Arhats Subduing Demons: Starting with The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber

Chapter 11 Preliminary Success
Time flies like an arrow; in the blink of an eye, more than four years have passed.

On this day, the autumn wind was bleak, and the forest in the mountains swayed in the wind. Sunlight poured down on the ground, like scattered gold. In the distance, a towering cypress tree could be seen, so large that it would take three people to encircle it. It rose above the forest and seemed to soar into the clouds.

The tree had been hollowed out, and a person was sitting cross-legged inside.

It was Yun Changkong who had grown from a child into a young man.

His face glowed red, and a wisp of white mist enveloped his head. His expression shifted constantly, sometimes radiating joy and innocence, sometimes a stern, angry look, sometimes a cold, aloof expression, sometimes a calm, composed demeanor, sometimes a listless, lifeless expression, and sometimes an arrogant, domineering, and self-important air. All these expressions flowed across his face like water.

Yunhe, who was guarding the tree to protect his son, clicked his tongue in amazement, thinking to himself, "As the saying goes, the Buddha has no form. Kong'er's changing expressions are exactly what this means. I hope he can succeed!"

For the past four years, Yun Changkong has been practicing the "Arhat Subduing Demon Divine Skill". Sometimes his internal energy cannot flow along the path drawn by the puppet, but for some reason, after a few days, it will naturally flow smoothly again.

This internal cultivation emphasizes calming the mind and preventing mental distraction. Especially in the internal cultivation practices of Buddhism and Taoism, where both movement and stillness are forgotten, morality naturally arises, and achievements are attained. Without cultivating this principle, one will ultimately fail to achieve anything.

Yun Changkong didn't know whether this was due to the jade pendant or because his actions had aligned with the essentials of divine techniques.

Not only when eating, walking, working, or reading, but also when the internal energy is constantly circulating, one's skill will continuously improve even while sleeping.

In martial arts, any skill requires practice to improve. Even the most diligent person cannot practice for more than six hours a day because they need to sleep.

Practicing internal energy cultivation is going against the natural order. The circulation of qi and blood is different from usual. When you sleep, your qi and blood will inevitably circulate as before, and nine-tenths of the skills you practiced during the day will be wasted.

The profound internal skills of Buddhism and Taoism, once mastered, will enhance one's internal strength in all actions, from walking to sitting and lying down. This is why there are countless masters in the martial arts world, emerging one after another throughout history. This is why the masters who have always dominated the martial arts world have always been from Buddhism and Taoism.

This kind of master doesn't just refer to those who have risen to fame in the martial arts world, but also to those unknown hermit masters.

Therefore, cultivating internal strength is not difficult for Yun Changkong! However, to reach the pinnacle of martial arts, one needs to cultivate both internal and external skills.

So, during these four years, besides cultivating his internal energy daily, Yun Changkong also practiced fist and foot techniques, swordsmanship, hidden weapons, and lightness skills. When the mountain's food, rice, wine, and meat ran out, Changkong would go down the mountain to buy them. His schedule was packed, and he lived a busy but fulfilling life. His idea of ​​searching for the ancient tomb was put on hold.

As for his young age, neither Madam Yun nor Yun He would interfere anymore. Yun Changkong's claim of being a "Buddha reincarnated" naturally resolved the elders' nagging forever. Otherwise, which adult could feel at ease letting a child go down the mountain!
Yunhe naturally passed on all his knowledge to his son. Yun Changkong used the "Arhat Subduing Demon Skill" as a foundation to cultivate Shaolin martial arts, which was a natural progression. He only needed to see the posture once to learn it properly, twice to learn it well, and after three times, his moves became smooth and free. It was much more advanced than the moves taught by Yunhe, and its power was incomparable.

Using the same grappling technique, Yun Changkong gripped the tree, peeling off the bark and leaving clear finger marks. Yun He knew that if this technique were used on a person, breaking their limbs would be as easy as snapping rotten wood.

A seemingly ordinary palm strike could only shake the trees and cause leaves to fall, while Yun Changkong could break trees and shatter rocks.

Seeing his rapid progress, Yunhe felt that even if there were geniuses in the world, it was impossible for them to have such a pace.

Fortunately, Yun Changkong had warned him beforehand by claiming he was the reincarnation of Buddha, so Yun He naturally believed him without a doubt.

That day, Yun Changkong was practicing his martial arts when he suddenly felt his inner energy running wildly and he couldn't control it.

This was unprecedented. Chang Kong was filled with surprise and doubt, so he immediately went into the tree hole, sat cross-legged, and let his breath flow freely.

Yun Changkong did not need to use his spirit to guide his true energy. It circulated naturally through his meridians. Suddenly, his mind went blank, and he found himself unable to see or hear anything. He had fallen into an extremely quiet state.

He could hear clearly the sound of wind blowing leaves and the flapping of insects' wings from several meters away, and this state lasted for an unknown period of time.

Yun Changkong felt his true energy flowing like water, circulating through the twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians. Except for the Chong and Dai meridians, there was no obstruction in the other meridians.

Suddenly, Yun Changkong exhaled a long breath, and a whistling sound pierced the mountains and valleys, shaking the trees and branches, and traveled far and wide, echoing for a long time in the mountains.

