Several figures walked through the mist on the river and arrived in front of a courtyard facing the river.
One of the burly and muscular men came forward and knocked on the door, shouting: "Brother."
No one responded, so he knocked on the door and called twice more, but still no one responded. He was confused and was about to open the door and go in.
Then the courtyard door creaked, and a man taller and burlier than him, with a gray beard and a calm and self-respecting man stood in front of the courtyard door.
Meng Zhou looked at the muscular man in front of him, paused for a moment, and then said based on the memory of the original owner: "Third brother, you guys are here."
As he spoke, his eyes scanned the other people behind him.
The muscular man, whom Meng Zhou called Lao San, stepped forward with a smile.
"Brother, we should go patrolling the river today."
Meng Zhou suddenly understood. According to the memory of the original owner, every time he patrolled the river, the original owner would often go with him to have a look. But thinking that they were walking on the water just now, as if they were walking on flat ground, he gave up the thought of committing suicide.
"Okay, you go ahead, I won't go today."
After that, without waiting for the other party's reply, he asked: "Where is your second brother? Why isn't he together?"
Sure enough, the third child's attention was immediately attracted by these words, his eyes evaded, and he stopped talking, leaving no time to think about anything else.
Seeing this, Meng Zhou took the opportunity to wave and said: "Okay, let's go."
The third child turned around and left as if he had received amnesty.
Meng Zhou's heart moved, and he shouted to his back as he walked away quickly: "Third brother, come back to my place tonight."
"……Um."
The third child paused and agreed, and the others also said goodbye to him: "Gang leader, we are going."
The group of people turned around and stepped into the water towards the center of the river, where eight boats were waiting. After they boarded the boats, the eight boats immediately weighed anchor and sailed down the river, quickly disappearing on the river surface.
Standing at the gate of the courtyard, watching the boats go away, Meng Zhou's hanging heart finally slowly fell back into his stomach.
"This first level has been fooled."
Meng Zhou turned back to the house, entered the bedroom, took off a piece of clothing with many blood stains on his chest, and threw it into the fire pit and burned it to ashes.
Then, he filled a basin of water and entered the meditation room.
Even though it was bright outside, the quiet room was extremely dark. Meng Zhou used flint to light the carob lamp, which illuminated the simple furnishings in the room.
There was a lot of blood on the front area of a stone couch and on the floor of the quiet room.
After Meng Zhou dipped the cotton cloth in water, he squatted down and carefully cleaned up the blood stains while sorting out all the information in his mind.
Last night, when his soul had just passed through, he was sitting cross-legged on the stone couch in this quiet room.
The clothes on his chest, the stone couch in front of him and the floor of the quiet room were all stained with blood that he spat out before he died.
After that, it took him several hours to adapt to this body, and at the same time he was also trying to digest the huge and complex memories that were suddenly poured into him.
The original owner of this body has the same name as him, also named Meng Zhou. He is not yet forty years old and is already a famous martial arts master. But he did not stop there. He gave up the fame, wealth and prosperity of the world and embarked on the difficult road of seeking Taoism.
.
Seeking Taoism alone with no one to guide him, after going through a series of hardships and hardships, when a "Secret Technique of the Great Dao" was placed in front of the original owner, he jumped on it without hesitation.
After that, in less than three years, he not only completed the transformation from a warrior to a practitioner, but also made breakthroughs in his cultivation, from the first level of Qi training to the fourth level of Qi training.
This surprised him, thinking that his spiritual talent was as outstanding as his martial arts talent.
But soon, a basin of cold water chilled him to the core.
His cultivation was directly stuck at the fourth level of Qi training. No matter how hard he tried, he could not go any further. The accelerated aging of his body made him feel bad.
He also finally discovered the truth that almost made him vomit blood and die suddenly. The so-called "Secret Technique of the Great Dao" was not a serious practice method at all, but the famous Blood Demon Technique.
Its characteristic is to "dig out" the practitioner's life energy and unused potential as quickly as possible and "squeeze" it into magic power.
He reached the fourth level of Qi training in just three years, but the price was that as a martial arts master in his prime, his potential was exhausted and his Qi and blood were exhausted.
Not only is there no way forward, but at just over 40 years old, he has already entered his twilight years ahead of schedule and is running towards the finish line.
Since its emergence, countless qi-training monks have been abandoned. The most famous one is the "Blood Demon Kung Fu Rebellion" that occurred many years ago in the Qingxuan Sect of the third-order sect.
As a result, the Qi disciples were deposed. In order to minimize the legacy of this skill, Qingxuanzong also racked his brains and thought of many ways.
