Volume 2: Water Moon Cave Chapter 7: Bone Touching, Qinglong Temple
There are many types of bone-touching techniques, but most of them are based on experience .
The bone-touching technique taught by Su Yan is more advanced, as it uses true Qi to detect meridians.
Normally, humans have twelve main meridians, eight extraordinary meridians, and a large number of complex meridians dependent on these two.
In a healthy person, all twelve main meridians are open, and it is good if one or two of the eight extraordinary meridians are open. Most of them are completely blocked as people age.
Moreover, even the meridians that are open are different.
Some people have broad and strong meridians, while others have narrow and fragile meridians.
When it comes to cultivating true Qi, the former is obviously more suitable.
Meridians exist between the human body's bones and membranes (not skin), and are collectively called bone collaterals. Therefore, the most direct way to detect meridians is to touch the bones.
This is the origin of bone-touching.
After Mu Chunhua learned the bone-touching technique from Su Yan, she had practiced it with three or four generations of disciples from Wuji Dao, so she was not awkward in performing it on this young man.
She was seen putting her hands on the boy's shoulders, first touching his arms, then his back and the sides of his legs.
As soon as the young man showed an unnatural look, Mu Chunhua had already finished touching him and looked pleased.
She turned around and said to Su Yan and Su Yi: "This boy is indeed sixteen years old, and his physique is excellent!"
True Qi can detect bone age, which is the first step in bone palpation.
Mu Chunhua confirmed that the boy had not lied about his age, and that he had an excellent physique and a good character. It could be said that Wuji Dao had made a good start in recruiting disciples this time, so she was naturally delighted.
Su Yan and Su Yi were also quite happy to hear this.
Su Yi immediately took out a book and a brush, and came over to ask, "What's your name? Who's in your family? Where's your hometown?"
Wu Yue took out a white flour bun and handed it to the boy.
The boy took the steamed bun and swallowed his saliva, but still said patiently: "My name is Han Qing, my parents are both dead, and I only have one brother. My home is in Wuling."
Wuling is one of several barren mountainous counties in northern Yunnan.
After hearing that Han Qing only had one younger brother, Mu Chunhua said, "From now on, you are a disciple of our sect. Go and bring your brother here. We will treat him."
Han Qing left and came back a short while later with a boy of seven or eight years old, followed by a dozen or so children in their teens.
"Lady, they are all homeless children who fled here with me. Most of them are of the right age. Could you please help test them?" Han Qing said to Mu Chunhua.
Seeing that Han Qing seemed to be the "leader" of these dozen children and showed his leadership talent, Mu Chunhua was even happier.
She said with a pleasant face, "Okay. But since you have joined my sect, you should call me elder."
Han Qing was stunned for a moment, then immediately bowed and said, "Thank you, Elder!"
Mu Chunhua glanced at the boy Han Qing was holding and said, "The one with white hair is my master, who is also the supreme elder of the sect and is proficient in medicine. Take your brother to her for a checkup."
In addition to the elders, there was also a supreme elder, which made Han Qing inexplicably feel that the nameless sect "Shuiyuedongtian" became mysterious and great, and he had more trust in it. He nodded and carried his brother over.
Su Yi has been tortured by the alien innate true qi in his body for more than twenty years and has been injured frequently. He can be said to have become a doctor through long-term illness and can indeed be said to be proficient in medical skills.
She felt Han Qing's brother's pulse and said with a smile, "Don't worry, your brother just has a weak spleen and stomach, and has a stomachache. When we return to the sect, give him some medicine and he will be fine after a period of recuperation."
On the other side, Mu Chunhua and Wu Yuejin were busy touching the bones and distributing steamed buns to the children who followed them.
When the children of the nearby refugees and beggars saw this scene, they all gathered around.
Just at this time, Li Ru and Xue Xiuyi also came back, and they were responsible for maintaining order and persuading those who were obviously not of the right age to leave in advance.
According to Su Yan's instructions, the minimum standard for recruiting disciples this time is to have decent physique and average comprehension.
As for character, it is difficult to determine on the spot, so as long as it is not the kind of person with obviously bad character, we won’t care.
Therefore, when Li Ru and Xue Xiuyi came back, Wu Yue took out a book and was responsible for testing their comprehension.
The book she was holding contained some diagram-based questions. Even if one could not read, one could answer the questions based on the diagrams.
