Chapter 23: Phantom Yin Finger Completed

Without noticing, much time had passed; Zhao Ti felt no fatigue, and his eyes grew even brighter.

He was not entirely ignorant of internal cultivation; he possessed several ordinary manuals on internal energy and had discussed cultivation with multiple guards who practiced it.

The differences among various cultivation methods lay only in breathing, energy pathways, and posture.

Breathing and posture were easy to understand and rarely went wrong; the hardest part was the energy pathway.

The human body’s eight extraordinary meridians, the Ren and Du channels, the dantian and the twelve-story purple palace, the three hundred and sixty visible and hidden acupoints—these were the most difficult aspects.

When circulating Qi, a hair’s breadth off means a thousand miles’ error; if one missteps the meridian, the result ranges from futile effort, to losing all prior progress, to crippling injury or death.

Someone who has never cultivated internal energy, relying solely on diagrams without a master to guide and clarify, finds it nearly impossible to succeed alone.

If you leave an internal cultivation manual in the marketplace, nine out of ten ordinary people who attempt it will fail; if the manual is powerful, failure won’t just mean no progress—it will harm the body. Failing to generate internal energy might cause a serious illness or cost months of lifespan, but if internal energy is generated and then misrouted, disaster strikes—death may follow.

Thus, meridians and acupoints are the utmost priority in internal cultivation; without practice, understanding, or a master’s instruction, one must not act rashly or speculate on one’s own.

But Zhao Ti needed none of that—he held the Tian Sheng Bronze Man from the Imperial Medical Bureau, the progenitor of acupuncture meridian models, with complete meridians, precise acupoints, and perfectly carved depictions of the five viscera, six bowels, and skeleton.

Medicine and martial arts are one; he had thoroughly discussed human meridians and acupoints with the Imperial Medical Bureau’s medical doctors, and his understanding of the body’s meridians and acupoints rivaled that of any internal cultivation martial artist.

He had read the “Phantom Yin Finger” manual five or six times; he memorized its entirety on the first reading, and repeated silent recitations helped him decipher its obscure passages.

The “Heaven One Water, Earth Six Completes” treatise now proved useful; comparing it side by side with the He Tu and Yi Jing, he had grasped ninety percent of the Phantom Yin Finger.

Heaven One generates water; Earth Six completes it. Water is the origin of heaven and earth, the universe, and all things—the origin of the human body. One is the Dao; the Dao gives birth to water; water is Yin, nourishing heaven and earth, the primordial Taiji.

The human body mirrors the cosmos: twelve regular meridians and eight extraordinary meridians, each divided into Yin and Yang, water and fire.

Of the twelve regular meridians, six are Yin, six are Yang.

Meridians on the back and palm surface are Yang; those on the palm’s inner side are Yin. Meridians along the body’s inner side are Yin; those on the outer side are Yang. The six zang organs are Yin; the six fu organs are Yang.

The eight extraordinary meridians differ from the twelve regular ones: they do not directly connect to the zang-fu organs, nor do they form exterior-interior pairs; they follow unique pathways, hence called “extraordinary,” intertwining among the twelve regular meridians, consisting of four Yin and four Yang.

There are also three hundred and sixty acupoints, visible or hidden, aligning with the celestial cycle, equally divided into Yin and Yang, like stars scattered throughout the human body.

With so many meridians, extraordinary channels, and acupoints interwoven and crisscrossing, and with three dantians—upper, middle, lower—countless energy pathways can form.

Each internal cultivation method trains different meridians and acupoints, follows distinct pathways, and upon completion, yields vastly differing strengths.

Hence the distinctions among internal cultivation methods: high and low, cold and hot, slow and swift.

Generally, the more meridians a method trains, the more pathways it can branch into; though it’s impossible to traverse them all, the broader the energy circulation, the greater the power.

Yet Zhao Ti saw that the Phantom Yin Finger trained only one meridian—the Taiyin—and even avoided the other twelve regular meridians, Quyin and Shaoyin, let alone any Yang meridians.

The Taiyin meridian is the foremost of all Yin meridians; Phantom Yin Finger’s true name is “One Yin Finger,” where “one” refers to this primary Yin meridian, and also implies the origin of all things.

By following the manual’s prescribed path along the Taiyin meridian, one solidifies the small heavenly cycle; once achieved, it enables Taiyin to conceal all things, Heaven One generates water, water dissolves all. The small cycle gradually becomes the great cycle, concealing hardness and fierceness, masking fire and Yang, forming a body-wide essence of extreme Yin energy—icy cold.

