Chapter 21: The Sweating Blood Horse

  After Ling Yun retired, Ma Yu took Guo Jing to the cliff and taught him some internal skills of Xuanmen. Of course, Ma Yu didn't explicitly tell Guo Jing that he was teaching him internal skills, but rather said that he would teach him some breathing, sitting, walking, and sleeping techniques. What's even more ridiculous is that Guo Jing actually believed it. This is also because the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan had never taught Guo Jing internal skills before, so Guo Jing didn't have any understanding of internal skills and was easily deceived by Ma Yu.

  It's actually related to the martial arts path of the Jiangnan Seven Freaks. The Jiangnan Seven Freaks rose from among the common people, not from a famous school or sect. Their martial arts skills were all learned through self-study and imitation, adding their own insights on top of what they had learned from others. They didn't learn any orthodox internal energy cultivation methods, but instead developed their internal energy naturally through years of external practice. Although they possessed internal energy, it was not something that could be taught to others, only how to use it. Even if they wanted to teach Guo Jing internal energy, they wouldn't know where to start. And since Guo Jing's external martial arts skills were still immature and hadn't yet produced internal energy, the Jiangnan Six Freaks didn't need to explain internal energy to him either, which led to his complete lack of understanding of internal energy.

  One night of practice, it was only when the sky was slightly bright that Guo Jing was lowered down the cliff by Ma Yu with a rope, telling him to come again that night and repeatedly reminding him not to mention this matter to anyone. Guo Jing nodded in agreement, then went home. Because he usually followed his six masters to learn martial arts and often stayed out all night, his mother Li Ping also didn't think much of it, and Ling Zhiyun, who understood the situation, wouldn't ask either.

  In this way, Guo Jing practiced his skills every day under the guidance of the Jiangnan Six Freaks and Ling Pei Yun's instructions. At night, he would go to the cliff top to meditate and practice his internal energy with Ma Yu. Although Ma Yu did not teach him any martial arts techniques, as his internal energy gradually improved, its benefits to his martial arts skills became increasingly apparent. During the day, when practicing martial arts, Guo Jing found that he was becoming lighter and more agile, and his strength was being used more efficiently. Techniques that he had previously struggled with were now being executed quickly and accurately. The Jiangnan Six Freaks thought that Guo Jing's improvement was due to his growing age and diligent practice, which finally led to a breakthrough, and they were all delighted. However, they did not know that Guo Jing actually had another master guiding him from behind the scenes.

  Although Ling Yun knew, he didn't tell the Six Freaks of Jiangnan due to certain considerations. He would occasionally sneak out at night to follow Guo Jing and take a look around, just in case something unexpected happened. The system had warned him that there might be variables, so he didn't dare to let his guard down too much around Guo Jing, lest something unexpected happen and he wouldn't have anywhere to buy regret medicine.

  However, this also allowed Ling Yun to see Guo Jing's progress in his qinggong skills. Ling Yun discovered that every night when Guo Jing climbed up the cliff, Ma Yu would often climb alongside him, teaching him how to control his breathing and use his strength. Only when he was unable to climb any further would Ma Yu pull himself up to the top of the cliff and use a rope to pull Guo Jing up. As time passed, Guo Jing's qinggong skills improved greatly, not only becoming faster but also able to climb higher. Places that were originally difficult to climb became easy for him to leap up to, with Ma Yu only needing to use a rope to pull him up in the most difficult places.

  Later, Linghu Chong saw that Guo Jing had a small foundation in internal energy, so he used exchange as an excuse to teach Guo Jing some of the internal energy techniques from the Nine Yin Manual's "Easy Tendon and Bone" chapter, as well as the Big Demon-Subduing Fist. The condition was that Guo Jing would teach him archery skills. This exchange, if calculated carefully, naturally made Linghu Chong lose out, but he also had his own considerations. After all, he wasn't Guo Jing's nanny and couldn't always protect him; it was more important for Guo Jing to have solid abilities himself. If they encountered any danger, he could take care of himself. Moreover, as time passed, Linghu Chong gradually came to regard Guo Jing as a brother, rather than just a tool for completing his mission. Teaching him some skills for self-defense also came from the heart.

  The martial arts that Ling Zhiyun taught to Guo Jing were all carefully considered and most suitable for Guo Jing's practice. Since Ma Yu had already taught Guo Jing the Quanzhen inner power, Ling Zhiyun did not teach him the internal power training method from the "Easy Tendon and Bone" chapter, so as not to conflict with the running method of Quanzhen inner power that Ma Yu had given him. He only taught him some internal power training and application techniques to assist Guo Jing in his practice of Quanzhen inner power.

  The legendary Big Dipper Fist emphasizes stability, solidity and ferocity. The fist technique has only 108 moves, coinciding with the number of heavenly stems and earthly branches, but its simplicity belies infinite subtlety, requiring utmost familiarity to achieve fluidity and ultimate mastery, making it perfectly suited for Guo Jing's practice.

