Chapter 8 Cultivating the Azure Goat Collection

  He slowly stuffed the paper back under the quilt, Dog Egg covered himself with the quilt, took a long breath, closed his eyes, and began to simulate the operation route of "Li Huo Xin Fa" in his mind.

  If it were a dog egg that had just crossed over, even if he got this complete Li Huo Xin Fa, and recited it perfectly, he would still be unable to cultivate it because he didn't know the trick to cultivating internal energy.

  It's different now, he knows the trick. Although Dà Lì Jīn Gāng Qì Gōng is the most superficial internal skill, it is also a genuine internal skill. At the entry point, it is no different from other internal skills. The key points are also general.

  "This "Lihuo Heart Method" is obviously one level higher than the Dali Jin'gang Qigong, and in terms of subtlety and refinement, it's hard to say how many levels higher it is. However, the entry point and key points are not much different from those of the Dali Jin'gang Qigong."

  Gou Danzi carefully reviewed the entire "Lihuo Heart Method" internal skill running route and practice method in his mind, and he roughly understood this internal skill. This internal skill is different from Dali Jin Gang Qi Gong in two ways. First, it's the running route of the internal skill. The Lihuo Heart Method's internal energy running route is more than twice as complicated as that of Dali Jin Gang Qi Gong. As a result, the time it takes for the internal energy to complete one cycle is naturally much longer than that of Dali Jin Gang Qi Gong. Most importantly, the lengthened internal energy running route requires more complex control over the internal energy. With Gou Danzi's current level of control, he can only run two cycles at most.

  Secondly, it's the way of absorbing the primordial energy from heaven and earth. This so-called internal skill is essentially about absorbing the primordial energy from heaven and earth for one's own use, taking in the surrounding primordial energy, using special methods to assimilate it, and converting it into one's own energy. This is the fundamental principle of internal skills, regardless of how advanced they are. Dali Jin Gang Qi Gong is like a big-bellied man with poor digestion who swallows everything edible or not, and after a bout of vomiting and diarrhea, both nutritious and toxic substances are retained in the body, making it impure and mixed.

  In contrast, Lihuo Heart Method is different from the beginning of absorption to the entry into the body for refinement. It seems to only absorb primordial energy with certain attributes from the primordial energy of heaven and earth, excluding all other attributes. This is why its running route in the body is more complicated than Dali Jin Gang Qi Gong. It's also because digesting this single-attribute primordial energy is much more difficult than devouring a mix of everything and then getting mixed and impure energy.

  "Separate from fire, separate from fire, this clearly means absorbing the fire attribute of the heavenly and earthly Yuan Qi, and refining it!"

  The dog egg lay on the bed, opened his eyes, and in the darkness, a pair of pupils shone with extremely bright light. "This Li Huo Xin Fa is much more profound than Da Li Jin Gang Qi Gong, but it's obviously also an introductory heart method. Otherwise, I, a rookie, wouldn't be able to understand it. Wang Tian Lei said that this thing was his spoils of war from the battlefield, which means he got it from someone he killed. The person who could be killed by him naturally didn't have very high martial arts skills, which in itself explains that he couldn't possibly possess a very profound secret recipe. However, this really benefited me - if this heart method were any more profound, I really wouldn't be able to understand it, and even if I got it, it would be useless. If it were any shallower, it would be no different from Da Li Jin Gang Qi Gong. This level is truly just right!"

  Thinking of this, Dog Egg smiled and suddenly remembered that when he was a kid in his past life, teachers always liked to have them set a learning goal. The characteristic of this goal was that with a little effort, they could reach it. As he grew up, these so-called learning goals became a joke in his eyes. But unexpectedly, after being reborn and reincarnated, the legendary "just one jump away" goal was gradually achieved.

  It is said that practicing internal strength can strengthen the body, prolong life and benefit longevity. In his past life when watching martial arts, Wang Bo also thought so, but in this life, Gou Dangzi, who has practiced internal strength, knows that at least half of these rumors are false.

  Cultivating internal strength can indeed strengthen the body and prolong life, but that requires at least reaching the level of external strength where the bones are fully tempered. Otherwise, the more profound your internal energy is, the shorter your lifespan will be. This is because your body cannot withstand too much internal energy, just like a container that overflows when it exceeds its limit. If this container is sealed, it will collapse. The relationship between the body and internal energy is like that of a sealed container and its contents. Therefore, to make internal energy more robust, you must strengthen your physical body. The more internal energy you have, the only thing waiting for you is a loud "boom" - an explosion.

  The inner energy cultivated by the Li Huo Xin Fa is a pure and authentic fire attribute, so the requirements for the meridians in the body are naturally higher than those of the Great Power Golden Strength Qigong.

  It can be imagined that after cultivation, the progress will be even slower than Dali Jin Nei Qi Gong, but before that, Gou Danzi's task is not to absorb the fire attribute yuanqi from the Tian Di Yuan Qi, but to transform all the impure internal qi cultivated by his own body's Dali Jin Gang Nei Gong into Huo Xing Li Fire Internal Qi.

  After truly understanding the method of internal energy cultivation, Gou Dangzi's heart felt more worry than excitement.

  "I only got the most basic inner strength and physical training methods, but with them, I can infer that in the near future, I will have what kind of power. Then, those who possess more profound inner strength and physical training methods, how strong will they be? Damn it, this world is really quite scary. Now, I'm just a rustic villager hiding in a small mountain village. Life is short, like autumn leaves, unless I really activate the legendary main character mode, encounter strange fate, otherwise, let's take it easy!"

