The implication behind the move, Purple Radiance Eastward, carried a distinct meaning for Ye Wen. Though his martial prowess had not yet reached the fabled True Innate Realm, he was certainly no longer the novice he once was. Having cultivated to this degree, he inevitably harbored ambitions for the Central Plains martial world, especially considering he carried the weight of an entire sect on his shoulders.

Purple Radiance Eastward not only provided a vivid description of the palm technique but also subtly hinted at Ye Wen’s aspirations for the Central Plains.

As for the palm strike itself, there was nothing particularly unique about it. The crucial element was channeling one's entire internal energy, gathering it in the palm, and then unleashing the full force with an unstoppable momentum.

It was a straightforward thrust forward, lacking any unnecessary flourishes. This technique was a crude imitation of the Buddha’s Light Manifestation Palm from the Emei School in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber; the true power of that move relied entirely on the Emei Nine Yang Skill—its efficacy was determined solely by the practitioner’s mastery of that art.

Ye Wen's execution was similar: the power of this strike resided entirely in his inner true qi. However, his foundation was not the Emei Nine Yang Skill, but the Innate Purple Qi he now cultivated. Of course, to truly fit the name of the move, one would simply need to master the Purple Cloud Divine Skill.

He currently regarded the Purple Cloud Divine Skill as the introductory method for his Innate Purple Qi; only upon achieving mastery, or near-mastery, of the Purple Cloud Skill could one begin cultivating the Innate Purple Qi. The foundational divine art of the Shu Mountain Sect was also temporarily designated as Innate Purple Qi. Considering the immense demands this technique placed on aptitude and cultivation, finding a successor later might prove troublesome. But these were matters for after his time; dwelling on them now was unproductive.

“This palm strike emphasizes exerting your full power,” Ye Wen mused. “If you have ten parts of strength, you must use ten parts, then amplify the effect to twelve parts with an unstoppable momentum! This technique doesn't suit my temperament and cannot unleash its true power, but your character is straightforward—perhaps you can forge a great reputation with it…”

As for Guo Jing’s current inability to practice the Purple Cloud Divine Skill or Innate Purple Qi, Ye Wen chose to selectively ignore it. After all, once Guo Jing’s cultivation reached a certain level, Ye Wen intended to pass the Purple Cloud Divine Skill on to him. Whether he possessed the fortune and talent to grasp the subsequent Innate Purple Qi would depend on fate.

Simultaneously, the internal arts for his other disciples were largely finalized. Due to the multitude of issues surrounding Liu Muyan, the internal art he practiced was secondary; he could choose between the Purple Cloud Divine Skill or the Pure Yang Limitless Skill later on. Both possessed properties beneficial for nourishing the body and regulating health. Although the Pure Yang Limitless Skill had several prohibitions, given Liu Muyan’s current condition, it was unlikely he would master either technique anyway, rendering those restrictions irrelevant.

The third disciple, Xu Ping, was still in the exploratory phase of his cultivation, and lacking a devoted female interest, perhaps the Pure Yang Limitless Skill would be inherited and developed by him. Xu Xian, having switched to the Supreme Pure Yang Skill, had already converted all his true qi; he had essentially rendered his Pure Yang Limitless Skill obsolete.

Thinking of this, Ye Wen felt a flicker of surprise that Xu Xian had not encountered a situation similar to his own—like the mutual fusion of the Supreme Pure Yang Skill and the Pure Yang Limitless Skill resulting in something like the Supreme Pure Yang Limitless Skill. Since both involved Pure Yang true qi, fusing them should logically be easier than the fusion of his own two arts.

In reality, although the Supreme Pure Yang Skill and the Pure Yang Limitless Skill shared many similarities, there were significant differences in their detailed methods of qi circulation.

Ye Wen’s own internal cultivation methods merged because their characteristics were similar and their execution methods largely aligned. More importantly, the Innate Skill was a full tier above the Purple Cloud Divine Skill, allowing it to directly assimilate the weaker art, thus avoiding any conflict.

For Xu Xian, the two arts—one focusing purely on Yin and the other purely on Yang—appeared similar on the surface but possessed distinct characteristics. Forcing a merger would likely result in failing to properly cultivate either. Therefore, Xu Xian had no choice but to switch to the urgently needed Supreme Pure Yang Skill, which also allowed him to manifest power more quickly than the Pure Yang Limitless Skill.

