Starforce Warriors

Chapter 381: Nine Yang Divine Art

The air had a bite to it on a chilly spring night. But inside, the room was brightly lit. Principal Hu displayed her usual dominance at work, much like a valiant female knight galloping ahead with fierce resolve.

Ten minutes later.

"My back is broken, I have no strength left. You’ll have to move on your own," she said.

She collapsed like water as she just lay there. Li Xiaofei connected the Bridge of Heaven and Earth again and started exchanging energy between their bodies. No one knew how much time had passed, but eventually, Li Xiaofei carried Principal Hu to the bathroom. As he began to wash her, she drifted into a deep sleep before they could finish.

Her delicate earmuffs shimmered faintly with a silver glow. Every time they engaged in dual cultivation, it brought her immense benefits. But the problem was, she felt like a small boat about to be overwhelmed by a violent storm before she could fully absorb the benefits.

"Sigh, dual cultivation is actually quite boring," she muttered.

After settling Principal Hu in bed, Li Xiaofei returned to the bedroom. He sat cross-legged for a brief cultivation session, timing the cooldown before entering the Secret Time Pavilion.

***

The white temple stood in serene tranquility. Every time Li Xiaofei entered this sacred place, he always felt as though he was partaking in a solemn pilgrimage.

"Dog Box, can I draw a cultivation method?" he asked casually.

"Woof, yes, you can," came the reply, with a hint of gentleness in its tone.

A familiar spatial vortex appeared before Li Xiaofei. He reached his hand into it, feeling around vigorously. Soon, he grabbed hold of three scrolls.

One of them, unexpectedly, felt slightly warm to the touch. This was a sensation he had never encountered before. When the spatial vortex began to shrink, Li Xiaofei withdrew his hand. He took out the first scroll, unrolled it, and his eyes widened instantly.

"Nine Yang..." @@novelbin@@

Li Xiaofei was ecstatic when he saw the first two characters. But he remained cautious and, only after confirming that the next words weren't Soy Milk, did he let out a long sigh of relief.

Nine Yang Divine Art! It was the legendary Nine Yang Divine Art. This was one of the top five internal cultivation techniques in the world of Jin Yong's martial arts. At last, he had drawn an internal cultivation method.

Li Xiaofei had long wanted to test whether the internal techniques from martial arts novels were fundamentally different from modern-day breathing techniques. Unfortunately, he had never drawn an internal cultivation method. Now, it had finally arrived.

He may be strong, let him be strong; the breeze brushes the mountain ridges. He may be fierce, let him be fierce; the bright moon shines on the great river. He may be cruel, let him be cruel; I have my breath of true energy, and it is enough.

This was the core principle from the Nine Yang Divine Art. In the world of Jin Yong's martial arts, two martial manuals were impossible to overlook: the Nine Yang Divine Art and the Nine Yin Manual.

The difference lay in the fact that the Nine Yin Manual focused more on external techniques, while the Nine Yang Divine Art was centered on internal cultivation.

According to the records, after mastering the Nine Yang Divine Art, one's internal energy would grow at an incredibly fast rate and become endless. Even basic punches and kicks would have immense offensive power, and one’s defensive capabilities would be unparalleled. It automatically shielded the practitioner by reflecting external attacks, making the body indestructible like the Vajra. Additionally, it was a healing marvel, rendering the practitioner immune to all poisons and specifically countering all cold and yin-based internal forces.

In short, this internal technique was extraordinary. After flipping through several pages, Li Xiaofei slowly closed the manual. This divine art had arrived just in time.

He had begun to notice that the benefits of the True Dragon Breathing Technique were no longer as pronounced as before. The energy required to break through his meridians was getting increasingly hard to replenish, as global resources continued to shrink, and Xiao Hongye had yet to acquire fifth-generation pure Starforce Reagents. This shortage had drastically slowed his progress.

Perhaps the Nine Yang Divine Art could help me regain my momentum?

His gaze shifted to the second manual.

"Hmm?" When he saw the title of the manual, Li Xiaofei's face showed a hint of surprise. "It’s actually the Immortal Seal Technique."

Fans of high-martial arts novels by Huang Yi would surely recognize this technique. It was a supreme martial art from Huang Yi's high-martial world, created during the era of the Twin of Brothers series. The top demon master of the time, Demonic King Shi Zhixuan, had fused the opposing techniques of the Flower Sect and the Heaven-Replenishing Path, using the profound Buddhist principle of "neither this shore, nor the other shore, nor the middle" as its theoretical basis. After countless battles on the brink of life and death, he had finally developed this advanced martial art.

