I was soaked in the medicine tank for a whole day, and at first I felt unbearably hot. But as time went by, the evil and cold air in my body was slowly soaked out by the medicine, and I felt warm and particularly comfortable.
A lot of black sweat oozed out from the pores, almost dyeing a tank of water black. Xuan Zhenzi said, this black sweat is the Xuan Yin energy mixed in the Corpse Pill that my mother gave me.
The yin energy was so strong that it almost merged with my blood, causing blockage of the meridians. If things continued like this, my body would definitely have problems.
From now on, I need to soak in a medicine jar every week, and it will take at least three to five years to completely dispel the negative effects of the Corpse Pill.
I couldn't quite understand it. I once asked Xuan Zhenzi, why would my mother leave such a terrible thing on me?
Xuan Zhenzi smiled and patted my forehead, "Although the Corpse Pill contains a strong Xuan Yin energy, as long as you can learn to refine and guide it, it will be of great help to your cultivation. Your mother did this because she wanted to send you to the path of cultivation."
I seemed to understand, so I nodded and wrote it down.
After my body recovered a little, Xuan Zhenzi began to arrange for me to work.
His Taoist temple was very dilapidated. There was not even a villager cutting firewood within ten miles, and few people came back just for incense. His life was very embarrassing.
But Xuan Zhenzi was very carefree. He would take me into the mountains every now and then to collect herbs and prepare prescriptions for me to relieve my difficult and complicated diseases.
He also taught some simple skills, such as cutting firewood for cooking, setting traps in the mountains, hunting wild animals and other chores.
I gradually adapted to this kind of life, and regarded Xuan Zhenzi as my own relative. However, the old ruffian was not very serious. He would occasionally take me to the town to sell herbal medicine. If I could make money, he would definitely use the money to buy wine from the wine list. .
He is an old drunkard who never leaves his flask. He likes to do ridiculous things when he drinks. He likes to squat on the street and look at girls, and occasionally whistles at the busty women passing by.
Every time someone calls him an old gangster, I always follow him to apologize and intercede on his behalf.
Two years passed like this. The cold poison in my body slowly disappeared and I no longer had frequent attacks. Xuan Zhenzi began to teach me skills again.
He refused to tell me where he came from. He only said that he was a traveling Taoist priest, and he taught me my skills because he was entrusted by the Grand Duke to give me the ability to protect myself in the future.
I was filled with joy and couldn't wait to kowtow and call Master, but Xuan Zhenzi stopped me and said with a serious face,
"I don't have a master-disciple relationship with you. Just be a registered disciple. In the future, no matter whether you can succeed or not, you can't use my name when you travel around the world."
At that time, I just wanted to learn my skills quickly so that I could seek revenge on my enemies. I nodded like a mince and agreed quickly.
But Xuan Zhenzi was not in a hurry to teach me Taoism. Instead, he gave me several Taoist classics, such as "Tao Te Ching" and "South China Sutra", teaching me to understand them word by word and enlightening me.
He said that to practice Taoism, one must refine one's mind. I was blinded by hatred and had been sowed with inner demons for a long time. Once I learned Taoism and there was no one to guide me, I would probably go astray, so I had to temper my mind first.
Another half year later, when I had finished reciting all these Taoist classics and memorized them fluently, Xuan Zhenzi still refused to teach me Taoism. Instead, he asked me to sew a few sandbags and tie them to my feet to practice running every day.
I walked on horseback in the morning, ran around in the mountains and fields in the afternoon, and studied scriptures with him in the evening. Every day was very fulfilling.
The days are dull, but also difficult.
This old ruffian had a bit of a perverted mentality. He thought I couldn't do the horse stance, so he went to the back mountain and chopped a bunch of bamboo, cut it into bamboo sticks, and put it under my buttocks while I was doing the horse stance. He also built a special wooden frame. , fixed the bamboo sticks on my head, arms and shoulders. If I moved it a little, I was guaranteed to get a bloody head.
He punished me so much that I often had to memorize while walking. If I memorized a wrong word, I would be punished with one stick of joss stick. During that time, I didn’t even dare to walk.
