The Dual Mind Divine Art
That night, in the training chamber.
Ouyang Qiangang sank into meditation, seeking to organize the vast trove of knowledge he had gleaned from the Imperial Treasury. In that silent space lit by a single candle flame, his consciousness was drawn into the virtual library Akasha had conjured within his mind.
Akasha, we should start by sorting out the medical texts, right?
"Yes, Doctor. I have completed the analysis of all four hundred-odd medical texts scanned from the Imperial Treasury."
Within Ouyang Qiangang's mindscape, countless medical texts appeared, arranged field by field. Herbology, acupuncture, external medicine, toxicology — the essence of each discipline lay open before his eyes at a single glance.
Is there anything here that surpasses the Codex of Life and Death or the Secret Records of Heavenly Blood Medicine?
"Unfortunately... no."
"The pinnacle of medicine in this world remains the two texts you already possess, Doctor. The medical books of the Imperial Treasury are for the most part a tier below them. That said, they will prove quite useful from a practical standpoint...."
So in the end, treating the Nine Yin Severed Meridians through medicine is impossible.
Ouyang Qiangang let out a sigh.
"Please don't be too disheartened, Doctor. If anything, hasn't this made things certain? Now you can focus entirely on refining the Transcendent Formless Divine Art."
You're right. And honestly, for a constitution like mine, martial arts might serve better than medicine anyway.
He steeled himself and moved on to the analysis of martial techniques.
How many manuals are there?
"Exactly five hundred and thirteen. I will now classify them systematically."
At Akasha's words, the space within Ouyang Qiangang's mindscape transformed into a colossal library of martial arts. Towering bookshelves stretched out endlessly in every direction, and each section glowed with its own color of light.
"Beginning classification."
In an instant, a breathtaking spectacle unfolded across the world of his mind. Hundreds of manuals became a river of glowing books, drifting serenely through his consciousness. Each martial manual radiated a light of its own unique color, moving like a living, breathing creature.
"Primary classification by school complete. Three hundred twenty orthodox arts, one hundred forty-three unorthodox arts, and fifty demonic arts."
The drifting books soon began arranging themselves with flawless precision onto the shelves of the great library, sorted by type. The orthodox section exuded a soft golden glow, the unorthodox burned crimson, and the demonic pulsed with a violet-black sheen.
"Now executing secondary classification by function."
The shelves began to rotate smoothly, like the gears of an immense machine, forming new arrangements. Hundreds of volumes danced through the air, each gliding to its appointed place.
"Classification complete: seventy mind methods, ninety-eight weapon arts, eighty-six sword techniques, seventy-one fist techniques, forty-five kicking techniques, twenty-three hidden weapon arts, twenty lightness techniques, and one hundred miscellaneous arts."
Whoa...
Ouyang Qiangang murmured in admiration. Never before had he encountered such a vast body of martial knowledge organized with this degree of systematization.
"Now I will assign grades based on power and profundity."
Starlight rose above each of the books. The more stars a manual bore, the higher the grade of the martial art it contained.
"Doctor, there are far more high-grade arts than you anticipated."
Such as what?
Ouyang Qiangang approached the section that shone brightest of all.
"The Invincible Vajra Power of the Shaolin Temple, the Thunderclap Divine Art of Tianzhu's Brahma Thunderclap Temple, the Floating Wind Formless Shadow of the Kongling Sect... the vast majority are arts that were lost to the world centuries ago."
Her voice carried a distinct note of reluctance as she continued.
"There are also no small number of sinister arts, such as the Fiendish Demon Phantom Illusion Art of the demonic path or the Withered Bone Heavenly Steel of the Satu."
Quite the variety.
"You could master every single one of these arts perfectly, Doctor. It wouldn't take much time, either. I am ready whenever you are."
Akasha, I have no intention of becoming some jack-of-all-trades of martial arts.
Ouyang Qiangang smacked his lips and pressed on.
What I need is the refinement of the Transcendent Formless Divine Art, the Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Art, and the Sacred Water Secret Records. The arts from the Treasury are nothing more than reference material for that purpose.
"Understood."
"Through cross-analysis of the collected martial data, I have identified a core divine art that exhibits the highest synergy efficiency and is more than sufficient to serve as the foundation of every system you possess."
Hm? And what would that be?
"The Dual Mind Divine Art. Should you master it, it would become the bedrock of every martial art you hold, with the effect of elevating them all to an entirely higher dimension."
You mean it's like an operating system upgrade?
"Precisely."
A single book radiating an extraordinary light caught Ouyang Qiangang's eye. It was wreathed in a mysterious aura of an altogether different order from the other martial arts. The manual of the Dual Mind Divine Art.
Tell me about the Dual Mind Divine Art in detail.
"Analysis shows that upon reaching grand completion, it can dualize not only your consciousness but your body as well. You would be able to deploy two separate martial arts simultaneously, and your learning efficiency would increase geometrically."
Wait — isn't that similar to the nine gates already contained within the Transcendent Formless Divine Art?
"Correct. But the difference in depth and completeness is substantial."
So you're saying the Dual Mind Divine Art is superior to the Transcendent Formless Divine Art?
"Yes. The Dual Mind Divine Art will evolve your consciousness into a hyper-parallel computing system existing in a state of quantum superposition."
Whoa...
"With one consciousness you could hold a conversation with the Emperor, while at the same time a second consciousness researches martial arts or studies the data I analyze in real time. It is, quite literally, a transcendent functional system that surpasses the limits of humanity."
Hearing those words, Ouyang Qiangang drew a deep breath.
Exactly the feature I've been searching for. I'll master the Dual Mind Divine Art first.
Having melted away four of the nine great blood veins of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, and having fused the internal power absorbed from the Blood Spirit Human Demon and others into true qi, his cultivation had reached a depth of one hundred forty years.
