Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 110 Three Treasures Soup

The spring sunset also carries a hint of warmth, and the light seems to give the school a touch of red. The breeze with the fragrance of flowers is full of laughter and joy. The shadows of the trees sway, stretching the shadows of the playful children very long.

Most of those chasing and playing are lower grade students. They have no worries, never feel the pressure of studying, and don’t have to worry about life. It seems as if they were born to play.

The senior students, such as those in Class A and Advanced Level, seize every minute to study. Many of them even read while eating or going to the toilet.

Originally, they were as carefree as the kids in grades D and C, but since when, all kinds of invisible pressures about the future, the imperial examinations, life, and their families' expectations have enveloped them, forcing them to focus on their studies.

They used to think that they would never have enough fun and would never grow up, but those days seemed just yesterday, and suddenly they feel so far away.

The students in Class A have one more year to go. If the county where they are registered holds the Tongsheng Examination, they will face the ultimate test of their elementary education for several years. It concerns their future destiny and is also the time to see whether they can repay their efforts for themselves and their families.

The students in the advanced training class have experienced the judgment of fate, suffered, cried, and felt lost. The encouragement from their families is like a needle prick, and they have to return to the kindergarten campus to fight again and get back what they once missed.

How could they dare to slack off? Why would they put down their books and go play?
Teenagers have begun to grow up and become sensible. Once they start thinking about the future and life, they can never go back to the past.

The easiest time is when students are in the grade that is neither too high nor too low. They have not lost the carefreeness of the lower grades, nor do they have the worries and pressure of the higher grades. This is the freest and happiest time of their lives, when they can do whatever they want.

Gao Jingming, Zhou Lin and others are at this stage.

When Chen Xuan and his friends came back from Mr. Yushan's courtyard, a group of children were surrounding Deng Lingfeng to ask about the horse stance they had learned in the afternoon. The children were always full of enthusiasm when they first formally came into contact with new content.

This made Deng Lingfeng very happy. To be frank, he was the best in martial arts in the whole class and no one dared to say he was second. He finally got the chance to show his abilities and taught his classmates with great enthusiasm, just like a master teaching his apprentices in his own martial arts school. After years of being influenced by him, he had acquired some of the skills.

It's just that his way of "teaching" is a bit "rough". He would often yell at the children, telling them what was wrong and what they should do. After all, they are just children with limited patience. Unlike the teachers, who had been "tortured" to have incomparable patience, other children just fell for it and learned seriously, rarely even laughing.

This scene made some senior students who were studying hard occasionally look up, with envy and reminiscence in their eyes. They were once like this, but even if no one forced them, it was difficult for them to put down their books and return to that kind of life.

After one glance, look away and continue reading.

Practicing martial arts? Haha, what's the point? The school doesn't teach anything advanced. Even if you practice well, there's no future for you. You still have to study after all.

If you want to achieve success in martial arts, why bother studying? Wouldn't it be better to spend the money on studying to learn real things in a martial arts sect or a martial arts school?
Seeing Deng Lingfeng teaching his classmates how to do horse stance in a serious manner, Gao Jingming tilted his head and said to Chen Xuan, "Xuan, to be honest, although our horse stance is not much worse than Lingfeng's, we are really not as good as him in teaching people. After all, his family runs a martial arts school."

Chen Xuan nodded in agreement. This was indeed the case. Chen Xuan was still a layman in martial arts and could not judge how his horse stance compared to Deng Lingfeng's. But when it came to teaching others, he felt ashamed that he was not as good as Deng Lingfeng, mainly because he had no experience in this area.

Gao Jingming grinned and said, "But no matter what, we can't let him take all the credit. We were praised by our master before. Let's go over there and let them see it..."

Another day of playing and fighting has passed. If we can remember them carefully, how can future memories be without laughter?
The next day after class, Chen Xuan and his friends came to Mr. Yushan's courtyard in the afternoon. After finishing their homework, they had to stay for an extra hour to learn martial arts from him.

