Redirecting Duan Yu's Energy

How could Duan Yu use the Keys to the Internal Strength Cultivation Techniques of the Duan Family to store the streams of energy that had entered his body through the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness in his 'sea' of energy?

The Facts

When Duan Yu began learning the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness (Bei3 Ming2 Shen2 Gong1 北冥神功) in Chapter 5, he read these words from the scroll:

"

The internal strength of our school [i.e. the School of Unfettered Freedom (Xiao1 Yao2 Pai4 逍遥派)] flows in a direction that is opposite of those practised by other schools. Anyone who has had any prior experience in internal strength cultivation techniques must completely forget everything that he has learnt, and focus on learning these new techniques with all his heart. The slightest degree of inter-mingling between the old and new techniques will cause the opposing streams of energy to collide. This, in turn, will result in an immediate and very severe bout of blood-vomitting, as well as the collapse of the various energy channels in the body. There is nothing more dangerous than this.

"

Later, at the Temple of the Celestial Dragon in Chapter 10, the Emperor Baoding taught Duan Yu the Keys to the Internal Strength Cultivation Techniques of the Duan Family (Duan4 Shi4 Nei4 Gong1 Fa3 Yao4 段氏内功法要). Using these Keys, Duan Yu was able to bring the various streams of energy that he had drawn into his body since his capture by The Boundless Sword/Cave under control and have them stored in his 'sea' of energy.

How was this possible, when the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness, the only internal strength cultivation technique that Duan Yu had learnt up to that point in his life, flowed in a direction that was opposite of those practised by other schools, which would presumably include the Duan Family as well?

The Question

How could Duan Yu use the Keys to the Internal Strength Cultivation Techniques of the Duan Family to store the streams of energy that had entered his body through the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness in his 'sea' of energy?

A. The Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness drew internal strength into the 'sea' of energy. Since the Keys were used to achieve the same in the particular context of Chapter 10, Duan Yu could use it without harming himself.

B. The warning on the scroll of the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness referred only to internal strength cultivation techniques that were practised prior to the learning of the Mystical Skill. Since the Keys were learnt after the Mystical Skill, it did not have any adverse effect on Duan Yu.

C. The Keys actually flowed in the same direction as the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness; hence Duan Yu could use it without harming himself.

D. Duan Yu should not. The use of the Keys to achieve what the Mystical Skill of Northern Darkness could do was a technical oversight on the part of Jin Yong in his attempt to close the sub-plot and move on with the story.

To offer an opinion:

  1. Log in with your Wuxiapedia ID, or register first if necessary.
  2. State the option chosen (A, B, C or D) in your comment, and provide some reasons for your choice. Appropriate documentary evidence is greatly encouraged.
  3. If you have ideas that are not covered by the options given, please feel free to express them.
  4. Irrelevant (i.e. off-topic) and/or irreverent comments will be deleted without prior notice.

Comments

Dual energy core DY

Han Solo

Thursday 14 December 2006

Using a computer/software analogy, a possible explanation of this is that BMSG remains the default internal energy pathway for DY, the Duan family internal energy serving as a backup internal energy or middleware for the main internal energy. Whenever there were irregularity or power surge of the BMSG, the Duan family internal energy would help to synergize things. The fact that Duan family internal energy was learnt after BMSG helped to confirm this idea.

Another different perspective from this however would probably be the valid one. DY did not generate any Duan family internal energy. All his internal energies are BMSG. He learned basic internal energy manipulation via the Duan family method, and hence did not create a second internal energy that would conflict with BMSG - causing internal energy friction ala LHC.


Han Solo

You need to login before you can make a comment.