Using that as her power source, Akasha's activation had climbed to 36 percent — a sign that her superintelligence was at last settling into its proper place. The Dual Mind Divine Art was, for a man in precisely his current situation, the most vital and most necessary art of all.
Ouyang Qiangang threw himself into the training of the Dual Mind Divine Art at once. There was no reason to delay. Backed by Akasha's meticulous analysis, his own profound insight into the martial arts, and a staggering one hundred forty years of accumulated power, the pace of his training outran anything an ordinary person could have imagined.
How much time had passed? The moment Ouyang Qiangang's mind split cleanly in two, his brain's entire domain was reorganized into two independent consciousnesses. As though a single brain had been divided into two flawless operating systems, each consciousness thought on its own while maintaining perfect synchronization. His brainwaves flowed in harmony, like two rivers running side by side.
"Doctor, the entire domain of your brain is operating as two independent consciousnesses while maintaining 99.8 percent synchronization. Brain and body are dualized, yet they move as smoothly as a single body. There is no conflict whatsoever, and no delay."
Ouyang Qiangang now circulated the Transcendent Formless Divine Art through both of his consciousnesses at once. Two enormous vortexes of true qi rose within his dantian. A clear, blue-tinged pure yin qi and a molten-red pure yang qi, like lava, flowed in perfect, interference-free harmony, surging along his meridians like mighty rivers.
"Doctor, with the yin and yang energies now operating independently, your energy efficiency has been amplified 2.3 times. A remarkable effect. It looks as though two separate engines are running simultaneously within a single body. To think something like this is possible... the martial arts truly are wondrous."
I couldn't agree more.
Ouyang Qiangang closed his eyes and took stock of his condition. One consciousness conversed with Akasha, deepening his training in the Dual Mind Divine Art, while the other researched the Transcendent Formless Divine Art. The two minds ran in parallel without so much as a hair's breadth of deviation. He had now entered a realm far beyond the common sense of the jianghu — a state in which a single brain could pursue training and research simultaneously, and a single body could wield two martial arts at once.
When he realized he had brought the Dual Mind Divine Art to grand completion at the twelfth star, Ouyang Qiangang opened his eyes. It was roughly four hours after he had begun.
What needed to follow the Dual Mind Divine Art's completion was obvious. Before departing for Murim, he had to raise his martial arts to the highest realm he could possibly reach. And the moment he resolved to do so, his consciousness split perfectly in two. One mind took its stand at the center of the endlessly unfolding mindscape, while the other became a quiet observer watching over all of it. Both, together with Akasha, threw themselves into the work of refining his arts.
"First, allow me to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the arts you currently possess. The Transcendent Formless Divine Art, the Gale Cyclone Palm, the Thunderflame King Fist, the Dragon-Seizing Hand, the Nine Palaces Mystic Steps, the Flash Step, and the Heavenly Meteor Movement Art... these seven are your core arts."
Within Ouyang Qiangang's mindscape, structural diagrams of each art floated like three-dimensional holograms. The intricate flows of their meridian pathways and the circulation routes of their internal force were visible at a glance.
Do you see any problems?
"Many. The greatest problem is that each art currently operates independently of the Transcendent Formless Divine Art. Because they cannot link together, overall efficiency suffers."
As Akasha spoke her analysis, the severed connection points across the martial diagrams lit up in red.
"The infinite scalability of the Transcendent Formless Divine Art is failing to harmonize with your other arts. If we restructure them all around the divine art as their central axis, I project the overall power will increase by a minimum of three times."
Three times?
Ouyang Qiangang asked, startled.
"Yes. Though time is the problem. With barely six hours remaining until dawn, it will be difficult to perfectly refine every single art."
Then we'll need to set priorities first.
"A rational judgment. My recommended priorities are as follows: first, harmony between the Transcendent Formless Divine Art and your other arts; second, improvement of the Gale Cyclone Palm; third, output amplification of the Thunderflame King Fist; fourth, linkage and integration of the movement arts and steps; fifth, perfection of the Dragon-Seizing Hand and grappling arts; sixth, refinement of the Starfall Grand Sword Art."
Ouyang Qiangang drew a deep breath and began to circulate the Transcendent Formless Divine Art. The pure internal force that rose from his dantian flowed out along the meridians of his entire body.
A vast galaxy spread itself across the mindscape. Ouyang Qiangang knew by instinct that it was the Transcendent Formless Divine Art — the very root of every art he had ever learned.
Around that galaxy, the techniques he had mastered to this point were colliding furiously, each blazing with its own light. The Gale Cyclone Palm poured down like a shower of blue meteors, while the Thunderflame King Fist tore across the sky like a crimson comet, trailing fire and trying to smash everything in its path. The footwork and movement arts scattered like drifting star clusters, perilously grazing past one another. Unharmonized, these powers were nothing but pure chaos.
Then, at some moment—
From the heart of the galaxy, thousands of strands of nebula reached outward. Rather than suppressing the storm of meteors, they enfolded it gently, and they bent the comet's orbit, drawing it into their own vast current. And then a wondrous harmony began. The wild meteor shower that had fallen wherever it pleased now spun in perfect order along the galaxy's spiral, and the once-destructive comet settled into the heart of that flow, becoming a heavy, steadfast core that anchored it all. The star clusters that had scattered without purpose became a mysterious road binding everything together.
As Ouyang Qiangang beheld that magnificent sight, a colossal realization crashed down upon his mind like a bolt of lightning.
I thought I could master any art at a single glance... but I was wrong. I never saw the essence of the martial arts — I was merely imitating them. All of them were like stars, each tracing its own orbit within a single universe called the Transcendent Formless Divine Art!