Chapter 9. Flaws in the New Martial Arts Technique
Ling Xiaoyue had chosen a location for the Xuanji Sect within Jingnan State, specifically in the northern Jing Chu Territory, which required over a month's travel to reach.
Regarding the name of the sect, as the founding ancestor, Ling Xiaoyue had the duty to name it, but her talent in naming was rather poor, merely cycling through names like 'Invincible Under Heaven', 'Only I Am Awesome', and 'You Are All Trash', fearing that speaking such names aloud might get her beaten up.
Fang Zhou rejected all the names she came up with, as he didn't want to bear a title such as Sect of Invincibility or Awesome Sect in the future, as it would make him look foolish.
Ling Xiaoyue wanted to use her authority as master to forcibly decide the sect's name, but Fang Zhou threatened to disband the group, and thus the matter of naming was put on hold, to be revisited and developed together in the future.
Ling Xiaoyue might seem unreliable, but she was quite diligent, quickly teaching Fang Zhou a Qi Refining Technique called New Moon Qi.
The principle of cultivation in the Qi Refining Realm is simple; spiritual energy is pervasive in this world, merely in varying concentrations in different areas.
When people breathe, they inhale air along with spiritual energy, but it is exhaled immediately; the human body cannot retain spiritual energy on its own, and thus methods must be devised to keep it within.
The role of a Qi Refining Technique is to extract spiritual energy from the air and retain it within the body, nurturing the body day and night, and even using it to assist in combat.
Fang Zhou had learned from Li Ruyu that within the same category of techniques, there are superior and inferior ones; for instance, Qi Refining Techniques that are casually circulated in the world are considered inferior, full of flaws.
Whereas more complete techniques are extremely valuable in the eyes of ordinary people, they are seen as substandard by Cultivation Sects and not worth a second glance.
Cultivation Sects typically teach lower-grade techniques to their ordinary disciples, which some families would treasure as heirlooms.