Chapter 10: Self-mutilation Practice

“Hu, hu…” The sound of heavy breathing rang out in the small courtyard of Bugong; “One hundred and fifty, one hundred and fifty-one, one hundred and fifty-two…” One after another voice came out slowly from the mouth of the young man in the courtyard.

At this time, Bu Gong was seen in the small courtyard, supporting his body up and down with his hands on the ground; beads of sweat kept falling from his forehead, and the ground was slightly wet; he was only wearing a vest on his upper body, which was already soaked with sweat.

This went on for fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, an hour… As time passed, even the young man in the yard looked a little pale; but the young man’s perseverance was astonishingly strong. He gritted his teeth, with a stubborn look in his eyes. Even though his arms were shaking slightly, he continued as usual without stopping.

…

There was a “thump” sound in the small courtyard. In the courtyard, Bu Gong was lying flat on the ground, and his handsome face was covered with mud. He fell down due to exhaustion, as a result of overloaded exercise.

But at this time, Bu Gong was extremely happy in his heart; because at this moment, he clearly felt that waves of medicinal energy were rising from all over his body, constantly drilling into his muscles and bones; making his body, which had just been sore and numb, seem to be washed by a cool air, and the feeling of comfort made Bu Gong a little addicted to it.

After a while, Bu Gong stood up, stretched his fists and feet, and felt that his whole body was full of strength again, even stronger than before; then he walked to the big tree at the edge of the small courtyard and began to hit the tree trunk with his palms.

Since he had just started training, as Bu Gong hit, he felt a piercing pain on his palms. Looking at the tree trunk, he saw traces of blood. Obviously, Bu Gong’s palms were broken, but he had no reaction at all. He seemed to be unaware of the pain and kept hitting hard.

A trace of stubbornness flashed across the boy’s face, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly, showing his inner determination and his lack of any thought of giving up. Later, the tree trunks were dyed red, and the boy’s face was twitching slightly.

At this time, Bu Gong slowly clenched his fists. The piercing pain in his palms made him frown slightly; “Bang, bang…” Then a series of impact sounds were heard, because he was hitting the tree trunk with both fists. In a short while, the skin on his fists was worn out and blood was oozing out.

…

Tired of hitting the tree trunk, he sat down and used the ‘Magic Body Shaping Chapter’ written on the scroll to regulate his breathing. Although he could not sense any immortal energy in the air for the time being, Bu Gong continued to practice the magic formula as usual.

After regulating his breathing, he continued to hit the tree trunk and do push-ups until he was exhausted again. At night, the shouting in the small courtyard continued to be heard until late at night, when it gradually disappeared.

In this way, Bu Gong began his “self-mutilation”-like practice; it was fortunate that most of the medicinal power was still residual in his body when he took the medicinal bath that day, otherwise if he continued to practice like this, his body would not be replenished in time; at that time, his body would really collapse.

During the first two or three days of training, Bu Gong would faint several times almost every day; he would not stop to regulate his breathing until he was exhausted. For a person who had never done much exercise and only knew how to read, one can imagine the physical strain of being subjected to such brutal training.

But Bu Gong persevered with his extraordinary perseverance, and the content of his daily exercises was almost the same; but because of this, the rewards he received were also very substantial; his physical strength increased significantly, and his endurance became incomparable to before.

Especially in terms of training the strength of muscles and bones, later on he would hit almost all of his body against tree trunks, back, legs, waist and so on; of course, in the beginning, even with Bu Gong’s superhuman willpower, he fainted from the pain several times, and there was almost no intact place on his body, all of it was bruised and purple.

After two or three days, Bu Gong clearly felt that his body’s ability to withstand blows was getting stronger and stronger; before, he would get a piece of skin scraped off his hand or body if he wasn’t careful, but now, only when he hit with all his strength or hit the tree trunk would Bu Gong get a little scratch on his body.

…

In the blink of an eye, five days had passed. It was already the morning of the sixth day. Bu Gong was exercising as usual. After an exhausting exercise, Bu Gong clearly felt that the medicinal power contained in his body was no longer enough. It could be said that it had been fully utilized by his “self-mutilation” training in the past few days.

“Grandpa Zhang said that it would take half a month, and I should wait until I have used up all the medicine in my body before going to him. However, the medicine today can only support my exercise in the morning. There may not be any medicine left for me to absorb in the afternoon. Could it be that the medicine has automatically dissipated without my knowledge?” Bu Gong muttered to himself.

Shaking his head slightly, Bu Gong continued to train. The training these past few days was becoming smoother and smoother, not as difficult as it was at the beginning…

After being exhausted again, Bu Gong clearly felt that the medicinal power in his body had been completely absorbed this time, without a trace of excess; “Bang bang…” Bu Gong clenched his fists and hit the tree trunk hard several times, looking at his hands with joy in his eyes.

Then he carefully felt the changes in his whole body, “My body has improved a lot compared to before.” Bu Gong turned around and went back to the house while thinking, and after washing up, he went to Blind Zhang’s pharmacy.

…

“Hey, Brother Bu Gong? Grandpa, Brother Bu Gong is here.” Just when Bu Gong just stepped into the drugstore, Xiao Huzi’s pair of black eyes swept over Bu Gong, and then a childish voice with a hint of surprise sounded in the drugstore; then Xiao Hu ran towards Bu Gong.

Seeing this, Bu Gong smiled calmly and said, “Little Tiger, where is your grandfather?”

At this time, Xiao Huzi was already holding Bu Gong’s hand, mumbling something, “Huh? Brother Bu Gong, my grandpa is sleeping in the inner room, but he may have been woken up by me just now.” Xiao Huzi showed two cute little fangs and smiled at Bu Gong.

