Chapter 79: The Entrance of Wudang Heart Method

  After a night's rest, I felt refreshed and got up to help Yitian Shibo, who was already making breakfast.

  My cooking skills are very poor, so I just help Yichun Shibo with some trivial tasks, such as washing vegetables and starting the fire.

  Kong Shou and Yi Chen still like the traditional way of cooking that has been passed down - using firewood, earth stove and a large pot, which is basically the same as my hometown's way of cooking.

  "My master Gong Shou doesn't know where he went at this time, I got up and didn't see him. So I asked Yichen: "Master Bo, where is Master? Why didn't he come to eat breakfast?"

  Yi Chen smiled and said, "Your master has gone to prepare a gift for you. Since you've already become his disciple, he should at least give you a meeting gift. So, he went out early this morning. I reckon he'll be back soon. Let's eat first, and after lunch, you can start learning the Wudang Sect's mental techniques."

  My heart leapt with joy, and I hastily asked: "Heart method? What kind of skill is it? Internal strength?"

  Yi Chen smiled and said, "It can be said that way. The mental method we teach you is called Wudang Heart Method, which is the foundation of all Wudang School's kung fu, just like the foundation of a tall building, it is the most important thing. You must understand it well, practice diligently, and strive to comprehend it as soon as possible. Only by mastering the Wudang Heart Method can you possibly learn other kung fu methods."

  "I understand, Master," I said seriously. "I will work twice as hard. I will definitely learn our Wudang Heart Method as soon as possible."

  Yi Chen nodded: "As long as you have confidence, it's good. Now hurry up and eat, after your master comes back later, we will start learning the heart method."

  I quickly lowered my head to eat, afraid that time would not allow me to eat enough. I feel that my recent appetite has increased, and I don't know if it's related to the genetic medicine.

  We had just finished dinner when Kong Shou returned. He was carrying a very large bag in his hand, bulging and it was unclear what was inside.

  After seeing me, Kong Shou directly said: "Follow me into the house, I have something to say to you."

  I responded with a sound, took over the bag held by Kong Shou, and followed him to his room. The bag was somewhat heavy, but for me now, it wasn't anything.

  As I entered the room of Kong Shou, I saw that Yi Chen had also followed. Kong Shou was silent for a moment before speaking: "Since you have already taken me as your master, then I must tell you about our Wudang Sect's rules. Our Wudang Sect is not the one from Mount Wudang in Hubei Province that people commonly refer to, but rather an independent sect. Our rules are very simple, only one rule with three sentences. Remember: Do not kill innocent people indiscriminately, do not betray your country and aid its enemies, and do not pass on our skills to foreigners."

  I firmly remember this one rule of the door and secretly say: "Actually, there are three rules of the door, why do you say it's just one?"

  Kong Shou finished speaking, and then he took out a box from the bag I was carrying and handed it to me: "This is my gift for meeting you, take good care of it, you will need it in the future."

  I was very curious and wanted to open it to take a look, but I thought it wasn't good. So I took it over with ease and said, "Thank you, Master."

  Kong Shou smiled and said, "Today's task is very heavy... I know you're a university student with a high cultural level, so there are many things you can understand on your own without me teaching you one by one. How about this? I have an introductory textbook here that's equivalent to your elementary school textbook. Take it and study it carefully, remember the contents."

  I took a small booklet handed over by Kong Shou, and the cover was written with two words - "Introduction". When I opened it to take a look, it turned out to be basic knowledge about human meridians, acupoints and so on.

  I had seen these before on the internet or in some books, but I hadn't studied them carefully. Now that I see them again, I have a somewhat familiar feeling, and without saying much, I start reading in front of Kong Yu and Yi Chen.

  I know I have to memorize all of these, and I also need to check them against the actual objects and find their exact locations. So while looking at them, I simultaneously try to locate the corresponding positions on my own body, making some awkward gestures in the process.

  Kong Hou and Yi Chen also ignored me, the two of them began to meditate in the room. The practice of Chinese Kung Fu, apart from practicing real moves with real swords, is more importantly about cultivating internal energy. Internal energy is the foundation of everything, no matter how exquisite the moves are, without the support of internal energy, they are just empty shells.

  Kong Shou and Yi Chen were cultivating their internal energy at this time. The so-called "internal training of one breath" in the folk, this one breath is what we call internal energy, also known as internal force, internal strength, internal power, etc. The stronger the internal energy, the higher the skill level, and the corresponding combat power will be stronger.

