Chapter 24

Wang Yingfu's face darkened slightly, and Lu Buqi exhaled a deep breath, forcing a smile, "Thank you, Manager Wang for your concern. I will stay here to recover from my injuries..."

"Very well!" Wang Yingfu nodded, and Wang Lishou spoke up, "Chief Manager, let Li Hong take care of my shop for a while. I will stay here in the Northwest Household for now!"

"Alright, it’s good that you will be passing on your strength techniques to him. However, when the time comes, the two of you will have to walk out of the Guojian Forest on your own, or you will have to wait until next year!" Wang Yingfu frowned as he looked at Wang Lishou. Although he was the manager of the Guojian Forest, the use of the Divine Kite Machine required an application. He truly couldn’t apply to pick up a swamp slave, or he would have to give up his position as manager.

Wang Lishou smiled lightly, "No problem, a mere Guojian Forest won’t take my life. Chief Manager, within half a year, the two of us will definitely walk out of this forest!"

"Lishou, you have the courage!" Wang Liqing patted his shoulder approvingly, "We will wait for you in Guojian Town!"

Wang Lihai also smiled and said, "Lishou, who knows, when you come back, we might not be a match for you anymore."

Wang Lihai’s words were not said casually. In his view, Wang Lishou staying in the Northwest Household wouldn’t be foolish enough to only teach Lu Buqi the strength techniques. The very practical body techniques and combat skills of Lu Buqi were undoubtedly worth learning for every martial artist.

With the strength of many, it didn’t take long for all the supplies to be loaded onto the Divine Kite Machine. The sky grew darker, and Wang Yingfu and the others naturally had to leave.

Dier, who had been standing by Lu Buqi, holding the blue puppy, suddenly called out to Lu Buqi as she followed Wang Yingfu and the others onto the Divine Kite Machine, "Buqi, you must recover quickly, see the world, and learn well. Maybe we will meet again in the future!"

The swamp slaves of the Northwest Household were stunned, and Lu Buqi was also slightly taken aback. He was deeply grateful to Dier. If Xitu was the first friend he recognized in this world, then Dier was undoubtedly the second, and she quickly pushed Xitu from the top spot of his most important friends.

However, Lu Buqi knew that his current status was humble and it wasn’t appropriate to have much contact with the noble young lady, so he never initiated any conversation. He secretly decided that if he had the chance in the future, he would definitely repay her kindness.

But he didn’t expect that Dier, before leaving, would say such heartfelt words in front of so many people, words that only a true friend would say.

Before climbing into the Divine Kite Machine, Dier left one last message, "My name is Chu Di, and the puppy is called Guai Guai. Don’t forget!"

"Woof woof..." The blue puppy seemed to be saying goodbye to Lu Buqi as well.

When the Divine Kite Machine flapped its massive wings and took off, the swamp slaves of the Northwest Household finally breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help but start discussing.

"Hutou... Oh, Buqi, you were really bold! My heart was almost out of my chest!" Xitu grabbed Lu Buqi, "You... Ah, what’s wrong with you?"

"Xitu, you’re really senile. He’s so badly injured, and you’re still pulling him around!" Wang Lishou’s words made Lu Kang and his wife, who were about to approach, stand there in a daze.

At this moment, the swamp slaves, including Xitu, realized that although Manager Wang had left, Wang Lishou, who also had a high status, was still here. For a moment, the swamp slaves became a bit more restrained.

"Buqi, how do you feel?" Wang Lishou didn’t dare to move Buqi casually.

Lu Buqi frowned tightly, "It’s okay, just a fracture in my right arm, three broken ribs, and some internal organs were compressed..."

As Huiniang cried out in sorrow, Xitu exclaimed, "Is this called okay? Damn, who knows how you managed to hold on until now, Old Offender, Old Offender... Where are you? Hurry up and come over, look at the big boss!"

"Coming, coming..." An extremely sleazy old swamp slave, who looked like an old dog standing on its hind legs, carrying a black, shapeless bag, ran over.

Old Offender, nicknamed Dog Old, called himself the Medicine King, and was the most skilled doctor in the Northwest Household. He was quite adept at treating insect bites, bruises, and some simple wounds, as these were the things he did most in his life.

It must be said that Old Offender did have some real skills. After all, he derived truth from practice, and the ointments and medicines he developed were quite effective. At the very least, Lu Buqi’s injuries, which he thought would take at least two months to heal, were completely recovered in a month and a half.

Of course, this was also due to the presence of Wang Lishou, a Bone Resonance Realm expert. Every day, while teaching Lu Buqi the theoretical foundations of the strength techniques, he personally gave Lu Buqi a massage, completely disregarding the differences in status.

