According to the annotations, the entire Qi Cultivation Manual is divided into four realms. The first is Strength and Skill, which focuses on developing the body's potential to improve physical fitness and on conserving and accumulating energy. The second is the Qi Realm, refining essence into qi, marked by the ability to emit sword qi. The third is the Gang Realm, characterized by the formation of sword gang from highly condensed sword qi. The final realm, however, is shrouded in countless mists and cannot be seen.

The cultivation method, according to James Bolton's explanation, is that the true meaning of the sword path emphasizes slashing through heaven and earth to seize a thread of vitality to nourish oneself. Every sword strike must gather all one's essence, qi, and spirit; if you don't strike, that's fine, but if you do, you must reap something, snatching the fate of those who fall under your sword. But with such an extreme sword technique, those whose vitality is not strong enough will likely be drained to death by themselves before they can even fully strike, let alone practice the subsequent sword techniques—they wouldn't even be able to use the basic sword techniques.

The Qi Cultivation section was created for this reason. It steadily increases one's vitality before drawing the sword, to achieve the goal of consolidation and safety.

Each of the four realms of Qi Cultivation is further subdivided into many parts. The first realm is divided into five levels: progressing step by step, with each level representing a qualitative change. Of course, the difficulty also increases rapidly.

The first level requires, while visualizing the fifteen patterns left in the visualization book, to simultaneously form fifteen different hand seals. The entire process must be completed within five breaths. Five breaths is about ten seconds. In such a short time, to clearly memorize fifteen extremely complex patterns—each as intricate as a CPU schematic design—and to keep visualizing them while matching the hand seals, is not an easy task for anyone.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Grace Miller tried again and again, but the only result was numb legs, as the long period of sitting had left them completely powerless.

Suppressing the irritation in his heart, Grace Miller began to think carefully.

“Fifteen patterns, each more complex than the last, and the hand seals are the same. How could anyone possibly get started with such difficulty? Could it be done one at a time?” Relaxing his mind, he began to carefully observe the first pattern again.

The twisted patterns kept swaying in his mind. As he focused his attention, the patterns slowly twisted into strange white characters, then quickly disappeared—like a fleeting flash. But in that instant, Grace Miller clearly felt his spirit suddenly become more full, and his previously groggy head became much clearer.

This discovery immediately lifted his spirits, and he tried several more times. The results were the same: the spirit that had been nearly depleted gradually became replenished through these repeated efforts.

“These patterns are really something!” After five consecutive times, Grace Miller had to stop only when he could no longer visualize the first pattern. Just visualizing a single pattern had such a strong effect—what if he combined it with the hand seals?

Perhaps this idea would have to wait until the next cultivation session to find out.

Getting out of bed feeling refreshed, Grace Miller glanced at the clock—it was only two o'clock. There was still a bit of supplementary content in the Qi Cultivation section, just explaining basic sword techniques and cultivation methods. For those great masters who wrote the annotations, this content was undoubtedly a waste of space, but for Grace Miller, who only had a superficial understanding of swordsmanship, it was an unparalleled, peerless manual.

In this era where martial arts have declined and guns dominate, swordsmanship has completely degenerated into mere showmanship. The killing sword, originally meant for killing, has become a performance art for display. After all, no matter how strong your swordsmanship is, it can't beat a bullet.

However, this basic sword technique training emphasizes one thing: speed! It advocates gathering all your strength from every angle in an instant to thrust the sword and decide the outcome. It is a pure killing sword technique. Unless facing a sharpshooter at long range, at close range there is always a chance to kill the enemy with the sword!

Each seemingly graceful posture, with a twist of the footwork, allows the killing sword to strike the enemy from all sorts of unimaginable angles—impossible to defend against, unstoppable. Truly extraordinary. This is probably why, as a foundational technique, it was qualified to be included in this Sword Dao True Explanation. It carefully explains how, in each different posture, to exert force so as to gather all your strength into the sword hand and thrust instantly. It is a purely technical sword method, using energy as the basis for exertion, which is just right for Grace Miller to practice now. The supplementary content also mentions that practicing this sword technique more will also strengthen the body. However, the sword technique has no name; it is simply called the Basic Sword Technique. Presumably, the one who left it was too embarrassed to leave their name, and after reading the previous annotations, even he felt that this sword technique was only worthy of being called “basic.”

Grace Miller stood up, a bit helpless. He was supposed to practice sword techniques, but where could he find a sword? In 2007, online shopping wasn't popular yet. Custom-ordering a martial arts longsword was quite troublesome.

“Maybe I should go for a walk downtown.” Grace Miller vaguely remembered seeing a longsword hanging on the wall in a jewelry store on the south side of the city. At the time, he was with a few classmates and they all admired it.

“Mithril Jewelry, I think it was called Mithril Jewelry!” Grace Miller recalled the name of the shop.