Chapter 9: Hundred Refinements of the Heart Sutra
"How about it? I will only charge you 35 taels of silver for this book of basic skills. This price is definitely the cheapest I have ever sold since I opened this grocery store."
Xiao Lin looked at the old man in front of him speechlessly. This guy seemed to be able to calculate the silver in his pocket every time, and he could empty his pocket every time. Yesterday, he killed Xiang Kun and several of his men. He found a total of 31 taels of silver, plus the reward of 5 taels for the ore he paid, a total of only 36 taels, but the old man asked for 35 taels, as if everything he did was under his nose, which made Xiao Lin secretly shocked.
"Hehe, I am just a grocery store owner. I pay attention to honesty and do a serious business. If you are not interested, forget it. Anyway, there will always be someone who wants it if you don't want it." As he said, he was about to put the book away.
"Wait, I want this book." Gritting his teeth, Xiao Lin finally couldn't resist the desire for martial arts and spoke.
Since seeing how Sun Fang dealt with the sturdy miners, Xiao Lin has developed a great interest in martial arts. In this chaotic world, only by becoming stronger can he protect his relatives and friends. Although he is not sure whether the Dry Water Sutra in his hand can really be practiced to the level of Sun Fang, no matter what, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, he does not want to miss it.
After returning to the thatched hut, he did not take out the Dry Water Sutra immediately to read it, but hid it in his arms. After all, he is not the only one living in the thatched hut. The other three people may come back at any time. If they are seen, it may cause some trouble. Xiao Lin does not want to be always remembered by others.
Before dawn the next day, Xiao Lin went to the canteen to get the maximum amount of food and water and entered the mine. He was already familiar with the environment and routes of the mine, and soon arrived at his own territory. On the way, he also thought about whether to look for the place where Xiang Kun told him to bury his property, but finally gave up. Xiang Kun has been operating in this No. 3 pit for more than ten years, and there must be dozens of subordinates. It is impossible that there is no one guarding the place where the property is buried. The reason why Xiang Kun fell into his trap was more because he was careless. He did not take him seriously. If he rushed in rashly, he would be walking into a trap.
In the mine, Xiao Lin was not in a hurry to mine. The hematite he had accumulated was enough for him to pay double the amount of ore in the next two months. He sat down by the kerosene lamp on the wall of the cave, and excitedly opened the Dry Water Sutra and read it carefully.
After reading for a few hours, Xiao Lin gently closed the Dry Water Sutra, with a thoughtful expression on his face. According to the content of this Dry Water Sutra, this kind of skill is divided into three levels, namely, Pure Heart and Inaction, Sitting in Yin and Condensing Qi, and Tranquility of Water Like a Mirror. Each level of the skill corresponds to a detailed introduction, but in Xiao Lin's opinion, this does not look like a martial arts secret book, but more like a health-preserving skill for self-cultivation. Moreover, there are no records of any moves in this skill, only three pictures and some annotations to the pictures.
This put Xiao Lin in a dilemma. He didn't know whether he should practice this skill. After thinking for a long time, he gritted his teeth.
"Practice first." Xiao Lin made up his mind. If he could really practice it, his chances of surviving in the Qingshui Lake Mine would be much greater. Even if he couldn't practice anything, he would only lose a few dozen taels of silver.
Xiao Lin now wanted to become stronger urgently. Although Xiang Kun died in his hands, another "Xiang Kun" would appear in the No. 3 pit soon. If Zhu Biao occupied the No. 3 pit, his life would be even more difficult.
Thinking of this, he sat cross-legged according to the first picture of the Dry Water Sutra, wrapped his hands around his body and sank into his chest, and silently recited the first level of the formula of Qingxin Wuwei, and began to practice.
From then on, Xiao Lin would spend at least three hours practicing the Dry Water Sutra every day, and the rest of the time was spent on mining and resting. Soon two months passed. One day, Xiao Lin woke up from the practice with a depressed look on his face.
After two months of practice, he didn't feel anything at all. He even suspected that the Dry Water Sutra was simply used by old man Fu to deceive him.
Even for ordinary martial arts, according to what he learned from the old man in the grocery store, it usually takes one month to produce a sense of Qi, and after a year, it will be a small success. Those with high talent can even start to practice some martial arts moves. However, he practiced for two whole months, but he didn't even have a sense of Qi, which made him very depressed.
After practicing this Dry Water Sutra, the only thing that made Xiao Lin feel relieved was that every time he finished practicing, he felt refreshed and energetic. His appetite also increased a lot. He ate four or five steamed buns every meal. If he didn't have some silver, it would definitely not be enough according to the mine's ration.
Today is his last day of mining. He carried all the remaining more than 100 kilograms of ore into a bamboo basket. After paying for today's hematite, he can become an outer disciple of Bailian Hall, and he doesn't have to go into the cave to mine every day like ordinary miners.
He buried his crossbow and some unused ground spikes. If he needs them one day, he can come and get them.
After packing up, Xiao Lin carried the bamboo basket and walked out of the mine. In the past two months, the only thing that made Xiao Lin a little strange was that since Xiang Kun's death, there has been no new overlord in the No. 3 mine. He also asked other miners and heard that Beicang, the overlord of the No. 2 mine, was competing with Zhu Biao for the control of the No. 3 mine. However, the two had always been equally powerful. After several open and secret fights, although more than a dozen people died, they still couldn't decide the winner and fell into a stalemate.
And this is exactly what Xiao Lin is happy to see. At least before Beicang and Zhu Biao decide the winner, he is safe. What's more, as long as he exceeds the task once more, he can leave the mine.
