Chapter 91

The all-purpose tool reinterpreted the entire text of the *Nine Yang Manual* using the black technology of the Star Skill Era. While explaining the entire practice process (Qifeng found it hard to call it cultivation), it inadvertently revealed a corner of the mysterious and enticing question of "what is the essence of internal energy."

Qifeng's entire mind was immediately completely absorbed. Whether he would practice the Nine Yang Divine Skill himself became a trivial matter in comparison.

Qifeng focused intently and reread the translation word by word and sentence by sentence. He did not examine the cultivation method itself but instead explored the explanations of the terms and their interrelations, trying to deduce where the essence of internal energy lies and what meridians and acupoints truly are.

The way a science student pursues the truth is to make bold assumptions and carefully verify them. Qifeng simply assumed that the all-purpose tool's translation was correct and tried to verify it.

According to the various explanations in the translation, Qifeng deduced a system of internal energy that aligns with scientific concepts.

First, meridians and acupoints, the basic elements of internal energy, do not exist in the body but in the brain.

This completely overturned his original understanding.

Whether it is the existing martial arts system or the traditional Chinese medicine system, meridians are believed to be distributed throughout the body, not in the brain as the all-purpose tool stated. However, the old system has a significant problem: if meridians exist in the body, why are they not found when the body is dissected? If one argues that meridians are intangible, many things become inexplicable and contradictory.

The new system Qifeng deduced can explain this problem. Meridians do not exist in the body but are clusters of neurons in the brain that map to the entire body, creating the illusion that meridians are in the body. Qifeng himself had a deep understanding of this illusion—the electronic sound of the all-purpose tool directly stimulates the auditory nerves in his brain, yet he still feels the sound coming from his ears. The only way to detect the issue is to cover his ears, at which point he realizes that the electronic sound is not actually coming from his ears.

Second, these brain regions, according to the translation, should exist in the undeveloped part of the human brain. That is, the twelve main meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians are entirely different from the known autonomic and somatic nervous systems. They do not control muscles but produce a unique biological energy change.

This so-called "secondary biological energy," combined with the sensation of meridians mapping to the body, forms what is known as "internal energy" or the commonly referred "qi sensation." Therefore, true qi does not actually exist.

Thus, the flow of internal energy in the meridians is not a simple energy flow. It is a biological energy produced by certain special regions of the brain, combined with the body's illusion, creating a comprehensive sensation. When using internal energy to attack, the truly damaging part is the biological energy. The things in the meridians do not emit out, nor are they "true qi," and they do not get consumed; it is just that the corresponding brain region becomes fatigued...

...

Qifeng held a pen and scribbled on a pile of white paper, jotting down his disconnected thoughts and using strange shapes to aid his thinking. The things on the paper were almost nonsensical. Finally, when he was almost at his wits' end, he roughly sorted out this system. He did not know if it was correct, but it could at least be self-consistent for now.

Qifeng picked up his scribbled A4 paper and stared at it for a long time. This explanation of martial arts was so refreshing that even he found it hard to accept. Is this internal energy? It looks more like a special ability...

Well, if he set aside his ingrained feelings about martial arts culture and let a foreigner view "internal energy" from their perspective, their first reaction would probably also be some kind of special ability. The saying "an outsider sees clearly" has some truth to it. Perhaps it is really a case of "not seeing the true face of Mount Lu because one is within it."

Qifeng expanded on this and suddenly understood why traditional Chinese medicine suddenly declined.

If based on this new system, traditional Chinese medicine, which is based on the theory of meridians, is not a medical practice that directly treats the body. Traditional Chinese medicine studies meridians and medicines, all of which target the meridians. According to Qifeng's new theory, this means acting on the same region of the brain that runs internal energy, stimulating the inside to produce special biological energy to heal the body.

Modern Chinese medicine, however, has learned to be like Western medicine, using Western methods to examine the body's muscles and organs for external diseases and then administering drugs and needles. This is like seeking a fish in a tree or marking a boat to find a sword, completely off the mark! If it weren't for a few ancient medical books that still allow for prescriptions, who knows how far off it would have gone.

