Deep Mountain Martial Arts Training

  In the depths of the mountain, Lin Heng built a simple wooden hut. The hut was really simple, with four tree trunks standing upright on each side, and four wooden beams tied together on top, covered with long branches and thatched with straw to block out wind and rain. This kind of hut could only keep out the elements from above, but not at all from the sides. Of course, Lin Heng didn't mind these things, after all, he wouldn't be staying here for long.

  That day, he left the Zhongnan Mountains and bought pen, ink, paper, and inkstone in a nearby town. He also bought food and asked for news before quickly returning. As far as he knew, it should still be during the time of the shooting of eagles, because Wang Chongyang had died long ago, and nobody knew who Guo Jing was. So this period must have been during the time of the shooting of eagles, but Lin Heng did not know when that was.

  He also wanted to go out and take a look, but thinking of his own martial arts skills, he immediately cut off this idea.

  For Lin Heng now, cultivation is the most important thing. He doesn't want to roam the Jianghu like Xiao Ao Zhong, relying solely on shameless means. Perhaps in the past, he wouldn't have considered martial arts too much, but after seeing Linghu Chong's progress and Ren Yi Xing's strength, a desire to become strong has also risen in his heart. This desire is still very weak, but it's enough to support him for a period of cultivation.

  The next day after returning, Lin Heng built this wooden house. On the third day, he sneaked into the ancient tomb and transcribed the Nine Yin Manual in the stone chamber. The kung fu in the Nine Yin Manual was what he cared about most, which was the Easy Tendon and Bone Tempering Chapter. The reason has been mentioned before, so it won't be repeated here. However, after reading this chapter, he had a doubt.

  As mentioned earlier, apart from the Nine Yin Manual's general outline, there is no other technique in Shooting the Hawk that teaches people to open up the Eight Extra Meridians. Of course, this is based on the understanding of Yideng and Hong Qigong, but these two are among the Five Greatests, so their understanding must represent the mainstream. Even if there were any oversights, they would be extremely rare.

  Here is the translation:

  No one here has achieved the feat of unblocking the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and it's even more so in Xiaoyao. However, Lin Heng was very certain that the Wang Family's cultivation method he practiced did have the ability to unblock the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

  This set of martial arts is not named, it's just divided into seven layers. The first layer is what Lin Heng used to cultivate, which is the method of converting internal energy into true energy. The second layer is the method of circulating true energy, mainly involving the hand Taiyin lung meridian, hand Yangming large intestine meridian, foot Yangming stomach meridian and foot Taiyin spleen meridian four meridians. The third layer goes further, including the above four regular meridians, as well as the hand Shaoyin heart meridian, hand Taiyang small intestine meridian, foot Taiyang **meridian, and foot Shaoyin kidney meridian four meridians. The fourth layer adds another four meridians, which are the remaining four regular meridians of the twelve regular meridians, namely the hand Jueyin heart package meridian, hand Shaoyang Sanjiao meridian, foot Jueyin liver meridian and foot Shaoyang gallbladder meridian. (Note: The meridians mentioned here are not the same as the ones that were opened up at the beginning. The meridians mentioned here refer to the true energy flowing through them, which is a step-by-step process due to the insufficient spiritual power of humans, unable to control the internal true energy for an extended period. At the same time, it's also because the true energy is insufficient, and cannot flow through multiple meridians.)

  After the twelve regular meridians are fully connected by true energy, you can enter the fifth level of gongfa. At this time, the true energy completely runs through the twelve regular meridians, forming a small cycle that can rotate on its own. Upon reaching this realm, cultivation is for accumulating true energy.

  In the midst of laughter, most of the Gong Fa end here. In She Quan, it's probably the same, otherwise why wouldn't they know how to cultivate the Qi Jing Ba Mai Gong Fa? But Lin Heng got a different unnamed Gong Fa, he also has the sixth and seventh layers, which are the Qi Jing Ba Mai Gong Fa. The sixth layer, Tong Chong Mai, goes through Yang Qiao Mai, Yang Wei Mai, and finally opens up the Du Mai, known as the Sea of Yang Mai; the seventh layer, Tong Dai Mai, goes through Yin Wei Mai, Yin Qiao Mai, and finally opens up the Ren Mai, known as the Sea of Yin Mai.

  After the eight extraordinary meridians are opened up, the true Qi will flow throughout the entire body. At that time, the true Qi forms a large cycle, and is constantly being produced and reproduced.

  Through repeated comparisons, Lin Heng knew that his unnamed technique was absolutely a very powerful technique, at least not inferior to the Nine Yin True Classics, the only difference being that it was only an internal skill.

  In the mountains, Lin Heng would cultivate for three hours in the morning, noon and evening. Among them, he would practice the nameless technique for two hours each time, and the Easy Tendon and Bone Tempering Chapter for one hour each time, totaling nine hours. For the remaining fifteen hours, he would take out six hours to sleep, and the rest of the time was spent either eating, drinking, relieving himself or practicing martial arts.

  Before, he didn't learn many kung fu moves because he thought it was better to specialize in a few rather than be a jack-of-all-trades. Especially since his training time was short. Now he understands that after having a certain foundation in martial arts, one should try out various techniques to broaden their horizons. Of course, this isn't about learning every single kung fu move, but rather understanding them and using that understanding to strengthen your strongest martial art.