After working on the horse step for a full year, when my basic skills were solid, Xuan Zhenzi took a hatchet and asked me to go into the back mountain with him to chop bamboo.
There is a large piece of bamboo in the back mountain. They are all bamboos that have grown for decades. This kind of bamboo is not only tall, but also has rough fiber. Bamboo that is more than ten years old is harder than iron.
Xuan Zhenzi handed me the hatchet, picked the largest bamboo, and asked me to find a way to chop it down.
I was young and energetic, so I spat into the palm of my hand, screamed, and rushed forward. However, the first slash with my knife could only leave a white mark on the bamboo. Instead, I was shocked so hard that my jaw went numb, and even the hatchet was gone. Can't hold it firmly either.
Xuan Zhenzi curled his lips in disdain and said, "Boy, you are a body full of strength. You don't know how to exert force. No matter how strong you are, you are still a mess!"
I was very unconvinced, so I got up and said, "The bamboo is too hard, and the hatchet you gave me is so blunt, it's impossible to finish the job."
He smiled, reached out and grabbed my hatchet, squatted down towards the bamboo, and asked me to watch it.
"Strength starts from the ground, the horse's stance must be firm, and the more stable the lower body, the stronger the upper body will be!"
Then twist the waist and hips, use the waist and abdomen to drive the body to exert force, and when the knife is released, concentrate all the strength of the whole body on one point, and explode in an instant.
Then there was a stroke of brushing. The solid bamboo, which was thicker than my thigh, fell straight down. The fracture was as smooth as a mirror. My eyes almost fell off when I saw it.
Xuan Zhenzi threw the hatchet to me with a look of disgust on his face and asked me to continue practicing until I could clear up the bamboo forest and learn the next skill.
I gritted my teeth and followed it. Day after day, I learned that action. Until the end of the second year, I finally cut down an entire bamboo forest.
Then Xuan Zhenzi asked me to cut copper coins, chop mosquitoes, and swing my knife at the waterfall in the back mountain.
Practice swordsmanship during the day, and meditate with him cross-legged at night. While meditating, you have to recite scriptures and practice Qi according to the formulas taught by Xuan Zhenzi.
Xuan Zhenzi told me that a qualified practitioner must be a practitioner of both martial arts and martial arts.
The spells and Taoist techniques must be matched with the corresponding formulas and steps. The bigger the formulas, the longer the forward movement time.
"With the effort of reciting the incantation, the enemy has already rushed to chop you to death eight times!"
Therefore, you must practice sword skills and footwork in the early stage, so that even if you cannot defeat, you can still escape with your feet.
As for the mantras taught to me, they are mainly used to "guide Qi".
The essence of spiritual practice is to get close to nature, guide the spiritual power of nature through your mind, and use it for yourself. Whether you draw amulets or recite mantras, you must first learn to use luck.
How to master the "qi sense" is the key to practice. Unfortunately, my foundation is relatively shallow. After five years of practicing, the sense of qi is still intermittent and the talismans are also messy. Xuan Zhenzi was so angry that he blew his beard and stared at me, calling me stupider than a pig.
Finally, he taught me some basic Taoist techniques, such as dipping the altar, driving away epidemics, praying for blessings, asking ghosts...
There were no other problems except when I was practicing the "Inviting God Mantra", I asked something I shouldn't have asked.
"Sir, the mantra for praying to the gods is to invite the Patriarch of the Three Pure Ones to do it, right? But there are so many practitioners in the world, how can the Patriarch of the Three Pure Ones be so busy? What if the Patriarch has diarrhea and has no time when praying for the gods?"
Just for these words, I was almost slapped to death.
I studied with him like this for five years. On my eighteenth birthday, I got up early to prepare for morning classes as usual, but Xuan Zhenzi stopped me, gave me some money, and said I didn’t need to practice today and asked me to go to town. Serve some wine and use the remaining money to buy some braised pork, just to celebrate my coming of age.
After taking the money, I happily ran into the small town at the foot of the mountain. This old ruffian was usually very stingy with me and gave me pocket money piece by piece. I didn’t expect him to be so generous today.
But when I went to town to drink, I met a particularly strange person.
It was his appearance that completely broke my peaceful life.
