ATPnovel Chapter 72 New Year's Eve
Chapter 72 New Year's Eve
Time flies.
That night.
The crackling sound of firecrackers echoed throughout Gongzhou Prefecture.
Tonight is the eve of the Lunar New Year.
Occasionally, a wealthy family would set off beautiful fireworks in their courtyard, illuminating a patch of sky and creating a festive atmosphere.
"Come down quickly..." Sister Yang stood in the courtyard, wearing thick new clothes and a newly made silver hairpin in her hair, looking up with a face full of anxiety.
"Nannan, come down quickly... it's too high..."
On the rooftop, a little girl dressed as a happy doll, her face red from the cold, rode on Yang Silang's shoulders, laughing and clapping as she watched the fireworks in the distance.
At Yang Silang's feet, Hei Zi stood upright and occasionally barked wildly at the distant sky.
This dog is getting more and more cunning; it easily jumped onto the roof without using the courtyard wall.
on the ground.
Fifth Sister lit the firecrackers, which made a loud banging sound, and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Big sister, fourth brother knows kung fu. He can stand steadily even if it's taller than this house, so don't worry about it!"
She was fine when she didn't speak, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she immediately drew Sister Yang's attention.
"Look at you, you're almost at the age to get married, and you're getting wilder and wilder! You even dare to compete to set off firecrackers!"
"Who would dare marry you in the future...?"
Yang Wumei pouted.
"Fine, I won't marry you then. I don't want to get married so early..."
The two sisters were bickering.
Yang Silang stood on the roof ridge, his feet in a T-shape on the smooth tiles, his legs slightly bent, not forgetting his stance even at this moment.
"Fourth Brother, Happy New Year!"
"Say hello to my eldest sister and fifth sister!"
In the neighboring courtyard, Wang Daniu looked up, cupped his hands, and wore a new set of clothes, beaming with joy.
Yang Silang smiled and returned the greeting.
The new year has arrived, and he has grown another year older, now eighteen. Thinking back to when he first awakened to the mystery of his birth, he was only sixteen, in a difficult and precarious situation, barely better off than a refugee.
Now owning two properties, he is striving to reach the third level of martial arts, the Steel-Dirty Grand Martial Master. It seems like only yesterday that he struggled to make a living, which is truly moving.
"Fourth Brother..." Wang Daniu had already leaped onto the wall and was watching the fireworks in the distance with Yang Silang when he casually asked, "In another month, you should be heading to the provincial capital, right?"
"I'll go with you then, and I'll be your porter."
A month later, it was the beginning of spring, and also the day when the provincial government would hold the martial arts examination.
As long as a newly appointed martial arts scholar is confident, he can take the exam repeatedly without any restrictions. Of course, those who dare to take the exam in this way are basically skilled, at least at the Iron Bone Martial Master level.
Yang Silang nodded. He was determined to take the martial arts exam. There was still a path ahead of the Steel Dirty Grand Martial Master, so he decided to continue his training in the Taizu Wangba Fist.
The cost of practicing martial arts is simply too high. The ultimate techniques above the steel-dirt level are already considered high-level secret manuals, which are the core secrets of major sects or aristocratic families in the martial arts world. Obtaining such a technique is extremely difficult.
Neither paying a high price nor selling himself was what he wanted; it was best to continue clinging to the government.
"Okay, then get ready, we'll set off in a month."
After finalizing the matter, the two chatted for a few more minutes.
Wang Daniu said that a new batch of skilled fighters has grown up in Sanshui, and the best among them are no less skilled than he was back then.
He also planned to resign from his job at the Sanshui Association and focus on practicing martial arts. He hoped to reach the Copper Skin Martial Arts Realm within a year, so that he wouldn't fall behind Li Erhu and Xiong Shan. He also hoped to pass the martial arts examination in the future and bring glory to his ancestors.
Yang Silang naturally offered some encouragement, saying it was a good thing that Brother Da Niu had ambition.
Wang Daniu turned his gaze to the black pieces at the feet of the two men, and his eyes lit up.
He had been eyeing Hei Zi for a long time, especially during the turmoil at the martial arts arena, where this dog proved invaluable. It was loyal to its master, intelligent enough, and possessed sharp claws and teeth, making it extremely fierce.