Standing to the side, Yunhe hurriedly pressed his hands to his ears, but still felt a buzzing sound. With a whistling sound, Changkong braced himself against the tree and darted out of the tree hole in a "Swallow Soaring Through the Clouds" style. He somersaulted several feet through the air, his palms waving out, his aura surging. Yunhe stood several feet away, his clothes and hair fluttering in the wind.

With a muffled thud, like a broken leather, a cypress tree, as thick as a man's embrace, snapped at waist height and crashed diagonally to the ground with a loud rumble, sending dirt flying and branches and leaves flying everywhere.

Yun Changkong pushed the tree with both palms, did a somersault, flipped several feet, and landed lightly like a piece of flying catkin.

The grass and trees around the broken tree still hummed and vibrated on their own.

Yunhe beamed with joy and exclaimed, "Kong'er, is this a great success?"

Seeing his son's inner essence and outward sharpness, he thought that such divine skill was beyond his wildest imagination and that it was no less than that of Song Yuanqiao of Wudang (Song Yuanqiao's skill was the strongest that he had ever seen).

But his son is not even sixteen years old yet, and his skills are astonishing.

Yun Changkong lightly touched the ground and leaped several feet to check the tree. Yun He also came closer to see what had happened.

Yun Changkong saw the obvious break and sighed inwardly. He had intended to break the tree in half so that the break would be as smooth as if it had been chopped with a knife or axe, but he had failed to do so.

Moreover, he was about to strike with all his might, but when he released his internal energy, it was as if a dam blocked it, causing the power to weaken. He couldn't help but wonder: "Is it because the Wooden Arhat is missing the manual, which prevented me from mastering the divine skill, or is this Mountain-Splitting Palm too weak?"

It turns out that the energy pathways on the bodies of the eighteen Arhats include the twelve primary meridians, namely the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin, Large Intestine Meridian of Hand-Yangming, Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming, Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin, Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin, Small Intestine Meridian of Hand-Taiyang, Bladder Meridian of Foot-Taiyang, Kidney Meridian of Foot-Shaoyin, Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin, Triple Energizer Meridian of Hand-Shaoyang, Gallbladder Meridian of Foot-Shaoyang, and Liver Meridian of Foot-Jueyin.

It also includes the Qi cultivation methods for the Ren, Du, Yinwei, Yangwei, Yinjiao, and Yangjiao meridians among the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. However, it lacks methods for circulating Qi through the Chong and Dai meridians.

The Chong Meridian, along with the other seven extraordinary meridians, communicates vertically, but the Dai Meridian is unique in that it encircles the body, passing around the waist like a belt, hence its name.

Without the cultivation paths of these two meridians, Yun Changkong neither understood nor could he conceive of them.

This is because he had no master to guide him and relied entirely on his own cultivation. His understanding of internal energy cultivation was too superficial. Furthermore, there was no written description of the "Arhat Subduing Demon Skill," only the practice route.

Yunhe was also unable to instruct Changkong on this internal skill. In this situation, Changkong was in a predicament where even a skilled cook could not make a meal without rice.

Chang Kong himself didn't know whether he had mastered the power cultivation techniques of the Eighteen Arhats, but his skill was not yet sufficient. As his skill deepened, the cultivation of the Chong and Dai meridians would naturally follow.

Or perhaps the "Arhat Subduing Demons Skill" was simply lacking the methods for circulating energy through the Chong and Dai meridians, and he himself lacked a sophisticated way of applying force, thus failing to unleash his internal energy. This made him think to himself, "It seems I have no choice but to begin searching for the ancient tomb."

In the past four years, Yun Changkong has never searched for the ancient tomb. Firstly, Zhongnan Mountain is too big, and he doesn't have time to practice his skills. Secondly, he doesn't have strong strength to rely on. What if he found it and got killed?
No one would tolerate someone stealing from another's home!
Yun Changkong is cautious and never impulsive. He would never abandon his practice of the "Arhat Subduing Demon Skill" to spend a lot of time looking for an extremely risky place!

Little did anyone know that Yun Changkong had already achieved a preliminary mastery of the "Arhat Subduing Demon Divine Skill," a rare skill in the martial arts world. This internal skill is the most exquisite internal skill of the Shaolin School, with its internal energy being vast and boundless, capable of changing at will. It is already extremely difficult to even begin to learn this divine skill, and to reach this level, it takes at least five or six years, and sometimes several decades.

With the help of the "Jade Technique," Yun Changkong's progress has been so rapid that it is already beyond comprehension.

Shi Potian, with the profound internal strength cultivated by "Flaming Flame Skill" and "Ice and Fire Mysterious Ice Wine", only achieved minor success in cultivating "Arhat Subduing Demon Skill". It was only after arriving at Xia Ke Island, where he was given Laba porridge and the martial arts of the Tai Xuan Scripture on the stone wall, that he was able to break through the blockage and his true energy circulated freely in his meridians and acupoints without any hindrance.

Yun Changkong's internal strength was very profound and his martial arts skills were extremely high, but his knowledge of martial arts was still far behind!
Therefore, there is no clear definition of one's current situation.

While the father and son were talking and thinking, a yellow figure quietly stood more than ten feet away, like a wisp of still smoke.

(End of this chapter)