A Mortal’s Immortal Gourd
Chapter 10: Becoming a Disciple and Cultivating

The copper coins in Ergouzi's hands now totaled 24,000—24 guan.

There was a pawn shop in Sanchazi Town that also handled money exchanges, where copper coins could be converted into silver.

The standard rate was one guan of copper coins for one tael of silver.

But the shopkeeper didn’t work for free—he charged a “fire loss” fee for each transaction.

Ergouzi exchanged 10 taels of silver and got charged 500 copper coins. This business actually made more money than farming!

Then he bought an old hen, ten jin of pork, incense candles, and two jars of good wine.

The wine was made from grain, so it cost more than white rice. Each jar held ten sheng, and one jar sold for 600 copper coins. The two cost 1,200 in total.

The cost of becoming a disciple was indeed high—he spent over ten guan of coins in one go.

And in the future, he’d have to keep giving gifts during holidays—not something most people could afford.

Once everything was ready, Master Li the Half-Immortal led him to a small courtyard in town.

The courtyard wasn’t big. Inside stood a jujube tree with finger-sized green dates not yet ripe.

“Come in.”

Inside the main hall facing the courtyard, there were several spirit tablets and an offering table.

Ergouzi carried the pork and other items into the hall and placed them all neatly on the table.

At that moment, Master Li washed his face in a basin, cleaned his hands, then lit the incense and candles and bowed deeply to the ancestral tablets.

He then spoke to the ancestors, saying all sorts of things about how unfilial he was, breaking the ancestral rules and so on.

Ergouzi stood by listening, deeply moved.

Then, under Master Li’s guidance, he performed many complicated rites and finally offered a cup of tea to Master Li.

From that moment on, Ergouzi became his disciple.

“From today, I shall pass on to you a supreme martial art. But I dislike fame, so you must never speak of learning martial arts from me!”

“Yes, Master! I’ll follow your instructions!”

Ergouzi replied respectfully.

“How many characters do you recognize?”

Ergouzi scratched his head and thought for a bit.

“About a few hundred, I guess.”

“Literacy is the foundation of all learning. You’ll have to take it slowly.”

Master Li lightly tapped the table with his knuckles and thought for a while. Then he stood up and dug out a crumpled book from a box.

The book had yellowed with age, many pages were damaged, and even the cover and title were missing.

“This book contains the secret martial arts passed down through generations of the Li family. Let’s use it as your literacy textbook.”

“Today I’ll teach you 50 characters. Once you’ve fully memorized them, come back for the next 50.”

“When you’ve learned all the characters in this book, you can use it to guide your cultivation—two birds with one stone.”

Master Li stared at the nameless book for a moment, then set up ink and paper, picked up a brush, and began to write and recite:

“The lady’s body contains five internal organs and six viscera, externally the limbs and bones, internally the essence, qi and spirit, externally the tendons, bones, and flesh…”

After writing out a long passage, he counted and realized it was 58 characters.

Master Li told Ergouzi to memorize the sheet and sent him home to practice.

Ergouzi clutched the paper tightly, afraid of forgetting it, reciting it nonstop on the way home.

Back at Shekou Mountain, he began practicing by writing the characters in the dirt with a twig.

After two days, he had completely memorized the 58 characters—he could write them, recognize them, and read them—then returned to Master Li for more.

Seeing he was learning fast, Master Li taught him another 85 characters.

In the days that followed, Ergouzi learned dozens of new characters every few days.

He had spent over ten guan of money just for the chance to learn.

Whenever he felt tired, he would think of the ten jin of pork and the shining silver, and be filled with motivation.

Every new character he learned felt like he was earning back a copper coin.

So he never dared to slack off—even a little would be a loss on his investment.

Two months passed this way, and he completed the first chapter of the book.

However, while he could recognize the characters, he didn’t fully understand the text’s meaning.

Master Li, having taken his money, was quite responsible. He carefully explained that the chapter described a cultivation method.

“To first refine the tangible—the organs, muscles, bones, and flesh—and use that tangible essence to nurture the intangible yuanqi…”

Master Li explained until white foam formed at the corners of his mouth, and finally Ergouzi roughly understood the method.

In short, you use the physical body to nourish invisible yuanqi, and once it grows, it transforms into martial true energy inside the body.

Ergouzi went back to Shekou Mountain and began daily practice as instructed.

The training involved taking on many awkward postures, applying force in strange ways—to guide the flow of internal energy.

Then came meditation to cultivate yuanqi.

The strange poses were easier to do. Meditation was much harder.

His mind was full of stray thoughts. Just as one idea faded, another would surface.

Even the act of trying to suppress stray thoughts became a stray thought in itself.

The more he tried to suppress them, the worse it got—he became irritable and nauseous.

But thinking of all the money he had spent, he couldn’t give up. He forced himself to keep going.

However, if the method was wrong, the more effort you made, the further off course you’d be.

After a few days, his mind was a mess, and his expression turned gaunt.

He had no choice but to go ask Master Li for help.

Master Li flipped through the nameless book for a long time, then closed it.

“To master supreme martial arts, you must overcome all hardships. No fear or hesitation is allowed. If it takes more than a few days, then train for three to five months…”

Master Li talked at length—his point was, keep working hard, and perseverance will overcome all obstacles.

Ergouzi had never trained in martial arts before. He figured that all martial artists had to go through this suffering, so he returned and doubled his efforts.

One day, while meditating and struggling hard against the endless thoughts in his mind—

Suddenly, he felt a surge in his chest.

“Ugh!”

“Pfft!”

A mouthful of bright red blood spurted out. His head spun, and he collapsed.

Ergouzi lay on the ground, blood still dripping from his lips, barely conscious.

But he kept thinking about the expensive techniques and his still-distant goal of passing the martial exam.

He couldn’t let go of cultivation, so in his daze, he kept operating the technique as taught.

At that moment, without realizing it, his mind fogged over, all stray thoughts disappeared.

Without distraction, the technique worked smoothly, and a faint current began to form in his meridians.

He lay there motionless, half-dead, while the technique quietly circulated. His entire body entered a mysterious state.

“Gurgle…”

He stayed like that for several hours, until hunger in his belly finally pulled him back from that state.

Ergouzi sprang up from the ground, feeling completely refreshed. All the nausea and frustration had vanished.

He closed his eyes to sense—there was a faint warm current moving gently through his meridians, bringing comfort wherever it flowed.

“Haha! Master was right—if I just keep training diligently, I’ll definitely succeed!”

What he didn’t know was—when it came to starting martial cultivation, trying too hard to eliminate distractions was actually counterproductive.

This accidental breakthrough had allowed his mind to slip into a delicate, elusive state—coincidentally aligning with a profound martial truth.

Without this stroke of luck, and with no true master to guide him, he might never have crossed the threshold—and forcing it could’ve even cost him his life.