the mansion walls. It sounded like formidable experts clashing outside the main gate.
Amid the ringing of steel and the thud of heavy impacts, Yixian walked toward the main house.
Ten men who looked like demonic fiends were lounging about, so careless that one of them didn't even turn his head until Yixian was three steps away.
A man with two swords crossed on his back spoke first. Yixian’s reply was brief.
“The third son of this house.”
There was no response. The man simply stood and walked over, not even bothering to draw his weapons. He swung a hand down, and the force behind the simple blow was immense.
A sky-blue flash sparked in Yixian’s eyes as he read the flow of power in the wind. In a single, natural motion, he caught the descending wrist, pressed down, and twisted. It was a joint lock he had never been taught, yet his body executed it perfectly. The physical strength and energy he had nurtured with the Wei Family Body-Forging Art flooded his limbs.
No matter how the man struggled, he couldn't break the hold.
With a loud crack, a scream tore through the night.
The others, who had been ignoring him, now turned their heads as one. Their eyes widened in unison. Now, Yixian thought, they finally looked like the rootless scum of the Asura Palace they were.
When he released his grip, the dual-sword wielder glared, his eyes bulging with a mixture of pain and fury. It was only natural, being so easily subdued by a boy half his size.
The warrior clenched his massive hand into a fist. His face flushed crimson as he roared and lunged forward. He still saw no reason to draw his swords, but his momentum was terrifying. This was no ordinary fist technique. In an instant, his fist seemed to swell to the size of a pot lid.
Yixian’s eyes flashed with that sky-blue lightning again.
The trajectory was obvious. The energy from the Wei Family Body-Forging Art, already activated by the joint lock, surged through his body. At the same time, an enlightenment he had never known pierced his mind. It was intention.
When the intention to move inner energy became absolute, the qi within the body could accomplish anything. It would fully comply with the will of its master.
Yixian’s will to move his qi became concrete, and the clarity of his mental image formed a specific phrase that permeated his very being. The essence of a martial art, its core formula, ignited within him like a sun.
Beginning. Overcoming. Piercing Through.
The name that surfaced without thought defined the martial art's identity. Overcoming the Beginning and Piercing Through. A method of using qi to shatter one’s current limits.
The qi that filled his right foot and left hand surged into his right hand and left foot. The overlapping energy compressed, increasing its density. His left foot, now imbued with unprecedented strength, shattered the ground beneath him. His sword, following the principles of the speed sword, flashed like a sliver of moonlight.
The heads of the dual-sword warrior and the two men rushing up beside him were severed in the same instant.
It felt as if his body were not his own. Three heads flew, swept away by the same motion. Judging by their shocked expressions, their eyes had managed to follow the blade’s path. What did it matter? The heads, suspended in the air for a moment, could glare all they wanted.
In a single spin, like a snowflake caught in a gale, Yixian turned and struck again.
The red-haired woman approaching from behind the headless men gasped for breath. By the time she raised her arm, a half-moon ring clutched in her hand, his sharp blade had already pierced her throat.
The boy who pulled the sword free without hesitation watched the corpse crumple before him. His breathing was as steady as it had been before he’d ever drawn his blade.
This was an extreme situation. The shock of his first kill was naturally detached, set aside somewhere in his mind. His body, tempered by dynamic training, felt stronger and more stable than anyone else’s here.
The skinny warrior who had been watching grimaced. A burly man beside him laid a hand on his shoulder and stood up.
“He’s dedicated his life to speed. There’s no other skill there. Just a well-trained, fast young swordsman. They were caught off guard.”
The man had the physique of a great beast but the shrewd eyes of a fox. Not everything he said was correct, but Yixian instinctively knew this man was out of his league.
“Even so, it’s surprising. Truly surprising. How could someone so young be so skilled?”
The boy gestured with his chin at the red-haired woman lying at his feet, his eyes never leaving the burly man.
“No, I am from the Myriad Blade Pavilion.”
“The Myriad Blade Pavilion? No, you must be from the Crimson Flame Sect.”
“Why are two of the Thirteen Celestial Halls in a place like Xinye?”
“That is none of your business.”
“Then why are you answering my questions?”
“Because it would be a waste. It’s rare to find someone as refined as you at this age. It’s amusing, though, hearing a kid from some backwater talk as if he knows the center of the martial world.” The man laughed, a deep, hearty sound.
A sneer formed on the boy’s lips.
“You must be afraid of my maternal family. You rootless Asura Palace bastard.” Yixian challenged him with an impossibly arrogant expression, his heart pounding in his chest. If the man hesitated, he would win this exchange. He had guessed something was off when the dual-sword warrior chose to use his hands instead of his blades.
The man growled, a sound like a beast stirring in the depths. The sheer force of his presence was chilling, but Yixian forced himself to appear nonchalant.
“You can’t kill me. It doesn’t matter what I do.”
Whoever retreated first would be devoured.
A deafening noise erupted from the main gate. With a tremendous crash, the gate shattered, its splinters flying in all directions. A familiar figure tumbled through the wreckage, rolling across the ground.
It was one of the Taiyue Sect masters who had come with Yue Yixin. His once-immaculate martial robe was torn and ragged, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
They called him the Stride Edge Sword. How could a master like him end up like this?
The boy turned his head in shock. The sounds of clashing forces grew closer, and soon two figures broke through the outer wall and entered the manor grounds.
Yue Yixin and another master of the Taiyue Sect were the first to appear. They looked just as defeated as the Stride Edge Sword, no less battered. The sight of Yixin, who had always seemed like a divine swordswoman, with the upper part of her left ear missing, was a brutal shock.
I thought she was a sword fairy dancing in the heavens.
A giant shadow followed them, walking in with heavy strides. It was clearly a human figure, but the oppressive wave of qi radiating from him was surreal, as if the very center of the world had shifted to this spot. He held a massive greatsword, and the deadly aura emanating from it was the pure stench of death. Just facing him sent a shiver down Yixian’s spine.
It wasn't just his imposing presence or his martial skill. He was cloaked in something beyond mere power. Yixian thought of an unstoppable landslide. A terrifying, writhing qi surrounded the middle-aged man. The absolute sword aura.
His gaze fell upon Yixian and the others, an invisible pressure that infiltrated the very space between them. The simple realization that he was being looked at made Yixian dizzy.
The burly man who had been talking with Yixian bowed deeply.
Master? The Master of the Myriad Blade Pavilion came personally?
A figure who could contend with the Nine Great Sects, the commander of one of the Thirteen Celestial Halls of the Asura Palace. That would explain his overwhelming presence. It was awe-inspiring that the Taiyue Sect masters, after fighting him for so long, were even still standing.
As everyone else froze in place, Yixian moved.
He ran.
He drove his energy to its peak, his feet barely touching the ground. He ran toward the burly man who was bowing to the Master of the Myriad Blade Pavilion, the terrifying warrior he had just confronted.
The man was caught off guard. Every eye in the yard swiveled to the boy. The Master of the Myriad Blade Pavilion did not move. Was he waiting to see what Yixian would do? The boy didn't care. He threw his body forward with all his might.
The air rushed past his ears like a waterfall.
His sharp sword drew a straight, clean line through the air.
The azure blade plunged into the back of the man who was hurriedly trying to stand. With a dull thud, the sword pierced through his back and out his abdomen, forcing him to collapse once more.
Yixian slowly straightened.
Stepping on the man’s back, he looked straight at the Master of the Myriad Blade Pavilion. A pale blue lightning sparked in the boy's eyes.