As a martial arts enthusiast, Li Xiaofei had, of course, read the original work thoroughly. Demonic King Shi Zhixuan was a highly charismatic antagonist and a peerless genius with grand ambitions. Not only was his martial prowess unmatched, but his cunning and strategies were also second to none.

In the original story, Shi Zhixuan had orchestrated the downfall of the Sui Dynasty and created a transcendent martial art known as the Immortal Seal Technique. It elevated martial philosophy to the realm of human nature and deep philosophy, embodying the concept of using martial arts to attain enlightenment.

The Immortal Seal Technique allowed the user to measure, understand, and confuse enemies with their internal energy. However, its core principle lay in immortality.

The technique's central mechanism was the rapid transformation of internal energy, creating a seemingly endless supply of energy and preventing the practitioner from running out of breath. It allowed the user to switch effortlessly between life and death energy, transforming the enemy's attacking energy into life energy that would restore one's vitality. This had earned it the title of the immortal technique. However, if the damage was fatal, death would still be inevitable.

In Li Xiaofei’s eyes, the true strength of this martial art lay in its invincibility in group battles. It could continuously absorb the enemy’s attacking energy to replenish his own vitality and firmly place him in an undefeatable position.

Imagine, in an open battlefield, there would be no fear of running out of inner qi even if he were to be surrounded by star beasts. He could absorb the energy from the star beasts' attacks and turn himself into a perpetual motion machine capable of fighting indefinitely.

This time, all the cultivation techniques I drew are top-quality.

Li Xiaofei’s gaze then shifted to the third manual. It was the one that felt slightly warm when he first touched it. Four bold words were inscribed on the cover: Shu Mountain · Sword Harnessing Technique.

Li Xiaofei froze.

Sword Harnessing Technique?! Shu Mountain?! This isn’t even a high-martial world anymore; this is from Xianxia world. I’ve actually drawn a cultivation technique from the path of immortality!

Suddenly, he couldn’t contain his joy and began jumping around ecstatically.

Heaven and earth! Finally, this day has come! Does this mean that the cheat system I’ve been granted is upgrading? Does this mean that, in the future, I could draw mythological techniques like the Eight-Nine Mystical Arts, the Seventy-Two Transformations, or even the Somersault Cloud?

The more Li Xiaofei thought about it, the more excited he became. No wonder he had felt the slight warmth when he first drew this manual. It turned out that heating up meant it was high-level material. This was an important insight that he needed to remember.

Li Xiaofei opened the manual and began reading it carefully. At first, he had been a bit worried that he might not understand the immortal cultivation text. But he quickly realized his concerns were unnecessary.

The contents were written in modern language, not in the archaic, complicated terms he had expected. Anyone with a basic education could understand it. Of course, understanding it was one thing. Comprehending it fully was an entirely different matter.

After reading through it once, Li Xiaofei had already grasped the basics. The Sword Harnessing Technique was divided into two realms.

The first realm was Controlling the Sword to Kill. This involved using one's mind to control a sword. It would allow it to fly through the air and strike down enemies. Initially, one could control the sword from a distance of a hundred meters. But with mastery, the range could extend to hundreds or even thousands of miles, allowing one to slay powerful martial artists from afar as easily as reaching into a bag.

The second realm was Flying on the Sword. This enabled the practitioner to ride the sword through the skies, carrying themselves over vast distances in an instant. It was akin to the feats of legendary immortals who soared through the clouds. The speed surpassed that of fighter jets, and there would be no need for concern even in encounters with flying star beasts or mechs.

Brilliant.

At this point, Li Xiaofei couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh out loud, overjoyed beyond measure. This was truly a divine technique. If he could master the Sword Harnessing Technique, wouldn’t he become invincible? How could a small Earth possibly hold him back?

However, when he reached the final part, Li Xiaofei's smile suddenly froze. It turned out that in order to cultivate the Flying on the Sword, his inner qi had to reach the Five Spirits Realm.

"Ah, this..."

Li Xiaofei couldn't help but scratch his head. This was the first time he had encountered a cultivation technique with a level restriction. However, just being able to practice the Controlling the Sword to Kill realm was already incredibly cool.

The three techniques I drew this time were all worth every bit.

Li Xiaofei placed the three manuals neatly on the bookshelf inside the Secret Time Pavilion. Yes, during this time, President Li had renovated the sacred temple, making it possible to store non-perishable items inside.

