A man stands before the heavens, his sword emerges from the Emei Mountains.

Chen Yu entered the thatched hut, which was fully equipped with a red clay stove, rice and noodles, and firewood.

"Junior brother, you stay in the inner room. I'll stay in the outer room," Ji Xiaofu said, placing her bundle on the wooden table.

Chen Yu said, "Many basic techniques still need to be refined. I was afraid that practicing at night would disturb my senior sister. When I came here, I saw that the valley was spacious, so I built a thatched hut there to make it easier to practice."

"You always think of others first. No wonder Senior Sister and Junior Sister Bei praise you so much."

"There's still so much I can learn from my senior sister."

"Never follow my example."

Chen Yu chuckled, "I'll fetch the water."

"Thank you for your trouble, junior brother."

Chen Yu took a wooden bucket to the valley to fetch water, making several trips back and forth until the bucket was full.

"Junior brother, take a rest."

"Um."

The two sat under the eaves, and Chen Yu asked, "When I practice the 'Willow Dance in the Wind Sword,' I always feel it lacks a certain power. Does Senior Sister know why?"

"Sword Intent"

"How does one cultivate sword intent?"

Ji Xiaofu frankly admitted, "I don't understand the essence of it either, but my master once said that to grasp the essence of swordsmanship is to comprehend the sword itself. The one who speaks of swordsmanship must feel nature and describe it through meditation. Only when swordsmanship has the essence of swordsmanship can the moves be alive; otherwise, they are dead, or can only be called techniques. He also said that the source of a stream is like a gushing spring, rushing and slowly filling. It is turbid and gurgling, turbid and slowly clearing. No matter how hard you try, if you fall into a raging torrent, you will not be able to escape. This is the obstacle in your heart."

Chen Yu remembered that Ji Xiaofu's words were from the Huainanzi. As for why Miejue said it that way, he couldn't figure it out in a short time, but he could take advantage of the time he was guarding the mountain to learn slowly.

The light shining from afar shimmered across Ji Xiaofu's face as she smiled and said, "Unfortunately, I'm too stupid to understand the truth, so I can only vaguely explain it to my junior brother."

"I am deeply grateful for your kindness, Senior Sister."

"We are all disciples of the same master, there's no need for such formalities."

"I went to the other side of the valley to build a thatched hut to practice my skills."

"Okay, I'll call you when lunch is ready."

"Thank you, senior sister."

Chen Yu left with his sword and bundle, his figure disappearing into the shade of the trees. Ji Xiaofu turned and entered the thatched hut, took out a needle and thread from the bundle, and began to sew clothes, the size of which was clearly for a child.

……

Time flies, and three days have already passed.

Chen Yu spent most of his daytime practicing palm and sword techniques with Ji Xiaofu, and the rest of the time he would fill in the gaps in his knowledge and continue to refine his skills.

Ji Xiaofu was truly amazed by Chen Yu. She thought to herself that in terms of the skill of "Willow Sword in the Wind", her junior brother was slightly inferior to her, but when they sparred, he was quick-witted and his basic sword and palm techniques flowed smoothly. Compared to him, she was far inferior.

It was like a sword sparring match. I used the move "Wind and Rain" and my junior brother used "Xi Shi Holding Her Heart" from the Yue Maiden Swordplay to block it. I then used the move "Three Variations on Plum Blossom" to open my center. My junior brother, with his ribs wide open, was flustered. Little did I know that my junior brother would use "Sky-High Obstruction of the Sun" to defend against it.

But this move is the "Nanshan Palm Technique," yet it's being used as a sword technique.

But while Ji Xiaofu was surprised, she was also very happy for Chen Yu. She hoped to use these few days to pass on her insights into the martial arts so that he could benefit from them and receive his master's instruction in the future.

Ji Xiaofu's shock was exactly what Chen Yu excelled at. Besides the jade ruyi, which was similar to the cold jade bed, he had the knowledge framework of two lifetimes and a special way of thinking.

There's a saying that in an outdated mindset, any effort is meaningless repetition, and Chen Yu has precisely avoided this pitfall. Just as Miejue was strict in teaching her disciples, how could sword techniques and fist techniques be generalized? Ji Xiaofu, Ding Minjun, and others all followed the rules, but Chen Yu didn't think that way. The jade ruyi could prevent him from going astray during his cultivation, and he could constantly try to use the principles of swordplay to execute fist techniques, extracting one or two essential moves to attack the opponent's unpreparedness, and vice versa.

In the opening chapters of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber," Guo Xiang used the Arhat Fist technique with her sword, causing Master Wuse considerable trouble. This awareness enabled him to continuously innovate and refine his skills.

