Chapter 2

According to the novel "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" by Jin Yong, there was a mysterious martial arts book in the imperial palace called the "Kuihua Manual." It is said that the Kuihua Manual was annotated by eunuchs in the third year of the Hongwu era and is divided into two parts: the upper part contains the mental techniques, and the lower part contains the combat techniques. In the eighth year of the Yongle era, a scholar who was involved in compiling the Yongle Encyclopedia stole the Kuihua Manual from the imperial palace.

Later, the scholar, for unknown reasons, became a monk at a temple in Zhejiang and gave the manual to the abbot. The abbot placed the manual in the scripture hall. A few months later, a pair of Hua Mountain martial arts brothers came to the temple and stayed there. At night, they sneaked into the scripture hall. To avoid drawing attention from the temple monks, they each silently read the upper and lower parts of the manual. They then hurriedly left the temple.

When the martial arts brothers returned to Hua Mountain, they began to memorize the content of the manual. They found that the upper part did not connect with the lower part, and the content seemed disjointed. Each of them practiced the part they had memorized. Since they only read the content and not the table of contents, they did not realize that the upper and lower parts were different. At this time, the Sword School and the Qi School emerged on Hua Mountain. The Sword School believed that with skillful sword techniques, there was no need to practice internal energy, while the Qi School believed that internal energy was the primary focus and sword techniques were secondary.

The Sword School thought that with excellent sword techniques, there was no need to spend years or even decades practicing internal energy. The Qi School believed that with strong internal energy, even mediocre sword techniques could lead to victory. In fact, the Sword and Qi Schools on Hua Mountain were originally one. In the first year of training on Hua Mountain, students practiced sword techniques, and after five years, they practiced internal energy. Some students, after five years, felt that further practice of internal energy was a waste of time, so they only learned sword techniques. This led to dissatisfaction among the Hua Mountain disciples who practiced internal energy, resulting in the division of Hua Mountain.

At this time, the pair of Hua Mountain martial arts brothers began to practice the Kuihua Manual. One practiced the mental techniques, and the other practiced the combat techniques, each achieving some success. The one who practiced the mental techniques even combined the Kuihua Manual's mental techniques with Hua Mountain's internal energy techniques, which later became the Purple Mist Technique, a treasure of the Hua Mountain Qi School. Soon, the abbot of the temple learned that the Hua Mountain disciples had stolen the Kuihua Manual. The abbot showed a disciple the annotations in the table of contents, which stated that to practice the divine power, one must first castrate oneself. The abbot then burned the manual in the scripture hall and sent the disciple down the mountain to tell the Hua Mountain disciples not to practice the evil martial arts.

The disciple came to Hua Mountain and told the pair of martial arts brothers about the annotations he had seen, advising them to stop practicing. However, the two showed the disciple the parts of the manual they had memorized. The disciple quickly left Hua Mountain and, in a cave, wrote down the parts of the manual he had memorized on his robe, including the annotations at the beginning, which stated that to practice the divine power, one must first castrate oneself.

Due to the haste, the disciple only remembered two-thirds of the mental techniques and seventy-two out of eighty-four sword techniques. He then disappeared from the martial world to return to the temple. In the tenth year of the Yongle era, the theft of the Kuihua Manual was discovered by the imperial palace, and four routes of the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) began searching for the manual among the people. They learned that the Hua Mountain disciples had obtained the manual and pretended to be members of the Sun Moon Sect to attack Hua Mountain, severely injuring the pair of martial arts brothers and retrieving the upper and lower parts of the manual.

The manual returned to the imperial palace, and the palace librarian explained its contents to the head eunuch. They learned that the manual was divided into two parts: the upper part contained the mental techniques, and the lower part contained the combat techniques. To achieve great success, one must castrate oneself. Practicing either the mental techniques or the combat techniques alone without castration can lead to minor success but not great wisdom. Without castration, the upper part does not connect with the lower part, leading to a loss of control. The mental techniques are divided into five sections, and the combat techniques cover twenty-eight types of weapons and ten categories. Practicing only one type of weapon or one combat technique is insufficient. Without the mental techniques, the combat techniques, though refined, lack power. With the mental techniques but without the combat techniques, one can only maintain youth.