"Fourth Brother, is your dog ready for breeding?"
"I'd like to borrow it sometime; I'd love to have a few of these intelligent dogs..."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Hei Zi, who had been craning his neck to look into the distance, became enraged, turned his head, opened his mouth to reveal his white teeth, and bit down.
scoff!
Wang Daniu's newly made clothes were torn with a large hole.
He couldn't dodge in time and fell off the roof with a cry of pain. Hei Zi jumped down and continued to bite Wang Daniu's buttocks.
Wang Daniu cursed the dog for not recognizing a kind heart and not understanding the joy of a female dog as he ran away. The dog was incredibly fast, chasing closely behind him with its mouth open.
With a few hissing sounds!
The big ox, with its rear end exposed, awkwardly hopped back into its yard, clutching half of its buttocks.
"Fourth Brother...aren't you going to do anything about your dog!"
Sister Yang and Fifth Sister covered their eyes and laughed heartily.
At this moment, Nannan was laughing and sneezing on Yang Silang's neck. Children can't stand the cold, so Yang Silang immediately jumped down lightly from the roof. The eldest sister came up and took Nannan into her arms, and couldn't help but complain a few more times.
The family of four went inside and ate, drank, and stayed up all night to celebrate the New Year.
The little girl yawned repeatedly, and finally her eldest sister carried her and her fifth sister back to the house to sleep.
Yang Silang returned to his room.
There were still sporadic firecracker sounds outside.
He had already entered a meditative state, with his hands clasped in front of his abdomen, one hand gently kneading with yin energy and the other with yang energy, breathing deeply until his blood and energy flowed freely throughout his body and his muscles and bones relaxed.
call……
Yang Silang opened his mouth and inhaled.
Uh...
A gentle breeze seemed to rise from the floor inside, causing the paper windowpanes to rustle softly.
A stream of air suddenly appeared and he swallowed it, passing through his throat. This was external qi guidance. His abdomen bulged slightly. Driven by the external qi guidance, a faint feeling of qi arose in his dantian. This was "empty qi".
He circulates his qi and blood, guiding the illusory qi along a specific route through the kidneys (water), liver (wood), spleen (earth), and heart (fire), finally gathering it in the lungs (metal). Then he opens his mouth and exhales the "qi" he just inhaled, completing one cycle.
At this moment, his breathing was extremely slow, more than ten times slower than that of an ordinary person.
Each breath is like a toad's energy circulating through the five internal organs.
With his long breaths, the window paper sometimes retracted and sometimes bulged out, like a large bellows hidden in the room.
After several dozen cycles, the "empty energy" in the dantian gradually becomes extremely abundant, and the dantian swells slightly, as if it has reached its limit.
quack!
At this moment, a loud croaking sound came from his abdomen, and the ethereal energy in his dantian was released, cleansing his five internal organs.
Quack quack quack!
As the frogs croaked incessantly in his abdomen, his internal organs felt as if they were soaking in a hot spring, getting hotter and more comfortable, as if they were becoming one. Moreover, under the stimulation of the ethereal energy, the temperature of his internal organs continued to rise.
Yang Silang took out the Golden Toad Liquid, worth half a courtyard, from his bosom, broke the crystal mud on the outside, and a sweet and fishy fragrance immediately filled the room. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and swallowed it.
boom!
A fiery stream of liquid flowed directly from the throat into the stomach.
This toad elixir is hotter than any other alcoholic beverage, but strangely, once it enters the body, it immediately produces a cooling sensation that permeates the internal organs, suppressing the raging fire within them.
Meanwhile, the croaking sounds from within the abdomen stimulated the toad's elixir to spread more quickly into the internal organs.
"call……"
After a long while, Yang Silang opened his mouth and exhaled a long stream of air, which had a sweet and fishy smell, before he stopped practicing his stance.
Two months ago, he could only make a faint croaking sound from his abdomen, but now he can croak continuously for half an hour, showing rapid progress.
Because the Rejuvenation Divine Power can quickly restore his body to its peak condition, he uses the Golden Toad Liquid far more frequently than he estimated.
He has now used twelve pills of Golden Toad Elixir, spending six hundred taels of silver. Correspondingly, the light screen indicates that the estimated time for completing his cultivation has been further shortened.