Chapter 9: Devil Training

  Back at his residence, Tang An carefully cleaned the wound and took out a bottle of white medicinal powder from the small package he received when he entered.

  This is an effective traumatic medicine made from rhubarb and stone flower after grinding and adding some other things.

  As the powder was sprinkled on his wound, Tang An immediately felt a fine burning sensation. He knew this was the heat generated by the medicine absorbing water from the blood. Before long, the wound began to scab over, but in his heart, he would never forget tonight's events!

  If one's own abilities are better than those of the two brothers from the Wang family, would they dare to be arrogant in front of oneself?

  Tang An knew that on the path to becoming a master, he would inevitably encounter more and more obstacles. He currently had no real power, so if he could endure it, he should endure it; he couldn't let his cultivation be ruined just because he couldn't bear it for a moment!

  The sky has darkened and the moon is out, casting a faint silvery glow through the window onto Tang An's small bed.

  Tang Anduan sat on the bed, his body assuming a five-heart-facing-the-origin posture. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the flow of internal energy in his meridians, slowly guiding his internal breath to circulate through the meridians according to the method described in the Heart Technique. Being young, his meridian blockages were relatively shallow, and after exerting force a few times, he actually cleared two meridians!

  The meridians are the channels through which the qi and blood of the human body flow, connecting the exterior tendons, veins, muscles, skin, five organs, nine orifices with the interior five viscera and six bowels into a unified organic whole. They play the role of communicating the interior and exterior, penetrating up and down, linking left and right, front and back, and networking throughout the body.

  There are twelve major meridians circulating in the human body. According to the distribution of Qi and blood flow, the muscles throughout the body are divided into twelve groups. Each meridian that is opened up means that the quality and quantity of internal energy will be greatly enhanced. On the day when all the meridians in the body are opened up, the internal energy can circulate continuously within the body, which is the true completion of the first stage of cultivation, "Tian Ren Di Yi Zhong". Only then can the second stage, "Tian Ren Di Er Zhong, Xi Suo Fa Jing", begin.

  Every morning before dawn, when others were still fast asleep, Tang An was already sitting on the outermost grassy slope of the square, facing the rising sun, cultivating his internal energy.

  There are two periods in a day when the primordial energy between heaven and earth is most abundant, and the efficiency of internal skill cultivation is also extremely high. The first period is before and after sunrise in the morning. At this time, plants have undergone a night's respiratory function, consuming a lot of elements in their bodies. As soon as the sun comes out, they begin to photosynthesize, and the energy of photosynthesis is the purest at this time. The second period is at the moment when the sky darkens in the evening. At that time, it is the moment when plants accumulate the most energy from photosynthesis and start releasing it. The amount of energy at this time is the largest!

  The amount of energy a person can store is limited. Practitioners of martial arts can absorb energy through food intake and internal circulation, as well as absorb the energy between heaven and earth. However, it is always being consumed, so internal skill refinement is a daily necessity. Only through this cyclical refinement can one's inner strength become increasingly profound!

  Unless one is a top-notch master who has reached the seventh heaven of Tian Ren, with great changes in the body, an internal small Zhou Tian has been automatically generated, which can continuously produce special inner energy belonging to oneself.

  Tang An didn't know how others did it, but in his cultivation process, the effects were indeed best in the morning and evening. Moreover, because he had just started cultivating internal energy, the storage capacity of his dantian was extremely limited, and after a morning of cultivation, his internal energy would be saturated and unable to absorb any more.

  When the internal force is saturated, it must be released! Constantly absorbing and constantly releasing, in this process, the physical quality of the human body will be improved imperceptibly! Practicing martial arts to strengthen one's body and cultivating internal energy are also like this! The essence of martial arts is to refine and develop the human body to its limit!

  Every day after practicing internal skills, Tang An would add physical training to himself. Through running, weightlifting, jumping, punching sandbags, kicking legs, deep squats, doing push-ups, horse stance, and dozens of other methods he could think of or see, he trained his limbs, waist, and abdominal muscles until they were full and powerful. With the nourishing effect of internal energy and the assistance of medicine, he greatly strengthened his body!

  Every night when people fall asleep, Tang An is here to refine his body behind the platform. He took off his clothes and squatted in the water with a naked body. This month's refinement has made him lose all the fat on his body, and he exudes a lean and mean aura. Even the childishness on his face has faded away. His whole person is radiating an air of maturity that doesn't match his age!

  He slowly stood up from the water, looking extremely strenuous. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that he was still holding a huge boulder in his hands. The boulder was covered with slimy moss, apparently having been buried for a long time in the damp soil by the river.

  Tang An shouted loudly in his mouth.

  "Get up!"

  A block of over 100 catties of blue boulder was lifted up by Tang An's both hands, his feet sank into the mud, deeply pressing one foot in. He held the big stone and didn't throw it away, but kept squatting down, squatting to the limit, then suddenly jumped up like a frog.

  Holding the boulder and making a vigorous jump is extremely dangerous. Because the acceleration burst out by the human body in an instant makes the pressure of the boulder rise geometrically. The 100-jin boulder accelerated, the pressure on Tang An was like 300 jin. Such pressure can easily cause knee and waist injuries!

  This is a smelting method that Tang An learned from several other disciples, which can greatly exercise physical strength, but it consumes a lot of physical energy and is easy to sprain muscles and bones, causing disability. It's not suitable for people who are not good at physical cultivation, and they can't practice this method at all. Tang An didn't dare to practice this power recklessly at first, but thinking of the humiliation that day, he felt that no matter how hard it was, he had to cultivate this quick method!

