A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 21 Strengthening the inner spirit
Duan Rong, carrying a sheathed oxtail knife, three taels of silver as a monthly stipend, and a small package of five slices of thinly sliced antler wrapped in hay paper, walked out of the alley of the inner treasury in a daze.

There is no way, this is the sequelae of devouring the spirit, or it can be called a side effect.

Although I can still clearly feel that there is a "strange" thing stuffed into my brain.

But it seemed that after the last swallowing, it had already adapted to it to some extent.

Duan Rong just felt that his brain was a little slow and he was unable to think deeply. It was not like the first time he swallowed it, when he stood there in a daze for a long time. The first time he really couldn't figure out the situation.

He now felt like he was driving on a road full of obstacles. He had to go around in circles constantly and could not speed up at all.

Duan Rong controlled his body and went to the cafeteria of the Central Courtyard, where he had dinner stiffly.

After that, he did not practice, but went straight back to the dormitory, locked the door, and fell asleep.

Just like the last time he devoured the spirit of the weapon, he slept very deeply and soundly this time.

A night of dreams!
In the dream, there was the silhouette of a thin young man in elegant clothes. He was holding a large red-tasseled machete that did not match his stature, and he was wielding it awkwardly, one move after another...

One can vaguely catch a glimpse of the scenery around the young man, which are some blurred pavilions and towers. Although the background is a little fuzzy, one can still tell how majestic the buildings are just from their rough outlines.

"The identity of this young man...is probably not ordinary..." Duan Rong thought in his sleep.

The dream passed without a trace...

Duan Rong suddenly woke up. With a roll of his eyes, he realized that the weapon spirit he had swallowed had been digested and absorbed.

Duan Rong jumped out of bed, opened the door, and saw the cold moonlight in the long and narrow courtyard in front of the dormitory.

Everything was quiet all around, with only the faint sound of insects chirping.

Duan Rong raised his head and looked towards the southeast, and saw a big bright star and a cold crescent moon shining in the distance.

Duan Rong estimated the time based on the position of the Morning Star.

"It's only the Chou hour now. I've only slept for three hours."

"The time required to digest and absorb the device spirit seems to have become shorter!" Duan Rong's eyes showed a thoughtful look.

"And the last time I absorbed a weapon spirit that had not yet entered the rank, this time I absorbed a weapon spirit that was at the rank 1."

"Could it be that the higher the level of the weapon spirit, the shorter the time it takes to digest and absorb it?"

"Wouldn't a high-level weapon spirit contain more information?"

"Or is it that... high-level weapon spirits, which have been soaked in time and are more pure, have fewer impurities, and are easier to be absorbed by the divine consciousness?"

This is of course just a guess, and Duan Rong doesn't know the real reason.

But the verified fact is that the higher the level of the spirit weapon, the shorter the time it takes to digest and absorb it.

As for the reason, he can slowly explore it.

Duan Rong walked out of the room and stood in the cold moonlight in the long and narrow courtyard.

At this moment, his mind was as clear as water, and everything around him was silent. It was a good time to practice standing still.

Duan Rong took out a folded straw paper bag from the inner pocket of his chest. Duan Rong opened the straw paper and in the moonlight, he could see five paper-thin deer antler slices, which were slightly purple-red in color.

Duan Rong pinched a piece and held it in his mouth, then wrapped the others up again and put them in the inner pocket of his lapel. Then he bent his legs, sat with his waist lowered, clasped his hands in the air, and stood up to practice the Hunyuan Posture.

He stood there for two full hours.

It was not until dawn that Duan Rong stood up and dispersed his energy.

He knew very well how much energy the Hunyuan Standing Gong, which circulated internal energy, consumed. Yesterday afternoon, he only stood for an hour and already felt weak inside.

At this time, after standing for two hours, I still felt energetic. Although I was very tired, the blood in my body was flowing vigorously.

Duan Rong smacked his lips and found that the deer antler slice in his mouth had completely melted.

Duan Rong immediately understood that it was the deer antler slices that were working.

"It turns out that medicine is better than food!"

Seeing that it was almost dawn, Duan Rong drew water from the well in the yard and washed off the stinky sweat on his body before putting on his clothes. He returned to his room, tied his badge around his waist, took the sheathed oxtail knife from the bedside, and prepared to go to the martial arts field to practice his swordsmanship.

Duan Rong had just walked out of the hospital gate when he saw Kong Bin walking out of the T-shaped dormitory next to him.

