Reborn Anew

Only after asking did they learn that Zhao Datou had come.

By the rules, outsiders were not allowed into the Training Field, so Meng Yuan and Tie Niu hurried out and met Zhao Datou at the entrance.

Zhao Datou's face bore the marks of hardship, yet he could not conceal his delight. He carried two bundles on his back.

"Tie Niu! Little Meng!" Zhao Datou was so happy he scarcely knew what to say. He wrapped an arm around Tie Niu's waist and lifted him a little. "You've really grown sturdy! You could shovel cow dung all day without getting tired now! Why are you dressed so thinly?"

"Dad, we practice martial arts. We aren't afraid of the cold!" Tie Niu said happily.

"Why did you come, Uncle Datou?" Meng Yuan asked.

"There'd been no word from either of you, and I was worried sick. Old Man Jiang was worried too. I came once on New Year's Eve, but they wouldn't let me see you. They told me to come back after the New Year. I finally found the time today and came to see you, but they still wouldn't let me in. It was a little girl who spotted me and specially led me here!" Zhao Datou said.

Meng Yuan knew that little girl was probably Hu Qian.

"Are Old Man Jiang and Jiang Yatou doing well?" Meng Yuan asked with concern.

"They're both well." Zhao Datou was delighted. He pulled Meng Yuan into a corner and asked in a low voice, "That yellow fur hasn't come looking for you, has it?"

"No." Meng Yuan smiled.

Zhao Datou did not believe him. He looked at Tie Niu too, and only believed it after Tie Niu also said no.

"You must be careful. You're young, and you practice martial arts—you've got strength all over you. Demons like sleeping with people like you, people with heavy yang energy." Zhao Datou was extremely solemn. "I thought it over after going back. Yellow fur are afraid of dogs, so later on, smear some dog shit on your hands."

"..." Meng Yuan knew Zhao Datou meant well, and he also knew there was no explaining it to him. So he did not object, merely agreed.

Zhao Datou took down the bundles from his back, giving one to Tie Niu and one to Meng Yuan. "This one's from the Jiang Family Girl!"

Meng Yuan took it and squeezed it. He immediately knew there were shoes inside. Opening it, he found two pairs indeed.

The uppers were neat, and the soles tightly stitched. She had clearly put her heart into them.

There was also an undershirt.

An undershirt was, in truth, simply underclothes worn next to the skin.

Poor families generally made them from hemp cloth. It was rougher, but sturdy, durable, and cheap. Cotton cloth was naturally better—soft, comfortable, and absorbent—but a little more expensive.

This undershirt was made of cotton.

"Why was it cut from cotton cloth? Does the family still have money?" Meng Yuan asked.

"The silver Old Man Jiang gave Manor Head Li as a gift, for that martial arts matter, was returned." Seeing Tie Niu reaching to touch the undershirt, Zhao Datou quickly smacked his hand away. Then he said to Meng Yuan, "The little girl said that since you were making a living in the city, you had to look respectable. She asked me to buy cloth at the town market, and she stayed up several nights making it for you. She originally wanted to bring it over on New Year's Eve for you to wear, but it got delayed until now."

The undershirt was worn beneath his clothes, where no one could see whether it looked respectable. But Meng Yuan could feel the little girl's intentions.

He tied up the bundle and held it against his chest without saying much.

Zhao Datou then pulled Tie Niu over and carefully asked about his recent life. When he learned that Tie Niu had eaten beef for lunch, he even had Tie Niu kneel and kowtow several times in the direction of the Prince's Residence.

"I should get going. If I leave any later, I'll be feeling my way through the dark." After talking for quite a while, Zhao Datou looked at Meng Yuan as they prepared to part. "Anything you want me to tell your little wife?"

"Tell her to wait peacefully. At night, she should practice the characters I taught her and stop doing needlework. In a few days, I'll definitely bring her into the city." Meng Yuan said.

"Dad, I'll bring you into the city too!" Tie Niu added.

"Alright, I understand!" Zhao Datou agreed. Seeing Tie Niu's reddened eyes, he patted Tie Niu's shoulder and said solemnly, "Little Meng needn't worry about marriage. Didn't you say there were girls practicing martial arts with you? Put some thought into it."

Then he looked at Meng Yuan and instructed, "Little Meng, keep an eye out for Tie Niu. If there's an honest, capable girl, we won't fuss over looks. Give things a little push."

"Alright." Meng Yuan agreed with a smile.

After seeing Zhao Datou off, Meng Yuan and Tie Niu returned to the Training Field. They had wanted to thank Hu Qian, but they could not find her again.

When they returned to the dormitory, there was no one there either.

Meng Yuan carried back two large buckets of water to the men's dormitory, then had Tie Niu stand guard outside and stop anyone who came in.

