The Secret of the Cultivation Method

Su Ziyang spent the entire night meditating and circulating his cultivation method, Qi spreading out and swirling around him. By the following morning, he felt that his body had mostly recovered.

Just after breakfast, Jiang Kui received a phone call. Mr. Mengfei had arrived.

Jiang Tian drove Su Ziyang to the station, and the two of them went to pick up Mr. Mengfei.

Mr. Mengfei looked different from his previous appearance, when he had dressed like an immortal sage. This time, he wore casual clothes and a pair of oversized sunglasses.

"Mr. Mengfei!" Jiang Tian respectfully cupped his fists at him.

"And you are?" Mr. Mengfei paused and looked Jiang Tian up and down. "You're Jiang Tian!"

Jiang Tian nodded.

"My, you've grown so tall! You're a whole head taller than me now!!! Good, good, good!" Mr. Mengfei patted Jiang Tian on the shoulder.

"Haha!" Jiang Tian gave a sheepish laugh and hurried to usher Mr. Mengfei into the car.

Mr. Mengfei looked at Su Ziyang, who was standing beside Jiang Tian, and nodded. "Looks like you weren't hurt all that badly! Old Jiang keeps scaring me!"

Su Ziyang grinned without saying anything and simply followed behind Mr. Mengfei.

Jiang Tian drove, and the two of them soon returned home.

The last time, Su Ziyang had been injured and hadn't paid attention to the road back. This time, he looked along the road and found the scenery truly beautiful. The Jiang family's village lay at the foot of a mountain.

When the three of them entered, Auntie Jiang had already brewed tea and set out several plates of fruit and snacks on the table.

The sight of Mr. Mengfei coming through the door lit up Auntie Jiang's face. "Mengfei, you're here! Quick, sit, sit, sit! Have some tea!"

Mengfei cupped his fists at Auntie Jiang. "Have you been well lately, sister-in-law? You're too kind!"

"Good, good, good! Everything's good! Your brother Jiang has been talking about you all the time!" Auntie Jiang said repeatedly.

"Where's my brother Jiang? How come I didn't see him when I came in?" Mr. Mengfei asked.

Auntie Jiang smiled. "He went out to buy wine and food. You two can have a good drink together at noon. You haven't been here in years!"

"Oh, no need, no need! A simple home-cooked meal is fine, a simple home-cooked meal is fine!" Mr. Mengfei hurriedly waved his hands.

"You three have some tea first. I'm going to cook. Your brother Jiang will be back in a little while." With that, Auntie Jiang went to the kitchen.

Mr. Mengfei called out, "Sister-in-law, don't forget your specialty, stir-fried bean sprouts!"

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Mr. Mengfei turned to look at Su Ziyang, who was grinning. "Tell me, what happened?"

So Su Ziyang recounted what had happened on the train once more. Jiang Tian added details from the side, his words full of apologies for failing to notice in time that Su Ziyang's acupoints had been struck.

Mr. Mengfei patted Jiang Tian, indicating that they were all among their own and there was no need for that.

After hearing Su Ziyang out, Mr. Mengfei fell silent.

Seeing that his master hadn't spoken for a long time, Su Ziyang said softly, "Master? What's wrong?"

Mr. Mengfei shook his head. "From your description, I really don't know this person. Besides, I'm no great celebrity, and nobody knows you're my disciple. It couldn't have happened because of anything on my end."

Jiang Tian interjected, "Could he have run into someone testing a technique?"

Mr. Mengfei shook his head, dismissing the possibility.

Testing a technique, as it was called,

was a piece of jargon.

It meant that someone had learned a secret art, especially a martial art or something that could affect others, and, being fresh out of the thatched cottage, found an innocent person to test what he had learned on.

Such behavior was called testing a technique, and it was especially common with secret arts that harmed people!

"With skills that polished, there's no way he was testing a technique." At that point, Mr. Mengfei seemed to remember something.

He told Su Ziyang to stand up and move back.

Su Ziyang didn't know what his master was going to do, so he could only obey his orders and slowly step back.

Mr. Mengfei kept staring at Su Ziyang, making him feel a little creeped out.

"Master, what's wrong?"

Mr. Mengfei suddenly laughed. "Haha, I think I understand now. Sit down, sit down!"

Su Ziyang still looked at his master in confusion. "Master, what do you understand?"

"Mm. I can't tell you for now!"

I'm dizzy ๑_๑

Su Ziyang was speechless.

His gloom over Uncle Jiang's prank yesterday hadn't even faded, and now his own master was at it again!!!

Jiang Tian seemed accustomed to the way these people behaved. He wasn't surprised by Mr. Mengfei's air of mystery, and instead got up and went to the kitchen to help cook.

Mr. Mengfei watched Jiang Tian leave and nodded with great appreciation. "Jiang Kui has raised him well. This kid will go far!"

Hearing his master say something so wide of the mark, Su Ziyang felt even more depressed.

Helping in the kitchen means he'll go far?

Then I've been destined to go far since I was a kid!!!

Su Ziyang inwardly seethed with indignation.

Mr. Mengfei took a sip of tea, then flicked Su Ziyang on the head. "What's with that expression? You look full of grievances and complaints!"

His head went thunk from the flick, and Su Ziyang couldn't very well say anything. He rubbed his head aggrievedly.