“Boy Bu Gong, you’re here?” While Bu Gong and Xiao Hu were talking, a voice came from the inner room, and then Bu Gong walked towards the inner room; “Grandpa Zhang, you are resting, I came at a bit of a bad time…” Bu Gong said softly.

“Hehe… It’s okay, Bu Gong boy, what’s the matter? By the way, how is the medicinal power absorbed into your body?” Blind Zhang asked.

“I came here just for this question. Grandpa Zhang, didn’t you tell me to wait for half a month for the medicine to be absorbed before coming back? But this morning I felt like the medicine in my body had been completely absorbed.” Bu Gong said after a moment of hesitation.

“Did the medicinal effect in my body dissipate automatically without my knowledge?” Bu Gong asked again.

“Oh? Come here and let me see you.” Blind Zhang was slightly surprised when he heard Bu Gong say that. Bu Gong came in front of Blind Zhang, and saw Blind Zhang lightly holding Bu Gong’s hand to feel his pulse. After a moment, Blind Zhang took a deep breath and let go of his hand. A hint of shock appeared on his wrinkled face.

“Bugong boy, the medicinal power in your body has not dissipated, but has been completely absorbed into your body,” Blind Zhang said slowly. After a moment of silence, Blind Zhang continued, asking, “You’ve suffered a lot these days, haven’t you?”

When Bu Gong heard what Blind Zhang said, he shook his head slightly and said calmly: “Hehe… It’s okay, I feel pretty good.”

Blind Zhang listened to the calm words of the young man in front of him, but his heart could not calm down for a long time; in less than six days, or even only five and a half days, he absorbed all the medicinal power of the herbs. This required very hard and rigorous training to be able to do this.

When he was in Xianyang Sect, it took him half a month to use up three sets of medicinal herbs in order to enter the body-shaping period. It took him more than a month to use up all three sets of medicinal herbs. Only then did he slightly sense a trace of immortal energy, and with the help of his fellow disciples, he opened up the Baihui acupoint and entered the body-shaping period.

And when Bu Gong first started training his body, he only used the same herbs in five and a half days? This time reduction was quite dramatic, even a little unbelievable.

In Xianyang Sect, the first step for anyone who starts practicing is to enter the body-shaping period. However, there are only two commonly used methods to enter the body-shaping period. One is to have a strong person directly cleanse your essence and marrow for you, strengthen your body, and thus enter the body-shaping period. The other is the method currently used by Bu Gong, which is to soak your body in medicinal materials, exercise yourself, and absorb the medicinal power by yourself to enter the body-shaping period.

The disciples in those sects basically use the second method to enter the body-shaping period, unless you have a strong relative in the sect, then they will use the first method; usually the disciples in the Xianyang Sect also use the same medicinal materials and the same dosage, but as for how long it takes to enter the body-shaping period, it depends on the extent of your own physical training.

Generally, when disciples first start practicing, it usually takes about half a month to completely absorb the medicinal power of the first set of herbs. For those who are very strict and harsh on themselves, it will take about ten days. These people have trained their bodies to a degree of harshness that is unimaginable to ordinary people, so the time is shortened.

But Bu Gong only took five and a half days. When Blind Zhang thought about it, his face trembled. “I don’t know how this kid has tortured himself in the past five days.” Blind Zhang thought secretly in his heart, then shook his head slightly and smiled bitterly.

“Boy Bu Gong, the medicinal power in your body has not dissipated, but has been completely absorbed by you. You should be careful when exercising in the future and don’t overdo it, otherwise it will not be worth it if you hurt your body.” Blind Zhang said after a brief silence.

Bu Gong nodded slightly after hearing this, and after a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Grandpa Zhang, I wonder if I can still use the remaining two herbs today?”

“At this rate, you should be able to enter the body-shaping stage very quickly. The medicinal herbs can also be used. Come with me to the backyard. You are such a lunatic,” Blind Zhang said with a wry smile and shook his head.

…

During the following period of time, Bu Gong continued to practice self-harm; his physical fitness also improved by leaps and bounds. Now his physical condition is completely qualitatively different from before.

Half a month later, Bu Gong, after exercising to exhaustion as usual, sat down and used his breathing techniques to regulate his breathing. He saw that the tree trunk in the small courtyard had no bark left around it, leaving only a bare trunk. There were even indented fist and palm prints on the trunk, which showed how crazy Bu Gong had been during this period.

Just as Bu Gong was practicing the ‘Body Shaping Technique’ as usual, breathing in and out, he suddenly felt an extremely tiny, invisible and colorless airflow slowly entering his body through his mouth and nose, and was then madly swallowed up by his muscles, bones, etc.

“Huh? What is this? Was it an illusion just now?” Just when Bu Gong felt the airflow, he was awakened by it and murmured in surprise.

Afterwards, Bu Gong closed his eyes again and began to circulate the magic in his body. After a moment, he felt that extremely fine colorless airflow appear again, and it quickly entered his body through his mouth and nose, and was then madly devoured by various organs in his body.

As it was swallowed like this, the organs, bones, muscles, etc. showed a subtle tendency to strengthen. Noticing this, Bu Gong slowly opened his eyes, a hint of joy flashed across the depths of his pupils. “Is this the so-called immortal energy? It feels really different.” Bu Gong raised the corners of his mouth slightly and whispered to himself.

“Could it be that I have already entered the Body Shaping Stage? However, it doesn’t seem to be as dangerous as Grandpa Zhang said.” A trace of doubt flashed through Bu Gong’s mind, “Could it be that I haven’t reached the Body Shaping Stage yet?”