The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

Three months later, after the assessment period, Lu Jing was successfully accepted as a disciple.

Zhang Sanfeng first accepted Lu Jing's apprenticeship letter, then took the disciple's tea offering with both hands, raised it to his brow, closed his eyes, then held the teacup with his left hand, used his right hand to stroke the lid, drank the tea, returned the empty bowl to Lu Jing, and gave a few words of instruction and encouragement. This apprenticeship ceremony was considered complete, signifying that Lu Jing was officially accepted into his lineage.

After finishing, Zhang Sanfeng looked at his new disciple and said with a kind expression, "You've been standing in the stance for three months now, right? Tell me, what do you feel?"

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"My legs hurt," Lu Jing said honestly.

"Anything else?"

"Also, my back hurts."

"… … … …"

"It's okay, take it slow." After a moment of speechlessness, Old Man Zhang ended up comforting his disciple.

"I've already taught you the key points. Although stance training is just an introduction, it's the foundation of all martial arts. You must not take it lightly. Every school and sect has its own stance training techniques in order to complement future martial arts practice. Some with extraordinary talent can even directly comprehend powerful moves from stance training. The inner strength you're so eager to develop also depends on this."

However, he didn't expect Lu Jing to say directly upon hearing this, "Master, just give me a straight answer. How long does it usually take for an average person to develop a sense of qi?"

"Uh," Zhang Sanfeng hesitated for a moment, "For someone starting stance training, it can be as quick as a day or two. Oh, there are also geniuses who can sense the flow of qi in their body as soon as they assume the posture. As for the slow ones…" Old Man Zhang didn't continue, but raised his eyebrows and glanced at Lu Jing.

"So, you mean the slowest it can be depends on me?" Lu Jing asked.

"Starting slow doesn't mean being slow every step of the way. There's no shortage of late bloomers in the martial world. The most important thing in martial arts is perseverance. As long as you're willing to put in the hard work…"

Zhang Sanfeng spoke earnestly, but after glancing at Lu Jing, who was rolling his eyes from being force-fed chicken soup, he couldn't continue making things up, and could only nod in agreement, "Alright, your aptitude is indeed average, and you're not young anymore. You've missed the best time to learn martial arts."

"Moreover, martial arts are expensive. Training requires a lot of expenses, at least meat for three meals a day. Don't compare yourself to those monks and Taoists, they have other ways to supplement their nutrition. And it's said that those famous sects and martial arts families regularly give their young disciples medicinal baths and precious pills, the investment is even more boundless…"

Zhang Sanfeng looked at Lu Jing again as he said this, but saw that his newly accepted disciple didn't show much frustration. He couldn't help but secretly praise his good temperament, and then couldn't help but feel sorry for him again.

In fact, Lu Jing himself was also quite regretful. Since he had come to a martial arts world, who wouldn't want to develop superb martial arts skills and roam freely in the martial world?

But having experienced modern education, Lu Jing had already seen countless similar things. In the same class, some students learn everything quickly, and can easily get full marks on exams without even listening much in class. There are also some people who study every day, their butts never leaving the stool, more hardworking than anyone else, but if they're not good at it, they're just not good at it. They invest a lot of time and energy, but the results are still minimal.

There's nothing you can do about aptitude, but fortunately, there's more than one path. If martial arts really don't work out, then he'll study literature. Lu Jing knows all about studying. He was able to study all the way from a third-tier small city to a top 4 graduate student. He is an out-and-out small-town exam machine. Now it's just a matter of changing to the imperial examination, no big deal.

Moreover, this time travel isn't without any benefits. He's ten years younger, and now looks to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. This age is a bit old for learning martial arts, but it's not too late for studying. Haven't you seen people who keep taking the exam until their hair is white before passing the provincial exam and becoming a tribute student?

Of course, according to good traditions, since he's already here and the tuition has been paid, it seems impossible to get a refund no matter what. Lu Jing still plans to continue practicing, anyway, it won't delay the imperial examination. Even if he can't become a martial arts master, it's good to use it to strengthen his body. The body is the capital of the revolution.

Seeing that Lu Jing hadn't said anything, Zhang Sanfeng sighed, "Forget it, I'll first pass on the inner energy mantra to you. Memorize it, and then slowly practice after you cultivate a sense of qi."