Sure enough, Xiao Lin got out of the mine smoothly all the way. After handing in the ore, Xiao Lin was given a wooden token. On one side of the token was a sword and a knife in a cross shape, and on the other side of the token was a word "wai", which meant that he officially became an outer disciple of Bailiantang, which made Xiao Lin a little excited.
After receiving the token, Sun Fang appeared in front of him and took him into the three-story attic.
This three-story attic is where the disciples of Bailian Hall rest. From Sun Fang, Xiao Lin learned that in the Qingshui Lake Mine, all the disciples of Bailian Hall, except for the incense master who is an inner disciple, are outer disciples. There are seven incense masters in the entire Huai County Bailian Hall branch. In addition to one incense master who guards the Huai County main hall all year round, the other six incense masters are scattered in the Tianlu Mountains to be responsible for the mining of ore.
There are 36 outer disciples in the Qingshui Lake Mine, including Xiao Lin, now there are 37. These outer disciples have to go out for half a month every month to look for mineral veins. As long as they can find a small mineral vein, they can be promoted to incense master and become an inner disciple of Bailian Hall.
However, before that, Xiao Lin has a one-year training period. During this year, he does not need to go up the mountain to look for minerals, but concentrates on practicing martial arts. After a year, he will officially start to go into the mountains to look for minerals.
Sun Fang took Xiao Lin to the third floor of the attic. In addition to the central room on the third floor, which was the room of the helmsman Wu Lian, there was also a side room, which contained some classics of Bai Lian Tang.
Xiao Lin saw two outer disciples of Bai Lian Tang standing at the door of the side room with swords. After Sun Fang explained, Xiao Lin entered the room.
There was only one three-layer bookshelf in the room, on which some yellowed classics were placed. Xiao Lin approached with excitement.
[Thousand Hands Mysterious Fist] [Black Sand Palm] [Seven Killing Sword Manual] [Phantom Step] [Light Cloud Leap]... Looking at the martial arts secrets in front of him, Xiao Lin's face flushed. He wanted every book here, but as an outer disciple, he could only choose one, unless he could find a small or larger mineral vein, make great contributions to Bai Lian Tang, and be promoted to an inner disciple, then he could choose another secret book from here.
However, the difficulty of finding a small or larger vein is much smaller than the probability of digging black iron ore from hematite. You should know that Xiao Lin has not dug a piece of black iron ore in his more than one year of miner life, and as far as he knows, the number of black iron ore produced in the entire mine is only about three pieces per year.
After browsing the secret books on the bookshelf, Xiao Lin chose a footwork of [Liuyun Qingshenshu]. He originally wanted to find a martial arts, but after thinking about it, he gave up. After all, he would often go to the mountains and forests to find veins in the future. Although martial arts can give him more means to save his life when encountering wild beasts, if he knows a light body technique, he can not only escape when encountering wild beasts, but also make the process of finding minerals much easier. After all, many mineral veins may have to be found on cliffs.
Before coming here, Sun Fang also taught him a mantra, saying it was the unique mantra of Bailian Hall [Bailian Heart Sutra]. According to Sun Fang, Bailian Hall's unique mantra has a total of twelve levels. Outer disciples are only taught the mantras of the first three levels. As long as they practice according to this, their internal strength will be able to reach a certain level in a few years, and they can easily control those basic martial arts. If they can enter the inner sect, they can get the mantras of the third level of the mantra.
Thinking that Sun Fang only has such a terrifying combat power with the three-level Bailian Heart Sutra, Xiao Lin can't help but be full of expectations for the Bailian Heart Sutra.
After Sun Fang arranged a place for Xiao Lin to live, he left. After becoming an outer disciple of Bailian Hall, Xiao Lin's restrictions were much smaller. As long as he did not leave the Qingshui Lake Mine and walked around nearby, no one would stop him.
Xiao Lin walked out of the attic and came to the Qingshui Lake. It was very quiet here and very suitable for practice. He chose a bluestone by the lake and walked up.
Looking at the lake, he thought of his father and sister. It had been more than a year since he came here. He didn't know how they were doing in the past year. He wanted to go back, but this place was deep in the Tianlu Mountains. If he went alone, he would most likely be eaten by wild beasts. After thinking about it, it would be safer to wait until he had a certain foundation in martial arts before going back.
He had practiced the Dry Water Sutra for two months, but still had no feeling. Xiao Lin wanted to give up and practice the Hundred Refining Heart Sutra given to him by Sun Fang, but after thinking about it, he decided not to practice the Hundred Refining Heart Sutra first and continue to practice the Dry Water Sutra for a year. If he still couldn't practice the Qi sense in a year, it would not be too late to give up.
Concentrating his thoughts, Xiao Lin sat cross-legged and began to recite the formula of the first level of the Dry Water Sutra, Qingxin Wuwei, and began to practice.
Spring went and autumn came, and a year passed quickly.
Xiao Lin opened his eyes from his meditation. The moment he opened his eyes, a touch of water charm flashed across his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on his face. The first level of the Dry Water Sutra was finally practiced. In this year, he practiced the Dry Water Sutra every day. What made him speechless was that until six months ago, he didn't feel anything, which even made him want to give up practicing.
However, he was still unwilling to give up. It was this unwillingness that made him continue to persevere. One day five months ago, he finally felt a clear stream in his body, flowing slowly in his body, and finally merged into the Dantian Qi Sea. This made him extremely excited. In his opinion, he finally cultivated "internal strength".