Mortal Mirror

Li Ergou was rendered speechless by Zhuang Xiaoyao's words, thinking that there was no need to insult people like that.

Although you all don't think highly of me, I will work hard. Is innate talent really that important? Forget it, why dwell on these useless things? I just need to pass the martial arts master exam, and everything else is secondary.

Having been accustomed to harsh words since childhood, these people are just feeling sorry for me. Since they are all well-intentioned, why should I be bothered?

Ergouzi's heart was incredibly strong; as long as he could eat his fill, nothing else mattered.

Seeing Ergouzi's silence, Zhuang Xiaoyao didn't say more, but comforted him, "However, things in this world are ever-changing, and no one can see through the future, which is why there is always hope. If you work hard, you might still have a chance."

This was somewhat encouraging, which comforted Li Ergou a little.

Immediately afterward, Zhuang Xiaoyao said, "Alright, let's not discuss these things. Now, I will carefully explain to you how to cultivate the first realm, which is Refining Essence.

The first step is to know what essence is. This essence is not that essence. The essence in your body is acquired impure energy, which must not be refined.

What we want to refine is the innate vital essence produced by the human body's five internal organs. The process of refining it is called Refining Essence into Qi. Martial arts emphasize a mouthful of innate essence, which must be preserved in its original state, making this energy extremely pure and free from any other energy.

Unlike the divine path, which absorbs the energy of heaven and earth for its own use, remember, remember.

Second, is to generate heat in the dantian and ignite the fire of life in the dantian. Only then will the dantian generate heat, and only with heat can essence transform into qi. Without heat, there is no qi. The fire of life in the dantian is the key to martial arts true qi cultivation.

The cooking and refining of life essence, innate vital essence, relies on the fire of life in the dantian. If you cannot ignite the fire of life in the dantian, you cannot achieve martial arts true qi.

Now, feel whether there is a flame in your lower dantian. With your current shallow cultivation, it should only be a small flame.

Li Ergou had never paid attention to this matter before and immediately did as Zhuang Xiaoyao said. He sat cross-legged, and with a thought, he looked inward at his dantian.

Soon, he saw that there really was a small flame in his dantian, but this flame was extremely weak, as if it would go out at any moment. This discovery surprised him, and he thought to himself that no wonder everyone wants to find a master. He hadn't even noticed such a thing.

Alas, it's good to have a master, but unfortunately, no one wants to be my master.

With this thought, he opened his eyes and said happily, "Senior, there really is!"

Zhuang Xiaoyao nodded slightly and said, "That's natural. Without this fire, you wouldn't be able to achieve martial arts true qi. However, as you said, you don't even know how you started martial arts, proving that you should have obtained some great opportunity, so it's not due to your own efforts."

Hearing this, Li Ergou thought back to the past and suddenly remembered the fish scale, and then thought of what Li Zheng'an said about the golden scale. He couldn't help but understand, thinking that it turned out that the golden scale had helped him start martial arts.

With this thought, he sighed in his heart. If that was the case, he was very grateful to the golden fish, that's right, Jin Lin, that was the name he gave it.

Zhuang Xiaoyao then said, "Let's not worry about other things. Now that you have found the fire of life in the dantian, you can start cultivating.

At this moment, you must use the fire of life in the dantian to refine the innate vital essence into qi, and then you must use the power of your divine sense to control this qi to circulate in your body along the two meridian lines of the Du and Ren channels, in order to complete the cultivation of the Small Heavenly Cycle.

In this way, this qi will become martial arts true qi and enter your heart's divine palace, and your martial arts true qi will continue to increase. If you refine elixirs, you should also use this method, which will be twice as effective with half the effort."

Hearing these easy-to-understand words, Li Ergou was immediately overjoyed. He almost excitedly hugged Zhuang Xiaoyao and kissed him.

But at this time, Zhuang Xiaoyao continued, "You don't need to be too happy too soon. The innate vital essence in the human body's five internal organs is not endless.

They come from two sources. One is relying on elixirs and various special medicines, that is, spiritual medicines and rare treasures, to enter the body and evolve, which is a method of borrowing external force, requiring countless resources, which ordinary people cannot afford.

The other is to cultivate your physical body, using the physical body as a furnace to bake and refine innate vital essence.

This method can not only obtain endless innate vital essence, but also a very resource-saving method. The only drawback is that it is very slow, your progress will be very slow, and the process will be very difficult and painful. Therefore, the path of martial arts cannot be cultivated without great perseverance."

