Moo, moo, moo. Though the space was cramped and confined, it was quite enough for Hong Yi. The small room, sealed on all sides, gave him the feeling that his vital energy didn't disperse, but was constrained and gathered together. He quietly committed this to memory as well. The wine was called Storax Wine. Before Bai Ziyue left, he had told Hong Yi how to brew it. It could strengthen the body and regulate the internal organs, making it excellent medicine for laying the foundations of martial arts training. After wiping down his body, Hong Yi felt warm and comfortable all over. He dressed, took his money pouch, and headed out to the Guan Shi Shop on a main street in the eastern part of Yujing. As he flexed the great muscles in his body, Hong Yi felt himself growing stronger and more powerful by the day. By now, Hong Xuejiao had been steadily training toward the level of a Martial Master. "At last, I'm not completely helpless anymore!" But Hong Yi had a method for restoring his spirit through visualization, so he wasn't afraid. This fist technique wasn't for training muscles or bones. It was meant solely for killing enemies and ravaging their bodies, and it consisted of twelve forms. Sometimes, when Hong Xuejiao practiced, she would make a move that differed from the illustrated manual, and Hong Yi could even spot the discrepancy. While Hong Xuejiao practiced, Hong Yi learned alongside her as a wandering spirit—not to train his spirit in martial arts, but to make memorizing the moves easier. "If I can draw a sixty-pound Silk Bow, then fire arrows in rapid succession, I'll have reached the level of a Martial Student. If I can't, I'll have to keep practicing. I'll buy a light bow to train my strength. As for the eighty- and one-hundred-and-twenty-pound Ox-Sinew Hard Bows, I won't worry about those for now." "No wonder one has to cultivate both life and spirit. The body is a boat, and the spirit is the one who steers it. If the boat is sturdy, the person aboard is safe. Likewise, if the person is steady, he can steer the boat better. The two support one another." The board was made of fairly hard chestnut wood, and he had brought it over to test his strength. As Hong Yi sensed the changes in himself, he felt that cultivating his spirit also benefited his martial arts. Bone Refining Like Steel! This fist technique was famed for its penetrating force, a defining trait of the transition from Martial Student to Martial Master. Holding his breath, Hong Yi pressed both fists against his abdomen, then thrust them out together, driving his waist forward and holding his neck upright as he struck with Ox Demon Horn Thrust. His breath followed his fists, and he let out a series of "Hng, hng, hng" sounds like a great water buffalo. Hong Xuejiao stepped through her footwork, trading blows with fists and feet. With her tongue pressed against her teeth and her abdomen gathering strength, she shouted out eight names in succession to lend her boxing more force. Hng! Hng! Hng! "The Storax Wine's ready. It's nowhere near a tenth as effective as Ziyue's Jade Nectar, but it'll do a fine job of regulating the body." Hah! "If you don't dare get in the water and learn how it feels, how can you become a good swimmer? Trying to figure out the water from the shore will never compare to getting in and experiencing it for yourself. Fortunately, the Amitabha Sutra has this kind of power, too. The Amitabha image truly is an unsurpassed visualization method for suppressing demons and restoring damage to the spirit. With this method, as long as I'm a little careful and don't let my spirit scatter, I can recover from any injury. Then I can venture out of my body and train my spirit without fear." Besides practicing the Tiger Demon Fist, Hong Xuejiao also trained in another set of techniques called the Small Heavenly Dipper Grappling Hand. The Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist had eight forms in all. The night was deep and still. Hong Yi had bought a bow to test his strength, because the first thing tested in the Martial Hall's military examinations was archery. Archery from horseback was the foundation of martial arts. Hong Yi watched for several nights in a row, then moved closer to study the book carefully. With the keen perception of a wandering spirit, Hong Yi sensed that each round of Hong Xuejiao's punches and kicks carried a little more piercing force than the last. Since Hong Xuejiao sometimes stopped to leaf through the book and ponder its meaning, she spent quite a while studying the text and illustrations, making it easy for Hong Yi to glimpse almost all of the book's contents. With the eyes of a wandering spirit, Hong Yi could also clearly sense the blood and energy within Hong Xuejiao growing stronger day by day. When he drew close, her blood and energy would even make him feel terribly uncomfortable. Inside the room, the windows were tightly shut and the door was firmly closed. It was dim and dark. Hong Yi practiced in a space about four or five paces across behind the bed. A Martial Student whose muscles and skin had been tempered could withstand punches, but couldn't withstand the fists of a Martial Master whose bones had been refined like steel. In fact, as a scholar, Hong Yi was even allowed to carry a sword and travel throughout the country. Most Daoist Classics contained many visualization methods for cultivating the spirit, but they all focused on training it. None explained what to visualize in order to recover and recuperate after the spirit had been injured. "Tiger Demon Stretches Waist! Tiger Demon Climbs Mountain! Tiger Demon Descends Mountain! Tiger Demon Moves Spine! Tiger Demon Roars Wildly! Tiger Demon Butts Head! Tiger Demon Tears Sheep! Tiger Demon Leaps Ravine!" Hong Yi took out a small bowl and poured in the brewed wine. He drank a few mouthfuls, then carefully soaked a cloth in it, took off his clothes, and wiped down his whole body. A cry came from the small stove warming atop the brazier beneath the bed, and then the fragrance of wine filled the room. Each form had dozens of variations. Though this Storax Wine couldn't compare with Jade Nectar, Jade Nectar was incredibly difficult to brew, while Storax Wine was simple to make. Ordinary sorghum liquor, boiled with a few medicinal ingredients, was all it took. With the illustrated manual to compare against, Hong Xuejiao's movements to observe, and his foundation in the Ox Demon Great Strength Fist, Hong Yi's understanding of the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist was somehow even deeper than Hong Xuejiao's. His fists thrust forward and struck a board two fingers thick. With a crack, the board split in two... Hong Xuejiao gathered herself, and every time she threw a punch, it seemed that all the bones in her body trembled beneath her skin. Her claws flashed out, and as she charged, kicked, and struck, Hong Yi, watching nearby, felt as though her bones were being sharpened on a whetstone, gradually growing keen and sharp. The Great Gan Dynasty's weapons laws banned crossbows, but not bows, so bows were readily available. After his spirit recovered, Hong Yi finally understood the many taboos surrounding leaving his body. He recalled organizing books in the mountain valley and reading many Daoist texts, and as those memories returned, he gained a deeper understanding of spirit cultivation. "So that's how it is. If you wander outside your body and injure your spirit, unlike when you train in martial arts, there are no medicines or doctors that can restore it. The spirit is formless and intangible; once it's damaged, it's very difficult to heal. Not only can you no longer advance your cultivation, you'll be left with a lifelong disability." That was why cultivators were so cautious and didn't dare leave their bodies and wander freely. Hong Yi sent his spirit out again and drifted to Yunting Studio in the eastern courtyard. Hong Xuejiao was still practicing there, trading blows with fists and feet. "If I keep practicing for a while, my muscles will grow full and firm. And now that my spirit has grown stronger, my thoughts seem to control my body more nimbly, too." He used his thoughts to sense the muscles in his limbs, waist, abdomen, chest, back, and hips, then casually rehearsed a couple of the muscle-training moves from the Ox Demon Great Strength Fist. He found that each punch seemed to link together the strength of all those great muscles!
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