Chapter 3 003: Rampant robbers, blood rushing through the barrier The Chu family's home is located in a wealthy area of ​​the city. The gatehouse has polished bricks and carved tiles, and the courtyard is planted with trees and flowers. The atmosphere is peaceful and there is little noise. After being reminded by Hu Xuezhi, Chu Ge also became alert. When he returned home, he ordered his servant Hei Gouzi to go out and find out what happened. It is now the middle of winter. The people in the wealthy areas are still okay as they still have food and drink, but many other people in the city are living in poverty. Some poor families now eat corn every day, and even use wild vegetables and flowers such as locust flowers, elm tree bark, and houttuynia cordata roots as their staple food. Their lives are extremely miserable. Now that robbers have appeared again, I’m afraid life will be difficult. Not long after, Hei Gouzi, who had gone out to inquire about the news, returned and reported that there was indeed a group of horse bandits outside the city who were committing crimes and some traveling merchants had suffered. Even the Xu family in the city was robbed of their property, and the master of the Xu family lost his life. "Master Xu died? When did it happen?" Chu Ge was surprised and his expression became serious.

The Xu family is considered a wealthy family in Linyuan City. Although they are not as wealthy as the richest man Wang Youcai, their wealth is comparable to that of the Chu family. The family has also hired many warriors as guards. "To answer Master, it happened yesterday." Hei Gouzi, who was trying to get information, also looked suspicious and said, "It is said that he died in his own house, and his entire home was ransacked. And the women. The women were... Now the officials in the county government have sealed off the Xu family, forbidding anyone to approach and inquire, and forbidding the neighbors to spread the news. But you said that such a horrific thing happened, how can they keep their mouths shut..." "How could that group of bandits be so rampant? The women in the family were..." Chu Ge looked solemn. It seemed that Master Hu's reminder was quite mild and conservative. The robbers not only tried to steal money, but also killed people. They also broke into the city and robbed houses. They had no regard for the law and trampled on the face of the city captain Tian Youji. "Master, do you think we should hire some powerful guards? I heard that the value of martial artists practicing martial arts in the city has started to increase." Black Dog gave a tentative reminder, looking anxious. "Not yet. Don't forget, your young master is a martial artist myself." Chu Ge waved his hand and sent Hei Gouzi away, letting him go down to collect the reward, and at the same time called the butler Fu Bo. The Chu family once had guards, but they were all first-level physical warriors, and were quite old. Ever since he became successful in martial arts, he gave the old guard some money to allow him to return to his hometown to retire. There is no need to hire him again now. Judging from the situation of the Xu family, ordinary warriors of the first or second level are of no use against those robbers. The warriors who have trained their bones in the third realm are all well-known figures. They cannot be hired at ordinary prices, and their strength is only comparable to his. In the past two years, he has been studying the unorthodox skills that he brought with him after traveling through time, and has already personally arranged some preventive measures in his own house. Things like shadow puppet lanterns, paper-cut hangings, etc., all have the effect of early warning, which is the benefit of studying the left-handed way. However, this world is still dominated by martial arts. Martial arts can strengthen the body and prolong life, and are the foundation of life. Since some powerful gangsters have recently targeted the wealthy businessmen in the city, Chu Ge also feels threatened.

