Chapter 13: Entering

Su Xing entered sleep in a curled-up posture.

This is actually a type of nourishing method in the Tiger Demon Art, called the Tiger Den Posture.

The Tiger Demon Art is actually a variant of Xingyi Quan; the form is like a tiger, the intent is like a demon. But this is the secret of practicing; when nourishing and training, it is mostly about imitating the tiger form, and also taking the tiger's ferocity and strength as the main focus.

The Tiger Den Posture looks like a bad sleeping posture. If an ordinary person sleeps like this, they will either have numb muscles and bones or wake up with a stiff neck. In short, don't expect comfort, and it is even harmful to the body. But when used by him, it is secretly circulating Qi and blood, sensing the micro-manipulation of controlling Qi and blood, making progress on top of Dark Jin, and accumulating bit by bit to reach the Hua Jin layer.

National Martial Arts have intent; to reach Dark Jin from Ming Jin, one must have this intent.

If it is other national martial arts, whether it is Xingyi, Bagua, Taiji, etc., comprehending this layer of intent feels like a matter of luck. Either it is experienced in life and death, or sought in all things, or it is patriotism, or concern for the world, or trivial matters of life. This intent will accompany the martial artist who practices National Martial Arts for a lifetime. Once the intent is damaged, their strength will decline, and it may even lead to Qi and blood reversal, resulting in sudden death.

But the Tiger Demon Art takes a different path. It is extremely difficult to enter, and eight or nine out of ten die suddenly. But once you comprehend the one point of spiritual consciousness that does not sleep amidst countless distracting thoughts and demonic thoughts, this intent is actually formed. Entering the hall, the transition from Ming Jin to Dark Jin is a matter of course.

Su Xing slept for ten full hours. After he got up and stretched his body, he felt refreshed.

He had been busy before, either struggling for survival in the Dream World, fighting Yakshas, or returning to heal and wake people up, and also facing aberrant bodies and parasitic bodies. He had absolutely no spare time to carefully organize his gains, and he didn't even have time to rest.

After these ten hours of sleep, Su Xing felt as if he had been reborn. His joints crackled and popped. He began to slowly start the Tiger Claw Posture, Tiger Leap Posture, and Tiger Tail Posture. After several postures were performed, he felt that his arms and legs had endless strength, and he felt great all over. He couldn't help but roar to the sky, his voice like thunder, and also like a tiger's roar.

After a long time, Su Xing stopped his postures and slowly circulated his Qi and blood to return to normal.

He had already comprehended the true intent of the Tiger Demon Art.

Suppression!

Suppressing distracting thoughts, demonic thoughts, and evil thoughts.

One point of spiritual consciousness that does not sleep; this spiritual consciousness is him, while those countless negative distracting thoughts and demonic thoughts are this world.

The form is like a tiger, the intent is like a demon, and the true self is to suppress both the tiger and the demon!

Only in this way did he obtain the true intent of this Tiger Demon Art, and only then did he have the resources to continue advancing.

When Su Xing came back to his senses, he saw Yi Ya and Xu Shilan quietly watching him not far away. Until he looked at the two, they smiled at him. At the same time, Xu Shilan walked over with a notebook and said: "Yesterday you mentioned several types of bizarre entities, namely aberration, pollution, erosion, and parasitism. Besides aberration, which is known to be purely physical body and consciousness change, what are the characteristics and differences of pollution, erosion, and parasitism?"

Su Xing recalled the information obtained from his predecessors and answered casually: "Pollution is the type of Pink Snake we encountered before. Its mere existence will cause changes in its surrounding environment, causing all life and non-life within this environment to converge toward it."

Xu Shilan asked seriously: "Is it radiation? Or microorganisms? It couldn't be an intelligent nano-system, could it?"

Su Xing spread his hands and said: "Sorry, I don't know exactly what it is. Even for that Pink Snake, it was because my predecessors mentioned it a lot, and it was closest to our sector, and we happened to encounter the awakened person it parasitized. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even encountered a single polluted existence."

Xu Shilan nodded and recorded: "Pollution is the subtle change of the surrounding environment and life. Is it okay to record it like this? Then what is erosion?"

Su Xing said: "Curses... you've seen Grudge, right?"

Yi Ya and Xu Shilan shook their heads at the same time.

Su Xing covered his head and said: "Right, you are all people from hundreds of years later... It's roughly similar to a curse effect without a physical body. At first, it is not obvious, or the signs are very slight, but over time, this erosion effect will change into various horrors, or even reverse cause and effect. For example, erosion turns into an invincible evil ghost, and after killing you, it sends your body back to the day you were first eroded, making you eat it and become infected with erosion, thereby forming a time loop similar to that. In short, I haven't encountered erosion either, but this thing has no specific subject; it is something similar to a curse."

Su Xing originally thought the two wouldn't understand, but when he finished speaking, their expressions changed, and their faces became serious.

"Meme."

The two said these two words in unison.

However, they seemed to have some taboos, or didn't want to talk deeply, so Xu Shilan continued to ask: "Aberration, pollution, erosion, these three are all there, so what about parasitism?"

Su Xing continued to recite according to the information in his memory: "So-called parasitism refers to when you don't notice, horror attaches to you, then draws your nutrients, and finally sucks you dry."

The two understood this well. Xu Shilan said while recording: "It's similar to microbial infection, right?"

