Dayu County, Dongshi.
"Master Scar, this is the protection fee for this time."
Lu Yuan was carrying a basket on his back, took out six hundred coins from his arms, and handed it over to the scarred man in front of him.
This is the new leader of the black wolf gang in the city who has replaced the dead Biao to collect protection money.
Mr. Scar seems to have a fierce temperament. I heard that he was a strongman who cut paths in his early years. Later, for some reason, he joined the Black Wolf Gang and became a famous thug in the gang.
Since Master Biao was killed in the street last year, the Black Wolf Gang has strengthened its manpower to collect protection fees.
At this time, behind Mr. Scar, there were six men in black clothes, all with short knives on their waists, which shone coldly in the sun, making them intimidating.
"Yes, you are much smarter than others, and you don't have any tricks."
Mr. Scar walked to Lu Yuan's side, opened the backpack and flipped through it twice. He quickly had a rough estimate of the contents inside. He paid exactly 30% of the protection fee. He couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction: "Pay the money honestly. Hello, I will too." good."
"That's right." Lu Yuan smiled flatteringly.
Mr. Scar patted him on the shoulder, took the money and left with a few of his men.
When pedestrians on the road saw this group of murderous men, they all avoided it in fear, leaving an empty passage on the street.
"A bunch of vampires."
Looking at their retreating figures, Lu Yuan sighed in his heart.
Every time I go into the city, I have to be picked on by these vampires. Anyone who has had 30% of their hard work for months robbed of me out of thin air will feel heartbroken.
That's all hard-earned money.
Especially now that he has started practicing martial arts and his various expenditures have suddenly increased, it is even more heartbreaking.
As for not paying?
Although he has begun to practice martial arts and has even perfected the water-diving palm technique, his combat power is much stronger than before.
But Lu Yuan knew that with his current strength, he was still no match for the opponent.
That Ma Jiqing back then had even developed his internal strength, and he could fly over eaves and walk over walls as if he were walking on flat ground.
But those strong men, faced with the pursuit of the Black Wolf Gang, were not seriously injured in the end. They fled into Lantau Island in a panic and died in their own hands.
"Ma Jiqing is a person who has mastered at least two meridians, and he can reach the third-rate level in the world. He was defeated miserably at the hands of the Black Wolf Gang. Now I haven't even developed my internal strength, and my strength is not top-notch at all. Fighting with the Black Wolf Gang , is definitely seeking death."
Lu Yuan has always been very confident about his own strength.
Therefore, even though he was extremely unhappy with these exploitations, he still endured it for the sake of his own life.
The current humiliation is only temporary. When you have accumulated enough strength, that will be the time to settle the scores and settle the injustices.
"But according to the current progress, it may be thirty or fifty years later when I complete the Flowing Cloud Palm. Whether Mr. Scar and the Black Wolf Gang will still be there at that time is a question, right?"
Lu Yuan suddenly thought of this question, but quickly shook his head: "No matter what, when these people die, I will look for their sons and grandsons. It is reasonable and reasonable for the descendants to repay the hatred caused by the ancestors."
…
With this account in mind, Lu Yuan turned around and walked into Sitong Trading Company.
After a while of bargaining with Liu Papi in the trading house, he sold the skins he brought. After three months of harvest, he finally got two or two and five taels of silver.
After leaving the business with the newly acquired money, he turned around and entered a medical clinic next door.
"Doctor Zhou, follow this prescription and get me some medicinal materials."
As usual, Lu Yuan took out a prescription and handed it to Doctor Zhou who was settling accounts behind the counter.
Dr. Zhou's name is Zhou Ze. He is about thirty years old. He has a short beard on his chin and looks elegant, like a scholar.
This Zhou Family Medicine Store is Dr. Zhou's main business. His family has been operating a medical clinic here for generations. It is said that it has been here for hundreds of years.
Lu Yuan has been entering the city almost once a month since he started practicing martial arts. He usually comes here to buy medicine, so he is considered a frequent visitor.
After more than half a year, the two parties have become very familiar with each other.
Zhou Ze took the prescription, looked at the proportions inside, and frowned slightly: "It's different from the previous prescriptions. These are medicinal materials that replenish lean blood and regulate internal energy. Have you hurt your heart?"
Zhou Ze knew a little bit about this regular customer buying medicine and practicing martial arts.
At this time, I saw that the prescription had been changed, and based on my rich experience, I judged the specific effects of the new prescription, and subconsciously thought that the other party had made a mistake in his martial arts training, so I bought medicine for recuperation.
"No, I just felt that the previous training method was not right, so I changed the training method this time." Lu Yuan had already thought of an excuse before coming, and now he said it as prepared.
