Practicing internal energy techniques in reverse is an extremely dangerous, even downright crazy thing to do.
If you’re even a little bit careless, the least severe consequence could be suffering a Qi deviation and losing some of your skill. In more serious cases, your meridians could rupture, leaving you crippled.
But those problems only really apply to seasoned practitioners.
For a newbie like Jiang Nian, those worries don’t exist at all.
And the reason for that all comes down to one thing: proficiency.
Those old-timers have already mastered their techniques inside and out. They know exactly how their internal energy flows, and it’s become muscle memory. So when they try to change things, their brain wants one thing, but their body wants another—it becomes a battle between left and right.
The internal energy goes in and out of their meridians, gets blocked up, and naturally leads to a Qi deviation.
But a beginner doesn’t have that problem.
Because a beginner is just starting out. Forget muscle memory—they can barely even remember the steps. So if they intentionally try to change things, they can adjust pretty easily.
That’s why Jiang Nian dared to take the risk of practicing in reverse.
And with his deliberate adjustments,
before long, things started to change!
Jiang Nian executed [Sword Shattering Technique].
But this time, as his sword swept through the air, it didn’t trigger his internal energy or stir up waves of force.
Instead, Jiang Nian felt the warm trickle of his internal energy flowing from the sword in his hand all the way back into his body.
It was still very faint, but Jiang Nian was overjoyed!
Because he had guessed right—practicing internal energy in reverse really could work.
But considering the system’s proficiency gain rules, Jiang Nian held back his excitement and decided to finish practicing the full set first, just to see if he would gain any proficiency points.
No popping champagne before the victory was certain!
Otherwise, the happier you laughed earlier, the more heart-wrenchingly you’d cry later.
These were lessons summed up from all those unlucky skeptics!
Half an hour later.
[Proficiency +1]
As Jiang Nian swung his sword to complete the final move, the system’s cold notification finally arrived.
Hearing that, even though Jiang Nian had mentally prepared himself, he still couldn’t help clenching his fist and letting out a quiet cheer!
It worked—he’d finally done it!
The clouds parted, and the light shone through.
After a whole week, he’d finally found a way to improve [Sword Shattering Technique] and successfully refined it!
“Phew!”
Jiang Nian let out a long breath, as if trying to exhale all the frustration and unhappiness he’d been bottling up these past few days.
He felt a surge of energy rising from deep within his heart.
It was the strength he’d been storing up for an entire week with nowhere to release it!
It, too, had been waiting for this moment to arrive!
“Damn it, time to train!”
Jiang Nian said to himself, then picked up his sword and started practicing like a madman, as if he intended to earn back all the proficiency he’d missed out on over the past week in just one night!
Seeing this, Yang Mi, who was standing at the door, looked completely bewildered.
“Wait, what’s gotten into Jiang Nian all of a sudden?”
She didn’t get it, and she was seriously weirded out.
For the next few days, Jiang Nian acted like he was possessed. Every morning at five, the moment he opened his eyes, he was practicing martial arts, and he didn’t stop until one or two in the morning before finally going back to his room to sleep.
His obsessive intensity was starting to scare even Yang Mi.
She was afraid that one day Jiang Nian might get too into it and use her as a practice dummy.
And it was right in the midst of this atmosphere that,
before she even realized it, the filming for Flying Swords of Dragon Gate was about to begin.
“Jiang Nian, send me a photo of your ID,” Yang Mi called out as she walked in one afternoon while he was practicing.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian frowned.
He stopped and looked at Yang Mi. “What for?”
“To book tickets,” she explained. “The crew is starting filming the day after tomorrow in Hengdian, in Yangdong. We need to head there now.”
Jiang Nian understood. “Okay, hold on.”
He then took out his phone and sent his ID number to Yang Mi.
After doing that, he thought of something. “Should I go pack my stuff now?”
“Is there anything you absolutely have to bring?” Yang Mi asked back.
Jiang Nian thought for a moment. “No.”
“Then don’t bother packing. It’s too much trouble. I already rented a place for you over there. It’s pretty much fully stocked. If you’re really missing something, we can just buy it then.”
Yang Mi replied, quite generously.
And honestly, she had every right to be that confident.
After all, she had even turned down the nine hundred thousand yuan Jiang Nian had tried to give her earlier.
Compared to that, the money for renting a place—even with all the miscellaneous expenses thrown in—was practically nothing.
Just her way of making a small investment in Jiang Nian.
Hearing that, Jiang Nian nodded, then asked about the flight departure time.
When he found out they still had seven or eight hours left, he went back to practicing.
He only stopped when he had raised the proficiency of [Sword Shattering Technique] to “Novice” (73/100).
Seeing that there were just over two hours left before their flight, Jiang Nian finally called it a day, took a shower, changed his clothes, then got into Yang Mi’s van and headed to the airport.
Because Yang Mi was bundled up pretty tightly and they used the VIP lounge, nobody recognized her.
And as for Jiang Nian?
Don’t even mention it.
Although he’d gotten a little bit of fame within the entertainment industry because of Hawick Lau,
in the eyes of the general public, he was still just a nobody.
At most, people might glance at him twice because he was good-looking.
Other than that, no one paid him any extra attention.
And so, in a corner that nobody cared about, Jiang Nian and Yang Mi made it safely to Hengdian.
Since they landed in the early morning and it was already very late,
both of them were exhausted and not in the mood to do much. They just booked a random hotel and went straight to bed.
The next day, Yang Mi took Jiang Nian out to look around, get familiar with the area, and even met with Director Tsui Hark.
With Yang Mi acting as the intermediary,
the first meeting between Jiang Nian and Tsui Hark went really smoothly.
Not only did they have a meal together, but they also exchanged contact information.
Of course, for the sake of keeping things confidential, their entire trip was done by car.
Afterward, Yang Mi took Jiang Nian to the rental apartment she had booked in advance, helped him get everything set up,
and then she hurriedly left, flying back on a plane.
After all, she was one of the shareholders of Jiahang Pictures, and she still had a ton of work waiting for her back in the capital.
Taking a whole day out to help Jiang Nian get familiar with the new place was already pushing it.
If she stayed any longer—well, whether the company would have problems was uncertain, but her own independent studio definitely would.
Jiang Nian said he understood.
And honestly, he was kind of glad Yang Mi was leaving.
How does that old saying go?
Distance creates beauty!
If Yang Mi were stuck by his side every single day,
it would be inconvenient for her work, and Jiang Nian wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy himself either.
He was actually planning to have a little fun on the set of Flying Swords of Dragon Gate and soak up some of that entertainment industry vibe.
It’s not like he could just bring someone back to his place and do whatever he wanted right in front of Yang Mi.
“Hmm,” he thought, “now that I really think about it… maybe that wouldn’t be so bad either.”
“That would actually be pretty exciting.”
