Chapter 15

After waiting for Old He to finish his shift at the gym, Qifeng tidied up and returned to the dormitory, feeling quite good. Although he hadn't really practiced yoga properly, it seemed he was on the right track. The one-on-one sessions with Yan Yufeng also seemed to have slightly improved his control, making it seem more useful than practicing yoga.

But Qifeng felt that forcing his body to adapt was just treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Otherwise, how could he keep living if he had to adapt to the Dragon-Elephant Prajna every time he practiced? Without mentioning anything else, in just two days, he had already crushed three cups, snapped two pairs of chopsticks, and broken the metal frame of a table lamp. He realized something was off with his Dragon-Elephant Prajna, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He just felt that he would definitely find something in yoga.

Fortunately, the ponytailed girl seemed to have a deep understanding of yoga. Qifeng thought people shouldn't be judged by their appearance; such a young and beautiful girl in her twenties actually had knowledge of ancient cultivation methods. He wondered what kind of family environment she must have grown up in.

Back in the dormitory, the roommates were gossiping. They were very envious of the scene with all the girls in the yoga class. They pressured Qifeng to recall every detail. Qifeng thought to himself that he had barely opened his eyes the whole evening, so what details could he possibly recall?

Qifeng noticed a strange phenomenon: these science and engineering nerds always got excited when talking about girls, but if you really asked them to organize a social event with girls, they lacked the initiative. Most of the time, they would think about the preparations and activities, then get a headache, and go back to studying, exercising, or playing games, leaving the social event unattended. Ah, so personality determines destiny. It's not that they became nerds and had no girls because they studied science and engineering, but rather their personality led them to choose science and engineering and become nerds, which is why they had no girls!

After shaking off the roommates, Qifeng took a basin to the washroom to shower. Since mastering the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, the external cold and heat had little effect on him. The temperature in the capital had dropped below zero by October, but Qifeng didn't feel cold at all when taking a cold shower.

Practicing one-on-one with Yan Yufeng for about an hour, Qifeng didn't even break a sweat. He didn't know his physical limits, and maybe he could even win a world championship in an international marathon. Ah, when was the next international marathon in the capital? He could sign up and give it a try if he had time.

Business was steady, and exams were still far off. He visited the Yue Lai Inn, but neither Wei Xiaobao nor Xu Xiaoxia appeared. Qifeng couldn't go out and was very bored. His current focus was mainly on practicing yoga, and he wasn't as eager to advance to the second level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna.

Finally, the second yoga class arrived. Qifeng finished dinner early and went to the East Campus Sports Center, remembering that the ponytailed girl had said she would give him a private lesson.

The main stadium was still open to the public. Qifeng turned to Room 221B, and the ponytailed girl was indeed there. Seeing Qifeng, she was quite happy: "Oh, you're here early. It looks like you're really serious about learning yoga."

Qifeng nodded: "Of course, I'm here to learn, and I want to learn the real stuff, the cultivation kind."

The ponytailed girl looked at Qifeng curiously: "Most people who come to practice yoga just treat it as exercise. There are very few who come for cultivation. Are you here for basketball? But why didn't you agree when Coach Li tried to recruit you?" She must have known about this since she was close to Yan Yufeng.

Ah, this girl is pretty smart and hard to fool... Qifeng was troubled and could only vaguely say: "I do have some special reasons, but I can't go into too much detail... Hey, don't think I'm here just to look at girls."

The ponytailed girl laughed: "I know, I know. If your mind was wandering, how could you fall asleep so easily?"

"I really didn't fall asleep," Qifeng argued for a bit but then gave up. "Cough, I can't explain it to you. Whatever you say, it's better than being a pervert."

"Good!" The girl didn't argue further: "Now I'll teach you real yoga!"

Oh, real! It sounded like something extraordinary. Was what he had learned before all fake? Qifeng felt like he was Sun Wukong, secretly learning from Patriarch Puti in the middle of the night. The regular classes couldn't be the real deal; to learn the 72 transformations and the somersault cloud, you had to get private lessons from the master. It was similar to how teachers sometimes gave extra tutoring to top students in middle school.

While Qifeng was lost in thought, the girl started explaining: "First, I mentioned the 'Eight Limbs' to you the other day, but if you want to truly practice yoga, you must start from the first limb."

Qifeng nodded deeply and said, "Oh, I see," as if he understood.

The ponytailed girl, with her sharp eyes, said, "If you have any questions, just ask."