He planned to start making all-out efforts to break through to the fourth level of martial arts, the Blood Exchange Level, in the next few days, so as to achieve the same strength as his master Hu Xuezhi. Russian qing. The butler Fu Bo came after being summoned by the servant Hei Gouzi. The old butler, who had served Chu Ge for a long time, seemed to have guessed Chu Ge's intention of summoning him and brought a box of expensive gold paper. "Master, these are what the owner of Baoling Pavilion has been hoarding recently. Other old items are still being collected...but are they temporarily stopping the purchase recently?" Chu Ge pondered for a moment, then waved his hand, "No need to stop, just continue as usual. My practice has reached a critical juncture recently, and I can't slack off. If you are worried, go to Baolin Pavilion in person." He also knew what the butler was worried about. But gold paper is an important material used to make shadow puppets and special paper talismans. It's a thin piece of paper, but it's worth a lot of money. Other old objects can be used as resources to be sacrificed to Long Zhong to refine supernatural powers. This is related to his martial arts practice, so he naturally cannot slack off. The more chaotic and unsafe the surrounding environment is, the more he needs to quickly improve his strength and self-protection methods. You must not lose your composure, disrupt your own practice progress, and put the cart before the horse. Upon hearing this, Uncle Fu had no choice but to follow the order. My young master seems to have changed his personality in the past three years. He likes all kinds of strange things. Not only does he like to collect many strange old objects, but he also practices martial arts. However, as a young master from a wealthy family, it is a good thing that the young master has not developed bad habits such as prostitution and gambling. But he was also wondering, what does collecting these strange things have to do with spiritual practice? ... After taking the gold paper, Chu Ge went into the secret room where he studied skills and martial arts alone. However, on the walls of the room, there were many shadow puppets and paper figures of both old and young hanging. Under the light, it looks eerie and strange, and every face looks as vivid as a real person. These are all masterpieces of Chu Ge. The five Maoshan miraculous skills after the mutation not only need to be combined with the practice of supernatural powers, but also need to be combined with corresponding materials as the medium for the magic to exert its miraculous effect. These shadow puppets and paper figures are made by combining the techniques of shadow puppetry and paper cutting. Chu Ge put the gold paper away, walked to the table, picked up a broken wooden fish that he had recently purchased, and the dragon-like light on his wrist flashed like a tattoo. The wooden fish was then offered in the groove in the center of the bell, and a message appeared. "Linshan Temple's abbot's wooden fish: Introduction: (This is a wooden fish that has been struck by monks chanting sutras and reciting Buddhist scriptures for many years. It has been consecrated, but unfortunately it has been damaged, but it seems to have been imbued with some special power)". In this world, some things that are very old or have been influenced by spirituality for a long time will attract the strange forces between heaven and earth to be injected into them. The only difference is the amount of supernatural power.

Chu Ge has acquired a lot of old items or spiritual objects in the past few years, in order to collect special powers for cultivation or to drive shadow puppets. The special power is the energy of heaven and earth that can only be accessed by those who are at the Condensation Realm above the four realms of martial arts, and it has infinite uses. Using it to inject into the body for cultivation is equivalent to a master in the Condensation Realm who is willing to sacrifice his own strength to infuse it into him and increase his qi and blood. If it is used to infuse specially made paper shadow puppets, it can make the puppets come alive. At this time, he chose to offer a wooden fish as a sacrifice. Suddenly, the wooden fish was enveloped by the golden light in the center of the bell like the spirit fish next to it, and was in the process of being refined. But besides the golden light, there were also wisps of strange aura flowing around. These were the special powers he had accumulated, and there were more than 150 of them. "More than 150 strands of special powers should be enough to help me increase my Qi and blood, break through the bone training barrier, enter the final stage of bone training, and temper my brain bones." Chu Ge pondered for a moment, took out the only authentic copy of the fourth chapter of Crouching Tiger Kung Fu from his arms, and pondered for a moment. If one fails to break through the blood transfusion stage, the result may be a drastic decline in Qi and blood at best, or a cerebral infarction or even sudden death at worst. But now, he is ready. Among the four realms of martial arts, the first two realms train the skin and flesh. All you need to do is practice some boxing and kicking skills and stances according to different martial arts to strengthen your Qi, blood, tendons, bones, and flesh, and you will complete your martial arts training and improve your strength. When one reaches the third realm of bone training, one still needs to coordinate the mind method to move qi and blood in the body to generate "qi". Only by combining this energy with blood and energy can one strengthen the bones in detail, and train the strength into the marrow