"Brother Youjiao, Brother Youjiao," After learning about acupuncture points in Mingshitang, Li Ji went to the town hall as usual to complete a day's work. When he returned to his residence, a young boy stopped him at the gate of his yard, "Uncle Guo asked brother to go to drink, saying that there is a good thing..."
"Oh, I see, I will go now." The young boy mentioned Uncle Guo, who was the escort of the only escort agency in the town, Zhiyuan Escort Agency. Although it is called an escort agency, in fact, there is only one serious escort in the escort agency, Lao Guo, plus two young men to help. The headquarters of Zhiyuan Escort Agency is in Shuangcheng, but there are resident escorts in important places in the surrounding four towns and eight towns, taking some ordinary individual business of little value. To put it bluntly, these escorts sent out are basically not valued and have no ability. Lao Guo is over 40 and approaching 50 years old. His martial arts are ordinary and he doesn't know how to please others. Coming to Cixi is just like retirement.
Seeing that it was still early and there was still one or two hours before dark, Li Ji did not go home, but went back to the back street, cut three pounds of camel beef, a smoked fat goose, and a few seasonal side dishes, wrapped them in lotus leaves, and carried them with a hemp rope, and headed straight to the north of the town.
The escort agency is at the northern end of Cixi Town, a lonely courtyard. Lao Guo is tall, with a square black and red face and a loud voice. He has a typical professional character of an escort - righteous, universal, good at making friends, and can't hide things in his heart. "Hahaha, brother Li, guess what I brought back from Shuangcheng this time?" Lao Guo looked excited and proud.
"Brother, you are joking. I just came to Cixi. If it weren't for your help, how could I live a stable life? How dare I bother you... Seeing that you are so happy, could it be that you brought me a new sister-in-law?" Li Ji joked.
"Nonsense, your brother can't even handle the one in the room now, how dare I attract bees and butterflies again..." Old Guo laughed and took out something from his arms, which seemed to be a letter, and handed it to Li Ji solemnly, "With this thing, I have lived up to your trust." After that, he drank a full cup.
The letter was not heavy, made of nine pieces of bamboo strips, and there were countless small characters and figures engraved on it. The first piece of bamboo strip had four big characters "Liuhe Sword Technique". He couldn't help but feel overjoyed, "Brother, where did this thing come from? It's so precious, how dare I accept it?" Li Ji came from the time travel, and what he saw and heard was that internal skills were quite rare in this world. There were only a few people in Cixi who really knew martial arts. This was also the reason why he could show his prowess in front of others with only the fencing skills of his previous life and a set of shallow breathing and exhaling. It was not that he was too strong, but that others were too bad. The preciousness of a set of mainstream skills and swordsmanship can be seen.
"Brother Li, don't delay. It's too far to talk about this between brothers. You know and I know that no matter how precious this sword technique is, how can it be compared to my brother's life?... Come, sit down and have a drink..."
Li Ji certainly understood what Lao Guo meant. Since coming to Cixi, Lao Guo has indeed helped him a lot, but Li Ji has helped him even more. Years ago, the Flower Knife Bandits crossed the border and robbed Lao Guo's escort. Without Li Ji's help, let alone the escort goods, it is hard to say whether Lao Guo is still alive. Years later, the Zuotoushan bandits invaded the border, and Lao Guo also helped the town to resist. At that time, he was surrounded by four or five fierce bandits. If it weren't for Li Ji, the grass on his grave would be overgrown now. In Cixi, Lao Guo really couldn't help in other aspects. Knowing that Li Ji was good at martial arts, he had been keeping an eye on him secretly. This time, getting this sword technique was also a wish in his heart.
"I don't know where this sword technique came from, brother? Liuhe sword technique... Is there such a sect in Nanli?" The two drank a cup together, and Li Ji asked.
"No, it seems there is such a sect in the north. I have only heard people mention it occasionally, but I don't know much about it. Speaking of which, it was not difficult for me to get this sword technique. It was both luck and sad..." Lao Guo weighed a piece of beef and put it in his mouth, looking a little lonely, "When I went back to Shuangcheng this time, I met my old brother, Brother Xiang... Two months ago, the Shuangcheng headquarters of the escort agency went on a trip to the Yunhan Tianling area, but something went wrong. Not only was the dart lost, but several people were killed or injured, and Brother Xiang was also seriously injured... When I saw him this time, although his life was saved, he had lost all his martial arts. I heard from the doctor that even if his life is saved now, he probably won't live for a few more years... We have been friends for more than 20 years, and Lao Xiang's martial arts and swordsmanship are far superior to mine. I didn't expect it to turn out like this..."