One Yin Finger is also called Phantom Yin Finger precisely because it uses the Taiyin meridian as the sole major channel, transforming all other meridians and acupoints within the body into Yin—that is “phantom Yin.”

And this is precisely why Phantom Yin Finger can be used to cultivate the Kuihua Manual!

Similar to Nine Yang Divine Art, it shares similarities; One Yang Finger is likewise so, but the Six Pulse Sword Art is different.

One Yang Finger is a purely Yang method, yet the Six Pulse Sword Art undergoes transformation—it is a technique of Yin-Yang harmony.

One Yang Finger has nine ranks; the fourth rank is the foundation for practicing Six Pulse Sword Art, and only then is one qualified to advance to it.

Zhao Ti had never seen the manuals for One Yang Finger or Six Pulse Sword Art, so he did not know what change occurred at the fourth rank.

Phantom Yin Finger has six levels; at the fourth level, one can project internal energy outward to injure, forming fingertip winds that strike acupoints from afar, attacking the intangible.

But like One Yang Finger, projecting One Yang energy from afar consumes immense internal energy; continuous use may drain all power or even endanger one’s life.

No matter how powerful a technique, insufficient internal energy cannot sustain prolonged use—or even any use at all.

With insufficient internal energy, the Six Pulse Sword Art cannot be activated; even if one spits blood in desperation, not a single pulse can be summoned.

The Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms are the same; without sufficient internal energy, even if learned, one cannot complete all eighteen palms.

Zhao Ti now understood ninety percent of Phantom Yin Finger. He sat cross-legged on the bed; unlike standard methods that orient the five points toward heaven, Phantom Yin Finger orients one point toward heaven and four toward earth, then began breathing.

First, one must sense Qi, accumulate it gradually, store it in the dantian, then follow the Taiyin meridian, step by step, according to the manual, to open the special small cycle.

At this stage, the cultivator’s innate talent determines success: some may take a year to sense Qi, others may achieve it in a day.

Zhao Ti had only breathed for a few dozen breaths when suddenly a chill rose from his dantian—he was startled.

He had spoken with guards who cultivated internal energy; when Qi is sensed, the refined breath enters the dantian like a small warm mouse scurrying inside, warm and blissful.

Yet why did his feel cold?

The manual did not specify whether the generated Qi was hot or cold, but this was a cold, Yin method… perhaps it was meant to be cool?

He could only accept this explanation; fortunately, the Qi showed no other anomalies—only that it was not warm, did not dart about, but lay dormant in the dantian, quiet and still.

After pondering, Zhao Ti ceased worrying and continued breathing, accumulating steadily; in no time, three nights and two days had passed.

His progress was swift; he had completed the first level on the first day, but felt unsatisfied and pressed on—now he had entered the second level!

He had entered the secret chamber as night fell; now, on the third morning, he rose slowly from the bed, drank some clear water, ate a few fruits, then moved his body, gliding through the chamber.

Phantom Yin Finger’s internal energy was primary, accompanied by finger techniques and footwork; now he began practicing, and shadows darted like phantoms, fingers lightly tapping as if playing Go with an invisible opponent, or writing an endless scroll in empty air.

After a while, he stopped, drew a deep breath, and lightly stabbed the wall with his finger; a faint white frost spread around the point of contact, and when he withdrew his finger, a thin layer of ice had formed.

He nodded in satisfaction, sat quietly to breathe and recover, then opened the chamber door and stepped out.

Yu Er stood outside, immediately bowing: “Your Highness has emerged from seclusion?”

Zhao Ti nodded: “Any matters during these days?”

Yu Er replied: “Nothing else, but the Prince of Jiyin came once; your servants claimed Your Highness was absent and asked him to return another day.”

Zhao Ti smiled upon hearing this; Prince of Jiyin Zhao Zongjing was the Director of the Imperial Clan Court—surely sent by Empress Dowager Xiang to question him.

At that moment, the chief steward Zheng Fu hurried over from afar, wiping sweat from his brow: “Congratulations, Your Highness, on emerging from seclusion, Your Highness…”

Zhao Ti, seeing his urgency, asked: “What is it?”

Zheng Fu said: “Your Highness, the Prince of Jiyin has come again, insisting on meeting you.”