But that afternoon, Mr. Yushan did not teach them anything new. Instead, he asked them to practice horse stance seriously and explained the details and key points of it. His explanation was more detailed than that of Mr. Ren Meng, the archery and chariot racing teacher, and even mixed in a lot of things from different schools and even unconventional methods.

This was obviously special training for the two of them. Although Chen Xuan had already found the horse stance method that suited him best, he still benefited a lot from it.

The horse stance is to practice standing, but you can't just stand still, so after learning to stand, you have to learn to move. What Mr. Yushan talked about was the movement after standing firmly. There are many subsequent changes, divided into different situations and scenarios. These are what Chen Xuan and others need to master little by little in the future.

But Mr. Yushan did not force them to stay in horse stance for a long time. They were advised to stay in horse stance until they felt tired. Too much is as bad as too little. Improving physical fitness is a gradual process and cannot be achieved overnight. It is enough to make progress in each practice, even if such progress cannot be felt at the time.

During the one hour they were here, Chen Xuan and his companions spent half of the time resting and listening to Mr. Yushan's explanations.

After standing for half an hour on and off, he was inevitably hungry. It was already evening and the canteen was closed. Chen Xuan was wondering where to get something to fill his stomach.

Anyone who is not stupid knows that practicing martial arts consumes a lot of energy. How could Mr. Yushan not know this? Therefore, he was well prepared.

Afterwards, he took the two of them back to the living room, pointed to the steaming earthenware pot on the small red clay stove on the table, and said, "Ah Xuan, I made some deer blood and three treasures soup in advance. Go get two bowls, one for you and Ming'er. It's good for you both."

"Yes," Chen Xuan did as he was told.

This is the advantage of having a master. He thinks of everything in advance, and you can get the same treatment.

Gao Jingming rubbed his slightly sore legs and asked curiously: "Master, what is Deer Blood Three Treasures Soup? Is it delicious?" This guy might have been infected with Luo Taiyun's greedy character.

"Deer Blood Three Treasures Soup is made with deer blood, deer antlers, and deer bones as the main ingredients, supplemented by red dates, wolfberries, and ginseng as the auxiliary ingredients, and then millet, rice, and glutinous rice as the lead. It is made by boiling these nine ingredients in a special proportion. It is the best for nourishing blood, qi, tendons, and bones. It is a secret recipe for food supplements. The taste is pretty good. You will know after you try it," Mr. Yushan explained with a smile.

It is called Sanbao Soup, but in fact it contains nine ingredients. It sounds like a tonic, but Chen Xuan also understands that the ingredients are not the key, they are just ordinary things. The key is the ratio. Didn't Mr. Yushan say it is a secret recipe? If you don't understand the ratio and add it randomly, it may do more harm than good.

After all, having studied here for several years, Chen Xuan could still think that the same Sanbao Soup might have certain requirements on the age, time and solar term of consumption, and the proportions might need to be adjusted.

"Really? Then I have to taste it carefully. It's so hot, but it tastes really good," Gao Jingming said impatiently. He took a bite and grimaced in pain because it was so hot.

Mr. Yushan said helplessly: "Slow down, no one is competing with you for it."

He then added, "You have already begun to dabble in martial arts, so you must not neglect nourishment. It is best to use food tonics, which are mild and harmless..."

After a pause, his tone became more serious and he said, "Although taking pills can improve your martial arts training efficiency, I don't recommend this method. If you can avoid it, then don't do it. You must know that medicine is three-quarters poison. A temporary improvement will definitely lay hidden dangers in the future. Even if your family has no shortage of pills and other things tomorrow, I don't want you to take them. Besides, relying on external things is not as solid as your own."

"You won't go wrong if you listen to me in cultivation. I will never harm you. From now on, when you have time to practice, you should all nourish your body with food. It's gentle and harmless. Although the effect may not be as fast as pills, it is more stable and reliable. Unless you are injured and have to take medicine, remember this."