  He practiced for a while, feeling exhausted all over his body, and stopped continuing. He sat quietly by the river and operated his own inner skill. Suddenly, he felt that the internal energy in his dantian was operating thread by thread, spreading throughout his body. His body slowly heated up, and those muscle soreness symptoms gradually disappeared. The whole person seemed to be soaking in warm water, feeling very comfortable. After a while, he felt that his physical strength had recovered, and then he started carrying the giant stone again.

  One time, two times, three times, four times...

  Tang An kept jumping non-stop, and every time he felt exhausted, the strong will in his heart would support his body, not daring to slack off!

  After repeating hundreds of times, Tang An gritted his teeth and refused to stop, starting another frenzied bout of punching the hard tree trunk by the creek!

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Tang An's fists, ceaselessly pounded against the giant tree, one punch after another, ferocious and violent, like a mad bull, flesh and blood flying everywhere, bones cracking and crackling, as if they were about to shatter! The intense pain, piercing pain, made him almost faint, but he gritted his teeth and endured it!

  After his hands were covered in blood and flesh, he flew up with both legs and kicked violently.

  Munch munch munch! Munch munch munch!

  His leg kicked against the big tree, and his muscles and bones couldn't help but ache. Every time he rolled up his pants, all he saw were swelling, bruises, and lacerations!

  After kicking his legs, he still refused to rest and continued to use his body to collide with the hard tree trunk, hitting various parts of his body, including his back, buttocks, and neck. When he couldn't hit his waist and chest, he picked up a hard wooden stick and beat himself until he was covered in bruises!

  After completing the training, Tang An ignored his physical injuries and jumped into the creek in front of him, running wildly in the water. The resistance in the water was much greater than on land, consuming energy several times that of on land! However, Tang An gritted his teeth and refused to let his speed decrease!

  He used every means possible and trained with such high intensity that he ravaged his own body, all because of the heart that yearned to become stronger within him.

  In this devil-like training, Tang An also discovered a strange place. That is, his body was extremely strange, and the recovery speed seemed to be much faster than others. He returned to his residence every day, exhausted, and practiced internal skills for an evening. The inner energy provided endless energy to nourish his muscles, bones, and blood, no matter how much damage he suffered during training, as long as his bones were not broken and his internal organs were not damaged, after a night of practice, he would recover more than half.

  "The inner strength and mental methods of Mount Shu are indeed famous for a reason! I've only cultivated up to the third layer, and the effect is already so powerful. I wonder what it will be like when I start the fourth layer?"

  One day, two days, three days...

  Tang An spent most of his evenings in intense, devilish training that ravaged his body, forcing out its hidden potential. At first, he worried that this would ruin his body, but after discovering the internal energy, the more he tortured himself, the stronger and more robust his body became the next day!

  Since he discovered this, he has been training himself even more desperately. Sometimes he even wonders if he has a tendency to self-abuse?

  Gradually, his body became stronger and stronger, the originally loose fat all disappeared, and his body began to become lean and strong, with flexible and powerful limbs.

  However, on the surface, he just succeeded in losing weight. But only he himself knows that his bone and muscle density are far greater than those of ordinary children, even surpassing those born with superhuman strength! His body may look thinner, but his weight hasn't decreased, because his bone and muscle density have dropped by a whole level compared to before!

  Within three months, Tang An gradually progressed from carrying 100 jin (approximately 110 pounds) to even 200 jin (approximately 220 pounds) of large stones for deep squats.

  The first level of Tian Ren is to cultivate one's energy and nurture life, which determines the foundation of a person's physical body. The stronger the body, the wider the meridians will be, and subsequently, the cultivation of internal skills will become more refined and faster.

  In such a crazy tempering, three months of time passed in the blink of an eye... The qualification test for outer door disciples of Shu Mountain will be officially held tomorrow!

  Tang An slammed the 300-pound boulder to the ground, then clenched his fist and smashed it into the large tree that had accompanied him for three months. Over the past three months, Tang An's fists had become increasingly heavy, with a thick layer of calluses already formed on them.

  "Boom!"

  Tang An's fist landed, and the bark of the sturdy tree suddenly caved in a large chunk. The leaves "rustled" down from the trunk. Tang An looked up to see that the leaves had all turned yellow! Unbeknownst to him, it was already December... Although Sichuan was warm, the mountains were cold, and before he knew it, snowflakes began to fall gently. On the mountain peaks, a vast expanse of white stretched out, silent and still.

  Tang An took a deep breath, slowly picked up his clothes and put them on. In the vast white world, the small black sword on the cuffs and collar of Tang An's clothes was particularly eye-catching.

  His body stood tall in the wind and snow, and a hint of aura appeared... By today, he had already opened up all twelve meridians, completing the cultivation of [Heavenly Man First Layer, Cultivating Qi to Nourish the Body]. Just one more step forward, and he could break through to [Heavenly Man Second Layer, Washing Marrow and Forging Bones]!

  His gaze pierced through the wind and snow, slowly seeing the "Trial Sword Hall" on the top of Shu Mountain, where was the place for inner disciples to cultivate, I wonder what it looks like now?

  After a while, the wind and snow grew even denser, and even the huge plaque of the "Trial Sword Hall" was faintly visible in the snowy wind, unable to be seen clearly.

  Tang An lowered his head and touched his clothes, smiling slightly: "These clothes are a bit small now, it's time to change into a new one..."