  I used to hear people say that the manifestation of internal energy is a special airflow, which is a kind of airflow flowing inside the human body and can provide great power to the human body. It is generally stored in the dantian of the human body. The dantian is like a container that can store a lot of internal energy. People who practice internal energy usually store the internal energy they have cultivated in their dantian, and when they encounter an enemy and need to use this kind of internal force, they will use some special methods to mobilize the internal energy in their dantian to defeat the enemy or escape.

  The method of cultivating internal energy is to absorb the essence of heaven and earth into the body, then through the eight extraordinary meridians of the human body, let these essences circulate within the eight extraordinary meridians, separate out the impurities, retain the useful parts, and after being transported by the meridians, store them in the dantian.

  So some people say that the more unblocked and wider a person's meridians are, the simpler it is to cultivate internal strength, and the speed is not comparable to ordinary people.

  Generally, people who practice internal strength training start from a young age because it is easier to open up one's meridians at that time and there is also more time available.

  I'm already 21 now, and I started practicing a bit late, so I must work twice as hard, otherwise I might not achieve anything in my lifetime.

  So I concentrated and used only two hours to finish reading and memorize the introductory "secret book" that Kongming left for me.

  Kong Hou was slightly surprised, but didn't say much. He just glanced at Yi Chen, who was still meditating, and said to me: "Now I will start teaching you the introductory Wudang Heart Method. The Wudang Heart Method consists of three chapters: introductory, small achievement, and great achievement. The introductory chapter mainly requires you to have a comprehensive understanding and recognition of your body's meridians, acupoints, etc., and through initial cultivation, generate internal energy within your body. This is also known as inner strength. Inner strength is a kind of energy flow and is one of the energies in our human body. Next, I will tell you the introductory chapter's incantation and cultivation method, hoping that you can carefully comprehend it..."

  I listened attentively as Kong Shou slowly continued, remembering and comprehending the meaning behind his words. For a moment, I concentrated my spirit completely, not daring to be distracted in the slightest.

  My cultivation career has officially begun, although the initial teachings were quite obscure and dry, I still concentrated and memorized them carefully, afraid of missing anything.

  It took almost half a day to memorize the introductory chapter. After dinner, Kongshou began to instruct me in person on how to cultivate it, and even a single gesture had to be done strictly according to his teachings, without any carelessness or negligence.

  As time flies, I have been following Kongshou's cultivation for more than three months. In these three months, my internal energy cultivation has not achieved any results. I couldn't even sense whether the internal energy exists within me or not.

  At first, Kong Shou and Yi Chen advised me not to rush, saying that cultivation was not something that could be accomplished overnight, and told me to take it slow. But when three months had passed, Kong Shou and Yi Chen began to get anxious, and they sighed several times, saying: "If you still can't sense the internal energy within your body after another month, we'll have no choice but to let you give up on cultivating this technique."

  I knew what they meant was that I wasn't suitable for cultivating this technique, but they were afraid of discouraging me, so they said it in a roundabout way. So I worked even harder, and whenever I had time, I fully immersed myself in cultivation, secretly vowing to definitely sense the inner energy within my body and master this most basic technique.

  Martial arts moves I can learn quickly, Kong Shou and Yi Chen have taught me many moves, and I can basically use them proficiently.

  It's just that without inner strength to support it, all the moves are just empty shells and can't be used to their full potential. Besides, when Empty first taught me these moves, he said that moves are just a form, what's more important is being able to adapt flexibly in real combat situations, otherwise you'll just be rigidly applying them and will never become a true master of the martial arts.

  I highly agree with this, so when I'm learning a move, I won't deliberately try to memorize every single movement of the move. Instead, I focus on grasping the essence of that particular move and then combine it with my own characteristics to use the move.

  This won the praise of Kongshu and Yichen, who said I was a martial arts genius.

  So far, I have not been able to respond to the inner call, but they are not only greatly disappointed, but also secretly anxious, and would like to cultivate on my behalf.

  Today is the 110th day of my Xinxing Heart Method practice, basically about 100 days. Unfortunately, after sitting for four hours, I still haven't felt the production of internal energy.

  Yi Chen, who was sitting aside, couldn't help but say: "Is it that you haven't fully grasped the meaning of the mantra, so you can't cultivate internal energy?"

  I furrowed my brow and said: "I've been cultivating according to the teachings of Master and Mistress, there shouldn't be any mistakes. I can't feel my internal energy, I don't know what's going on."

  Yi Chen furrowed his brow in deep thought, while Kong Shou also opened his eyes and said: "Why don't I recite the incantation for you again, to see if there's any mistake somewhere?"

  I nodded and listened as Kong Shou recited the incantation to me again, not forgetting to explain its meaning.

  I bitterly smiled and said: "I can recite this incantation fluently without any mistakes."

