Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 111 Choice
In Mr. Yushan's backyard, Chen Xuan and his friends stood in horse stance for half an hour and drank soup. They did not stand for a whole time, but took a break in the middle, otherwise it would be too much for the children.

Mr. Yushan taught them everything he knew and experienced about horse stance, so they could just drink the soup and leave.

But at this moment, Mr. Yushan came here, pushing a wheelchair in one hand and holding the bronze man in the other.

"Master, where did you get the bronze man?" Gao Jingming asked curiously.

Chen Xuan naturally saw this scene. The bronze man in Mr. Yushan's hand was more than one meter tall and looked no different from a real person, except that he had no male or female characteristics. If you look closely, you will find that the joints of the bronze man are movable, and his body surface is covered with dense lines and small dots, and even tiny words are spread all over.

He gently placed the bronze man under the eaves. Even so, it made a slight dull sound when it landed, and the ground shook slightly. Chen Xuan suspected that the bronze man was solid and weighed at least several hundred pounds.

But Mr. Yushan brought it here so easily, and he was even sitting in a wooden wheelchair.

Then he said, "Ming'er, you think too highly of me. This is not something I can get."

Just a bronze statue, Master, you can't get it? Gao Jingming has always thought that his master is 'omnipotent', and asked again: "Then how did Master get it?"

Mr. Yushan explained, "This was sent by your mother. She wrote in a letter that it was in your house last year. Your princess spent a lot of money to escort it to your house."

"Ah? My sister sent it back. Is there anything special about it?" Gao Jingming finished drinking the soup and walked forward to take a look. Chen Xuan also followed over to take a look.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that not only could the joints and eyeballs of this bronze man move, but there were even faint cracks on the surface, as if the exterior could be taken apart!

Looking at the bronze figure, Mr. Yushan was also somewhat impressed. He said, "This is a finely crafted figurine, a bronze figure scaled down according to a certain proportion based on a normal adult. The lines on the surface represent the direction of the meridians, and the small dots are the distribution of acupuncture points. It can be disassembled, and the internal muscle structure, internal organs, and even the bones are clearly visible. Your mother will send this to you tomorrow so that you can fully familiarize yourself with the human body structure and prepare for the subsequent martial arts training."

"It's so exquisite. Is it difficult to make?" Gao Jingming asked curiously, obviously not knowing the value of it.

Chen Xuan was shocked when he heard this. He could imagine how difficult it was to make such a bronze man. It was already difficult to figure out the direction of the meridians and acupuncture points and mark them on the bronze man. What was even more valuable was that the muscles, internal organs, bones, etc. were scaled down to make them a perfectly fitting doll. To put it bluntly, how many dissectors would be needed to accomplish this?

Mr. Yushan said, "Of course it's very difficult to make. Don't underestimate it. This one figurine is worth a fortune. Just imagine how convenient it would be for learning martial arts or medicine. It was made by a group of famous doctors from the Imperial Hospital in collaboration with the master craftsmen from the Ministry of Works. They can't even make ten figurines a year. You can imagine how precious it is, right?"

Gao Jingming listened and said indifferently: "It's just a copper lump, it doesn't look that great."

Mr. Yushan was tired. Forget it. This guy is just an idiot. Talking to him will easily make him angry to death. He said, "This thing is too delicate and precious. You have to return it after using it. Don't damage it afterwards. It will be very troublesome to repair it."

Chen Xuan could only say that Gao Jingming's sister was really worried about her brother, but she was also very powerful and could get such things to teach the basics of martial arts.

Before this, Chen Xuan had also seen diagrams of the human body structure in books, but how could they compare with the 'real thing' in front of him?
In fact, Mr. Yushan also prepared some professional books on human anatomy, but with the bronze man sent by the Gao family, those things he prepared were naturally no longer useful.

Mr. Yushan then said, "Alright, since you don't have anything else to do, follow me and familiarize yourself with the human body structure using this bronze figure to prepare for the next step of martial arts training. Originally, you should memorize the meridians first, after all, you will be practicing internal skills next, but this object needs to be returned, so you might as well spend some time memorizing the human body structure inside and out. You need to understand it anyway to save trouble in the future."

Chen Xuan and the others naturally had no room for rebuttal and could only follow and study seriously.

But neither of them had the gift of photographic memory. The human body's meridians were complex, not to mention the numerous acupuncture points and their internal structures. Memorizing them by heart would take more than a day or two...

Time passed day by day. Chen Xuan and his classmates spent most of their time learning cultural knowledge. Only after finishing their studies in the afternoon did they follow Mr. Yushan to familiarize themselves with the human body structure.

However, Chen Xuan still maintained his habit of practicing calming and health-preserving exercises in the morning. Every afternoon, he would go to Mr. Yushan to stand in a horse stance. Even when he returned to the Gao family, he would do these two things without fail.

As I said, the school is not a martial arts sect, and martial arts are just incidental. The teacher does not want students to spend too much energy on these trivial matters.

Therefore, Chen Xuan and his classmates only had archery and charioteering classes every two or three days. The school's archery and charioteering classes didn't include any new martial arts content after teaching horse stance and Zhongzheng Fist. However, they would occasionally practice archery and horseback riding, which was considered to be the implementation of the two concepts of archery and charioteering.

