Chapter 47: Cruel Training

  Whether it is Liu Xuan or Zhao Yun in those years, their muscles and bones are unlikely to re-develop, almost fixed.

  But they have unexplored potential in them, which is actually possessed by everyone, just of different sizes.

  Yu Zhenren formulated a special medicine to stimulate potential, with a nice name called Xi Gan wine and Yi Jin Dan. Its function is to stimulate the potential of the human body.

  So every time after taking the medicine, Liu Xuan would feel an infinite power surging inside his body, but soon this powerful feeling would disappear.

  Overload training is to fix this potential that the human body occasionally bursts out and make it a normal power.

  This has the same effect as training weightlifters in later generations. Yu Zhenren's goal is only one, to fully tap Liu Xuan's potential and double his strength. With a thousand jin of force, he can truly practice Luofeng Gongfa, and finally practice Bai Niao Chao Feng Gun, which is closely linked.

  That night, Liu Xuan was almost carried into the Qing Zhu Temple by several little Taoists. When the effect of the medicine wore off, the extreme fatigue almost killed Liu Xuan. He himself couldn't remember how many miles he had run or how many mountains he had climbed.

  In Liu Xuan's understanding, practicing should be gradual and slow in increasing the amount, but Yu Zhenren did not do so, giving him three doses of medicine a day, pushing him to the limit of his physical strength.

  Plop!

  Liu Xuan, stripped of his clothes, was thrown into a large iron cauldron with a diameter of about one zhang. A small Taoist priest busily added firewood under the cauldron, and flames blazed beneath it, while hot air billowed inside.

  Another little Taoist poured a basket of picked herbs into the iron pot, as if he were stewing a pot of fragrant green vegetable and human flesh soup.

  However, there was a thick bamboo mat hanging in the iron pot, which allowed Liu Xiang's skin to not come into contact with the scalding bottom of the pot, and only enjoy the hot water, the temperature was similar to the first soup just boiled in the bathhouse of later generations.

  Liu Xuan was almost numb to the external stimuli, unable to feel the warmth of the water temperature. He only felt himself constantly falling into a painful hell, plummeting all the way down to the eighteenth level of hell.

  Yu Zhenren stretched out his hand to test the water temperature, and when it was about right, at a comfortable warmth for the human body, he said to the firewood Daoist: "Withdraw the firewood, don't burn any more."

  "Xian Chang, how long does he need to soak?" a little Taoist asked.

  "At least for a while, wait until the water has cooled down, and then add more firewood to boil the water."

  Using hot water with herbal medicine is to help Liu Jing eliminate fatigue and restore his physical strength, so that he can continue the high-intensity training tomorrow. This devil-like training will last for at least a month before it becomes normal long-term training.

  "Really, when does it start tomorrow?" Liu Xuan asked weakly as he lay in the medicinal bath.

  "Tomorrow at the fourth watch, we'll get up early and go mountain climbing." Yu Zhenren replied with a smile.

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  Liu Qi knew that Liu Xuan had gone to Longzhong, but did not know where he was. It wasn't until his fifth trip to Longzhong that he finally found Liu Xuan at the Qingzhu Pavilion.

  Liu Xuan didn't want Liu Qi to know too much about his martial arts practice, so he took him to the town.

  "Eldest brother, has Liu Xiong's army returned?" asked Liu Jue with a smile.

  "They returned a long time ago and are now stationed in XinYe. The Emperor also asked about you and praised your achievements."

  "What a pity, unable to welcome the triumphant return of the troops."

  The two walked into town. Liu Qi suggested treating him to lunch. Liu Xuan smiled and asked, "Does big brother have money? I don't have a single cent on me."

  Liu Qi took out a small ingot of gold, about three or four taels, weighed it in his hand and asked with a smile: "Is this enough?"

  "That's enough for me to eat ten meals."

  The two of them walked into a wine shop, laughing and chatting, but soon Liu Qi was shocked to the point of being speechless. This meal, Liu Jing actually wanted to eat five kilograms of meat and two liters of rice, which was simply unthinkable to him.

  "Xing Di, how... your appetite has increased a lot?"

  Liu Jiong let out a bitter laugh. If Liu Qi knew that his daily exercise was more than ten times what it used to be, he wouldn't be surprised.

  "Maybe I'm just growing up recently! Especially can eat, I also find it strange." Liu Yun replied vaguely.

  Liu Qi had more important things on his mind, and Liu Jing's increased appetite seemed trivial in comparison. He hesitated for a moment before saying: "Jing, brother, Father is very apologetic about your departure from home. He asked me to come find you, to express his apologies and concern for you, and hopes that you can understand his difficulties."

  Liu Jiong nodded, "I can understand Uncle's difficulties. It's hard to judge family matters fairly! Family conflicts are difficult to say who is right or wrong."

  Liu Qi did not expect Liu Xuan to be so understanding, and the worries that had been weighing on his mind for the past few days seemed to have been blown away by the wind, and his heart suddenly cleared up.

  Liu Qi smiled and said, "If Father knew you were so considerate of others, he would be overjoyed. To be honest, I think it's not your fault, the root cause lies in the marriage between you and the Cai family."

  "I don't want to be married into the Cai family, I've already made it clear to Uncle."

  "I know."

  Liu Qi sighed, "Actually, Shaoyu is not suitable for you. She has been spoiled since childhood and needs a more tolerant or gentle-tempered husband. You are tolerant, but deep down, you are very strong-willed. Even if the two of you were to get married by chance, it would be difficult for you to get along in the future."

  Liu Jiong nodded silently, and Liu Qi wasn't wrong either.

  The two fell silent for a moment, and then Liu Qi asked again: "Then what are you going to do about this matter?"

  "What else can be done?"

