He soon realized that he had ventured into a dead end and instinctively wanted to back out of it.
Yet instinctively, he felt that if he backed out of this dead end just because it was difficult, then the dead end would always remain in his heart and in his martial path. No matter what martial skills he practiced thereafter, this question would linger in his mind... Where am I?
This perhaps was the very embodiment of ’ignorance is bliss’—knowing too much could indeed be troubling...
Realizing that he had fallen into an important impasse, Yang Ge steadied his "exploring the true essence of martial arts is also cultivation" optimistic attitude, slowed the circulation of his True Qi, and pondered over the issue without rush.
...
While Yang Ge was in his room exploring the truths of martial arts, it was almost chaos outside.
Early in the morning, as Yang Tiansheng was getting ready for breakfast he received a report from his subordinate, stating that beams of golden light were emanating from Yang Ge’s room.
Confused and hurried, he rushed to the outside of Yang Ge’s room only to see a large group of subordinates gathered, whispering and discussing something.
He stepped forward, dispersed the onlookers, squeezed to the front of the room, and saw that from the gaps around the door and windows of the room, a faint golden halo was indeed emanating!
This scene inexplicably reminded him of the "dispersal of power" his late father once mentioned, which frightened him immensely, and he turned his head, calling out softly, "Wei Xin, Wei Xin..."
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"Subordinate is here."
Wei Xin squeezed through to Yang Tiansheng’s front, his face also filled with concern.
Yang Tiansheng pointed to the room in front, swallowed, and asked quietly, "Do you think this... looks like dispersal of power?"
Wei Xin also secretly swallowed nervously, and replied, "Sect Leader, I too think it greatly resembles the dispersal of power!"
"Ah?"
Yang Tiansheng’s face changed, and he asked urgently, "He was fine last night, how could he suddenly be dispersing his power? Could it be... poisoning?"
Wei Xin, hearing this, also showed a panic-stricken face, but after a brief moment of thought, he firmly shook his head, "Decidedly not, I personally prepare your and the Second Master’s food and drink, all meals and water are first tested on chickens and dogs before being served to you... Do you feel anything unusual?"
Yang Tiansheng carefully circulated his True Qi within his body for a moment, and quickly shook his head, "Nothing is amiss!"
"Then..."
Wei Xin hesitantly whispered, "Could it be a recurrence of an old injury?"
Yang Tiansheng gave him a glare, "Do you think that’s possible?"
Wei Xin thought for a moment, hesitated, and shook his head, "It doesn’t seem likely..."
Yang Tiansheng, anxious, paced back and forth in front of the door a few times, then spoke with hope, "Let’s say there is a possibility, could he be practicing a rare skill that necessitates dispersal of power for breakthroughs?"
"This..."
Wei Xin uncertainly said, "There are indeed a few skills in the martial world that require dispersal of power each time one breaks through, but the Second Master had just... well, perhaps that’s it!"
Noticing his sect leader’s increasingly strained expression, Wei Xin wisely swallowed the rest of his words.
After pacing a few more times, Yang Tiansheng stomped his foot and said, "Regardless of whether it is or is not, we can’t disturb him now. Go and instruct the brothers to keep their mouths shut tightly, make sure no word leaks out. I’ll personally watch over him here!"
Wei Xin nodded and turned to leave.
After taking a few steps, he turned back and quietly asked, "Sect Leader, should I bring your breakfast here?"
Yang Tiansheng glared at him, shouting angrily, "At a time like this, you’re still worried about whether or not I have my breakfast!"
Wei Xin, worried, took a glance at the room and whispered, "I heard that some accomplished cultivators in the martial world, when dispersing power, need to sustain it for several days..."
"Shut your damned mouth!"
Yang Tiansheng interrupted him again, "He was vigorously swinging his saber cutting down men just a few days ago, how could he suddenly be dispersing his power... It must be advancement in his powers, simply a leakage of True Qi!"
Wei Xin moved his lips as if he wanted to say more, but Yang Tiansheng, already impatient, pushed him away, "Go on, without my permission, no one is to come near here!"
Wei Xin looked at him, then said quietly, "Wang Lin from the White Lotus Sect invited you to discuss tea today... Don’t blame me for speaking out of turn, but with the Second Master like this, we should consider making preparations early..."
Yang Tiansheng, his face turning red with anger, blurted out coarsely, "To hell with his tea, let him dare to start a fight, his White Lotus Sect may be powerful, but so is our Ming Sect, we are not easily frightened!"
Wei Xin sighed softly inside, bowed, and retreated.
After moving quite a distance away, he looked back and saw his sect leader pacing back and forth like an ant on a hot pan... His heart suddenly felt a bit lighter.
...
In the unknown confines, Yang Ge reflected endlessly on all his martial experiences up to now.
"I understand now!"
He suddenly opened his eyes, relieved as he smiled, "No wonder I can’t find myself in my martial skills, for in these skills from the beginning, there wasn’t a trace of me!"
"How could martial practice be about ’resembling me’?"
"Like the wind, like frost, like the five elements, there’s no ’me’ in the wind, no ’me’ in the frost, no ’me’ in the five elements either."
"Practicing this and that, resembling him, resembling thousands of others... Only not resembling myself!"
"Martial practice should be about ’what I want’."
"I want the wind, and having mastered it makes it mine."
"I want frost, and having mastered it makes it mine."
"I want the five elements, and having mastered them also makes them mine."
"Practicing wind, frost, and the five elements, I’m actually practicing myself!"
"I am the god, the god unique to myself!"
"My godliness is supreme, my godliness is singular, thousands of techniques all serve to protect the path!"
Once this thought settled, the only remaining faint vestige of metal-like True Qi in his Dantian completely dissolved, and under his guided intention, quickly formed into a vague, illusory figure.