CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 37: HARVESTING EVIL QI

The Breathing technique is the key to Whole Strength into Unified Force. This technique, still a part of the Spirit Ape Great Strength Skill, can only be taught after one has been promoted to an Apprentice...

On his own bed, he tried the Spirit Monkey Breathing Technique.

Short, rapid, slow, gentle—a certain frequency that seemed to mobilize the strength of his entire body.

Whole Strength into Unified Force...

He practiced for two hours.

Chen Ku looked at the Breathing technique and finally understood what Force Transforming was.

Force Transforming means taking the strength of the entire body and adjusting it into a unified whole through the mysterious frequency of the Breathing technique. When one part moves, the whole body moves. Raw physical strength is static; even Thousand Jin Force is just inert power. But cultivated force is different. If one can transform Whole Strength into Unified Force, then that Force Power, reaching the Four Extremities, would allow one to strike precisely wherever they point! The so-called Four Extremities refer to the fingers, tongue, hair, and teeth. After converting strength into Force Power, even the fingers and tongue could injure someone.

For some reason, Chen Ku’s mind conjured up an image of a long-robed, peach-dressed assassin.

Surely, no one would use their tongue to kill people without reason, right? And wouldn’t they find it disgusting?

Discarding this rather comical thought, he had to admit that if Force Power reached that level, the Realm would be terrifying indeed.

This Spirit Monkey Breathing Technique is just the Breathing technique for the stage of Whole Strength into Unified Force. Next, to cultivate Inner Qi, one must pass through the ’Three Combinations’. The so-called Three Combinations involve three levels. Unity of Move and Force is the first combination, which requires a ’Secret Fighting Method’ to master. The ’White Ape Knocking Mountain Stick’ and the ’bone-chopping butcher blade’ Master Ke passed on to me are the stepping stones for this stage. The Secret Fighting Technique allows one to experience ’Unity of Move and Force’; every move contains a specific, secret Force Power. The second combination is called Unity of Intent and Force, which requires being taught a Fundamental Diagram. It contains the purest ’Divine Intent’ of our sect’s Martial Arts. Only by grasping this Divine Intent can one truly master the essence of Martial Arts. The third combination, ’intent and qi unification’—that’s when the stage of Inner Qi is involved. This Breathing technique manual doesn’t record what’s needed for ’intent and qi unification.’ It seems intentionally hidden, but it must be related to the inheritance of the Qigong Secret Manual.

Chen Ku, reflecting on the cultivation divisions of the Force Power stage described in the Spirit Monkey Breathing Technique, could only marvel:

A single Spirit Ape Great Strength Skill is actually split into Stance Skill, combat forms, Breathing technique, Secret Fighting Method, Fundamental Diagram, and the subsequent Qigong Technique... It shows how meticulously and cautiously each sect guards its own inheritance.

He practiced the Breathing technique for another two hours.

Indeed, Chen Ku could feel the strength in his body subtly being mobilized by his breathing, though this mobilization process was extremely slow. Even when he activated the Skinny Dog Transformation, it was extremely slow.

Isn’t there a Skinny Dog Breathing Technique? Now that I’ve activated the Skinny Dog Transformation, with 1,800 jin of strength, the process of transforming it into ’Inner Strength’ through breathing must also be slower than others. My rapid advancement in ’Dog Fist’ using the Skinny Dog Transformation is due to complementing form with form. Since this Breathing technique is named Spirit Monkey Breathing Technique, it must be based on the breathing of apes. Martial Artists often create techniques this way, observing the strengths of heaven, earth, mountains, rivers, and the spirits of myriad beasts, to elevate human limits. With this logic... if I could master the ’Ape Transformation,’ would my cultivation speed for the entire Spirit Ape Great Strength Skill become incredibly fast, as if it were tailor-made for me?

Thinking it through, Monkeys and apes are different matters. Otherwise, this Martial Art wouldn’t be called the Spirit Ape Great Strength Skill, but the Ape Monkey Great Strength Skill.

Apes were always regarded as a level above mischievous monkeys. Monkeys have tails, while apes do not. Apes possess wisdom and are closer to humans. Apes?

Chen Ku pondered where he could find an ape to kill, to acquire another Transformation.

As he kept thinking, Sleep.

Lying on his comfortable single bed, Chen Ku rested.

Because he suddenly remembered. Before leaving, Ke Yansheng had mentioned that starting tomorrow, Chen Ku could accompany the masters and senior apprentices from the Butcher Court to handle animals himself. This involved helping with the butchering of cattle and slaughtering of dogs, and extracting Cow Gallstones and Dog Treasures.

This was now the apprentices’ task. Previously, Chen Ku would help at the Butcher Court, but he never had the chance to do the actual butchering himself. This was because it clearly involved the teaching of the "bone-chopping butcher blade," a fortune the handymen didn’t share.

Now, he had been taught the bone-chopping butcher blade. He was now qualified to participate.

Perhaps there’s a chance to encounter an ape in the Butcher Court? One they’ll let me slaughter?

