Chapter 54: Pure Yang Skill

If given a chance to live his life over again, Jiang Han probably would not have chosen to become Meng Hongshang’s disciple to learn any martial arts.

Every morning before dawn, he would climb Mount Cuiyun. After resting for a brief moment at the top, he would follow Liu Miao to study swordsmanship.

Though called learning swordsmanship, it was essentially just getting beaten up!

"True swordsmanship is comprehended through actual combat. Without combat, what you learn are merely superficial routines."

"Therefore, Junior Apprentice Brother, come and spar with me. I will teach you swordsmanship through real combat."

Jiang Han felt that Liu Miao's words made some sense, yet not entirely. Just as he was about to retort, Liu Miao let out a sharp cry and thrust forward with a wooden sword.

The wooden sword came with astonishing speed. Jiang Han could not help but take a few steps back, intending to raise his sword for a counterattack.

Instead, a straight and beautiful leg swept out from beneath Liu Miao’s skirt, kicking Jiang Han flat onto the ground.

Jiang Han climbed back up, baring his teeth as he said, "Senior Apprentice Sister, didn't you say we were learning swordsmanship? Why are you using your legs?"

"Who said learning swordsmanship means you cannot use your legs? In actual combat, would you expect your enemy to use only sword techniques?" Liu Miao said, "Get up, let's fight again!"

Thus, Jiang Han’s suffering began.

Every time he finished practicing swordsmanship with Liu Miao, his entire body ached. By the time he walked down the mountain and returned home, his legs would tremble, leaving not an ounce of strength in his body, and he would collapse into sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

During the first three days, Jiang Han almost harbored thoughts of betraying his sect and committing patricide against his masters. After seven or eight consecutive days, however, he gradually adapted. The most obvious change was that his physique had grown much stronger, and while sparring with Liu Miao, he had also begun to catch glimpses of her sword moves.

"Junior Apprentice Brother, Senior Sister is coming for you!" Liu Miao squinted her pretty eyes, her wooden sword lifting slightly.

"Bring it on, Senior Apprentice Sister!"

As the words fell, Liu Miao's wooden sword thrust forward.

Through these days of sparring, Jiang Han was not merely on the receiving end of beatings. Every time Liu Miao knocked him to the ground, she would tell him which move had defeated him and explain how to neutralize and counter it.

At this moment, watching the sword thrust by Liu Miao, Jiang Han recognized it as a feint; the real fatal blow came from the kick beneath his senior sister's skirt.

Jiang Han cast his gaze downward, preparing to dodge backward.

"Whoosh!" A kick flew out from beneath the skirt. Jiang Han's eyes were filled with the sight of straight, long legs, and his gaze involuntarily paused. Huh? She's not wearing inner drawers?

With a "thud," Jiang Han was kicked flat onto the ground once more.

"Junior Apprentice Brother, didn't I already teach you this move? Why still don't you know how to dodge?" Liu Miao frowned and said.

No, it wasn't that I didn't know how to dodge, I just got distracted... Jiang Han said, "Senior Sister, again!"

The process of learning martial arts was both painful and joyous, especially the part where he was pinned down and beaten by his senior sister.

This aloof and detached senior sister seemed completely oblivious to the distinction between men and women. Sometimes, when she got too caught up in the fight, she would press directly down onto Jiang Han's body.

Her soft, fragrant body truly caused Jiang Han's heart to flutter and his mind to wander.

On another early morning, although he had climbed Mount Cuiyun many times already, scaling it once more still left him completely exhausted, and he sat on a boulder gasping heavily for breath.

"Junior Nephew, you've climbed this mountain dozens of times, how are you still in such a state?"

A flirtatious voice drifted over.

Jiang Han raised his head to look and saw a glamorous, voluptuous young matron smiling sweetly at him.

Junior Nephew? She is my martial aunt? Surprisingly, she is a young matron?

Jiang Han could not help but be stunned for a moment. The woman before him possessed stunning looks and an almost perfectly alluring face of a married woman.

Her figure was plump and well-proportioned—slim where she should be slim, full where she should be full, and her bosom was heaving and voluptuous. It involuntarily brought a couple of lines of verse to Jiang Han's mind:

Plump and round is the sun, bulging and mounds are the hills...