"I'll tell you now why someone struck your acupoints!"

That one sentence made Su Ziyang even more depressed. His master had just said it was a secret and he wouldn't tell him, but before even a minute had passed, he'd changed his mind. One moment he would tell him, the next he wouldn't. What kind of person was he? Su Ziyang grumbled inwardly.

"Master, I think you're a little fickle! One moment you'll tell me, the next you won't!" Su Ziyang took a sip of tea. He really couldn't hold the words in and said them after all.

Mr. Mengfei wasn't angry when he heard that. He simply said slowly, "This concerns the cultivation method I passed on to you, so I couldn't discuss it in front of an outsider! Jiang Tian knew we were discussing our master-disciple lineage's secrets, so he left. You should learn from the way he behaves. When you're making your way in society, pay more attention!!! Don't be so foolish all day long. Bring out what you learned at school!!!"

Only then did Su Ziyang understand why Jiang Tian had suddenly left, and why his master had praised Jiang Tian for being considerate. It wasn't because he had gone to help cook!

But on second thought, something about this still didn't seem quite right to Su Ziyang.

He had come here to learn the Jiang family's secret art, yet he had to keep his own secret art hidden from them and couldn't let them know about it. Wasn't that a little unreasonable?

Su Ziyang told Mr. Mengfei what he thought. Mr. Mengfei looked at him, both exasperated and amused. "If I had agreed to teach Jiang Tian, then naturally he wouldn't be an outsider. Although Jiang Kui and I have been friends for many years, Jiang Tian is still an outsider when it comes to discussing secret methods!"

"And let me tell you, do you think friendship alone was enough to let you come here and learn the Jiang family's Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method? Jiang Kui promised me this back then, which is why things have gone so smoothly for you. With ancient secret teachings, even if a man had two sons, one of them wouldn't get to learn them. And you think you could learn one just because of friendship??? That's why I'm telling you, you'd better use your brain. Don't think everything is so simple!"

There was a hint of reprimand in Mr. Mengfei's words, but instead of feeling aggrieved, Su Ziyang felt his mind brighten.

As the saying went, honest advice grated on the ears, just as good medicine tasted bitter.

In today's society, who else would scold him and give him a lesson like this?

Su Ziyang was straightforward and simple by nature. After hearing what Mr. Mengfei had just said, he began to feel fortunate that the people he had met all these years had been good people.

"Master, your disciple will remember! Master, you said you knew why that person harmed me. Why was it?"

Su Ziyang was still rather concerned about that.

"About someone striking your acupoints-that's precisely what worries me, and also what gratifies me!" Mr. Mengfei took a sip of tea and said slowly, "I originally planned to wait until you'd practiced the cultivation method for a full year before telling you this, but I didn't expect you to have some special talent. You reached in such a short time the level it took me a year to reach back then. I'm very happy!"

Su Ziyang didn't interrupt and listened carefully to Mr. Mengfei. Mr. Mengfei paused, then continued, "Actually, the cultivation method I passed on to you isn't just a simple qigong technique. I believe you've noticed it too, including the images that appear in your head when you take someone's pulse, and your ability to see black Illness Qi!"

Su Ziyang nodded. That was indeed true; there was no faking it.

"This is actually a cultivation method for pursuing the Dao. If you practice diligently, it can not only help you treat illnesses, but also prolong your life and give you abilities other people don't have! And when you cultivate it to a certain level, a distinctive aura will appear around you. People like us who can observe Qi can see it. I think the person who struck your acupoints was probably also an expert at observing Qi. He saw that you didn't know how to conceal your aura, so he taught you a lesson!"

"That was also an oversight on my part. When evening comes, I'll teach you a method for concealing your Qi. That way, if you run into an expert like that again, you'll look no different from anyone else to them!"

"I understand, Master!" At this point, Su Ziyang felt he only half understood, but he still nodded in agreement.

He had read cultivation novels before, where some villains would persecute innocent passersby at the drop of a hat. Today, he had actually gotten to be an innocent passerby himself.

"Master, can I see that kind of special aura on other people?" Su Ziyang asked.

Mr. Mengfei nodded. "You should be able to see it after you've cultivated for a while longer, but under normal circumstances, you won't be able to see it. You'll only be able to see ordinary people's auras, because anyone who can cultivate a special aura knows how to conceal it."

Su Ziyang was still deeply shaken after understanding everything.

But he also felt a secret thrill, imagining whether he might someday be like the people in cultivation novels, roaring as he blasted out energy waves, wielded magical treasures, and vanquished demons and subdued fiends.

Mr. Mengfei looked at Su Ziyang, who was staring blankly without moving, and saw through his thoughts at a glance. "All right, stop fantasizing. There's nothing like that in novels, those bullshit immortal cultivation novels!!!"

Caught out in his chuunibyou thoughts, Su Ziyang blushed and hurriedly changed the subject. "Master, you said Uncle Jiang promised you he'd pass on their secret art. I remember Uncle Jiang also said you were a great benefactor of the Jiang family on the day I first arrived. What exactly happened?"

Mr. Mengfei pondered for a moment. "Sigh, this is like a child without a mother-it's a long story!"

Just then, a hearty laugh rang out from outside the room. "Brother Mengfei, you're here! Let's have a good few drinks!!!"