Chapter 18 One Year

At this time, Bu Gong was hitting and colliding the stone table in his yard, constantly tempering his thin but strong body.
Now, four months have passed since he went to Tiancang Mountains. During these four months, his cultivation has been smoothly improved to the middle stage of the second level of body shaping; of course, this is closely related to the evil spirit in his mind that is sealed by the mysterious black line.
Because Blind Zhang had told him that after his cultivation level improved, he needed to settle and consolidate for a period of time; he had to completely compress and control his own strength without any frivolity. Otherwise, if his cultivation level improved too quickly, it would affect his foundation, making it more difficult to advance in the future.
Bu Gong also understood this point, so he slowed down his speed of breaking through the other acupoints; otherwise, with his speed, he could open up more than 90% of the acupoints in his body within half a year, if not all of them.
At this time, Bu Gong had beads of sweat on his forehead, but he looked energetic and not exhausted at all; however, the stone table in front of him had changed a lot.
The stone table, which was originally a standard round stone table with a thickness of about an inch, now looked a bit funny in shape; the edges were covered with cracks and fist marks, and there was almost no intact place; but the cracks were as smooth as a mirror, as if they had been carefully carved and polished.
“Hah!” Bu Gong shouted softly, and tiny blue lightning visible to the naked eye appeared on the surface of his fist; then Bu Gong punched the edge of the stone table.
There was a loud “bang,” and Bu Gong’s body shook slightly, his eyes fixed on the edge of the stone table. He saw a crack where Bu Gong’s fist had just struck him, and some gravel on the ground, clearly the result of that punch.
Seeing this, Bu Gong’s eyes lit up with joy; he slightly activated the magic in his body, and the surface of his fist was covered with tiny blue arcs of electricity. He looked at his fist, and a smile appeared on his face, which was originally as calm as water.
Recently, Bu Gong did not continue to attack the acupoints, because now all 52 single acupoints in his body have been broken through, and 18 of the remaining 50 strange acupoints have been broken through by him; when he broke through the 15th acupoint, he would be in the middle stage of the second level of body shaping. Now that he has broken through 18 acupoints, he has firmly reached the middle stage of the second level.
During this period of time, he began to ponder a martial art on the axis; this is a martial art that can only be practiced above the second level of body shaping, and should be said to be a small spell.
Because the name of this martial art is ‘Thunder Destruction Fist’, when a beginner uses this martial art, small blue arcs of electricity will appear on the surface of his fist, making it more aggressive and destructive. When this martial art is practiced to perfection, it can be transformed into a small magic spell, attracting thunder from the sky to destroy everything.
This is the martial art that can be practiced during the Body Shaping Stage and is included in the scroll of magic in Bu Gong’s hand. It can also be called a spell. When Bu Gong just started practicing this martial art, he failed again and again because the immortal energy in his body could not sustain it for too long.
Because when he had just opened up the 15th acupoint and entered the middle stage of the second level of body shaping, every time he stored a little immortal energy in his body, before he could use his martial arts, the immortal energy in his body would be almost absorbed by his body bones.
Bu Gong also discovered that as the number of acupoints opened in his body increased, the amount of time his meridians could store immortal energy increased. However, he was afraid that opening acupoints too quickly would affect his foundation. Therefore, every time he opened acupoint, he would test his martial arts skills to see if they could be used.
As a result, when he broke through the 18th acupoint, the immortal energy stored in his meridians was just enough to support him to perform martial arts, so when Bu Gong broke through the 18th acupoint in his body, he stopped and focused on practicing martial arts.
At the beginning, although he was able to perform martial arts, he was always weak and had almost no effect after performing the martial arts; this was because his cultivation level increased too quickly and the immortal energy in his body was too weak.
But as he practiced again and again without stopping, when he got tired he would sit on the ground to regulate his breathing, recover to his peak state, and then continue to practice martial arts, as the saying goes, steel is made by tempering a hundred times; as Bu Gong practiced again and again, the effect of his martial arts had obviously changed a lot.
At this time, Bu Gong looked at the blue electric arc flashing on his fist with a little excitement, grinned and hit the stone table beside him again; there was a “crack” sound of stone breaking, and a larger gap was obviously opened on the edge of the stone table.
Compared with Bu Gong’s casual attack just now, the effect was much more obvious; “It turns out that hard work pays off.” Bu Gong carefully felt his current physical condition; he could clearly feel that the floating feeling brought about by the rapid improvement of his cultivation had completely disappeared at this moment.
As the magic technique was circulated and the immortal energy flowed through his body, it was replaced by a thick and comfortable feeling. Bu Gong noticed this and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. He was obviously quite satisfied with his current situation. “This month of repeated practice of martial arts is really worth it,” Bu Gong breathed a sigh of relief.
Especially last month, when he was rapidly breaking through the acupoints and improving his cultivation; sometimes when he was eating, he would accidentally crush the bowl directly. This situation made Bu Gong speechless for a long time. He was very careful every time he ate and slept, in order to prevent anything from being damaged.
This is also the negative impact brought about by the rapid improvement of cultivation level; the rapid improvement of cultivation level causes Bu Gong to be less precise and less skilled in controlling his own strength; therefore, this rather speechless and embarrassing situation arises.
“If I keep practicing at this speed, I will be able to reach the third level of body shaping in another half a year. Then I can go out and see the outside world,” Bu Gong murmured in a low voice, with a hint of expectation in his indifferent eyes; after all, no matter what, Bu Gong is only sixteen years old and still has a bit of childishness.
