Chapter 9 (Part 1) of Book 2: There is a type of cultivation called Deviation

  The old lady taught me to practice the first secret book, called "Xuanji Secret Taoist Method". It is said that it is a famous secret Taoist method school of Qingxu Tian's cultivation heart classic.

  "The essence of the Xuanji Secret Art lies in a single word: 'round'. Smooth and flowing, endless and infinite. Every movement of the hand, every step of the foot, forms a circle. The circle has no corners, no edges, yet it is full of infinite changes." The old woman said calmly, her palm rotating, drawing out circle after circle in the air, making my eyes dizzy. The surrounding air whirled with a humming sound, quickly forming whirlpools.

  I nodded: "Looks very powerful. However, without edges and corners, how can we attack the enemy?"

  The old woman suddenly opened her mouth to me, I frowned: "Old lady, your teeth are very yellow and incomplete. It's best not to open your mouth often, exposing the defects."

  A slap landed on my forehead without warning, and the old woman said, "Look at my tongue again."

  I took a closer look: "Your tongue is bright red and plump."

  "How about my teeth?"

  "Of course it's much better, your teeth are almost all gone."

  The old woman said slowly: "Teeth with edges and ridges have all fallen out, but the soft tongue is intact."

  I felt a jolt in my heart: "Grandma, I think I understand now."

  "Understood? Then hurry up and practice!" The old lady let out a loud roar, I nodded like a little chicken pecking at rice, and opened the "Xuanji Secret Path Technique" to start practicing.

  According to the secret manual, first of all, I had to rotate my breath and generate a complete circle of air inside my body. Then, using this circle of air, I would continuously produce smaller circles of air, just like a hen laying eggs, until my entire body became a swirling vortex of energy. Just as I finally finished cultivating the foundation of the Xuanji Secret Path, I was about to take a breath when the old woman suddenly grabbed me and we flew forward with her tattered cloak fluttering behind us.

  "Grandma, your wind magic is impressive, but why are you holding onto me? Let me quietly appreciate it."

  "I don't have time to let you practice step by step. Listen, I'm going to throw you into the Blood Refining Vortex, and you can personally experience the essence of Xuanji's Secret Path Technique. This is much more effective than practicing from a dead book."

  "I need to go to the restroom!"

  "Shut up!" Flying down to the Blood Pool Vortex, she lightly tossed me, and I rushed towards the Blood Pool Vortex like a cloud driven by the wind.

  Just as I approached the whirlpool, a violent force suddenly wrapped me up, spinning wildly and flinging me out. "Bang", I fell heavily to the ground, dazed and seeing stars. I immediately realized that when I burst into the Blood Whirlpool from the eggshell, I was subjected to suction, but entering from below the whirlpool became repulsive force.

  "Dummy, how could you forget what you just learned? The Blood Vortex is just a rotating circle. As long as you use the Xuanyi Secret Path technique and follow the rotation of the Blood Vortex, you won't be thrown out." The old woman said this while grabbing me again and throwing me into mid-air.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!", I fell down from the Blood Swirl Vortex again and again, only to be thrown back in. If it weren't for the Cloud Light Stone Flowing Elixir, I'm afraid I would have turned into a pile of fragments long ago. The most infuriating thing is that this Moon Soul guy suddenly popped out, jumping around me as if mocking my miserable state.

  "You're so stupid! Today, I won't let you eat anything!" The old lady scolded and cursed, shaking her head. Under her tyrannical rule, I had no choice but to practice with an empty stomach.

  After a few days, I started to adapt and could hold on for a while in the bloody whirlpool before being thrown out. The time I held on was also gradually increasing. However, the old woman was still not satisfied.

  "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" The old lady yelled so loudly that my ears almost went deaf.

  "Grandma, the Northern Border wasn't built in a day!" I cried out in anguish as I was thrown back into the bloody vortex once again.

  "This time if you don't succeed in your practice, you can forget about sleeping for a month!"