This was not to say the Pure Yang Limitless Skill was poor; it was, after all, the core art Zhang Sanfeng used to establish the Wudang Sect’s foothold in the martial world. However, this technique was incredibly time-consuming; reaching its depths required decades of unwavering practice. Although Xu Xian had already achieved a remarkable level through a fortunate encounter, being just one step short of mastery, crossing that final threshold would require an immeasurable period of accumulation! In contrast, the Supreme Pure Yang Skill, while perhaps not vastly superior in raw power, allowed for a much faster demonstration of strength, which was what the Shu Mountain Sect urgently required.

Therefore, abandoning the Pure Yang Limitless Skill was logical, and since Ye Wen didn't wish for the art to gather dust, finding a successor seemed like a prudent option.

Among his current disciples, both Li Sen and Xu Ping met the requirements to learn the Pure Yang Limitless Skill. Ye Wen decided to bestow this internal art upon both of them—a New Year’s gift of sorts. Xu Ping would be taught by Ye Wen directly, while Li Sen would be guided by his own master, Xu Xian. However, Ye Wen irresponsibly told Xu Ping, “If you have any questions, seek guidance from your Third Martial Uncle; he is deeply immersed in this technique!”

As for the second disciple, Zhou Zhiruo, her cultivation path was set: her internal art would definitively be the Minor Limitless Skill. She simply needed to await the time when her internal cultivation reached a certain point, coinciding with when Ning Ruxue’s Minor Limitless Skill was sufficiently advanced, then she could begin without further complication.

Only with his direct disciple, Yue Ning, did Ye Wen feel a degree of exertion! Passing on the Purple Cloud Divine Skill to him was practically assured, but Ye Wen pondered whether to instruct Yue Ning to maintain his virginity until just before breaking through the Ren and Du Meridians, using the method within the Innate Skill to convert the Pure Yang true qi into Innate True Qi for nourishing the breakthrough, thus cultivating the Innate Purple Qi.

But if he followed this path, the required training time was uncertain; Ye Wen doubted his disciple would experience the same string of fortunate encounters he had. If Yue Ning could not maintain his purity, he would have to wait until he mastered the Purple Cloud Divine Skill before practicing the Innate Purple Qi, a path that would significantly diminish the ultimate power of the attained Innate Purple Qi— “I’m thinking too far ahead again…”

Gazing at the expanse of white snow in the distance, Ye Wen opened his palm to catch a few drifting snowflakes. The flakes did not melt upon landing but instead accumulated, quickly forming a thin layer on his palm.

Feeling the true qi flowing smoothly throughout his body, with numerous points now filled by this energy, Ye Wen experienced profound comfort. “Although only one channel has been opened, my true qi feels significantly stronger!”

Just as Xu Xian was diligently pushing his Supreme Pure Yang Skill towards completion, Ye Wen’s Innate Purple Qi finally reached a necessary threshold. Aided by the effects of the Cold Spring, he managed to break through another hidden barrier in one concerted effort.

This brought the total number of opened extraordinary meridians for Ye Wen to three. The circulation of his true qi became remarkably swifter. Now, wielding the Minor Ze Sword no longer felt strenuous. In truth, once the Ren and Du Meridians were open, controlling the Six Meridian Divine Swords should be effortless, but Ye Wen’s training time had been too short; his true qi lacked sufficient depth. It wasn't until this recent breakthrough that his qi volume accumulated enough to handle the Minor Ze Sword with ease.

At this point, Ye Wen understood that even after opening a barrier, if one’s true qi was not sufficiently profound, they would still be inferior to others even upon achieving Innate Mastery—the disparity lay purely in the quantity of true qi. This quantity, barring heavenly treasures, could only be amassed through slow, steady cultivation.

Simply put, Ye Wen had initially intended to follow a steady, methodical path, but the rapid progress from a year of continuous fortunate encounters meant his cultivation speed lagged behind. Fortunately, his foundation was solid enough to allow him to quickly catch up in this area. Otherwise, rushing out recklessly might have forced him to suffer a few setbacks before realizing this fundamental truth.

While he could use the Minor Ze Sword proficiently, his self-created Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword remained an immense energy drain. Ye Wen could barely sustain it for a short period before succumbing to a state of true qi depletion. Therefore, this technique could only be reserved for critical moments of life-or-death combat or for its original purpose—surprise attacks!

