The message that i just heard in my mind, the pain that i barely felt and it disappeared as if it never existed, the heat I'm currently feeling inside my body, what to make of it all, if i hadn't gone crazy, then what could that had just happened and was currently happening be called ? .
As i was wondering of this, i saw that i was suddenly engulfed in a big shadow from behind me, without even turning, i saw that huge shadow strike my backbone with his palm, i thought that i could have offended him somehow, so Guardian Li was taking such an aggressive action towards me .
But soon i found that i was wrong, the shadows of the two of us on the floor confirmed this, he wasn't attacking me with his palm, even though i felt his palm was quite rough .
But the moment he put his palm on my back, i felt that the heat in my body began to subside, it was being eroded by a more gentle force suddenly invading my body through that palm on my back .
In a short span of seconds, the heat in my body had completely vanished, i was still staring with an opened wide mouth at the shadows on the ground and my whole body once again was spooked out, but it wasn't from the thought of Guardian Li attacking me, that thought already vanished from my head the moment that fast landing palm landed peacefully on my back .
I was completely scared from the fact that i just now tried to practice the Martial Techniques in the booklet even though the book itself mentioned that i needed to not being hasty about training without guidance first and Senior Brother Fu warning me of something similar earlier .
Noticing how grave the mistake i just made, i directly bent forward and bowed down to the Senior Brother in front of me and apologized to him for not listening to his advice .
Sigh, you new guys always do such reckless thing on your first time seeing Martial Arts, i don't know why all of you have death wish, just let it go, nothing bad happened luckily thanks to uncle Li intervening in time, nothing bad happened, be grateful for him .
I turned my body to face the man mentioned still in bowing position and thanked him from the bottom of my heart, the guy just helped me up without uttering a word, i was surprised when he suddenly raised his hand in the air, i thought i was about to get reprimanded harshly, but then he patted me on the shoulder and began saying loudly :
Good guy, old Lu's vision must have seen something special about you, i wouldn't have expected that lustful guy to be able to bring such a good seedling to the Dojo .
Seeing him like this, i didn't know how to react and that guy patting began to really hurt my shoulder, i couldn't help but notice that the message from before didn't appear, after i was beginning to get hurt from all the patting that i kept on getting on my shoulder .
So i was beginning to believe that the message was nothing but my imagination playing tricks on me, i suddenly had a sense of deja vu assaulting me as well as the pain my shoulder currently in, for now i pushed those thoughts aside and turned my head to ask for Senior Brother Fu's help, just to see him looking at me with a shocked face, similar to the one i had before .
But luckily seeing me looking at him, seemed to have awakened him from his shocked state, he cleared his throat and began saying in a contemplating tone :
What's going on uncle Li, i hope you can enlightened me about what is going on ? .
He asked a question instead of helping me out, but fortunately his question seemed to direct Guardian Li's attention towards him and as a result he stopped patting me and began saying :
It's merely a speculation for now, disciple Tian, did you see pictures of the Marital Technique when you closed your eyes just now .
He suddenly looked at me as if waiting for answer, i was about to refuse, but i suddenly heard the Senior Brother crying out, saying and his face with pale as if had seen a ghost :
Uncle Li, can't possibly mean ? .
Yes, that's exactly what i speculated he had just now, else how would you explain him being able to execute up to the 4th posture just now, even though his form wasn't that great, no doubt about it, he was able to execute up to 4th posture .
If i didn't have a clear idea about this guy background, i might think that he was already taught this Martial Art Technique before, but since i know and seeing the state he was in before, he must have had a sudden Enlightenment, answer me Tian Long, did you or did you not ? .
They were going back and forth with this conversation and i wasn't even able to point out my thoughts on the matter or comprehend what they were even talking about, what Enlightenment .
What Martial Arts being displayed, i was closing my eyes trying to sense and sync my breathing rhythm with my movements, unconsciously due to the interference of the yearnings the original Tian Long had towards Martial Arts, what enlightenment, this was all just an accident .
