Starting from Tianlong, Wudu Tianxia

The next morning.

As usual, Gao Yuan got up at dawn, took a bath, practiced martial arts, and after finishing his study of the Northern Darkness Technique, he went to the courtyard and practiced the Chaotic Cloak Sword Technique and the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Staff Technique all the way.

The Tianshan Plum Blossom Capturing Technique is not a fixed set of moves, but a "living" martial art that can continuously absorb and integrate other martial arts techniques.

Regardless of whether it's fist or palm techniques, or sword techniques, as long as you understand their principles, you can integrate their essence into your own moves. Therefore, he needs to constantly study and understand other martial arts routines.

The Chaotic Cloak Sword Technique and the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Staff are just ordinary techniques.

Fan Bailing's library contains many such common martial arts techniques, which he borrowed from Xue Muhua's residence.

But something is better than nothing.

It was just right for Gao Yuan, who was unfamiliar with fist and palm techniques and had little foundation in moves.

If you only cultivate internal strength but not techniques, even if your internal strength is abundant, you will find it difficult to hit anyone.

He can't just wait until he achieves mastery of the Northern Darkness Technique and then rely on his true qi to protect himself, getting beaten up like a turtle.

After working up a light sweat, I sat down on the ground under the tree.

Flipping through the two volumes of scriptures and diagrams, one was the "Nine Formations of Jingu" and the other was the "One Hundred Acupoints Diagram" that Fan Bailing had given him that day.

The "Nine Chess Games of Jin Valley" sounds like a martial arts manual, but it is actually a chess manual. It records the nine chess games played by Wang Jixin and Feng Wang at the home of Chen Jiuyan, the magistrate of Taiyuan, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

He wasn't just being pretentious; he did have a fondness for Go.

Although the chessboard is small, it contains the rules of heaven and earth, and its meaning coincides with some of the profound principles of martial arts.

As for the "Hundred Acupoints Chart," the human body's meridians are intricate and complex. He often took it out to refer to when practicing the Northern Darkness Technique, otherwise he really wouldn't understand the location of acupoints and meridians.

The belt meridian is located on the lateral abdomen, running obliquely downwards and converging with the gallbladder meridian of the lesser yang.

Gao Yuan memorized the locations of the acupoints and then extended his index finger to touch each acupoint on his body.

"The key to internal energy cultivation lies in opening up all the acupoints and strengthening all the meridians. The cultivation of internal energy cannot tolerate the slightest mistake. Otherwise, if the energy is directed to the Huantiao acupoint but ends up in another acupoint, wouldn't that be courting death?"

"However, different schools of martial arts have different understandings. Buddhism emphasizes the dual cultivation of Zen and martial arts. Martial arts classics are often explained in accordance with Buddhist scriptures. If one does not thoroughly study Buddhist scriptures, an ordinary person may be able to cultivate to a high level of profound martial arts, but will never be able to comprehend its highest mysteries."

"The profound martial arts of Taoism also require a thorough understanding of various Taoist classics. Otherwise, the words in the classics alone are difficult to understand. For example, the Lingbo Weibu requires knowing the positions of the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching."

As he closed his book and pondered, a burst of laughter suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Stone, what are you doing perched on the courtyard wall like a little monkey? Are you perhaps peeking at Yuan-ge'er practicing his martial arts?"

"Who...who peeked? I was...I was cleaning the courtyard wall, okay? Humph."

Stone hurriedly slid down from the top of the wall, revealing his reddened ears.

At this moment, Gengyun Xiaoniang was standing at the gate of the courtyard, covering her mouth and chuckling. Behind her were Wang Xin, Xu Xiangsheng, and Huang Shang.

"Cleaning the courtyard wall? Where are the brooms, dustpans, and scrapers? How can we clean without any tools?"

Wang Xin was quite familiar with Shi Tou. He glanced at the wall Shi Tou had just been perched on, then deliberately chuckled, "Could it be that our young hero Shi Tou has learned some kind of magic technique of blowing away dust with a breath of immortal energy, able to sweep away the dust on the wall with just a breath of immortal energy?"

Teasing by Wang Xin, Shi Tou couldn't refute, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Stone, you haven't taken Sister Gengyun to pick up the pastries you brought back from the temple fair yesterday, have you? Don't you dare eat them yourself."

Gao Yuan stepped out of the courtyard gate, rubbed his right palm on the stone, and changed the subject with a smile.

He already knew that Shi Tou was spying on him practicing his skills, but he didn't expose him.

First, you can't learn the Tianshan Plum Blossom Technique just by looking at the moves without understanding the underlying principles; second, even if a stone could learn ordinary martial arts moves, it wouldn't make much difference.

Kids all dream of being heroes, why bother arguing with him? Just treat him like a little stone.

"Okay! Okay! Yuan-ge."

Distracted by Gao Yuan, and ignoring Gengyun's mother's advice to slow down, he grabbed her and ran out in a flash.

After they left, Gao Yuan invited the three of them into the small pavilion in the west courtyard, poured them tea, and the four of them sat around the table.

Upon learning that it was the two men's first time visiting Xuzhou, Wang Xin took them to eat at "Mi San Dao" at the entrance of Fugui Lane early in the morning.

The group originally planned to visit Dayunming Temple, but seeing signs of rain clouds gathering, they changed their minds.

Fugui Lane is very close to the Fan residence, so since there was nothing else to do, I brought the two of them to find Gao Yuan.

