After completing the routine morning lessons of the I Ching Xisui Jing internal and external skills, Yan Liqiang began to practice the "Ten Dragons and Ten Elephants Magical Skills" for the first time.
For a warrior, Dantian is like a special factory. Only those who own this factory can be considered factory owners and advanced warriors. The fundamental reason why opening Dantian is important is that after opening Dantian, people can practice martial arts both internally and externally, and truly begin to step into the mysterious realm, avoiding the tragic ending of practicing martial arts without practicing skills and ending up with nothing.
Gong is internal strength, which is the true Qi developed by the human body. It is the purest energy between heaven and earth that can be utilized by humans. This is the real source of power inside the human body.
Yan Liqiang followed the instructions in the secret manual and sat in the room with his five hearts facing upwards. After calming down and concentrating his mind, he began to practice.
To be honest, it was the first time for Yan Liqiang to practice internal energy, and his heart was full of anticipation, curiosity, and also a little nervousness.
The first step in practicing internal energy is to focus your mind on Dantian through breathing and guidance, and feel the existence of the void in Dantian.
Many people say that the first step is difficult. After opening up the Dantian, many people need to spend many days to get on the right track and truly feel the existence of the Dantian just by focusing on the Dantian. At the beginning, Yan Liqiang also felt that it might not be easy to pass this stage of focusing on the Dantian, but what he didn't expect was that he just followed the instructions in the secret book, and after guiding his breathing for a while, he felt his entire consciousness, smoothly moving from the forehead, philtrum, throat, chest, and sinking all the way down like a hot knife through butter. It fell down without any hindrance, just like throwing a lead ball from the wellhead into the well. The lead ball sank all the way in the water and fell to the bottom of the well after a while.
Dantian, also known as Qi Hai, when Yan Liqiang's consciousness entered Qi Hai for the first time, all he felt was a vast and boundless void. A crude bronze cauldron was floating above that void. This cauldron was not a treasure, but a Qi cauldron that would appear in everyone's body after their Dantian was opened in this world. It represented the successful opening of the Dantian and corresponded to the Dantian of the human body and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It was also the foundation of a person's cultivation.
Yan Liqiang didn't know what other people's Qi Ding were like, but he felt that the Qi Ding in the void of his Qi Sea seemed to be very large and very thick.
Feeling the existence of this sea of qi and qi cauldron is only the first step in cultivation. The second step of cultivation is to have a sense of qi and control it with the mind.
Similarly, Yan Liqiang also heard that the second step seemed not easy, but for him, he just followed the method in the secret book. After a while, he felt a faint breath appearing in the void of his qi sea. Under the control of his consciousness, that breath could move freely in the void of his qi sea like a wisp of wind.
The third step of cultivation is to lead the Qi into the cauldron and use the cauldron to refine the Qi.
Under Yan Liqiang's guidance and control, that faint breath fell directly into the cauldron, followed by the second, third, and fourth wisps...
After successfully capturing nine strands of aura, Yan Liqiang continued to operate the Qi Ding according to the secret method in the secret book. The entire Qi Ding slowly began to emit a green light in Yan Liqiang's Dantian, as if it was on fire. In just a moment, the nine strands of aura introduced into the Ding merged into one, becoming a strand of green true Qi, escaping from the Ding, like a green silk thread, swirling around the Qi Ding in the Dantian...
After successfully condensing nine strands of true qi, Yan Liqiang opened his eyes.
I looked around the room, the light outside the window was already bright, the morning had passed and it was already noon.
In just one morning, Yan Liqiang officially embarked on the path of cultivation and successfully condensed true qi in his dantian. As soon as Yan Liqiang's consciousness moved, the first condensed true qi, like a naughty and nimble little beetle, quickly shuttled through Yan Liqiang's body meridians. The feeling of the true qi flowing through the body was like an electric shock, tingling and numb, it was really special.
After trying a few times, Yan Liqiang's face showed a wonderful expression. He touched his lower abdomen and said, "Well, didn't the people in the Sword God Sect's Sutra Hall say that practicing the Ten Dragons and Ten Elephants Divine Art is difficult? In the past, disciples of the Sword God Sect who chose to study this technique basically needed a week or even half a month to condense the first true qi of the Ten Dragons and Ten Elephants Divine Art in their dantian. Why do I feel like it's so easy? There's no level at all. In just one morning, I've already condensed the first true qi. Could this also be the effect of the Yijing Xisui Jing?"
No matter what the reason, it is always a happy thing to be able to make rapid progress in practice. Yan Liqiang no longer dwelled on this issue. Seeing that it was getting late, he got out of bed in high spirits. After some preparation, he left Huangmao in the yard to look after the house. He left Wuyang Village, went down the mountain, followed the official road to the pier of Pingxi City, and bought a boat ticket back to Qinghe County.
