Ao Lei had bamboo pipes full of sand tied to her arms and calves, holding two one-inch thick and three-foot-long bamboo poles, waving them in various movements, He Zihan did not prescribe the way for her to dance the bamboo poles, she groped for her own dancing in various ways, at the beginning, she felt that her hands and feet were very heavy, and after practicing for a while, she became more and more accustomed to it, and her movements were more free, and later, as if she was not tied to the bamboo pipes, she could swing the bamboo poles freely.

Finally, when Ao Lei took off the bamboo pipes on her arms and calves, she danced the bamboo poles, and there was a feeling of flying through the clouds, it was too light, and she knew that her master had asked her to practice like this to prepare for the next step of swordsmanship.

After practicing in this way, He Zihan asked Ao Lei to take the plum blossom pile again.

On a flat ground on the mountain behind the "Burial Valley", there are seven bamboos that have been cut off, these seven bamboos are about three inches thick, three feet three inches long on the ground, the distance between the seven bamboos is three feet, and a seven-star map is formed between them, He Zihan calls them "seven-star piles".

According to He Zihan's instructions, Ao Lei walked on the bamboo stake every day, at the beginning was walking at a slow pace, and then, the speed of walking was getting faster and faster, after walking for a while, He Zihan asked Ao Lei to walk on the bamboo stake "plum blossom step", cross her feet forward, cross back, turn around, continue to walk forward and backward with forked steps, and walk on the pile in the shape of a five-point plum blossom.

Sometimes, He Zihan will also go to the plum blossom pile, and Ao Lei together, on the "plum blossom pile", the two walk on the bamboo pile, you chase me, echo left and right, open and close to a degree, the pace of walking is varied, but it seems flexible and not chaotic.

Walk on the "plum pile". It is far more difficult than walking on the ground, you need to have a standing posture, steady steps, stereotyped power, and a degree of telescopic contraction, if you are fast and do not maintain your balance, you will immediately fall off the pile.

Walking the "plum blossom pile" is very important for practicing good footsteps, if He Zihan asked Ao Lei to dance the long and short bamboo poles before in order for her to practice the kung fu in her hands, then. Now let her walk the "plum blossom pile" just so that she can practice her foot kung fu. The items that Ao Lei practiced seemed to be a bit chaotic, but they were actually trained according to He Zihan's systematic requirements.

After practicing walking the "plum blossom pile", He Zihan asked Ao Lei to practice breathing. She told Aulei to spend a certain amount of time each day burying her head in the valley's stream. And. It is best to bury your head in the stream for longer and longer periods of time each time to practice the time of holding your breath.

Ao Lei's performance in this exercise is very good, after practicing for a while. Being able to hold his breath in the stream for half a cup of tea, He Zihan was very satisfied with Ao Lei's practice.

After that, He Zihan asked Ao Lei to practice qigong breathing and began to learn how to practice qi.

According to He Zihan's request, Ao Lei sat on the rock covered with bamboo leaves, sat upright, her back was straight, she exhaled deeply, inhaled slowly, and when she exhaled, she paid attention to leading the abdominal and waist tendons to relax, and slowly exhaled while loosening the waist and abdomen;

He Zihan emphasized to Ao Lei: "When practicing breathing, whether it is exhaling or inhaling, you must not deliberately exert too fast or too violently, nor too slowly or hold your breath, but you must be soft and smooth. ”

Ao Lei has comprehended, but has not been able to understand it very deeply, she said: "Master's meaning is that the apprentice understands, in the process of breathing, the apprentice will understand more and more, and the apprentice must study and practice hard according to the master's requirements." ”

"It is very important to practice the breathing method, and in the future, you will master the 'Xuannu Youyun Sword' to pay attention to static braking, to overcome rigidity with softness, to retreat as advance, and to take advantage of the momentum, which requires that you must be able to maintain peace of mind and calm in the cultivation of internal strength, that is to say, you must nourish qi with emptiness, refine the spirit and return to emptiness, and always maintain a 'void and quiet' state of mind in your heart. He Zihan said.

"Master, what kind of state of mind is this 'void quiet'? I don't understand, so please explain it carefully!"

"'Void quiet' is from the Taoist founder Lao Tzu's proposition, Lao Tzu put forward that the main purpose of Taoist cultivation is 'to the void, keep quiet', that the world is originally empty, quiet, the essence of all things, but also the highest spiritual realm pursued by man, if people can maintain the 'void quiet' state of mind, they can achieve ignorance, no desire, no action, no self. Lao Tzu believed that in order to maintain a 'quiet' state of mind, it is necessary to be able to eliminate a qiē distracting thought, and he proposed a method of 'purifying the mystery', requiring people to remove a qiē distracting thought, so that the mind is empty, and the inner peace and clarity are maintained. Later, Zhuangzi, another important figure of Taoism, gave full play to Lao Tzu's idea of 'emptiness and quietness' and put forward the view of 'being empty and quiet', believing that the state of mind to be 'humble and quiet' is a kind of 'heart fasting', a state of 'sitting and forgetting', forgetting all things in the world, forgetting one's own existence, staying away from the world's one-qiē cutting interests, not being disturbed by selfish desires and distractions, feeling the Tao of the world with an ignorant, desireless, and non-seeking mentality, reaching the state of unity of things and self, and entering the realm of self-forgetfulness. He Zihan explained.

