The male voice laughed loudly, saying, “Don’t bother about that crazy woman… Naturally, what you have to do is to open the second set to train up your meridians, simulate the second Qi Seed, and master the second form of mystical energy to satisfy the constitutional restrictions of the ‘Holy Double Manifestation of Saber and Sword’. Then, all your obstacles will naturally be overcome.”
“I implore both of you seniors to teach me how to open up the second training system in myself?” asked Ding Hao sincerely.
“Hahaha, good kid. You’re impatient, though. Don’t you wish to ask how you would differ from ordinary folk after opening up the second training system in yourself?” said the male voice. He sounded extremely pleased with Ding Hao’s choice, but he had not forgotten to remind the youth solemnly.
“I believe that both of you seniors will never harm me,” replied Ding Hao with a straight face.
The two voices in his head seemed to have been taken aback by his reply and paused momentarily before suddenly breaking into loud laughter simultaneously.
“Good, not bad, not bad at all! Good kid, we’ve not misjudged you nor made a wrong choice in selecting you. To think that you would have a pure and innocent heart akin to a newborn baby—that’s a quality rarely seen. Hahaha, kid, rest assured, both of us and you are closely interlinked and our fates have been intertwined. Also, from the beginning, we bear no ill will toward you!” said the male voice in admiration.
The female voice was temperamental, but was also laughing loudly at this moment. “Rest assured, kid. The power of the ‘Holy Double Manifestation of Saber and Sword’ never met its match since the beginning of time, and only one or two out of billions of people possess such a lineage and constitution. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been known as the ‘Holy Manifestation!’”
“By practicing both saber and sword techniques, you’ll become stronger than your kung fu peers by many times. Even, bypassing the ranks will be chicken feed to you. There will also be other benefits that you’ll come to understand by yourself in the future,” the male voice said. This time, he did not bicker with the female voice.
“Hehe.” Ding Hao chuckled upon hearing this.
From then on, he did not doubt the two voices anymore.
Even though both the male and female voices were garrulous, haughty, unreasonable, and somewhat vulgar, for some reason, Ding Hao felt that the two voices were very familiar, as if they were somehow related to him from the very beginning.
“Listen up. From now on, I’ll speak on the method to open up the second training system,” said both voices in unison.
The male voice said solemnly, “The difference between the ‘Holy Double Manifestation of Saber and Sword’ is that besides one’s abdominal dantian and 12 major meridian pathways, it also trains one’s central dantian and six minor meridian pathways. The central dantian refers to the one at the center of your chest and not that at your abdomen. The six minor meridian pathways refer to the six rarely noticed meridians radiating out toward your body from their hub, the central dantian. They’re known respectively as the Ren, Du, Chong, Dai, Yang, and Yin Meridian.”
“That’s right. These six veins differ from the 12 major meridians of a normal person—that’s the reason they’re known as the six minor meridians. By training these six pathways, you’ll enjoy the same effect and power as he who trains the 12 major meridians,” said the female voice. She then continued to explain in a rarely used serious tone, “You don’t have to master too much now. You’ll only have to start training from the first minor pathway—the Ren Meridian. However, you’ve trained your 12 major meridians with the Qi from your sword craft. Thus, according to the requirements of the ‘Holy Double Manifestation of Saber and Sword’, you’ll have to train your six minor meridians using Qi from saber techniques. Only then will you be able to attain both saber and sword techniques.”
Ding Hao nodded and committed every word he heard to memory.
“The first step would naturally be simulating your second Seed of Mystical Energy. Close your eyes and don’t channel the icy Qi from your abdominal dantian. Instead, focus to feel the space around the center of your chest. There’s a hidden dantian there, and you’ll be able to feel Qi there!”
Upon hearing these words, Ding Hao began to focus on sensing Qi in his central dantian as instructed.
Indeed, after only a moment of focusing, he began to sense the presence of a vast dantian sea in his chest as the male voice had described. It felt as boundless as the galaxy and was comparable in size with his abdominal dantian. Perhaps, it was even more mysterious than the abdominal dantian.
“This is my central dantian!” thought Ding Hao for a moment.
He then decided to channel Qi in his central dantian using the Drawing Qi Formula, an ordinary skill from the manual that he purchased in a black market.
The formula was not ranked and was only a staple skill; it did not have a specific form nor was it specifically meant for use in sword or saber techniques. It was a fundamental skill and would not contradict his saber technique if he used it to channel Qi in his central dantian.
This time, the process went extremely smoothly, after his initial experience of drawing Qi and simulating his first Seed of Mystical Qi.
Ding Hao successfully triggered a new Seed of Mystical Qi in his central dantian in less than two hours, with the help and guidance from the male and female voices in his head.
This new Seed of Mystical Qi gave off an orangey-yellow glow, which was different from that of the Seed from his abdominal dantian. The seed from the abdominal dantian gave off a clear crystalline glow, somewhat like jade. The new seed danced and flickered, like a small fireball, as if it would start burning at any instant.
Ding Hao’s ultra-fast cultivation led to much admiration from both male and female voices inside his head.
“This is…” said Ding Hao, extremely surprised.
“Haha, this is the Qi of Heat, the type of Qi that is most suitable in this world for saber techniques. What you have to do is to channel it to build your Ren Meridian, the first of the six minor meridians!” said the male voice with a hearty laugh.
“Right, there are 18 critical points in the Ren Meridian. After you’ve condensed the first of them known as the ‘middle level’, you’ll achieve the level of ‘one-apertured Martial Disciple’ of the six minor meridians. That was the same stage as the 12 major meridians of your abdominal dantian. In that way, both systems will complement each other. Then, you can break through your obstacles and advance to be a two-apertured Martial Disciple.” The female voice advised gently.
Ding Hao nodded and realized what both of them meant.
That being said, naturally, he could not use Qi related to sword craft like the ‘Taixuan Sword-seeking Scripture’ to strengthen his six minor meridians; he had to use Qi from a saber technique. Otherwise, it would contradict his Qi of Heat. The question now was, where could he find a manual to a Human Level saber technique like the Taixuan Sword-seeking Scripture?
This was a huge problem for him.
Just as he was deep in thought, something seemed to cross his mind all of a sudden.
He got down from his bed and found a small, sky blue booklet from the rucksack on his table.
It was the tattered ‘One Saber to Begin Your Journey’ manual, the very one he had spent a huge sum of money to buy at the black market from the back mountain slum district; during that time, his emotions had got the better of him and he bought it as a result. It was a primary saber technique Qi manual, but unfortunately, his copy was incomplete.
Ding Hao browsed through the manual carefully and was somewhat disappointed to notice that about one-quarter of it was missing. Even though it was not a lot, still, he could not haphazardly begin to practice the technique in this manner.
“Eh, let me see. This is interesting; this manual seems to be a little familiar to me,” said the female voice in his head.
She allowed Ding Hao to read the ‘One Saber to Begin Your Journey’ manual once in detail and immediately began muttering to herself afterward; then, she was now deep in thought.
“It seems like the crazy woman has noticed something. Let’s wait,” said the male voice, seemingly having noticed something as well.
Ding Hao nodded.
That being said, when it was daybreak of the next day, the female voice seemed to have not gathered her thoughts and still remained silent.
“Forget it, let’s not bother about her for the time being. Even though the crazy woman’s usually not reliable, she does have some achievements and knowledge in saber skills. When she really manages to come out with something, who knows, maybe she can complete the manual,” the male voice said cheerfully to Ding Hao at dawn, “Kid, you should nurture the two Qi seeds in your central and lower dantians first, so you can secure your current abilities.”
