High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Xu Wuyi waited for him to continue.

Yan Song was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "When I was young, I served in the Northern Lands border guard for twenty years. I’ve killed Star Beasts, and I’ve killed members of the Alien Races. After retiring, I became an Independent Practitioner and took on many extermination missions. I have a lot of blood on my hands."

His eyes seemed distant. "My saber domain was forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Every ounce of killing intent, every trace of bitter cold, is stained with blood. I once believed this was the pinnacle of the saber—to cut down all things, to freeze everything in ice."

"But now..." Yan Song looked down at his hands. "Now, I sometimes wonder, did I train in these Martial Arts just to kill?"

Instead of answering directly, Xu Wuyi asked, "Senior Yan, in all your years living in the Northern Lands, have you ever seen life on the frozen plains?"

"Life?" Yan Song was confused.

"Snow hares dig burrows in the snow, foxes hunt in the cold wind, moss grows in the cracks of rocks, and the aurora dances in the night sky," Xu Wuyi said.

"The frozen plains are not a dead land; they nurture tenacity amidst the harshness. Why must your saber domain only contain ’killing intent’ and not ’vitality’?"

Yan Song trembled and sat there in a daze.

After a long while, he let out a long breath. The air condensed into a white mist in the room’s temperature, lingering for a long time.

"I think... I’m beginning to understand." He stood up and solemnly clasped his fist to Xu Wuyi. "Thank you for your guidance, Fellow Xu. Your words are worth their weight in gold."

"You’re too kind, Senior."

Yan Song did not stay long. He hastily took his leave, clearly eager to enter seclusion and meditate on his new insights.

Chen Zhang saw him out. When he returned, he looked at Xu Wuyi with eyes full of amazement. "Martial Artist Xu, your ability to guide others is truly... divine."

Xu Wuyi shook his head. "I only shared some of my own thoughts. In truth, any statement can be interpreted in two ways."

"Senior Yan can search for life in his domain of ice, or, after finding it, he could kill every living thing within it. That, too, would be a form of extremity."

"The so-called Heart Image is about believing in what you believe," Xu Wuyi said with a smile.

"This..." Chen Zhang was stunned. He had never imagined that a Heart Image could be interpreted this way.

"That’s still impressive enough," Chen Zhang remarked in awe after a moment of silence.

"You’ve only been in the Northern Lands for a few days, yet you’ve guided Zhai Zidu and now helped a veteran Innate like Yan Song achieve an epiphany. If word of this gets out, even more people will come seeking you."

Xu Wuyi was unconcerned. "Let them come. The inheritance of Martial Arts requires exchange, after all."

He walked to the window, watching the fine snow that had begun to drift down again.

The cold, heavy, and harsh nature of the Northern Lands was completely different from the scorching heat, ruggedness, and ferocity of the West Desert. Yet, both had given him a deeper understanding of Martial Arts.

The image of Heavy Water flowed slowly, and the Golden Crow Illusion floated in the heart of the great marsh.

He felt that he was getting closer and closer to that point of balance.

And in the days that followed, just as Chen Zhang had predicted, visitors arrived in an endless stream.

The Martial Artists of the Northern Lands, with their characteristic directness and pragmatism, brought all sorts of questions to Xu Wuyi. This also allowed him to witness the unique style of the Martial Arts inheritance in this land.

Xu Wuyi received and conversed with each of them.

In the process, his own Heart Image was also quietly undergoing a change.

...

Over the next few days, the stream of Martial Artists from the Northern Lands visiting Xu Wuyi remained endless.

Besides the teachers and students of Black Stone Academy and the local Innate Martial Artists, there were even some Martial Artists who, having heard of his presence, made special trips from nearby cities.

These people came to ask for advice on their bottlenecks, to request a spar, or simply to witness the style of the "Federation’s greatest Genius in a century."

Xu Wuyi refused no one.

As long as they were sincere, he would offer guidance as time permitted.

Sparring on the Battle Network, discussing theory, exchanging insights on Heart Image comprehension... These different forms of interaction allowed him to examine his own Martial Arts from various angles.

This high frequency of thought and output became the best catalyst for his progress.

On the night of the seventh day, after seeing off the last visitor, Xu Wuyi did not rest immediately. Instead, he returned to his Meditation Room and sat down cross-legged.

In his sea of consciousness, the great, dark gold marsh spread out calmly.

Compared to when he first arrived in the Northern Lands, this great marsh had already undergone a subtle change.

The surface of the marsh was still rippleless, but the feeling of "stagnation" had lessened significantly. In its place was a more restrained, more profound sense of "life."

It was like a hibernating behemoth—seemingly still, but brimming with vitality on the inside.

Xu Wuyi closed his eyes, his Heart and Spirit completely immersed in his Heart Image.

He no longer deliberately tried to "guide" the flow of the great marsh, nor did he force himself to "balance" the Heavy Water and the Golden Crow.

He simply observed, like a bystander, watching this strange scene condensed from his own will.

The Golden Crow Illusion hovered at the heart of the marsh. The Dark Gold Flame on its feathers burned quietly, its light reflecting off the dark gold "water’s surface" and refracting into a mesmerizing halo.

Time passed, second by second, minute by minute.

The only sound in the Meditation Room was Xu Wuyi’s steady, deep breathing.

Suddenly, he sensed something unusual.

It wasn’t visual, nor was it an Energy Fluctuation. It was a more fundamental "rhythm."

The great marsh was "breathing."

It was extremely slow and extremely faint, but he felt it without a doubt.

The entire dark gold marsh, in time with his own breathing, was faintly contracting and expanding with a grand and subtle rhythm.

When it contracted, countless drops of Heavy Water condensed inward, and the marsh’s surface lowered by an imperceptible sliver.

When it expanded, the Heavy Water spread outward, and the marsh’s surface returned to its original level.

A contraction and a release, an exhale and an inhale.

It was not a man-made "flow," but an instinctive rhythm produced by the Heart Image itself, like that of a living being.

’So that’s how it is... Is this my understanding of ’movement’?’

A sudden understanding dawned in Xu Wuyi’s mind.

Fang Fu’s "External Calm and Internal Movement," Yan Song’s confusion over "death" and "life," Zhai Zidu being stuck between "solidification" and "change"... all of these were right, and yet all of them were wrong.

Because those were all other people’s understandings, not his own—not Xu Wuyi’s understanding.

It wasn’t about forcing something static to "move," but about letting the thing itself possess the rhythm of "life." With breath comes vitality; with rhythm comes the possibility of change.

He tried to merge his consciousness with that breathing rhythm.

It was sluggish at first. The Heart Image was an extension of his will, but this "breathing" felt like a spontaneous action of the Heart Image itself, slightly different from his active control.

But Xu Wuyi was not impatient. He just patiently felt, adjusted, and synchronized with it.

Gradually, the rhythm of his breathing synchronized with the rhythm of the great marsh.

Exhale—the great marsh contracted slightly.

Inhale—the great marsh slowly expanded.

With each contraction, the Heavy Water condensed inward a little more, making the feeling of "heaviness" purer, more contained.

A thought suddenly occurred to Xu Wuyi.

’What if... I let this contraction reach its absolute limit?’

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