Chapter Twelve: Making Things Difficult

  Wang Zhang nodded, expressionless, and sized up the 7 people before saying: "From today on, you will all come here every day to practice breathing exercises. When you feel the existence of Qi, tell me and I'll test it. If it's real, you'll change into orange robes and officially become disciples of Tiandao Gate. You won't have to worry about what happens in 5 years anymore!"

  Everyone respectfully nodded their heads.

  Wang Zhanglao said: "I will now teach you the most basic breathing method for cultivation!"

  "The most basic breathing is abdominal breathing! Abdominal breathing can be divided into two types: normal breathing and reverse breathing. Normal breathing means that when inhaling, the abdominal muscles are lightly expanded, and on the premise of feeling comfortable, it's best to breathe in as deeply as possible; when exhaling, relax the muscles again. Reverse breathing is the opposite of normal breathing, that is, when inhaling, the abdominal muscles are lightly contracted, and when exhaling, relax them again."

  Wang Changlao explained to the 7 people: "When you feel like there are ants crawling inside your body, it means you have already cultivated out the spiritual energy."

  He continued: "You must remember, every morning when the sun has just risen, is the time when the spiritual energy between heaven and earth is most abundant. This is the best time for cultivation!"

  Seven people nodded thoughtfully, apparently still not fully understanding Wang's words.

  The old king swept his eyes over the 7 people and continued: "As the saying goes, the master leads you in the door, but cultivation is up to the individual! You all go cultivate on your own! From now on, every month at this time, I will come here once. If anyone cultivates out spiritual energy, report it to me. After my assessment, you can become an inner disciple and set foot on the true path of immortality!"

  King Wang immediately ignored everyone else and mounted his flying sword, heading straight for the inner gate of Tiandao Gate.

  Yang Chen watched as Wang Changlao flew away, then looked at the six people and turned to walk to one side, casually finding a relatively clean place to sit down cross-legged and start breathing according to the method taught by Wang Changlao.

  Yang Chen is not well-educated, but he is extremely intelligent. Since childhood, he has been a well-known prodigy in the village, often memorizing an article while others have not even finished reading it.

  After experimenting for a while, he already grasped some tricks, although still not skilled, but concentrating his mind, he could still do some simple abdominal breathing, and then became infatuated with the practice.

  When one is seriously doing something, time always flies by quickly.

  Before he knew it, it was already noon, and Yang Chen also slowly opened his eyes from his breathing exercises.

  Yang Chen looked around and found that everyone had already left, now only he was left alone. He thought to himself "this is bad" and remembered the matter of eating lunch, then hastily stood up and ran towards the place where they ate.

  Yang Chen rushed to the kitchen, but when he arrived, he found that everyone had already finished eating and walked out, continuing their preparations for cultivation.

  Yang Chen rubbed his hungry stomach and reluctantly continued to return to the mountain cliff where he practiced, sat down cross-legged and continued to breathe in and out.

  In the afternoon, his stomach always growled, making it difficult for him to focus on abdominal breathing.

  If it were other old disciples, they would have been accustomed to abdominal breathing after cultivating for so long, and would be doing abdominal breathing all the time. However, Yang Chen didn't care, and now he was only just starting to learn about abdominal breathing. If he didn't concentrate his mind, it would be difficult for him to do abdominal breathing at all.

  But even so, Yang Chen still forced himself to persist for an afternoon.

  The night fell slowly, and everyone stood up, ending a day of practice, walking towards their own houses.

  After all, it is in the early morning when the sun has just come out that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is the most intense. As time passes, this spiritual energy gradually decreases, and after nightfall, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth becomes extremely weak. The effect of practicing here again will not be great, so it's better to go back and rest, and wait until tomorrow morning when the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is thickened before coming to practice again.

  Yang Chen watched as everyone else left, and he too stood up, with a hungry stomach, heading towards his own place of residence.

  Back in the room, Yang Chen was so hungry that his stomach was growling loudly, and no matter how hard he tried, his stomach kept making gurgling noises, making it difficult for him to fall asleep. It wasn't until the second half of the night that Yang Chen finally fell into a daze and drifted off to sleep.

  In the blink of an eye, four days have passed. During these four days, Yang Chen only had one meal on the second day and didn't eat his fill. The reason was simple: this was a world where strength was revered, and the six people who entered with him intentionally kept their distance from him. Isolated and helpless, he could only silently endure it.

  However, Yang Chen was absolutely not the kind of soft persimmon that could be bullied by anyone. He silently remembered all those who had bullied him and waited for the day when he would have the ability to take revenge on them one by one.

  In the morning, Yang Chen practiced for a while and felt no different from usual. He hastily ended his practice and rushed to the kitchen, as he had not eaten anything for two days now. If he didn't come early today, he might not have been able to eat again.

  However, when Yang Chen arrived here, he found that he was still late. Although there were many empty seats in the dining room, there was a person sitting next to each seat. Without thinking, Yang Chen also knew that these people were helping others occupy the seats.

  Actually, Yang Chen already knew yesterday that these named disciples were almost all in pairs or groups of three, and even more. In this way, one of them would come here to occupy the position every day, and then change shifts every day, so as to ensure everyone's practice time and also ensure that everyone has food to eat.

  Yang Chen helplessly shook his head and walked out of the kitchen with a strong feeling of hunger.

  "No way, I have to think of a way to go down the mountain once and get that painting back. At that time, using the magical effect of the painting, at least we can solve the problem of food and clothing." Yang Chen furrowed his brow, sighed in his heart, and immediately turned around and walked towards the house not far away, where the person in charge of managing them was.

  In these few days, Yang Chen had already learned that although the nominal disciples were managed loosely, they still couldn't casually go down the mountain. If they wanted to go down the mountain, they must first report to the disciple in charge of guarding and obtain two spiritual symbols used for passing through, which prohibited passage on the mountain road. Otherwise, if they privately went down the mountain, they would inevitably trigger the prohibition on the mountain road, and by then it would be too late to regret their actions.

  Yang Chen entered the house and found that the disciple in charge of managing them was cultivating, a thread of pale white gas emerging from his nostrils, rolling like a white dragon.

  Yang Chen's face showed a look of admiration, and he immediately called out in a low voice.

  The young man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Yang Chen with a look of dissatisfaction, saying: "What's the matter? Can't you see I'm cultivating?"

  After finishing speaking, he ignored Yang Chen again and resumed his cultivation. A pale white aura once again rolled out from his nostrils.

  Yang Chen furrowed his brow and continued, "Big Brother Master, I want to go down the mountain for a trip!"

  "Going down the mountain?" The young man opened his eyes, furrowed his brow and said: "I remember you, you're the new disciple who just arrived here 4 days ago, can't even withstand the hardships of cultivation?"

  Yang Chen looked at the young man who had misunderstood his intention and hastily said: "Senior brother has misunderstood, I just want to go down the mountain to take a look, and will return soon!"

  The young man snorted and said impatiently, "No way!" Then he resumed his cultivation once again.

  Yang Chen looked at the young man for a while, and then he also stopped talking, turned around and walked directly towards the outside.

  He came out from the young man and sighed helplessly, walking towards the edge of the mountain cliff to continue his cultivation, planning to try again at night.

  Afternoon practice passed in a flash, and as soon as the sky darkened, Yang Chen once again arrived outside the young man's residence.

  "Big Brother!" Yang Chen knocked on the door and walked in, respectfully saying to the young man sitting in the chair: "Big Brother, may I have your permission to go down the mountain once?"