The shopkeeper wisely served a few more dishes, and after the two of them had finished drinking and eating, the old man boldly placed all the copper coins on the table as usual, and then went out. He Qizhou was embarrassed to eat and drink for nothing, so he followed him out and wanted to give the old man a gift.
As soon as we arrived outside the door, the old man said with a straight face: "Do I want you to send it off? Meet me at the mountain temple tomorrow morning, and we will go up the mountain together!"
He Qizhou nodded in agreement, returned to the inn, and told the innkeeper that he would go up the mountain in the next few days and visit several mountains before deciding which one to worship. After saying this, he took out ten taels of silver, which was regarded as a deposit for his food and accommodation these days.
Of course, it also included the meals the old man bought him and the fodder for the horses.
The shopkeeper quickly waved his hand and said: "There is no need for so many, three or four taels is enough."
He Qizhou said: "I think it's not easy for the old man. Let's think about it. The extra money can be used to pay for his drinks for a few days. Shopkeeper, you don't have to be polite."
When the shopkeeper saw that He Qizhou was spending a lot of money, he knew that he was a rich man. He wanted to take a good look at the situation on each hilltop before making a decision. He no longer refused and whispered to him:
"In terms of power, Sect Master Qiu of Zhongfeng is definitely the strongest and has the highest martial arts. However, I heard that he seems to be greedy for money. If you want to learn true skills, you must not be stingy. If there is someone at home, it is best to fight again.
Say hello, and don’t mess with his son, he is a ruthless character! I think you have a good heart, so I advise you to go to Dongfeng. We have two people here who are also studying at Dongfeng. Then I will ask someone to
It's okay to just whisper and let them take care of you."
"Thank you very much, but I want to take another look. Maybe if it's not suitable, I will try my luck with the Yunmen Sect in Beijing. If I really need your help, I will definitely tell you in advance."
He Qizhou found an excuse to shirk it. After going back to the room and taking a hot bath, the pain all over his body was slightly relieved, so he practiced breathing exercises on the bed. He didn't have much hope. Thinking about being so tired today, he might have five consecutive breaths.
He was not very lucky during the whole week, but he did not expect that his body's endurance would actually increase. It was not until the end of the sixth week that he felt exhausted. He suddenly understood that carrying heavy objects on his back and performing the Deep Swirl Kung Fu would be extremely helpful for him to practice Hua Zhen Kung Fu.
If the master is worthy of being a great master, he is indeed better than his own master!
Early the next morning, when He Qizhou went out, he saw the old man dining in the corner again, and said hello to the old man. The old man didn't even raise his head, and He Qi didn't mind, so he went straight to the north peak.
This time I didn’t need a waiter to see me off. When I arrived at the mountain temple, I sat down in the cave as promised. I first practiced cross-legged exercises for a while, and then waited for the old man to come. I could barely do the Huazhen exercises for six weeks, and I sat cross-legged for most of the day.
After a while, I saw the old man coming: "Hey, what's your name? Why are you still sitting in the cave?"
"My name is He Qizhou. Didn't I tell you twice on the road yesterday? Didn't you ask me to sit in the cave and wait for you to go up the mountain last night?" He Qizhou said.
The old man slapped his head and said, "Ah, I forgot! Come on, come and carry me, let's go now."
"Isn't it? You have to carry it when you go? Master, do you want to carry it when you come back? My arms are still very sore. I'm afraid I can't bear the strength." He Qizhou cried bitterly.
"Let's talk about it when we get back, let's go!" The old man put a hand on He Qizhou's shoulder and hooked his limbs skillfully. As he spoke, the smell of alcohol in his mouth spurted straight into He Qizhou's neck.
He Qizhou helplessly supported the old man with one hand and walked quickly up the mountain. Fortunately, after yesterday's back and forth, especially when climbing on the cliff, He Qizhou was already very familiar with the path up the mountain, and the speed of carrying a person up the mountain was still relatively good.
Faster than yesterday.
Learning from the lesson he learned when he came back yesterday, He Qizhou only used the Deep Whirling Technique when his hands and feet had nowhere to rely on. Although he was still half exhausted, he reached the top of the mountain in less than two hours, and he didn't even use a dagger.
He Qizhou carried the old man Wan Yi who had fallen asleep on his back at the top of the mountain. After adjusting his breathing for a quarter of an hour, he began to descend. He became more and more familiar with the deep whirlpool technique, and sliding down the cliff became the easiest part of the mountain road. When he arrived at the waterfall, He Qizhou estimated that
It's almost noon. Fortunately, I brought some dry food today, so I won't be as hungry as yesterday.
The old man still sat by the pool and refused to eat He Qizhou's dry food. As usual, He Qizhou took off his clothes and went to the waterfall to practice until he could no longer hold on. After leaving the waterfall, he took a short rest. Seeing that it was getting late, he walked to the pool to wake him up.
The old man who was taking a nap asked if he was going back now.
The old man opened his eyes, seemed to be thinking hard, and asked: "Hey, boy, who are you Qingshan?"
"Didn't I tell you yesterday that I am Yang Zheng's adopted son?" He Qizhou understood why the innkeeper said that the old man had a bad memory.
"Oh, I remembered, by the way, what's your name Yang?" the old man asked.
"Hey Qizhou!"
"Oh, you practiced well today. You have made a lot of progress compared to the past few days. If you practice for another ten and a half days, your physical endurance will be able to reach a higher level."
