Narration System for the Journey of Martial Arts

Page 61

Looking out the window at the sky, Zhu Yuchen said, "Old Chen, we won't stay any longer. It's getting dark and the road will be difficult to travel."

Zhu Yuchen got up and put on his shoes. A Niu, who was standing next to him, draped a fur coat over his shoulders and asked, "Father, have you prepared the things I asked you to prepare?"

Chen Agen got up, opened the box next to him, and said, "It's all ready, all prepared a long time ago." As he spoke, he took out a small bundle from the box and placed it on the kang table.

Ah Niu opened it to check, then re-fastened it on his back before following Zhu Yuchen out of the Chen family.

The two bid farewell to Chen's parents and then headed northwest along the market town, which was located southeast of Zhujiazhuang.

………………

After circling far around the high hill of Zhujiazhuang and determining their location, Aniu led the horse and hurried along. As dusk fell, they had already reached the woods fifteen miles away.

Under Zhu Yuchen's command, A Niu brandished his machete and cleared a path through the forest, heading towards the depths of the woods on the left.

After walking for about seven or eight miles, it was completely dark when the two men and one horse finally arrived at a mountain hollow.

Ah Niu followed the path along the mountain hollow to find a sheltered spot, settled Zhu Yuchen in, and then gathered some firewood to start a fire. He took out the dried meat and provisions that Chen's father had prepared in advance and ate a quick meal.

The sky brightens early in the Great Snow Mountain. In just two or three hours, it was already light. The two of them got ready and went into the mountain valley, where they found the stream that Zhu Yuchen had mentioned.

The stream had long since frozen over, with layers of ice and snow forming irregular, folded, dragon-scale-like piles, resembling a curved ice dragon crawling on the ground.

Carrying Zhu Yuchen on his back, A Niu used the Golden Goose Technique to travel upstream along the stream. After walking for a short while, less than a quarter of an hour, the surroundings gradually turned green, and the frozen stream began to thaw.

Continuing onward, after a short while, a mountain bend appeared before us, revealing a valley with red flowers, green grass, clear blue waters, and monkeys playing.

Chapter 119 Capturing the Old Ape, Obtaining the Nine Yang

Entering the valley through the narrow gorge, I discovered that it was spring-like all year round, with warm breezes, a completely different world from the icy and snowy landscape outside.

Apart from this narrow passage, the valley is surrounded by sheer cliffs thousands of feet high. The higher you go, the thicker the ice covering the cliffs becomes, making it virtually impossible for even birds to cross.

Not far ahead after entering the valley, there is a large peach orchard. Although it is the dead of winter, the peach trees here are full of fruit.

Large, bright pink peaches hung on the branches, swaying in the breeze, looking incredibly fresh and juicy. Zhu Yuchen casually picked one, wiped off the fuzz, and took a bite. It was sweet, refreshing, and of excellent quality.

Unfortunately, it wasn't some rare and exotic fruit, rich in the essence of heaven and earth, or imbued with the spiritual energy of the earth's veins.

Occasionally, a monkey's head would flash by in the peach grove, squeaking as it disappeared into the distance.

"Young Master, is this the place you've been looking for?" Ah Niu asked, looking around as he carried Zhu Yuchen on his back.

Zhu Yuchen nodded and said, "There is a rare ape here. With your current lightness skill, you can certainly compete with it."

As he spoke, Zhu Yuchen patted his shoulder, signaling him to put him down.

Ah Niu already knew what he was going to do. After putting Zhu Yuchen down, he untied the bundle on his back, which contained many things, including a coil of cowhide rope wrapped around his waist for later use.

The bundle also contained wound medicine, a dagger, needle and thread, a roll of white cloth, a ceramic bowl, and a small jar of strong liquor (low-purity alcohol) that Zhu Yuchen had requested.

With the bundle in their hands, the two walked along the peach grove and into the valley. Deep in the valley, a huge pool of water was located in the center of the valley.

Zhu Yuchen reached in and touched it, then nodded. It seemed that there should be a hidden underground hot spring here, and the spring water naturally contained many minerals, which created the spring-like landscape all year round.