In the evening, Ji Xiaofu cooked porridge, and Chen Yu hunted a pheasant. After roasting it, the two shared it. Then he went to the thatched hut in the valley to begin using his internal energy to temper the Yang Qiao Meridian and Yin Qiao Meridian.

Abbess Miejue said that if one wanted to master the Emei lightness skill "Three Folds of the Soaring Dragon," one had to temper and unblock the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin, Yin Qiao Meridian, and Yang Qiao Meridian. Chen Yu was now well-versed in the sect's medical classic "Lotus Treasure Book" and knew that the Yin Qiao Meridian and Yang Qiao Meridian had the functions of nourishing the eyes, controlling the opening of the eyelids, and coordinating the movement of the lower limbs.

Taking the Yang Qiao Meridian as an example, this meridian originates at the Shenmai acupoint on the outer side of the heel, ascends along the outer ankle, passes through the outer side of the calf and thigh, circles the buttocks, and ascends straight to the shoulder and neck, finally meeting the Yin Qiao Meridian at the inner canthus of the eye. This meridian can quickly and accurately transport internal energy to all parts of the body through connected meridians, driving limb movement, increasing muscle contraction and relaxation, and coordinating the limbs to complete various complex movements.

Chen Yu guided his Qi with his mind, and tempered his two meridians according to the breathing technique taught by Miejue. The muscles and tendons surrounding the meridians began to tremble slightly. As the internal Qi continued to circulate faster, the trembling and contraction became more and more obvious, like iron being forged in a hot fire, hammered and refined a thousand times.

As night fell and the bright moon hung high, the muscles between Chen Yu's two meridians tightened and stretched repeatedly, becoming increasingly solid. His skin then became hot, and the muscles under his clothes undulated and rippled, like thin snakes writhing and swirling, and began to swell like water sacs. This was the power generated by the trembling of his muscles.

call……

Chen Yu finished his practice and exhaled two long, condensed white breaths from his nostrils. He stood up and felt the changes. He felt that when he moved his limbs, his muscles and tendons were like a drawn bowstring, his bones and muscles were relaxed, his whole body felt comfortable, and his Achilles tendon was strong.

Overjoyed, Chen Yu gathered his energy and leaped forward, his body moving like a deer. He suddenly sprang ten feet away. Although he was still far from truly mastering the Emei Lightness Skill's leaping and bounding, he was already running with incredible speed.

Chen Yu moved swiftly through the forest for several miles until he reached a mountain hollow. A small patch of withered yellow grass, several feet tall, sprouted out. This was Polygonatum, which is known as "the leftover food of immortals" because it can nourish the spleen, moisten the lungs, generate fluids, and replenish essence.

Chen Yu discovered this while exercising his legs in the back mountains. He dug up several Solomon's seal roots and returned to the thatched hut in the valley.

……

The bright moon shines in the sky, and wild geese fly through the clouds.

Chen Yu moved nimbly and darted among the chaotic rocks and cliffs of the narrow passage, sometimes leaping, sometimes walking, sometimes flipping, sometimes bounding. From a distance, he appeared as light and agile as a monkey, quickly approaching the thatched hut.

Suddenly he stopped, and saw a gray figure moving lightly up the winding path under the moonlight, approaching the thatched hut as if in a hallucination.

Chen Yu looked down from his high vantage point, his view unobstructed, the bright moon shining, and his gaze reaching into the distance. He could make out that it was a monk.

"Strange, why are there monks coming up the mountain?"

Chen Yu swayed and disappeared into the dark forest to approach.

The monk walked half a mile before arriving at Ji Xiaofu's thatched cottage and knocked on the door.

"Who is this master?"

"Is that Junior Brother Chen?"

A monk knocked on the moonlit door, and Chen Yu and Ji Xiaofu's voices rang out at the same time. The monk turned around and looked over. Chen Yu walked out from the woods and saw that the other man was tall, with two white eyebrows that drooped from the corners of his eyes to his cheeks. His face was thin, and his hands and feet were long. His appearance was even peculiar.

"Amitabha Buddha, this is the old monk Faqiu."

"Master Faqiu?"

With a creak, the wooden gate opened, and Ji Xiaofu quickly stepped out, saying to Chen Yu, "Junior Brother, this is Abbot Faqiu of Leiyin Temple at the foot of the mountain."

"I was very rude just now, please forgive me, Master."

"Amitabha Buddha, excellent, excellent!"

Ji Xiaofu asked, "Master, what brings you here so late at night?"