  The fact also proved that Ling Mu Yun's choice of martial arts was indeed good. After Guo Jing practiced the Easy筋锻骨篇 for a period of time, because his mind was simple and he had few distracting thoughts, it was easy to make progress in his internal strength training, far surpassing those clever people who were always thinking about various things and couldn't drive them away. His internal strength training progressed rapidly, and in just over a year, his internal power training had already reached the level of "entering the hall". Compared to when Ling Mu Yun first came to the Mobei grasslands, there was little difference. The Big Fumo Fist method was also practiced extremely skillfully, although it couldn't be said to be perfect yet, but it had already reached a certain level of proficiency, and his actual strength had increased by more than tenfold.

  Of course, while Guo Jing's martial arts have made great progress, Ling Yun has not been idle either. In this year or so, he has also practiced the riding and shooting techniques taught by Guo Jing to perfection, and is not much inferior to Guo Jing. Moreover, he has also mastered all the martial arts in the first half of the Nine Yin Scripture, and his internal strength has reached a depth that ranks among the best in Jianghu.

  It's been over a year since Linghu Chong arrived at the Mongolian grasslands. With less than a year to go before the duel agreed upon by Qiu Qianren and Jiangnan Qi Xie, the six freaks of Jiangnan have been discussing nothing but the upcoming Jiaxing duel that will shake the world of heroes. Seeing Guo Jing's significant improvement in martial arts, the six freaks are confident of their victory. Thinking about returning to their hometown in Jiangnan soon fills them with joy, and they can't help but smile more than usual.

  Ling Yun saw this scene and couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. The six freaks from Jiangnan came to this desolate, cold land for the sake of one promise and spent over a decade struggling here, it can be said that they consumed the most beautiful years of their lives in this place, indeed making one involuntarily feel admiration. In comparison, Qiu Chuji found Yang Kang and taught him, but whether it was enduring hardships or expending heart and soul, he was far inferior to the six freaks from Jiangnan, and also neglected to teach Yang Kang about his character, finally losing the bet without being wronged.

  This morning, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan got up early and came to call Guo Jing to practice his skills. As the martial arts competition was approaching, the Six Freaks did not teach Guo Jing any new techniques, but mainly practiced with him to hone his combat skills. Because through more than a year of getting along, the Six Freaks also knew that Ling Zhiyun was young but had exceptional skills and sincerely interacted with Guo Jing, so they didn't avoid him either, and called him to go together, which would be good for pointing out Guo Jing's mistakes.

  A crowd of people arrived at the usual martial arts training ground, and Nan Shan Chai Zi Nan Xi Ren said: "Jing Er, for several months now you've been practicing with weapons, I don't know if your fists and feet have become rusty or not. Today let's practice together, and let Fourth Master see if you've regressed or not."

  "Good." Guo Jing nodded in response and went down to the arena with Nan Xi Ren to prepare for their match.

  Just then, a large cloud of dust suddenly rose in front, with the sound of horses and people shouting. A large group of horses rushed forward, and the Mongolian herders whipped them to restrain them, but it took a while to calm them down. As soon as the horses had settled down, a small red horse with a coat as red as blood suddenly charged into the herd from the west, kicking and biting wildly, causing the herd to become chaotic again. Then, that red horse ran northward like flying, disappearing without a trace.

  After a while, the herdsmen finally managed to stabilize the chaotic horse group, only to see the red light flashing in the distance. The red horse rushed into the horse group again, causing trouble. The crowd of herdsmen was furious and chased after it in all directions. But the red horse ran swiftly and untiringly, how could they catch it? In an instant, it had run far away, standing dozens of feet away, proudly neighing loudly, seemingly very pleased with its own mischievous masterpiece. The crowd of herdsmen was both angry and amused, unable to do anything about it.

  When the little red horse charged for the third time, three herdsmen drew their bows and shot arrows. The horse was extremely agile, and when the arrows arrived by its side, it suddenly turned around and dodged to the side, its movements so fast that even a highly skilled martial artist might not be able to keep up, causing all the arrows shot by the herdsmen to fall empty.

  The Six Freaks of Jiangnan and Guo Jing were both mesmerized, while Linghu Chong was also shocked beyond words. Suddenly, he thought of something: "A horse with a coat as red as blood all over its body - could this be the Huan Blood Horse that Guo Jing later tamed?"

  Han Baoju loved horses as his life, and in his lifetime, he had never seen such a divine horse. His beloved horse, Chui Feng Huang, was one of the rare good horses in the world. Although there were many fast horses in Mongolia, few could compare to it. But compared to this little red horse in front of him, it was far inferior. He couldn't bear his curiosity and immediately ran to the side of a shepherd to ask about the origin of the red horse. Only then did he know that the red horse was originally a wild horse from who-knows-where, but because the shepherds saw that it was born with a beautiful appearance, they wanted to capture it back for breeding. Unexpectedly, they failed and instead provoked it, so for several days, it came every day to cause trouble, making all the shepherds feel anxious.

  Rumors had it that, upon hearing this, Ling Muyun was almost certain that this was the very same horse as Guo Jing's in the original work. A surge of excitement rose up within him, and he thought about taking the initiative to tame it first - who wouldn't love a fine steed like this? However, after some consideration, he gave up on the idea. After all, he wasn't from this world, and would eventually have to leave; at that time, he wouldn't be able to bring the horse with him either. His heart couldn't help but feel reluctant, so it was better not to take action - let Guo Jing tame it instead.