Legend of the Cultivation God Chapter 161

Chapter 161: Bone Tempering

Seeing Zhang Xiaohua's face change, Elder Yu also felt that he had been a little too heavy-handed, and it seemed to have hurt the heart of this diligent countryside youngster. He then said, “I have seen you practice fist arts. Your perception is really poor. You can’t learn a whole set of boxing techniques, and that’s okay, that won’t affect you. But this Internal Strength cultivation is different. It is a matter of life and death. If you overstep carelessly, you might get seriously injured or even have a fatal injury. Headstrong Bull Strength is easy to understand, and very suitable for you, but I still want to remind you that if you don’t get a sense of qi after trying many times, you should not get angry and lose yourself. There is an old saying, that when you are angry, you should take a step back. Taking a step back you should try other things like External Cultivation Arts. That is also good.”

After listening for a long time, Zhang Xiaohua realized that Elder Yu cared about him, and did not treat himself as an outsider, so he was speaking so straightforwardly. He said, feeling grateful, “I understand your good intentions Elder Yu. Setting up this grass shed is for helping me meditate as you thought. In the past few days, Captain He also told me a lot of things. I will be careful. I am just trying to get the Qi Sense now if I don't get it, it’s not very problematic, don’t worry.”

Then, he turned and said to Ou Yan, “Elder Sister Ou, the main reason for building up a grass shed is to look after the Medicine Field, and this practice is just secondary.”

Ou Yan saw that he was so conscientious, why would she blame him? She said, “It doesn't matter, Zhang Xiaohua, even if you want to practice martial arts, your Elder Sister is willing to support you. But, be careful, don't try to win in the Martial Arts Conference too hard and make mistakes while cultivating hurriedly at night.”

Zhang Xiaohua saluted saying, “I know it, Elder Sister Ou.”

Ou Yan asked again, “How will you build that grass shed, do you need someone from the Villa to help?”

Zhang Xiaohua said with a smile, “No need, I have built grass sheds since I was a kid. I don't need anyone to help me. I can get it done in one afternoon.”

Ou Yan smiled and said, “Then go, whatever materials you need, collect them from the warehouse.”

Zhang Xiaohua was overjoyed. He said goodbye in his heart and went to the warehouse to pick up the required things in high spirits.

At his home, when Zhang Xiaohua was small, he often followed his dad and elder brother. Naturally, he was familiar with building sheds and used only one afternoon to finish it. Moreover, because he hadn’t done any heavy work for a long time, Zhang Xiaohua seemed to feel that his physical strength had gone up quite a lot. He could pick up much heavier lumber with his hands now.

Zhang Xiaohua was a little puzzled. Would his strength keep increasing with his age? He didn’t know how much strength he had now. In addition, when Zhang Xiaohua was laying straw and tying the straw ropes, he also clearly felt that his right-hand fingers were much more flexible. It seems that the injury on his right hand had healed.

One good news after another, it was quite a happy time for Zhang Xiaohua.

The grass shed was built, just beside the medicine field. It was lonely and seemed out of place. However, apart from Zhang Xiaohua, no one came to see it. Who would raise objections?

Zhang Xiaohua didn't see He Tianshu for the whole day. He guessed that He Tianshu must be pulling his hair out trying to understand the Misty Steps. He hoped that when he came out, he wouldn’t be completely bald.

Twilight came as scheduled.

Zhang Xiaohua sat cross-legged in the grass shed, facing the setting sun westward. The clouds in the distance were dyed in the colour of the sun. He looked at it silently, quite impressed by the sight.

The beautiful scene in front of him just attracted Zhang Xiaohua's attention for a moment, but immediately afterwards, he closed his eyes and started to practice the Serene Heart Sutra.

The qi still seemed to act in the same way. After Zhang Xiaohua absorbed qi into his body, he couldn’t trace it anymore. But he was not in a hurry, he kept slowly absorbing qi into his body. After a while, Zhang Xiaohua's body seemed to become a magnet, automatically attracting yuan qi inside. Zhang Xiaohua, thus, had more time to pay attention to the qi being absorbed into his body.

The qi in his pores is so subtle that Zhang Xiaohua still feels that he has gained nothing. The Serene Heart Sutra also does not say anything about how to perceive the qi entering the body, but only says about how to absorb the qi into the body, so Zhang Xiaohua naturally doesn’t know how to do it.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhang Xiaohua was a little impatient, and his thoughts were moving about the differences between Headstrong Bull Strength and the Serene Heart Sutra. Suddenly a thought struck him like lightning, he remembered that He Tianshu had said that at the beginning, there was no real warmth flowing from the forehead of the cultivator. The warmth in the meridian is generated by the cultivator's consciousness, then, although he cannot perceive the vitality in his pores, can he still think about it?

At this time, Zhang Xiaohua realized that these few days, he had always thought that he was missing something important, but he couldn’t find a clue. It was actually this.

