At the foot of Xiaocang Mountain, there is a Taoist temple with no incense. There are two people living in it, an old peddler and a young child.

The old scholar is very old, his face is full of wrinkles like a century-old tree bark, his body is slightly hunched, and he is often accompanied by coughing. Every time he is as if he wants to cough out his lungs, every time he coughs, it is like his last time.

The young child is very young, only seven or eight years old, sitting alone in a thick cotton coat wrapped in a thick cotton coat, looking through a thread-bound book carefully.

Every once in a while, the young child will rub his cold little hands, rub his little face that is red from cold, and his eyes are always on the book.

It was not until noon that the old scholar prepared a hot lunch that the young children would close the books, activate their stiff bodies, and prepare for meals.

At the dining table, one old and one young sat opposite each other, and there were only two simple meals on the table. The young child picked up the bowl and suddenly asked, "Master, is it useful to study?"

He read a lot of books, and he started reading from the moment he could remember, including work, agriculture, history, record, etiquette, law, and medicine. All of these books were given to him by his master. As for the books his master got from there, he didn't know.

"You are in poor health and cannot practice. Studying can make you wise. When you grow up, you can also get fame and fortune, get married and have children, and have no worries about food and clothing!"

The young child nodded thoughtfully, said nothing, and focused on eating.

After dinner, the young child moved in the yard of the Taoist temple for a while, then took off his thick cotton coat and began to practice.

Horse stance, punching, kicking, simple and childish movements.

In the cold wind, the children repeated the same movements again and again, gradually becoming calm from the initial trembling, and finally a white heat floated out of their bodies.

It was not until dark that the young children finished their work, dressed, and ate.

At the dinner table, when the young boy picked up the bowl, he asked again: "Master, since I can't practice, is there any use to practice qigong?"

Reading in the morning and practicing in the afternoon is a regular daily life for young children, but this is the first time he asked such a question.

The old scholar smiled slightly: "Although you can't practice, practicing qi can still strengthen your body!"

The young child nodded, picked up some dishes for the old peddler, and started eating.

At night, there was a wooden barrel in the young child's room, and a large stream of steaming bath water emitted an unpleasant smell of herbs, and the water was dark green and slightly viscous.

“It’s time to take a shower!”

The young child did not hesitate, took off all his clothes, entered neatly, entered the wooden barrel, grabbed the edge of the barrel with both hands, and said, "Master, you are in poor health, why don't you take a medicinal bath by yourself?"

The old peddler rubbed the young child's head and smiled and said, "I'm old and it's normal for me to be in poor health. The medicinal bath has no effect on me. This is my life!"

The young child's eyes rolled and said, "I can't practice. Is this my life?"

"Your life has just begun. You cannot practice. It's just that your disease can be cured if it's a disease!"

"How to treat it?"

"have no idea!"

The young child was not disappointed, nor asked again, and closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep.

His name is Dongyang. According to what his master said, he thinks that the first sun in the East is born, neither tepid nor fire, neither anxious nor impatient, with ups and downs, but they are always there.

Life in Dongyang has not changed. I get up at dawn, read in the morning, practice in the afternoon, and take a medicinal bath in the evening. It’s like this every day, every day, every month, every year.

Six years have passed in a blink of an eye. Dongyang is already fourteen years old. He has grown from a young child to a young man. He has read a lot of books, making him tepid, neither anxious nor impatient, and plain. According to the old scholars, this is wisdom.

He practiced hard every day and soaked in a medicinal bath every night, but did not make him strong and look a little thin, but he was in good health and never got sick, except that he could not practice.

Compared to six years ago, Dongyang had an extra peach wood sword on his body, a very ordinary peach wood sword, which he used to practice swords.

The old scholar said that swords can defend themselves, and peach wood swords can also ward off evil spirits, killing two birds with one stone.

Dongyang really wants an iron sword, because it is sharp, isn't it better than the peach wood sword? After all, he is not a real Taoist priest and does not need to exorcise demons and evil spirits.

"The iron sword is sharp and has a strong murderous intent, which is more likely to hurt others and yourself. If you cannot practice, the peach wood sword is enough. If you can practice, the peach wood sword is enough!"

Dongyang was not very clear about his master's explanation, but he no longer asked this question, nor did he think about the iron sword. In this way, this ordinary peach wood sword accompanied him until now.

The old peddler still looked like he was, was still as old as before, and still coughed from time to time, as if every day was his last day, but this last day never really came.

"Dongyang, you understand the books you have read over the years and remember the skills you have practiced. Tonight's medicinal bath is also your last time. You will leave tomorrow morning!"

Dongyang was a little puzzled and said, "Why do you want to leave?"

"You want to treat the disease, you can't stay here all the time!"

"Where to treat the disease?"

"Go to the Imperial City!"

“Can I cure my illness there?”

"I don't know... you need to find this yourself!"

"I see!"

The old scholar took out a bracelet that seemed to be woven with dead grass from his arms and said, "This grass ring has been with the master for the rest of his life. It can ward off evil spirits. I will give it to you today. I hope it can bring you good luck!"