  My god! I still want to argue reasonably, but I couldn't speak anymore. The pressure around me surged, my chest was suffocating and I could hardly breathe, almost choking.

  "Rotating and flowing, the jade-like energy is born within." I silently recite the incantation, my palms drawing out circle after circle. Small whirlpools of air erupt from my palm centers, forming a rotating aura around me, as my entire body begins to revolve with the swirling vortex.

  "From the inside out, life is endless." As the breath flows in the body, each circle of air ripples outward like a whirlpool, circulating and rotating without rest. I seem to have transformed into a circle as well, becoming part of the swirling vortex of blood, no longer an invading foreign object.

  The pressure around me gradually disappeared. I easily followed the whirlpool's rotation, and I didn't get thrown out again! Later on, I was able to control my body, using the air pocket, borrowing the whirlpool's rotational force, to move inside it. Wanting to rise up, I rose up; wanting to sink down, I sank down - an indescribable feeling of freedom and ease.

  "Grandma, I've succeeded!" I exclaimed, leaping out of the Blood Refining Vortex and spinning around before gently landing back on the ground.

  "It's just learning, not yet practiced to perfection." The old woman was somewhat regretful: "If you continue to cultivate the Xuanji secret method and advance one more level, you can reach the state of great perfection, ascend to the Lingbao Heaven, and gain some benefits. Unfortunately, there is no time now to let you practice to great success."

  "I said: 'This is nothing to worry about, I will have plenty of time in the future to thoroughly study and master it.'"

  The old woman said faintly: "Remember, the Xuanji Secret Art is a secret art that wins with weakness over strength. When fighting, if the enemy's power is stronger than yours, you must learn to use softness to overcome stiffness and use no edge against sharp edges. Young man, I ask you, what is the Secret Art?"

  I scratched my head: "It's just a Taoist technique, what else could it be?"

  An old woman smiled: "In the North, there are thousands of people who practice secret Taoist techniques, but truly understand the true meaning of Taoist techniques. I'll tell you, Taoist techniques - is a technique that follows the natural law of heaven and earth. Just like when a person is in the water, they will drown if they don't learn to swim, this is following the nature of water. When a person wants to pick fruit from a tree, they must know how to climb trees, this is following the nature of trees. Understanding the nature of all things in heaven and earth, and moving with the trend, is Taoist techniques."

  I applauded warmly: "Auntie, listening to you for a few words is better than reading books for ten years. What's this 'Jia Yu Shu' then?"

  The old woman said, "If one doesn't want to be drowned by water, then simply fill the river with earth. If one wants to pick fruit from a tree, then just cut down the tree with an axe. Transforming heaven and earth is the core of Jiaoyu's magic."

  "I smiled and said: 'The Secret Path Technique is adapting to all things, while the Armor Defense Technique changes all things. If the Secret Path Technique is soft, then the Armor Defense Technique is hard. When facing an enemy, whichever one is more convenient will be used.'"

  The old lady nodded: "It's best to have a balance of hard and soft."

  "My heart skipped a beat: 'Grandma, do you have the secret manual of Bi Luo Fu's Secret Path or the Pulse Classic Jia Yu's Secret Manual?'"

  "There are thousands of sects in the Northern Border, how can we collect all their secret manuals?" The old woman shook her head, a look of regret on her face: "The Pulse Temple and the Azure Falling Sect are both very powerful sects, with many masters and strict defenses. Their secret manuals are hard to get. Alas, I once snuck into the Azure Falling Sect to steal their manual, but was discovered by the sect leader, Yan Cai Zi. After a fierce battle, I barely escaped. The Azure Falling Sect's Secret Path Technique is indeed extraordinary, no wonder Yan Cai Zi is known as the Northern Border's number one master of Secret Path Technique." She paused for a moment, then glared at him with wide eyes: "Youngster, still wasting time on idle chatter? Next up is the 'Five Awareness Demon Classic', hurry and practice!"

  I'm so fed up with this endless training, it's totally insane!

  ;