During the massage, Lu Buqi could clearly feel a warm and thick force emanating from Wang Lishou’s palms, nourishing his muscles and meridians, making him marvel at the power, as it was almost like the internal martial arts of his previous life on Earth.

When Lu Buqi came into contact with what true strength techniques were, he finally understood that these techniques were actually special methods of force movement, through which the body’s meridians were cultivated to fully activate all the energy in the body.

When Lu Buqi learned the Bear King Great Strength Technique, he was completely in awe of the martial artist who first created the strength techniques, who could think of using the mind to guide the meridians to exercise the body. It’s not difficult to feel the meridians, but feeling the collaterals is quite challenging. Meridians and collaterals, though part of a whole, are not the same.

In his previous life, in China, there was a culture called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which had a relatively detailed study of meridians. Meridians are the channels through which qi and blood flow, connecting the internal organs and the surface of the body, and are the body’s functional regulation system.

Lu Buqi also knew that the original meaning of “meridians” is “vertical threads,” which have the meaning of paths. Simply put, they are the main paths in the meridian system, existing internally, running from top to bottom, and connecting the inside and outside. The internal martial arts he practiced in his previous life also cultivated the twelve main meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians, reaching the advanced stage of unblocking the Ren and Du meridians.

The original meaning of “collaterals” is “network,” which are the auxiliary paths branching off from the main paths, existing on the surface of the body, crisscrossing and covering the entire body, controlling every tiny muscle. Just like the saying “the emperor is far away and the mountains are high,” because the collaterals are more hidden than the meridians, the brain’s control over the collaterals is weaker than over the meridians, so the energy feedback is also weaker.

To give an example, when punching, in Lu Buqi’s previous understanding, it was enough to mobilize a few complementary meridians to connect the body’s strength. But now, after learning the strength techniques, Lu Buqi had to mobilize the energy of the collaterals connected to these meridians while mobilizing the meridians.

Which contains more energy, a single stream or a hundred rivers? The difference is clear! Of course, this doesn’t mean that the martial arts of Lu Buqi’s previous life on Earth were inferior. The strength techniques, because they focus on mobilizing energy and building strength, are weaker in other aspects compared to the martial arts Lu Buqi practiced in his previous life, such as reaction speed and evasion speed, which amazed Wang Lishou and others.

For example, Wang Bo, who practiced the Flowing Wind Strength Technique and the Flowing Wind Leg, was considered top-notch in terms of speed among strength techniques. However, even at the ninth level, he was still slightly slower than Lu Buqi. And Lu Buqi had only reached the Form Integration stage, and his body was far from as mature as Wang Bo’s.

Moreover, strength techniques only allow one to have greater strength, but there are few very detailed ways to use that strength, leading to relatively simple attack methods in this world. They believe in the principle that “one strength overcomes ten wisdoms.” This is why An Ze, despite having strength several times greater than Lu Buqi, was still killed by him. And Wang Bo, being even stronger, could only shamelessly ask Lu Buqi to be a live target.

Lu Buqi did not deny that “one strength overcomes ten wisdoms” is a standard truth, but if one can use strength flexibly on top of having great strength, the combat power would increase exponentially.

Without a doubt, with the Five Animal Imitation Boxing as a foundation, Lu Buqi can have the force application methods of whole force, clear force, and hidden force. With the powerful energy mobilization ability granted by the strength techniques, Lu Buqi can definitely reach a level that his previous life could never compare to.

Thinking of this, Lu Buqi’s heart was always filled with enthusiasm. He couldn’t wait to try out what his “courageous strength” would be like after cultivation.

"Your injuries are almost fully healed. After such a long time, you have also grasped the theory and techniques of the Bear King Great Strength Technique quite well. I can see that you are eager to try. Why don’t you rest one more day, and I will test your force sense tomorrow!"

Testing force sense is a necessary step in cultivating strength techniques. If the test shows no force sense, it means there is no talent in this area, and one can only be an ordinary person.

The so-called force sense is actually the surging undercurrent that Lu Buqi could feel from An Ze and Wang Bo’s attacks, which is a symbol of the movement of the collaterals.

Wang Lishou was definitely a very patient teacher. Given Lu Buqi’s understanding of the body and the application of force, Wang Lishou only needed to explain once or twice for Lu Buqi to fully understand. However, Wang Lishou could repeat the explanations countless times over the past month and a half, including the positions and directions of the collaterals, and personally demonstrated them multiple times.

"Alright!" Lu Buqi nodded respectfully. Although Wang Lishou explained that due to his status as a swamp slave, Lu Buqi did not have the right to formally become a disciple, so he didn’t need to go through the formalities, Lu Buqi, influenced by the traditional Chinese thinking of his previous life, already considered Wang Lishou his first master in this life.