Starting from a peasant family, he mastered the profound art of martial arts.

Chapter 23 Stop the Injury

Just do it!

That morning, after washing his face with well water, he was about to practice Bahequan (a style of Chinese martial arts) when he noticed something unusual about his hands.

In recent days, in addition to practicing Yi Jin Zhuang Gu Gong, Meng Chen has been hitting the wooden dummy every day, so his hands are always wrapped in cloth, but the back of his hands still inevitably gets broken and bleeds.

This is hardly an injury, and it's unavoidable anyway; every day it's just skin breaking, bleeding, scabbing, and then breaking again.

According to Du Ren, after repeating this process for several months, a thick callus will grow on the back of the hand, at which point it will not easily break.

But now, when Meng Chen looked again, he found that the wound on the back of his hand had completely healed, the scabs had all fallen off, and his hand and fingers had returned to normal.

Even though it was still burning painful when the sweat dripped onto my wound last night while I was practicing boxing.

After thinking for a long time, Meng Chen felt that this was probably also thanks to the Yin-Yang symbol.

Previously, when I practiced standing meditation to the point of exhaustion, it was a way for the yang energy to nourish myself. Now that I have minor wounds, isn't healing them also a way of nourishing myself?

It was early morning, and all the students were practicing diligently.

Meng Chen turned around and went back to his dormitory. After seeing that no one was around, he closed the door, lowered his waist and hips, and threw a punch that slammed hard against the wall.

A piece of red brick broke off, and dust was falling from the roof.

"What are you doing in there?" Du Ren pushed open the door and frowned angrily when he saw Meng Chen's hands covered in blood. "What are you doing?"

"Senior brother, I can't help but think about women, so I wanted to use this method to remind myself," Meng Chen said firmly.

"You... there's no need for that. Just rinse yourself with well water next time! It's normal to want to see women. You can't keep suppressing it, otherwise, the balance of yin and yang will be disrupted, and that will cause trouble!" Du Ren didn't know what to say.

"Even after taking a sip, I still crave women," Meng Chen said.

"That's because you haven't rinsed yourself enough! You need to practice more! Practice until you have no woman in your heart, then you'll truly be a master!" Du Ren casually said, "Hurry up and bandage yourself, don't get it wet in this heat."

After Du Ren left, Meng Chen closed the dormitory door, then sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the back of his hand.

After a short while, the bleeding on the back of his hand, which had been covered in blood, slowly stopped, and the abrasions at the joints visibly healed slowly.

After a short while, Meng Chen spat out some saliva, wiped away the blood, and the wound on the back of his hand seemed to have never existed.

The originally bright Yang fish dimmed slightly, but not noticeably.

"It seems this is truly thanks to the yin-yang symbol!"

Thinking this, Meng Chen quickly searched the dormitory, but couldn't find a single sharp weapon. So he simply broke a teacup in half, picked up a sharp piece, pressed it against his arm, and slowly applied force.

Having trained hard recently, his skin was more resilient than before, but it was not made of copper or iron. With a little force, the porcelain shard pierced his skin, and blood flowed out.

Meng Chen gritted his teeth and endured the pain, making a long and deep cut on his arm.

Blood gushed out, but the pain was bearable.

Meng Chen silently counted in his mind, and when he reached one hundred, the bleeding stopped, but the wound felt itchy.

When the count reached two hundred, the cut began to heal slowly. When the count reached six hundred, the wound had completely recovered.

With a moment's thought, the bright yang fish became somewhat fainter.

Meng Chen was certain that as long as the Yang Fish was bright, it could indeed heal itself. Moreover, the more severe the injury, the dimmer the Yang Fish would become.

"It can heal quickly and without leaving any trace... Just how bad must the injury be for the Yang Fish to lose its luster?" Meng Chen dared not cut open his abdomen to test it.

Thinking about it is useless. Anyway, no matter what, if we encounter a fight in the future, the Yang Fish's ability to stop injuries will at least be a backup plan.

Meng Chen tore off a piece of cloth, wiped the bloodstains on his arm, wrapped it around his hand several times, and tied it tightly to cover the original wound on the back of his hand.

After another day of practice and a night's rest, Yangyu was as bright as ever.

"Last time I was interrupted by my senior brother pushing my back, so this time I must be careful and not get distracted."

After breakfast, Meng Chen couldn't help but think of the feeling he had when he practiced standing meditation before. Now that his yang fish had regained its brightness, Meng Chen thought of asking Master Du for the method of the second knock on the gate.

"It's a bit early. Only ten days have passed since you broke through the first barrier. Why not wait another month?" Du Zhong advised Meng Chen when he heard that Meng Chen wanted to break through. He knew that Gao Yuan had sent people to guard outside, and he also knew that Meng Chen was anxious. But martial arts training cannot be rushed, otherwise it would be a loss.

"Master Du, I think it's about time. Perhaps we can give it a try," Meng Chen said.

Seeing this, Du Zhong knew that young people were all like this, so he stopped trying to persuade him and immediately started talking about the key to getting through to the gate.

"The first stage of the process involves nourishing and strengthening one's Qi and blood, and then releasing it all out. The second stage is similar; it involves tempering and refining the muscles and bones, then releasing all the body's energy, and training the muscles and bones to the point of being on the verge of breaking."

"For ordinary people like us, once we've overcome one obstacle, it usually takes two months, or even half a year, to overcome another one, or even a lifetime."

"The worst thing in martial arts training is impatience. If you are impatient, you will become anxious, which will not help your martial arts practice."

Du Zhong looked serious and gave Meng Chen a lot of instructions, without showing any discrimination because Meng Chen hadn't paid.

Meng Chen kept the teachings in mind, then cleared his mind and practiced the Yi Jin Zhuang Gu Gong (a type of exercise).

After performing five sets of exercises, he would lift the stone roller and practice standing meditation, skipping lunch. He would endure this until the afternoon was halfway through, when he would become increasingly hungry and thirsty. The yang fish that had been lit would gradually dim, but he would regain his clarity and even generate energy within his body.

Last time when he practiced horse stance, Meng Chen could only endure until noon before the sun's rays began to dim. This time, however, he endured until the entire afternoon.

Meng Chen didn't stop, he just kept enduring the hardship until night fell, when the slight trembling of his flesh and bones finally came.

Moreover, the longer one persists, the stronger the tremor becomes, as if the muscles and bones inside the body are being ground into powder on a turntable.

The pain intensified throughout his body. Meng Chen felt he was just one step away from success, but he just couldn't take that step.

After a long while, the yang fish dimmed again, and the trembling sensation in its muscles and bones receded like the tide.

This feeling is like climbing a mountain. The summit is right in front of you, but you just can't get past the rocks blocking your way.

"I always feel like something's missing."

"What is the reason for this?"

"Does it mean yin and yang in balance? I only have yang, not yin, like a woman is missing, so naturally I can't have a child..."

"How can I find a woman willing to have my child?"

Meng Chen sat on the ground and thought for a long time without any results. After resting for a while, he ate some leftovers that Du Ren had helped him save, and then fell into a deep sleep.

Nine more days passed, and it was now the end of August. Sure enough, the Yang Fish had become brighter again.

After having breakfast, Meng Chen began knocking on the gate again.

Just like last time, but this time the yang fish didn't gradually dim until evening.