  Kong Shou also fell into contemplation and stopped speaking.

  I was secretly anxious and just about to try practicing again, but suddenly I saw Yichen open his muddy eyes and said with great surprise: "I've thought of a way."

  "What's the solution?"

  Yi Chen smiled and said, "I once heard my master say that there are people who can't feel the inner energy throughout their lives. Such people generally cannot practice martial arts. However, there are exceptions. My master said that there was a person who didn't know about the existence of inner energy his whole life but still cultivated very deep and profound martial skills. In other words, although this person couldn't feel the inner energy inside his body, he still managed to cultivate it during his practice and store it in his dantian. Jin Cang, try practicing again, and I'll have your master monitor your inner energy flow with me to see if any inner energy is produced and flows into your dantian. If there is, then you don't need to worry about not being able to feel the inner energy; just focus on practicing."

  I nodded and began to cultivate the heart method again as Yichen said. Yichen and Kongshou each used their hands to press down on several acupoints on my body, checking the changes within me.

  After I cultivated for a while and opened my eyes, I saw that Yichen and Kongshou both shook their heads, looking very ugly.

  I secretly lamented, thinking that I was one of those people who couldn't cultivate this technique, and for a while, I felt quite disheartened.

  Just as I was about to give up, Yitian suddenly said: "There's something strange going on inside Jin Cang's body. The internal energy is flowing into the dantian in large quantities, but it disappears instantly, just like it's being swallowed by something..."

  Kong Shou also said: "It's very strange, looking at Jin Cang's cultivation, the amount of internal energy produced is almost ten times that of an ordinary person. He should have sensed the existence of internal energy and started using it to open up his meridians a long time ago. But now, after cultivating for 100 days, there isn't even a hint of internal energy stored in his dantian. This is strange... What Shixiong said is quite vivid, the internal energy produced in Jin Cang's body really seems to have been swallowed up by something. Otherwise, even if it couldn't be stored in the dantian and dispersed on its own, it wouldn't disappear so quickly. At least it would take some time."

  Yi Chen furrowed his brow and said: "We'll take a look again, if it's really been swallowed by something, then we need to carefully examine the body."

  Kong Shou nodded and said to me, "Once more."

  I listened to their words, and the first thing that came to mind was the gene medicine. I couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time: this gene medicine, although it improved my body and gave me great strength, also brought me disaster - I couldn't cultivate internal energy, and therefore couldn't practice Wudang's various martial arts.

  Well, as the saying goes, there's no gain without pain. It seems that this world indeed doesn't have anything that is completely perfect.

  I listened to Kongshou and Yichen's orders and once again operated the Heart Method, so that they could help me investigate the reason why I couldn't sense my inner energy.

  Wait until I'm done running. Yidun said first, "It's really been swallowed up by something. It seems that Jin Cang's body has some strange things, and we need to investigate carefully."

  Kong Hou nodded and said: "Alright, Jin Cang, take off all your clothes, recirculate your heart method again, and let me and your Shibo carefully examine you."

  I nodded, blushing a bit as I took off my clothes and sat cross-legged again to start circulating the Qi.

  This time I felt Yichen and Kong Shou's hands constantly wandering on my body, sometimes knocking, sometimes stroking, sometimes pushing me hard, and sometimes it seemed like they were holding me.

  I didn't dare resist and knew they were helping me check for any abnormalities in my body. So I focused on circulating the Qi, not thinking about the problems that had been troubling me.

  As I approached the end of my qigong practice, I felt a sudden warmth throughout my body, as if something had suddenly drilled into my body and was frantically running amok in my eight extraordinary meridians.

  I was shocked to realize that I had been too hasty, my technique had gone awry and I had fallen into a state of demonic possession. I wanted to shout out loud, but found myself unable to utter a word, nor could I even stop the technique from continuing.

  Fortunately, at this time, Kong Shou and Yi Chen were both by my side. As soon as they discovered my abnormality, they immediately took action. Two streams of true energy from the same origin entered my body from the front and back.

  I feel extremely uncomfortable, as if I'm about to be blown up by these two true energies. At this moment, Kong Shou shouted: "Calm your mind and regulate your breathing, guide the internal energy back to the dantian."

  So I quickly calmed down and once again circulated the Wudang Heart Method, slowly guiding the three strands of true energy that were rampaging inside my body into my dantian.

  These three strands of true energy, two strong and one weak. I guess the two strong ones should be Kong Shou and Yi Chen's true energy infused into my body to calm down the internal chaotic energy. The weak one is the internal energy that I cultivated myself, which is also true energy.

