The Mysterious Old Man (Part 2)

This time, the word written should have been the "you" word of this world.

Yang Dingtian followed after the old man, repeated the word, and once again wrote it in the snow. He wrote the "you" word, read it out loud, and pointed at the old man.

The old man mastered languages very quickly. He could read and write accurately and was even more proficient than Yang Dingtian.

They continued with the words for eyes, nose, mouth, hair, skin, flesh, blood veins, tendons, stomach, leg, heavy snow, ice, stares, sky, and many others.

Yang Dingtian was already highly intelligent, but the old man was even more so.

After spending dozens of hours until the snow had stopped falling, both of them had learned much of each other's language and words.

The old man taught Yang Dingtian a total of 189 words and 50 terms. After he finished learning, the old man even used Chinese to test Yang Dingtian.

For example, the old man pointed at the cloud in the sky and said "cloud" in Chinese. Then, Yang Dingtian had to write the "cloud" word of this world and pronounce it.

If Yang Dingtian got it correct, the old man would smile; if Yang Dingtian got it wrong, the old man would directly slap him in the face.

His slap was really painful, but it seemed like the old man was in more pain. This was because his broken bones had not recovered yet. There was one time when he slapped Yang Dingtian but vomited lots of blood. Therefore, Yang Dingtian dared not to make any more mistakes, and even if he did, he would instantly slap himself and not allow the old man to slap him. What was more, he even hit himself harder than the old man had. Sometimes, his face would swell instantly or even bleed..

Throughout the practice session, the old man did not even sympathize with him even once. Once Yang Dingtian made a mistake, the old man would give him a piercing gaze.

At the end of the whole learning process, the old man reached out his hand and touched Yang Dingtian's swollen face. Yang Dingtian's heart instantly melted.

"You go and continue building the ice stairs!" The old man spoke in Chinese. Then, he closed his eyes and returned to his meditative state.

"Do you want to eat something?" Yang Dingtian asked. However, the old man ignored him even though he now understood what Yang Dingtian was saying.

Yang Dingtian smiled and then gently tidied up the old man's clothes. He used a comb to fix his hair before resuming his construction of ice steps.

...…

Just like that, time passed day by day.

Most of the time, the old man was meditating in an upright position. Every ten days, he would give Yang Dingtian a fiery red pill to sustain his life and energy.

Only when it began to snow would he open his eyes and teach Yang Dingtian the language and words used in this world. At the same time, he would also learn Chinese from Yang Dingtian through writing on the snow.

When the snow stopped, both of them would stop learning as well. The old man would continue his meditation, and Yang Dingtian would continue building his ice stairs.

Time went day by day.

The stairs built by the ice steps became taller and taller with each passing day. Yang Dingtian's comprehension of this world's language had grown and grown. The extremely clever old man had almost completely mastered Chinese. Once he had mastered the rules and essence of Chinese, he could fully integrate it and learn by himself. As a result, towards the end, he was even able to point out some of Yang Dingtian's Chinese mistakes. The old man's intelligence truly surprised Yang Dingtian.

However, Yang Dingtian's progress in the study of this world's language was gradually becoming slower and slower. At first, he could learn hundreds of words in just ten hours, but now, his rate of study had slowed dramatically. His slow progress was because he had transmigrated to a completely mysterious world of Kung Fu. Yang Dingtian had never heard of many of the terms related to this topic as it was too abstract for him.

In order for Yang Dingtian to truly master the language, the old man even translated all those terms and concepts into Chinese before teaching it all to him.

This unfamiliarity was one of the reasons Yang Dingtian, who had not been beaten for some time, started getting beaten again. Each time he took lessons, he ended up beating himself till his face looked as swollen as a pig's.

The old man was still harsh towards him. His gaze was still very sharp.

However, when Yang Dingtian turned away from the old man, the latter looked at him with a gentle and pitying gaze.

Time passed by slowly....

One month, two months, three months.....

Half a year passed by. Winter passed by. The days when snow fell became rarer and rarer. However, the ice stairs were only half done!

The weather became warmer and warmer.

Yang Dingtian had already almost mastered the languages and words of this world. He had gained sufficient understanding of this world that he could now communicate using its language.

This world was called the Chaotic Mainland! The land surface area was much larger than that of Earth. The population here was similarly larger. This was a completely different world that revolved around Kung Fu. Xuan Energy formed the world's basic foundation. Everyone had different Xuan veins. The highly talented ones would be able to master a higher level of Kung Fu. The less talented ones could only master a lower level.

It could be said that the Chaotic Mainland was a world of martial arts. Other than those who have mastered good martial arts, everyone else was stuck at the bottom of society's pyramid. Thus, the only way to become powerful and respected in society was to learn martial arts.

The pill that Yang Dingtian had been regularly consuming was called the Flame Pill. It was made from dozens of valuable herbs mixed with the blood of dozens of fire-nature mysterious beasts. It was concocted using extraordinary flames and was worth millions. Normally, people took it to improve their martial arts, but Yang Dingtian had been taking it as his meal.