"Thank you, Master, for your teaching. But I only entered the mountain yesterday." He Qizhou said.
"Is it yesterday? Let's go, master will treat you to a drink today!" The old man waved to He Qizhou to come and carry him.
He Qizhou smiled bitterly. Although he was very tired, he also knew that the old man must have used this method to train his adoptive father before, so he repeated yesterday's return journey. Because he had consumed too much in the morning, he still used a dagger for the last few feet up the cliff.
.
For the next five days, every day was like a repeat of today. The old man still forgot He Qizhou's name the next day, and he didn't remember inviting He Qizhou for a drink last night. He always praised Qi Zhou for his excellent practice. What made He Qizhou depressed was that the old man every time
It was always said that it would take ten days and a half to achieve some success, and there was finally no need to use a dagger when going up and down the mountain.
On the sixth day, He Qizhou silently calculated that he could adjust his breath for an hour under the waterfall, and he could adjust his breath for fifteen weeks in the guest room at night, which was close to the time for a stick of incense. Although he still wanted to rush to Ganshan earlier.
But now that I am making progress every day, I really don't want to leave for a while. And seeing the old man smiling at me coming out of the waterfall and generously inviting me to drink, I can't bear to leave right away.
The older the old man is, the more firmly he remembers things, but the most recent things are basically forgotten within a day, because whenever Yang Zheng and He Qingshan are mentioned, the old man will look sad, so He Qizhou doesn't want to talk about it anymore.
Q. So I practiced like this for another five days. Although it was much easier to go up and down the mountain, no matter how hard I tried, my endurance did not increase at all. He Qizhou knew that he had made a breakthrough, but he had reached the next bottleneck.
If you leave, you may miss the appointed time.
On the morning of the tenth day, He Qizhou could only say goodbye to the old man who was still having breakfast. The old man said to He Qizhou expressionlessly: "Well, you have been here for more than half a year. Be careful on the road and remember to come and see me more in the future."
He Qizhou said: "I will definitely come to see you again!" He thought that after he came back from the horse, he must live in Huashan for a longer time and accompany the old man through the last period of his life. As he thought about it, he thought of his elderly grandfather and third uncle.
With my mother, I have to take time to go home and see them!
Before leaving, He Qizhou left another twenty taels of silver notes to the old shopkeeper, saying that he was destined to the old man and asked him to take care of him. He visited all the peaks of Huashan Mountain, but still felt that the Huashan Sect was not suitable for him, so he decided to go to Yunmen first.
Take a look and then talk.
He Qizhou stopped delaying on the way, riding a horse when there were many people, trotting when his horses were tired, and walking with dozens of kilograms of luggage on his shoulders because he gained experience in the mountains and thought of improving his martial arts practice.
If you have long-term endurance, weight-bearing practice is extremely effective.
One day later, we arrived at the heroic city of Chang'an. He Qizhou wanted to stay in the city for a few days, but he only stayed for one night before heading out to the west of the city. Once we passed Chang'an, the population gradually became sparse, and there were people everywhere who were not fully clothed and hungry.
It can be seen that He Qizhou originally carried thousands of taels of silver notes with him, exchanged a large number of copper coins and broken silver at the banks in the towns he passed, and gave alms along the way. Only six days had passed, and he only had less than 500 taels left with him.
Six days later, both sides of the official road were even more desolate. Although it was already early summer, except for some fertile fields when passing by the Yellow River, there were barren mountains and wild ridges everywhere, which did not look like the blue waves and green mountains of my hometown.
On the seventh day after leaving Chang'an, he crossed Longshan, passed Lanzhou, and crossed the Yellow River. The journey was more than a thousand miles. He Qizhou had already entered Yongzhou. Apart from staying in an inn in Lanzhou for one night, He Qizhou didn't care if he missed the night.
As long as it was not dark, he would keep on the road. In six days, he stayed at two Taoist temples, once in a farmhouse, once in an official inn, and slept two nights in the open. With the Quanzhen layman Du Dou, the two Taoist temples were really kind to him.
There is no charge for room and board, but He Qizhou will still leave some money for incense when he leaves.
During the journey of more than a thousand miles, half of the time was spent on horseback and half on foot. He Qizhou discovered that each exercise had been able to reach sixteen weeks. The accumulation of true energy became smoother and smoother, and there were faint signs of the fifth meridian being connected.
It was sunset again on this day. I came out of a large-scale town and looked from the official road. To the far south was the majestic Qilian Mountains, and to the north were endless mountains. But between the two mountains was a vast plain.
I saw acres of crops.
For more than an hour, in addition to the post horses galloping by, I also encountered several convoys on the official road. It seemed that they were all officials and their families heading east. After crossing the Yellow River, all I heard along the way was the news that the Northern Zhou Dynasty was going to attack Suzhou.
, I guess they are all noble people who are preparing to escape the war.
As long as He Qizhou saw no one from a distance, he would carry his luggage on his shoulders and walk all the way, with the big yellow horse following leisurely behind him. Just when he was about to find a shelter from the wind and sleep for the night, he saw a tree on the hill in front of him.
One eaves has an upturned corner.
He Qizhou was overjoyed. It looked like a Taoist temple built on the mountainside, so he stepped forward quickly. Sure enough, a trail forked off the official road. He Qizhou walked along the trail for several hundred steps, and a Taoist temple built on the mountain came into view.