After saying that, Zhang Sanfeng first recited the inner energy mantra to Lu Jing, then broke it down and explained it word by word, sentence by sentence.

Old Man Zhang's inner energy is called Little Vajra Strength. Judging by the name, it should be a Buddhist martial art. I don't know how it flowed into the martial world. Perhaps because Little Vajra Strength is just an ordinary technique with nothing special about it, the monks didn't bother to recover it, so this technique gradually spread throughout the martial world, becoming one of the most popular inner energy techniques.

Lu Jing didn't say anything, but handed a handkerchief to his master to wipe his sweat. Afterwards, he continued to stand in the stance on the side. By the time the sun was setting in the west, Zhang Sanfeng's good-for-nothing son hurriedly returned from outside, shouting that he was hungry and wanted to eat meat as soon as he entered the door.

Seeing this, Lu Jing took the opportunity to bid farewell and leave. Zhang Sanfeng originally wanted to ask his disciple to stay for dinner, but he was a little distressed about the meat. After hesitating for a moment, Lu Jing had already left, and Old Man Zhang could only swallow the words back into his stomach.

On the other hand, Lu Jing left his master's small courtyard and didn't go anywhere else, but went directly back to his residence.

Wujiang City is prosperous, and land prices are naturally high. Every inch of land is worth its weight in gold. Coolies like the porters can't afford to rent a house in the city, nor are they willing to rent one, so most of them live in thatched huts outside the city.

After Lu Jing went back, he casually cooked some porridge to fill his stomach, then fell headfirst on the bed. He had been working at the dock early this morning, and then went to his master's place to practice. He was so tired that he didn't want to move a finger. In addition, Zhang Sanfeng said bluntly that he had no talent for martial arts. Although Lu Jing didn't feel despair, he felt a little lacking in motivation at this moment, so he didn't immediately review what he had learned today, and fell asleep quickly as soon as his head hit the pillow.

As a result, when Lu Jing woke up the next day, he found that his lower abdomen was a little uncomfortable.

He didn't take it to heart at first, and thought it was because he didn't cover himself well with the quilt last night and caught a cold. Although he felt a little uncomfortable, fortunately it wasn't unbearable, and could only be considered a minor illness. But soon he noticed that the uncomfortable area was precisely located one and three-tenths of an inch below the navel.

Lu Jing's classes during this period weren't for nothing. He knew that was where the dantian was located. All the meridians in the body are directly or indirectly connected to the dantian. The inner force that martial artists painstakingly cultivate is usually stored there, so that they can mobilize it when needed. And Lu Jing had been standing in the stance for three months, but hadn't even found a sense of qi, so his dantian was naturally as empty as an ordinary person.

But now that area was feeling a bit swollen and painful, which made Lu Jing feel a little confused. How can something empty swell?

Well, air does indeed expand when heated, as the junior high school teacher taught. But the problem is that he thought he didn't take out his dantian to roast by the fire last night, so this swelling made no sense at all.

Lu Jing scratched his head. He had only recently become a disciple. Although he had been working hard to learn during this period, he had just started in both theory and practice. He had no experience with this kind of thing. He pondered for a while without gaining anything, and wanted to ask his master for guidance, but work at the dock was about to start soon.

Lu Jing had used most of the income he had managed to save before to pay the tuition fees. In the past three months, he had been busy practicing martial arts, so he earned even less money, barely enough for his daily expenses, and there was nothing left over. Now he was completely in a situation where he had to stop working to eat.

So even if he had a minor illness, he still had to start working to earn money.

Lu Jing got out of bed, put on his clothes, carried his bamboo basket, pushed the door open and left the small thatched hut where he lived, and entered the city with the people going to the early market. Because of the commotion in the morning, he didn't have time to make breakfast today, so he had to spend four copper coins to buy a bowl of tangbing at a roadside stall.

The stall owner skillfully cut the kneaded dough into long strips with a knife, threw them into the pot to cook, and then served them with some side dishes and soup to Lu Jing at the stall.

And Lu Jing didn't know why, but even though his lower abdomen felt swollen, he felt extremely hungry. Especially when he took the noodles and smelled the fragrance of the noodles, he couldn't help but pick up his chopsticks and start gobbling them up. In the blink of an eye, a bowl of tangbing was all gone, and Lu Jing even drank the soup in the bowl clean.

But he still didn't feel full at all, and had to order another bowl.