Chapter 9

Tang Ning and the others gathered at the foot of the mountain. After a while, Xi Ti and Qin Luo walked over side by side.

The others were somewhat surprised, as Qin Luo had never come before and they wondered why he was here today.

"Everyone should know me, though some may have forgotten. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Qin Luo, and I am your chief instructor. I am here to announce something to you. From today onwards, you are all members of the Ma Bang, and you will begin new training." After Qin Luo finished speaking, everyone looked pleased, whispering and chatting among themselves.

"Today is a rest day. New training will begin tomorrow," Xi Ti stepped forward and said.

The others were even more delighted, as they had been doing training every day since they arrived and had not expected a day off today.

Tang Ning returned to his room and knocked on the door, calling, "Ruru, Ruru."

Soon, footsteps sounded, and the door opened.

Tang Ning pulled her hand and lay down on the bed.

Liu Ruhuan snuggled into his arms, her big, watery eyes looking at him.

Tang Ning held her and said, "Instructor Xi said today is a rest day. I was thinking of going to the town to buy you some clothes. What do you think?"

Actually, Tang Ning had wanted to go to the town to buy her some clothes before the New Year, but he had never had the time.

Now, Liu Ruhuan no longer washed and bought vegetables. She followed an uncle who recorded accounts every day. The uncle's wife liked her very much and had specially asked someone to arrange for her to learn accounting.

The two of them had saved several taels of silver over the past few months. Tang Ning received one tael of silver as his monthly salary, which he gave to her to manage.

Liu Ruhuan gestured for a while.

"You should come too! Alright, go and tell Uncle Min and take a leave."

"What? Oh, right! We still need to go there."

"It is quite boring! I just practice the Gu family's boxing. I don't know any other martial arts. My boxing is so good now that even Chenggan can't beat me." It was still early, and Tang Ning was talking to her.

Liu Ruhuan held him tightly, her face rubbing against his, occasionally kissing his cheek.

Tang Ning had already told her about the situation in his dreams. At first, Liu Ruhuan was quite worried, but she gradually felt relieved when she saw nothing unusual.

After so many days of "sleepwalking," Tang Ning had discovered some patterns.

He found that each sleepwalking episode occurred between midnight and dawn, lasting about three hours. Strangely, he would also fall asleep in that dream.

Sometimes, when he was tired from practicing, he would lie down and sleep. He didn't know how long he slept, but he always woke up feeling completely refreshed.

Liu Ruhuan rubbed her face against his, listening to him talk, and kissed his cheek again.

She didn't care about his strange dreams as long as he was fine.

She didn't care about the distant things he often mentioned, like the Luoyun Mountains. She just wanted to be with him every day.

When they got married in a few years, she would still serve him every day, warming his bed, fetching water for him to wash, and cooking for him.

That was enough for her...

The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and there was not a cloud in the sky.

Tang Ning held Liu Ruhuan's hand and walked down the street, looking around.

The changing faces, the lively shadow puppets, the colorful kites, the string of candied haws, and the cries of the performers and storytellers.

The two of them had never wandered around the town so leisurely before and found everything very interesting.

They wanted to see everything and buy some snacks to eat.

They wandered for a long time, playing until it was dark before returning. They had a good harvest, buying two new clothes for Liu Ruhuan and a bunch of interesting little toys.

Later, Gu Chenggan came over: "Where did you go today? I finally had a day off and wanted to find you to play."

"We went to the town to buy things."

"Oh, come on! Let's practice boxing. I thought of a new move last night that can increase the power of the boxing." Gu Chenggan was eager to try.

Every evening, Tang Ning practiced boxing with him. In fact, his boxing skills were already far superior to Gu Chenggan's, but he felt indebted to him for teaching him, so he always deliberately lost a few moves.

"Let's skip it today. We start new training tomorrow, and I want to rest well tonight," Tang Ning said.

"Don't! I've been thinking about this move for a long time. Come and try it with me."

"Alright!" Tang Ning couldn't refuse and went out to practice boxing with him.

The next day, everyone gathered at the foot of the mountain. After a while, Xi Ti walked over: "You are now members of the Ma Bang. Today, you will start new training, practicing the introductory martial arts of the Ma Bang, the Five Elements Fist."

"Watch carefully. I will demonstrate once, and then you will follow me."

Xi Ti started moving, and his speed was very fast. The others could barely see clearly. The set of boxing was very graceful and fluid, like flowing clouds and water.

"This is the Crane Form of the Five Elements Fist, emphasizing the natural flow of the mind."

"Today, we will practice the Crane Form. Let's start now."

Xi Ti demonstrated a punch and a kick, and the others imitated him, practicing five times before he stopped.

"Practice the movements I just showed you."

"This move is incorrect. You should use your entire arm, not just your wrist."

"This move should be slightly bent when you strike."

"When you jump and land, your left leg should touch the ground first, and your body should lean forward."

"The turning movement should be quick, turning halfway before striking, not a full turn."

Xi Ti walked around, continuously correcting the others' mistakes.

They practiced all morning, had lunch, rested for an hour, and continued in the afternoon.

In the evening, Tang Ning practiced boxing with Gu Chenggan and then went to sleep, entering the dream.

Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, several months had gone by. Tang Ning practiced diligently every day.

One day, before dawn, Tang Ning woke up from the dream and stared at the ceiling, motionless.