One of them is in Courtyard D and the other in Courtyard C, which happen to be next to each other.

When Kong Bin saw Duan Rong, he came over and whispered, "Have you heard?" "What?"

"Li Chong is dead!"

Duan Rong paused for a moment. "Dead? How did he die?"

"He was scolded by the errand supervisor who was in charge of him, and he hanged himself with his belt on the beam of the dormitory the night before yesterday. I also heard from Zhang Zheng that Li Chong's uncle went to the front yard to make a scene yesterday." Kong Bin said, looking at Duan Rong, and suddenly asked: "Brother Rong, how is your inner strength training going? Have you succeeded?"

Kong Bin took advantage of Li Chong's death to talk to Duan Rong, just to test Duan Rong's attitude and see how his inner energy training was going.

"Not yet!" Duan Rong's heart was shaken and he said coldly.

Upon hearing this, Kong Bin glanced at Duan Rong's dazed look and felt a little happy.

He had captured a ray of internal energy for a moment yesterday, but as soon as he tried to use it, his mental strength dissipated and the internal energy collapsed.

But he believed that after three days of trial practice, he would be able to get his internal energy flowing initially.

Judging from Duan Rong's appearance, he probably hasn't figured out the trick yet.

Kong Bin was in a very good mood at the moment, so he stopped talking, left Duan Rong, and walked towards the martial arts field.

During this period, Kong Bin was hit by Duan Rong one after another. His drugging was discovered, he was defeated in the assessment, and he was poured cold water when he took the initiative to make friends.

Kong Bin was a man of few words, but he was actually very proud. On the day of the test three days later, he hoped to turn the tables and put pressure on Duan Rong.

Duan Rong was immersed in the shock of Li Chong's death and did not notice that Kong Bin had left. He was still standing in a daze at the door of the dormitory.

He remembered the last time he saw Li Chong was on the day of the assessment.

But he had forgotten when Li Chong left on the assessment day.
Maybe no one noticed?

Duan Rong originally thought that he was more dangerous than Kong Bin, but now it seems that he really overestimated him. This kid is too fragile!
Duan Rong thought of his past life, and the kids in the news who were willing to risk their lives for trivial matters.

"This guy is such a tragedy!"

Li Chong was obviously an idiot in interpersonal relationships, and he was always seeking his own death in an aggressive manner.

Duan Rong suddenly recalled a sentence from a writer he had read in his previous life: If you study the most annoying person carefully, you will always find that he is just a pitiful person.

Duan Rong sighed and then slowly walked to the martial arts arena.

He gathered his thoughts, found a secluded corner, and began to fight with a knife.

After digesting the Devouring Weapon Spirit last night, Duan Rong's grasp of the Five Tigers and Sheep Sword martial arts has reached the level of proficiency.

However, he has not yet mastered the first level of his internal energy.

After all, internal strength and mental skills are a process of hard work.

The growth of internal energy in the meridians is also accumulated strand by strand.

Although he had become extremely familiar with the operation of his internal energy after digesting and absorbing the spirit of the device, the strengthening of his internal energy was not something that could be achieved overnight.

No one can eat a fat man in one bite!
After Duan Rong finished the routine and went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, he returned to the martial arts field and began to stand with a deer antler slice in his mouth.

Apart from eating and sleeping, Duan Rong focused almost all of his energy on strengthening his internal energy through standing still.

With the tonic effect of the deer antler slices, Duan Rong found that no matter how long he stood, he did not feel weak.

One piece of blood antler slice every two hours.

Including the two hours in the dormitory, Duan Rong stood for a total of ten hours. When he returned to the dormitory and climbed onto the bed, it was already late at night.

Although he was very tired, Duan Rong fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Early in the morning of the second day, Duan Rong came to the martial arts field from the dormitory again. He found that the internal energy in his meridians had become as thick as a hair and three inches long.

That's already amazing!

This is formed by the intersection and fusion of five strands of internal energy!

This internal energy resides in his dantian and responds immediately to his mental power.

Duan Rong suddenly had an idea, and he wanted to try the method of circulating his internal breath while making a move.

The purpose of standing still and practicing internal skills is to strengthen the internal breath!
However, the circulation of internal breath when making a move is the combination of energy and strength, which can also be called the power of internal breath!
This is also the fusion of internal strength and fighting techniques. Only in this way can the true power of martial arts be brought into play.

(End of this chapter)