Chapter 8: Practicing Tai Chi
Wang Family Ancestral Hall.
The man lying on his side drinking suddenly stopped his action. His hazy drunken eyes suddenly cleared up, shooting out two rays of light. Without seeing him make any movement, he floated out of the Ancestral Hall as if blown by a gust of wind, and then his reclining posture instantly changed to a standing state, seemingly floating onto the roof next to the Ancestral Hall without any effort. He turned his head to look in the direction of the South City ancient well, with bright light flashing in his eyes.
Wang Meng also jumped up at this time, took two or three steps out of the Ancestral Hall, tapped his toes on the ground, and with a 'swish' sound, jumped onto the roof, landing next to the drinking man, and said, "Shishu, what's happening?"
The drinking man put the wine gourd to his mouth, took another sip, and said, "Meng'er, you guard the Ancestral Hall, I'll go take a look!"
The drinking man is known in the martial arts world as 'Drunkard' Si Tu Xiong, a famous expert in the County Town. It is said that he is about to break through to Martial King. He is Wang Meng's own Shishu, and this time he was invited by Wang Meng along with two other Senior Brothers to deal with three Evil Ghosts.
At this time, on the roof of the Wang Family main hall, three people were also standing, who were precisely Wang Family Head Wang Lang and two Old Men.
The Qing Robe Old Man said, "Si Tu Shidi has already rushed over. Let alone three Evil Ghosts, even three Red Robes can be extinguished with one hand. Wang Family Head, let's just guard the Wang Family to prevent any unexpected changes!"
The White Robe Old Man also lightly nodded and said, "Wang Family Head, please rest assured, with Si Tu Shidi here, it is foolproof!"
"In that case, Wang Family is indebted to the two Seniors! My Wang Family's escape from this great disaster is entirely due to the protection of all the Seniors! If the Seniors have any instructions in the future, my Wang Family will not hesitate to die!" Wang Lang bowed to the two Old Men and said.
"Haha, Wang Family Head is too polite. Your Wang Family is Meng'er's family, we are all one family. Now that the Wang Family is in trouble, how can we not help!" The two Old Men laughed heartily, very satisfied with Wang Lang's attitude.
That night, none of the Wang Family people rested. They patrolled Wangjia Town back and forth several times, discovering a few Wandering Souls, which were easily eliminated, but not a single Evil Ghost was found as expected.
In the blink of an eye, the Eastern direction sun rose, and the night passed peacefully.
The morning sun sprinkled across the ground, and a new day had quietly arrived.
In the backyard bedroom of Wu Family Grain Store, the Wu Family couple slept exceptionally peacefully.
"Mmm... Oh..."
Accompanied by a soft groan, Wu Boss opened his eyes, turned his head to look at his wife, then gently got up and got out of bed, stretched, and felt particularly energetic today.
How many years had it been since he slept so well? It seemed that ever since he could remember, most people in this world lived in fear every day. Only when he was a child, in his mother's arms, did he have such a feeling.
While lost in thought, Wu Boss suddenly saw his wife also open her eyes and sit up.
"My dear, it's been a long time since I slept so well!" Wu's wife said with a bit of disbelief, her voice tinged with excitement.
"Yeah, I feel the same way, it's really been a long time since I slept so soundly!" The couple looked at each other, because it was really a bit hard to believe.
Lingsu Residence.
Zhang Xuan opened his eyes, stretched, and it was another day full of energy. He looked at his body and found that there was another layer of dark dirt on it.
He came to the courtyard, continued to wash his body again, and found that his skin seemed to have become a little whiter.
"If this continues, I will become a pretty boy sooner or later!" Zhang Xuan thought to himself.
After washing up, Zhang Xuan changed his clothes and stood in the courtyard.
Zhang Xuan decided to try today whether the martial arts he learned in his previous life could achieve results in this world. If they could, then the imagination space would be greatly expanded. One must know that the martial arts of his previous life were extensive and profound, far beyond what this world could compare to. Although the original owner was just a young man from a remote small town with limited understanding of this world, even with this limited understanding, he could roughly feel the thinness of the martial arts in this world.
Of course, if after the experiment, the martial arts of his previous life could not be cultivated, then it would be a bit troublesome. According to the original owner's memory, in this world, it is very difficult to learn martial arts. In addition to the requirements of Aptitude, it is also very difficult to find a master, unless you are particularly rich or powerful. Anyway, Zhang Xuan did not possess any of these.
Carefully recalling the martial arts of his previous life that were still in his memory, Zhang Xuan decided to start with Tai Chi. Nothing else, just because it was familiar.
In fact, even if Zhang Xuan wanted to practice other martial arts first, it would be a pipe dream. In his previous life, although Zhang Xuan had practiced other martial arts besides Tai Chi, to be honest, he mostly gave up after practicing for one or two days. Even now, if he wanted to practice those martial arts, he would have to remember them first. Zhang Xuan was a little envious of other transmigrators. Why is it that as soon as they transmigrate, everything they learned in their previous life, as long as they think about it, they can remember clearly, without a single mistake? Some even have Systems and Grandpas. Oh my, I can't keep thinking about it, the more I think about it, the more envious I become.
