Chapter 50: Arduous Practice
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The breath in the atmosphere dissipated outside of the cell. Although there was no real flame burning, it was scorching hot. Meng Qi felt like his skin was on fire, causing him to sweat uncontrollably. It flowed from his forehead, crossing his face and the corners of his mouth and dripped down together with sweat from his upper body.
Feeling dizzy and distended in the head, Meng Qi managed with effort to maintain the first pass of Qi circulation of the Golden Bell Shield. He felt lucky to have the protection of his Iron Shirt, otherwise his skin would certainly have been scalded and he would have suffered from serious dehydration resulting in a failure to persist.
This was many times more horrible than a sauna!
With the internal force running continuously, Meng Qi felt that his muscle was dissolving little by little and constantly reorganizing from inside to outside, which accompanied the transformation of the Golden Bell Shield.
His Dantian also began to condense again.
With sweat drizzling down, Meng Qi felt his vision blur. The scene before him was shaking. This was the effect the Golden Bell Shield had on his eyes during his practice for each pass. Certainly, the first pass required him to open his eyes for dozens of seconds.
Meng Qi had never experienced torture and torment to this extent. He subconsciously looked inside the cell, wishing that the fire swan would move inside to stay away from him and that the temperature would be reduced a little.
The fire swan, with crimson feathers, seemed to sense Meng Qi’s gaze. It opened its eyes and strode one step toward him, causing the temperature to go up even more
Damn bird! Meng Qi cursed, afraid to look at the fire swan for fear that it would move closer towards him again.
After breathing in and out dozens of times, Meng Qi closed his eyes. He strove to forget the high temperature, the discomfort of his skin and muscle, as well as everything around him, and to immerse himself into the practice of the Golden Bell Shield.
After a long time, the sound of “Amitabha” spread to Meng Qi’s ears, just as he just finished a heavenly circuit.
“Master.” Meng Qi opened his eyes to see Xuan Bei standing before him.
Xuan Bei nodded gently and said, “Ok, so much for today’s practice. You held on for a whole day, way beyond my expectation.”
“One day?” Meng Qi asked in a hoarse voice, feeling very astonished. He’d held a whole day?
He ended the breathwork and stood up slowly, only to feel pain all over his body. His legs were quaking. He couldn’t wait to find a cool place to lie down and sleep immediately.
Xuan Bei revealed a smile on his melancholic face. “I assumed that you could withstand for two hours at most, but you persisted fully for five hours. You have great perseverance and have behaved less impetuously.”
Sometimes I just seek joy amidst sorrow to soothe my mood, actually I understand inside my heart… Meng Qi secretly argued for himself. But he almost fell to the ground when moving a step forward, because he was too hot, too dizzy and too weak.
Xuan Bei waved his sleeve and a gust of wind blew from a nameless place, firmly holding Meng Qi to avoid his fall and let him get out of the domain of the fire swan.
The cool feeling hit Meng Qiu and made him feel sober. Suddenly he felt himself coming into life again!
“Don’t stick too hard, or it will easily hurt you. Five hours is enough.” Xuan Bei walked in front and said casually, “In this way, you will achieve the first pass of the Golden Bell Shield after half a month and you will work through the first three levels in three months.”
Three months… Meng Qi frowned. He didn’t know how long until the next reincarnation tasks would come. He would naturally not be worried if it was a year and a half, but if there was only one month like last time, he would only finish the second pass of the Golden Bell Shield, not leading to any substantial improvement.
Fortunately, he still had the Pearflower Storm Needles to save his life!
That was the only thing Meng Qi could think. Because the Golden Bell Shield was a kind of magic power with masculine foundation and slow progress. The first three levels would take at least a year to achieve through normal practice, even if those who had the foundation of the primary level of Qi-cultivation worked for six or seven months. What could one complain about if he completed it in three months?
Without a word, Meng Qi dragged his weak body back to the small yard where Xuan Bei lived and walked straight to the water tank, picking up the wooden ladle to drink two scoops fully for his dehydration.
Entering into the meditation room, Meng Qi saw Zhen Hui meditating with a smile on his face He was highly focused, showing a little bit of the real meaning of Zen.
Was this guy really suitable for practicing the Flower-pinching Finger? Meng Qi was stunned for a while and immediately found a Ganoderma Elixir of Restoration to swallow down. Then he sat and meditated with leg crossed, conditioning the body and replenishing internal breath.
Meng Qi erupted the strongest fighting power ever at dinner. He was astonished at himself for eating so much food.
After eating and drinking enough, Meng Qi, who had practiced arduously for one day, was exceptionally sleepy, just wanting to lie on the wide shared bed. Shaolin Temple advocated penance. There was no substantial difference between the Chores Yard or the Warrior-monk Yard. Only the courtyards belonged to elders such as Xuan Bei. If not for confidentiality and the convenience of their practice, there probably would not be any small single courtyards.
“Senior Brother, I will continue my meditation.” Zhen Hui said to Meng Qi cheerfully, leaping straight back to the meditation room without any resistance to practice.
Seeing this, Meng Qi sighed. He turned around and walked into the courtyard. He found a Buddhist Commandment Blade to practice Blood Bladesmanship under the chilly moonlight.
He couldn’t slack off! Nobody knew when the task of Samsara would begin!
Blood Bladesmanship put great emphasis on the pace and the angle of the move, with a focus on looking ahead and suddenly looking behind, so that the bladesmanship could be extremely strange. Each blade cut from an incredible position, which complemented with Meng Qi’s Lightning Changes. The two movements would enhance each other when Meng Qi practiced them.