Zhou Ze frowned: "Although these medicinal herbs of yours will not harm the body, if the dosage is too large, it will always be a burden on the body. Moreover, the human body is delicate, and you can easily get sick if you mess around with it.
Take my advice, it's not easy to get involved in the world of martial arts, nor is it easy to practice martial arts.
Fighting and killing, life was lost accidentally.
Instead of extravagantly hoping for these unrealistic exercises, it is better to save money, marry a wife, and live a stable life. "
Doctor Zhou is indeed a benevolent doctor. Although he is facing customers who come to buy medicine, he is still more concerned about their health than business.
Lu Yuan shook his head and smiled: "It doesn't matter, I have a sense of discretion."
Zhou Ze sighed: "Forget it, you know your own affairs well. I have said so much and done nothing. Wait, I will get you some medicine."
Turning around, the person started to go to each medicine cabinet and grab the medicine according to the prescription.
This is a good doctor and a good man.
Looking at the other person's busy figure, Lu Yuan thought in his heart, and his thoughts couldn't help but fly.
Dayu County is a small place, with only one medical center in the city. So if I want to buy medicinal materials to practice martial arts, I can only come here.
Fortunately, Dr. Zhou is a doctor. With this ancestral profession, he has a whole county of patients to support and a good income, so he doesn't have to worry about his livelihood at all.
Therefore, people simply looked down upon hard and dangerous things like practicing martial arts and fighting and killing.
After several attempts to get in touch, Lu Yuan felt at ease with Dr. Zhou and no longer worried about the other party coveting his martial arts secrets.
Later, he even openly admitted that he was buying medicine to practice martial arts.
Anyway, what he gave was only a prescription, not a secret book. Based on the medicinal materials alone, the most we could infer was that he was practicing martial arts.
But outsiders have no idea what they are practicing, and there is no fear of leaks.
"After all, who would care about something that an Orion is tinkering with? He might just laugh it off." Lu Yuan thought in his mind.
To everyone, there would be nothing strange about an Orion who changes his identity and destiny by practicing martial arts.
Perhaps the only strange thing is that this Orion hasn't trained himself to death yet.
While he was thinking wildly, Zhou Ze had already grabbed the medicine, grabbed a few large bags and placed them in front of the counter. He made a few calculations and said: "Here, according to the old rules, for one month's supply, Chenghui will get five taels of silver. "
"Really expensive."
Hearing the price, Lu Yuan's lips twitched, and while reaching into his arms to take out the money, he said, "Can't it be cheaper?"
Zhou Ze glanced at him and said with a smile: "The store is small and does not offer credit. If the customer thinks it is expensive, it is better to stop practicing martial arts. This way, the expense will be reduced, and it will not be expensive."
Well, at this point this week, Doctor Zhou was still worried that Lu Yuan had trained him to death, so he was trying to persuade him in a roundabout way.
Lu Yuan shut up instantly.
He took out the money honestly. The two taels and five cents of silver he just received today is not warm yet. He will give it away in a moment, and he will pay another two taels and seven cents of silver.
"Practice martial arts is really expensive!"
Putting the medicinal materials into his backpack, Lu Yuan walked out of the medicine shop and looked at the dazzling sunshine outside. The red sun seemed to have turned into a big copper coin in his eyes.
The savings are much less, and the wallet is even thinner.
As I walked further and further down the road of pauper, I seemed to be able to see the day when I would lose all my wealth and end up living on the streets just to practice martial arts.
"No, the money is gone and the house is sold. I can still go back to live in the mountains. I won't live in the caves on the streets." Lu Yuan shook his head quickly, and then walked towards the city gate.
In order to prevent the day from going bankrupt, he now doesn't even go to restaurants in the city as usual, just thinking about saving more money.
As for what to do if you’re hungry?
There are bacon rice balls prepared in the morning in the backpack. These things are much cheaper than those outside.
…
The county seat and Yangmei Town were quite far apart, a full seventy miles away. It was near dusk that Lu Yuan came back.
After returning home, he put the medicinal materials in his bedroom, dug a dark room under his bed, and put them together with the money he carried.
I bought these for five taels of silver. Gold is very valuable and cannot be stolen.
After locking the small gold cabinet, Lu Yuan went to the kitchen, stewed as usual, put the rice and meat in, and started cooking today's dinner.
While there was still some time before the meal was ready, he came to the yard, whirred and performed a water-bending pose and practiced his palm skills.
After one set, he stopped his movements and rested his palms, already sweating all over.
After taking a few buckets of water, taking a shower, and eating dinner, Lu Yuan returned to the bedroom and bed, but did not fall asleep. Instead, he sat cross-legged, his mind sinking into his body, and he began to think deeply.