Later, when the emperor inquired about the manual, the head eunuch claimed it was just a gardening guide, causing the emperor to be greatly disappointed and ordering the head eunuch to place it in the imperial library. However, the head eunuch privately kept the manual, which was later stolen by a Jinyiwei. This Jinyiwei soon resigned and left. The head eunuch only learned of this several days later. The Jinyiwei who obtained the manual not only revised it but also added the annotations from the table of contents at the beginning, stating that to practice the divine power, one must first castrate oneself. Many people, after reading only the first paragraph, castrated themselves without reading the full annotations, leading to regret.

Soon, Hua Mountain, to retaliate against the Sun Moon Sect, formed the Five Mountains Alliance and confronted the Sun Moon Sect elders at the Sigu Cliff on Hua Mountain. The Sun Moon Sect, unaware that the Jinyiwei had impersonated them, agreed to come to Hua Mountain for a martial arts exchange but was ambushed and trapped in a cave by the Five Mountains Alliance. Before dying, the Sun Moon Sect elders wrote down the breaking of the Five Mountains' sword techniques, believing that the Five Mountains had lost and used underhanded tactics. This incident led to a grudge between the Sun Moon Sect and the Central Plains martial world.

Afterward, Hua Mountain, to resolve the dispute between the Sword and Qi Schools, took significant action. The Qi School sent a group of Sword School experts down the mountain, preventing them from participating in the dispute, which led to the Qi School's victory over the Sword School. From then on, the Hua Mountain Qi School became the dominant force, while the Sword School experts, who did not participate in the dispute, did not return to Hua Mountain. Only Feng Qingyang returned to Hua Mountain and lived in seclusion at the Sigu Cliff. Soon, a security agency appeared in the martial world, using the seventy-two sword techniques to震撼 the martial world. Due to the evil nature of these techniques, they were known as the seventy-two evil sword techniques.

Later, the abbot of the temple in Zhejiang learned about the security agency and the sword techniques and confirmed that the person was the disciple who had gone to Hua Mountain to advise the martial arts brothers not to practice the manual but never returned to the temple. The abbot quickly came to the security agency and told the lay disciple not to reveal the secrets of the manual to others. In fact, the disciple had already castrated himself and, to avoid drawing attention, had married and adopted an abandoned child, appearing to be a normal person. The Jinyiwei who obtained the manual and returned home was pursued by the head eunuch's subordinates. Seeing no way out, he handed the manual to his sworn brother, who was a tenth-generation elder of the Sun Moon Sect. The tenth-generation elder gave the manual to Ren Woxing, who, after reading it, found the martial arts techniques to be evil and gave it to Dongfang Bubai.

Thus, the Kuihua Manual was divided into three parts in the martial world: the Purple Mist Technique, the seventy-two evil sword techniques, and the Kuihua Manual revised by the head eunuch. The Purple Mist Technique was originally a Hua Mountain internal energy technique that, when combined with the mental techniques from the Kuihua Manual, not only enhanced internal energy but also had the ability to heal and save lives. The seventy-two evil sword techniques were two-thirds of the mental techniques and seventy-two out of eighty-four sword techniques from the manual. The annotations at the beginning of the manual, which stated that to practice the divine power, one must first castrate oneself, led many to castrate themselves rather than practice only half of the techniques.

The five annotations at the beginning of the Kuihua Manual state: To practice the divine power, one must first castrate oneself. Castration weakens the body, making success difficult. If not castrated, each should practice half. Men should practice the mental techniques, and women should practice the blood techniques. Balance of yin and yang makes success easier.

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