The original owner regarded these methods as life-saving straws. Unfortunately, as a casual practitioner who had barely entered the middle stage of Qi training, he had no resources and no backers, so there were many methods that he could not use.
The only feasible solution is to switch to a kind of exercise that has the effect of warming and healing. As for the effect, it is related to the quality of the exercise and more to the personal talent.
The original owner spent several years and a lot of effort, and finally got a practice method that barely met the requirements, "Water Nourishing Technique".
Last night, he officially converted to this practice. But at the moment when he successfully converted and the Water Nourishing Technique replaced the Blood Demon Technique as the fundamental technique, he suddenly vomited blood and died suddenly.
After repeatedly reviewing all the events before the death of the original owner, Meng Zhou already had a rough idea and felt extremely emotional in his heart.
"Even if you are a martial arts master, if there is no one to guide you along the way, there will be pitfalls everywhere!"
The problem is neither with the "Water Nourishing Technique" nor the original owner's decision to switch to the practice itself, but rather that he thought too simply about the process of switching to practice.
The Blood Demon Technique is certainly a demonic technique, but he has practiced this technique for many years, and its characteristics have long been firmly rooted in his body. It is like an arrowhead that pierced his heart many years ago. It is of course necessary to take it out.
, but it is by no means as simple as just forcefully pulling it out with tweezers.
How to take it out, what tools to use, how to stop bleeding after taking it out, how to suture it, how to heal... any omission in any link will lead to tragedy. But the original owner just wanted to quickly remove the Blood Demon Kung Fu and switch to a new one.
Didn't realize this at all.
There was no mention of it in the information he inquired about. Perhaps, to Qingxuanzong, this was just basic common sense like "it can be known from this" in the proof question.
As a martial arts master, the original owner was not fettered by worldly fame and wealth, nor was he defeated by mistakenly practicing magic skills, but in the end he was tricked to death by such details, which made Meng Zhou feel sad.
He was not only lamenting for the original owner, but also for himself.
"What I inherited is a mess!"
…
Finally, Meng Zhou checked carefully and confirmed that all the blood stains that the original owner spat out before his death last night had been wiped clean, and then he picked up the basin and left the quiet room.
After clearing these traces, Meng Zhou didn't feel much relaxed, because the biggest flaw was not elsewhere, but himself.
After burning the bloody cotton cloth and pouring the bloody water into the rolling river, Meng Zhou stood on the bank of the river and was lost in thought.
His field of view looked normal, but in the upper left corner, there was a faint portrait outline, which looked like the personal settings icon in some mobile applications.
Because the color was too light, he ignored it at first.
It wasn't until he activated the water nourishment technique that his predecessor had just successfully cultivated. Under the repeated operation of the magic power, the memory of the original owner was completely transformed into his own experience and understanding. The upper right corner of this faint humanoid outline showed a flash of red, like
It was the eye-catching reminder of new news that caught his attention.
At this moment, Meng Zhou stood by the river, staring at the faint portrait icon, and a piece of personal information clearly appeared in his field of vision.
[Name: Meng Zhou]
[Life span: 51/52 years]
[Status: Weak]
[Realm: Qi training level 1: 1/100]
[Exercise: Introduction to Water Nourishing Technique: 5/50]
Recalling the timing of the flashing red dot appearing in his mind, Meng Zhou had some guesses in his mind.
He searched for relevant information about the water-crossing step from the original owner's complex memory bank, and took a step toward the river ahead.
For a martial artist, climbing to the top of water is an important skill. There are many similar martial arts skills, not to mention his predecessor as a martial arts master.
The water-crossing step is a new martial art created by the predecessor after combining various martial arts. It is simple, pure and has a high upper limit. As the creator, the predecessor has the richest experience in mastering it.
But when he took this step, he did not stand on the water as expected. Instead, there was a "pop" sound, and one foot completely sank into the river water.
Meng Zhou was not discouraged by this, and instead showed a look of surprise on his face.
The moment the soles of his feet sank into the water, he clearly felt the support coming from the water.
So, he "played" this seemingly childish game alone by the river, stepping into the river again and again, exiting, stepping in, and exiting again.
During this process, the memory of the water-crossing step obtained from the original master, the martial arts master, was gradually transformed into his own understanding, burned into his heart and body.
At a certain moment, Meng Zhoufu was so moved that the soft water actually lifted him up and made him run on the river, with his feet submerged in the water only below his knees.
He looked at the portrait icon in his field of vision again, and sure enough, there were multiple flashing red dots in the upper right corner.
Meng Zhou was filled with joy: "It's done!"
But because of his distraction, the support provided by the water surface quickly disappeared, and he was completely trapped in the river. When he came ashore, he was wet all over.