  With the help of Kong Shou and Yi Chen, the chaotic internal energy within me gradually stabilized, and I also felt less painful. At this time, Kong Shou said again: "Continue to operate the heart method, try to feel the internal energy."

  After I circulated my heart method for another week, I suddenly felt that there was something more in my body. These extra things are very strange, every time they pass through a place in my body, I will feel a slight pain, as if a very fine needle is pricking that place. However, this weak pain will soon disappear and move to the next place. Every time the pain disappears, another strand of weak true energy will suddenly appear in the previous painful place, and it will quickly catch up with the previous strand of true energy, merge into one, and continue to perform the same action on the next place, like a needle prick.

  I didn't dare to move, constantly circulating my mind, and I didn't care if the stinging sensation on my body would hurt me or not. After about an hour passed slowly like this, I felt that the stinging sensation had reached the center of my chest, at the Danzhong acupoint. This time, the stinging sensation transmitted to my brain was very intense, and I couldn't help but want to shout out loud, yet I still couldn't make a sound.

  I gritted my teeth and persisted in operating the heart method, not daring to stop at all. Almost half an hour later, I, who was soaked in sweat all over my body, felt a sudden relief from the pain in the Tan Zhong acupoint on my chest, which then disappeared.

  I was about to let out a sigh of relief, but I felt a very strong true energy suddenly rush out from the Danzhong acupoint in my chest, rapidly flowing and rushing straight towards my left arm without stopping.

  I feel a series of faint stinging sensations coming from my left upper arm, and then I also feel new true energy being constantly generated on my left arm, joining the very strong flow of true energy, and then rushing forward along my arm once again.

  The piercing sensation grew stronger as the true energy continued to flow in. I gritted my teeth and persisted in circulating the heart method, not daring to slack off even a bit. In fact, at this point, I couldn't stop even if I wanted to, and could only continue to circulate the heart method, coordinating with that stream of true energy as it coursed through my body.

  The circulation of the true breath is very regular, starting from the empty guard and the dust entering the place where the true breath is injected, reaching the middle hole of my chest mouth, suddenly becoming strong. Then it rushes towards my left arm. After running for a week on my left arm, it immediately returns to the chest mouth, and then rushes out of the chest mouth again, directly coming to my right arm.

  Next came my legs, then it reached my head, and finally converged again at my chest.

  I thought this was the final step, but just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief, my true qi suddenly burst forth from the Tiantu acupoint on my chest and shot down along my body, arriving at my Dan Tian in an instant.

  I feel a burning sensation in my lower abdomen, as if it's on fire. My lower abdomen is rapidly expanding, as if it's about to burst. I'm shocked and just about to start circulating my Qi again when suddenly my lower abdomen feels completely empty. It's like a balloon filled with air that has been punctured, leaving nothing behind.

  I felt extremely surprised, and the originally swollen and painful dantian suddenly recovered, without any discomfort at all.

  I slowly opened my eyes and saw Kong Shou and Yi Chen staring at me with shocked expressions, as if they had seen a ghost.

  "What's wrong?" I asked hastily.

  Kong Shou and Yi Chen exchanged a glance, saying in unison: "Miracle!"

  Yi Chen then said: "Jin Cang, you are indeed a martial arts prodigy. In just over three months, you have already mastered the introductory chapter of the Wudang Heart Method."

  I couldn't help but exclaim, "Have I succeeded? I... why don't I feel anything?" As I spoke, I suddenly realized I was still stark naked, and hastily put on my clothes, my face flushing bright red.

  Yi Chen laughed and said, "That's just something you don't know yet. Earlier, didn't you feel a stinging sensation all over your body? This is the sign of the initial completion of the heart method. It's the true energy inside your body that automatically helps me clear my meridians, and when it encounters a blockage, it gives people a stinging sensation."

  I nodded: "Indeed, there is such a feeling, and when it comes to the Tan Zhong acupoint on my chest, it hurts even more, and the pain lasts for a long time. By the way, what time is it now? What exactly happened to me?"

  Kongshou solemnly said, "With our help, you successfully cleared all the meridians in your body. From now on, your cultivation will be twice as effective. Oh, right, today is the afternoon of the second day since I started examining your body."

  I swallowed my saliva and said in surprise, "The afternoon of the second day? This..." I suddenly laughed: "No wonder I felt so hungry, it turned out to be the next day. Master, Master's wife, shouldn't we eat something first before discussing what happened earlier?"

  Kong Xuan stared at me for a while, the smile in his eyes growing thicker. I was just about to ask him if he had something to say when I suddenly heard him burst out laughing and shout towards the sky: "Our Wudang has produced another genius, haha..."