deep in the bones, and even into the cells throughout the body. Only in this way can one improve one's strength. When the whole body's bone strengthening is completed, this energy has also been cultivated and strengthened, it can make the whole body's qi and blood surge, and the qi can leave the body to hurt people or protect the body. At this time, Chu Ge's mind had already reached the level of tranquility and steadiness. Under the observation of the mind's 'inner light', the condition of his body became clearer and clearer, like a glowing line in the darkness. Each muscle is slender and tight, full of toughness and full strength. The qi and blood are surging in the body, and when they reach the Yuzhen point at the hairline behind the neck, the qi and blood seem to be obstructed. “Qi and blood can break through the barrier. As long as the jade pillow is broken and it reaches the head, the skull is strengthened. Qi and blood can flow down and form a great circulation of qi and blood, flushing the limbs and bones, nourishing the lungs, and entering the blood exchange state.” Chu Ge pondered in his heart, opened his eyes, and began to study the fourth chapter of Crouching Tiger Kung Fu. All authentic martial arts techniques are accompanied by visualization diagrams to assist in practice. This visualization picture is the essence of the technique which is very difficult to copy with pen and paper. It can only be depicted by those who have practiced the technique to perfection and put all their energy into it. It can only be understood but not expressed in words. Therefore, it is impossible to cultivate Crouching Tiger Kung Fu to the highest level by simply obtaining the key points such as the mantra. As Chu Ge concentrated on comprehending. After a while, the image of a tiger lying on a hill emerged in my mind. This tiger has a large head and a round face, its eyes are wide open, its body is covered with brown, yellow and black stripes, and its breathing is deep and suppressed. It suddenly opened its basin-like mouth, yawned, stuck out a blood-red tongue, licked its knife-like teeth, curled up its steel-needle-like beard, shook its body, stood up suddenly, and roared like a thunderbolt in a clear sky, shaking the hills. "Roar!!--"

It was as if a bolt of thunder flashed through Chu Ge's mind, and the energy and blood in his body quickly boiled over, like a tiger roaring inside his body, rushing straight towards the Yuzhen point. Instantly, his face turned red, his hair fluttered without wind, and even his open eyes were covered with blood veins, which was quite shocking. The Yuzhen acupoint was suddenly opened, and the boiling energy and blood went straight to his skull, but it showed signs of exhaustion after only half of it entering. At this time, the dragon bell tattoo on Chu Ge's wrist flashed. Hundreds of strange powers, different from the power of qi and blood, suddenly appeared and penetrated into the skin, flesh, limbs and bones. All his muscles and bones emitted a faint golden light, which quickly flowed to his head and provided a boost for his breakthrough. On the second floor of Baoling Pavilion, the shopkeeper of Baoling Pavilion politely and smilingly escorted the butler Fu Bo to the stairs. Uncle Fu clasped his fists and bowed. "Manager Lin, I'm sorry to bother you with the old items my young master requested. Things have been unsettled lately, so if you find any, you can just send them to your house. The price is negotiable." Upon hearing this, the round-faced shopkeeper smiled amiably and said, "Of course, of course. The one thousand taels of purchasing money that Master Chu gave me last time has not been used up yet. If there is anything, I will deliver it to you as soon as possible." "A deposit of one thousand taels... This young master of the Chu family is really rich." In the lobby on the first floor below the stairs, a customer who was standing at the entrance of the stairs, pretending to admire the goods, moved his ears slightly, and listened to the conversation with his extraordinary eavesdropping skills, his eyes narrowed. "I originally came here to check out Baolin Pavilion, but I didn't expect to catch a big fish. Killing two birds with one stone..." If thousands of taels of silver were thrown out, hundreds of people would be willing to risk their lives for it. There is no other reason, the Great Zhou Kingdom has become somewhat weak now. The 'dragon-slaying hero' who destroyed the Yun Kingdom in the past, Emperor Wu of Zhou, seemed to be increasingly lazy in recent years. He kept making various stupid moves, such as setting up wine pools and meat forests in the palace, and building palaces everywhere for enjoyment. Not only did it cost the people a lot of money, but when faced with harassment and invasion from enemy countries, he relied entirely on conscripting able-bodied men to fill the gaps on the front lines, and he had to recruit soldiers almost every two years. Many young and middle-aged people either chose to serve in the army or to pay ten taels of silver to be exempted from labor service. For most ordinary families, it is not easy to take out these ten taels of silver. It is enough to buy ten dan of rice, which can last for a whole year. The young master of the Chu family is willing to spend a thousand taels of silver to buy some strange and old stuff. It seems that his family is really wealthy. "As long as you have money, it's good. It meets the standards set by the church. The location of Baolin Pavilion is eye-catching and it employs many warriors. As for the Chu family, we can go and take a look first." The guest on the first floor calmly bought a product and followed the butler Fu Bo away. (End of this chapter)