When it comes to this, we must praise Zhang Xiaohua for thinking this. Most of the things in this world are not permanent. Just like a path, it doesn't matter if there is nothing earlier, but just because people start walking on it, it naturally becomes a path.

The Heart Sutra does not say anything about how to perceive the absorbed qi, but Zhang Xiaohua borrowed his thoughts and used it to promote the cultivation of the qi. It must be called a genius.

However, if such a genius move were to be known by some Internal Strength Cultivation Master, he would sneer and shake his head secretly, with only one comment, the ignorant are fearless.

With a plan in mind, Zhang Xiaohua began to experiment. He imagined that his meridians were full of qi, although he wasn’t able to perceive it yet. He circulated the qi along the meridians according to the route described in the Serene Heart Sutra, and after a cycle, returned to the middle dantian. Zhang Xiaohua then did not begin circulating again, but simply observed his body, and did not find anything unusual, which showed him that although he didn’t know if it was working, at least it hadn’t hurt him.

So, Zhang Xiaohua went on to circulate the qi for a total of 36 cycles.

When he opened his eyes, it was already dark. Thinking that he had not practised his boxing skills and sword moves, Zhang Xiaohua walked out of the grass shed. The sky outside was overcast, and there was no moon and stars. He practised his Heavenly Dipper Fist and the Nameless Sword Stance and felt the cool flow flowing all over his body making Zhang Xiaohua extremely comfortable.

After practising the Fist Arts, Zhang Xiaohua discovered new problems. He used to think that the flow he felt during boxing practice was in the meridians, but today he felt the meridians through which the qi of Serene Heart Sutra circulates. Those should be the real meridians. However, why are those meridian different from the meridians involved in boxing, why?

Moreover, the sword move that Elder Yu taught caused a warm flow in his left hand. This flow does not flow all over the body, only in the left arm. That might be a part of the meridians, but why were those meridians not recorded in the Serene Heart Sutra?

In order to explore the reason, Zhang Xiaohua tried several moves of the Heavenly Dipper Fist, and carefully observed the flow. When Zhang Xiaohua focused on the flow inside his body, he found that the flow driven by the Heavenly Dipper Fist, was not circulating in his meridian, actually, it was flowing through the bones of his whole body!!!

108 moves of the Heavenly Dipper Fist, each move causing the flow through a bone. Displaying the whole set of moves would cause the flow to move through 108 bones of the body!

Zhang Xiaohua felt his understanding regarding it was lacking. The boxing technique he put together actually had this effect. What was this boxing technique doing?

Is it tempering his bones?

Nobody can answer this question.

Zhang Xiaohua touched his smooth jaw, and no longer thought about it. Since nobody would ask him about it, why would he make things difficult for himself?

Since he didn’t want to think about this, and the warm flow by the sword moves was even more bewildering, he stopped considering them.

Zhang Xiaohua returned to the grass shed with an inexplicable mood.

Afraid? How is that possible, this is the Heavenly Dipper Fist named by himself, and had practised for so long without any discomfort, what would he be afraid of?

Happy? There are some reasons to be happy. He Tianshu and Elder Yu are both trying to persuade him to abandon the Internal Cultivation arts and to practice the External Cultivation arts. This method of practising must be a kind of External Cultivation.

He chuckled to himself secretly!

Zhang Xiaohua couldn't help thinking of some of the heroes mentioned in some martial arts novels, who used both Internal and External Cultivation. He used the Heavenly Dipper Fist to temper his muscles and bones and used the Serene Heart Sutra to practice Internal Cultivation. Isn’t this the way of the heroes?

The more Zhang Xiaohua thought about it, the more exalted he felt.

However, when he sat on the ground in the grass shed, and the coldness of the land hit him, it also pulled Zhang Xiaohua out of his heroic dreams. Let’s not even talk about whether his theory is correct, just the feeling that he got, and that he has not even been able to sense the qi in his body. Is it any useful? There is a saying that it takes 10000 hours to learn a skill. But 10000 hours is a very long time. You should use your time wisely.

Let's do our part in a down-to-earth way first.

Zhang Xiaohua lit up the oil lamp in the grass shed, picked up a book, and read it with relish.

There is an old saying, learning more would not harm your body. If you can learn more, you will have more money to eat. Even if there is no big achievement in Martial Arts, knowledge of herbs can let you live comfortably for a lifetime, without worrying about whether you can eat braised pork or not.

This is Zhang Xiaohua’s ambition.

After reading for a long while, Zhang Xiaohua closed the unfinished book. According to an old saying, knowledge is the best spiritual food for mankind, and Zhang Xiaohua enjoyed learning. But his body's intuition clearly told him that it was late, it was about midnight, so he closed the book and prepared to rest. Zhang Xiaohua packed up the things and blew out the oil lamp.

In Guo Village Zhang Xiaohua slept very early. He didn't know the characteristics of his body, that it must sleep at midnight. After coming away from home, after a few times, he understood that he naturally falls asleep at midnight. When it is about midnight, he gets an intuition. He knows that it’s going to be midnight without knowing the time.

