30,Learning secretly

"I understand. If one goes out of the body and hurts one's soul, it's not like a martial artist who can use medicine and doctors to heal. The soul is invisible and intangible. Once it's injured, it's hard to recover. It can affect not only one's cultivation but also one's life."

After healing his soul injury, Jack learned more about the taboos of Out of Body. He had sorted out and read many books on spiritual cultivation in the valley. He gained a deeper insight into the art of soul cultivation.

In most of the Immortal Arts Classics, there were many methods of visualizing the soul technique. But they were all for practicing the technique, not for healing the soul after an injury.

That's why practitioners were careful and didn't wander around recklessly.

"If you don't dare to go into the water and get used to it, how can you learn to swim? Studying the nature of water on the shore is never as good as trying it yourself in the water.

"Luckily, the Amitabha Sutra has this effect. The Amitabha image can ward off evil spirits and heal the soul. It's the best method of visualization. With this method, I just have to be careful not to lose my sanity. No matter what kind of injury I get, I can recover. I can practice my soul with confidence and courage."

After figuring out this point, Jack understood some secrets of cultivation.

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In the middle of the night.

Jack went out of body again and wandered to the "Second House" in the east courtyard.

As expected, Snow Wood was still training hard on the field. she was punching and kicking.

"The tiger demon stretches its waist! The tiger demon climbs the mountain! The tiger demon descends! The tiger demon prowls! The tiger demon roars! The tiger demon strikes! The tiger demon rips the sheep! The tiger demon leaps over the valley!"

Snow Wood was practicing her Tiger Demon Bone Refining Method, a martial art that mimicked the movements of a fierce tiger. She stomped her feet, swung her arms, and kicked her legs in a rhythmic sequence. She bit her tongue and puffed out her belly as she shouted out eight phrases to enhance her inner strength.

The Tiger Demon Bone Refining Method consisted of eight forms.

Each form had multiple variations.

She was full of energy, and every punch made her bones vibrate inside. As she kicked and slashed, her claws and nails emerged.

Jack watched from the side and felt that her bones were like a dull blade being honed on a stone, becoming sharper with each strike.

She repeated the cycle over and over, feeling the power coursing through her veins.

Jack's wandering soul could sense Snow Wood's punches and kicks, and how each one gained a sharp piercing power.

She was training her bones to be as hard as steel! That was the hallmark of a Martial Junior, who could deliver devastating blows with their fists. A Martial Sophomore, whose muscles and membranes were well-developed, could endure the strikes of fists, but not the fists of a Martial Junior whose bones were like metal.

Snow Wood was slowly advancing towards the level of Martial Junior with every move.

Jack's soul eyes could sense that Snow Wood's blood was growing stronger every day. Sometimes when he got near, her powerful blood would repel his soul and make him feel uneasy.

But Jack had the visualization technique to restore his soul, so he was not worried.

Jack observed her for several nights and then focused on reading the book with her.

Snow Wood sometimes had to pause and flip through the book to understand the meaning, and she read slowly, so Jack could easily catch a glimpse of almost all the contents of the book.

Besides practicing the "Tiger Demon Bone Refining Method", Jack also found out that Snow Wood had learned another set of fist skills called the "Small Heaven Grabbing Hands".

This set of skills was not for training the muscles and membranes, or the bones, it was purely for killing the enemy and destroying their body.

It had twelve moves in total.

Jack also memorized them in his mind.

When Snow Wood practiced, Jack also used his soul to learn, not to practice martial arts, but to remember better.

With the book and Snow Wood's posture and foundation of the "Bull Devil Strength Training Method" as references, his comprehension of the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Method was actually deeper than Snow Wood's.

Sometimes Jack could even spot the differences between Snow Wood's practice and the book.

_______________________

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Jack was practicing in a dark corner of the bedroom, where the windows and the door were shut tight. He only had a small space of four or five steps to move around, but it was enough for him. The walls around him gave him a sense of focus and concentration.

Jack felt his muscles growing stronger as he moved his bulky body. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists to his stomach. Then he thrust them out with a powerful swing, arching his back and lifting his head. He mimicked the "Horn-Striking of the Bull Devil" move and let out a loud "hum" like a charging buffalo.

His fists slammed into a thick wooden board and shattered it in half. It was a sturdy chestnut board that he had picked for testing his strength.

"I'm not weak anymore!"

Jack stared at his hands, closed his eyes, and smiled with satisfaction.

Jack sensed the large chunks of flesh in his arms, legs, waist, abdomen, chest, back, and buttocks with his mind. He casually repeated the muscle training fist technique from the Bull Devil Strength Training Method twice and felt a surge of power from all over his body with each punch.

He could unleash the force of his flesh with one punch.

"After practicing for a while, the flesh of my whole body will become tight and solid. But as my soul grows stronger, my mind can control my body much more easily."

Jack noticed the changes in himself and realized that cultivating the soul was also helpful for martial arts.

"That's why you need to cultivate both body and soul. The body is the boat and the soul is the sailor. If the boat is strong, the sailor is safe. Likewise, if the sailor is steady, he can control the boat better. They are mutually reinforcing."

Fizz fizz fizz.

A small stove was bubbling on the brazier at the foot of the bed, filling the air with the aroma of wine.

"This is sorghum wine. It's not even a tenth as effective as Yael's wine, but it's very good for nourishing the body."

Jack took out a small bowl and poured some of the boiled wine into it. He drank a few mouthfuls and then dipped a cloth in it. He took off his clothes and wiped his whole body with the cloth.

Yael White had taught Jack how to make the sorghum wine before he left. It could strengthen the body, regulate the organs, and was a good medicine for building the foundation for martial arts practice.

But this sorghum wine was nothing compared to fine nectar. Making fine nectar was very difficult, unlike making this sorghum wine. It was just ordinary sorghum wine with some herbs boiled in it. It was easy to make.

Yael White was also known as Dionysus and he was an expert in wine for healing the body.

Jack felt a warm and cozy sensation all over his body after wiping it.

He dressed himself, grabbed his purse, and headed to the "Louse Shooting" shop on the main street east of Emperor's Landing.

"Louse Shooting" was the biggest bow and arrow maker in Emperor's Landing.

The weapon law of the Histon Dynasty forbade the sale and purchase of crossbows, but bows were allowed.

As a scholar, Jack could also carry a sword when he traveled around the country.

But Jack bought a bow to test his strength because the first thing he had to do in the army's Martial Arts Academy exam was to show his archery skills.

Riding and shooting were the basics of martial arts.

"I need to be able to shoot a sixty-pound silk bow continuously to reach the Martial Tyro level. If I can't do that, I have to practice more.

"I'll start with a light bow and work on my strength.

"The eighty-pound and one hundred and twenty-pound ox-tendon bows are too much for me right now."