"Yes, I'll listen to Master," Gao Jingming nodded and drank in small sips. It was not known whether he was hungry or the Sanbao soup suited his taste.

Chen Xuan also silently took note of Mr. Yushan's advice in his heart, and in the future he would try not to use things like elixirs if possible, because relying on external forces is not as good as relying on one's own efforts.

In his mind, he had the information about alchemy that Liu Changhe had instilled in him. It was undeniable that elixirs had unparalleled efficacy, but Liu Changhe also left a reminder that relying too much on elixirs would be harmful, even though some elixirs had no side effects if taken in the correct way.

Seeing that each of them drank a bowl of Sanbao Soup, Mr. Yushan said, "Go back and rest after you finish drinking. From now on, when you come to my place, you must drink a bowl every day. More is useless. Just one bowl, this is something I can afford. I will write down the recipe later. You can take it back and ask someone to buy the ingredients and boil it. Try not to leak the recipe. Drink one bowl a day, not more. Haha, no matter how good the food is, you will get sick of it if you drink too much. I don't need to worry about that."

"Thank you, Master. We will go back now..."

After they left, Mr. Yushan cleaned up personally. The "soup base" was not thrown away, but kept. It was the primer for the next time. Although the ratio of the Three Treasures Soup is important, few people know that the soup base primer is the key. Otherwise, even if the ratio is right, the effect will be discounted.

For the next two days, Chen Xuan and his friends came here every day to do their homework and read books. After that, they did horse stance and drank Sanbao soup. The effect of horse stance was steadily improving, but it was not obvious when they were doing it.

Mr. Yushan did not teach them anything new. He must have his own plans and they just needed to follow the steps.

It was the day of archery class again. During the class, Mr. Ren Meng first checked the students' progress in horse stance over the past few days. He did not punish those who were poor, but encouraged them to practice diligently. He did not praise those who were good, but asked them to keep up the progress.

After the inspection, he asked everyone to stand in horse stance for a quarter of an hour, and then he began to teach everyone a set of boxing techniques, called Zhongzheng Fist, which contained certain means of defending against the enemy. The key was that this set of boxing techniques had a certain body-tempering effect. If one had good talent and practiced hard, one might be able to develop internal strength from the outside in in the future.

It is not a simple martial art, nor is it a technique that purely improves one's realm. It is not even a superficial technique, but something in between.

It can't be said to be good, nor can it be said to be bad. It is something that is looked down upon by people in the underworld. Ordinary people can learn it with a little effort. It is tasteless and a pity to throw it away.

But what good things can be learned during the elementary school stage? It's good enough if there are some. Besides, everyone is treated equally and students from poor families must be taken care of. Too advanced things have many prerequisites, and the training alone is not something they can afford. Therefore, Zhongzhengquan, which has no requirements and can be practiced by everyone, is just right.

Of course, although this boxing style is simple, it cannot be learned in a short time. If you are not a genius with a photographic memory, it will take several classes. It is a different story for those who learn slowly.

Similarly, when Chen Xuan first came into contact with this style of boxing, he also felt a warm and comfortable feeling all over his body while practicing. It was more intense than the quiet and nourishing exercise, but not uncomfortable.

After all, it is a real martial arts technique. No matter how simple it is, it is better than the meditation and health-preserving exercises, which is normal.

Chen Xuan is no longer a complete novice in martial arts. He has already understood that the warm feeling he feels is actually the result of his internal energy nourishing his body!

However, he was unable to truly utilize this internal energy. It just silently circulated throughout his body to nourish his body as he practiced martial arts. If he had a special method to condense and utilize it, it could be called internal force.

Such internal energy can be condensed and utilized to become internal force. According to what Geng Hong said at the time, the internal force cultivated by crude martial arts techniques is just like that. No matter how it is used, it can only act on oneself and cannot be applied to weapons. To achieve that level, pure internal force cultivated by superior techniques is required.

On the same day, when Chen Xuan and his friends went to Mr. Yushan's courtyard, he began to teach them new things...

(End of this chapter)