Then, without wasting a moment, he began his cultivation immediately. The first technique he chose was the Nine Yang Divine Art.

"Focus your intent on the dantian, start the movement of the first yang, circulate between the two points, palms pressed together in prayer, let the true qi spiral through, guide the qi through the Ren and Du meridians in a small heavenly circuit, nurture the dantian for the duration of one incense stick, match the rhythm to thirty-six cycles... the first level of the Nine Yang Divine Art..."

He recited the incantation silently in his mind and began channeling his qi.

Will this top-tier internal cultivation technique from Jin Yong's martial arts world really be effective for cultivating inner qi in this modern era?

Li Xiaofei felt a bit anxious. But soon, he was overwhelmed with joy.

It worked! It works wonders!

As he operated the first level of the Nine Yang Divine Art, he could clearly feel his inner qi circulating at an unprecedented speed and efficiency. He immediately centered his mind and body, closed his eyes, and immersed himself in cultivation.

Time passed. Red light flickered across Li Xiaofei's body. A fierce heat began radiating from him, distorting the air around him with its intensity. The Nine Yang Divine Art was a technique of extreme yang. Its most prominent characteristic was that the inner qi cultivated from it carried an intense, fiery power.

Time passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, ten days had gone by. Li Xiaofei slowly opened his eyes. He had mastered the first level of the Nine Yang Divine Art. He could feel the surge of intense yang energy within him as the fiery, masculine force gradually rose again. More importantly, his inner qi had started to circulate on its own.

This was different from the breathing techniques that required him to absorb external energy through breath. The Nine Yang Divine Art drew energy from within. After mastering the first level, his inner qi naturally flowed, creating an invisible energy field around him that could not be seen by the naked eye. This formed a protective shield over his body, capable of naturally deflecting and resisting attacks.

"Training the Nine Yang Divine Art, alongside the Yi Jin Jing and the Formless Sword Bone, tsk, tsk, tsk... If I don't become a peerless master, who will?"

Li Xiaofei grinned from ear to ear.

Techniques like the Five Tigers Door-Cutting Blade, Wulang Bagua Staff, and Dog Beating Staff could already drive people mad with admiration. These techniques he had mastered, though, would undoubtedly make the great clans jealous beyond measure.

I can’t reveal these techniques just yet. I need to wait until my strength is sufficient to protect myself before I consider teaching them publicly.

Otherwise, if those powerful families become desperate and shameless enough to descend into lowly tactics and schemes to seize these techniques, I'd be in deep trouble. Some might even kill me.

After his initial burst of joy, Li Xiaofei became more cautious, reminding himself that an innocent man may be blamed for possessing a treasure.

Thus, he proceeded to cultivate the Immortal Seal Technique. Although this technique’s offensive power wasn’t as potent as the Sword Harnessing Technique, it was perfectly suited for Li Xiaofei’s current situation. After all, it was a life-saving technique. So, he had to cultivate it.

The core principle of the Immortal Seal Technique was the division of qi into life energy and death energy, as well as the transformation between the two. Mastering this secret was the key to success and would allow him to break through future challenges smoothly.

Following the instructions in the manual, Li Xiaofei began his cultivation of the Immortal Seal Technique. In the blink of an eye, another ten days had passed and Li Xiaofei halted his cultivation.

"It's a bit more difficult than I expected. Separating life and death energy isn't easy.” He mused to himself.

This was the first time he had cultivated a new technique and failed to make any progress after ten days. It seemed this technique truly was a philosophical cultivation method, requiring deep mental and spiritual insight.

However, Li Xiaofei wasn’t in a rush. He decided to devote the next stretch of time to practicing the Sword Harnessing Technique technique. Though he couldn't yet fly with the sword, he could still master controlling the sword to kill.

But in order to practice the Sword Harnessing Technique, he needed a sword. Li Xiaofei retrieved a long sword he had prepared for sword cultivation from the Secret Time Pavilion. Following the instructions from the manual, he began to nurture the sword.

However, nurturing the sword was, in essence, a process of nurturing oneself through the sword. At its core, the Sword Harnessing Technique was a technique of using internal energy to communicate with external objects. It was all about understanding.

Nurture the sword with the body, and nurture the body through the sword. One had to comprehend the essence of the sword to control it. The special cultivation method designed for Sword Harnessing Technique was primarily focused on circulating true qi, but using inner qi in place of true qi worked just as well.

"Inner energy, internal cultivation, true qi, inner qi... they're essentially the same substance, the same energy, which is why they are interchangeable," Li Xiaofei realized.

