Nothing else of note happened, and another day passed.
Deep in the still of night, Liu Danaodai's snores came from next door as usual.
Lian Youming sat cross-legged on the kang, his upper body bare and a small piece of Yellow Essence in his mouth. His breath trickled out, his cheeks pulsed, and he was already emptying his awareness. At that moment, in his imagination, his intent seemed to become a swimming fish, slipping into the six meridians of the Three Hand Yin Meridians and the Three Foot Yin Meridians.
Wherever his thoughts passed, those sinews and meridians trembled lightly, as though guided by a pair of invisible hands, gradually matching that pulsing rhythm and giving rise to a peculiar force.
Three Yin Earth-Baleful Force.
During the day, Lian Youming had also asked Yan Lingyun what Spirit Roaming the Three Yin Meridians meant. The young girl had told him that for a martial artist to command his own body, intent had to come first.
But a martial artist's intent needed to be tempered a thousand times over. Those with settled intent and steadfast spirit needed only to train their sinews and bones until they came alive, and they could turn clumsiness into finesse. With a movement of intent and a surge of breath, their sinews and muscles could be mobilized accordingly, then coordinated into a whole, subtly aligning with the mysteries of essence, Qi, and spirit.
And "Spirit Roaming the Three Yin Meridians" was precisely a process of bringing his own "spirit" into harmony with his "essence" and "Qi." If his training reached sufficient maturity, his spirit would grow steady, his essence firm, and his breathing would gradually become longer and more sustained. Then, when he practiced and channeled force, wherever his thoughts passed, once his control over breath, intent, sinews, and muscles blended as seamlessly as milk and water, he would have achieved a modest measure of success.
Lian Youming understood now. Ultimately, all of this was about improving his control over his own body.
The finer and more precise that control, the more formidable his martial skill would become.
The Mountain-Guarding Old Man's breathing was almost imperceptible, so long and sustained that it seemed endless. That was clearly a manifestation of his profound attainment.
As he breathed in and out, Lian Youming felt a sweetness seep from the Yellow Essence and flow into his belly with his saliva.
His eyes suddenly opened wide. He leaped down from the kang and began assuming the postures shown in the twelve illustrations of the Golden Bell Cover.
The movements were secondary. What truly mattered was the way the sinews and muscles moved in those illustrations. Once they began moving that way, his heartbeat quickened and his Qi and blood rushed along, just as they would during a sudden bout of strenuous exercise.
At the same time, Lian Youming abruptly felt a spreading warmth in his chest and abdomen. In the space of a single breath, he had already used the air he drew in to knead apart that trace of sweetness released by the Yellow Essence.
This was the medicinal potency contained in the Yellow Essence, and also its nourishing essence Qi.
Lian Youming's movements quickened, and his breathing grew increasingly forceful. As his cheeks pulsed, the sinews and muscles surrounding his five viscera, along with the Twelve Principal Meridians, seemed to be mobilized by that peculiar rhythm, trembling faintly without pause as though being tempered a thousand times over.
With every change of posture, the lingering fire in the stove faintly revealed the shifting rise and fall of the sinews and muscles across his body, like shallow ripples spreading in layers when a pebble struck water.
It was indeed just as Yan Lingyun had guessed.
This martial art did not emphasize attack. Its essence actually lay in "defense."
Lian Youming felt the sinews and muscles throughout his body continually tighten and stretch amid those tremors, as though forming a shield of flesh, consolidating into a single whole.
He remembered someone once saying that the strongest punch concentrated the strength of the entire body into a single point.
This martial art did the opposite, turning the body itself into a shield and using the trembling of sinews and muscles to generate force, shaking apart all the power of an opponent's punch concentrated at a single point to achieve Force-Dissipating Hua Jin.
In this way, however powerful a fist might be, once it landed on him and its force was dispersed, even a crushing weight of strength would become like a small child's punch, its power greatly reduced.
Precisely because of this, the martial art frequently required mobilizing the sinews and muscles of the entire body, so its expenditure was more intense than that of ordinary martial arts. That was why it needed a matching method of dietary nourishment: first strengthening the five Qi, then fortifying the sinews, bones, and physique, before this drawback could be resolved.
Lian Youming kept practicing until the last embers in the stove went out and the Yellow Essence in his mouth had lost every trace of flavor. Only then did he stop.
Having only just entered the martial path, he absolutely could not rush his training.
Although his intent continually stirred the Twelve Principal Meridians, very few truly responded. If he wanted to achieve anything in his training, he would have to persevere for a long time.
"Come to think of it, the Toad-Fishing Skill seems able to neutralize other people's force too. One stores Qi in the dantian, while the other forms a shield from sinews and bones. I wonder what would happen if I combined them."