“Still, at least I can use this sword technique to engage opponents now, even if I can't sustain it…”

The matters concerning his disciples were largely settled. Liu Muyan’s studies of his required techniques were also nearly complete. He anticipated that after some time, he could begin teaching the disciple basic exercises and finally perfecting the Gold Snake Swordplay, which Ye Wen had drastically altered.

Xu Xian’s Supreme Pure Yang Skill was also close to fruition. Once mastered, combined with the latent King Snake essence blood within him being fully activated, advancing to the Innate realm would be a natural consequence.

Ye Wen was left with waiting for his engagement date, practicing his skills, and researching new techniques, particularly martial arts detailed in certain novels. He spent considerable time dissecting Li Qiushui’s White Rainbow Palm strength, finally uncovering some promising avenues.

He intended to pass this technique on to his junior martial sister, but Ning Ruxue’s current power level was insufficient; forcing her to practice it prematurely would only harm her, so he kept it secret for the time being.

However, Ye Wen not teaching her martial arts did not prevent Ning Ruxue from approaching him to request advanced skills.

“Hm? You want to learn a more powerful martial art?” Ye Wen was holding a scroll in one hand and nibbling a pastry with the other. Ning Ruxue had just brought the refreshment. He hadn't thought much of it, never expecting his junior martial sister to approach him with a specific request.

Ning Ruxue nodded, her expression somehow looking rather pitiful, which stirred a feeling of tenderness in Ye Wen. If his self-control hadn't been so strong, he would have reached out to touch her.

“Why this sudden thought? The techniques you are currently practicing are already quite profound. Simply continuing on the established path, becoming a top-tier master is certainly not an impossible feat!”

Ning Ruxue appeared slightly awkward, with a hint of shyness, before softly replying, “Senior Martial Brother and Martial Brother Xu Xian have both crossed that threshold, and only Martial Sister is still lingering outside, making little progress…”

“So, you wish to learn a superior technique to cross that barrier?” Ye Wen understood. It seemed the slow progress of the Minor Limitless Skill had made Ning Ruxue anxious, prompting her to seek him out for advanced arts.

Having her thoughts exposed by Ye Wen, Ning Ruxue felt no embarrassment, merely nodding in affirmation.

The Minor Limitless Skill hadn't shown much advancement despite months of practice, causing her great anxiety. If everyone was progressing slowly, it would be tolerable, but Ye Wen and Xu Xian had both entered the Innate realm—especially Xu Xian, whose internal arts were the weakest of the three when they first entered the sect, yet he had now far outpaced her.

Li Sen and Xu Ping, the eighth-generation disciples, were also beginning advanced internal arts. If she, as an elder, were to be surpassed by two juniors, that would truly be humiliating!

Perceiving Ning Ruxue’s concerns, Ye Wen found it difficult to offer empty reassurances, especially since he himself felt that his and Xu Xian’s rapid advancement had left Ning Ruxue too far behind—this wasn't entirely a good thing. As for the two disciples learning the Pure Yang Limitless Skill and potentially surpassing Ning Ruxue in power, he didn't worry, thinking his junior martial sister was needlessly anxious.

Was the Pure Yang Limitless Skill that easy to learn? While Xu Xian progressed rapidly, he had special circumstances; his string of fortunate encounters rivaled Ye Wen’s. Eating random fruits could result in a massive internal energy surge—such ridiculous luck was fitting for a protagonist of a martial arts novel template.

“Only a notch below me, the Transmigrator!”

Muttering to himself, Ye Wen began to consider how to satisfy his junior martial sister’s request. After all, she was his future wife, and a husband should certainly strive to fulfill his wife’s desires.

After careful thought, Ye Wen did recall a method. This wasn't entirely his own idea; after the New Year, he had performed another summoning and acquired a cultivation manual. If Ning Ruxue practiced that technique, her overall internal energy might not increase dramatically in a short time, but her combat power would definitely jump several tiers.

If not for certain constraints, Ye Wen himself would have practiced that art instead of letting it sit on the shelf.

He glanced at Ning Ruxue; she was gazing at him with expectant eyes, her large eyes sparkling so brightly they made his own vision blur. Ye Wen abruptly slammed his hand on the table—startling Ning Ruxue—then said sternly, “I do have a method, but if we proceed that way, Martial Sister’s future martial arts path will likely be severely restricted!”

“What do you mean?” Ning Ruxue tilted her head, failing to grasp Ye Wen’s meaning.

Ye Wen offered no immediate explanation, continuing instead, “Martial Sister must recall that a few months ago, Senior Martial Brother created a sword qi technique!”

