Jill Young looked up at the sky, speechless: "The more you say, the more I feel like I missed out on some cosmic jackpot..."
Yan Laihong's eyes went wide. Wait a minute, is Master really about to...
"Hmm..." Jill Young nodded, thinking it sounded like the difference between Ten Elephant Power and One Dragon Power. "Got it. So you're saying Beiming Divine Skill is tough to break through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier?"
"Of course not!" Wu Zhengfeng couldn't help but blurt out, even though she knew Jill was teasing her. "If you join, you'll be the other master of Spirit Eagle Palace!"
"Really?" Jill Young's eyes lit up with a mischievous idea. "What if you just suck up the internal energy of someone who's already broken through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier? Like, didn't Duanyu absorb Kumochi's power? I don't really get what this barrier is, but Kumochi must've been pretty good, right?"
"Well... I could recruit you as my junior instead!" Wu Zhengfeng grabbed her mischievous finger, sounding a little desperate. "You can be my little sister, and I'll teach you all my martial arts—and even hand you the future of Spirit Eagle Palace."
"So, recruiting juniors now, huh... This little loli sure knows how to humble herself. Normally, top masters act all high and mighty when taking disciples. But then again, after saving each other's lives, sharing some pee, and feeding each other blood—not to mention Jill's insane fighting skills—it'd be weird if she was still stuck-up. But if I join as her junior, that means I'd technically be apprenticed to Xuzhu, right?"
Although he's already passed away, so there wouldn't actually be a nagging master bossing me around. Still, Xuzhu... just thinking about that clueless, dopey monk makes me lose all interest in calling him 'Master.'
"Finding a pearl among pearls, huh..." That did sound rough, but Jill Young pressed on: "But if they're all pearls, what's the big difference?"
"Wow, you really know your stuff. Looks like you and the Freewind Sect go way back. Yep, Beiming Divine Skill, Small No-Form Skill, Supreme Six Harmonies Skill—they're the three legendary manuals from our ancestors. But..." Wu Zhengfeng hesitated, then hopped down from the seat. She waved to the maids, and all—including Yan Laihong—bowed and left. What came next, they weren't qualified to hear.
Wu Zhengfeng walked with Jill Young, speaking slowly: "I'll be straight with you—I'll tell you everything. After 150 years of ups and downs, the Freewind Sect today is nothing like the old Freewind Sect."
That whole "if heaven has feelings, heaven grows old" vibe... Jill Young had a bad feeling about this: "What do you mean?"
"Wait, hold up." Jill Young thought of someone. "Your teacher Xuzhu didn't cultivate his own power, right? He got it from the three Freewind Elders—all masters who've broken through, three types of pearls mixed together. How did he manage to pick out his own pearl?"
"What—?!"
"Dang, that's a thing?" Jill Young couldn't help but marvel. "So theoretically, you could have endless generations of breakthrough masters passing it on?"
"Wait, wait, wait—" Wu Zhengfeng said it so calmly, but Jill Young was totally stunned: "You mean those crucial, priceless manuals are just... gone? Not even a backup? And the legendary stone chamber wall carvings—those are trashed too?"
Jill Young nodded. She knew Wu Zhengfeng was sharing top-secret martial arts theory here—stuff people would kill for. Yet he was just laying it all out for her, totally open and generous.
"So your teacher actually had some skills of his own."
Xuzhu's level of squandering is just out of this world—even yelling 'I'm getting scammed here!' doesn't begin to cover how I feel.
"The best?" Jill Young gave a dry laugh. "Let me count: your teacher managed to lose—thirty-six caves, seventy-two islands, the original Spirit Eagle Palace, the Freewind Sect's reputation and connections, the legendary Life and Death Talisman, the secret manuals for Small No-Form Skill and Beiming Divine Skill..."
Jill Young looked up at the sky, speechless: "The more you say, the more I feel like I missed out on some cosmic jackpot..."
"But that's not necessarily a good thing." Wu Zhengfeng said seriously, "Remember the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier? Sixty years of cultivation is one Jiazi, but sixty years of power doesn't equal a true Jiazi breakthrough. Once you break through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier, you step into a whole new realm. It's a complete upgrade—if I fought someone with just ten years of internal strength, I'd win easily, maybe even three or four at once."
"Hmm..." Jill Young nodded, thinking it sounded like the difference between Ten Elephant Power and One Dragon Power. "Got it. So you're saying Beiming Divine Skill is tough to break through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier?"
"Exactly." Wu Zhengfeng nodded with certainty. "Beiming Divine Skill has its perks—even if you haven't broken the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier, you can keep absorbing power. The upper limit is one hundred and fifty years of internal strength, so against regular martial artists, you're basically invincible. But breaking the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier? Not impossible, but extremely tough. The more you absorb, the harder it gets."
"Really?" Jill Young's eyes lit up with a mischievous idea. "What if you just suck up the internal energy of someone who's already broken through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier? Like, didn't Duanyu absorb Kumochi's power? I don't really get what this barrier is, but Kumochi must've been pretty good, right?"
