Hearing the commotion, Niu You Dao, who was inside the house, immediately came out.
Hit him and he won't retaliate? He won't dodge and won't seek revenge? Yuan Fang wouldn't believe it even if he died.
He replied earnestly, "Lord Yuan, I truly had no intention of seeking revenge against you."
He thought Yuan Gang was testing him.
Yuan Gang paid no heed, whether he believed it or not. He simply handed him a stick. "Hit me!"
Yuan Fang didn't take the stick. He put his palms together, "Amitabha Buddha, forgive me!" — he still shook his head.
Yuan Gang's face darkened, and he swung the stick. He nearly struck Yuan Fang's ears, the stick stopping right beside them. "If you don't hit me, I'll hit you."
"..." Yuan Fang was speechless. What was the meaning of this? He looked helplessly at Niu You Dao. "Lord Dao, please tell me what to do!"
Standing on the steps, Niu You Dao smiled, his eyes narrowed into slits:
"If he's asking you to hit him, what's so scary about that? A man must keep his word. Calm down. I'll be watching. If he dares to retaliate, run to me!"
"This..." Yuan Fang hesitated. Wasn't this a dead end?
Yuan Gang stood before him with the stick. "I'm saying this one last time. Either you hit me, or I hit you!"
Where else would he hear such crazy demands? Yuan Fang helplessly grabbed the stick.
Yuan Gang stood in the middle of the courtyard and waved him over. "Hit!"
Yuan Fang reluctantly took the stick and tried to strike Yuan Gang several times, but always stopped himself at the last moment.
"Hit!" Yuan Gang couldn't take it anymore and roared.
Yuan Fang realized Yuan Gang's patience was running out and struck him. However, in the end, he still didn't use any real strength, hitting him only lightly.
"Hit with force!" Yuan Gang roared again.
Yuan Fang gradually began to add more force. But Yuan Gang glared at him angrily, as if saying, "Are you toying with me?"
After that, Yuan Fang struck Yuan Gang hard. The blow landed on his shoulder.
"Thwack!"
Who would have known that Yuan Gang would turn and head towards the stones.
He wants to crush me with stones?
Yuan Fang felt a chill and, turning his head, ran towards Niu You Dao:
"Lord Dao, you saw everything. He forced me. I'm not to blame!" he cried, reaching Niu You Dao and pleading with him.
Niu You Dao merely pointed at Yuan Gang.
Yuan Fang froze. Yuan Gang began to shed his clothes, revealing his bulging muscles. Yuan Gang took off his clothes and tossed them into a basket on the stones. He was left only in his underwear, having even removed his shoes. Under the sun's rays, Yuan Gang looked like Apollo. Any girl would be drooling at such a sight right now.
"You're overthinking things. He just didn't want to ruin his clothes," Niu You Dao explained to him.
Yuan Gang looked around and grabbed a relatively small stone slab. He lifted it and struck himself on the head.
"Thud!"
He nearly smashed his own head.
Yuan Fang was simply dumbfounded. He's even that cruel to himself?
Yuan Gang returned to the middle of the courtyard and waved Yuan Fang over. "Again!"
"..." Yuan Fang was speechless.
Niu You Dao patted him on the shoulder:
"Go. He wants you to help him train."
*Train?* After a moment's thought, Yuan Fang understood what was happening.
He now took the stick more boldly and said, "Lord Yuan, don't take offense!"
"Less nonsense!" Yuan Gang replied in a cold tone.
"Thwack!"
Yuan Fang struck him. Yuan Gang's body shimmered, and a red imprint appeared on his back.
"Ugh!" Yuan Gang exhaled. He clenched his fists, and one could see the tendons all over his body straining. He took a deep breath.
"Weak, hit harder!"
*Harder?* Yuan Fang struck again, even harder than before. Only clicks were heard, and the stick broke.
"Keep going!" Yuan Gang glared sideways at him.
Yuan Fang understood why he had brought a bundle of sticks.
Without another word, he approached the bundle, picked up a stick, and struck Yuan Gang again.
The stick broke again.
Niu You Dao, standing on the steps, said, "Bear, if you keep hitting like that, there won't be enough trees on the mountain. Add your own power."