The Medicine King Hall was known to use all things as medicine. They not only had their own specialized ’hunting teams’ that went into the mountains but also collected medicinal ingredients and animals from across the entire county. Chen Ku thought that instead of blindly searching without connections, it was better to rely on this powerful backer, which would make it easier to steal Evil Qi.

Even if I can’t find an ape to slaughter anytime soon, at least in the Butcher Court, I won’t have to worry about Evil Qi in the future.

Animals die when slaughtered. Few creatures, especially wild beasts or livestock, can remain calm when facing their demise. He had experienced this when slaughtering pigs. If it weren’t for his great strength, he would have nearly been thrown aside; the Evil Qi was shockingly dense. The Butchery in the Butcher Court was similar.

Presumably, tomorrow will be the day I reach the third layer of the Skinny Dog Transformation.

「」

Early the next morning, after Chen Ku washed his face and left his room, he saw an apprentice from the neighboring room emerge. The apprentice approached Chen Ku with a friendly smile, saying, "Brother Chen, hello. I am Sun Zhuang."

This person was rather stout and fleshy. Coming to the Butcher Court seemed to suit him, as he had the very appearance of a butcher.

"Hello, Brother Sun."

"Brother Chen, how about we go have breakfast together first?" Sun Zhuang approached familiarly.

Chen Ku thought for a moment, observing the other’s reactions, and more or less guessed the reason. He figured it was because of yesterday’s monthly exam. His double first-place finish, while not enough to shake the entire Medicine King Hall, had at least made the apprentices and other workers aware of his existence. Naturally, some would come to build connections with him.

Chen Ku didn’t refuse, smiling as he said, "Sure."

Before long, they arrived at the large cafeteria. As usual, he queued in one of the three lines. However, after only a month, he was now in the middle line—the one for apprentices.

It seemed that some people were paying attention to him. Chen Ku looked over and was slightly startled.

It was Zhang Erniu and Huang Wenbao, his former roommates. Seeing him look back, their reactions differed. Huang Wenbao wore a fawning, artificial smile, clearly having mentally categorized Chen Ku as one of the apprentices he needed to curry favor with. Zhang Erniu, on the other hand, looked pale, his disappointment palpable. He managed a forced smile, evidently still reeling from the blow of his efforts not paying off.

Chen Ku nodded at them but didn’t say much. He wasn’t good at comforting others anyway, and at this point, there was no need for sentimentality. Everyone was simply striving for advancement.

Today, the apprentices’ breakfast consisted of boiled eggs, eight-treasure congee, steamed twisted rolls, and seven or eight kinds of pickled vegetables. Such a meal would have been considered lavish even in his previous life. In contrast, the breakfast for the handymen was much simpler. Although better than what people in Dachen Village ate, it was merely pickled vegetables, steamed buns, and a bowl of plain congee.

Chen Ku took ten eggs, five steamed twisted rolls, and a large bowl of congee. He ate with the pickled vegetables until he was about seventy percent full—just right. He then exhaled and thought:

I wonder what the Shopkeeper of the Medicine King Hall eats every morning, and what about the County Magistrate of Baojiao County?

Previously, when eating the communal stew, he had envied the apprentices’ meals and the masters’ meals. Now that he was eating an apprentice’s meal, he found he couldn’t even imagine what truly influential people ate. The joys of the wealthy and powerful were, at least for now, beyond his imagination.

After breakfast, Sun Zhuang led Chen Ku to the Butcher Court and said, "Brother Chen, Master Ke told us yesterday that you’ve been taught the ’bone-chopping butcher blade,’ so you can help us butcher cattle and slaughter dogs. Today, they’ve sent ten oxen and twenty dogs. About half of them are likely to yield Cow Gallstones or Dog Treasures. There are three apprentices, including us, responsible for this. So, we’ll each handle three or four oxen and seven or eight dogs. You can first watch me and the other apprentice demonstrate the ’bone-chopping butcher blade’..."

With that, they arrived at the butchering area. Chen Ku saw another apprentice already at work—a tall, stolid-looking young man. A Bone-chopping Sharp blade, wielded with dexterity akin to a butterfly flitting among flowers, moved skillfully within the opened belly of an ox. He was clearly employing the ’dissecting’ principle from the bone-chopping butcher blade.

"Do we have to slaughter this many oxen every day?" Chen Ku asked softly.

"These are medicinal oxen, bred to be slaughtered."

Sun Zhuang patted Chen Ku on the shoulder. "Get to it. Bladesmanship is honed through practice. The more you slaughter, the more proficient you become—practice makes perfect, and your Bladesmanship will become exquisite. That’s why we apprentices in the Butcher Court make the fastest progress in our Martial Arts training."

Chen Ku watched Sun Zhuang get busy. He himself eyed an ox in the pen, picked up his knife, and slowly walked over.

MOO~~

Facing a threat to its life, it naturally began to emit Evil Qi.

Soon, the morning passed in a flurry of slaughtering dogs and butchering oxen. Chen Ku’s luck wasn’t good; he failed to obtain any Cow Gallstones or Dog Treasures.

However, he had gathered enough Evil Qi for the third layer of the Skinny Dog Transformation.