Li Ergou nodded, thinking that although he had a bronze mirror that could copy elixirs, the prerequisite was that he could find the elixirs first. Therefore, cultivating the physical body was an indispensable step.

Zhuang Xiaoyao was also straightforward and began to teach him the method of cultivating the physical body, which was not difficult, just a method of strengthening the body, which were several strange postures.

Then he told him the method of body refining, which could also use external force to enhance physical fitness, such as carrying water, chopping firewood, and fighting with people, to strengthen his muscles and bones. The martial arts gym where he was located was a good place.

Of course, this was the most basic cultivation method. If there were good cultivation techniques in the future, the cultivation speed would be different.

The entire Refining Essence stage is divided into three stages: Minor Achievement, Intermediate Achievement, and Great Achievement. After this stage is completed, you can enter the next stage, Qi Condensation, but Zhuang Xiaoyao did not tell Li Ergou the method of Qi Condensation, because cultivating the method of Qi Condensation involves the techniques of their Xiaoyao Palace.

Because Li Ergou was not a disciple of the Xiaoyao Palace, he did not dare to teach it casually. Another important reason was that, in his opinion, it might take Li Ergou a lifetime to cultivate the Refining Essence stage to Great Achievement.

In this way, why should this child have too much expectation in his heart? That would not be helping him, but harming him.

So he just told Li Ergou to go back and cultivate quietly.

To be honest, Li Ergou felt that he had benefited a lot. Zhuang Xiaoyao made him understand what true martial arts was, and he could finally get rid of the shackles of getting stronger only by being beaten.

He was happy and joyful in his heart and decided to tell Zhuzhu about this later so that she could be happy for him too. But then he thought, should he not tell Zhuzhu first? Otherwise, wouldn't Uncle Qian not care about him?

Then what reason would he have to find Zhuzhu? He hesitated for a while and decided to hide it first and give her a surprise when he had the opportunity.

After thinking about this, he bowed to Zhuang Xiaoyao and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior. Li Ergou will never forget your kindness."

Zhuang Xiaoyao sighed and said, "Unfortunately, I can't violate the rules of the sect, otherwise I really hope to take you into the sect."

Li Ergou naturally knew that everyone had their own morals and principles, and he would not embarrass Zhuang Xiaoyao, so he continued, "Senior, there is no need to do this. Everyone has their own path. Now that Senior has opened a door to a new world for me, Ergou is very grateful."

Zhuang Xiaoyao was very pleased with Li Ergou's understanding, but then he said embarrassedly, "That, Ergou, now that I am completely awake, I want to let the girl live a good life with me for a few days, but now I am a little short of money. I wonder if you can lend me some silver? Just consider it as the Xiaoyao Palace owing you."

Li Ergou was slightly stunned and felt that Zhuang Xiaoyao's tall image had shrunk a bit.

Zhuang Xiaoyao sighed at this moment, "See, even someone as carefree as me is still trapped by worldly money, so it is said that the path of cultivation is extremely difficult." Saying this, he couldn't help but look up at the sky, not knowing whether it was to relieve the embarrassment, or whether the white clouds and breeze in the sky were more beautiful.

Ergou smiled bitterly in his heart and quickly took out the remaining silver on his body, which was as much as two hundred taels. This was almost all of his wealth, but he handed it to Zhuang Xiaoyao without hesitation and said, "Senior, you are too polite. There is no need to return these. Consider it as a little filial piety from Ergou. Huang Laocai once said that a book is worth a thousand gold.

I think the techniques you taught me are priceless. Ergou is so grateful. If Senior needs money in the future, you can come to the martial arts gym to find me, and I will find a way to raise it for you."

Seeing Li Ergou like this, Zhuang Xiaoyao liked him very much in his heart, but, alas, he could only smile bitterly and say, "Okay, if you don't mind, don't call me Senior in the future, just call me Big Brother."

Li Ergou widened his eyes and said in disbelief, "Really, Big Brother!"

"Yes, there is a sequence in learning and specialization in skills. The relationship between you and me is not a master-disciple relationship, and it transcends ordinary friendship, so it is appropriate for you to call me Big Brother."

Li Ergou was really happy in his heart, not wanting to have such an awesome Big Brother, and immediately said, "Okay, since you don't mind my identity, I will definitely call you Big Brother."

