Zhao An didn't rush to open the Bixie Sword Manual. Instead, he had a good night's sleep. The next morning, after washing up and filling his stomach, he finally opened the manual with composure and began to study it.
The very first line was indeed the infamous phrase: "To master this skill, one must first sever oneself."
This body of Zhao An had once studied an internal cultivation method back in Suzaku Hall. Yet, after three years of practice, his internal energy was still mediocre. With his level of talent, he would eventually be eliminated and end up as nothing more than a sparring dummy for others.
Even by the standards of the Smiling Proud Jianghu world, his internal strength wasn't even at the level of a third-rate fighter—perhaps even weaker than Lin Chinnan's current state.
It was almost laughable. His "main world" was clearly a high-martial realm, yet after descending into Smiling Proud Jianghu, a comparatively low-martial world, he hadn't been able to achieve the overwhelming advantage one would expect.
Here, he was still nothing but a weakling.
Fortunately, he already had a foundation in human meridians, acupoints, and bone-forging basics, so he didn't need to start completely from scratch.
As for why the Bixie Sword Manual's internal art carried so many flaws yet such devastating power—someone of Zhao An's shallow knowledge simply couldn't understand.
All he could do was follow the text faithfully. Whatever the manual said, he believed and obeyed. After all, he had already been castrated; there was nothing to hesitate over.
After carefully scrutinizing and confirming there were no issues, Zhao An sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and began visualizing the meridian points in his body.
The Bixie internal art began with the six great yang meridians of the limbs. True qi would be generated from the Huiyin acupoint, where the Ren and Du meridians intersect, before traveling upward through the Du meridian's acupoints, then looping into the Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao meridian, and finally returning.
Once that circuit was completed, it formed a "small cycle."
After comparing this with the Sunflower Manual's meridian diagrams, Zhao An gained some insight into why its internal art was so unique.
The Du meridian intersected with all six yang meridians and oversaw all yang channels in the body, earning the title "Sea of Yang Meridians."
Since the Sunflower Manual specialized exclusively in cultivating yang meridians, and its energy circulated along the Du meridian—the Sea of Yang Meridians—its power was thus incomparably pure and vigorous.
With that understanding, Zhao An prepared himself. As soon as he began cultivating, perhaps due to the "buff" from his castration, the practice was shockingly smooth. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a stream of scorching energy was already born in the Huiyin acupoint.
From the very beginning, this heat was almost unbearable.
This, however, was a known characteristic of the Sunflower internal art. The sudden surge of yang energy was normal and clearly noted in the manual, so Zhao An didn't panic.
He followed the instructions, guiding the heat along the Du meridian's path.
As the energy flowed, it grew stronger and hotter. Zhao An's whole body blazed as though his blood were boiling. His skin flushed crimson, steam rose from his body, his throat burned dry, and even his breaths seemed to carry sparks.
Though the torment was extreme, he dared not stop. Gritting his teeth, he endured it.
Once the current cycled through the Du meridian and into the Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao meridian, circling back to the dantian, Zhao An immediately ended the session.
Afterward, he gulped down salted water, rested briefly, and then resumed.
This abnormal reaction was precisely why the manual required castration. For a man with an intact body, the eruption of yang energy would be tenfold stronger, so intense that no normal body could withstand it without severe harm.
Even for someone already castrated, it still required a period of adaptation—tempering the body with Sunflower true qi until it could endure.
Thus came the barrier: "To master this skill, one must first sever oneself."
Zhao An shut himself away for three days, focusing solely on training. By then, three major meridians in his arms had been fully opened. Only then did he leave the inn, renting a small courtyard hidden deep within the back alleys to settle down. There, he devoted himself primarily to sword practice, with internal cultivation as secondary.
This arrangement wasn't imitating the Huashan Sword Sect's "sword-first" path, but rather because the Bixie Sword Art itself was unique. Once the limb meridians were open, its swordplay could be unleashed with astonishing speed.
Moreover, practicing sword techniques also generated internal energy—albeit less efficiently than meditation, but overall still more productive.
With no carnal desires left after castration, coupled with the emotional numbness from transmigration, Zhao An was now more ascetic than a temple eunuch.
Day and night, all he thought about was the Bixie Sword Manual. Even while eating or relieving himself, his mind lingered on sword practice.
Though the sword art had only seventy-two forms, they contained countless variations. Many moves were fiendishly difficult, requiring exceptional flexibility of the wrists, arms, and fingers. The hardest part, however, was coordinating with the accompanying footwork.
To wield the Bixie Sword Art properly, one not only needed lightning-fast strikes but also equally swift body movements. Only then could its full potential be unleashed.
The manual's unique internal art, with its specialized circulation, greatly enhanced agility and striking speed, making swordplay and inner strength mutually reinforcing.
In short, this was not an easy style to master. Both talent and relentless effort were indispensable.
Curiously enough, though the forms looked dizzyingly complex on paper, once Zhao An focused his mind and rehearsed them in his imagination, his thoughts raced, and before long he had already figured out most of their patterns.
When he took up a sword and practiced physically, he quickly reproduced the techniques with surprising accuracy.
If it had been the original Liu Hei, learning such complex sword forms would have taken at least a month of hard grinding for each single move.
But Zhao An breezed through them. On the very first attempt, he could already break each motion into precise segments without error.
By the second or third run-through, he could link them together. After a few more repetitions, even the most elaborate techniques were nearly mastered.
Within just seven days, he had learned all seventy-two forms. Though far from proficient, he had already reached a level of initial success.
Zhao An couldn't help but feel pleased."So it turns out—I really am a genius."
After several days of cultivation, his [Attributes] had already changed:
[Zhao An]
Root Bone: 11 + 20
Comprehension: 11 + 20
Constitution: 13
Agility: 10 + 15
Spirit: 10
Cultivation: Third-rate
Combat Power: Equal to ten men
Specialty: Swordsmanship
Special Item: Martial God Token (Taiguang)
The Bixie Sword Art had clearly strengthened his agility—fifteen points gained in such a short time!
His plan was to train at least three months before stepping into the jianghu, entering the events of Smiling Proud Jianghu. After all, in the original story, Lin Pingzhi had only practiced three months before being able to crush a veteran like Yu Canghai.
If Lin Pingzhi, with merely average aptitude, could achieve that, then surely Zhao An—whose talent was clearly superior—would do even better.
By then, as long as he didn't provoke someone like Zuo Lengchan, things would be steady.
But, of course, reality rarely unfolds as one imagines.