With that thought in mind, Lian Youming looked at the moon outside the window and once again assumed the Golden Toad Gazing at the Moon posture. He spread his feet, let his arms hang naturally at his sides, tilted his throat up toward the moon, and pursed his lips to inhale. A stream of cold Qi was immediately drawn over his tongue and down his throat like a soft current of water, finally sinking straight down as though gathering into a round pill.
As the Qi pill entered his belly, Lian Youming changed his breathing again, and a toad's croak sounded. Before long, he felt a swelling fullness arise in his belly, as though his entire body had expanded a size.
But after maintaining it for only three to five minutes, he felt signs that the Qi pill was breaking apart. He immediately released his breath, letting out a long exhalation of stale air.
My attainment is still shallow.
The chill gradually faded and the weather warmed. The vegetation grew ever greener, and flowers bloomed throughout the sea of forest.
Lian Youming spent his days busy at work, then practiced at night when all was quiet.
Aside from that, he and Yan Lingyun grew increasingly close. Young as she was, she could explain principles of martial arts to him through her understanding of traditional Chinese medicine. It was as though mastery of one field brought mastery of all, and she could give a reasoned explanation for all the many mysteries within the human body.
Lian Youming greedily, almost frantically, absorbed this knowledge he had never encountered before. Of course, all of this came at a price: every few days, the young girl would crave something, and whatever came to mind, she wanted to eat. Naturally, he did everything he could to satisfy her.
As a result, in just over a month, while the other educated youths grew thinner and thinner as they endured, Yan Lingyun visibly grew a size plumper.
And as his understanding of the Golden Bell Cover grew more thorough, Lian Youming's appetite skyrocketed to an astonishing degree. His height and physique seemed to undergo a second growth spurt, his sinews and bones growing sturdier by the day and his breathing increasingly powerful. He even collapsed the kang by sleeping on it.
Although he had the Yellow Essence to replenish his essence Qi, hunger was a physiological urge. The two bowls of thin porridge and few steamed corn buns he ate during the day were barely enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. By night, hunger clawed at his heart and liver, his eyes practically glowing green. He rummaged through every chest and cupboard and ate everything edible, stopping just short of eating people.
He endured days like this until mid-May. More and more educated youths were returning to the cities, and most of the work at the foot of the mountains was nearly finished. Two days before they were due to head up the mountain, Platoon Leader Yang, whom they had not seen in a long time, gave them a few days off.
So Lian Youming and Yan Lingyun agreed in advance to explore the mountains. He had Liu Danaodai privately borrow a crude hunting gun and also prepared climbing ropes and some tools for gathering medicinal herbs.
There was another matter besides this.
Who knew whether Liu Danaodai was missing a screw, but no matter how Lian Youming explained, talking until his lips were worn out, he stubbornly insisted that the young man before him was a reclusive qigong master. Every day, he clamored to become his disciple, and he even gathered a group of elderly men and women to establish a Qigong Society in the district.
Unexpectedly, word leaked out. Who knew where the Village Party Secretary heard about it, but he insisted on dragging Lian Youming to the commune to show everyone a few moves, saying they should learn from him. Otherwise, he threatened Lian Youming with a public denunciation.
Frightened, Lian Youming could only steel himself and perform a demonstration under the blazing sun, having a large stone smashed on his chest and splitting bricks with one palm.
He had thought that would be the end of it. Who could have known that afterward, the villagers' stories would grow increasingly outlandish, until they were almost describing Lian Youming as an immortal? They nearly attracted newspaper reporters.
Seeing the commotion grow, Lian Youming had no choice but to hurry over to Qin Yuhu. Only then was the matter finally suppressed.
A little past three that morning, because the Logging Camp where Yan Lingyun worked up in the mountains was so far away, Lian Youming packed his things for the trip while the light was still dim, slung a heap of gear onto his back, and slipped out of Kaoshan Village.
The wave of people returning to the cities was growing ever larger. Before long, they would probably have to leave too.
But Lian Youming truly did not want to leave yet.
Mainly, once he returned to the city, not only would he have to think about studying, but given his parents' temperaments, they would probably start considering marriage and a career for him as well. With mundane affairs tying him down then, how would he have the mind to practice?
Besides, the Northeast, with its vast skies, broad lands, and abundant natural resources, was an excellent place to temper oneself.
During this time, to find food for Yan Lingyun, taking advantage of his increasingly stable foundation-and because his hunger was truly unbearable-he had ventured alone into the mountains several times late at night.
Unlike the harsh depths of winter, once spring and summer arrived, it was like a different world in there. Lian Youming caught plenty of all sorts of wild game. Not only did he eat meat at every meal and greatly replenish his Qi and blood, but his martial skills also rose like a boat on a rising tide.
Once he was out of Kaoshan Village, Lian Youming drove force through his feet and quietly channeled Coiling Silk Force. As the sinews and muscles of his legs tightened, he strode into the night.
(End of chapter)
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