Chapter 4

This time, it should be the character "you" from a different world.

Yang Dingtian followed by reading it once and then writing it once. Then he wrote the Chinese character "you" in the snow, read it out loud, and pointed at the old man, indicating that this meant "you."

The old man quickly grasped it and read it very accurately, writing it even better than Yang Dingtian.

Next came the words for eyes, nose, mouth, hair, skin, flesh, blood vessels, tendons, stomach, feet, heavy snow, ice, steps, sky, and so on.

Yang Dingtian was originally very intelligent, and the old man was even more brilliant.

For a full dozen hours, until the snow stopped, the two of them continued to learn each other's language and writing.

The old man taught Yang Dingtian 189 characters and over fifty words. After the lesson, the old man actually tested Yang Dingtian in Chinese.

For example, the old man pointed at the dark clouds in the sky, said the two characters for "dark clouds," and asked Yang Dingtian to read and write the word for "dark clouds" in this world.

If Yang Dingtian was correct, the old man would smile. If he was wrong, the old man would slap him.

That slap really hurt, but the old man seemed to hurt even more because his broken bones had not fully healed. Once, when he slapped Yang Dingtian, he even spat blood. So Yang Dingtian never dared to make a mistake again. After making a mistake, he would quickly slap himself, not daring to let the old man do it. He slapped himself even harder, swelling his face and sometimes even drawing blood.

Despite Yang Dingtian's intelligence, after a dozen hours and hundreds of characters and nearly a hundred words, he still made some mistakes. In the end, his entire face was swollen and red like a pig's head, his teeth were loose, and his saliva was tinged with blood.

The old man never showed any pity, and his gaze was always sharp when Yang Dingtian made a mistake.

When the lesson finally ended, the old man gently touched Yang Dingtian's swollen face, bringing a warmth to his heart.

"Go make the ice steps!" The old man said in Chinese, then slowly closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.

"Sir, aren't you going to eat anything?" Yang Dingtian asked, but the old man ignored him, even though he could almost understand Yang Dingtian's words.

Yang Dingtian smiled awkwardly, then carefully tidied the old man's clothes and combed his hair before going to make the ice steps.

...

And so, day by day, time passed.

Most of the time, the old man was in a meditative state, and every ten days he would give Yang Dingtian a fiery red pill to sustain his life and energy.

Only when it started to snow would he open his eyes, write on the snow, and teach Yang Dingtian the language and writing of this world, while also learning Chinese.

When the snow stopped, they would stop learning, and the old man would enter a meditative state again, while Yang Dingtian continued to make the ice steps.

Day by day, time passed.

The ice steps spiraling up the cave walls grew higher, and Yang Dingtian's mastery of the language and writing of this world increased. The old man, being extremely intelligent, had almost completely mastered the main Chinese characters. Once he grasped the rules and essence of Chinese characters, he could learn and understand them thoroughly, so he could even point out some obscure errors in Yang Dingtian's Chinese, which amazed Yang Dingtian.

However, Yang Dingtian's learning of the language and writing of this world started smoothly but gradually became more difficult. At first, he could learn over a hundred characters in ten hours, but it became slower and slower. This was because this world was a world of martial arts and mystic energy, and many terms were completely abstract and unfamiliar to Yang Dingtian.

To help Yang Dingtian understand accurately, the old man had to translate those terms and concepts into Chinese and then teach them to Yang Dingtian.

So, Yang Dingtian, who had not been slapped much, was slapped again, and each time he learned, his face would swell and turn red like a pig's head.

The old man remained extremely strict, his gaze always sharp.

But when Yang Dingtian turned away, the old man's gaze softened with pity.

Time gradually passed...

One month, two months, three months...

Half a year passed, winter was over, and the snowy weather became less frequent. However, the ice steps were only halfway complete!

The weather became warmer (of course, relatively speaking).

Yang Dingtian had almost completely mastered the language and writing of this world and could communicate using them. He also had a good understanding of this world.

This world was called the Chaotic Continent, which was much larger than Earth in terms of land area and population. It was a world where martial arts were supreme, and mystic energy was the foundation of this martial world. Everyone had different mystic veins, and those with high talent had high cultivation, while those with low talent had low cultivation.

One could say that this was a world of martial artists, where all other pursuits were inferior, and only martial arts were supreme. The only way to become a superior person was to practice martial arts.

The pill Yang Dingtian took every ten days was called the Blazing Pill, made from dozens of precious herbs and the blood of over a dozen fire-type mystic beasts, refined under the Blazing Sacred Fire. It was worth a fortune. An ordinary person would advance in cultivation after taking just one pill, but here, Yang Dingtian took it like food.