With this, he thought in his heart that if he broke through the Refining Essence stage in the future, even if Big Brother didn't teach him the techniques of the Xiaoyao Palace, he could still give him some guidance.

He smiled slyly in his heart, extremely cunning.

The two talked for a few more words, Zhuang Xiaoyao told him some precautions, and Li Ergou left.

Zhuang Xiaoyao looked up at the sky, looking at the white clouds and breeze, gently stroking the girl's hair, as if talking to himself, "After all, how many people really get the deer? They don't know that they dream of being fish all day long. Life is short, everything is like a dream bubble, and like a white horse passing through a gap, it is gone in an instant."

The girl asked incomprehensibly, "Crazy Uncle, you said that life is like a dream bubble, but I feel that it is better to be a simple person and learn to let go."

Hearing this, Zhuang Xiaoyao widened his eyes in disbelief and looked at the girl. He knew that the girl was only seven years old, how could she say such profound words?

He couldn't help but excitedly say, "Who taught you these words?"

The girl pouted and said indifferently, "No one taught me, I just thought of it in my heart, it's a very simple principle."

Zhuang Xiaoyao laughed loudly and said, "Master, our Xiaoyao Palace has successors..."

Li Ergou walked on the road, feeling happy in his heart, thinking that he had told Zhuzhu about candied haws yesterday, and he would buy them for her today, she would be very happy.

So, he hurried to the candied haws stall, not wanting it to be a big fair today, very lively.

The market was set up at the entrance of the town, just taking the place of those old men and old ladies. It was very lively with people coming and going. This kind of market was only held twice a month, on the fourth and thirteenth of each month. Counting carefully, there were still two days until the full moon.

He sighed in his heart, time flies so fast, unfortunately Zhuzhu's legs and feet are inconvenient, otherwise he would have to take her out for a walk.

When her legs are better in a while, he can let the black cat or the black-bearded goat carry Zhuzhu out for a walk, so that she won't be trapped in the yard all the time, feeling bored and bored.

There were many things in the market, dazzling people's eyes.

"Candied haws, candied haws!"

"Sugar figurines, come and buy sugar figurines, one copper coin each. You won't regret buying them, you won't be fooled. Delicious sugar figurines!"

"Fried small fish, fried dough fish, delicious dough fish, oily and delicious. After eating dough fish, you don't want your dad and mom!"

"Lamb skewers, lamb skewers, delicious lamb skewers. Men eat them and they become hard, women eat them and they become watery!"

Fried sesame balls, jelly, osmanthus cake, there were so many snacks. To be honest, Li Ergou saw this scene for the first time, not only curious but also very happy, and from time to time he would pick some things that he thought Zhuzhu liked to buy.

Suddenly he saw a familiar figure in the crowd. He rubbed his eyes and saw a middle-aged man leading a little girl, picking something at a stall.

This person's appearance completely overlapped with his memory, but he was much older. It was none other than his inhumane second uncle, Li Erwa.

Since he sold him, his second uncle had moved away from Wanglong Village, so he couldn't find his second uncle even if he wanted to. He had always had a doubt in his heart, that is, in his memory, he once had a little sister.

He didn't know whether his sister was still in his second uncle's house, or whether he had also sold her.

With this thought in mind, he thought, Li Erwa, Li Erwa, I will make you pay the price today, and let you know why the flowers are so red.

He walked up with a belly full of anger, thinking that he had finally found you, and immediately walked up with big strides. Approaching him, he suddenly felt an unspeakable feeling. He could see that he was wearing very tattered clothes, with patches on patches, which could not completely cover his body.

The girl's hair was messy, looking about seven or eight years old. Perhaps due to long-term malnutrition, her complexion was sallow and she was thin and dry, not much different from what he used to be.

Her clothes were even more tattered, and she was barefoot, but she didn't even have a pair of straw sandals. He didn't know if his second uncle was too lazy, or what. Seeing this scene, he didn't know what to say.

The previous anger and resentment were somewhat vented.

He patted his second uncle on the shoulder, and Li Erwa turned around to look. He saw a young man whose height was similar to his own, but who exuded a powerful aura. This person looked like an extraordinary young man, and he was shocked in his heart. He didn't know where he had offended this person.

He immediately showed a frightened expression and said in a low voice, "I...I'm sorry, I don't know where I offended you, sir. Please forgive me, sir. I am just a poor villager, please don't blame me."