The fish in the pool weren't afraid of strangers, probably because they had never encountered any natural enemies. Some swam over and rubbed against Zhu Yuchen's fingers, but finding no food as expected, they swam away again.

The peach grove that occupies most of the left side of the valley was likely planted by monkeys who transplanted fruit pits from elsewhere after they took over the area. Over time, it grew into a peach grove.

Continuing along the grassland, deep in the valley, a cave comes into view. At the cave entrance, a large group of monkeys huddled together, making a cacophony of squeaking and chattering.

A huge white old ape sat diagonally on the ground and squeaked when it saw Zhu Yuchen and his companion.

Then, the monkeys sprang into action. Some monkeys grabbed stones and fruits and gathered at the cave entrance; others climbed up the surrounding cliffs and subtly surrounded the two people.

Clearly, they were just waiting for the old ape to give the order to surround and ambush the two.

………………

Zhu Yuchen nodded. A Niu grinned at the monkeys, startling some of them who retreated hastily, disrupting their formation. A Niu then used his Golden Goose Skill to charge towards the old ape.

The old ape let out a howl, and the chaotic monkey troop, enraged, hurled stones at him as they rushed to surround him.

Ah Niu charged straight at the monkey troop. When he was about ten feet away from the troop, he pushed off with his feet and changed his direction from forward to upward, using both feet to propel himself up more than four feet.

The charging monkeys, suddenly encountering this situation, were startled and stopped in their tracks. The monkeys behind continued charging forward, causing a chaotic scene of monkeys falling over.

A Niu, suspended in mid-air, dodged the monkey troop and casually swept away the monkeys that had leaped into the air. Using the dozen or so monkeys that had jumped up, he stepped on them and landed at the entrance of the cave behind the monkey troop.

In the blink of an eye, he broke through the monkeys' encirclement. Before the old ape could get up and make a sound, Ah Niu had already gathered his inner energy and chopped it in the neck with a hand chop.

The old ape's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground. Without a leader, the monkey troop circled around Ah Niu, unsure whether to advance or retreat.

Taking advantage of the monkey troop's lack of leadership, A-Niu rushed forward and drove them away. Gradually, the monkeys retreated and gathered in a group at a distance, squeaking and looking in this direction.

Only then did Zhu Yuchen come over, look at the old ape, and find a wound on its lower right abdomen that was already rotting.

"No wonder it didn't resist. Its wounds have made it outwardly strong but inwardly weak. In a few years, when Zhang Wuji falls, this old monkey will only be able to sit and wait for its death."

Knowing he had found the right person, Zhu Yuchen nodded and had A Niu take the child into the cave and tie him up.

Inside the cave, not far from the entrance, a pile of straw was laid on the rocks, forming a bed. Zhu Yuchen's nostrils twitched as he faintly smelled the aroma of wine and fruit.

But that wasn't the important thing right now. At his prompting, A Niu exposed the old ape's wound. Zhu Yuchen leaned closer to examine it carefully and could see that the stitched-up joint was already rotten and blackened.

Zhu Yuchen gestured for Ah Niu to start a fire, and then laid out the dagger, strong liquor, wound medicine, and needle and thread.

He heated the dagger over a flame and then disinfected it with strong liquor, signaling Ah Niu to hold down the old ape to prevent it from waking up and rolling around.

Zhu Yuchen carefully used a dagger to cut and pull out all the stitches, then slowly cut away the rotten flesh to reveal the oilcloth wrapped around the blood and flesh.

As the tarpaulin bundle was pulled out, blood splattered everywhere. The old ape squeaked in pain, its ferocious nature revealed as it looked at Zhu Yuchen and the other man.

Ah Niu wasn't about to let it get away with it. He chopped it down again, pinning it firmly to the pile of straw, exposing its wound. He didn't even care that the old ape was rolling its eyes and convulsing.

Zhu Yuchen wiped the dagger clean again, then heated it briefly with strong liquor and flame, before soaking the needle and thread in the liquor for later use.