Jiang Han hurriedly said, "Junior nephew Jiang Han greets Martial Aunt!"

The beautiful young matron looked Jiang Han up and down and smiled faintly, truly brimming with seductive charm and matchless beauty: "Your body is too weak. No wonder you couldn't last even a quarter of an hour in the hands of that little girl Liu Miao."

Jiang Han said helplessly, "This nephew has lacked exercise since childhood, hence my frail physique. Senior Sister Liu has practiced martial arts for many years, so this nephew is naturally no match for her."

The beautiful young matron smiled and said, "While your master's swordsmanship is indeed brilliant, someone with brilliant swordsmanship does not necessarily know how to teach disciples. By tossing you to that little girl Liu Miao like this, I'm afraid you won't make much progress even after studying for a few more years."

Jiang Han felt that her words held some truth, but Meng Hongshang was his master after all, and he could not speak ill of her, so he could only remain noncommittal.

"Junior nephew has only recently entered the sect, and I do not know Martial Aunt's esteemed name?"

The beautiful young matron said, "Didn't your master tell you? Never mind, I will tell you then. Your martial aunt's surname is Shen, with the single given name Quan."

"So it is Martial Aunt Shen Quan. Just now, Martial Aunt said that even if I study for a few more years, I will hardly make any progress. Could it be that the swordsmanship taught by my senior sister is wrong?" Jiang Han asked.

Shen Quan smiled and said, "It is not wrong, but it lacks the proper sequence. When learning martial arts, one must first learn internal energy. Once you have internal force, you can then learn swordsmanship, and you will achieve twice the result with half the effort. If you need to go up and down the mountain, it will also become much easier."

Jiang Han suddenly understood. There was actually such a miraculous thing as internal energy?

A thought stirred in his mind, and he immediately said, "So that's how it is. This nephew dares to boldly ask Martial Aunt to teach me internal energy."

Shen Quan was startled for a moment, then burst into giggles, laughing so hard that her body trembled like fluttering flower branches, and her bosom surged in rolling waves.

Jiang Han was not the kind of person whose brain was entirely consumed by lust, and he quickly averted his gaze.

Shen Quan smiled and said, "I am not your master. If I teach you internal energy, I fear your master might be displeased."

Jiang Han gave an awkward chuckle: "That's true as well."

Shen Quan said, "Never mind, I will give you a copy of the *Pure Yang Technique*. Take it and study it yourself. If you succeed, it won't count as me teaching you."

*Pure Yang Technique*? Why does that not sound like an orthodox cultivation manual at all... Jiang Han was stunned for a moment, though this martial aunt herself didn't look like an orthodox person either.

Noticing his strange expression, Shen Quan turned serious and said, "This internal cultivation method is a Daoist internal art, combining internal and external cultivation, uniting stillness with motion. Internally, it trains the five viscera and six bowels; externally, it trains the tendons, bones, and skin. If mastered, it repels evil and restores righteousness, resulting in mighty internal force. If you don't want it, then forget it."

"Please impart the internal art to me, Martial Aunt!"

...

Half an hour later, Jiang Han looked at the yellowed booklet in his hands, his heart unable to suppress its excitement.

This thing was the legendary internal energy!

On the cover of the booklet were only two words—*Pure Yang*!

Jiang Han flipped open the booklet and instantly widened his eyes.

This damn thing really wasn't any orthodox cultivation manual!

He saw that the booklet depicted figures of women with slender, graceful postures, completely unclad, with every single page showing a different posture.

These figures were drawn with extreme realism, practically resembling the erotic painting manuals of this world.

Yet on the body of the human figure in each illustration, a red line was drawn, apparently indicating the pathways of the meridians and channels.

The more Jiang Han looked, the more excited he became—naturally not because of the illustrations of unclad women, but because this *Pure Yang Technique* was clearly a profound internal cultivation manual!

In the wuxia novel *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils*, didn't Duan Yu learn the world-shaking *North-Metrics Divine Art* from illustrations of a naked woman?

If he managed to master this, wouldn't he become a martial arts master?

Jiang Han continued to flipping through, but the more he looked, the more bewildered he became.

Wait a minute, acupoints? Where on earth am I supposed to know where any acupoint is?