  Lin Heng, after realizing his own problems, immediately selected the mainstream martial arts of the future. Among them, he chose the Wu Liang Sword Technique, but he also wouldn't completely abandon the Wuyue Sword Technique. Instead, he would select the essence of it and incorporate it into his Wu Liang Sword Technique. Similarly, anything in the Wu Liang Sword Technique that didn't suit him would be eliminated.

  He chose the Arhat Fist. Indeed, he now has the Nine Yin Divine Claw and the Great Overturning Devil Fist, but to say that he is truly familiar with only the Arhat Fist. Since he has already mastered it, why change? With that time, it's better to cultivate his own Arhat Fist well and use it to complement the Nine Yin.

  Qinggong, Lin Heng didn't mind having more. The qinggong he had cultivated before, the Sky Ladder, was formidable, but compared to the Snake Slithering Technique, it was clearly inferior by a significant margin.

  Climbing the sky ladder, it's all about the transition in mid-air, and the speed is very fast. The snake-like movement technique allows one to move on the ground like a snake, whether it's speed or agility, both are excellent; in the air, it can also flip and roll like a cat. It can be said that this snake-like movement technique is the most versatile among all lightness techniques, far surpassing the sky ladder.

  With a choice, there is direction. Lin Heng set his own goal and naturally had to move forward in that direction. His cultivation was just like this. In the nine hours, he spent six hours cultivating three types of techniques, while only three hours were used to study other martial arts, deepening his understanding of them.

  In this state of intense cultivation, time passed bit by bit, and Lin Heng didn't know how long it had been. It wasn't until one day that he suddenly heard the sound of bells coming from the direction of the Quanzhen Sect. He was taken aback, and sneaking a peek, he discovered that it was actually New Year's Day.

  It's been a year and he's also grown one year older. Since crossing over, he's now eighteen years old too. This age isn't considered big, but for him, the things he experienced in these eighteen years are quite mystical.

  "I've been cultivating here for almost a year, and my skills have recovered, but in archery, I'm probably just a third-rate martial artist. It seems I still need to work hard!" Lin Heng suppressed the urge to go out and take a look, and returned to the wooden hut to continue his cultivation. During this time, he also searched for medicinal materials in the mountains and refined elixirs.

  Dan medicine can increase internal strength. This is not a strange thing, but this kind of dan medicine that can increase internal strength is extremely precious. In previous legends, only the Xiaoyao Dan and Dayao Dan of Shaolin Temple had such functions, as for others, I'm afraid no one has heard of them before. However, Lin Heng is different, his master in Xixiao is Ping Yizhi.

  Ping Yizhi is the absolute divine doctor in Xueqing, his medical skills are beyond doubt. He also has high achievements in the field of alchemy. You see Dongfang Bubai, in the original work when Linghu Chong and others dealt with him, he said, "I refined elixirs and took medicine." This sentence explains that there is a kind of elixir in the Dayue Sect that can increase true energy. And Ping Yizhi is the divine doctor of the Dayue Sect, how could he not know about this elixir?

  He knew it, Lin Heng naturally knew it. At first in Xiaoyao's time, due to the lack of medicinal materials, he didn't refine the elixir. Now that the medicinal materials were no longer lacking, he naturally wanted to refine the elixir and take medicine to increase his cultivation.

  The elixir that Lin Heng wanted to refine was called the "Augmented Yuan Dan", one of its main medicinal ingredients being the "Fire Letter Seed". This medicine is very peculiar and rare, Lin Heng had only seen it in medical texts before, but last time he unexpectedly saw this medicine, naturally giving birth to the idea of refining elixirs.

  It seems a bit wordy and it's also somewhat redundant to talk about alchemy here. The details won't be mentioned, after all the author doesn't even know how to practice alchemy.

  Refining the elixir was not a smooth process, at least not for Lin Heng himself. His first few batches of elixirs had failed, fortunately there were plenty of fire crystals here, otherwise he would have been in tears. But slowly, Lin Heng grasped the key to refining the elixir, and he began to succeed, batch after batch. He looked at the glistening elixir, his heart filled with joy.

  This morning, Lin Heng took out a Yuan Dan before practicing, but when he was about to take it, he seemed to remember something and immediately withdrew the medicine from his hand, narrowing his eyes slightly. In his eyes, a screen appeared in front of him, and he entered the medical system with great familiarity. Here, a button for Dan medicine appeared. He lightly pressed it, and the screen went in.

  "Zeng Yuan Dan, a pill that increases internal energy, one pill can increase internal energy for a year." On the screen, it first explained the effect of the pill, then said: "This is actually not a good pill, it can only increase internal energy for a year at most. Moreover, the pill contains many impurities, I advise the host to use it sparingly!"

  Lin Heng smiled when he saw this. Although the system had criticized the Xuan Yuan Dan, it told him that the Xuan Yuan Dan was still usable, as long as he controlled the dosage; otherwise, it would be counterproductive.

  Having seen these, he felt at ease and took the elixir with confidence, then began to meditate with his eyes closed.