This martial artist was her only connection to extraordinary power at the moment. She could only hope the pill would work; as long as he woke up, there was hope for her.
After a long fifteen minutes, the man's lips twitched slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes.
“You're awake.”
The man looked toward the sound. Seeing only a mortal girl with absolutely no spiritual energy fluctuations, he scanned the surrounding mud walls and thatched roof, and most of the wariness in his eyes finally faded.
It seemed he had been saved...
“This is our village chief's house. He found you in a mountain gully outside the village,” Su Yueli briefly explained the situation.
The man let out a long sigh and struggled to sit up, his face turning pale from the pain.
Weakly clasping his hands, he said, “Thank you for saving me, young lady. But I know my own injuries well. My heart vessels are shattered. The herbs in this remote village cannot keep me alive.”
“Herbs indeed wouldn't work.”
Su Yueli thought for a moment and said, “I fed you a pill just now. I don't know what kind it is, only that it's for healing.”
The man closed his eyes and carefully felt the flow of blood and qi within his body.
After a moment, his expression turned complex. “It is a Rejuvenation Pill for healing, but it's of the lowest quality—a defective product with too many impurities.”
“My life is saved, but my meridians are severely damaged, leaving behind incurable internal injuries. I'm afraid I will never be able to advance any further in my martial path in this lifetime.”
Hearing this, Su Yueli was slightly stunned.
A defective product?
Shen Qing'an's clean-cut face flashed through her mind.
Shen Qing'an was a mortal just like her and didn't know how to judge the quality of pills. To obtain this pill, he must have paid a heavy price.
“Your life-saving favor, young lady, is like giving me a second life.”
The man's expression turned solemn, and he clasped his hands again. “I am Lu Chen. If there is an opportunity in the future...”
“No need for the future.”
Su Yueli interrupted his polite remarks. She stood up, stepped back, and knelt on the floor, kowtowing deeply. “I want to enter the martial path. I beg Senior to teach me.”
Lu Chen was stunned, clearly not expecting this turn of events.
“Do you have Bone Talent?”
“No Bone Talent. I punch ten thousand times a day, but have made no progress whatsoever.”
Lu Chen fell into deep thought. Instead of agreeing immediately, he pointed to the open space in front of the bed. “Throw a punch for me to see.”
Su Yueli stood up, sank her legs, dropped into the horse stance she had been figuring out on her own over the past few days, and threw a punch into the air with all her might.
“Whoosh—”
The wind from her fist was weak and light.
Lu Chen watched and shook his head. “You have only brute force. Aside from muscle soreness, your daily punch practice won't actually make your body any stronger.”
Su Yueli's heart sank. Over these past days, she had thrown thousands to ten thousand punches daily, and indeed, it was just as he said.
“Because you have no Bone Talent, and your meridians are completely blocked.”
Lu Chen leaned against the headboard, his voice weak. “Cultivators have Bone Talent and can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to temper themselves. We mortal martial artists have nothing. We can only seek inward and squeeze our own flesh and blood.”
“What you are doing is called dissipating qi. Even if you practice for a lifetime, you won't even touch the threshold of the martial path.”
“How do I gather and hold the qi?” Su Yueli asked.
“You must create a reservoir inside your body.”
Lu Chen raised a finger and pointed to his chest. “This reservoir is the breathing technique of the martial path.”
He paused, looking at the relentless determination in Su Yueli's eyes that would not stop until she achieved her goal.
Regardless of whether this girl could endure the hardship, he had to repay her life-saving favor.
“I will teach you a basic breathing formula. Cultivators look down on it, but for martial artists, it is the best method to temper one's blood and qi.”
Lu Chen took a deep breath. “Watch the rise and fall of my chest, and listen to my rhythm.”
“Three long, one short, sink the qi to the lower abdomen!”
Su Yueli knew this was her only chance. She immediately closed her eyes and began to try according to Lu Chen's formula.
Three long inhalations, one short swallow.
Forcibly altering the natural human way of breathing, she pressed a mouthful of cold air down toward her stomach.
After only three attempts, a violent sensation of tearing and suffocation rushed straight to her head.
A mortal's internal organs simply could not withstand such brutal squeezing. Su Yueli felt a sweetness in her throat as a metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
“Don't spit it out!”
Lu Chen barked sharply, “When mortals practice martial arts, they are training this very breath of bitter, stubborn qi. If you spit it out, the qi will dissipate. Swallow it, and let it burn into your blood!”
Su Yueli opened her eyes, gritted her teeth, and swallowed the mouthful of blood back down.
The moment it entered her stomach, her body was finally pried open a crack by the breathing technique.
