Chapter 17: Internal Cultivation Method

This contract consisted of three pages, filled with dense text. Having inherited the original body's memories, Duan Rong could barely understand these writings that lacked punctuation.

He scanned through it quickly, looking only at a few key clauses.

Half a year as an Apprentice, three years as an Intern, four years of service.

Adding the three months as a Miscellaneous Disciple, basically eight years would pass.

The contract also stipulated the monthly wages for each stage; Duan Rong only glanced at them before signing and pressing his thumbprint directly.

This contract was naturally a predatory one; if one were to die during these eight years, there wouldn't even be any compensation money, but he had zero bargaining power at this moment.

If he didn't sign, he could only go back to being a Miscellaneous Servant!

As for the half-year Apprentice, three-year Intern, and four-year service terms.

In fact, every trade and profession was like this.

Even in Duan Rong's past life, which was a modernized industrial and commercial system, some traditional performing arts industries were still like this.

When it came down to it, this wasn't wrong either.

After all, the grace of being taught a skill is greater than heaven; who would teach you for free?

Kong Bin was still reading the contract when he suddenly saw that Duan Rong had already finished signing and pressing his print. Kong Bin immediately realized what was happening, skimmed through a few places, and also signed and pressed his print.

Seeing the two of them sign so quickly, Xiao Zongting's expression shifted slightly; in previous years, those brats were always dawdling, and some even asked this and that.

But the result was always the same: either sign, or get out!

These two brats being so decisive actually made him look at them with new eyes.

Xiao Zongting checked the places where they had signed and pressed their prints, put the two contracts away, then pulled two tattered booklets from his bosom, threw them onto the Stone Table, and said, "These two are copies of the Secret Manual for the Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber. You two go to the courtyard to look; ponder it yourselves first, I am going to submit the contracts to the Inner Courtyard."

Xiao Zongting put away the contracts, walked to the door, and suddenly turned back to say, "Don't look at the techniques in the front first; look carefully at the Internal Cultivation Method in the back. I will come back in a moment and focus on explaining the entry into the Internal Cultivation Method."

"Internal Cultivation Method?" Hearing these words, Duan Rong's heart skipped a beat.

These past few days, although he had used almost all his energy to cope with the assessment by Standing Stake and practicing the techniques, even so, every day while Standing Stake, he couldn't help but ponder the Internal Cultivation Method of this Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber.

In the Entry Level experience of the Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber that he had digested and absorbed, there was a complete way to perform Standing Stake and the circulation of the First Layer of Internal Breath that accompanied the moves.

It was just that, several days had passed, and he still hadn't figured out what exactly Internal Breath was, let alone having the time to rack his brains and delve deep into this doubt.

Duan Rong and Kong Bin each picked up a tattered Secret Manual with curled covers and rotten corners, and walked excitedly to the Stone Table in the courtyard to study it intently.

Although these booklets were tattered, this was a genuine martial arts Secret Manual!

Duan Rong first browsed through the Secret Manual.

The first half was the entire set of thirty-six moves of the Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber, while the second half was the Entry Level Internal Cultivation Method, which was the First Layer of the Internal Cultivation Method.

The realms of Martial Technique are divided into Entry, Proficiency, Small Success, Great Accomplishment; Entering Micro, Consummation.

Among them, the first four realms all have matching Internal Cultivation Methods.

Because these fourfold mental methods produce Internal Breath, they are the Qi-circulating methods of Lesser Vehicle martial arts, usually also called the Lower Fourfold Mental Method.

This Secret Manual only had the Qi-circulating method for the First Layer of the Entry realm, while the Qi-circulating methods for the subsequent three layers were completely missing; it was not a complete set of the Secret Manual.

Duan Rong only thought about it for a moment before he understood the crux of the matter: Zhao Mu was already an Intern Escort and had started going on escort missions, yet he was still only at the Entry realm, which showed that progress in martial arts was a slow, grinding process.

This incomplete copy alone was enough for an average Martial Artist to practice for a year or two, or even several years.

