Twenty days later, in the training room, the morning mist had not yet dispersed when Yuan Chen slowly rose, his joints and bones making soft, bead-like sounds, like pearls dropping onto a jade plate. He looked at his reflection in the bronze mirror and couldn't help but laugh out loud:
"Hahahahaha, this Daoist's realm of muscle and qi unification is finally complete!"
The person in the mirror had shoulders and back as expansive as a strong pine, and the fascia in his abdomen gently undulated with his breathing. When he circulated his qi, the smooth lines seemed to flow with a watery sheen, truly a reborn appearance.
The evidence on this Daoist's body became increasingly clear:
His meridians coiled like dragons around his body; the fascia in his waist, abdomen, and lower limbs, after a hundred days of 'Entangling Force' (coiling strength) refinement, had taken on a spiral shape. When touched, they were as tough as a taut bowstring, and when he exerted force, they would expand like an angry dragon, a clear sign of qi entering the muscles and form changing with strength.
His breathing was as still as a tortoise hibernating in the depths; when quiet, his nasal breath was almost imperceptible, as if a fetus in the womb did not breathe through its mouth or nose. His heart rate was as slow as a dripping clepsydra, and his resistance to cold and hunger far surpassed before, a clear indication of internal qi consolidation, not dissipating outwards.
His center of gravity was as stable as a bedrock; when standing, his feet gripped the ground like an old tortoise's claws clutching mud, and when walking, his steps were as heavy as treading on sacred ground. Even with pressure pad measurements, his center of gravity deviation would never exceed two finger-widths, truly the effect of abundant qi in the Dantian, capable of stabilizing the entire body.
The subtlety of his strength application was even more profound: his coiling strength was like a python strangling its prey; when exerting force bare-handed, qi spiraled through the fascia. When gripping an object, the strength penetrated his finger joints like a green vine entwining a tree. When crushing a stone, the force split the texture like ice cracking jade, all relying on the interlocking of muscle and qi to gather at a point and break through hardness.
His force-neutralization was like a tortoise retracting into its shell; upon impact from external force, he would turn hardness into softness, allowing the force to dissipate along the fascia like water flowing around a stone, leaving his skin and flesh unharmed and his Nei Jing undiminished.
His stored power was like a hibernating insect ready to strike; when still, qi was hidden in his meridians like a bow in its sheath. When moving, strength erupted with his breath like an arrow leaving the string. Every punch and kick was continuous from inside out, laying the foundation for qi to penetrate the skin in the future.
After completing a set of "Yuan Chu Taiji Jing Jing," Yuan Chen felt his qi flow through his muscles, meridians, collaterals, flesh, and membranes, making his entire body a harmonious whole, so exhilarated he almost let out a long cry.
Washing away the sweat and changing into a new Daoist robe, the indigo fabric was translucent in the morning light. The half-inch silver-threaded Taiji fish embroidered on the right lapel undulated with his breathing, and the cranes on the hem seemed to be touched by golden light, as if about to spread their wings and fly into the sun.
The sunlight swept across his profile, his straight nose casting a sharp shadow. His brow peaks were like distant mountains with dark brows, his eyelashes cast shallow shadows, and the purple gleam in his irises was made translucent by the sun, like a pool holding stars.
He entered tortoise breathing; as he inhaled, his robe gently gathered as if holding morning dew, and as he exhaled, his wide sleeves unfurled like flowing clouds. A refreshing, moist aura from a bamboo forest stream enveloped his body.
Faint blue vascular networks were visible at his temples, gently pulsating with his internal breath, yet when his eyes opened, they shone like the surface of a stream. His indigo and the golden sun reflected each other, embodying both youthful handsomeness and an ancient sense of being one with heaven and earth.
"Bang bang bang—" The mountain gate was knocked urgently, accompanied by Wang Shěn's anxious shouts: "Xiao Chen! Is Daoist/Priest Xiao Chen there? It's your Wang Shěn, your Wang Shū had an accident!"
Yuan Chen's heart sank. He tapped his toes, executing the Taiji You Dou Step, his figure like a fleeting breeze, covering fifteen zhang in a second, and in a blink, he was at the door, pulling open the wooden gate.
"Xiao Chen, your elder Wang Shū and the others went to the back mountain to pick corn, and a few wild boars appeared from nowhere and chased them. Although they weren't hit, they twisted their legs and arms while running!"
Wang Shěn's face was flushed red, her hands still trembling as she spoke. "How can the village clinic treat these injuries? You studied traditional Chinese medicine with the old abbot, quickly come and take a look at everyone!"
Yuan Chen breathed a sigh of relief—it was a blessing they weren't gored by the wild boars, but that cornfield was probably ruined. He comforted her, saying, "Wang Shěn, don't worry, I'll go get my things. You can rest in the courtyard first."
Leading Wang Shěn to sit in the front courtyard and pouring her a cup of warm cloud mist tea, Yuan Chen turned to fetch two sets of silver needles, medicine bottles, and cotton cloth, placing them one by one into a camphor wood box. He then hurried down the mountain with Wang Shěn.