A trace of blood qi quietly exploded in her stomach.
Su Yueli was slightly dazed. Looking at her hands, which felt bursting with explosive power, her eyes filled with astonishment.
She could even hear the sound of blood surging within her body. Without relying on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, she was breaking the mortal shackles purely by squeezing the limits of her own flesh and blood.
“Is this the martial path...”
“Indeed. As long as you practice diligently, you can continuously break through,” Lu Chen nodded and said with a faint smile.
Inwardly, however, a storm of shock raged. Although this breathing technique was simple, for someone who had never actually practiced martial arts, it would normally take at least a month of practice to formally cross the threshold.
For himself, it had taken him twenty-three days just to barely get the hang of it.
In this remote, ordinary village, a genius who could learn it in just a few breaths had actually appeared?
Lu Chen's expression was complex. It seemed the Heavenly Dao did not want his legacy to end, sending such a talented individual to him.
“Master,” Su Yueli said, interrupting his thoughts and clasping her hands. “Your disciple wishes to learn fist techniques to become stronger.”
Suppressing the pleasant surprise in his heart, Lu Chen nodded calmly. “Very well. You possess a resilient mind. From this day forth, you are my, Lu Chen's, first disciple.”
“Uh...”
Su Yueli remained silent, a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes.
Just a moment ago, he seemed quite reluctant to take a disciple, refusing to commit and only teaching her the breathing technique. Why the sudden change of heart?
But she couldn't bother with that. She knew that she could now truly touch extraordinary power.
Finally, she was no longer a mere mortal...
Clasping her hands, she looked at Lu Chen with crescent eyes. “Master!”
“Good, good.”
Lu Chen nodded, highly satisfied with this disciple.
Just then, the wooden door creaked open, and the old village chief walked in carrying a bowl of coarse flour gruel.
“Old sir,” Lu Chen said, leaning against the headboard. “I have no way to repay your life-saving favor. This girl has excellent talent for martial arts, and I have accepted her as my disciple. Once my injuries recover a bit, we will leave.”
The hand with which the village chief held the bowl trembled slightly. He looked at Lu Chen, then at Su Yueli.
He understood in his heart that since she had no Bone Talent and could not become an immortal, in a world where even a passing demon beast could wipe out a village, a martial artist who could shatter stone and split mountains was far more practical than those ethereal immortals.
“Good, good...” The village chief sighed, placing the bowl on the table. “Our village is poor and has nothing to entertain you with. It is this girl's good fortune to have such an opportunity.”
Su Yueli looked at the old village chief, her heart filled with complex emotions.
Aside from Shen Qing'an, during the few years since she had transmigrated, the village chief was the one who had looked after her the most.
“Village Chief, thank you for taking care of Yueli all these years.”
...
The village wasn't large to begin with, and the news quickly grew legs, spreading throughout the entire village in less than half a day.
In the afternoon, when Su Yueli went to the village entrance to fetch water, she occasionally overheard the villagers whispering.
“Have you heard? That girl Yueli apprenticed herself to a martial artist and is going to learn how to punch!”
“She really is lucky. My boy went to ask to be an apprentice just now and was rejected.”
“Hmph, an unmarried girl who can't become an immortal and doesn't think about living a proper life, yet she actually practices martial arts. Isn't that for men?”
“Exactly, who would dare to marry her in the future?”
“Shh, quiet down, here she comes...”
Carrying two buckets of well water, Su Yueli listened to these idle gossips but did not step forward to argue, only finding it amusing.
In the eyes of mortals, living past sixty was considered a long life, and marrying, having children, and tilling the soil for food was the end of one's life.
But she was unwilling to remain ordinary for her entire life.
Only the immortal path and the martial path were what she would pursue for the rest of her life.
Moreover, who said women could only cultivate immortality and not practice martial arts?
How feudal...
Insects of summer cannot speak of ice.
Three days later.
Just as the sky was turning light, Su Yueli was called into the courtyard.
Under the effects of the low-grade Rejuvenation Pill, Lu Chen's injuries had recovered significantly; at least he could get out of bed.
“To practice martial arts, you must first train your blood and qi. I will take you into the mountains,” Lu Chen said, pointing to the mountain ridges outside the village. “There are many wild beasts and poisonous insects there, which will be beneficial to you.”
“Alright,” Su Yueli agreed.
This was exactly what she wanted. Although she didn't want to care about the idle gossip in the village, hearing too much of it was still annoying.
Every time she practiced her punches, villagers would occasionally come by to disturb her, which greatly affected her state of mind.
The two of them merely went to say goodbye to the village chief, then stepped into the depths of the mountain ridges.
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