After Duan Rong thought this problem through, he opened the Secret Manual and began to read the Internal Cultivation Method section carefully.

With the descriptions in the Secret Manual combined with the Entry Level experience he had digested and absorbed, many things that had been unclear were suddenly broken through one by one, like bamboo being split, but there were still a few bottlenecks that left Duan Rong deeply confused.

He stood up several times to try and circulate his breath while Standing Stake, but he still couldn't enter the state.

It was as if his driving skills were already very proficient, but he didn't know how to open the car door.

You can't get into the car, so no matter how good your skills are, you can't display them.

And in the experience Duan Rong had absorbed and digested, perhaps opening the car door was too simple, and there were no traces of it left at all.

By the time Xiao Zongting returned to the Back Courtyard, a stick of incense had already passed.

As soon as Xiao Zongting arrived in the courtyard, he saw Duan Rong and Kong Bin sitting in front of the Stone Table.

Kong Bin kept flipping through the book and scratching his head with a look of confusion, while Duan Rong sat there, his gaze fixed on a point in the void, deep in thought.

Xiao Zongting coughed and walked up to the two of them, limping.

Both of them turned around, stood up from either side of the Stone Table, and looked at Xiao Zongting.

"Have you both read the Secret Manual? Tell me, what are your thoughts?"

Both of them looked at the ground, silent.

"What is Internal Breath related to?" Xiao Zongting asked, staring at the two of them.

Kong Bin immediately lowered his head even further, while Duan Rong pondered for a moment, then suddenly met Xiao Zongting's gaze and replied, "It is related to breathing, and to Qi and blood."

Xiao Zongting was slightly taken aback, then nodded and said, "Anything else?"

Duan Rong stammered, not daring to speak recklessly for a moment.

Kong Bin kept his head down and glanced sideways at Duan Rong beside him.

Xiao Zongting was already very satisfied with Duan Rong's answer; to be able to understand to this degree in only the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn showed that this child's intelligence and comprehension were indeed far beyond his peers.

No wonder he was able to stand out among the crowd of Miscellaneous Disciples!

And like Kong Bin, who didn't know anything when asked, that was the reaction of a normal person.

"Actually, it is also related to Mental Power." Xiao Zongting paused and added, "What I am about to say is very critical; you two listen carefully."

"Mental Power?" For some reason, when Xiao Zongting said these three words, Duan Rong's heart pounded, a sense of tension as if he were about to grasp something very critical.

Xiao Zongting's deep, heavy voice echoed in the sun-drenched courtyard.

"You must feel your way of breathing and the condition of the Qi and blood circulating throughout your body in a deep and delicate manner."

"So-called Internal Breath is produced at the intersection of breathing and Qi and blood."

"Feel carefully, in the lung lobes, where breathing and Qi and blood intersect and merge. Right there in that hidden place, in that fleeting moment, is the breeding ground for the birth of strands of Internal Breath."

"Focus your Divine Soul, and at the moment that strand of Internal Breath is born, merge with it, control it, and let it circulate through your blood vessels along a certain circuit!"

"This is Internal Breath and internal martial arts!"

Xiao Zongting's words were like opening the door to Duan Rong's heart.

Duan Rong felt as if he had been hollowed out, his entire body feeling clear and limpid!

Standing there, he naturally closed his eyes and began the Hunyuan Stance.

The Internal Breath circulation, which had been unable to proceed, now flowed as naturally as water forming a channel, circulating on its own without stopping.

Duan Rong was immersed in a faint joy that welled up in his heart...

As Xiao Zongting spoke, he suddenly turned his head and saw Duan Rong, who had begun the Hunyuan Stance on his own.

It is still Standing Stake, but once the Internal Breath begins to circulate, it takes on the appearance of Internal Breath in motion.

Although Kong Bin, who was standing to the side, could not tell, Xiao Zongting saw it at a single glance.

"This is?" Xiao Zongting's expression changed, his heart greatly shocked. "This is... already achieved?"

"This kid is just too damn... a freak! I only explained a few sentences, and he succeeded on his first try! What kind of talent is this, damn it?"

(End of chapter)