As soon as they reached the village entrance, they saw a crowd three layers deep around the old Sophora japonica tree, and the clamor hit their ears from afar. "What are we going to do?"
An old man squatted on the ground, pounding his thigh. "If the corn is ruined by these beasts, how will our families survive the autumn and winter? Did anyone call the police? What did the police say?"
Someone nearby chimed in, "We did! But in our poor mountain gully, what can the police do? Can they chase wild boars all over the mountain?"
Four or five middle-aged men lay in the center of the crowd, the palest among them being elder Wang Shū. A gash was torn in his bronze-colored arm, and his right leg was unnaturally twisted, with the shape of a protruding bone faintly visible. He was sweating from the pain, and couldn't help but roar:
"Stop arguing! First, find a car to take us to the county hospital! Ouch—"
"Quiet, everyone!" Wang Shěn raised her voice and shouted, "I've invited Daoist/Priest Xiao Chen!"
Hearing this, everyone turned their heads, and seeing Yuan Chen following Wang Shěn, they quickly made way for them.
Yuan Chen quickly stepped forward and knelt down. He first grasped elder Wang Shū's twisted left wrist, placing his fingertips on the pulse to concentrate and examine it, then flipped open his eyelid, and said in a deep voice, "Wang Shū, don't worry, I'll stabilize your injuries first."
As Yuan Chen knelt, the camphor wood medicine box opened by itself, and the silver needles glinted with a cold light in the morning sun.
He first picked up three three-inch muscle-coiling needles, and as a burst of qi flowed from his fingertips, the needles immediately vibrated imperceptibly—a sign of "needle getting qi."
"Wang Shū, bear with it a little," he said softly, his gaze falling on elder Wang Shū's twisted right knee, where the fascia was taut like a string due to the dislocation. He pressed his thumb on the Liangqiu acupoint (the intersection of the Stomach meridian and Spleen meridian), and could clearly feel the stagnant fluctuations in the subcutaneous Blockage. With a slight twist of his wrist, the muscle-coiling needle was inserted at a thirty-degree angle into the acupoint, the spiral pattern of the needle body perfectly aligning with the qi flow trajectory.
"This is a bone-setting and muscle-coiling needle. First, relax the muscles, then reset the bone."
Before he finished speaking, the qi had already spiraled down the needle body. Elder Wang Shū only felt a fine, crawling sensation in his knee (qi dispersing stagnant blood), which then turned warm—that was Yuan Chen using the "overlapping wave bone vibration method" (overlapping wave bone vibration method) in conjunction, pressing the heel of his palm against the side of the knee and gently vibrating it, the qi penetrating the periosteum like fine waves lapping the shore.
With a soft "click," amidst everyone's exclamations, the dislocated bone had returned to its position with the rebound force of the muscles. Yuan Chen smoothly withdrew the silver needle, quickly pressed his fingertip over the needle hole, and the residual qi condensed into a warm current beneath the skin.
"Daoist/Priest Xiao Chen is incredible!" someone in the crowd whispered.
Yuan Chen didn't stop, turning to another man with a dislocated arm. The fascia in this man's shoulder socket was convulsed like a rope. He pressed his thumb against the Jianyu acupoint;
The qi first gently rotated clockwise using the "Tendon-wrapping and meridian-pulling method" (Coiling Muscle and Moving Collateral Method), causing the subcutaneous fascia to twist like a towel. Once the spasm slightly eased, he suddenly flicked it in the opposite direction;
The moment the "Bone-penetrating and tendon-smoothing method" (Penetrating Bone and Smoothing Muscle Method) was applied, the qi flowed like water breaking a dam, and the dislocated joint snapped back into place, relaxing even the taut muscles.
The most troublesome case was a man with a fractured rib, who grimaced in pain with every breath.
Yuan Chen took out the "Replenishing Essence and Strengthening Kidney Needle" (Essence-Filling and Kidney-Strengthening Needle), choosing the Shenshu and Taixi acupoints. The qi, carrying a coldness like ice and snow, seeped in along the needle body. "The kidney governs bones; this needle will help the bone callus grow faster."
While the needles were in place, he held his hands in a ball-like shape over the patient's chest. The qi ring generated by the "Tai Chi Qi Holding Method" (Taiji Qi-Embracing Method) slowly circulated, pressing the dew-like clear qi into his lung meridian. In just a moment, the man's breathing became much steadier.
Half an hour later, the last silver needle was withdrawn. Yuan Chen distributed the remaining herbs to Wang Shěn, instructing her:
"Mix this with wine and apply it to the injury daily. I'll come back in three days to check on it."
He looked towards the back mountain, a faint purple light flickering in his eyes. "As for those wild boars, I'll deal with them tonight."
A corner of his indigo Daoist robe was lifted by the mountain wind, the cranes on the hem seeming to ride the wind and soar.
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