Su Xing shook his head and said: "No, it refers to everything, material, non-material. For example, parasitic horror can parasitize your shadow, voice, or even memory. And what it extracts is not just flesh and blood. I heard from my predecessors that there was once someone who was sucked by a parasitic type until even the concept of existence disappeared, and then the predecessors forgot who that person was and what they had done. The only thing they remembered was that a parasitic horror killed someone among them who didn't exist."

The two were stunned for a moment, and then they felt creepy from the bottom of their hearts.

Xu Shilan still wanted to ask, but Su Xing shook his head and said: "Let's stop here for now. Now we must go to the Dream World immediately."

Both nodded, but Xu Shilan still asked: "Why so urgent?"

Su Xing took the two toward the hibernation pod room, saying as he walked: "This is also a lesson learned. You are probably hungry now, right? Me too, and very hungry. A predecessor of a predecessor had a painful lesson: they were hungry for several days before they had to enter the Dream World, but as soon as they entered, they were attacked. Although it was not bizarre, a monster, or horror, even if it was just an attack by ordinary people, they were so hungry and had no strength, so they could hardly resist. Therefore, we must enter while we have strength to deal with the unknown of the Dream World."

Both understood, and then they followed Su Xing to the hibernation pod room. Watching Su Xing lie down in one of the empty spots, Su Xing signaled the two to lie down as well. When the two did so, Su Xing said: "Main Brain, open Dream World downward penetration, team mode."

The Main Brain's voice also sounded in the two people's retinas and minds.

"Open Dream World downward penetration, do you agree to team up, do you open penetration?"

The three chose to confirm at the same time. In the next instant, the three disappeared from the hibernation pod at the same time.

"Red Cloak, Red Lantern Society, supporting the Qing and destroying the foreigners has magical powers!"

"Divine art protects the body, invulnerable to swords and guns!"

"White Sheep descends to the world, the cycle of heavenly principles. Vacuum hometown, Unborn Venerable Mother, grant me magical powers, save all living beings."

April 3, 1900 AD, outside Xuanhua Fucheng, Qing Dynasty.

The Dream World at Baseline Reality 0.9. The Main Brain will inform the maintenance personnel of the time and place when they enter the Dream World. This is something that worlds below Baseline Reality 0.9 do not have.

Su Xing and the three stood by the main road outside Xuanhua Fucheng, watching a group of thin villagers watching a group of women dressed in red clothes and red pants, carrying red lanterns, shouting slogans as they entered Xuanhua Fucheng.

"1900? Red Lantern Society?"

Su Xing touched his chin and recalled carefully.

Having practiced National Martial Arts, not only was his body strong, but his spirit was also clear. Many past memories could be easily remembered.

"April 3rd... There are still three months until the Eight-Nation Alliance captures Tianjin on July 14th. So this time should happen to be the honeymoon period between Cixi and the Boxer Rebellion."

Su Xing is not a professional historian, but these are knowledge he learned in junior high and high school history textbooks.

1900 AD, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China. First, they broke through Tianjin on July 14th, and then broke through Beijing on August 14th, which led to Cixi fleeing west, and the Eight-Nation Alliance burning the Old Summer Palace...

Su Xing still remembered this information. At the same time, he also knew about the Boxer Rebellion and its branch, the Red Lantern Society. Before the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, these militia organizations were valued by Empress Dowager Cixi and were considered semi-officially recognized folk organizations, believed to be a force that could resist foreigners. However, after the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, Cixi changed her initial attitude. Fearing the powerful strength of the foreigners, Cixi issued an order to join forces with the foreigners to wipe out the Boxer Rebellion and the Red Lantern Society.

However, before this, the Boxer Rebellion and the Red Lantern Society could walk and act freely in the Zhili region. Of course, it might also be a deviation of history, belonging to a specific point of this world.

Gurgle.

A sound came from Su Xing's stomach. He rubbed his stomach, no longer looking at the Red Lantern Society team, turned to Yi Ya and Xu Shilan and said: "Let's go, let's enter the city to eat."

The two naturally had no objection.

They were too far away from this era, unlike Su Xing who had to learn this history when he was in school. For example, Yi Ya was born, grew up, and survived on the battlefield. He was proficient in weapons, combat, and some knowledge about weapons or biochemical beasts, but if you asked him about history... he probably only knew about the Eastern and Western Greats where the Third War broke out.

As for Xu Shilan, she probably knew about this era, but she was eight or nine hundred years away from it, and the Fourth World War happened to break out in her era, so she probably hadn't learned the history of this era.

Neither of them was familiar with this Dream World, so they could only follow Su Xing's actions.

When walking toward the prefecture city, Yi Ya asked: "We have no money, how do we eat?"

Xu Shilan also said: "Or should we go earn money first? What are the characteristics of this world? What earns money the fastest?"

Yi Ya looked at the surrounding crowd and the city walls of this classical city. He took a deep breath and said: "I smell the smell of war. Since it is war, it is either an arms dealer or a mercenary. These two earn the most money. Let's go be mercenaries."

Su Xing shook his head. He took the two toward the city gate, his eyes looking at a certain place in the crowd.

There were a few people who were obviously not villagers. They were looking at Yi Ya with hateful eyes. Two of them had long hands and long legs. Although they deliberately lowered their bodies, their height was obviously a head taller than the thin villagers, and there was light in their eyes, and there were calluses on their palms...

Martial artists.

"Don't worry, money..."

"Will deliver itself to the door."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 14 =====