Only then did he pick up the dagger again and cut off all the rotten flesh from its wound. The old ape kept trying to struggle, but Ah Niu held it to the ground and wouldn't let it move. Every now and then, Ah Niu would give it a chop to the hand.

After cleaning the wound, Zhu Yuchen took out the needle and thread that had been soaking in the bowl, quickly threaded the needle, and stitched the wound back up.

After confirming that the suturing was correct, they applied wound medicine to the wound and wrapped it tightly with a white cloth. By this time, the old ape was barely breathing.

Zhu Yuchen shook his head, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, picked up a century-old ginseng root, mixed it with strong liquor, and poured it down his throat.

………………

After doing all this, Zhu Yuchen used a dagger to pry open the oilcloth wrapping, revealing the original four volumes of the Lankavatara Sutra inside.

Zhu Yuchen carefully flipped through the pages. Amidst the Sanskrit text, there were many small characters interspersed in tiny regular script. He opened the second volume of the scripture, which began with: "Breathe in the nine yangs, embrace the one and contain the primordial essence. This book may be named the 'Nine Yang True Scripture'."

Zhu Yuchen smiled slightly and put the four books into his pocket.

Ah Niu didn't care about the scriptures, not even glancing at them, but instead keeping a close eye on his surroundings. Only after Zhu Yuchen had put the books away did he ask, "Young Master, shall we go back now?"

Zhu Yuchen shook his head and said, "Can you smell a fragrance of wine and fruit?"

Ah Niu nodded and said, "There is, but the smell is very faint, and I don't know where it comes from."

Zhu Yuchen muttered to himself, "If these monkeys can gather here and grow such a large peach orchard, could they make monkey wine?"

Chapter 120 Obtaining Monkey Wine, Analyzing the Nine Yang

After confirming once again that the source of the smell was inside the cave, Zhu Yuchen glanced around. The cave was so small, where was the smell coming from?

Zhu Yuchen walked around the surrounding stone walls to confirm that there were no other exits. He then tapped on the surrounding stone walls, but there were no hollow spots.

Just then, Ah Niu's voice came from behind: "Young Master, there's a leaf here, and the smell is coming from it."

As he spoke, he walked over, holding a huge leaf in his hand, and said, "There are many more of these leaves under the pile of stones over there, some of which are already rotten."

Upon inspection, Zhu Yuchen confirmed that it was a banana leaf. He immediately understood that the monkeys had brought monkey wine from elsewhere to feed the old apes.

"No wonder it could hold on until Zhang Wuji rescued it, even though its wounds were already festering. It must have drunk a lot of monkey wine, and the precious medicinal herbs contained in it dissolved and were then consumed by it," Zhu Yuchen thought, holding the leaf.

On second thought, since the monkeys use leaves to transport wine, it means that the brewing of monkey wine must be nearby.

Only in this warm, spring-like area are the conditions suitable for brewing fruit wine. Outside, the land is covered in ice and snow all year round, which is not suitable for monkeys to brew wine.

Thinking this, he turned and left the cave. By then, the monkey troop had scattered in all directions. Seeing the two of them emerge, they didn't continue their attack. Instead, they glanced at each other and went about their own business.

Zhu Yuchen looked at it for a moment, then looked up at the cliff face. Perhaps because of the underground hot spring, there were still many vines growing more than 20 feet above the ground.

His eyes flashed as he looked directly above the cave, where the vines grew lushly, but were sparser than in the other areas. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the vines were well-suited for monkeys to climb up and down.

………………

"Aniu, go check behind the vines, be careful," Zhu Yuchen said, pointing to the vines that were more than ten feet off the ground.

A Niu nodded, not asking why, and used his Golden Goose Skill to leap up the rock face. When he couldn't get through, he bent his fingers into claws, used the Nine Yin Divine Claw, and dug five finger holes into the cliff face to use for leverage.

A moment later, Ah Niu leaped up, grabbed the drooping vines, and peeled them away to reveal the dark hole behind them.

"Young master, there's a smell of wine coming from here." After observing for a moment, Ah Niu called out, "I'll go in and take a look now."