In fact, practicing the Sword Harnessing Technique was somewhat simpler than cultivating the Immortal Seal Technique.

After ten days, Li Xiaofei had made significant progress in nurturing his sword. When he held the sword, it felt like an extension of his body. Every movement and technique flowed naturally, and mastering sword techniques came almost effortlessly.

For instance, the Fifteen Swords of Death technique, which he had drawn earlier from the Dog Box but hadn’t yet practiced, now made perfect sense to him. After reaching a small level of mastery in the Sword Harnessing Technique, Li Xiaofei only needed a glance at the sword manual to understand it thoroughly.

The Fifteen Swords of Death was no ordinary sword technique, after all. In the world of Gu Long’s martial arts, it was considered a top-tier technique, developed by the legendary sword god Yan Shisan who had built upon his family's martial heritage. Even the once unrivaled sword master Xie Xiaofeng couldn’t defeat him.

The technique grew progressively more difficult with each of the fifteen swords. Mastering its evolving forms of swordplay required sheer understanding. For most people, it was extremely hard to cultivate. But for Li Xiaofei, who had been practicing the immortal art of Sword Harnessing Technique, it took only a few hours to fully grasp it.

"This Fifteen Swords of Death could even slay a Golden Body Realm practitioner," Li Xiaofei mused.

As he reflected on it, he realized that the martial arts techniques from Gu Long’s world, though described in a highly mystical manner, weren’t like the techniques from Jin Yong’s world, which were steeped in historical and cultural depth. Yet they were no less formidable.

In Gu Long’s novels, the heroes often relied purely on their personal talent to push their martial skills to the limit, or they created their own unique techniques. It was all about the individual’s understanding, with no reliance on special martial manuals.

The same martial arts technique, when used by different people, could result in vastly different outcomes. The most iconic example was Little Li's Flying Dagger. In Li Xunhuan’s hands, a single flying dagger could work wonders. Even though later generations might have received the true legacy of Li Xunhuan, none could ever replicate his unmatched grace and mastery.

This led Li Xiaofei to speculate that this was one of the reasons why the Dog Box rarely offered martial arts techniques from Gu Long's worlds. They were so dependent on personal talent that they couldn’t be easily replicated.

In the blink of an eye, the time limit for the Secret Time Pavilion had ended. Li Xiaofei exited the pavilion and returned to the real world.

In the bedroom, time seemed to have stood still. Principal Hu still lay on the bed, limp as a puddle of water. Her fair, jade-like skin gleamed under the light, emitting an endless allure.

Dual cultivation is actually pretty fun after all.

Li Xiaofei felt a sudden surge of excitement. Inside him, the fiery inner qi of the Nine Yang Divine Art roared and boiled. He pounced without hesitation.

"Ah... How do you still have energy?" Principal Hu gasped in surprise.

Despite her complete defeat earlier, where she was left utterly drained, Li Xiaofei had also expended at least seventy to eighty percent of his strength. Any further "battle" so soon should have been impossible. But now, in just a few short moments, Li Xiaofei had regained all his vitality and strength?

This monster.

Principal Hu had no choice but to resist desperately, activating the Yin-Yang Resonance of Great Sorrow, trying her best to counterbalance and cooperate. However, she quickly sensed something off.

"So hot..."

Principal Hu’s stunning face tilted back as she let out a startled cry, feeling an intense heat radiating from Li Xiaofei that was unlike anything before. This was completely different from their previous encounters.

As their energies intertwined and exchanged between them, Principal Hu’s body trembled, her expression transforming into one of elation. "Your... your energy... what’s happening? Such pure yang energy, your energy transformed again?"

Nine Yang True Qi was the epitome of pure yang inner qi. For those of the Heavenly Fox lineage, pure yang energy was an immense source of nourishment. Dual cultivation allowed them to harmonize yin and yang, enhancing both their cultivation levels.

"Ah... ah... ah!"

Suddenly, nine fox tails erupted from Principal Hu’s lower back. The sixth tail became increasingly solid, joining the previous five to take a tangible form. She had reached the peak of Grade Six.

It had been less than half a year since she had advanced into Grade Six. Under normal circumstances, even the most talented Yinji Moon Fox would need at least sixty years of rigorous cultivation to reach the peak of Grade Six.

But now, she had achieved it, all thanks to dual cultivation with Li Xiaofei. The surge of energy instantly restored Principal Hu’s physical strength, and she was ready for battle once again.