The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 257 Cultivating the Nine Yang Techniques: Abundant Yang Qi

In the height of summer, Chaya Mountain is shaded by lush trees and babbling springs. On one side of Pipa Lake, where the legendary fisherman once fished, there is a rock called "Baofo Rock". The upper part of the rock protrudes and the lower part is concave like a dome, like two hands holding the belly. The belly is empty and covers an area of ​​more than ten zhang, making it an excellent place for spiritual practice.

As dawn broke, Zhou Yan sat cross-legged and took out three volumes of the "Nine Yang Manual" that he had copied from his bosom.

The night before, he drank with Yang Miaozhen and Qiu Qianchi. Iron Palm Lotus was still the one who got drunk. Yang Miaozhen had an amazing capacity for alcohol. Qiu Qianchi possessed Iron Palm Kung Fu and the martial arts of the Valley of Heartbreak. Since arriving at Chaya Mountain, he had devoted himself to practicing martial arts and his skills had greatly increased. However, his alcohol tolerance had not increased, and he was completely drunk.

Qiu Qianchi's drunkenness was also related to her emotions.

During her time in the mountain stronghold, Yang Miaozhen mentioned Genghis Khan's attempt to massacre the inhabitants of Zhongdu, and also recounted the numerous atrocities committed by the Mongol army during their war with the Jin dynasty in Hebei. She described the Jin dynasty as a jackal and the Mongols as wolves.

Qiu Qianchi was in a bad mood because her eldest brother had defected to the Mongols and her second brother had served the Jin Dynasty. How could the entire Qiu family have ended up like this? "It's not the wine that intoxicates, it's the mood that makes people drunk."

As dawn broke, he left the wooden building where he was staying. Yang Miaozhen was practicing her spear, and Qiu Qianchi was still hungover. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he went to Pipa Lake to find a place to cultivate himself.

Yang Miaozhen sent people to Yueyang and Zhongdu, and it would take at least half a month for them to travel back and forth by fast horse. They had some rare free time, which was just the right time to practice the Nine Yang Manual.

Before Zhou Yan went to Yumen Pass in the Western Regions, he studied three scriptures in Zhongdu City and grasped their true meaning. This peerless divine skill, which shone brightly in the world of Yitian, was perfected. When Yang reaches its extreme, it transforms, water and fire harmonize, dragon and tiger unite, and the mysterious gate of the body is opened. Conversely, because of the stored true energy, once it is triggered, there will be the calamity of being burned by Yang fire.

Master Jueyuan passed away because of the burning of his body by Yang Fire. Zhang Wuji was blessed with good fortune and was put into the "Qiankun Yiqi Bag" by the monk Shuobude. In the battle in the Bright Hall where Cheng Kun ambushed Yang Xiao and others, it was as if dozens of masters used their true strength to massage and squeeze hundreds of acupoints on his body. The true energy inside and outside surged, and dozens of mysterious gates on his body were broken through one by one. His internal strength was unprecedented.

Without the same opportunities as Zhang Wuji, forcibly cultivating the Nine Yang Manual would be too risky. Zhou Yan opted for a less ideal approach, using the Jade Guanyin and the Taoist principles of emptiness and perfect understanding to gradually assist his cultivation.

Ouyang Feng has mastered the Nine Yin Manual, and Huo Gong Toutuo's martial arts are not much inferior to those of Xi Du. Zhou Yan felt that with his current martial arts skills, even if he studied hard, it would be extremely difficult to surpass the two of them in the short term. However, if he were to supplement his studies with the Nine Yang Manual, it would be a different story.

To put it simply, practicing the true scriptures can increase Yang energy, which in turn promotes the circulation of blood. Blood and Qi can then stimulate internal strength. Based on this point alone, even if one practices the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (易筋锻骨篇) with Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi, the effects of washing marrow, generating blood, and producing strength are obviously different. One can generate blood, transport Qi and blood, and stimulate internal strength more effectively and efficiently. Over time, the difference will be like heaven and earth.

Therefore, during Zhou Yan's time in the Western Regions, he spent most of his time discussing medical knowledge with Indian monks.

