Chapter 11: 11
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His courage increased his power, and his power increased his courage . It was a positive feedback loop .
He trained until sunset and actually felt hungry again . Right now, he was still very skinny, nowhere near as wide as Li Hu or Li Bao . Only he knew that none of the essences from the water deer meat had gone to waste . It had all merged with his body .
His body was like a bottomless hole, draining and absorbing all the alcohol and meat greedily, converting it into power .
After training, Li Qingshan sat down on the spot, closed his eyes, and settled down, feeling all the changes to his body . Overexerting his muscles and bones was extremely painful . He could still remember how he almost could not get out of bed from the pain on the second day of practising the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength .
On that day, the black ox had not urged him on either . He had forcefully endured the pain and gotten up to train . Only after a dozen or so days of consecutive training did it get slightly better . No, it should be that his tolerance had increased . Logically, his body should have gradually grown accustomed to it all after making it through the first few days, but the pain he experienced did not lessen at all . He still felt like he had only begun training every day .
Every single change his body went through was reflected in his heart with great clarity . Unfortunately, he could not sense any of the so-called qi . According to the black ox, only when one sensed the flow of qi and produced a trace of true qi would a grasp of the basics for any ability or technique be achieved . He had been cultivating for far too short a period .
At this moment, he suddenly felt a chill . It moved about behind his neck like a cold breeze .
However, there was no breeze at all, much less a cold breeze .
Is this the so-called qi?
Li Qingshan was elated . He concentrated on the cold sensation, but he gradually felt the chill penetrate his skin and enter deeper and deeper, reaching his bone marrow and even his soul . It was extremely cold and very unpleasant .
Li Qingshan shook his head . He stood up and practised a little more . The chill dispersed slightly, but it pestered him once again when he sat back down .
He had no idea what went wrong, so he went to the stream by his house to wash himself . The moon shone brilliantly that night . When he glanced at his reflection in the water, he saw a pale-white child with a stiff expression perched on him .
Even with his increased courage, he became covered in cold sweat from fright . Immediately, he thought about a movie from his past life called The Grudge .
However, the child only moved its head . The surface of the water rippled at this moment, and the reflection of the child vanished . However, the chill clearly remained .
Li Qingshan did his best to remain composed . I’ve run into a ghost . Why is this little ghost haunting me? I have to wait for brother ox to return so that I can talk to him . Fortunately, I won’t be losing my life anytime soon .
However, he felt no confidence, only feeling fear . The coldness ate away at him faster and faster, so he began practising the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength again in a hurry . Only then would the cold sensation vanish . However, he was not a machine that knew no fatigue . He still needed to sit down and rest, which felt especially tormenting whenever it happened .
This lasted until the middle of the night, a time when yin qi was the heaviest . The cold sensation had already invaded most of Li Qingshan’s body . He felt no obvious pain . However, his arms and legs gradually grew numb, and his senses felt blurred .
An intense sense of danger made him wrack his brains as hard as he could .
He had heard that all people possessed yang qi, which could restrain creatures of the dead . He thought about how his blood vessels swelled as blood rushed through them when he practised the ability, which was why the little ghost had been afraid of approaching him . As a result, whenever he meditated, he did his best to replicate the feeling of when he practised . He closed his eyes, used his thoughts, and tensed his muscles . As expected, it was somewhat effective, allowing him to barely stop the attack of yin qi .
He lasted the night like that . His mind would be clear at times and sleepy at others, which was a vicious exercise on his mind and willpower . This situation continued until his willpower was close to collapsing .
With a rooster’s crow, the sun began to rise, and Li Qingshan’s eyes snapped open . Sunlight landed on his face through the trees, which was rather dazzling . The coldness on his body had vanished . The black ox looked at him from nearby with great fascination .
Li Qingshan said, “Where’d you go, brother ox? Did you know what I came across last night?”
“I came back a long time ago . Isn’t it just a little ghost on you?”
“And you just watched on?”“What am I supposed to do?”
Li Qingshan grimaced and said nothing . The black ox had told him a long time ago . “No matter what danger you come across, you better not rely on me, as I’m not even going to lift a finger to help out . ” Right from the beginning, the ox had never given him the opportunity to rely on it . Li Qingshan glanced at the gazelle by the ox’s foot, which prohibited him from complaining even more . The black ox had already provided him with the most crucial assistance . He could not rely on the black ox for everything .
Under the warm sunlight of the rising sun, Li Qingshan stood up and loosened up . “Fortunately the little ghost won’t come out during the day, as I really can’t last much longer than that . Brother ox, I’m practising a daoist ability after all, yet I can’t even deal with a mere ghost?”
“If it were not for the ability you practised, you wouldn’t have even been able to last through the night . Once you achieve the strength of one ox, you’ll be brimming with vigour, and you obviously won’t be afraid of a mere ghost . ”
“Then how much longer do I have to wait?”
“Apart from that, I have another idea . ”
“What idea?”
“Ghosts are afraid of murderous and vicious auras the most . If you claim a hundred or so lives with your hands, I’ll guarantee you that anything evil will avoid you like the plague . That little ghost won’t even be able to get in a range of ten steps from you . ”
Li Qingshan rolled his eyes . “Am I supposed to massacre the entire village?”“It’s not like that’s impossible . What, you want to try it?” The black ox sniggered .
“Why don’t I butcher you into steaks first!” Li Qingshan ignored it . He dealt with the gazelle first . After eating breakfast, he tossed this matter aside for now and ignored his fatigue before applying himself to another day of cultivation .
However, as soon as he began cultivating, he felt that it was rather different from before . A thin, weak sliver of ‘qi’ flowed through his body . He would have never discovered it had he not been careful .
The qi was not like the true qi mentioned in those wuxia novels, stored within the dantian and flowing along the meridians . Instead, it flowed freely like a fish, passing through every part of his body . Whenever he punched out hard, the sliver would flow through his arms and into his fist . All of it would happen in a single moment .
His mind eased up, and the sliver flowed off somewhere . It was like a misbehaving child, basically beyond his control . He told the black ox about this .
The black ox was not surprised . Instead, it said meaningfully, “It’s all thanks to that little ghost that you were able to sense the existence of qi so soon . You can say that it’s a blessing in disguise . ”
On the edge of life and death, Li Qingshan had used everything that his mind and willpower could offer to fend off the yin qi . The little ghost had departed, but the willpower lingered, turning into a trace of true qi .
“So this is true qi?” Li Qingshan gazed at his palm . “What exactly do you use true qi for?”