Packing everything up, Zhang Xiaohua walked to the middle of the grass shed, sat cross-legged, performing the breathing pattern of nine shallow and one deep breath.  In a short time, he entered the realm of emptiness and began drawing qi into his body.

Zhang Xiaohua woke up in the morning and did not get up immediately, but circulated the qi in his meridians again for 36 cycles, and then stood up and went outside to practice his fist arts and sword moves.

During the day, Zhang Xiaohua was the only one in the Medicine Field. He Tianshu still did not appear, but Zhang Xiaohua found that the weeds in the Medicine Field seemed to be a little less than usual, which made Zhang Xiaohua extremely gratified. The ancients sure are correct, heavens reward diligence. The gods must have seen that he is taking care of the Medicine Field by himself, and so weeds grew less today so that he can have more time to practice martial arts.

Light skills and footwork should be practised in the woods. So, Zhang Xiaohua left the Medicine Field.

On the way to the woods, Zhang Xiaohua met Ma Jing and Liu Er. As soon as Ma Jing saw Zhang Xiaohua, he greeted him from away and went straight to pull Zhang Xiaohua's hand. How agile is Zhang Xiaohua, he immediately moved his hand to cup one hand in another across his chest saying, “Brother Ma, I haven't seen you for a long time, is everything good?”

Ma Jing's hand was left hanging there, but there was no embarrassment on his face. He immediately clenched his fist and said, “Zhang Xiaohua, how are you?”

Afterwards, he blinked at him, and he whispered, “Zhang Xiaohua, you are really something. Earlier, when I saw you with Captain He before, I thought you had some dog shit luck. I only know now, that you are truly learned and genuinely talented. This brother really admires you.”

Zhang Xiaohua heard it and was happy, saying, “This is all due to Brother Ma’s influence. If it weren't for your help, how could I grow so fast?”

Ma Jing's eyes were narrowed with a smile. He squinted at Liu Er and said, “That is also true. Look, my old brother, Liu Er has followed me like this for a long time, why haven’t you been wise. Right, Zhang Xiaohua, when you have any wealth in the future, you must think about us brothers. How to say this, I would also like to live with you later.”

Thinking about the time that he spent with Ma Jing, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but get goosebumps, He quickly said, “Certainly, certainly.”

Ma Jing was quite happy with the promise, he smiled and said, “I have remembered this, and when you would have achieved success, I too would have the capital to show off. Maybe I can write this book - ‘I and Zhang Xiaohua’.”

Zhang Xiaohua was stunned and quickly persuaded, “Brother Ma, we have lived in a house for such a short time. How many things can you remember about me, and besides, how can there be so much content for you to write a book?”

Ma Jingyi waved his hand and said, “Don't worry about this. If I can make money with this, why can’t I write it?”

Zhang Xiaohua forced a smile.

Ma Jinggong said goodbye to him, saying, “Okay, don't say anything else, you should concentrate on your progress. Everything will have to wait until you achieve success.”

Ma Jing smiled and waved his hand, Liu Er just gave a simple and honest smile at Zhang Xiaohua while passing.

But after just two steps, Ma Jing turned back and shouted, “Zhang Xiaohua.”

Zhang Xiaohua stopped, turned around and asked, “Brother Ma, is there anything else?”

Ma Jing looked at Zhang Xiaohua with great respect and said, “Zhang Xiaohua, your act of setting up a grass shed in the Medicine Field is really wonderful. This was very flattering, exactly as the Villa Master wished. Today, our younger brothers were all talking about you. I really admire the hut. How did you come up with such a great idea? This is a real talent, big brother, I can’t catch up to you."

Zhang Xiaohua looked on dumbly.

Not caring about Zhang Xiaohua's reaction, Ma Jing turned around and whispered while walking, “I have to go to the warehouse quickly otherwise the lead will be taken by Brother Xi and them!”

Zhang Xiaohua looked at Ma Jing’s retreating back, not knowing what to say. There is an old saying that the unintentional listener was interested. Although he didn’t say anything, what he did was misunderstood. Thinking about the people's hearts, and then thinking about his Second Brother's experience in Misty Faction, Zhang Xiaohua’s heart sighed.

However, he suddenly laughed. After today won’t there be many grass sheds? That scene would be a spectacular sight. But what would that have to do with him? As the sayings say, go your own way and let others talk. A gentleman is open-minded and conscientious. How others view him, that is someone else's business.

There is some distance from the Medicine Field to the woods, and it is inevitable to pass from near the small courtyard. He saw many young male servants rushing this way. The direction of those people, like Ma Jing, seems to be the warehouse.

The woods were still so quiet. Zhang Xiaohua stepped in and immediately felt a sense of peace. He gently smiled, this was the atmosphere that he liked.

In his mind, he recalled He Tianshu footwork skills. Zhang Xiaohua took a deep breath and squeezed his right foot, and his body moved forward like an arrow, like a butterfly among the flowers.