After practicing bladesmanship several times, Meng Qi was too exhausted to continue. He stopped, breathing heavily and intending to take a break.
At this time, he saw Xuan Bei out of the corner of his eye. He stood in the doorway of the meditation room. Ming Qi had no idea how long he had been standing there.
“Master.” Meng Qi put his palms together devoutly in a hurry.
Xuan Bei nodded and revealed a rare satisfactory look. “Very good.”
And with that, he turned around and walked into his meditation room.
Meng Qi was quietly complacent for a moment. He adjusted his breathwork for a while and continued to practice bladesmanship.
…
Day in and day out, Meng Qi repeated his dual-purpose life between his fire swan cell and the courtyard of Xuan Bei. He found that the Golden Bell Shield ran more and more smoothly and could lightly feel a strange change in his body. He achieved the first pass on the thirteenth day.
On this day, Meng Qi sat in front of the fire swan cell with his legs crossed. There were a few beads of sweat on his body surface, reflecting a slight golden shimmer.
Although the temperature was still high, Meng Qi felt less uncomfortable. He was no longer dizzy. There was no more burning sense on his skin and he felt more at ease in his body.
Suddenly a golden ray appeared at Meng Qi’s Dantian as if a light noise had sounded.
Then the golden color faded and Meng Qi opened his eyes, rotating his neck with satisfaction.
On the twenty-ninth day, he worked out the second pass of the Golden Bell Shield! His Dantian had been re-condensed successfully!
Xuan Bei seemed to have been staying here without leaving and slightly nodded. “Good job, tomorrow you will begin the practice of the third pass.”
“Master, is the third pass still here?” Meng Qi stood up and asked with concern.
At present, he felt better after each practice, at least his weakness to walk had fallen.
“Outside, the front cell.” Xuan Bei indicated with his eyes.
Meng Qi followed his sight and found that it was the one he had noticed before. The chill was permeating with ice crystals covering the ground.
It had been hot before and now it was cold?
Xuan Bei slowly opened his mouth. “Inside the ‘cold turtle’, you have to practice the third pass with the help of the cold breath of it.”
“Yes, Master.” Meng Qi looked at the cell and saw a giant tortoise carrying a pale blue shell. The snow was falling inside the cell with ice crystals everywhere, which was in stark contrast to the cell of the fire swan on the other side of wall.
Returning to the small courtyard, Xuan Bei gave the token to Meng Qi. “You must be familiar with the schedule because every day you will practice, and you will practice on your own in later days. Come and tell me when you reach the third pass.”
Meng Qi nodded in agreement. After all, the Master had been around him while he practiced all month. It had been dragging the Master down for a long time. Now he had achieved the second pass of the Golden Bell Shield and had also become familiar with the environment there. It was time for him to depend on himself.
…
On the following day, Meng Qi held a token and smoothly entered the stupa to the first floor where the “cold turtle” was locked away.
Meng Qi felt the piercing chill the moment he set foot inside. It was colder than any of the winters he’d experienced before, cold enough to freeze bone marrow.
He was bare-chested as usual, shivering and sitting cross-legged to run the third pass of Golden Bell Shield to defend against the cold with heart sutras.
Meng Qi didn’t go to see the cold turtle this time. He urged it to retreat inside so as not to bring about the opposite consequence.
He opened his eyes and found that the cold turtle had quietly moved closer to the iron bars without his notice.
The damn monster! Meng Qi cursed hatefully in secret.
“Haha, stupid humans. Don’t they know this damn turtle’s greatest intention is retaliation? It was locked here for decades for flooding a city, how could you humans be pleasing to its eyes?” The noise came from the opposite side.
It was very ugly. Its body rolled like a ball with two short wings, covered with black feathers. It had no beak on its head but a fish-like mouth instead.
It looked very ugly, whose body rolled like a ball with two short wings, covered with black feathers, no beak on the head but a fish-like mouth.
“What are you looking at? My Taoist monastic name is ‘Sagittarius’. I have been without change for so many years. I am the descendant of the Roc Clan!” The bird bounced and said, “You must be surprised that I did not speak to you previously, but I will not speak casually to humans as our Roc Clan is superior
Meng Qi did not care about it. Closing his eyes and he devoted himself to practicing.
“Ah, little monk, How could it be useful to practice chill depending on the damn turtle? You have to find Han Li, haha, at that time, you will be frozen into ice residue and die… ” The little bird, “Drooping Wing” simply wasn’t aware at all that Meng Qi was practicing. It continued to ramble.
“You are so ugly in this position. You humans really have no taste.” It nitpicked Meng Qi from top to bottom fully for an hour.
“Little monk, practicing Golden Bell Shield, this kind of turtle shell Kung Fu is of no use, it is better to let me out, then I will owe you… ”
Meng Qi only felt the noise making him impatient. He wanted to jump up and find something to stop it. It is too noisy! Doesn’t it know that one needs to be quiet when practicing?
“Speaking of benefits, our Roc Clan carried the heritage forward for millions of years. My grandfather’s grandfather had… ” The bird became talkative, telling stories from its grandfather’s grandfathers. In this way, it could talk for at least three months!
After completing a heavenly circuit, Meng Qi rose to his feet suddenly. He was prepared to block the mouth of the “Drooping Wing”. However, the bird was unusually alert and flew back deep into the cell as soon as Meng Qi stood up. It said with elation, “You think I can’t figure out when you finish running a circuit?”
“Haha, you’d better stay there and listen to me!”