  Liu Jiong sighed with a bitter smile, "I definitely won't agree. Uncle is pushing me too hard, so I'll have to return to my hometown in Shanyang."

  "It's actually unnecessary to do so, if you're firm in your attitude, Father shouldn't force you anymore. But I think marrying Shaoyue would bring many benefits, I advise you to reconsider!"

  Liu Qi's heart was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he hoped that Liu Xuan would give up on this marriage and not compete with him for Shao Yu. On the other hand, he was worried that his second brother would get their mother's support and eventually marry Shao Yu, gaining the support of the Cai family, which would threaten his position as the crown prince.

  So he also hoped that Liu Qi could take down this marriage and cut off the second brother's path to usurpation, this kind of anxious thinking made Liu Qi's words before and after a bit self-contradictory.

  "Is there anything else, elder brother?" Liu Xuan didn't want to mention the marriage between the Cai and his family again, so he changed the subject.

  "Also, we need to solve your food and accommodation problems, besides, father's intention is to find a job for you."

  These two things Liu Xuan was very interested in, what he lacked most now was money, his appetite was too big, Qing Zhu Guan could not afford to support him, and the little gold in his hand would not last for long.

  What's more important is that his medicine expenses are extremely high, the medicine brought by Yu Zhenren can only support him for a month, after a month, he has to think of a way himself.

  In addition, he had long been looking forward to joining the job, which meant that he formally entered the official career and started his struggle journey.

  Liu Jiong tried to hold back his inner urgency, smiled and said: "That's also true, my appetite is too big now, Qingzhu Temple can't afford to support me this big-bellied Heavenly Master, I don't know how Elder Brother plans to solve my food and lodging problem?"

  "I've found a small house for you in Fan City, and all the furniture is ready. You can move in anytime. As for your meals, you can eat at Jianghan Restaurant in Fan City. Don't worry about the cost, I'll settle it with them."

  Liu Xuan's heart skipped a beat, how did he end up being sent to Fan City?

  But then he realized that this was actually a marginalization of him, perhaps Liu Jue's momentum was too strong, affecting Liu Qi and Liu Zuan, or perhaps it was because he refused to marry Cai Shao Yu, a warning from Liu Biao.

  In short, there is a hint of demotion in it. Liu Xuan couldn't help but sneer inwardly and asked calmly: "What position are you planning to arrange for me?"

  Perhaps feeling guilty about sending Liu Xuan to Fan City, Liu Qi relaxed his tone and smiled: "You can consider the specific position yourself, as long as it's not too excessive, Father should be satisfied with you, as a reward for killing Zhang Wu."

  At this time, Liu Xuan suddenly remembered something related to his future practice. He hesitated for a moment and said: "I hope the new position is related to the Han River."

  "This request is not excessive, I'll go tell Father about it. Besides, how much longer will you be staying in Longzhong? Father wants to know what you're doing in Longzhong?" Liu Qi looked at Liu Xuan with doubt.

  "This... I met an old Daoist and am currently learning to refine the elixir from him, there's still a month left! A month later, I will appear in Fan City."

  Liu Qi nodded and took out thirty taels of gold, placing it on the table and pushing it towards Liu Xuan.

  ．．．．．．．．．

  Liu Xuan rushed back to the Qing Zhu Temple, he had been practicing martial arts for five days, until yesterday, his body's extreme fatigue gradually disappeared, and he deeply felt the changes in his body, he even had a feeling of rebirth.

  As if he had shed a heavy burden, his body felt lighter, his steps more forceful, and his energy more abundant. He could run back to Xiangyang with ease, feeling no fatigue, as if there was an inexhaustible vitality throughout his body.

  He knew that this was not entirely the result of the devil-like training, but also the effect of Yu Zhenren's medicine, which seemed to have triggered his potential. This had only just begun for five days, and what would be the effect in a month?

  He rushed all the way to the entrance of the Taoist temple and saw Yu Zhenren standing in the pavilion from a distance. "Zhenren!" Liu Xing excitedly waved his hand and rushed over.

  "Do you know how much time you've exceeded?" Yu Zhenren asked coldly.

  Liu Jiong scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. The Jade True Person had only given him one quarter of an hour, but he got carried away and wasted at least half an hour.

  "I am willing to accept punishment!"

  "Really?"

  Yu Zhenren's face lit up with a smile, "Since you volunteered, I won't be polite either. Today, you'll have to run an extra 20 miles."

  ．．．．．．．．

  Soon, Liu Jiong realized that running an extra 20 miles every day was not a punishment, but rather an increase in his training volume. Half a month later, he had to run nearly 100 miles every day, which is almost equivalent to running a marathon every day.

  But that's not enough, he also wants to climb the mountain countless times, starting from 4:00 in the morning and ending at 10:00 in the evening. Almost every day, he is carried into the Taoist temple by the little Taoists, stripped of his clothes and thrown into a pot for slow stewing.

  Liu Jue felt his own strength growing day by day, and soon he had been training for more than twenty days. During this time, Zhao Yun came to see him twice and sent him twenty stones of grain and ten pigs, which was actually a token of Liu Bei's goodwill.

  That night, Liu Xuan had finished his medicinal bath and most of the fatigue in his body had dissipated. At this time, he usually went back to his room to sleep, but today, Liu Xuan came to Yu Zhenren's door and knocked on it, "Zhenren, it's me!"

  "Come on in!"

  Liu Xuan pushed open the door and entered the house, where Yu Zhenren was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed in meditation. Although Yu Zhenren did not allow Liu Xuan to call him "Master", in Liu Xuan's heart he had already regarded him as such.

  Liu Xuan stepped forward and knelt down, respectfully performing a bow, "Are you looking for me, sir?"

  Yu Zhenren slowly opened his eyes and smiled: "I have something important to find you."