Ning Ruxue nodded. Ye Wen hadn't concealed this from her; he had even demonstrated it a few times in front of her. The Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword was incomparably powerful. Ning Ruxue had wanted to test its might herself, but upon taking a stance opposite Ye Wen, a streak of purple sword qi flashed past, causing her arm to jolt—the longsword in her hand had been cleanly sliced in half by the qi.

From that day forward, Ning Ruxue stopped challenging Ye Wen to spar and instead offered high praise for the Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword, declaring, “Our Shu Mountain Sect has gained another supreme art!”

But now, hearing him mention it, she was confused. “Are you planning to teach me the Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword? But this technique seems to have very high internal energy requirements!”

Perplexed, she asked, “Is Senior Martial Brother going to teach me the Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword?”

Ye Wen shook his head, and before Ning Ruxue could ask further, he stated the answer directly: “After creating that technique, I pondered further. The Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword converts internal energy into sword qi and then launches it!”

Ning Ruxue nodded.

“Then, what if one converts all their internal energy into sword qi and stores it within the body? Even the energy cultivated would be sword qi—wouldn't that mean every casual strike releases sword qi?”

Ning Ruxue gasped upon hearing this: “Senior Martial Brother means that what circulates in the meridians is no longer internal energy, but sword qi?”

Ye Wen nodded: “Precisely! After days of deliberation, I realized this is a truly feasible method. In this way, the sword qi permeates the entire body, reaching everywhere; every movement of the hand or foot is accompanied by sword qi. Since the energy circulating internally is already sword qi, it bypasses the numerous steps of compressing true qi and condensing it into sword qi, allowing for faster execution—and saving those steps also conserves significant true qi, as those processes require substantial internal energy.”

After offering a rough explanation, Ye Wen added casually, “After much thought, I devised a method to convert all internal energy into sword qi. However, once converted, one can only use this sword qi to attack enemies; even palm and fist techniques become unusable! Furthermore, the accumulated sword qi cannot be converted back; one must continue cultivating sword qi exclusively!”

Only then did Ning Ruxue understand why Ye Wen had mentioned that practicing this method would restrict her future martial path.

To harm an opponent with a palm or fist technique requires the exertion of true qi, but if the body only contains sword qi, channeling it through the hands would likely turn them into hand-blades.

“Moreover, sword qi is inherently sharp. Once your internal energy is entirely transformed into sword qi, you can use the sharpness of the sword qi to forcibly break open the Ren and Du Meridians, stepping into the Innate realm! Because it is forcibly opened, the total power will fall short of a true Innate Realm cultivator, requiring considerable time to consolidate. But once stabilized, given the might of sword qi, opening the remaining extraordinary meridians will not be difficult with just a little focused cultivation.”

Ning Ruxue had been hesitant, but upon hearing this, and recalling the scene where Ye Wen's Purple Heaven Dragon Qi Sword had severed her own blade, she immediately asked, “What is the name of this technique, Senior Martial Brother? Can I learn it?”

Ye Wen was surprised that Ning Ruxue truly wanted to learn it. But since the words were out, there was no reason to hoard the knowledge. He replied, “Although this technique’s power is formidable, its intense sword qi is often too much for ordinary meridians to bear. However, Martial Sister, because you consumed the King Snake Gallbladder, your meridians are exceptionally tough; learning this technique should pose no problem.”

“If Martial Sister wishes to learn, I will organize the technique manual in the next few days and send it to you. As for the name, I call it the Innate Formless Body-Breaking Sword Qi. But Martial Sister, if you truly practice this technique, your Minor Limitless Skill will essentially be wasted!”

The defining characteristic of the Minor Limitless Skill is its ability to control myriad techniques with one core art. If Ning Ruxue were to convert all her internal energy into sword qi, the nature of her internal energy would become completely singular and fixed, effectively neutering over half of the Minor Limitless Skill’s simulation capability. Even if she tried to use it, at most she could simulate some sword movements.

Ning Ruxue gritted her teeth, reflecting that her Minor Limitless Skill had made no significant progress, concluding that her path was incompatible with the art. She made her decision firmly: “It matters not!”

Seeing her resolve, Ye Wen said no more, planning only to copy the manual and deliver it to his junior martial sister later. However, this task was not urgent; with the engagement approaching, he would attend to it after the celebrations concluded.

While contemplating this, the third disciple, Xu Ping, entered and announced, “Master, people from the Tianle Gang have arrived to offer congratulations!”