  "I'm stuck in this small mountain village, the old man wants me to be an apprentice, maybe it's an opportunity, Qingyang Village, haha, I really look forward to it!"

  He lay in bed here thinking of Qingyangcun, and similarly, in Qingyangcun, there were also people who thought of this small mountain village.

  Qingyang Town, a small town on the outskirts of Yunzhou near Mount Mangcang, although remote, is very prosperous. Because this is the most convenient passage to Mount Mangcang, and also the transaction point for every ten thousand with Yunzhou.

  Yunzhou is one of the most marginal states among the thirteen states of Great Jin, while Mangcang Mountain is the natural boundary between Great Jin and Northern Yuan.

  However, despite the confrontation between Great Jin and Northern Yuan for hundreds of years, there has never been a war that took place on Mangcang Mountain. This is mainly because Mangcang Mountain stretches for thousands of miles, known as the "Ten Thousand Great Mountain", where not only are snakes, insects, and ferocious beasts numerous, but also some powerful demonic beasts that are beyond human resistance. If you say that a super master can rely on their own extraordinary strength to cross from Great Jin to Northern Yuan through Mangcang Mountain, although the possibility is small, it's not impossible. However, if you say that they can lead tens of thousands of troops to cross Mangcang Mountain, that would be a joke.

  Therefore, neither the Great Jin nor the Northern Yuan would set up any strongholds or military installations on the edge of Mangchang Mountain. Instead, some merchants were very interested in the fur, animal nuclei, and medicinal herbs produced in Mangchang Mountain, which also created the prosperity of Qingyangji, a remote place.

  Prosperity returns to prosperity, after all, it's just a small town. Qingyangji is not very big, with only four streets at its widest, two running east-west and two running north-south, dividing the entire town into a "well" shape. The most prosperous place is naturally the center of the "well", where all the large warehouses are gathered, which is called "Jingzhongfang". By the way, this "well" pattern is a characteristic of all small towns in Dajin Yunzhou. Except for the middle block of "Jingzhongfang", the town has two entrances, "East" and "West". The north is where the government office is located, and the south is where some small workshops and shops are. All the warehouses and inns in the town are concentrated in the northeast area, because it is close to the entrance of Mangcang Mountain. The southeast district is home to the town's dignitaries, and can be said to be a rich residential area. As for those small merchants and petty citizens, they live in the northwest district, and the southwest district is generally off-limits, as it is the territory of the Black Dragon Society.

  Heilong Association, a mid-tier gang in Yunzhou, controls more than a dozen small towns including Qingyangji. They control the water and land ports here, and whether it's transporting goods out or bringing them in, they have to pay Heilong Association a considerable fee, which is also one of the main sources of income for Heilong Association.

  Not all gangs in this world are entirely of a black society nature, in a certain sense, it is a kind of monopoly organization that relies on strong strength to control effective resources, an economic entity with a black society nature. Their main income is not like the old days when Dog Egg Son watched TV and collected protection fees, chased debts and so on, these things are done by second-rate sons.

  They are in control of the entire local economy, aren't they? You need to transport goods by water, don't you? Do you want a boat? A dock? Workers to load and unload cargo? All of these things are in their hands. And as for the goods that come out of the mountains, foreign merchants can't just buy them whenever they want. Generally speaking, small villages like Dog Egg Village only sell their annual harvests to local merchants and trading houses at Qingyang Market. But most of these local merchants have a close relationship with the Black Dragon Society, and many are even members themselves. The largest warehouses in Qingyang Market are also controlled by the Black Dragon Society. So, this is how the Black Dragon Society actually dominates Qingyang Market. For villages like Dog Egg Village, after Wang Tianlei arrived, their income did indeed increase greatly. But when they got to Qingyang Market, they still had to sell their goods to local merchants with ties to the Black Dragon Society. The only difference now was that they had more room for negotiation. This is the unspoken rule, a rule that everyone tacitly accepts. As for the government, it's like a big company's board of directors - they don't have to do anything, just collect taxes when the time comes.

  However, this does not mean that the Black Dragon Society dares to confront the government. The yamen in Qingyang Village has only thirty or forty people, and apart from those ten or so constables who know some martial arts, the rest are ordinary people. But even these ordinary people, the Black Dragon Society would not dare to provoke casually, because the yamen represents the authority of the government, is the face of the Great Jin Dynasty. The Black Dragon Society is just a gang at the bottom of the Jianghu in the Great Jin Dynasty and does not have any conditions to challenge the government. Although they can destroy the entire yamen in Qingyang Village within an hour, afterwards, the government of the Great Jin Dynasty will annihilate the entire Black Dragon Society within the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.

  Therefore, the Black Dragon Gang, although somewhat arrogant in their actions, strictly adheres to the bottom line of all gangs in the Jianghu, and has always been at peace with the government, not only at peace but also with a hint of military-civilian harmony, in short, they are colluding with each other.

  It's not hard to understand that the government of Qingyang Village is just a handful of people, and the head of the government changes every few years. To really manage Qingyang Village well without any problems, it still needs the help of local snakes like Heilonghui. This kind of thing exists in Yunzhou and other places in Dajin, and can be said to be an unwritten rule in the officialdom of Dajin. Small towns rely on Heilonghui-like grassroots gangs, large cities rely on some famous schools in Jianghu, and as for the several high-ranking sects in Dajin, they have close ties with the imperial family and high-ranking aristocratic families.