Speaking of Tai Chi, Zhang Xuan learned it in a martial arts class in college. Later, after returning home, he also insisted on practicing every day, hoping to Cultivate true energy. Later, when he returned to his hometown, his Grandpa discovered him and said that what he was practicing was just a show, at most it could exercise his muscles and bones, and then taught him a brand new set of Tai Chi.
According to his Grandpa, what was passed down to him was the Tai Chi personally taught by Patriarch San Feng. This set of Tai Chi has a total of thirty-six forms, secretly coinciding with the number of Heavenly Stars. It is said that practicing it to the extreme can transcend the ordinary and enter sainthood. At that time, Zhang Xuan was so excited, and then he insisted on practicing every day, until before he transmigrated, he had practiced for seven or eight years. That is to say, his physical fitness was okay, and he was indeed rarely sick, but there was really no other special feeling. Zhang Xuan felt that doing two sets of "The Times Are Calling" every day could probably achieve the same effect.
He didn't have time to practice in the past two days since he transmigrated, so today is a good time to start practicing again.
Thinking of it, he did it. Zhang Xuan stood in the starting stance of Tai Chi, with his feet apart, his hands raised to his chest, level with his shoulders, palms facing each other, as if holding Yin and Yang, and then began to practice one move at a time.
When he first started, he was still a little rusty. After a few moves, he became more and more proficient. When he finished the first round, he unconsciously started the second round. At this time, Zhang Xuan suddenly felt a warm current appear in the position of his lower abdomen Dantian, slowly flowing out from the Dantian, one branch going up, one branch going down, passing through the eight extraordinary meridians, and gradually flowing throughout his body with his movements.
Then, Zhang Xuan entered a state of forgetting himself and everything else, a state he had never experienced in countless Tai Chi practices in his previous life.
Zhang Xuan himself did not notice that with his movements, the leaves and dust on the ground were slowly moving, and even the leaves would slowly float up and dance with his movements.
After an unknown period of time, as the last form of Tai Chi was completed, Zhang Xuan stopped his movements, carefully felt it, and found that his Dantian was warm, and warm currents were still continuously flowing out, constantly circulating throughout his body.
Zhang Xuan looked up at the sun and found that it was probably around eight o'clock in the morning. At this time, his stomach started to rumble, and he realized that he hadn't had breakfast yet, so he quickly went to make breakfast.
After eating breakfast, Zhang Xuan continued to make statues. First, he carved two pairs of earth god statues, and then molded five pairs of clay earth god statues.
At this time, the sun had already reached the center, approximately at noon. He had already made seven pairs of statues today, which was basically enough. Zhang Xuan washed his hands clean and went to the kitchen to make lunch.
It was actually very simple, just add water, add rice, and directly cook porridge. Zhang Xuan appropriately added a few vegetable leaves for garnish.
After eating lunch, customers began to arrive one after another.
Zhang Xuan had just finished washing the bowls and chopsticks and left the kitchen when he heard someone calling, "Is the Boss in?"
"Yes!" Zhang Xuan heard the voice and came to the counter, and saw an Old Man standing in front of him, about fifty years old, with gray hair, messy hair and beard, dark and rough skin on his face, wearing a linen single garment, and straw sandals on his feet, the soles of which were already severely worn.
"Esteemed guest, what would you like to order?"
"Boss, I would like to request a clay statue of a deity. Do you have any that are a little cheaper?" The Old Man seemed very nervous.
Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "Esteemed guest, I just made a new batch of clay deity statues, and the drying time is not enough. If you are not in a hurry, I can give you a cheaper price; you can take it back and dry it in the sun for another two hours before sending it to the Ancestral Hall for worship!"
"Thank you, Boss! We no longer have an Ancestral Hall there, so there's no need to worship!" The Old Man's expression was somber.
Zhang Xuan immediately understood that this person was from a satellite village nearby.
When he said there was no Ancestral Hall, he didn't actually mean there was no Ancestral Hall, but rather that there were no ancestor spirits, and an Ancestral Hall without ancestor spirits was no different from having none.
There were still some satellite villages around Wangjia Town. These villages varied in size, the smallest possibly only having a dozen households, and the largest having about a hundred households. Anything larger could become a town.
In this world, there is a saying that a hundred people make a village, a thousand people make a town, and ten thousand people make a county. Of course, this is a rough saying and is only for reference, not necessarily 100% accurate.
Zhang Xuan chatted with the Old Man for a while longer and learned that the Old Man's surname was Liu, and he had no given name. He was the oldest in his family, so everyone called him Liu Da. The village he was in only had a dozen households left, and even a single Wandering Soul could potentially lead to the destruction of the entire village.
Zhang Xuan came to the courtyard, took two earth god statues that he had molded yesterday from the stone table, and also wrote a couplet for the Earth God on the spot. He handed them to Liu Da together and carefully explained to Liu Da how to place the earth god statues and how to paste the couplet.
Liu Da left two copper coins and left with many thanks.
Zhang Xuan looked at the direction the Old Man left and also sighed. However, this kind of molded statue has very limited effect. Without the incense and smoke from the ancestor spirit Ancestral Hall, it might only have a little effect on ordinary Wandering Souls. Asking for a statue in this state might have more of a psychological effect!