Time passed day by day, Yang Dingtian had a much better understanding of this world now. However, he still knew nothing about the old man. Who was he? Why was he be trapped here? And why was his body so exhausted? All of these questions were still unknowns, but his relationship with the old man had become deeper and deeper over the past months. Yang Dingtian had become attached to the old man and treated him like family now.

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Each time he took the Flame Pills, Yang Dingtian felt that he was filled with an unlimited supply of energy. Thus, whenever he couldn't make ice bricks, he would simply punch around with his fists to vent the bursting energy in his body.

One day, the old man drew a punching guide in the form of graphic figures in the snow. This punching style was called Zhen Yang Punch, and there were a total of five techniques. Each technique had over ten different steps.

This Zhen Yang punching style looked easy. Yang Dingtian only studied it three or four times before almost correctly displaying the first technique. Just as he was beginning to feel proud of himself, he saw the old man looking cold again. Then, the old man wrote on the snow: "Looks like punching practice but is actually practice related to inner energy, also known as Energy. The punch chooses the direction while the Energy is used to attack. Only once you can feel the Xuan Energy flowing throughout your body can you be considered to have fully mastered this technique."

Then, the old man closed his eyes and no longer paid attention to him.

As a result, Yang Dingtian immediately started practice punching over and over again. He performed almost a thousand repetitions. However, while he still couldn't feel the Energy, he still became exhausted, feeling like his bones were about to fall apart. He soon fell asleep.

When he woke up the next day, he saw that the old man had already opened his eyes. There were hundreds of words clearly written in the snow.

"These guidelines are called the heaven and earth tips, and they form the most basic foundation for practicing Energy. You need to follow these methods to practice every morning." The old man said, "You have almost mastered this world's language, but a more profound method to practice Energy would involve many acupoints in the human body. Such a method would require books and graphics to use as references. But, since you don't understand those topics yet, I'm unable to teach you the method of practicing Energy as you would easily turn into a devil. These tips are only practiced while sitting and are not dangerous at all."

"When you wake up each morning, practice Energy for an hour and then practice the Zhen Yang punching style for another three hours. When you're able to feel the Energy during punching practice, let me know and I will teach you the second technique," the old man had written.

"Yes!" Yang Dingtian said.

The old man closed his eyes again and resumed his meditations.

During this past half year, the old man spent most of his time meditating or sleeping, acting as if his life was shortened each time he spoke. Throughout this period, Yang Dingtian had been regularly taking Flame Pills, while the old man had not consumed anything at all. He did not even drink any water, nor did he pee or shit at all. Yang Dingtian was really shocked about all this. Though the old man had never revealed his identity, judging from the number of Flame Pills that the old man had, Yang Dingtian speculated that he was definitely not an ordinary person.

Yang Dingtian cleared away all of his thoughts and started following the old man's tips. He sat upright, closed his eyes, and practiced his Energy.

These tips had only a few hundred words. However, they covered dozens of topics: nose and tongue movements, breathing techniques, hand gestures, postures that involved folding both legs, ways to find the rhythm. All of these tips had to be followed accurately with no room for mistakes. After Yang Dingtian had successfully practiced dozens of these tips, a week had already passed.

At the end of that week, Yang Dingtian suddenly felt a burning and itchy sensation in his lower abdomen as if a rat were jumping around inside. His body couldn't hold it in, and he made some noise. 

"What's wrong?" The old man opened his eyes.

"It's like there is a rat in my stomach fiercely jumping around," Yang Dingtian said.

The old man's facial expression changed. As if he didn't believe it, he commented, "That's fast."

Then, the old man sighed. "When you compare one person to another, it will only cause frustration! You can just continue. Also, don't be too surprised if anything happens later on."

"Yes!" Yang Dingtian replied. He then continued practicing, following the tips to train his Energy. Each cycle took about three minutes. After each cycle, the rat in his lower abdomen would jump around for a while but would disappear just as Yang Dingtian was about to find it. The entire process resembled the game of hide and seek.

Throughout the process, Yang Dingtian looked as if he had just received a new toy. He found it fun and not tiring at all. It could be said that the simplest heaven and earth tips had led him to completely immerse himself in this strange and mysterious world.

After an hour, Yang Ding wasn't satisfied and made one last attempt. "Yeah…" The little rat really seemed like it emerged from his lower abdomen before jumping around nonstop.

"How is it?" The old man asked with his eyes open.

Yang Dingtian said, "That rat came out and has been jumping nonstop in my stomach."

The old man was shocked and shook his head again. "When you compare one person to another, it will only cause frustration!"

What that he did not tell Yang Dingtian was that most of the people who practiced according to these tips, even the talented ones, would need around a month to feel a rat inside them. What's more, they needed at least half a year to lead the rat out into their lower abdomen.

"The process just now is called Qi Gathering, in which your body absorbs the energy of the heaven and earth. Then, you gather it in your belly from your countless veins. That jumping rat that you were feeling was actually your Xuan Energy," said the old man.

"I have Xuan Energy already?" Yang Dingtian asked excitedly.

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