Chapter 66 Invalid?

A wooden bathing barrel.

A pungent aroma of medicine.

The barrel was more than half-filled with a pitch-black medicinal liquid.

Old Madam Zhuang looked at Chen Xiaofu, earnestly instructing him once more:

"Remember this well!"

"Cast aside all distracting thoughts!"

"Pay no heed to any physical reactions your body might experience. You need only to gather your core and focus your mind, silently visualizing the circulation of vital energy described in the inner cultivation manual."

"This first marrow-cleansing may cause itching or pain, which is a good sign."

"What is most feared is neither itching nor pain—feeling nothing at all."

"Stay in the barrel for as long as you possibly can... Should you truly find it unbearable, do not force yourself. Grandmother, Cuihong, and Alai are all right outside the door. If you are unable to move or step out, just call out."

There was a hint of tension in the old madam's eyes.

She had spoken of it casually, but she knew well that the marrow-cleansing process was anything but easy.

Usually, this method was reserved for those who had already stepped onto the path of martial arts, and even entering the lower tier of the ninth realm would suffice.

Because such individuals already possessed internal force within their dantian, and their meridians had already been tempered and tempered by that force, granting them a certain degree of resilience.

For someone like Chen Xiaofu, who possessed not a shred of internal force... this was equivalent to forcibly using the power of medicine to stimulate the dantian and the meridians.

It would feel like being carved by knives!

It would feel like a severe torture!

Very few people were ever able to undergo the marrow-cleansing technique!

Among them, several key medicinal ingredients were extremely difficult to acquire, no matter how much silver one possessed.

Yet she had still journeyed to the Imperial Capital and begged the Empress for these very ingredients.

Next, everything depended on her grandson's fortune!

The door to the bathhouse closed. Chen Xiaofu hesitated for three breaths as he looked at the wooden barrel, but finally removed his clothes and stepped into it.

The water was slightly scalding.

Driven by his dream of flight, he sat down in the wooden barrel, the water level reaching precisely to his neck.

He sat cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes.

The inner energy circulation method from the booklet began to manifest in his mind.

Like scenes from a movie.

After a moment, he seemed to experience an illusion, feeling as though his soul had left his body and was floating above his head, observing from a bystander's perspective the physical form soaking in the wooden barrel.

He 'saw' the mysterious meridians within that body and the empty dantian!

That dantian resembled a dried-up pond.

Gradually, clouds and mist seemed to rise above the pond, and a moment later, rain appeared to fall from that mist.

Thus, the withered pond slowly moistened, gradually pooling a small puddle of water.

A moment later, a meridian connected to the dantian lit up.

That illuminated meridian seemed to be coated with a silver glow!

They distinguished themselves from the unlit meridians, gradually forming a loop within the body.

He 'watched' that silver loop, thinking it resembled a ring road in the dead of night.

The road was not wide, and it was entirely empty.

He knew not how much time had passed; it felt as though it were the very next moment, yet it also felt as if eight or ten years had gone by.

He 'saw' a 'carriage' suddenly appear upon that road.

The carriage crawled forward at a turtle's pace, seemingly taking a very long time just to complete a single circuit around that path.

Then, a second 'carriage' appeared.

The two carriages continued to travel along that path, their speed appearing to increase slightly.

Then, a third...

A fourth...

A fifth...

The speed of the carriages gradually grew faster.

Before his very sight, those carriages seemed to merge into a single continuous line.

Then, he experienced another illusion—

That road transformed into a river.

Those carriages transformed into the water within the river!

The river was not wide, nor was the current swift, yet it seemed to emit a babbling sound.

His soul remained suspended in the air, yet gradually, he could no longer see anything at all.

Outside the bathhouse door.

The moon rose to the center of the sky.

The moonlight was like frost.

Old Huang had arrived here long ago. Leaning on his crutches, he and Old Madam Zhuang had waited from sunset until moonrise.

Although their expressions at the outset had been filled with anticipation, they remained relatively calm, assuming that Chen Xiaofu would inevitably make some noise while undergoing the marrow-cleansing inside the barrel—

After all, such torment was difficult for ordinary people to endure!

Even if Chen Xiaofu were to bolt out of the bathhouse and give up on the cleansing, it would hardly come as a surprise.

Yet fully three hours had now passed, and inside... there was absolute silence!

Old Huang took a deep breath, gazed up at the moon in the sky, and then looked at Old Madam Zhuang, his face etched solely with worry:

"Could something have gone wrong?"

Old Madam Zhuang had initially been composed, but at this point, she too grew tense:

"There is no issue with the medicinal herbs. On my way back, I stopped by the Wuji Taoist Temple, and Daoist Priest Leng personally inspected them..."