At first, everyone was chatting casually. Wang Xin and Gao Yuan had known each other for a long time, Xu Xiang Sheng was very outgoing, but Huang Shang was rather reserved and couldn't join in the conversation at all.

Moreover, he couldn't understand anything they were talking about, such as "Dog Bro" and "Dog Bastard".

I wonder what kind of martial art the Tai Xuan Scripture is? When did the two envoys, the Rewards and Punishments, appear in the martial arts world?

When Wang Xin explained the story to them in detail, combined with Gao Yuan's eloquent explanation, the two of them immediately became engrossed in the tale of "The Knight-Errant".

When they got to the wittiest part, they couldn't help but burst into laughter, completely abandoning any semblance of decorum.

"The stories Yuan-ge'er tells are completely different from the heroic tales, supernatural stories, and other fantastical tales told by Mr. Feng Le Lou Zhuang. They are wonderful, wonderful indeed."

Huang Shang took a sip of tea and changed his address from "Brother Gao" yesterday to "Brother Yuan".

"Brother Wang, it's more than wonderful. The story that Brother Yuan told contains profound truths about life. People in the martial arts world are obsessed with interpreting the words on the monument, and thus fall into a trap. Shi Potian didn't know how to read, but he felt the sword intent with his own heart and thus grasped its essence. Doesn't this mean that people are often obsessed with their thoughts, which hinders their understanding of themselves? Only by letting go of their preconceived notions can they see the truth."

Gao Yuan was a little confused, thinking that scholars were indeed different, able to imagine any story. He, an ordinary person, naturally preferred to watch Brother Gou show off and get slapped in the face.

Huang Shang, still not satisfied with the story, and annoyed that Xu Xiang Sheng was interrupting him and preventing him from listening to the details, pulled Wang Xin to the corner of the pavilion and told him the story that had already begun.

One was speaking enthusiastically, and the other was listening intently, leaving Gao Yuan and Xu Xiangsheng to the side.

The two exchanged pleasantries and chatted for a while, then Xu Xiang-sheng suddenly changed the subject and said:

"Brother Wang said that Yuan-ge'er not only tells stories wonderfully, but is also very quick-witted. I have a question that I cannot answer. Could you please enlighten me, Yuan-ge'er?"

"It's just cleverness, nothing serious, and certainly not a sign of quick wit. Brother Wang, you flatter me."

Gao Yuan smiled. He had indeed helped Wang Xin solve some minor problems, but they were all underhanded schemes.

It is estimated that someone as self-righteous as Xu Xiang-sheng would look down on him.

"Consider this an exchange; it's a gentleman's friendship, and there's nothing that can be left unsaid."

Xu Xiang-sheng continued to pester him. Gao Yuan's mind raced, wanting to see what Xu Xiang-sheng was up to. He nodded slightly and said, "Brother Xu, please speak."

"Some time ago, I reread Zhou Dunyi's ancient texts and gained a deeper understanding of the word 'gentleman'. He said that a gentleman should be like a white lotus emerging from the mud unsullied. I had doubts in my heart. If the world is full of mud, how difficult it is for a gentleman to remain 'unsullied'."

After saying that, Xu Xiang-sheng's gaze fell on Gao Yuan's face, filled with curiosity, wanting to see how he would respond.

"Zhou Dunyi said that the white lotus emerges from the mud unsullied, which means that the white lotus must first take root in the mud, not stay away from the mud. If it were truly away from the mud, it would not only wither, but it would not even be able to grow above the water."

Xu Xiang-sheng was startled by Gao Yuan's unique interpretation, his body suddenly trembled, and he immediately became serious.

"What does it mean to be 'straight in the middle and upright on the outside, without any extraneous branches'?"

"Its appearance is straight and it doesn't form cliques, but where does the middle lead? The lotus roots in the mud are all intertwined, fragrant from afar, and refreshing from a distance, but the mud brought out by handling them is all fishy and smelly."

Gao Yuan thought to himself that since he had already said it, he might as well add a few more insinuations.

In his previous life, he read Zhou Dunyi's "On the Love of Lotus" and compared it with the behavior of the scholars of the Northern Song Dynasty, which he found utterly contemptible.

If they hadn't been so preoccupied with factional strife, neglecting the people and military affairs, how could the mighty Song Dynasty, a powerful nation in the Central Plains, have been repeatedly bullied by foreign tribes?

"Brother Yuan's interpretation of Zhou Dunyi's saying 'A gentleman is both gentlemen and virtuous' is quite unique... quite different."

Xu Xiang-sheng nodded silently, implying that he greatly appreciated what Gao Yuan had said.

He was from a family with a long history in the martial arts world, which set him apart from ordinary pedantic scholars.

"These are all fallacies and heresies. Brother Xu, please forgive my ignorance. There are so many scholars in the world, and quite a few of them understand this principle, but they just don't want to say it out loud."

"What's the point of saying it?"

After a few breaths of silence in the pavilion, Xu Xiang-sheng and Gao Yuan suddenly exchanged a smile: "If we say it, how can we remain innocent? We're truly trying to have our cake and eat it too."

Yesterday, Xu Xiangsheng thought he was just an ordinary江湖草莽 (jianghu cao, a term referring to a rough and unruly person in the martial arts world), but now he felt that he was just like Murong Fu, both being accomplished in both literature and martial arts. His admiration for him was evident in his words.