"The world is dangerous... and there is blood on the blade..." Li Ji drank a sip of wine silently, not knowing how to comfort him.
"Yes, although the salary for being a bodyguard is good, a general is bound to die in the battlefield, and a clay pot will die by the well. This is fate..." Old Guo wiped his eyes and continued, "My brother Xiang was born in the north. This sword manual was taught by him..."
"Why? Doesn't he have brothers, nephews, friends or apprentices? Even if he is from the escort agency, it shouldn't be difficult to find a young man with potential, right?" Li Ji asked puzzled.
"You don't know, my brother Xiang is a solitary man. He has never been married in his life. He has no children or apprentices. In Zhiyuan Escort Agency, he is the only one who gets along well with me. I guess he probably came here from the north to avoid disaster... As for the escort agency, hehe, there are intrigues and factions everywhere. How can there be any people with simple hearts? Even if they are good people, they will be corrupted within two years of joining the escort agency..." He stared at Li Ji, "Before I left, brother Xiang entrusted the sword manual to me and asked me to find a talented young man to pass it on, so that those idiots in the escort agency don't have to worry about it... I'm giving it to you, which can be regarded as a favor to you..."
The wine lasted until noon. Li Ji returned home, washed his face with cold water, and began to study it eagerly. Liuhe swordsmanship has six styles in total, namely, one is to combine heaven and earth, two is to combine yin and yang, one is to combine qi and body, one is to combine the heaven and earth, one is to combine the mind and intention, and one is to combine the power... In the whole set of sword styles, there is no specific method of stabbing, chopping or cutting.
The emphasis is on how to maximize the power of the internal qi. There is no doubt that this is a rare and superior swordsmanship, which is very different from the several garbage swordsmanships that he has collected in the past year. Li Ji does not value the moves. This attitude comes from his 17-year fencing career in the previous life and is deeply rooted. In his opinion, flashy moves and routines are the cancer of swordsmanship. Even those so-called unique skills are useless if the wrong time is chosen. For example, Chu Sancha's three consecutive strikes were too deliberate, and the intention of using the big moves was obvious. It is meaningless to use unique skills in this way.
The essence of swordsmanship lies in speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness. Speed means that the opponent cannot react in time, accuracy means that the opponent can break through the opponent's tiny defense loopholes, and ruthlessness means the penetration power that is enough to break through the defense. With these three points, you don't need to learn those so-called moves at all, and you can still kill the opponent. Li Ji has always adhered to the fighting concept of his previous life, but in this new world, due to the emergence of internal strength, he must also change.
For example, speed, Li Ji has basically achieved the extreme of this body, but this is only pure muscle strength. How to cooperate with internal strength to make the speed reach a higher level is still unclear to him. The first move of Liuhe Sword Technique, Yihe Tiandi, seems to be able to solve this problem. This point is clearly written in the sword book. Qi starts from Yongquan at the bottom of the foot, passes through Chongyang and reaches the knee eye and calf nose to continue the Qi, and then goes up to the waist and abdomen to strengthen the Qi, and stirs the Tianshu through Neiguan, Waiguan, Quchi, Taiyuan, and cooperates with the muscles to lead the sword with Qi, which is as powerful as thunder. Those with high skills can let the sword Qi overflow... Li Ji was itching to release the sword Qi. He dared not think about it. He would be satisfied if he could be faster and the sword was powerful enough.
Li Ji knew very well that there was a major flaw in his fight with others, that is, his body movement was too single, and he could only advance and retreat. This was a bad habit left over from the previous life in the sword competition. It was really not easy to change it. In other places like Cixi, if he changed to other places and met a real master, this habit might be fatal. The third move of Liuhe Sword Technique, Circulating Qi and Harmonizing the Body, is a good way to train how to apply internal energy in physical techniques. It's just like a pillow when you're dozing off...
"Yes, that's right. When practicing from now on, I will focus on Harmonizing Heaven and Earth and Circulating Qi and Harmonizing the Body. As for the other four moves, they seem a little profound, but I'm afraid I can't understand them now..." Li Ji made up his mind.