Mortal Mirror

Old Can Head was slightly stunned by Li Ergou's words. At that moment, he finally understood why his junior sister would like this little guy.

This kid was truly adorably foolish.

Old Can Head then said, "Do you only have this one page? The content here is too little and not coherent enough, making it difficult to cultivate."

Li Ergou gritted his teeth and took out the remaining two pages. Old Can Head was slightly surprised, not knowing why he tore the book. Perhaps he was being too cautious. But that was fine. If it were someone else, who knows what would happen in this situation.

What made him happy was that the second page had a picture of the meridians. Unfortunately, the picture was old and slightly blurred, having been around for who knows how many years. Fortunately, it was still recognizable.

He began to teach Li Ergou how to identify the meridians and where to find his own. Li Ergou's memory was very good now; he could remember it after one time, and he found that he wasn't stupid. He understood everything Old Can Head said, but putting it into practice might not be so simple.

The two talked until midnight, and Li Ergou almost understood the meaning of the three pages of the book. He was very grateful for Old Can Head's teachings, but he didn't know how to repay him.

In the end, he could only deeply bow to Old Can Head and say, "Old Can Head, thank you. I have no way to repay this kindness. If you ever need Ergouzi, I will go through fire and water without hesitation."

At that moment, Ergouzi's words were firm and powerful.

Old Can Head patted his shoulder and said, "Good boy, I'll remember your words. But even if you cultivate true qi, never use it unless it's a matter of life and death, to avoid attracting the prying eyes of others and bringing unwarranted disaster upon yourself."

Ergouzi was grateful in his heart. Old Can Head was sincerely good to him, although he knew that there was no such thing as unprovoked love in this world, and he didn't know what Old Can Head's purpose was in helping him.

But he understood that he would remember this kindness in his heart.

Leaving Old Can Head, he returned to his room, too excited to sleep, so he simply tried to cultivate.

The first step in cultivating martial arts true qi is naturally to sense the existence of true qi and then guide it into the body. Unfortunately, martial arts true qi is invisible and intangible, making it extremely difficult to feel its existence.

So this first step alone blocked many people from entering the path of cultivation.

Some people are foolish and may not be able to sense the existence of true qi in their entire lives. Some talented people can get started with just a little experience.

This is also the difference between geniuses and ordinary people. It's like giving an ordinary person a peerless cultivation technique; they may not be able to cultivate it successfully. But if you give it to a genius, they may be able to master it and become a top expert in the world.

Talent is something that cannot be seen or touched, but it truly exists.

Ergouzi was foolish by nature. In the landlord's house, he spent his days being beaten and thinking about how to fill his stomach. As a result, he became even more stupid. Perhaps it was because he was pitied by the heavens that he got the bronze mirror and ate the things copied by the bronze mirror, which made his mind start to work.

Even so, as Wu A'po said, perhaps it was innate, or perhaps it was because he suffered too much torture in his childhood, and malnutrition may also have been a factor. His aptitude was extremely poor, like heaven and earth compared to geniuses.

Even compared to ordinary people, he was far behind. If he wanted to succeed, he would have to spend more effort and more resources than others.

Fortunately, Li Ergou was resilient and had experienced the most suffering in the world since he was a child.

So he was not afraid of pain or hardship. Moreover, the pain of cultivation was much more comfortable than the work he did in the landlord's house every day.

You should know that in the landlord's house, he had to get up before dawn every day to boil water for the landlord's young masters and misses to wash their faces, empty the chamber pots, feed the pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese, and take time to wash clothes, carry water, chop firewood, and clean the toilets for the whole family. He also had to herd sheep and pick up firewood at the same time. If he wasn't careful, he would be beaten. Those young masters would also beat him for fun when they were bored.

The landlady would also beat him when she was angry. He was the family's punching bag. If he wasn't resistant to beatings, he might have been beaten to death long ago.

He especially remembered that once, just because he was slow in his work, he was tied to a wooden stake by the landlady and exposed to the sun for seven days, almost turning him into a mummy.

The landlady still felt that it was not enough to relieve her anger, so she beat him with wooden sticks for a day and a night.

He almost died that time. When he was released, his whole body was swollen, and he was much fatter. Everyone thought he would not survive and almost buried him alive. It was the fifth miss who pleaded for him that he was not buried alive.

Unexpectedly, his dog life was strong enough, and he survived.

Sometimes, he would hide in places where others couldn't see him and cry secretly, lamenting the injustice of heaven. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father died when he was seven years old. Even so, he had to be sold to the landlord's house and work day and night.

He seemed to remember that he had a younger sister, but he didn't know if she was still alive or if she had been sold by his second uncle. When he thought of his second uncle, his teeth itched with hatred. It was he who sold him for one tael of silver, which led to his miserable years.

Li Ergou shook his head, calmed his mind, and sat cross-legged, with his left foot on top of his right foot. This was called the wishful seat. If he put his right foot on top of his left foot, it would be called the vajra seat.

Then he straightened his spine, making each vertebra stack up like an abacus bead.

His left and right hands were circled below his abdomen. Old Can Head told him that it was also called the Dantian, but he seemed to understand it. Then he placed his hands flat on the hip bones.

His palms were facing up, and the back of his right hand was placed flat on the palm of his left hand, with his two thumbs gently touching each other. This was called the mudra.

His left and right shoulders should be slightly opened to make them flat and moderate. He should not slump his shoulders and hunch his back, which was a big taboo.

Li Ergou completed the basic movements and began to feel the vitality of heaven and earth.

Old Can Head told him that there was a kind of Qi between heaven and earth that carried infinite power and was the source of life. This Qi was called vitality or spiritual energy by cultivators. It was the power of heaven and earth, very magical. Only by guiding vitality into the body could it be refined into martial arts true Qi.

As soon as he sat down, Li Ergou felt something was wrong. In theory, if you want to experience Qi, you must have no distracting thoughts and chant a nameless incantation. Only then will you have the opportunity to experience the existence of Qi, which is vitality.

But he found that at this moment, his heart was full of distracting thoughts, constantly thinking about messy things, and even producing illusions. The more he tried to suppress these things, the more complex his heart became, and he couldn't calm down at all.

Old Can Head told him that he would definitely encounter such things when he first started cultivating, which was called demonic thoughts.

He sighed in his heart, the path of martial arts was really not as simple as he imagined.

Give up? Of course not. He was not afraid of pain or hardship and must overcome himself and overcome demonic thoughts.