"Daoist Priest Leng stated that there are only two possibilities regarding this marrow-cleansing method."

"The first is that the effects are pronounced, and what the person undergoing the cleansing experiences feels like the itching of ten thousand ants devouring their body or the agony of their tendons and meridians snapping."

"He said... both of these circumstances indicate that the medicinal liquid is having a clear effect."

"As long as one can endure the pain of the first time, things will become much easier thereafter."

"This first time is the cleansing of the essence and marrow, opening up the Governor and Conception vessels for a martial artist. Therefore, this initial cleansing is exceptionally important; whether An can practice martial arts and whether he succeeds or fails hinges entirely on this single endeavor."

"The second possibility is that there is no effect."

"This would signify that the acupoints of the person undergoing the cleansing are virtually sealed, and no matter how long they soak in the medicinal liquid, the essence of the medicine cannot enter the body through the acupoints."

"If this is the case, one might as well give up."

"A body like this is akin to stubborn stone, and it is utterly impossible for it to generate vital energy within the dantian."

Beside them, Alai swallowed hard. He turned his head to look at the tightly closed door, his straight gaze tinged with pity—

Since Chen Xiaofu had made not a single sound for three hours, the fellow's dream of flying would most likely remain unfulfilled.

Old Huang drew a deep breath. "What if he has entered a state of sudden enlightenment, causing his body to feel nothing at all... Should we go inside and take a look?"

The state of sudden enlightenment—

This was a realm that martial artists dreamed of achieving!

Entering the state of sudden enlightenment meant that the seven apertures and six senses were all sealed.

The person seemed to exist within chaos, as if their entire being had become a universe unto itself!

Everything in the outside world had nothing to do with the person in sudden enlightenment at such a moment—

They felt neither cold nor heat, and heard no sounds.

Unaware of anything in the external world, they were nevertheless able to clearly 'see' internal changes.

For instance, the fullness of internal force within the dantian.

For instance, the circulation of internal force through the meridians.

And more importantly, while in the state of sudden enlightenment, one could use that sliver of intent to direct the meridians to scour the acupoints!

The human body possesses seven hundred and twenty acupoints, distributed across the twelve primary meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians.

The generation of internal force within the dantian marked the entry into the threshold of martial arts, which was the lower tier of the ninth realm.

The next step was to open up the Governor and Conception vessels.

The Conception vessel governs blood and is the sea of yin meridians.

The Governor vessel governs qi and isiformly the sea of yang meridians.

For ordinary martial artists, opening the Governor and Conception vessels was extremely difficult, but within the state of sudden enlightenment, it became remarkably easy.

Similarly, one's comprehension of martial arts arts would become immensely powerful while in the state of sudden enlightenment.

Hence, a saying circulated throughout the jianghu:

Every single Grandmaster has had the good fortune of entering the state of sudden enlightenment on several occasions!

It was called a stroke of fortune!

It was something met by chance, never to be sought by design!

Chen Xiaofu did not even possess a shred of internal force; how could he possibly enter the state of sudden enlightenment?

Old Madam Zhuang sighed inwardly. "You needn't take it too hard."

"Even if he truly cannot practice martial arts, we can simply assign a couple more people to protect him... At the very least, his literary talent is peerless."

"There is no such thing as a person without flaw."

"Sometimes, a few regrets are not necessarily a bad thing."

"His breathing... though somewhat faint, is still present. Let him soak a little longer; even if it proves useless for his meridians, it will at least benefit his skin."

"After all, it is something worth ten thousand pieces of gold."

What else could Old Huang do?

He sat down on a nearby stone stool, unhooked the wineskin from his waist, and began to drink in silence.

Another half-hour passed in this manner.

With a creak, that door opened.

Chen Xiaofu walked out, fully dressed.

He suddenly discovered that the night scenery appearing before his eyes was much clearer than before!

Before he even had a chance to process the feeling, Old Huang sprang up anxiously, and Old Madam Zhuang and Alai were already standing by his side.

Old Madam Zhuang still asked the question: "How do you feel?"

Chen Xiaofu: "...Not much feeling, just felt like I had a nap."

Old Madam Zhuang sighed inwardly once more. This grandson truly possessed not a shred of talent for martial arts.

Upon hearing this, Old Huang lowered his head in despondency.

Unwilling to give up, the old madam reached out and grasped Chen Xiaofu's wrist.

"If you cannot practice martial arts, then you simply won't,"

Her fingers rested upon Chen Xiaofu's pulse...