Chapter Ten: The First Reading of the Immortal Book

  The shopkeeper smiled and bowed to Li Hu from a distance, saying: "It's only been half a month, and you've already made two trips. It seems that the Golden Knife Escort Agency is getting busier and more prosperous."

  Li Hu said with a bad temper: "Damn! I was thinking of making another trip before the heavy snow blocked the mountain, and then I could go home to hug my wife, have a good winter's sleep. Who would have thought that I would encounter evil spirits in Taifu Mountain? It's really unlucky!"

  The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hastily asked: "Did you encounter evil spirits? Did you run into that man-eating evil ghost? Li Da Biao quickly tell us, let us open our eyes."

  Li Hu waved his hand and said, "You guys have been drinking a bellyful of wind. First, bring up a few pots of tea. The food and drink will follow the old rules: the buns must be hot, the scallions must be tender, no water is allowed in the wine, bring ten catties of braised pork quickly!"

  The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Alright, the wine and dishes will be served immediately. I'll also prepare three connected rooms for you gentlemen." Seeing Li Hu nodding, the shopkeeper instructed the waiter to make preparations.

  Xiao Ziyang suddenly spoke up: "Get me a room upstairs." As soon as the words fell, Li Hu and the others turned their heads to stare at him.

  He continued on his own: "After wandering in the mountains for two days, I'm really exhausted. Last night, there was a fat guy snoring loudly in my room, disturbing me so much that I didn't sleep well all night. Today my head is heavy, and if I don't sleep well again tonight, tomorrow...if I get a headache or fever, how can I travel? Don't worry, I'll pay for the accommodation myself."

  When he said that he would pay the bill, Li Hu and the other two stopped talking. Xiao Ziyang was a good guy except for his bad temper; he never frowned no matter what difficulties came his way. The three of them just sneered at him in their hearts for not knowing his place, but didn't think much of it.

  Xiao Ziyang had been robust since childhood and had never known what it was like to be ill, so he wanted to thoroughly study the secret manual "Zi Yu Sheng Yan".

  Xiao Er brought up some mantou, Xiaoziyang casually grabbed a few and then had Xiao Er take him to his room to rest.

  After Xiao Ziyang left, everyone wolfed down their food. The three escorts split up to take the mountain goods to the patrol house and the Wei Suo for inspection.

  The porters and rickshaw men scattered in all directions, except for a few unlucky ones who were left behind to guard the goods, while the others rushed into the brothels and gambling dens.

  In a quiet upstairs room, Xiao Ziyang sent away the little servant and didn't even bother to eat. He casually threw aside the buns and scallions, and pulled out from his bosom that copy of "Zi Yu Sheng Yan".

  With the dim oil lamp, Xiao Ziyang read through this secret book in one breath. After finishing it, he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in his heart.

  This book doesn't look like a cultivation manual no matter how you look at it, but rather an external family skill.

  The book is divided into nine levels of gongfa, each level records several sets of methods and movements to cultivate the physical body. Some movements and methods are very common, while some methods are unimaginable, and as you move towards the back, the movements become stranger and more difficult. When these methods are combined, it seems that every muscle and bone in the body is being exercised.

  After these exercise methods, some massage techniques are also recorded to accompany the exercises. According to the book, these massage techniques can stimulate muscle growth, quickly eliminate fatigue, enhance visceral function, especially intestinal function, in order to provide more nutrients for high-intensity exercise.

  The book also states that because the practice of this method is too strenuous for the body, without corresponding medicinal soups and dietary support, ordinary people will not need half a year's work to cultivate themselves to death. Even those with the Hunyuan spiritual root will be unable to continue practicing due to physical exhaustion.

  What made Xiao Ziyang inexplicable was that after each layer of Gongfa, what was left behind was not a prescription, but a large section of pharmacology.

  As a martial artist, he naturally understood some simple medical principles and could barely make out that these medicinal properties seemed to be describing several prescriptions for tonifying Qi and nourishing the body. Why did the person who wrote this secret book not directly leave behind the prescription, but instead left behind these obscure and difficult-to-understand medicinal principles?

  Fortunately, someone filled in many prescriptions and medicinal recipes in tiny characters between the lines of these medical texts. Otherwise, with Xiao Ziyang's still inexperienced knowledge of pharmacology, it would be impossible to make out the prescriptions.

  Half of these prescriptions are for strengthening the body, and the other half are for enhancing the function of the viscera. These prescriptions correspond to the nine-layered Gong method, used in different stages. The later the prescription is used, the more precious the medicinal materials are; in the last few prescriptions, there are even medicinal materials that can be called treasures, such as hundred-year-old ginseng and hundred-year-old Polygonum multiflorum.

  The materials used for Chinese medicinal diet are also like this.

  The book also records a set of meditation techniques, which are said to be a method for refining the spirit. If used in place of sleep, not only can it better recover the body from the extreme fatigue caused by intense practice, but it is also extremely beneficial for future practice.

  If this secret book is really just a secret book of external family kung fu, then perhaps Xiao Ziyang's hope for revenge will be nothing but an illusion.

  There is an old saying in Jianghu that "ten years of bitter practice, not as good as one day of energy reaching the Dan Tian!" From this, we can see the low status of external family kung fu.

  External family kung fu, even if it's top-notch external family kung fu, as long as you have money, you can always learn it. For example, in the city of Ganzhou Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, there is a "Tie Long Wu Guan" which is the largest in Ganzhou, and they openly advertise their prices - for 10,000 taels of silver, they will teach you the top-notch external style technique "Ten Tigers Great Strength Decision".

  But Neijia Kung Fu, even lower-level Neijia Kung Fu, is the untransmitted secret of various Wulin schools.

  What is known as external family kung fu actually refers to the use of various means to temper the body. The human body has its limits, and even if one practices the most superior internal family kung fu to the extreme, it will only allow a person to have two or three thousand catties of strength between their arms.

  Neijiaquan is different, it breaks through the limitations of the human body, opens up a new path, cultivates the dantian, and refines internal power. Internal power not only allows people to possess dragon-tiger strength that transcends human physical limits but also makes one's body light as a swallow, flying over rooftops and walking on walls. When practiced to the highest level, it can even grant one legendary divine abilities such as palm wind, sword energy, and sword aura.