Preparation is key to success; with careful planning, we can proceed gradually.

"Let him be strong, the breeze still caresses the mountain; let him be fierce, the bright moon still shines over the great river." Zhou Yan read the first volume of the True Scripture again, and separated a stream of internal energy from his body. Following the Qi circulation method of the Nine Yang True Scripture, he slowly circulated it through the complex network of meridians, collateral meridians, and hidden veins.

Half an hour later, Zhou Yan felt a noticeable change in the pure and warm internal energy circulating in his meridians.

At first, the gentle warmth gradually weakened, and then it became like water in a kettle on a stove, constantly heating up. It felt as if thousands of threads of fire were burning in his meridians. As pure yang energy was forcibly condensed, Zhou Yan felt as if a furnace was burning inside his body, radiating an indescribable heat from the inside out. As the yang energy circulated, his unrefined meridians, hidden channels, and collateral channels swelled and ached. It was as if every bone in his body was being injected into boiling molten iron, the heat indescribable.

Zhou Yan usually didn't feel anything when wearing the jade Guanyin pendant, but as his skin became hot and burning, he felt the jade Guanyin become cold as ice, and the breath emanating from the jade Guanyin continuously seeped into his body, relaxing his muscles and tendons.

Even so, Zhou Yan still felt as if he were encased in boiling water, forcing him to circulate his internal energy and blood to resist the burning sensation brought by this yang energy.

Under the scorching June sun, Zhou Yan's exposed skin was incredibly red, and his whole body was radiating heat. His yang energy propelled his blood, which surged through his body like a raging torrent.

This is the result that Zhou Yan had already analyzed: the body's yang energy increases, which stimulates blood flow.

Blood is the mother of Qi, and Qi is the commander of blood. Blood and Qi carry the Qi of the pulse, and the pulse Qi can stimulate internal strength by transporting blood and Qi.

Zhou Yan immediately focused his energy on circulating his blood and qi. In a short while, his dantian stirred, and a wisp of pure internal energy was activated. Zhou Yan was overjoyed. Practice had verified the theory. The method of cultivating the Yang-generating technique of the Nine Yang Manual to stimulate blood and qi and refine internal strength was feasible. He persevered and continued to guide the qi to activate his internal strength.

This state lasted for nearly an hour. The blood and qi washed over his muscles and skin, causing them to bond tightly together, and the fiery yang energy gradually calmed down. Zhou Yan's skin then radiated a lustrous glow, as if he had gained extra internal energy from his many days of arduous training.

"call!"

Zhou Yan exhaled a breath of fresh air, then separated a wisp of his inner strength. Following the Qi circulation method of the Nine Yang Manual, he refined pure Yang Qi, then used the Yang Qi to stimulate his blood and pulse, thus activating his inner strength.

As the sun passed its zenith and began to set in the west, Zhou Yan's tall and straight body suddenly leaped up.

He sensed with his mind that this day's cultivation, using yang energy to stimulate his blood and circulate blood qi to cultivate internal strength, was equivalent to half a month of arduous training in the past. Moreover, he did not have to worry about the danger of being burned by the abundant yang energy.

"By the time the Fisherman of Misty Waves and the Chief Escort arrive, I should have reached the half-year mark during my arduous training on Mount Chaya. I should also be able to open at least one proper path." Zhou Yan sighed, his figure leaping several feet, his toes lightly stepping on the rocks, landing like a soaring bird towards Pipa Lake at the foot of the mountain.

With no one around, he took off his clothes, went into the water to bathe, changed his clothes on the shore, hunted a pheasant with a bow, roasted it over a fire, ate his fill, and then began his ascetic practice again.

Time flies like sand through our fingers, and ten days pass by in this rhythm.

Chaya Mountain, Pipa Lake, and Baofo Rock.

Two figures, one in red and one in black, walked along the winding mountain path. Qiu Qianchi said, "Chief Escort Zhou is cultivating. Is it appropriate for us to rush up here like this?"

