187 Drinking Tea (1/2)

Searching for two people who would be willing to learn the Emotionless Swordsmanship was very hard. Chu Nanping had already turned 11 years old. Three years ago, she became a servant for the Immortal Peng in her brother's stead. Since then she had been learning the basics of the Secrets of Love. After passing many tests, she was then able to become the first candidate for the Emotionless Swordsmanship.

It took a year to meet the killer Yang Huan.

Stone Castle had many cruel and cold-blooded killers, and South City was also full of machetemen who killed without batting an eye. However, none of them were qualified as ”heartless.”

”Heartless killers kill without bloodlust.” A youth, younger than the teenager Gu Shenwei by many years, named Chu Nanping, was explaining seriously, ”Being heartless, it's natural to kill without mercy, but there is also no feeling of excitement or joy. To be heartless is to be emotionless.”

Gu Shenwei had killed many people due to various reasons, but he had never become addicted to killing and he even hated the sight of freshly spilled blood. This ”flaw” had never been corrected, but he had never claimed himself to be ”emotionless.” He could still feel anger and grief; especially when it came to the vengeance of his loved ones. This was the complete opposite for Chu Nanping - this child was even indifferent to the death of his brother.

”You're just a baby who still needs to learn the ropes.” Chu Nanping said while appearing to be a little saint who had been cultivating in the path of immortality.

Gu Shenwei's first step to ”learning the ropes” was how to drink tea properly.

Joy Pavillion was a teahouse but it was not open to the public. Gu Shenwei was sitting with 30 other hideous people of the ”same sect” and in front of each person was a cup of tea, with a very strong color, being sipped on so slowly that it would take about an hour just to finish one cup. These cups would immediately be refilled by the waiters, and they would drink about 3 to 6 cups a day.

The tea was very bitter, causing Gu Shenwei to almost throw up after his first sip. However, this was also a part of practicing martial arts; it had to be drunk with nothing left in the cup. In fact, every mouthful of the tea had to sit in his mouth until the bitterness receded before he could swallow it.

Everything became different after getting used to the taste of bitterness.

It was as though a bucket of warm water had been poured down from the top of his head: making his whole body feel light and soft; allowing him to peacefully breathe; he felt as though he was floating in the air, and his nervous heart was put completely at ease. At this moment, even if someone was shouting and cursing from across the room, Gu Shenwei would just react with a smile.

He was prepared to accept any sorts of teachings, without question and without fear - he would believe whatever people told him. Suddenly, he heard a heavenly melody.

The sound was coming from the floor above. It was monotonously weak, so one had to listen very attentively. The rhythm was quite unique: every hour would either have intervals as little as a dozen or as many as a few hundred.

Hearing this melody for the first time, Gu Shenwei's heart began to beat violently and his face flushed blood red. He almost fell off his chair. Chu Nanping had once informed him of a special method within the ”Secrets of Love,” and showed him a unique practice. Though Gu Shenwei did not understand it at all, he still followed along. To his surprise, his heartbeat returned to normal.

Gu Shenwei drank a total of three days worth of tea before he managed to touch the tip of the iceberg that was the path of Drinking Tea kung fu. The melody was coming from Immortal Peng's walking stick up on the third floor. To ordinary people, these sounds were just sounds, but to those practicing Drinking Tea kung fu, these very natural sounds would cause their acupuncture points to suddenly pulsate.

After his heartbeat was able to keep up with the rhythm of the melody, Gu Shenwei entered a trance.

Gu Shenwei's first time feeling a pulsation was at the Shaochong acupoint on his finger. After beating 10 times, it started moving upward in accordance with the Heart's Meridian along the hands and arms. The number of beatings at each acupuncture point was different; some beat as little as three or four times, others as many as a few dozens. After the pulsation ended, he began to feel his pores open and blood circulate all over his body - as if his acupoints transformed from ponds to lakes, and his meridians expanded from small creeks to rivers.

Gu Shenwei had never heard of this practice method for internal strength. He was feeling curious and uneasy; he felt as if there was a vine from the third floor crawling down the walls, entangling everyone's legs, wrapping around the legs of every table, and lastly reaching out its tentacles - drilling into the hearts of the tea drinkers.

Since his face to face conversation with Immortal Peng, Gu Shenwei had not seen him. However, with the progress of practicing the Secrets of Love, he felt some connection with the dwarf. As the vine grew thicker and thicker, cutting it off would become harder and harder.

Whenever anxiety arose within, the bitter tea would spread pleasant sensations and cleanse the body of any agitations.

Gu Shenwei was like a disheartened pessimist who would walk step by step into the deep water, completely aware of the imminent danger, and not stop himself.

Gu Shenwei spent five days opening the acupoints within the Heart's Meridian. According to Chu Nanping, this was relatively fast. Next was the Meridian of the Large Intestines, which only took three days. At last, the Kidney Meridian took the longest eight days. After one month, he was able to open all Twelve Primary Meridians.

This was followed by the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, starting from the Yang Heel Vessel to the Governing Vessel, in which he spent half a month's time.

When the Eight Extraordinary Meridians communicates with the Twelve Primary Meridians, the results would then achieve grand circulation. Internal breathing would flow through all the acupoints without obstructions. Only two acupoints were the exceptions: the Hundred Meetings and the Jade Rotator. These two acupoints were occupied by the Peripheral Force and were not affected by Immortal Peng's melody. There was no response at all. With basic skills, one could not remove the hidden dangers yet.