Recently, he had felt something unusual in his body, as if something was moving inside him.

He didn't know if it was a side effect of the strange dream or a problem with his training. He didn't dare tell anyone, not even Liu Ruhuan, to avoid worrying her.

At first, he thought it was an illusion, as the sensation came and went. He wasn't sure, but in the past few days, he had felt it very clearly.

There was indeed something moving inside him, warm and flowing from his head to his feet, circulating continuously.

He decided to ask Xi Ti today to see if there was a problem with his training. If it wasn't a training issue, he could confirm that it was the dream causing it.

After morning training and lunch, Tang Ning went to Xi Ti's room, hesitated for a moment, and then knocked on the door.

The door opened, and Xi Ti looked at him, somewhat puzzled: "It's you! What's up?"

"Um." Tang Ning nodded.

"Come in and talk." Xi Ti saw that he looked troubled, as if he had something important to say.

Tang Ning went in and then noticed that Qin Luo was also there, along with a bearded man.

"What's wrong? Speak up." Xi Ti closed the door, and Qin Luo and the bearded man looked at him.

"I haven't been feeling well lately. I always feel something moving inside me, so I wanted to ask if there's a problem with my training."

"Something moving? Did you eat something bad? Training shouldn't cause that." Qin Luo said.

"I haven't eaten anything unusual." Tang Ning said softly.

"Let me check if you're feeling cold." The bearded man stood up, grabbed Tang Ning's wrist, and placed his middle finger on it.

Tang Ning let him do it.

"Hmm!" The bearded man's finger on his wrist made him exclaim in surprise, frowning. After a while, he closed his eyes, his frown deepening, looking serious.

"What's wrong?" Xi Ti asked.

The bearded man didn't answer, and after a long time, he opened his eyes, staring at Tang Ning in disbelief, as if he were looking at a monster.

"What's wrong?" Qin Luo was also very curious.

The bearded man turned to the two of them and said two words: "Internal energy."

Upon hearing this, the two of them were shocked.

"Impossible." They said in unison.

Qin Luo came over and grabbed Tang Ning's left wrist, while Xi Ti grabbed his right wrist.

After a while, they let go, and the three of them looked at each other, their faces full of shock.

"Indeed, it is internal energy. Because he doesn't know how to control it, the internal energy is moving around inside him, causing the sensation of his body swelling." Qin Luo said first.

"How is he usually?" The bearded man asked.

"When he first came, he had no foundation, but he has a high talent. In just three or four months, he has made some progress with the Five Elements Fist."

"That shouldn't be the case. It's unheard of for someone to凝聚出内力仅仅几个月的时间。”

“你最近有没有遇到什么奇怪的事情？或者遇到奇怪的人？或者吃过奇怪的东西？”秦洛看着他问道。

他这一问，唐宁立刻想到了那个梦，但他略一思考就摇了摇头：“没有。”

“事情有蹊跷，我派人去向帮里禀告，这几天你不用再做功课，也不要离开，有什么不对劲的地方随时告诉我们。”秦洛下了决定，手指在他身上点了几下，一掌按在他胸口间，唐宁感觉到身体里那股游动的东西往某个地方钻去。

秦洛收回手掌：“我将你的内力逼回了丹田之中，你现在还不知道如何控制内力，这几天就不要再练习五行拳了。”

“哦。”唐宁点了点头。

“你先回去吧！”习啼开口道。

唐宁回到房间，躺在床上看着天花板。

内力。顾承乾倒是时常说起过，只是没想到竟是这么一种东西。

他猜想这种情况肯定与那个梦有关，虽然习啼说他天赋颇高，几个月之间五行拳略有小成，但他自己明白肯定没到那个地步。

那个奇怪的梦到底是什么！能让自己的内力这么快就凝聚出来，如果说……

唐宁正思考之际，房门被推开，柳茹涵走了进来，锁了门，爬到床上，钻进他怀里，脸蛋蹭着他。

唐宁抱着她柔弱无骨的身子：“茹茹，我和你有个事要说。”

唐宁看了看窗外，然后附在她耳边低声说道：“我今天去找习教头，他们说我体内凝聚出了内力，很不寻常，我觉得跟天天做的梦有关系，那个东西很古怪，你不要和别人说。”

柳茹涵听完点了点头，扭了扭身子，换了个舒适的姿势，又往他怀里挤了挤。

唐宁将她抱紧了些，柳茹涵抬起头在他嘴角边亲了两下，脸蛋和他贴在一起，闭上眼休息。

傍晚时分，顾承乾过来，奇怪唐宁为什么下午没去做功课。

唐宁正想找他问问内力的事。

“你知道体内要凝聚出内力的话一般得多长时间吗？”

“不好说，少则三四年或四五年，多则八九年，十几年，跟练的功法也有很大关系，这个很复杂的，对了，你还没说下午怎么没去呢？”

“我去找习啼了，他说我体内已经凝聚出内力，叫我不要去了。”

“别开玩笑了。”

“你真的？不可能吧！你说真的。”顾承乾猛然一个箭步冲上来，扯着唐宁的衣袖质问道。

“我也不知道是不是，几天前就感觉身体里有东西在游动，暖暖的，他们说是内力。”

顾承乾双目圆睁，一副不可思议的模样盯着他，唐宁也是一头雾水。