Day by day, Yang Dingtian's understanding of this world grew, but he still knew nothing about the old man. Who was the old man? Why was he trapped here? Why was his body completely ruined? All of this remained a mystery, but his bond with the old man deepened, and Yang Dingtian became increasingly attached to him, eventually treating him like a family member.

******

Each time after taking the Blazing Pill, Yang Dingtian always felt an endless surge of energy, so when he wasn't making the ice steps, he would randomly punch to release the surging energy.

One day, the old man drew a set of boxing patterns in the snow. The name of this boxing technique was the Righteous Yang Fist, which had only five moves, each with about ten forms.

The Righteous Yang Fist looked simple, and Yang Dingtian learned the first move after only three or four tries. Just as he was feeling proud, he saw the old man's icy expression. Then the old man wrote in the snow: "Surface practice is for the body, inner practice is for the energy. Where the fist goes, the energy follows. When you can feel a flow of mystic energy in your body, you will have mastered this move."

Then the old man closed his eyes and ignored him.

So, Yang Dingtian began to practice the fist seriously, over and over again, for thousands of repetitions, but he didn't feel any energy. Instead, he was so exhausted that his bones felt like they were falling apart, and he fell asleep on the ground.

The next morning, he woke up to see the old man already awake, writing hundreds of characters in the snow.

"This is called the Heaven and Earth Technique, the most basic method for cultivating energy. You should practice it every morning according to this method," the old man said. "You have a basic understanding of the language of this world, but the more advanced energy cultivation techniques involve many acupoints, meridians, and key points in the body. You need specialized diagrams and books, which you don't understand, so I can't teach you those techniques, or you might suffer from energy deviation. This technique is just a method for breathing and energy circulation, and practicing it won't be dangerous."

"Every morning, practice energy for one hour, then practice the Righteous Yang Fist for three hours. When you feel a flow of energy while practicing the fist, tell me, and I will teach you the second move," the old man said.

"Yes!" Yang Dingtian replied.

The old man closed his eyes and entered a meditative state again. For the past half year, he had mostly been in a meditative state, as if speaking even one more word would reduce his vitality. For the past half year, Yang Dingtian had been taking the Blazing Pills, while the old man had not eaten anything, not even water, and he did not excrete at all, which made Yang Dingtian deeply respectful. Although the old man never revealed his identity, from the many Blazing Pills he had, Yang Dingtian inferred that the old man must be someone extraordinary.

Suppressing all his杂思, Yang Dingtian began to practice the technique according to the old man's instructions, sitting and closing his eyes, breathing and cultivating energy.

The technique had only a few hundred words and about a dozen actions, from the nose, to the tongue, to breathing, to hand gestures, to the folding of the legs, to the rhythm of the perineum, all required to be precise. After completing a dozen actions, it formed a cycle.

After one cycle, Yang Dingtian suddenly felt a tickle and a warmth in his lower abdomen, as if a mouse had suddenly jumped up, almost pushing his body, making him involuntarily gasp.

"What's wrong?" the old man opened his eyes.

"It feels like a mouse jumped in my stomach," Yang Dingtian said.

The old man was surprised and said, "So fast?"

Then the old man sighed, "Comparing people can be deadly! Continue, and don't be surprised by anything."

"Yes!" Yang Dingtian said, and then continued to practice the technique, each cycle taking about three minutes. After each cycle, the little mouse in his lower abdomen would jump, but when he tried to find it, it would disappear, so the whole process was like a game of hide and seek.

The whole process was like getting a new and interesting toy, and Yang Dingtian was completely engrossed. One could say that a simple Heaven and Earth Technique had led him into a strange and mysterious world of martial arts.

After an hour, Yang Dingtian made one last attempt.

"Poof..." The little mouse seemed to really come out from deep in his lower abdomen and stayed there, jumping gently.

"How is it?" the old man opened his eyes and asked.

Yang Dingtian said, "The little mouse came out and stayed in my stomach, jumping gently."

The old man was surprised again and shook his head, "Comparing people can be deadly!"

He didn't tell Yang Dingtian that others, even those with high talent, would take a month to feel the little mouse and at least half a year to bring it out and keep it in their lower abdomen.

"The process you just experienced is called 'guiding energy.' It involves absorbing the primordial energy of heaven and earth into your body, then gathering it from countless meridians into the energy sea in your lower abdomen. The jumping little mouse you mentioned is your initial mystic energy," the old man said.

"I have mystic energy now?" Yang Dingtian said in surprise.

******

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