Chapter 10: Apprenticeship and Training

The total amount of copper coins in my hand now adds up to 24,000 coins, or 24 strings of silver.

There is a pawnshop in Sanchazi Town, which also operates a money exchange business, where copper coins can be exchanged for silver.

The normal price is one string of copper coins for one tael of silver.

But the pawnshop owner is unwilling to work in vain, and he also charges a fire consumption fee for each exchange.

Er Gouzi exchanged 10 taels of silver and was charged 500 coins. This business is more profitable than farming!

Then he bought an old hen, ten catties of pork, incense and candles, and two jars of fine wine.

Wine is brewed from grain, so the price is more expensive than white rice. This jar has 10 liters of wine and sells for 600 coins. Two jars cost another 1,200 coins.

The cost of learning from a master is indeed high, and more than ten strings of money were spent at once.

And in the future, gifts will be given during festivals, and few people can afford it.

Er Gouzi prepared all the items, and Li Banxian took him to a small courtyard in the town.

This small courtyard is not big. There is a jujube tree planted in the courtyard. The tree is full of finger-sized jujubes, which are not yet ripe.

"Come in!"

In the hall facing the courtyard, there are several tablets and an offering table.

Er Gouzi carried pork and other items into the hall and put them all on the offering table.

At this time, Li Banxian washed his face in a basin, washed his hands, and then lit the incense and candles, and bowed to the ancestors on the tablet.

Then he said a lot of things to the ancestral tablets, such as he was unfilial and broke the ancestral rules.

Er Gouzi listened to the side and was deeply moved.

Then, under the guidance of Li Banxian, he performed many complicated etiquettes, and finally offered Li Banxian a cup of tea.

From then on, Er Gouzi was considered Li Banxian's disciple.

"From today on, I will teach you the peerless martial arts, but I don't like false reputation, you must not disclose the fact that you are learning martial arts from me!"

"Okay, I will definitely listen to Master!"

Er Gouzi replied respectfully.

"How many characters do you know?"

Er Gouzi scratched his head and calculated.

"I know a few hundred characters."

"Learning to read and write is the basis for learning everything. You can only learn it slowly."

Li Banxian tapped the table with his knuckles, pondered for a while, then stood up and took out a wrinkled book from the box.

The color of the book has turned yellow, and many places are damaged, even the title and cover have fallen off.

"This book is the peerless martial arts handed down from my old Li family. Use this book as your textbook for learning to read."

"Today I will teach you 50 characters first. After you have mastered it thoroughly, come to me to learn another 50 characters."

"When you learn the characters in this book, you can practice by comparing them, killing two birds with one stone."

Li Banxian looked at the nameless book for a while, then set up the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, picked up the pen and wrote and read on the paper.

"A lady's body, from the internal organs to the limbs, from the external bones to the internal essence and spirit, from the external tendons and bones to the flesh..."

Wrote a long paragraph, counted, there were a few more words, 58 words in total.

Li Banxian asked Er Gouzi to recite the paper until he was familiar with it, and then let him go home to practice.

Er Gouzi took the paper, fearing that he would forget it, and kept reciting on the way home.

Back to Shekou Mountain, he began to practice writing on the ground with a branch as a pen.

It took him two days to completely master the 58 words, and he could write, recognize, and read them, so he went to Li Banxian again to learn characters.

This time, Li Banxian saw that he learned quite quickly, so he taught him 85 characters.

In the following days, Er Gouzi could learn dozens of new characters every few days.

It cost more than ten strings of money to become a disciple, and only then did he get the opportunity to learn.

Every time he was tired, he would think of the 10 kilograms of pork and the white silver, and he would be full of motivation.

Every time he learned a word, he felt like he had earned a penny.

Therefore, he did not dare to be vague when learning, otherwise he would lose the money.

After two months, he had finished learning the first chapter of the book.

However, although he knew these words, he still did not understand the meaning of the whole article.

Li Banxian took his money and was quite responsible. He explained the meaning of the article in detail, which was actually a method of cultivation.

"First, cultivate the tangible, which are the internal organs, tendons, bones, blood and flesh. Use the tangible essence to cultivate the invisible vitality..."

Li Banxian's mouth was covered with white foam, and finally Er Gouzi roughly understood the method of cultivation in this article.

In general, it is to cultivate the invisible vitality with the tangible body, so that the vitality can grow and transform into a kind of martial arts true qi in the body.

Er Gouzi returned to Shekou Mountain and practiced every day according to the method taught by Li Banxian.

The way of cultivation is to pose in several strange postures and use force awkwardly, saying that it is to guide the vitality in the body.

Then sit in meditation and cultivate vitality.

Those strange postures are easier to practice, but meditation is more difficult.

There are always distracting thoughts in my mind. As soon as one thought disappears, other thoughts will immediately emerge.

The idea of ​​suppressing these distracting thoughts has just arisen, but it is also a distracting thought.

The more he wants to suppress distracting thoughts, the more distracting thoughts he has, making him irritable and nauseous.

But thinking that he has spent so much money, he can't give up, so he can only force himself to practice.

However, some things are not done in the right way, and the harder you work, the further you will go in the wrong direction.

After a few days, he has been upset and haggard.

There is no way, so he can only go to Li Banxian for advice.

Li Banxian took out his nameless book, flipped through it for a long time, and then closed it.

"If you want to practice peerless martial arts, you must overcome all difficulties and not have any fear of retreat. If you can't practice it in three or two days, then practice it for three to five months..."

Li Banxian said a lot, in short, just keep working hard and overcome all difficulties and obstacles with diligence.

Er Gouzi had never practiced martial arts before and knew nothing about it. He guessed that probably all martial artists had to go through this kind of pain, so they could only go back and continue to work harder.

On this day, when he was meditating, he was fighting all kinds of distracting thoughts with super willpower.

Suddenly, he felt a surge in his chest.

"Ugh!"

"Puff!"

Bright red blood spurted out of his mouth, his head was dizzy, and he fell to the ground.

Er Gouzi lay on the ground, blood kept coming out of his mouth, and his consciousness was blurred.

But he thought that he had spent so much money, but he still hadn't practiced the martial arts, and the goal of taking the martial arts exam was even more distant.

Still unable to let go of the cultivation method, he continued to practice it in a daze.

At this moment, he himself did not notice it, because his head was dazed and groggy, and all the distracting thoughts in his mind disappeared.

Without distracting thoughts, the method worked smoothly, and a weak airflow gradually formed in his meridians.

Just lying there half-dead and motionless, the method worked smoothly, and the whole person entered a mysterious state.

"Gurgle..."

This lay lasted for several hours. At this moment, he was so hungry that he finally pulled him back from that mysterious state.

Er Gouzi jumped up from the ground and found that his whole body was relaxed. All the previous boredom and nausea disappeared.

He closed his eyes and sensed it. There seemed to be a small heat slowly flowing in the meridians in his body. Wherever this heat went, he felt comfortable.

"Haha! Master is right. As long as you practice diligently, you will succeed!"

He didn't know that when you start practicing, the harder you try to eliminate distracting thoughts in your heart, the more counterproductive it will be.

This coincidence made his consciousness enter a mysterious state of existence and non-existence, which secretly matched the truth of martial arts.

Otherwise, without the guidance of a master, he would never be able to practice in his life. If he practiced forcefully, he might even kill himself.

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