After landing, Meng Zhou immediately clicked on the portrait icon.
[Name: Meng Zhou]
[Life span: 51/52 years]
[Status: Weak]
[Realm: Qi training level 1: 1/100]
[Exercise: Introduction to Water Nourishing Technique: 5/50]
[Skill: Water Step Entrance: 1/10]
Compared with before, the personal information is significantly different, with the addition of the information "Skill: Getting Started with Water Leveling".
Meng Zhou breathed a long sigh of relief, excited and happy.
He jumped directly into the river and started trotting along this section of the river using the entry-level water-crossing steps.
During this period, Meng Zhou remained focused and made no mistakes.
During this small run, he could clearly feel that his understanding of the water step was getting deeper and deeper, and he was running more calmly. Finally, he was even able to be properly distracted while running.
Meng Zhou discovered that every quarter of an hour or so, the experience value of the water-crossing step would increase by 1. Even with his current weak physique, he only rested once in the middle, and his mastery of the water-crossing step had reached a whole new level.
steps.
Skills and personal information have also undergone new changes, [Initial completion of the water step: 0/20]
The changes brought about by the progress of the water step are very obvious.
In the entry-level water crossing step, he had to be submerged in the water with his knees down. Every step forward was quite energy-consuming, far more energy-intensive than running on the shore.
Moreover, in addition to maintaining concentration, he must also run on the water at a trot speed so that he can maintain the state of walking on the water.
But now, the water surface has given him greater support, and the waterline has moved down to nearly ten centimeters below his knees. He only needs to jog in small steps and devote five or six minutes of concentration to maintain this state.
This allowed him to maintain his physical fitness better, with experience +1 every moment and experience +4 every hour. However, he only rested twice in the middle, and his mastery of the water step took another step forward.
[Small success in the water step: 0/40].
In less than a day, a martial arts skill that was not too superficial was improved several times in a row, and Meng Zhou was also very happy.
"It seems that for practitioners, martial arts is just a piece of cake.
What's more, this body's martial arts talent is already excellent, and it also has the memory of a martial arts master."
However, Meng Zhou did not continue and walked towards the shore. At this moment, the waterline had retreated to the middle of his calf.
Although he really wanted to gain more experience in water-stepping, it was already afternoon, and the "third" people who came to visit him in the morning could come back anytime and anywhere.
If you let them see it, wouldn't you tell them clearly "I have a problem"?
What's more, after struggling for so long, he was already hungry, and his already weak body could no longer hold on.
After returning to the house and closing the courtyard door, Meng Zhou first went to the bedroom to change into clean clothes. Then he went to the kitchen. Seeing that all the ingredients were available, he started to light a fire and cook.
While adding firewood to the stove, he shook his head and laughed at himself: "You even have to take care of the food yourself. What kind of leader is this?"
After eating, Meng Zhou wandered around the courtyard.
Because he had to wait for "Lao San" and others to return, it was impossible to go back to the quiet room to practice the Water Nourishing Technique, but just letting him wait like this felt like a waste, and time should not be wasted, especially for him now.
Even more so.
With thoughts in his mind, Meng Zhou walked around the courtyard twice. When his eyes fell on the large stone jar next to the courtyard door and close to the courtyard wall for the third time, he suddenly had inspiration in his heart.
This large stone tank is nearly 1.5 meters high, with half a tank of water in it. Several lotus leaves are close to the water surface, and several long stems stick out of the water. The huge lotus leaves stick out of the water tank, like blossoming umbrella covers.
.
He pulled out the lotus leaves in the tank, leaving only half a tank of clean water.
He tied up the hem of his gown, rolled up his trouser legs, kicked off his shoes, and simply jumped into the tank.
From the moment his feet touched the water, a soft force came from the water.
But his figure was still sinking slowly. Just when the waterline reached the middle of his calf, he suddenly raised one foot and then lowered it again, with his legs rising and falling alternately, as if he was doing a leg raise on the spot.
His body no longer sank, and a balance was achieved between his own weight and the support of the water surface.
Looking outside the courtyard, he was nearly 1.9 meters tall, with half of his head just above the height of the courtyard wall. The entire river was in his sight, and he would be able to detect any movement immediately.
It was difficult for people on the river to spot him behind the courtyard wall.
"It's just right."
With this in mind, Meng Zhou continued to practice the water step in the water tank.
The sky was getting darker little by little, and Meng Zhou took a rest in the middle of the journey.
More than three hours passed, and the experience of crossing the water was +12. Eight boats appeared downstream.
"came back."
Seeing this, Meng Zhou jumped out of the water tank neatly.