"The so-called internal power, according to what is written in the book, is the result of the fusion of a person's soul and the essence and blood in his body. This thing is ethereal and vague, seems real and fake, has no substance, but can be induced by life.
Therefore some people call it Qi.
The combination of soul and blood is qi, and the essence, qi, and spirit are the three treasures of the human body. Therefore, those who develop internal strength will be physically strong and spiritually strong if their internal strength increases, and those who have weak internal strength will be physically weak and mentally weak.
That's why in the martial arts world, there are people who, after their internal strength is wasted, become completely sick and die soon.
Some people even lost their soul and blood after losing all their inner strength, and died. "
Lu Yuan was already very familiar with the general outline of the source of inner energy. At this moment, just thinking about it, those words and words suddenly appeared in my mind.
"So the key point of practicing inner qi is to use the soul to sense the body, so that the two resonate, achieve mysterious and mysterious changes, and finally merge into qi.
And this method of sensing resonance is the inner strength method. "
Lu Yuan recalled the mental method of Liuyun Palm. He had observed this method thousands of times, and he had already had his own understanding of the various mysterious meanings in it.
Now that I have started to sense it, I don’t need to think too much, and it sinks in naturally.
“The mental method of Flowing Cloud Palm is derived from the idea of observing clouds and water.
Therefore, this method of sensing the essence and blood in the body focuses on the movement of clouds and flowing water.
The spirit is used as clouds and mist, spreading everywhere in the body.
With essence and blood as flowing water, it rushes through the meridians everywhere.
When the clouds and mist merge with the flowing water, the inner Qi will come out and the mind will begin. "
In the darkness, Lu Yuan emptied his mind and began to imagine his spiritual will as a cloud.
The clouds gathered and dispersed, and as the wind of thoughts flowed, it began to travel through the body according to the route pointed out in the mental method.
And within the body, after more than a year of nourishment, the blood essence and blood, which had already been extremely thick, seemed to follow the guidance of his own thoughts and began to gurgling through the blood vessels like a stream.
The sound of blood flowing and the feeling of blood flow were so clear under the induction of the spiritual cloud.
A scene that was originally incomprehensible now appeared in his heart.
It was as if there was a perspective mirror that reflected the place where the clouds and blood flowed in front of his eyes.
The inner view mentioned in the mental method was now entered by Lu Yuan.
The blood continued to flow away, and the clouds and mist floated on them, flowing along with them through the meridians.
Gradually, some clouds and mist were driven by the blood, broke away from the void, entered the blood, and merged with the blood.
There was a bang.
Like an explosion that only existed in the spirit, a force that seemed illusory and invisible, but was real and tangible, appeared between Lu Yuan's meridians.
Inner Qi was born.
After studying the mind method for a year, he finally cultivated his inner strength and got started with the mind method.
…
Three days later.
Yangmei Town, street.
Lu Yuan was carrying a basket on his back, holding a knife and arrows, and was ready to go hunting in the mountains.
Although it has snowed now, most of the animals in the mountains are already hiding in their nests, preparing to hibernate. There are basically no wild beasts outside. It is not the hunting season.
But although there are no wild beasts outside, there are still some in the beast's lair.
“Originally, for the lairs of wild animals, such as hares and foxes, their caves were too hidden and difficult to find.
And other large predators like jackals, tigers and leopards.
Their nests are easy to find, but they are all very ferocious. If you go looking for trouble in the snow, it's not certain who is hunting whom. "
As Lu Yuan walked, he thought in his mind: "But now that I have developed inner energy, both strength and speed are much stronger than before. It can almost be said that my strength has doubled.
Now, I can probably win against the lone tigers and bears.
But to be on the safe side, it’s better not to look for these kings of the mountain. It’s better to pick a few leopards and wild wolves and look for these soft persimmons. "
After practicing internal energy, because the inner energy is formed by the fusion of soul and blood essence, every point of inner energy that is cultivated consumes one's own essence and blood.
Therefore, in order to maintain this consumption, it is natural to find ways to make up for the lost essence and blood.
In reality, Lu Yuan's appetite increased instantly.
His previous appetite was simply not enough to satisfy him.
Nowadays, a meal of two to three kilograms of meat and four to five kilograms of rice is just ordinary.
Coupled with the loss of various nourishing medicinal materials, the daily expenses continue to leak out like an unstoppable flood.
According to Lu Yuan's conservative estimate, he would need at least ten taels of silver a month to barely cover his own consumption.
In this case, of course he wanted to go out of his way and earn more income.
No.
It's winter right now, and people just want to kill the beasts in their dens and make some extra money.
