What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

He took a deep breath and began to slowly practice a set of boxing techniques in the cramped room.

The movements were extremely slow, yet they carried a suffocating sense of oppression.

With each punch, the air seemed to be compressed, producing a popping sound.

"This is called 'Mountain-Shaking Strength.' It's a method I've developed over many years of blacksmithing, used to strengthen the body and improve blood circulation."

It doesn't conflict with your Qi cultivation methods; it trains the muscles, bones, and skin.

While demonstrating, Guan the Blind Man explained the secrets of blood and qi circulation.

He explained it in great detail, even describing the frequency of each muscle tremor with extreme precision.

Li Qing and I exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

In the folk tradition, passing on one's most treasured skills without reservation is almost equivalent to preaching the gospel.

Furthermore, both Li Qing and I have experienced life-or-death situations, and we know very well how much a strong physique can play in critical moments.

It took a full hour before the blind man stopped what he was doing.

He was panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat, and his originally rosy complexion now appeared somewhat pale.

"How much have you memorized?" he asked.

"Seventy or eighty percent," I answered truthfully.

Thanks to the enhanced perception brought about by the accumulated cool aura between my eyebrows, I almost memorized all the routes of his blood and qi circulation.

"I also remembered about 60% of it."

Li Qing also abandoned his nonchalant demeanor and became solemn.

Guan the Blind Man nodded with satisfaction: "Good, good. Passing on this skill to you will prevent it from being lost."

My Guan family... we've done right by our ancestors.

He sat back down on the kang (a heated brick bed), looking somewhat listless, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Alright, take the things, and remember the Dharma. This old man is tired and needs to rest."

"Stay in the village for two days and practice your skills before you leave."

Holding the box containing the evil crystal, I looked at the lonely old blacksmith before me, my heart filled with mixed emotions.

These are the men from beyond the Great Wall.

He doesn't need your gratitude or your promises; he simply uses his most basic methods to give what he considers the best things in the world to those he trusts.

I walked out of the inner room and looked at Guan Yatou chopping firewood in the yard, then looked back at the room filled with the smell of charcoal.

"Li Qing, let's find a place to go into seclusion together."

For the next three days, Li Qing and I stayed in Guanjiatun.

Life here is hard and monotonous. Every day, just as dawn breaks, Li Qing and I are dragged out of the warm kang by the blind man.

In that courtyard filled with the smell of charcoal fire, we began to practice the "Mountain-Shaking Strength" technique again and again.

Body training is far more painful than Qi training.

Qi cultivation involves guiding qi into the body, and it emphasizes a profound and mysterious understanding.

Body tempering, on the other hand, involves genuinely tormenting the skin, flesh, muscles, and bones.

According to Guan the Blind Man's instructions, we need to maintain an extremely strange stance while circulating qi and blood.

All the muscles in the body must complete the transition from extreme tension to instantaneous relaxation in a very short time.

Each time the blood and qi are washed away, it feels like a dull knife is scraping back and forth between the bones.

"Ouch... my back is killing me..."

As Li Qing practiced his horse stance, his whole body trembled like a leaf, and sweat dripped down his pale face.

"Old Chen, I'm starting to suspect that this old man is getting revenge on us... This isn't practicing martial arts, it's clearly the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty."

I ignored him, clenching my teeth as I felt the heavy, mercury-like internal energy within my body, guided by the "Mountain-Shaking Force," begin to seep into the bone marrow of my limbs and bones.

Whenever I feel like I can't hold on any longer, the last bit of coolness between my eyebrows will tremble slightly, suppressing the excruciating pain by half, allowing me to stay absolutely clear-headed and correct the imbalance in my blood and qi circulation.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the third day at dusk, when I finished practicing the entire "Mountain Shaking Force" again, I heard a crisp "crack" sound from inside my body, as if some kind of shackles had been broken.

A warm current of energy rose from the dantian and quickly flowed throughout the body.

It made my muscles, which were originally sore and swollen, feel as if they were filled with explosive power at this moment.

I tried to throw a punch without any murderous intent, and the wind from the punch actually created a faint air popping sound.

Although Li Qing was slightly less talented, with the support of the profound foundation of the geomancer lineage, he managed to barely reach the threshold of entry.

Although he still looked half-dead, his steps were noticeably more steady.

"Alright, you've got the basics."

Guan the Blind sat on a stone stool to the side, smoking his pipe. Amidst the swirling smoke, his expression appeared somewhat solemn.

"The road ahead will require soaking in various precious medicinal herbs and painstakingly working your way up."

That's all I can teach you.

Take this booklet; it contains some of my insights into cultivation, as well as medicinal bath recipes for later use in the "Mountain-Shaking Strength" technique.

After saying that, Guan the Blind took out a thin booklet and handed it to me and Li Qing.

I took the booklet and glanced through it briefly. The whole book was filled with densely packed small print.

The handwriting is elegant, and the traces of writing have not yet faded, clearly indicating that it was not written by Guan the Blind.

I glanced at Guan Ling, who was not far away, and understood.

After feeling the booklet being taken from his hand, Guan the Blind nodded in satisfaction.

Then, he tapped his pipe and looked up at the distant, undulating Changbai Mountains.

"The All Souls Assembly is about to begin."

Guan Xiazi's voice suddenly became low and deep.

"This forest outside the pass will not be peaceful from now on."

Those old monsters that have been hiding in the deep mountains and forests for hundreds of years, as well as all sorts of demons and monsters from all over the country who have been sniffing out the scent, will all be heading to Fengtian these days.

"I've been guarding this place my whole life, and I can feel that this commotion is even bigger than it was thirty years ago."

He turned his head, his blind eyes seeming to pierce through our skin and look straight into our souls: "You two young men, if you don't have anything urgent to do outside the pass, you should hurry up and leave."

Go back to the south before the heavy snow closes the mountains.

Don't get involved in this mess.

As I listened to the blind man's warning, my heart sank slightly.

I first heard Jin Wanliang mention the term "All Souls Assembly" when I was in Jiangcheng.

That was a grand event held once every ten years in the folk culture circles outside the Great Wall. According to Jin Wanliang, it was a grand event, and there were many hidden tricks involved.

With Jin Wanliang's reminder beforehand, and Guan Xiazi's admonition afterward, Li Qing and I exchanged a glance, both seeing the intention to back down in each other's eyes.

We have already exceeded our objectives for this trip north.

The key materials for repairing Xinghuang Banner—Xirang and meteorite iron—have been obtained, and the snake molt entrusted by Chang Tianqing has also been personally handed over to Master Liu.

More importantly, I not only obtained a top-grade evil crystal, but also unexpectedly learned a body-refining technique.