"Thank you, Master!" Dongyang accepted it naturally and tied the grass ring to his left wrist.

Dongyang has read a lot of books, and he doesn't know how much medical books have been read, but he can't cure his own illness, and he doesn't know whether he can cure his illness that he cannot practice after going to the imperial city. But it's always good to try it.

The next morning, Dongyang took the package prepared for him by his master, said goodbye to his master, walked out of the broken Taoist temple where he had been living, and walked towards the direction of the imperial city.

Although Dongyang cannot practice, his health has been much better than that of ordinary people after years of practicing martial arts and taking medicine baths. But even so, he is still an ordinary person, an ordinary child who is only fourteen years old.

The reason why Dongyang cannot practice is that the dantian is broken, which is not caused by innateness, but acquired cause and effect.

According to the old scholars, Dongyang appeared in a place that should not have appeared shortly after his birth, which may be abandoned by his parents or fate. It happened that the two masters fought here, and Dongyang was affected by this, and all the dantian and meridians in his body were injured by the sword energy.

When Dongyang was on the verge of death, the old scholar was lucky enough to meet him and brought him back to the Potaku Temple. After working hard to treat it, he saved his life. Under the nourishment of the meridians of his body have been completely repaired, and only the broken dantian cannot be changed.

The first step for practitioners is to condense their essence into the dantian. This is the foundation of practice and the first step for every practitioner to take.

However, the dantian of Dongyang was broken and could not condense the essence at all, and could not take the first step of cultivation.

This continent is called Yunhuang. The imperial city is located in the center of Yunhuang. It is the capital of the Daxia Dynasty and the most prosperous place in this continent. There are many strange people and all kinds of religions and all kinds of things. It is the best place to find a cure for Dongyang.

Three months later, Dongyang, which was covered in dust, finally entered the imperial city. This was the first time he had entered such a prosperous and lively place. The first time he saw so many palaces and pavilions, and so many things were the only ones he had seen in his life.

Dongyang walked among the crowd, scanning everything around him, with curiosity in his eyes, but it was very quiet, more calm, as if he had already seen through the prosperity of the world.

While walking and looking, Dongyang came to the center of the imperial city and outside the palace compound. He saw the place where the supreme power of the Daxia Dynasty was for the first time.

The barrier built by the high red walls separates the palace into two worlds. Outside the wall is an ordinary world, and inside the wall is the lofty imperial power overlooking the world. One wall is separated by two worlds.

How many people want to walk into the red wall, and how many people want to walk out of the red wall, can anyone tell it clearly?

Dongyang glanced at the magnificent palace courtyard in plain sight, and his eyes turned to the crowd gathered in front of the main entrance of the palace.

Five long tables lined up in sequence, five meters apart from each other. There were two people sitting behind each long table, and a long queue was lined up in front of each long table, and the people lined up were teenage girls, the older ones were fifteen or sixteen years old, and the younger ones were children under ten years old.

"What are you doing?" Dongyang came to a team and asked the boy who was in the last place.

"The four families are recruiting disciples!" The young man was about the same age as Dongyang, and his answer was very straightforward.

Dongyang still knows something about the Four Gate and Family. These are the five major human forces. The Four Gate is Daoshan, Jianmen, Yugong, and Hongshan. The family is the royal family of the Great Xia Dynasty.

The four sects recruit young disciples, which will naturally attract countless people to apply, but not many people have truly succeeded, and not everyone can catch their eyes.

"Maybe there is a way to cure my illness in the four families!" Dongyang thought to himself, and consciously lined up in the line.

Among the five long teams, the expressions of everyone were strange, some were excited, some were nervous, and some were nervous. This may be their first major choice in life, but the choice was not in their own hands.

Dongyang was very calm, which was related to his development of mind over the years. More importantly, he had never thought about his success or failure, he just gave it a try.

"The qualifications are average, but the qualifications are not qualified!" also announced the failure of the boy in front of Dongyang.

It was Dongyang's turn to step forward, and a middle-aged man opposite said lightly: "Hold the Yuan Stone tightly!"

Yuanshi is a fist-sized stone on the table. It seems to be no different from ordinary stones, but it looks a bit round.

Dongyang held the Yuan stone and then felt a stream of air flowing out of the Yuan stone, flowing along its own meridians, and finally flowing into the Dantian.

Under normal circumstances, after entering the human dantian, this kind of vital energy will return the same way and reveal a glimmer of light on the Yuan stone to identify a person's cultivation qualifications. The better the qualifications, the more the light of the Yuan stone will be.

But Dongyang's dantian is leaking. When the vital energy in the Yuanshi enters his dantian, it scatters in the flesh and blood along the hole in the dantian, and cannot return in the same way. Naturally, Yuanshi has no response.

After a dozen breaths, looking at Yuan Shi in Dongyang's hands, the middle-aged man said indifferently: "Don't have the qualifications to practice, they are not qualified!"
Chapter completed!