Wu Yue will randomly select five questions to ask. Those who answer all of them correctly will be considered to have excellent comprehension, and so on. Those who answer all of them incorrectly will be considered to have extremely poor comprehension.
As for whether one has extraordinary comprehension, it is difficult to draw conclusions through such a simple test.
Therefore, anyone who passes Mu Chunhua's bone-touching test and answers at least three questions correctly in front of Wu Yue can be considered a candidate to become a disciple of Wuji Dao.
After the recruitment is completed, Wuji Dao will select 30 people as the fourth generation of disciples based on the specific number of people, their background, literacy, etc.
Of course, these people are just ordinary disciples. As for the status of true disciples, it will only be awarded to disciples who have outstanding character, aptitude, comprehension and even other aspects after being observed in the sect for a period of time.
After more than an hour, Wuji Dao had recruited more than forty people.
At this time, most of the children and teenagers in the vicinity who met the requirements had come for the test, so Mu Chunhua and others were free.
Then Mu Chunhua and a few others selected a dozen of the forty-something people whose parents were still alive and who had poor roots and comprehension, and gave each of them a steamed bun and sent them away, leaving only thirty people.
After asking Li Ru and Xue Xiuyi to look after these thirty people, Mu Chunhua came to Su Yan and Su Yi.
"Grandmaster, Master, since it is easy to recruit disciples here, and we need to rest in the city tonight, why don't we recruit another morning tomorrow, select the best, and then return to Shuiyue Cave Heaven."
Su Yi said: "Okay, but you have to make arrangements for sending those children away tomorrow."
Hearing this, Su Yan sent a message to the two of them: "Thirty people is not a fixed number. We will see the situation tomorrow, and it doesn't matter if it exceeds the limit.
Those orphans have no worries and are most suitable to be trained as members of a sect. Even if they cannot learn martial arts, they can do other things, such as being trained to be craftsmen, shop managers, etc.
You must understand that we will not hide in the mountains for too long. We will need manpower in all aspects when we come out of the mountains to rebuild the sect in a few years. Instead of recruiting people then, it is better to train them now, which will be more reliable and useful."
"Master has profound thoughts, and I understand." Mu Chunhua nodded and went back to continue touching the bones of the children who occasionally came.
After a while, Mu Chunhua and others noticed that several people dressed as Taoists were walking straight towards them.
These Taoists wore Taoist hats with round brims and high brims. Their Taoist robes were made of brocade and embroidered with intricate patterns in gold and silver threads. Their clothes were quite gorgeous.
After arriving in front of Mu Chunhua and others, the bearded Taoist priest in the lead waved the copper whisk inlaid with gold and jade in his hand, and his eyes first swept across the cloth banner beside him, then swept across the swords on the waists of Mu Chunhua and others, and then fell on Su Yan and Su Yi who were wearing hooded cloaks behind them.
When he realized that he could not see Su Yan and Su Yi's faces, he withdrew his gaze and said, "Shuiyuedongtian? I have never heard of this sect. Where are you from? Don't you know that Longshan County is the territory of my Qinglong Temple?"
Mu Chunhua smiled and bowed, "So you are the Taoist priest from the Qinglong Temple outside the city. We are new here and have not paid you a visit. This is indeed a bit rude. But we are only recruiting some disciples from the refugees this time, so it shouldn't be a problem for your temple, right?"
Mu Chunhua had been to Longshan County more than once, so of course she knew Qinglong Temple, the only martial arts sect in Longshan County.
But in Mu Chunhua's eyes, Qinglong Temple was just a small and insignificant sect, so naturally she didn't think about doing anything with it.
They never thought that their recruitment of disciples here would cause Qinglong Temple to intervene.
The bearded Taoist glanced at the figures of Mu Chunhua, Wu Yue, Li Ru and Xue Xiuyi again, and an evil light flashed in his eyes.
He sneered, "No problem? Who in Longshan County doesn't know that our Qinglong Temple regularly recruits Taoist boys and young nuns from these refugees ? Now that you have picked all the good ones, do you want us to recruit the ones that are left over?"
Mu Chunhua frowned slightly, but asked with a smile, "What does the Taoist want?"
"What do you think?" The Taoist with a beard smiled in a lewd way. "Give us the child you recruited, and then go to Qinglong Temple together to apologize to my temple master, and we will let you go."
