The Ox Demon Shows Its Might for the First Time

Chapter 25: The Ox Demon Shows Its Might

"Move aside, move aside..." Hong Yi heard the voice, snapped out of his thoughts, frowned, and looked back. Especially in the dead of winter, the Tuomu Ox-Sinew Bow was affected by the climate, becoming stiff and difficult to draw; while it was rated for eighty jin of draw weight, it actually required a hundred jin. A nine-shi bow—that would mean Hong Yi holding ten ox-sinew bows in his hands right now, pulling them all at once in a fierce burst, and then firing them in rapid succession. An eighty-jin Tuomu Ox-Sinew Bow was much harder to draw than a silk bow. It wasn't until the entire first lunar month had passed that he finally had to tear himself away from such a routine. However, having grown accustomed to it, Hong Yi actually found the solitude quite peaceful.

With these punches, Hong Yi exerted his entire strength, his ears ringing with the whistling sound of his fists tearing through the air! Imagining the bow in his hand turning into ten, and having to pull them all at once, Hong Yi felt a shiver run down his spine, let alone firing them in rapid succession. In the process of practicing archery, Hong Yi also realized that his own body contained many invisible bows: his arms were a bow, his back was a bow, his waist was a bow, his legs were a bow... Hong Yi summarized the gains he had made over the past month. Scholars reflect on themselves three times a day to understand their gains, losses, and mistakes; the same principle could be applied to martial arts and soul cultivation. He certainly wouldn't actually strike him; he just wanted to scare Hong Yi into tumbling like a rolling gourd.

Every time he exerted his full strength to draw the bow, Hong Yi felt as if he were iron being hammered and forged in a furnace. The large muscles, small muscles, thick tendons, and thin tendons of his body were twisted into a single strand, braided like a hemp rope, during each repeated drawing of the bow. To subdue the various delusions arising from meditation, and to train the soul to be firm and unyielding, there was only one method: relying on one's own immense willpower. Only by using great wisdom and great willpower to subdue the various demons conjured within the mind, and finally achieving mastery, could one's cultivation progress further; there were no shortcuts.

Boom! The days passed by, one after another, with him closing his doors to practice martial arts and study during the day, and meditating at night. "My father, in his youth, could draw a nine-shi Falling Star Bow and fire in rapid succession; it is truly..." After failing, he certainly would not give up. From the first to the fifteenth of the first lunar month, he spent every day nourishing his spirit and practicing martial arts, and every night meditating on his soul. Because Marquis Wuwen, Hong Xuanji, was a veteran top scholar who had managed state affairs for many years and possessed vast connections, as well as a group of scholar partisans, the family's ancestral school had practically become a large academy, famous even within Yujing.

After walking for the time it takes to burn a few sticks of incense, Hong Yi looked from afar at the tall, massive buildings of the Imperial Academy. After the sixty-jin Chestnut-Wood Ox-Sinew Bow had been pulled until it cracked, he had gone to the Guan Shi Shop to buy an eighty-jin Tuomu Ox-Sinew Bow, continuing to draw the bow to train his strength. "If this Amitabha Sutra did not have the assistance of the Amitabha image, unless one were a sage with truly great wisdom and great willpower, no matter how brilliant the practitioner, they would inevitably suffer from qi deviation and damage their soul. However, even with this Amitabha image, cultivation still depends on one's own willpower."

"This month has been too quiet and comfortable; not a single person came to disturb me. It must be because my father saw me once and wanted me to prepare for the imperial examinations in peace. However, this month of cultivation still hasn't brought a breakthrough, and my soul hasn't reached the level of Night Roaming. My martial arts training has made my tendons and muscles feel about right, but it's still difficult to move and bulge my skin and membranes, let alone begin practicing the Tiger Demon Bone-Refining Fist." The muscles and tendons of his body were becoming more refined and powerful with every practice. Hong Yi was completely immersed in these days, feeling an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

His strength was increasing day by day, and his mind was becoming clearer day by day. The Hong family's ancestral school was located on the east side of Yujing, near the Imperial Academy, about five or six li away from the Hong estate. The Hong family's ancestral school was even more famous than those of some princes and dukes, and many people pulled strings just to get in to study. "Hmm?" This was the first time Hong Yi had failed in his meditation on the Amitabha Sutra. One man and one horse charged violently; the momentum alone was enough to scare people into scrambling away. Three months ago, Hong Yi, who had only a glimmer of hope, had not lost heart or given up; now, with much greater hope, his confidence was even stronger.