…
Time passed slowly, autumn gave way to winter, and the whole world was covered in a blanket of silver. As time passed, spring, full of vitality, arrived. A year passed quietly like this while Bu Gong was immersed in hard training…
In the blink of an eye, it’s spring again!
Almost every family in the town is in a festive mood because the new year has come again. Everyone will dress according to custom to welcome a new season, which means that with a good start, there will be a smooth process and a good ending.
But in the entire town, only Bu Gong’s house was unique; it still had the same broken stone table, the old tree covered with fist marks, and the dilapidated house, which had hardly been cleaned or decorated.
“Hu… Shout…” Only bursts of shouting were heard coming from Bu Gong’s yard. At this time, Bu Gong was wearing a vest and practicing martial arts in the yard. Since Bu Gong’s house was located in a remote area in the small town, the neighbors would not often come to disturb Bu Gong.
This year is a special year, because it has been exactly one year since Bu Gong started practicing. As the year slowly passed, Bu Gong’s originally tender and fair face gradually became mature.
His gentle, jade-like face had clear contours, his eyebrows slightly raised, revealing a hint of fortitude. Within his calm, water-like expression, a faint hint of stubbornness lingered. His slightly pursed lips betrayed a youthful refusal to give up. In his dark, indifferent eyes, a hint of persistence lingered.
“Bang, bang…” The continuous sound of hitting came from the Bugong courtyard, and sweat was seen sliding down the side of his face; but he didn’t care, and continued to repeat the same action over and over again, as if the repetition of the action was very attractive.
“Hah…” A shout suddenly came from Bu Gong’s mouth, and then one saw electric arcs covering his fist, which looked like an electric fist condensed from lightning.
He punched the ground, and then a loud “bang” was heard from the palace courtyard. Dust was flying in the courtyard and the ground was shaking slightly. Fist-sized lumps of earth were shaken up several meters high. When everything calmed down, a large pit with a radius of about two meters appeared out of thin air in the center of the courtyard.
At this time, Bu Gong’s face was a little pale and his breathing was a little rapid; but his pair of indifferent eyes were extremely bright, and even stared at the big pit in the yard with a hint of ecstasy.
“Huh… I didn’t expect that this martial art would be so powerful after being practiced to a certain level.” After a moment, Bu Gong let out a light breath and said to himself; from his tone, it was not difficult to hear a hint of satisfaction mixed in it.
At this moment, suddenly, a burst of children’s laughter and noise came faintly from the town; hearing the sound, Bu Gong’s eyes showed a slight fluctuation, and then he slowly raised his head as if he had just woken up; “Another year, has it come yet?” He murmured in an inaudible voice.
At this moment, Bu Gong’s aura suddenly changed. He looked like an old man, a little aging, a little quiet, and a little lonely. In his mind, the image of the little girl who had been almost inseparable from him when he was a child slowly emerged. But now…
Thinking of this, Bu Gong shook his head slightly, sighed softly, and slowly looked into the distance!
That look was a little sad, a little disappointed, but very deep, as if he could see through people’s hearts; after a moment, his eyes gradually became firm: “I will prove to you that mortals can also become immortals one day; when the time comes, I will let you know that I am no worse than anyone else,” Bu Gong muttered secretly in his heart.
“Knock, knock, knock…” A knock on the door suddenly sounded in Bu Gong’s yard, “Brother Bu Gong, are you there?” Then another child’s voice came; this made Bu Gong come back to his senses from his daze; then Bu Gong walked over and opened the yard door, and saw Xiaohu wearing a brand new cotton jacket, standing in front of the gate, his chubby face was red due to the cold weather.
“Xiao Hu? Why are you here alone? Come in quickly.” Bu Gong asked in surprise when he saw that it was Xiao Hu; because since he started practicing, the number of times Xiao Hu came in the past year has obviously decreased a lot, sometimes only once every two or three months.
This might be because of Blind Zhang. Since Bu Gong started practicing and was a little older, he didn’t have much time to waste, so Blind Zhang didn’t let Xiao Hu come to play with Bu Gong often. Bu Gong remembered that the last time Xiao Hu came was three months ago.
So when Bu Gong saw that it was Xiao Hu, he was a little surprised; then Bu Gong smiled bitterly: “Time flies so fast when I’m practicing”; “Brother Bu Gong, grandpa asked me to come and ask you to go to our house and celebrate the Spring Festival with us” Xiao Hu raised his little face and looked at Bu Gong and said.
“Hehe…Okay, wait for me, I’ll pack up and leave.” Hearing Xiaohu say this, a tenderness appeared on Bu Gong’s face. He touched Xiaohu’s head with his hand and chuckled.
But after a moment, Bu Gong walked out of the house, wearing a bright red wedding gown that was extremely eye-catching. This wedding gown was the one Bu Gong wore when he planned to marry Yang Ruoming. This wedding gown left a deep memory in his mind, so deep that it was unforgettable.
After Bu Gong came out, he saw Xiao Huzi staring at him with a strange look in his eyes. He was slightly stunned, and then seemed to understand something. He took Xiao Huzi’s hand and said with a chuckle: “Come on, today Bu Gong brother will play with you for a whole day. It’s good to wear red clothes during the Spring Festival, hehe…”