"It seems that this 'Xujing' still has a rich history, and it is an important theoretical proposition of Taoism, does this have anything to do with practicing martial arts and swordsmanship?" Ao Lei asked.

"In fact, 'emptiness' is not so difficult to understand, 'emptiness' refers to the emptiness in the heart, and 'quiet' refers to the state of mind to be indifferent and keep one, that is, to 'nothingness is not subject to, and there is nothing to be left to be still', through the long-term cultivation of the soul, so that the state of mind reaches a state of extreme emptiness and tranquility, the Taoist way of health shows that people have reached the state of 'void and quiet', they can 'not recognize it, it is silent and odorless, and the name is Xiwei, only this is the true and wonderful book, people can see through, and immediately know the opportunity'. That is to say, ignoring any interference from the outside world, not having any mustard in our hearts, not being affected by any distracting thoughts, and not hindering anything, so that we cannot hear any sound, smell any smell, concentrate on oneness, be unremitting, understand the truth, understand the truth, and understand the mystery of reason. ”

"Master, does it mean that 'humility' means to keep your heart absolutely quiet, not wanting to, not listening, not hearing, not asking, just listening to your own heart?" Ao Lei asked.

"That's right, you can already understand some of the truth of 'silence'. In fact, although 'Xujing' is a Taoist theoretical viewpoint, it is of great significance to martial arts. The mentality of 'humility and quietness', when practicing to dissolve the strength with qi, the practitioner usually relies on the true intention to use it inside and outside, with the intention of going against the qi, the operation of the inner qi is the most important, and the power used in the movements of the hands and feet, if there is nothing, if there is nothing, if there is no luck, if there is no intention, if there is no intention, the intention is to be in a seemingly unintentional but intentional, seemingly inadvertent, but in the way of the intention to lead the qi in the whole body, when the mind and qi energy are integrated, you can achieve oneIn the state of 'emptiness', at this time, the body and mind are completely forgotten, the mind is relaxed, and the will, qi, strength, and strength can be combined, so that the movements of martial arts can be brought into full play. He Zihan said.

"In other words, only in the state of 'silence' can martial arts be brought into full play, the strength will reach the maximum, and the punches and swords can be more lethal, right?" asked Ao Lei.

In fact, the average martial arts practitioner pays attention to the fast and slow, and the strong and weak, but this is not the real mastery, the real clever martial arts master, but the importance is to overcome the rigidity with softness, When the general martial arts practitioner holds his fist to meet the enemy, he is often anxious like fire, his blood is surging, and he is eager to knock down the opponent with a punch, but when the master of martial arts faces a strong opponent, he can be calm and calm, he is often quiet and waits for work, so that the enemy can move first, but he can strike later, take advantage of the situation to build momentum to resist the enemy. If you can be in an empty state of mind, no worries and no thoughts, do not care about victory and defeat, and put life and death outside the degree, you can be one and the same, the mind is amorphous, there is no fixed move to become a wonderful move, the action or swordsmanship, fast or slow, or soft or rigid, or hidden or exposed, or forward or retreat, such as flowing clouds, continuously, such as the tide of Qiantang, the waves are higher than a wave, so that the opponent can not recognize the move, no way to respond, no parry, no place to retreat, feel everywhere uncontrolled, this is ' The martial arts tricks brought about by the 'quiet state of mind'. He Zihan explained.

"To practice to this realm, right and wrong are very difficult, real martial arts masters, there must be very few, it can be seen, to achieve the 'quiet' state of mind, it is not so easy!" Ao Lei said.

"Of course, it is difficult for ordinary martial arts practitioners to reach the 'Void Quiet' state of mind, but we must strive to achieve that state of mind, only by forgetting the direction of the 'Void Quiet' state of mind, the level of martial arts will always improve, those martial arts masters who have reached the refinement of the gods and the state of mind are mostly open-minded, open-minded, humble and courteous, not in a hurry, and especially like to argue with others. Clever martial arts masters, often do not care about what is at stake, do not care about the view of the door, do not be competitive, do not bully the weak, can love and help each other when meeting colleagues, can be compatible with each other when encountering opponents, and can look at them indifferently when encountering reputation and status. He Zihan said.

"'Void Tranquility' is the master's spiritual realm, beginners like disciples, can only learn how to calm down the mind, how to persevere in learning and practice, how to improve when practicing martial arts, how to realize the true meaning when reading, how to better understand the subtleties when listening to Master's teachings, and to pursue the state of mind of 'Void Tranquility', I'm afraid it will be a matter of the future, Master, you still teach your disciples the most basic methods of calm!" Ao Lei felt that her master's words were too subtle and not easy to understand, and she needed a method that she could practice now.

"Actually, just now I asked you to bury your head in the stream and hold your breath, which is already teaching you the basic method, and then let you learn how to adjust your breathing, which is also a practice method, and then, the master will teach you the secret of practicing internal strength, and you will improve very quickly. He Zihan said. (To be continued......)