Seeing him staring at me so intently and remembering his previous words, i couldn't help but nod myself at him in an awkward fashion, i didn't want him to suspect me just when I'm beginning to some extent get along with him and thinking that Enlightenment didn't seem to be a bad thing, i decided to play along with them and just accept what they were suggesting .
At my answer, Guardian Li cold face seemed to be holding a bit more warmth to it now as he looked at me, he was going to continue patting me again, but his hands patted the air, i had already took advantage of him conversing with Senior Brother Fu and got away from him .
Junior Brother Tian, you had a good name, i hope you found it in your heart to forgive me, just now i was the one that interrupted your Enlightenment, I'm willing to accept any punishment you want to inflict on me .
I saw senior brother Fu calling me from behind and the moment i turned back to face him, i saw him bowing down almost touching the ground with his head and saying that he was sorry, i got a bit embarrassed at him doing this and a bit at myself for lying, so i hurriedly tried to pull him back up, but who was i to compete with him in strength, i couldn't budge him even a little bit, so i was forced to say :
" Please raise up Senior Brother, you have already helped me plenty today, what about my Enlightenment getting interrupted, i completely don't mind, so please don't beat yourself up for it, I'm already satisfied with what i managed to get .
At my words he finally seemed to be able to forgive himself and raised himself back up and i saw that his eyes were actually beginning to turn red, not from tears, but he was really angry with himself over it, he let out a long breath of air and finally explained to me why was he reacting in that way, he said shaking his head :
You are reacting as such just because you don't understand what Enlightenment was since you are new to Martial Arts and all .
Enlightenment is a profound, trance-like state, in that sudden state you may gain incredible Insight to techniques, or your own path of Martial Arts, things that other are still stuck in bottleneck about, it had that effect on Martial Artist it allow them to break through bottlenecks .
It could help them even in increasing their mastery over their skills, helping them to gain a massive boost in power as a result, by aligning their mind, body, and spirit with their intentions and actions, but how difficult for a person to be able to do that, people wishing for that state to happen to them at all costs and i just cost you to miss it with my intervention just now .
As he said those words, he seemed to be struck with guilt again, after hearing his words, i really wished that i haven't nodded just now and began cursing myself for that, it was indeed a magical state, too magical that i wished that i could really have experience it just now .
But I'm quite certain that whatever i was doing just now it had nothing to with that magical state at all, so i really didn't feel much about him startling me like this, in fact if anything, I'm glad that he did so, my whole body was aching for a second there and i didn't even did the 15 postures and one i regained consciousness of what i was doing, i was feeling like my body on fire, so he indeed saved me just now .
Some might be able to attain a short version of Enlightenment through dedication in their pursuit of their goal, but all of those versions are not even closing to holding a candle to the real Enlightenment, that was one of the reasons to why he was beating himself like this over it .
That State is desired by many, but also achieved by none, IT'S An Epiphany Ethereal State That Were Said To Be Met But Never Pursued, You Might Yearn For It But You Might Never Get The Chance To Experience It a Second Time, unless by using special kinds of Heaven And Earth Treasures, item that not to mention you, or us here in the Dojo, but even those members of the Royal Family can't get their hands on, that's the other reason he is beating himself like this .
Surprisingly the one who explained this to me was none other than Guardian Li, seemingly wanting to express his sympathy and tell me about why was senior brother Fu acting like that, after I absorbed all these information in, i came to the conclusion that achieving Enlightenment is completely up to your fate and destiny whether you like it or not, but for now i continued to comfort the still beating himself over it Senior Brother .
I will compensate you, i will supply you with 10 herbal ointment and after you enter the Flesh Tempering Realm first layer, i will give you a 10 Flesh Tempering Pills as an apology, it's nothing much, but i still wanted you to accept them .