Yuan Fang nodded. He took another stick, infused it with his power, and reminded Yuan Gang:
"Lord Yuan, if anything happens, just say the word."
Yuan Gang nodded, and Yuan Fang struck him again.
— "Weak!"
Another blow.
— "Harder!"
Another blow.
— "Harder!"
Each time, Yuan Fang increased his force until Yuan Gang fell silent.
After that, Yuan Fang continued to strike Yuan Gang at the same rapid pace.
Meanwhile, Yuan Gang sometimes stood in a horse stance, sometimes leaned back, sometimes stretched his arms and legs, and even offered his head for strikes.
Yuan Fang was surprised, yet a gleam appeared in his eyes. He had been subjected to Yuan Gang's beatings for so long, and now he had a chance to get revenge. He moved around him, constantly striking him. Before long, red imprints from the blows appeared on Yuan Gang's body.
But Yuan Gang paid no attention to them. It was as if some reaction was happening inside his body from these strikes. He began to breathe deeply, as if constantly inflating something. And Niu You Dao could clearly see everything.
Inside Yuan Gang's abdomen, a spherical ball seemed to appear, descending into his lower belly with each inhale and rising with each exhale.
And with these movements, Yuan Gang's body astonishingly began to transform.
Those bloody marks on Yuan Gang's body seemed to come alive and began to wander across his form. They moved around him and disappeared in certain spots.
Such a sight would simply terrify an ordinary person.
Seeing this, Niu You Dao narrowed his eyes. For these so-called "small snakes" wandered across his body and vanished at acupuncture points. The bloody wounds were the snakes, and the acupuncture points were their dens!
Yuan Gang practiced Hard Qigong. Niu You Dao had seen such training in his previous life. However, today was different. Here, Niu You Dao realized that Yuan Gang was practicing no ordinary Hard Qigong.
Yuan Fang was also astonished. He, being a werewolf himself, was now looking at Yuan Gang as if *he* were a werewolf!
However, such a scene was truly horrifying. Thankfully, it didn't last long. When all the bloody marks disappeared and his body returned to normal, and the beating had lasted for about an hour, only then did Yuan Gang shout for Yuan Fang to stop.
Lowering the stick, Yuan Fang breathed heavily. Yet he still looked at Yuan Gang as if he were a werewolf.
He was hitting him, yet he himself was tired from hitting.
There was nothing for it. He had to strike neither weakly nor too hard, just enough for Yuan Gang to endure. And he had to strike without stopping. This was difficult to do for an hour. Furthermore, he had to infuse power so that the stick wouldn't break.
Yuan Fang turned his head and also noticed that Yuan Gang hadn't rested either.
He stood there, clenching all his muscles, tensing all his joints and tendons. His bones cracked audibly throughout his entire body. When his whole body had cracked, he relaxed again, and his entire form took on a rosy hue.
Yuan Gang calmed down and went to retrieve his clothes.
Yuan Fang tossed the stick onto the pile and sat down under the awning. After that, he let out a sigh of relief.
When Yuan Gang reached the awning, Niu You Dao handed him a teapot filled with water.
Yuan Gang took the teapot and began to drink.
Niu You Dao: "Your Hard Qigong seems different from before."
After drinking some water, Yuan Gang remained silent for a moment, then spoke:
"Nothing else. I just felt something was off with my body today. It was as if some power wanted to break through, but something was holding it back. So I looked for a place to train. I decided here... It seems I've managed to break through to the next level."
Niu You Dao: "What is your Hard Qigong called?"
Yuan Gang had just displayed interesting bodily transformations, and such a technique certainly had a name.
Yuan Gang froze. "It's called Hard Qigong. What else could it be called? Uh..." He pondered, as if trying to recall something.
Niu You Dao didn't disturb him.
Yuan Gang hesitated. "It seems it's called... our instructor mentioned its name somehow. Hard Qigong... Chi You..."
"Chi You?" Niu You Dao murmured, doubtful. "The Chi You who fought Huang Di in ancient times?"
"That's right!" Yuan Gang nodded loudly. It seemed he recalled something and added, "Our instructor also said that this Chi You fought Huang Di. More precisely, Chi You Wu Fang."
"Chi You Wu Fang?" Niu You Dao repeated.
A strange name. He had looked through ancient records, but he didn't remember this name.