The essence fire had already reached completion. Meng Yuan stroked the undershirt and knew he could wait no longer.

As he envisioned it within his heart, he saw a great mass of dark-red flame.

"Come, fire." At a stir of his thoughts, the flames burst open with a whoosh.

In an instant, Meng Yuan felt blazing fire scorch his body from outside to within, as though his flesh, blood, sinews, bones, limbs, organs, and innards had all been burned through once.

The flames surged and raced through his body, but many places within him seemed like blocked irrigation channels. The essence fire coursed back and forth for a long while, battering against those obstructions.

After several breaths, the essence fire receded like the tide. It had not broken through a single blockage, but Meng Yuan could vaguely sense that those blocked places had loosened.

When he opened his eyes, they seemed brilliantly clear. Even things more than ten feet away were visible down to the finest detail.

Looking down at himself, he found his body covered in sticky dampness, clinging to his clothes and giving off a foul, fishy stench.

Yet it was as if his body had been scrubbed clean. His muscles and bones seemed sturdier, and he felt as light as a swallow.

At this moment, Meng Yuan was confident he could lift the three-hundred-catty Stone Roller.

When he thought of the essence fire again, only a soybean-sized spark remained.

Meng Yuan stripped off his clothes and washed the grime from his body, all while pondering the effects of the completed essence fire.

There was no doubt that after being scoured by the essence fire, one felt reborn anew, as if undergoing Marrow Cleansing. His body and limbs were lighter, while his strength and reaction speed had greatly increased. This was immensely beneficial for martial arts training.

That was the essence fire's surface effect. Beyond that, it struck against the blocked places within the body.

Though this burst of essence fire had not opened any blockage, it had already loosened them.

"Master Nie said today that practicing the Embracing Stake Nourishing Essence Art would help open acupoints. Could those blocked places be unopened acupoints?"

Meng Yuan knew far too little about the martial path, and his related knowledge was insufficient. He truly had no way to judge.

"And after the essence fire was absorbed by me, it shrank back to the size of a soybean. I wonder whether raising it to completion again will take even longer? Will I need to eat better food?"

Meng Yuan washed his hair with soapberry, quickly scrubbed away the filth on his body, then rinsed himself again with clean water. His skin was delicate, smooth, and resilient.

Once he saw that no foul odor remained, Meng Yuan did not put on clothes. He practiced a set of Horse Stance Punches in the men's dormitory to ease his Blood Qi.

Then he practiced the Embracing Stake Nourishing Essence Art, casting aside distracting thoughts, calming his mind and breath, and envisioning a great river blocked in one place.

After a while, Meng Yuan felt his flesh, organs, sinews, and bones tremble. For a moment, it seemed as though countless water channels flowed through his body, yet most were blocked and obstructed.

Suddenly, the great river he had envisioned burst through its blockage, and Meng Yuan felt a surge of Blood Qi shoot straight to the crown of his head.

The sensation was exceedingly strange. It was as though some hidden pass within his body had opened. Then his ears could no longer hear the outside world, as if he had gone deaf; his eyes could no longer see anyone, as if he had gone blind. Even his nose could no longer smell anything.

Very soon, Meng Yuan returned to normal. He only felt refreshed from head to toe, his mind clear and bright.

His vision returned. Looking out through the window, he saw three magpies chasing each other above the Training Field, one of them with colorful feathers around its neck.

His hearing sharpened, and he could clearly distinguish the calls of all three magpies.

His nose twitched slightly. A faint scent of blood drifted over with the north wind. Meng Yuan focused his gaze and saw a female trainee drawing water beside the well with her head lowered, seemingly terribly embarrassed.

His sense of smell, sight, and hearing had all surpassed those of ordinary people by far.

"Is this Opening Acupoints? How many need to be opened?" Meng Yuan murmured.

After thinking for a moment, Meng Yuan remembered that he was still naked. He hurriedly changed into the cotton undershirt and cloth shoes Jiang Tang had made.

Clothes are better when new, people are better when familiar. If this girl keeps it up, she really will have me tied to her!

After tying up his hair and dressing himself, Meng Yuan stretched his body and found the new clothes well-fitting and comfortable.

He wanted to find a mirror and look at himself, but he did not even have one. He was getting by worse than that little weasel.

When he stepped outside, Tie Niu was greatly startled. "Brother, how did a bath make you look like a different person?"

"What's different?" Meng Yuan asked.

Tie Niu looked him over carefully again and said, "Your face is whiter, and your eyes are really bright."

"I could clearly rely on my looks to become a male concubine, yet I chose the most arduous path of a martial artist!"

With a sigh, Meng Yuan went to pour out the dirty water, then fetched more water to wash his dirty clothes.