In terms of archery, Chen Xuan once again demonstrated his terrifying talent in martial arts. He found the feeling soon after starting the practice, and he never missed the target from the moment he hit it. In order to avoid drawing too much attention, he even concealed most of his skills. Otherwise, he could have hit every arrow right in the center of a fixed bull's eye within fifty steps. He hadn't practiced with a moving target yet, so he wasn't sure how it would feel!
The reason why it was within fifty steps was because they were now using soft bows and short bows, and the hardware conditions did not allow it. It was not his personal problem.

However, even Ren Meng, who was teaching the class, could not help but admire him for hiding his talent. He said that if Chen Xuan's archery talent remained the same, with his foundation strengthened in the future, if he went to the battlefield, he would be able to reap lives.

But he still advised Chen Xuan to be modest and cautious, and to prioritize his studies. Because if one's own strength was strong, one could defeat a hundred men against a thousand, but what about ten thousand? What about a hundred thousand? And studying and learning could truly defeat ten thousand against a hundred thousand. Using the evil example he gave, if one's head was filled with so much knowledge, one could poison hundreds of thousands of people...

As time went by, the three exercises of calming qi and nourishing body, horse stance, and Zhongzheng boxing all brought out internal energy that continuously tempered Chen Xuan's physique, and with the nourishment of Sanbao Soup, Chen Xuan's physique was improving every day.

He had not undergone any special tests, but his bone age was only seven and a half years old. He could smash a pebble with a single slap. This was without any martial arts skills. With pure strength, he could even use a millstone weighing one or two hundred pounds as a dumbbell!

This is just his physique, which is simply amazing, surpassing many acquired martial artists who have practiced martial arts for many years without knowing the right method.

According to his understanding, the potential of the human body in this martial arts world is almost unlimited, and the upper limit is due to personal reasons. In terms of pure strength, some acquired martial artists who specialize in physical training can even have a terrifying strength of more than ten thousand pounds, and can kill a tiger with one punch, but that is still not the limit of the human body.

But no matter how strong your physique is, it will be difficult to improve it later due to personal reasons. In the end, it is not as magical as internal energy. Even if you have trained yourself to have a body of iron and steel, it will still be useless. If you use internal energy to perform advanced martial arts, you can still easily smash the internal organs of a bull with a single blow...

In the blink of an eye, a semester passed. During the vacation, Mr. Ren Meng, the archery and horse riding teacher, reminded everyone not to neglect the practice of horse stance and Zhongzheng Fist after returning home. He would teach everyone a sword technique starting from the next semester. After that, he had nothing to do. Archery and horse riding had been taught, and these were all that was learned in the elementary school stage.

After one semester, Chen Xuan and Gao Jingming went to Mr. Yushan every day when they were at school. They had learned the human body structure inside and out through the bronze man, and even disassembled and reassembled the complete mannequin many times. It is no exaggeration to say that at this time, there were definitely not many surgeons in Chen Xuan's hometown who could match his understanding of the human body structure, and this is still a humble statement.

During this autumn vacation, Chen Xuan and his friends were supposed to return to Yang County, probably to spend a happy summer at the summer resort, just like they had done in the past two years.

But Mr. Yushan left the two of them alone, saying that they had laid a good foundation and it was time to really start practicing internal skills. This matter had been discussed with Gao Jingming's family.

Perhaps it was because of their trust in Mr. Yushan, or perhaps Mr. Yushan's martial arts skills were already recognized. In any case, the Gao family did not send anyone for such an important matter, leaving it entirely to Mr. Yushan. However, they did send a lot of medicinal materials and medicines in case of emergency.

The students were on vacation, and of course the teachers were on vacation as well, and the entire school became empty.

After the holiday, Mr. Yushan let Chen Xuan and the others play for three days to completely relax, and then he was about to start practicing internal skills.

There were only three of them in the courtyard. Mr. Yushan looked at the two children and said gently, "You will begin your first attempt at practicing internal energy. Don't be nervous. I'm here with you. You won't have any trouble getting started with internal energy during this holiday."

Gao Jingming nodded, his face tense and he looked worried. Although it was only a matter of time before he could develop internal strength, once he had it it would be completely different. He had no clear idea of ​​what was different.

Chen Xuan was not nervous, because internal force was not difficult for him. The warmth he felt when he practiced the Qi-calming and health-preserving exercise for the first time was internal breath, which was also a rough internal force. It was just that he had not condensed it to form the internal force that could drive martial arts.

Then Mr. Yushan looked at Chen Xuan and said thoughtfully, "Ah Xuan, his family has agreed to it tomorrow. If you are willing, you can practice the 'Qingyuan Liuyun Gong' that the princess selected from the royal arsenal through her connections. It is a technique that directly leads to the Grandmaster level. If you don't like it, I can also teach you the 'Chenyu Heling Jue' that I practiced myself. It can also help you reach the Grandmaster level."

"If you don't like it, have your own ideas, and follow your wishes"

"But you have to think clearly. If you practice Qingyuan Liuyun Gong with Ming'er, you will have the annotations and essentials sent by the princess, and even those who practice this art can learn from them. If you practice Chenyu Heling Jue with me, I can also personally guide you. Both techniques can help you avoid countless detours. If you have other plans, just ignore my question. However, my help to you will be minimal."

"It's your choice. I asked you this three days ago, and I hope you'll give me your answer now. This is related to your future achievements in martial arts. If you regret it once you've begun training, it will not only waste time, but also create great hidden dangers and risks. That's all I have to say. Have you thought it through?"

It seems that he chose this question, but in fact, Chen Xuan had no choice. He couldn't just leave the Ze Yuan Jue in his head alone...

(End of this chapter)