"Usually, a master who's broken through has perfectly refined energy—it's not easy to steal. And if you did manage to suck it away..." Wu Zhengfeng declared, "That person will probably never break the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier themselves."
"Why's that?"
"You know the saying—refine essence into energy, refine energy into spirit. A master who's broken through can circulate Minor Circulation effortlessly; their true energy flows through the upper dantian and carries their personal spirit. The key to breaking through is finding that one strand of pure energy most compatible with yourself, discarding all the junk, and nurturing that pure strand until it's strong. Beiming Divine Skill brings in outside energy, so it's always a mixed bag. There's a way to purify it, but finding your pure strand is like finding a pearl in the desert—good luck! And if you absorb someone else's pure energy, it's like searching for a slightly different-colored pearl among thousands. The difficulty? Astronomical."
"Finding a pearl among pearls, huh..." That did sound rough, but Jill Young pressed on: "But if they're all pearls, what's the big difference?"
"Great question! Of course there's a difference. Pearls are pearls, but they're not yours. Even if the power's similar, it always feels a bit awkward to use. If you face a true master with comparable strength, that tiny bit of awkwardness is a dealbreaker—and it ups your risk of going off the rails. Plus, a master's lifespan is tied to their power. My teacher had over 140 years of strength and lived that long. If you never break through, no matter how much power you have, you can't do that. And if you absorb energy that's way out of sync with your own—say, a super-yin type takes in super-yang energy—it won't extend your life, it'll cut it short."
"So that's how it is." Duanyu apparently didn't live very long—maybe Kumochi's power was too spicy for his stomach? "So, by your logic, Beiming Divine Skill is great for quick gains early on. But after breaking through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier, you still have to cultivate slowly yourself, because that perfect pure energy can't be absorbed from others."
No wonder Master Wuyazi spent his whole life on Beiming Divine Skill and never racked up a thousand years of power—now it all makes sense.
"Wait, hold up." Jill Young thought of someone. "Your teacher Xuzhu didn't cultivate his own power, right? He got it from the three Freewind Elders—all masters who've broken through, three types of pearls mixed together. How did he manage to pick out his own pearl?"
"Ah, with my teacher, it's a special case. My grandmaster Wuyazi was disabled for thirty years, racking his brains every day, and invented a miracle skill. It doesn't do much else, but it lets you reverse the flow of Beiming and transfer your power to someone else. When you pass it on, you sacrifice some strength to erase your personal imprint, making it super pure—like turning all the pearls colorless. After my teacher received that, his energy circulated through the upper dantian and naturally picked up his own imprint. When he later got power from the other two elders, he already had his own pure energy, so it all worked out."
"Dang, that's a thing?" Jill Young couldn't help but marvel. "So theoretically, you could have endless generations of breakthrough masters passing it on?"
"My teacher only realized that later. Sadly, my grandmaster was already running on fumes and couldn't pass down the method. But even then, it's not truly your own power, so it's not a real breakthrough, which is why my teacher's energy had traces from the other two elders. When he truly broke through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier, it was thanks to a special experience." Wu Zhengfeng said with deep respect, "My teacher studied both Buddhism and Daoism. After his wife died, he meditated for ten days and nights, achieved total enlightenment, and created a never-before-seen secret technique called the 'Great Severance of Emotion and Thought.' With it, he entered a state of pure, thoughtless mind and finally broke through the Jiazi Heavenly Barrier."
Jill Young nodded. She knew Wu Zhengfeng was sharing top-secret martial arts theory here—stuff people would kill for. Yet he was just laying it all out for her, totally open and generous.
"So your teacher actually had some skills of his own."
"Of course!" Wu Zhengfeng lifted his nose and snorted. "My teacher is the best!"
"The best?" Jill Young gave a dry laugh. "Let me count: your teacher managed to lose—thirty-six caves, seventy-two islands, the original Spirit Eagle Palace, the Freewind Sect's reputation and connections, the legendary Life and Death Talisman, the secret manuals for Small No-Form Skill and Beiming Divine Skill..."
With each item she listed, Wu Zhengfeng's head drooped a little lower. By the end, his chin was practically on his chest.
"Did I miss anything? Like, weren't the Tianshan Six Yang Palm and Tianshan Plum Blossom Hand lost too?"
"Nope, those are still around! I know the full set of Six Yang Palm and Plum Blossom Hand!" Wu Zhengfeng quickly defended his teacher, then muttered, "But yeah, there are two more things. One is the Nine Heavens Nine Divisions' various internal cultivation methods..."
"No wonder the Spirit Eagle Palace girls have to rely on the Freewind Mind Method to keep up appearances. But whatever, Nine Heavens Nine Divisions' methods are mid-tier at best. We can figure it out later. What's the other thing?"
"The other thing..." Wu Zhengfeng scratched his head awkwardly. "Lingbo Weibu. That's gone too."
"..." Yang Qi closed her eyes, eyelids twitching, fists clenched, breathing hard. After a long struggle, she finally couldn't hold it in. Never mind that the disciple was right there—she snapped her eyes open and roared: "Xuzhu! You damned God of Squandering!!!"