Under the fist

Chapter 51 Returning to the City! Returning to the City! Returning to the City!

A sudden snowfall lasted intermittently for several days.

The educated youth in the forest farm also parted ways and scattered.

Lian Youming, who had already gone down to Kaoshantun, did not stay with Liu Da Nao. Instead, he chose an uninhabited earthen house to keep himself quiet.

That old man was still dreaming of qigong. I don't know what kind of qigong he learned from the newspaper or TV, but he burned incense and prayed every night in the middle of the night. The smoke and mist were like a shaman's ritual, and he was really making a fuss.

Outside the window, everything was a white blur, and the cold wind howled, making the paper windows rattle incessantly.

Since eating that tiger, Lian Youming doesn't feel cold at all, even without heating the kang (heated brick bed) or stove, unlike last year when he was freezing to death and suffering terribly.

As he wandered around the room, exercising his lower body, he slowly raised his arms, his hands moving as if plucking and embracing, as if sealing and closing, and began to ponder the strange and unusual force of the strange man in the fortress who used his fists to strike acupoints.

He always felt that the opponent's method of expanding from a single point to a wide area, striking firmly and hitting the whole body's muscles and bones, had something to do with "silk reeling energy".

The old man guarding the mountain passed down his "silk coiling energy," which is a spiral inward contraction. If the energy is concentrated into a single point and gathered in the center of the fist, the penetrating power is extremely strong. When a punch is thrown, the person hit will not be knocked back by the force, but will instead suffer internal injuries through the chest and abdomen, with the force of a thousand-pound hammer.

Thinking of the many wonderful uses of "Silk Reeling Force", Lian Youming couldn't help but try it out, punching empty air with both fists, constantly changing the force and attack method.

"Should we do it the other way around?"

Perhaps influenced by Yan Lingyun, he now practices these skills by first conceiving the principles of boxing.

Since "silk-reeling energy" is inward, while that strange man's extraordinary energy expands from a point, spreading like ripples throughout his body, it is outward. The principles of boxing are contradictory, so should the movement of muscles and tendons be reversed?

Thinking of this, Lian Youming's aura suddenly deepened, and his clothes on his back tightened instantly. One after another, like swimming fish, air pockets quietly emerged from both sides of his spine, running along his back in a continuous pattern, like dragons and snakes undulating. But just as they were pushed to his right arm, his mind changed drastically, and the originally rapidly spinning trend was instantly reversed.

Feeling the strange power accumulating in his right arm, Lian Youming imitated the strange man's gesture, clenching his fist into a phoenix eye shape, and thrusting his fist forward into the air with only the protrusion of his index finger joint.

As if sensing something, he threw a punch, his eyes gleaming. He clenched his fists with all ten fingers, forming phoenix-eye fists. He took three steps forward, his fists crossing repeatedly, until finally, after three steps, his fist landed on an abandoned door panel.

The wooden door was only an inch thick; the fist landed in an instant, without a sound.

"You're mistaken?"

Just as Lian Youming was puzzled, he suddenly heard strange noises coming from the door panel, like ice cracking. Upon closer inspection, he saw that spiderweb-like cracks had appeared on the door panel, centered on the point where the fist struck.

"boom!"

Then, with another crisp sound, the wooden board shattered out of thin air.

Lian Youming's eyes flickered, and he slowly loosened his clenched fists, a smile appearing on his face.

The punches stopped, but the kicks didn't.

These days, whenever he has a spare moment, he walks around, practicing his stance and almost stomping a shallow pit into the rammed earth floor of the room.

He picked up the Journey to the West book that was on his desk and began to read it as he walked.

This wasn't the first time he'd reread the novel in the past two days.

The characters in the book are a bit strange. Each stroke is like a knife slash, a sword cut, or a spear thrust. They are not ugly, but they are not from a famous calligrapher. What is strange is that they give people a sense of swiftness and sharpness, as if their sharpness is hidden and there is something special inside.

Moreover, in addition to the text, the pages also contain dozens of small ink paintings, which are exquisite and extremely vivid.

The first painting depicts a monkey with a menacing appearance: a pointed snout and shriveled cheeks, bony frame, protruding fangs, a hunched back and drooping arms. From a distance, it resembles a demon, its eyes displaying ferocity, and its bared teeth seem as if it could crawl out of the book at any moment.

It was extremely offensive.

He didn't read it page by page, but just flipped through it casually. After all, the book had quite a few words, and it would be impossible to finish it in a day or two. He couldn't take it step by step; he could only hope to find a spark of inspiration.

As you flip through these small paintings, the four members of the pilgrimage group, along with the white dragon horse, gradually become complete.

However, the Sun Wukong in the painting stands straighter and straighter, as if he is slowly transforming from a hunched-over wild beast into someone who walks on two legs, and from being skinny to becoming much stronger. The figure in the painting also becomes more and more vivid, sometimes jumping or leaping, sometimes gazing into the distance from a branch, sometimes lying on his side, sometimes wielding his staff and fighting fiercely with monsters. The painting is incredibly lifelike. You can flip through the entire painting in one go, from Sun Wukong emerging from the stone to his journey to the West and becoming a Buddha, which contains a total of seventy-two small paintings.