The young masters who left the Marquis's estate early in the morning all traveled by carriage, with at least two or three attendant bookboys carrying their things. Only Hong Yi was alone, with neither a bookboy to accompany him nor a servant to wait on him. Early in the morning, the number of people leaving the Marquis's estate for school was so great that it was like a bustling market, a sight in itself. Although the meditation method of the Amitabha Sutra was the ancestor of all methods, and the meditation process included various trials such as the White Bone Contemplation, Asura Contemplation, Jade Maiden Contemplation, and Ascension Contemplation, the further one progressed, the stronger the soul became, and the more powerful the demons conjured in meditation grew. Various illusions appeared one after another, and it was even possible for them to truly manifest into physical form. Therefore, the further one cultivated the Amitabha Sutra, the more difficult it became—ten, a hundred, a thousand times harder than ordinary cultivation.

These two people were highly skilled in horsemanship; they galloped along, charging recklessly and aggressively, yet they didn't actually hit any people or objects. Hong Yi's eyes turned cold; he tilted his body, dodging the horse's charge. At the same time, he exerted all his strength in a move of the Ox Demon Horn Thrust, his fists striking the horse's belly. Simultaneously, Rong Pan, who was on the horse, was jolted off by the massive inertia and landed on the ground, his head bloodied. The horse galloped past him, running for more than ten paces before crashing to the ground and tumbling several times. It was as if they had seen Hong Yi; the two men on horseback gave a sinister smile, exchanged a look, and flicked their reins, immediately accelerating and galloping behind Hong Yi in a few moments.

Over the course of the first lunar month, although he hadn't achieved a breakthrough, he had consolidated and refined his progress, already gradually reaching the edge of a breakthrough. The impurities in the iron were being hammered away, gradually transforming into refined steel. "Move aside." Because the family's ancestral school was about to begin its term. The family's ancestral school was run exceptionally well, located near the Imperial Academy, and the teachers invited were famous scholars from within, renowned academics, or Hanlin scholars who had experienced numerous literary battles and were rich in experience regarding the imperial examinations. After drawing the eighty-jin ox-sinew bow, Hong Yi felt a sense of terrifying dread regarding the strength of his father, Marquis Wuwen, Hong Xuanji.

Hong Yi recognized at a glance that these two were Hong Gui from the third branch—Madam Rong's son—and his cousin Rong Pan, who had been plotting to teach him a lesson. The speed of this change was so fast that many people only saw Rong Pan charging on horseback, then feigning a whip strike at Hong Yi; when Hong Yi dodged, the horse suddenly lost control and crashed. Early in the morning. Seeing Hong Yi, who appeared to be scared silly, Rong Pan laughed loudly. As he swept past, he raised his whip in the air and struck down fiercely. Hong Yi had packed his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, wrapped them in a bundle, and headed toward the family ancestral school. However, the harder it was to draw, the greater the effect on Hong Yi's strength training.

A burst of urgent hoofbeats and shouting came from the road behind him, and pedestrians on the road scrambled to dodge. Even those driving carriages slowly to school, upon hearing this sound, quickly moved to the side of the road. With the first lunar month over, Yujing had returned to its usual peace and harmony. Just then, two horses had already charged over from behind. On the horses were a young master wearing a hat, dressed in a silk jacket with a jade pendant at his waist, looking quite wealthy, and a follower also dressed in silk and satin. "Hmm? Isn't that Princess Luo Yun studying at the Imperial Academy?" Looking at the iron thumb ring on his thumb, Hong Yi suddenly remembered the princess he had met by chance at the Guan Shi Shop.

When Hong Yi finished packing his things and left, all the young masters in the Marquis's estate were also leaving one after another. In addition to Hong Yi's dozen or so brothers and sisters, there were also relatives from secondary branches, as well as maidservants, servants, and bookboys waiting on them. Having felt that "the way is a foot high, the devil is ten feet high," Hong Yi realized that even with the Amitabha Sutra, the supreme scripture and illustration for soul cultivation, it could only ensure the safety of his soul; his meditation practice could not be achieved overnight. "In just three short months, the changes have been earth-shattering..." Hong Yi thought to himself. Three months ago, he was still a scholar without the strength to truss a chicken, but now he had become an extraordinary person possessing the Amitabha Sutra, the Ox Demon Great Strength Fist, the Tiger Demon Bone-Refining Fist, capable of drawing an eighty-jin ox-sinew bow, and capable of leaving his body for Night Roaming. Although he still lacked the power to change his situation, he now had the hope of becoming stronger step by step.