Nephew Fu, that would make your master angry if he know that you will be distributing the resources he gave you for your breakthrough to the next Realm like this .
Hearing what Guardian Li said, i also followed right after saying :
" You really don't need to do this senior brother, your gift is really precious, so precious that it might be a heavy burden for me to have, I'm really satisfied as things are, so please reconsider senior brother .
Guardian Li reacted surprised at my words but said nothing about it, the person who spoke was none other than the senior brother Fu, he said after contemplating :
So let's do it like this, i will give you the same amount of ointment for you to be able to practice steadily without worrying about the side effects of practicing the Solid Rock Fist Manual and once you breakthrough to the first layer of Flesh Tempering Realm, i promise to give you 3 Flesh Tempering Pills .
You don't need to say anything more, uncle Li, I'm just compensating him for my own sake, i don't want any regrets on my Martial Arts Path to be left unsolved, i took a chance from him, it seem just right to compensate him, i will ask the family for money, so that should cover the bills needed for my practice, i hope you don't tell master .
Guardian Li was about to say more, but was stopped by the words of senior brother Fu, i also tried to refuse again, my conscience was even a worse enemy to fight than that Lu Si, i was unworthy of receiving his kindness, at least not that type of kindness that might harm his practice .
Just as i tried to persuade him not to do so again, he raised his hand, gesturing me to stop saying anything more, i didn't say anything else, but just accepted his kindness and carved the kindness and this debt i owed him in my heart, vowing to return it and tenfold more if possible, i cupped my fist and once again thanked him, but he just shook his head at me and seemed to be still lamenting about it .
I'm surprised you guy isn't angry about such a wasted one in a lifetime kind of opportunity, I really am beginning to see why Old Lu think highly of you, the wealth he is willing to you can't even worth anything in front of that opportunity, even i would be angry if someone had interfered with my chance of Enlightenment, but you seem more composed than even the two of us, i can't tell if it's ignorance or you really are unbothered by it in the slightest .
If i was able to confess that what i had before wasn't an Enlightenment, i wouldn't have been put in such an awkward situation, i also can't confess that i was lying before, can i, so I remained silent making the atmosphere now even more awkward, especially with the big debt that i felt myself owing to that Senior Brother of mine .
I don't know about the value of that ointment, but it must be quite good to allow me practicing Martial Arts more frequently without worrying about side effects, i don't know what is the effect that Flesh Tempering Pills have, but from the reaction of Guardian Li, i can tell that they were quite valuable, enough for Lu Jiu to risk his life for getting it .
Luckily Senior Brother Fu seemed to be aware of the awkwardness that i was currently feeling, he returned to his normal attitude from before and said with an big smile :
Uncle Li, you previously accused me of talking too much, but guess who had talked today more than he did in the past 3 years .
Hmph, you two guys have overstayed for long enough, now get going .
Seeing that the atmosphere had changed, i couldn't help but ask about the most important question in my mind currently :
" I hope Seniors can tell how much time do i have left ? .
The both looked at the incense sticks at the window above the mat that Guardian Li sat on before, i followed their gaze and saw that there were a stck and half missing, meaning that from the whole 2 incense sticks of time i had before, i only have half an incense stick left, 5 to 7 minutes at maximum .
But that discovery shocked me to the core, i thought that it had been only over a few minutes, 10 minutes at most, so seeing the actual time that was left, shocked me .
To the point that i bent down to the book that was on the ground in a hurry and closed it in one swift action, it made my elder brother chuckle and Guardian Li just snorted at my action .
You only have half an incense stick of time, how much you are able to benefit from the gift of Uncle Li completely lay on your efforts, i will try help you filter some of the Martial Arts Skills that i know, but tell me this junior brother, how many pages did you understand and how much time did it took you ? .
" How many pages, i can say that i had stored the whole content of the booklet in my mind, i can't recall how much time it took me exactly, but at most 3 to 4 minutes, i believe .
" Huh, what's with your reaction ? .