Therefore, modern Chinese medicine is often criticized as pseudoscience and mocked as mysticism. In a certain sense, these people are not wrong. Modern Western medicine, starting from anatomy, has only scientifically developed for about two hundred years and is still at a basic level of cutting and patching organs. The new direction is gene technology, but the research on the human brain and human potential is very shallow. Calling it mysticism is not entirely wrong. Qifeng could only marvel at the wisdom of his predecessors, which is astonishing yet imperfect.

If his theory is correct, then the *Nine Yang Manual* or other internal energy techniques are actually methods to develop the brain's potential regions. Qifeng truly did not know who was so powerful as to activate new brain regions, triggering their special biological energy, and then record and summarize these things into a seemingly plausible system. Although it seems plausible, it is still very useful. It's like Newton's classical mechanics, which, although not the true truth of this world, can solve most normal problems.

Now, when he reread the translation of the *Nine Yang Manual*, Qifeng felt a sudden clarity. Practicing internal energy is largely the same; it starts with finding the "qi sensation," which is essentially making you feel the undeveloped neural region in your brain. This can be compared to controlling your ears to move. Humans have the nerves to control this muscle, but most people cannot feel it, so most people cannot control their ears. The qi sensation in the dantian in internal energy is similar. Whether it is Buddhist meditation or Daoist breathing, they are all ways to enhance the brain's perception and range.

Once the qi sensation is found, one can start to move qi through the meridians, which is actually enhancing the perception and control of that brain region. At this point, people's talents begin to show differences. Some make rapid progress, while others make no progress in ten years. The so-called "opening the Ren and Du meridians" is just a breakthrough at a critical point in brain development...

Qifeng speculated and continuously recorded on paper, refining his theory. Honestly, in the many years he spent studying, he had never been so focused and engrossed.

No wonder internal energy practice requires a foundation from a young age. The younger one is, the more the brain is developing and the neural activities are not fixed, making it the easiest time to develop brain regions. Qifeng found another piece of evidence for his theory.

However, thinking about his age in his twenties, he wondered if it was too late to practice the *Nine Yang Manual*. Although the translation has completely simplified the tutorial, with each step clearly explained, if the brain region cannot be activated, it is impossible to practice. The entire translation does not mention any solution.

Fortunately, the *Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda* he practices is an external-to-internal cultivation method. Speaking of which, the eight extraordinary meridians are in the brain, so what about the three channels and seven wheels?

Qifeng thought about it and, following the same logic, the three channels and seven wheels should not exist in the body but in the brain. The *Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda* uses unique body movements to stimulate the brain and develop that mysterious brain region. The qi and blood circulation in the *Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda* is likely another composite illusion. The true flow is just his blood, and "qi" does not actually exist.

Moreover, it is very likely that the three channels and seven wheels from India and the meridians and acupoints from China are not in the same brain region! The human brain has only utilized an extremely small part, and the rest is unknown. The eight extraordinary meridians are a small blank area, and the three channels and seven wheels are another small area. Qifeng also felt that the *Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda* and internal energy are quite different; it just stimulates his strength and does not produce any special biological energy.

Qifeng spread out the pile of draft papers on the table, checked, and revised his theory, and his imagination ran wild.

"If the three channels and seven wheels and the eight extraordinary meridians are not in the same brain region, and they are fundamentally different, then practicing both should not conflict, right?"

"Since internal energy develops a special brain region, and the *Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda* also develops a special brain region, what about other things? What is the small universe? What is chakra? What is ki?..."

Qifeng suddenly felt that a new world had opened up.

Could all these be the results of different brain region developments? The greatest strength, it turns out, comes from the highest level of brain development?

"Ha ha!" Qifeng suddenly understood and couldn't help but laugh out loud, drawing many disdainful glances from the library. He quickly lowered his head and left the reading room, but his excitement could not be suppressed.

This theory is powerful, but it is still just a hypothesis! He needs to verify it. The martial arts world should be his best laboratory! (To be continued...)

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