In the evening, Yan Liqiang was already standing at the entrance of Liuhe Town.
"Ah, Li Qiang is back from Pingxi City..."
"The top three in our Liuhe Town are back..."
When the people in the town saw Yan Liqiang coming back, they all greeted him warmly and welcomed him with smiles. When passing by the door of Liu the Butcher's meat stall, they saw Yan Liqiang coming back. Liu the Butcher and his son smiled like a rotten pear and nodded to Yan Liqiang.
During the last life-and-death disaster, among the blind dates in Liuhe Town, there were the Liu father and son who smiled on the surface but wished bad luck to their family. But there were also many uncles, aunts and neighbors who didn't interact with the Liu family much but felt deeply sympathetic for what happened to the Liu family.
Yan Liqiang smiled and nodded to everyone, greeting them warmly. After going through all this, Yan Liqiang now had a deeper insight into people's hearts and understood the fickleness of human nature. Outwardly, he showed calmness and open-mindedness.
A bunch of half-grown kids were running beside Yan Liqiang, following him towards Yan's house, "Brother Liqiang, Brother Liqiang, teach us a few moves, teach us a few moves?"
"Okay, watch carefully. Let's start with the horse stance..." Under the gaze of the children, Yan Liqiang directly demonstrated a standard horse stance and explained his own experience. "This is the basic skill. When you can squat for two hours, I will teach you something more powerful, so that you can compete for the top three in the future..."
The furry kids were satisfied and finally let Yan Liqiang go.
Before he reached the door of his house, Yan Liqiang saw several tall chimneys and a row of houses with green bricks and yellow tiles. A dazzling sign of "Yan's Swords" appeared in front of Yan Liqiang.
Compared to half a year ago, the scale of the Yan family's blacksmith workshop has expanded more than three times. The land originally near the river has been bought by the Yan family, and two sets of water hammers have been added. From a distance, Yan Liqiang can hear the sound of clanging coming from the workshop.
Because more people lived there, the Yan family's newly built courtyard was right behind the blacksmith's workshop. There were two big gates between the workshop and the house, with two small doors connecting them in the middle, separated by an alley.
Just as he reached the door of the blacksmith workshop, a man walked out of the workshop. When he looked up, he saw Yan Liqiang.
"Ah, Young Master Yan..." Zhou Hongda, who was wearing a steward's uniform, saw Yan Liqiang standing in front of him and immediately showed a look of surprise on his face.
"Can we still make it in time for dinner at home?" Yan Liqiang touched his stomach and smiled at Zhou Hongda.
"I can make it in time, I can make it in time, I will go and arrange it for the young master..."
"By the way, where is my dad?"
"In the workshop, I'll go and call..."
"No need, Manager Zhou, just go and do your thing. I can go in by myself..."
Yan Liqiang smiled and walked straight into the blacksmith's workshop.
Even in cold weather, the blacksmith's workshop was steaming hot. Yan Dechang was wearing a short vest and was standing by the oil pool, instructing several newly recruited apprentices on how to quench with oil...
“Dad…” Yan Liqiang called out, and Yan Dechang turned around with a look of surprise.
"Ah, Li Qiang, why are you back?"
"Nothing, I just want to go home and take a look. By the way, where's Brother Tiezhu?"
Yan Dechang sighed, "Tiezhu went out for something. It's been cold these past two days, and it's hard for the elderly. His uncle passed away last night. Early this morning, Tiezhu received the news and rushed to his uncle's house with his wife to help..."
…
Yan Liqiang's return made the Yan family's yard suddenly lively. Wu Ma and several maids hired by the family were busy preparing dinner for Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang specially had someone bring a bottle of wine, and the father and son ate, drank and chatted, and the meal lasted until night.
"I never thought that we, father and son, could live such a life. I remember when you were in the most difficult time. You had no milk to drink, so I went to borrow some rice from Shopkeeper Xiong. Every day after working as an ironsmith, I would make some rice soup for you, add a little salt, and let you drink it. I didn't expect that you would grow up so big in the blink of an eye. The life of us, father and son, has been turned upside down..." Yan Dechang, who had drunk a little wine and his face had turned red, and he was a little drunk. He said with a sigh.
"By the way, Dad, I came back this time because I want to discuss something with you!" Yan Liqiang put down his wine glass.
"What's up?"
"Yesterday in Pingxi City, I met a man..." Yan Liqiang then told Yan Dechang about his meeting with Sun Bingchen.
After hearing what Yan Liqiang said, Yan Dechang's drunkenness seemed to disappear all of a sudden. His eyes widened and he looked at Yan Liqiang, "Liqiang, you are not lying to me, right? A patrol officer is so high-ranking, and he still lacks an attendant?"
"I really didn't lie to you, that's why I came back to discuss this with you..."
Yan Dechang's expression suddenly became serious...
(End of this chapter)