Chapter 7: Cultivation is Difficult

  Han Li slowly withdrew the energy flow from his meridians back into his dantian, this being his seventh major cycle of circulation for the day. He knew that his body had already reached its limit of endurance, and if he were to circulate another major cycle, eight or nine out of ten of his meridians would rupture once again, and he himself would have to endure that taste of living death. Just thinking about the pain of his meridians rupturing one by one made Han Li, who was normally bold, break out in a cold sweat on his back.

  It has been more than half a year since I entered the door of Korean studies, and the formal entrance examination for registered students also ended more than two months ago.

  Only a small portion of the formally accepted disciples were able to join the inner circle, while most of those who were tested failed to pass and had no choice but to leave with their bundles and become outer-circle disciples.

  These children who failed to pass will mostly be assigned to the Treasure Hall and the Flying Bird Hall. Among them, those with outstanding points are expected to receive further training, and may have a chance to be recruited into the better-treated Outer Blade Hall. Of course, the best treatment is in the Four Seas Hall, but unfortunately, the Four Seas Hall only recruits famous figures from the martial arts world. Without one or two impressive skills, it's not even worth thinking about, let alone these inexperienced children.

  Han Li couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine when he thought about the contents of the test that the other named disciples had taken two months ago.

  Running around the colorful mountain range of about ten miles, followed by team battles in a sparse forest, and finally withstanding a certain number of moves under the crazy attacks of those powerful martial arts masters. All these tests made Han Li feel a little schadenfreude again.

  Han Li and Zhang Tie did not participate in these terrifying tests, as Mo Da said himself, but only tested the cultivation of their oral formula. However, this pass was not as easy to pass as Han Li thought. Until now, Han Li still remembered the cultivation situation at that time very clearly.

  According to Mo Tai Fu, this nameless incantation is divided into several layers. Han Li and the other person only obtained the first layer's cultivation method, which means that as long as they can make some progress in the first layer's incantation within half a year, Mo Tai Fu will consider them to have passed the test and become his official disciples, receiving the same good treatment as the other inner door disciples of the Seven Mysteries Sect.

  But from the day Han Li learned from others that the treatment of inner and outer disciples was different, he had given up the idea of muddling through the next six months as an outer disciple. For him at that time, everything else seemed unimportant compared to being able to get more silver from the Seven Absolutes Sect and have someone send him back home, because when he was at home, he was really poor and afraid, knowing that every extra coin he earned would make his family's life a little better.

  After getting the oral formula from Mo Tai Fu, Han Li stayed in the house and no longer went out. Day and night, he began to cultivate himself, spending all his available time on this. Because Mo Tai Fu did not give them any guidance on cultivation, Han Li could only grope around by himself, referring to other children's methods of practicing the basic internal skill "Zheng Yang Jin" of the Seven Arcane Gates, and understanding the method of cultivation on his own.

  After three months of hard practice, Han Li was shocked to find that his speed in practicing this set of incantations was surprisingly slow. Despite exerting all his strength, he could only produce a faintly cool energy flow within his body, which was so fine and subtle that it was almost imperceptible unless he carefully introspected.

  This is probably what a few masters said about the true inner energy of Neijia, and Han Li naturally thought so.

  But listening to other children who practice the "Zhengyang Jing" of the Seven Profound Gates, they say that the true energy produced in their bodies is a very obvious warm and hot flow, while what I produce in my body is a cool energy. Moreover, the effects after running are even more different.

  Other children, after using the "positive energy" in their bodies, can already punch and break a small tree with a diameter of about one meter, and jump over one zhang (about 3.3 meters) high; while Han Li ran his own strange true energy, compared to before, there was almost no big change. The only difference is that his spirit seems to be much more vigorous than before, and his appetite has also improved a lot compared to before going up the mountain, but what's the use of that? Watching other children who came up the mountain with him showing off their divine power in front of him, Han Li became disheartened.

  This unexpected discovery almost made Han Li give up his efforts over the past few months, thinking that he was not talented enough and it would be impossible for him to pass Mu's test in the remaining days, and he had even prepared himself to leave the mountain.

  One day, Han Li found out from Zhang Tie, a fellow practitioner, that since he started practicing the incantation, there had been no change in his body whatsoever, not even the slightest effect, nor did he produce any true energy like himself.

  This accidental discovery allowed Han Li to regain some of the confidence he had lost, and in the remaining days, he once again began his former diligent cultivation.

  No, I'm working even harder and more crazily than before.

  Han Li now uses every moment of his time to meditate and cultivate. Even when sleeping at night, Han Li starts to maintain a cultivating posture, hoping to gain a bit more cultivation effect. Of course, this crazy method only lasted for a few days before being abandoned. The reason is that he lacks sleep and cannot maintain the efficiency of his daytime cultivation.

  What puzzled Han Li was that after Mo Daifu taught the oral formula to the two, he completely ignored them and didn't ask about their progress in cultivation or any problems they encountered, as if he had already forgotten the existence of the two.

  Every day, Mo Dafu spent the whole day holding that book with three black characters on its cover, reading it bitterly, as if there were really jade-like beauties and golden houses in the book. At first, Han Li and Zhang Tie even thought that Mo Dafu was not going to be a doctor who saves people and treats injuries anymore, but instead would study hard to take the imperial examination. Later, after the two learned to read, they recognized that the three characters were called "Chang Sheng Jing", which is a book about how to cultivate one's body and nature, and prolong one's life.

  It wasn't until then that the two of them suddenly realized, Mo Dafu didn't want to take the imperial examination, but rather wanted to live as long as the turtles in the river, living for tens of thousands of years without dying.