"What could possibly be the key? According to Li Da's words, does everyone come up with something different? What has he realized?"

Lian Youming's gaze sharpened, and before he knew it, he had turned to the last page of the novel in his hand.

And there's something on this last page too.

What came into view was a poem.

"The Tao is most profound; do not take the elixir of immortality lightly. Without encountering a sage to impart the secrets, empty words will only leave your mouth weary and tongue dry."

At the end of the poem, there is also a formula for alchemy.

"The true and wondrous secret of the perfect union of exoteric and esoteric teachings lies solely in cultivating one's nature and life force. It all comes down to essence, energy, and spirit; guard them firmly and do not let them leak out. Do not let them leak out; keep them within your body. You who receive my transmission of the Way will prosper. Memorizing the oral instructions will bring many benefits; eliminate evil desires and attain coolness. Attain coolness, and your radiance will be pure and bright; then you can admire the bright moon on the altar. The moon hides the jade rabbit, the sun hides the crow, and naturally, the tortoise and snake intertwine. When they intertwine, one's nature and life force are strengthened, and one can even plant a golden lotus in the fire. Gather the five elements and use them in reverse order; when the work is complete, one will become a Buddha or an immortal."

Lian Youming's gaze swept over it, and even though it wasn't the first time he had seen it, his expression still became somewhat strange.

"Isn't this the cultivation method that Patriarch Bodhi passed on to Sun Wukong? Could it possibly contain some secret? It can't be the real thing, can it?"

He glanced at it once, without looking at it again, then slammed the book shut. He calmed himself down and continued walking around as before. After a while, he shook his head.

This is something that can only be learned slowly and cannot be rushed. Besides, his most important task right now is to build a solid foundation and hone his skills. If he were to immerse himself completely in the novel, he would be putting the cart before the horse.

Life seemed to have returned to its former tranquility. His work in the village was the same as before: taking care of livestock, managing the cattle and sheep pens, busy every day with meals, work, and practice.

Having witnessed the clashes between masters and the battles between martial artists, Lian Youming was constantly studying kung fu. He maintained a stable stance in every movement, even while sleeping.

Also, just as he said, Li Dazhen never appeared again.

Sometimes when Lian Youming wakes up, he thinks that all his experiences over the past year were just a dream, which makes him uneasy and he can only vent his frustration by practicing boxing.

This continued until mid-October. Except for delivering a few tiger bones to Qin Yuhu, Lian Youming stayed in the village.

That noon, in the vast expanse of white snow, a female educated youth who had gone to the city to make a phone call suddenly ran back to the village with great joy. With her head covered in frost and ignoring the scarf that had fallen off, she knocked on the door of the house of five people, including Lian Youming.

"Everyone, haha, I went to the educated youth office today to inquire about the latest policy from the organization. They are now allowing the issuance of household registrations, so our educated youth from Shanghai and Beijing can return to the city."

The group of people were all excitedly dancing and gesturing, some even bursting into tears of joy, while others hugged each other and wept bitterly.

Wu Kui was also in Kaoshantun, eating a cornbread when he heard the news. He rushed to the dam like a madman, shouting into the swirling snow. Then he darted like a rabbit to Lian Youming and said, "Captain, haha, we're going back to the city! We're going back to the city! I can continue my studies!"

Upon hearing this news, Lian Youming's face did not seem to show much surprise, nor even excitement or joy, but there was a smile on his face.

The world is vast, and there will eventually come a time when I will meet Li Da and the others again, as well as the old man guarding the mountain, Xue Hen, Gong Wu'er, and the White Lotus Sect...

The secrets these people guarded, the highest realm of martial arts—to this day, he has made up his mind to see it with his own eyes, to personally experience it, and even to spar with these people and compete in martial arts.

Who among the heroes of the world can rival him?
……

Two days later, a group of villagers from Kaoshantun, led by the old Party Secretary, stood at the village entrance and waved goodbye to the departing educated youth. Their faces were full of smiles, and they also felt a sense of relief.

After all, not everyone can be indiscriminate about gender, squeezing the eggs of a big black cow as if it were a dairy cow, or pulling up vegetable seedlings as if they were weeds.

The old Party Secretary wept with joy, "These kids are finally gone."

　Brothers, the curtain is about to rise on the grand adventure. I feel that many parts of the writing in the beginning were not very strong, mainly because the time background was somewhat special. The writer was very cautious and dared not write freely, so many parts were only briefly mentioned. Please forgive me.

　　Also, thank you all for your support. This book is expected to be at least two million words long, with the martial arts power cap set at medium level. The early chapters are basically transitional, since there are no cheat codes or overpowered abilities. I've seen many readers say there are too many fortuitous encounters, but fortuitous encounters in martial arts novels are different from those in traditional martial arts novels. In traditional martial arts novels, a single fortuitous encounter yields short-term benefits, either a significant increase in power or the mastery of a secret technique. In martial arts novels, no matter how many fortuitous encounters there are, you still have to practice diligently to reap the rewards. In addition, the limited background restricts the early plot development, which is why there are so many fortuitous encounters.

　　Another point is the protagonist's rebirth setting, which is a huge plot hole. I can only say that the protagonist is an original inhabitant, and I can't give away too much.

　　Finally, it will be available next week!!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)