Yang Miaozhen smiled and said, "Alright, the scouts from Kaifeng Prefecture said that Chief Escort Zhang went to Zhenwei. He should come over with Lu Beihe, either today or tomorrow, to see how his cultivation is going and then take him down the mountain."

"That's right."

"Hmm. I wonder how much Brother Zhou's skills have improved," Yang Miaozhen said with great anticipation.

As the two approached the "Embracing Buddha Rock," they deliberately slowed their pace. When they got closer, they saw Zhou Yan standing about five or six zhang away, his right hand resting on the scabbard of the Qingfeng Sword, motionless. His aura was serene, like a calm, still lake.

Yang Miaozhen was skilled in spear fighting, while Qiu Qianchi, though famous for his Iron Palm technique, was also exceptionally skilled in swordsmanship and had a keen eye for swordsmanship. Yang Miaozhen asked, "Brother Zhou, are you practicing swordsmanship?"

"That's how it should be."

Qiu Qianchi's guess was correct.

Zhou Yan practiced the Nine Yang Manual, using the method of urging blood and qi with yang energy to obtain internal strength equivalent to half a year of arduous cultivation. He also tempered and opened up the Foot Shaoyang meridian. Now, all three main meridians and three collateral meridians of the Foot Three Yang are open.

The ancient tomb's lightness skill involves the flow of Qi through the three Yang meridians of the foot, and Zhou Yan mastered this unparalleled lightness skill.

He was completely focused, his mind constantly fusing the ancient tomb lightness skill, the five divine swords of Hengshan, and the Returning Wind and Falling Goose Sword techniques into his body movements and sword styles.

Hengshan swordsmanship is mainly based on fantasy, while the Ancient Tomb lightness skill excels in its ability to move with divine speed and agility. However, Hengshan swordsmanship has its own lightness skills to match it, which Zhou Yan refined and improved.

Yang Miaozhen and Qiu Qianchi stood there for nearly half an hour, when suddenly they had a feeling that a storm was brewing.

Zhou Yan's hand, which was resting on the Qingfeng sword, suddenly moved.

"Clang!" A clear sword light suddenly shone, then transformed into a cascading, dense cloud of cold light. Only then did Yang Miaozhen and Qiu Qianchi hear a sharp sword cry.

Their vision was immediately filled with the crisscrossing, shimmering cold lightning.

Yang Miaozhen's cherry-like mouth gaped in astonishment as she murmured to herself, "Brother Zhou unleashed multiple sword strikes in that instant."

Within their sight, Zhou Yan's gray robes fluttered like an unpredictable ghost, swirling erratically and mysteriously, his sword light hazy, his movements unpredictable, ever-changing, and elusive.

Qiu Qianchi was momentarily dazed. When he first encountered Zhou Yan in Xiangyang, Zhou Yan's martial arts were inferior to his own. However, less than three years later, Zhou Yan seemed to have reached a level that was no less than that of his second brother.

If I were to devote myself to martial arts, I should be just as good.

As Qiu Qianchi read this aloud, she sighed several times in her heart.

Zhou Yan was completely unaware of the two people. He used the Hengshan Sword Technique, followed by the ancient and powerful Quanzhen Sword Technique, and then the graceful and agile Jade Maiden Sword Technique. Suddenly, with a flick of his wrist, the long sword flew out of his hand like a startled rainbow, as fast as if it were trying to catch up with the fleeting time.

With a "thud," the Qingfeng sword shot straight up several feet and embedded itself in the rock, its hilt emitting a series of humming sounds.

Zhou Yan let out a long howl, the sound carrying far and wide, startling birds into flight and causing willow branches to tremble violently. Before his first howl was finished, he followed with a second, howl upon howl, the sound reverberating and overlapping, like a thousand troops and horses.

Outside Mount Chaya, riding forward on horseback, the old fisherman of Yanbo, carrying a fishing rod, was surprised and asked the young leader leading the way, "What kind of expert has come to the mountain stronghold?"

The foreman asked, puzzled, "Master Zhou?"

The old fisherman was taken aback, then burst into laughter, and suddenly let out a long howl towards Zhou Yan.

(End of this chapter)