"Oh, right, what's your name? I still don't know. I can't keep calling you 'you.'"

Qifeng's sudden change in topic almost made the girl, who was prepared to answer all kinds of professional questions, lose her breath. "Cough, cough, cough, why are you so relaxed? Can you listen properly? My name is Su Mengmei, remember that?"

"Su Mengmei... Hmm, it sounds nice, a bit different from the engineering style. Hey, what's your relationship with Yan Yufeng?"

Su Mengmei's face suddenly turned red. "Uh... we're childhood friends, grew up in the same courtyard."

Qifeng was a bit unsure: "Is that how you use the term 'childhood friends'? Shouldn't you be considered childhood sweethearts or something?"

Su Mengmei was slightly angry: "Can you be any more gossipy? Do you still want to learn?"

Qifeng quickly lowered his head: "Learn, learn, learn. Please, go on, I'm listening."

Su Mengmei took a deep breath and reorganized her thoughts: "The first limb of the 'Eight Limbs' is 'Yama.'"

Yama? Qifeng felt a bit troubled. No wonder it was a cultivation method; before even practicing, you had to follow rules. He hoped the rules weren't too strict. But then again, rules were for people. Look at the monks eating at KFC and even having children.

Then Su Mengmei started a long explanation. Qifeng found it a bit boring and profound. Essentially, it was a set of philosophical and spiritual beliefs. There were no specific rules for Yama; in simple terms, it was about establishing a yoga-based worldview, life view, and values in your mind.

Qifeng was sweating. He thought, "This is like brainwashing. My worldview has been confined to materialism by my father, a chemistry professor, since childhood. It's too hard to change now."

"Can we skip this part?" Qifeng raised his hand and said, "Can we start from the second limb?"

Su Mengmei was unhappy: "How can you lack focus when learning something?"

Qifeng shrugged: "This is too abstract. Can we start with something more practical?"

Su Mengmei, annoyed, said: "The second limb is 'Niyama,' which builds on the first limb."

Qifeng was surprised: "It's also purely spiritual?"

"Yes!" Su Mengmei was very sure and explained a bit about Niyama.

Qifeng understood that after practicing these two limbs, you would basically be a semi-saint in the yoga value system, part of the savior reserve team. He suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, wait, wait. I remember you said you practiced up to the fifth limb, Pratyahara?"

Su Mengmei proudly raised her head: "That's right! Although I just started, it's a level most people can't reach."

Qifeng, scratching his chin, was puzzled: "So, you've completed the first two limbs?" Looking at how the girl could still get angry and blush, she didn't seem like someone who had reached the saint level in cultivation.

Sure enough, Su Mengmei was stumped: "...This... um... let's start with Pranayama..."

Qifeng was speechless. He thought, "Making it sound so scary, but in the end, it's still about starting from the ground up."

At this point, Qifeng started to mentally edit the thousand-year-old 'Eight Limbs' method.

"The first and second limbs can be ignored. The third and fourth limbs, Asana and Pranayama, need to be taught by a person. The fifth, sixth, and seventh limbs, Pratyahara, Dharana, and Dhyana, are essentially the same thing. The eighth limb, Samadhi, is about enlightenment and can be ignored. So, in reality, there are only three limbs." This was a typical approach of a science and engineering student. They would break everything down, analyze it, and then reassemble it, thinking they had truly understood it.

As a result, what was supposed to be a foundational yoga theory class turned into a yoga technique crash course under Qifeng's influence: Su Mengmei quickly caught him up on the Asana and Pranayama he had missed over the past month.

Qifeng increasingly felt that yoga was related to his Dragon-Elephant Prajna. The Asana and Pranayama were almost the same as the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, though the forms were different, the basic principles were the same. With his experience in practicing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, these basic yoga techniques were easy for him, much to Su Mengmei's amazement.

"Hey, you really have a talent for yoga! I wouldn't have believed it if you hadn't told me you hadn't practiced before. I was much worse when I started," Su Mengmei was somewhat impressed by Qifeng's performance.

Just as Qifeng was feeling proud, he realized something. Didn't they start by saying they would learn real yoga? How did they end up catching up on the regular class content? Was the real yoga mainly about the two spiritual limbs?

While Qifeng was puzzled, the regular class time arrived. He had to go downstairs with Su Mengmei. Well, it wasn't a total loss. At least from the second class onwards, he could keep up with the pace.

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