Before Zhu Yuchen could speak, he had already swung into the cave entrance. After a while, three or four monkeys came out of the cave with squeaks, grabbed the vines, swung, and ran away quickly.

A moment later, Ah Niu's head popped out of the hole. He waved and then climbed down...

"Young master, it really is the monkey wine you mentioned. These monkeys are so cunning. That cave is a mile deep, and you can only smell the wine the further you go in."

"I took a look, and that stone hollow is about the size of a water vat, and there's quite a lot inside!"

Zhu Yuchen looked up at the sky. It had only been an hour or two since they entered, noon at the latest, so there was still time.

"Go back to Chenjiazhuang now and buy two wine jars. Be quick and come back soon. I'll be waiting for you here," Zhu Yuchen said.

"Won't this... be dangerous?" Ah Niu asked hesitantly.

Zhu Yuchen pointed to the leisurely monkey troop and said...

“If there were any danger, these monkeys would have run away long ago. Since they consider this place their home, they would drive away those large wild animals.”

"They have an innate sense of danger and won't let themselves live in dangerous environments. Go quickly and come back quickly, nothing will happen."

Ah Niu thought it made sense and immediately nodded, saying, "Young Master, I'll go and come back quickly. Don't wander around."

Zhu Yuchen waved his hand, signaling him to hurry up and stop arguing. He then walked to the pond, picked two peaches, and while eating them, took out four volumes of scriptures.

The entire Nine Yang Manual is vast in content, covering internal energy cultivation methods and explanations of martial arts principles. Even Zhu Yuchen read it with great care, finding many of the meridians, acupoints, and martial arts theories quite novel.

By the time Ah Niu returned, Zhu Yuchen had only finished reading the first volume and hadn't had time to look at the rest.

By the time Ah Niu had filled the two ten-pound wine jars, the sky was already setting in the west, and the two of them did not linger.

They went inside to check on the old ape, fed him another ginseng root, untied the ox sinew rope, and then left.

Little did they know that not long after the two left, the old ape woke up. It touched its wound, a hint of joy on its face, and then called out a few times, attracting a troop of monkeys to gather around.

A moment later, some monkeys left the group and returned, some carrying monkey wine, others carrying fruit, lingzhi mushrooms, and some unknown herbs.

The old ape accepted all the food offered and ate it all, and only then did the monkey troop disperse again.

By the time the two returned to Zhu Family Village, it was already dark, and the lanterns at the entrance were lit.

The gatekeeper heard the sound of horses' hooves, peeked out, and called out, "Young Master is back!" before falling silent.

This was exactly what Zhu Yuchen wanted, so he ignored the gatekeeper's servants and hurriedly returned to his courtyard.

………………

After drinking a bowl of fruit wine, a warm medicinal power emanated from it in a short while. Zhu Yuchen smiled and revealed a hint of surprise, wondering how much ginseng and lingzhi had been mixed into the wine by the monkeys.

He got up and practiced his fist techniques, from the Five Elements Six Harmonies Palm, Tai Chi Classics, to the Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic) exercises, before he felt the medicinal effects in his body being depleted.

At this moment, his face was rosy and his breathing was long and steady, a result of a single moment's effort, equivalent to the past half month's work.

"Good, good, good. With this wine, I will be able to refine my body and build my foundation in three years at most, achieving the Vajra Indestructible Body and reaching the realm of self-generated true qi."

After instructing Ah Niu to hide the wine carefully so that no one else would find it, Zhu Yuchen went inside and continued to peruse the Nine Yang Manual.

At midnight, another round of lunar essence was collected, not wasting a single opportunity.

Ah Niu sat quietly in the corner, watching over him.

From that day on, Zhu Yuchen began his daily routine of collecting the purple aura of the sun, reading, drinking, practicing martial arts, and collecting moonlight.

Half a month later, Zhu Yuchen closed the last volume of the Lankavatara Sutra, the entire Nine Yang Manual already etched into his mind...

You have read the "Nine Yang Manual".

Your martial arts theory has been supplemented and updated, and you have gained new insights into the "Great Dao Azure Lotus Chapter".

[You manifest the true meaning of the Nine Yang Manual within the light of your heart]