Waking up in the familiar bed inside of the Dusty Heights, Qing Shan marveled about how great it was to sleep in a bed. While he had never really had a bad sleep sleeping in the Primal Water, there was just something about sleeping in a bed that made him more satisfied than anywhere else.
Leaving the tavern, Qing Shan turned to the left, looking up and the large 2nd Layer Wall. Today he would go and see his Master, as he was told. However, Qing Shan had no clue how he was going to do that. Qing Shan knew that Master Liu's range of telepathy easily eclipsed the entire city, so maybe he could ask for help?
Qing Shan closed his eyes, and mentally called out for his Master.
'Master, I have come back. Please transport me to you, I do not know how else to travel back up to you.'
Surprisingly, Qing Shan got an immediate response.
'Ah, boy, I was wondering when you would call for me. Yes, I can transport you here. But could you walk to the Layer Wall and place your hand upon it? I don't think you would want anyone to see you disappear right out from the middle of the city.'
Qing Shan agreed with his Master's sentiment, and placed his hand upon the Layer Wall. Suddenly, Qing Shan felt the wind Qi within him fluctuate, and felt his body quickly rising. Before he knew it, Qing Shan was standing in the air, close to the top of the wall. Turning around, Qing Shan realized that he was right at the same point as his Master's transparent wall. Just as that thought ran through his mind, Qing Shan was pulled through the wall. It felt strange, like he was moving through mud, but untouched by it.
Qing Shan emerged from the wall with a faint 'pop' and he opened his eyes to see the scenery that had been the place of his original training. Qing Shan saw the cave wall with his Master's shrine, and saw the green, ethereal figure of his Master standing in the middle of the room.
"Welcome back, my disciple."
Qing Shan bowed.
"It is good to be back."
Qing Shan and Master Liu then broke into laughter. Such formality was abnormal for them.
"Well, I can see that you have made a lot of progress over the last year and a half. For someone who did not rely on external resources, only one year to have five breakthroughs is simple amazing. While there are greater geniuses, and you probably relied on my pocket dimension, you are definitely up there in terms of speed of advancement."
Qing Shan nodded. He did not know how he was in comparison to others, but even he could tell how abnormally fast he was advancing.
"Not to be rude, but is there any specific reason that you called me here, perhaps something to do with advancing to the origin realm?"
"Not at all, You have always been in a rush to know what is going on. You are correct. I have called you here to teach you how to break into the origin realm quickly, and with higher benefits than most."
"I knew it would be something like that! You would not be the type of person to call me here to catch up…"
Master Liu chuckled at that.
"So what is it exactly that is going to help with my advancement?"
"I am glad you asked. I am going to teach you how to do something that comes naturally after your breakthrough to Origin Realm; how to control Qi outside of your Energy Channels."
Qing Shan's jaw dropped. He had never really thought about it, but he knew that Origin Realm cultivators could manipulate Qi outside of their bodies. And a lot of times the Qi was connected to a hand, or some other extremity. Since the Energy Channels only covered the torso and the head, of course cultivators were able to move the Qi out of their Energy Channels!
All of the books that Qing Shan had read on cultivation, which were admittedly few, never mentioned moving Qi out of the energy Channels. Now, with this one sentence from his Master, Qing Shan felt his horizons expand. If the Energy Channels were only used for Qi Circulation, and the rest of the Qi was spread evenly throughout the body, there would be so many more possibilities! For instance, Qing Shan would be able to enhance multiple parts of his body at once, or even focus the enhancement to one point; it would be like he was enhancing a finger instead of a whole arm!
Qing Shan immediately walked over to his Master, his eyes bright with energy. Learning a skill like this forcefully would certainly take a lot of hardcore training.
Unfortunately this proved to be incorrect a few minutes later, when Qing Shan was given his first instruction.
"Now, enter the pocket dimension and meditate in the Primal Water. Feel the inside of your body, and try to make your Qi escape the constrains of your Energy Channels."
'…'
Qing Shan sadly grabbed at his locket, and started to mediate in the Primal Water. He felt kind of put off that right after his first time talking to his master personally in over a year, he was just told to go meditate.
However, Qing Shan had long since learned that listening to Master Liu would bring about miracles, be them small or large.
He sat down in the Primal Water, the water up to his chest while he was sitting down. He assumed his mediating position, crossed legs with good posture, and linked his fingers together in a way that helped him to think. He then closed his eyes and delved deep into his mind.
Qing Shan began to scan his body with his mind, and delved into his Energy Channels. He focused on his Qi and started to circulate it. Once he had the Qi rotating at a constant speed, he began nudging it against the outside of his energy Channels. He remembered the time when he had created his Energy Loops, and decided to do something similar. When he had created his Qi loops, he had just used his Qi to forge a pathway for the Qi to move. However, his Energy Channels had not been nearly as strong then as they were now. Back then, he had just created his Energy Channels, and they were still much more pliable.
So, maybe Qing Shan just had to somehow replicate that.
'Wait. That won't work. Master Liu said that I had to bring the Qi outside of my Energy Channels, not expand my Energy Channels.'
With that thought, Qing Shan was back at square one. This would definitely be harder than he had thought.
Qing Shan kept his mind focused on his Energy Channels, and started moving around his Qi. He kept pushing his Qi toward the walls and trying to pierce through them.
At the end of the day, Qing Shan fell asleep inside of the Primal Water, no progress made at all.
Even throughout the entire next week, Qing Shan made no progress other than figuring out what it was that was not correct. The worst thing was that Qing Shan was starting to run out of ideas. He had tried everything he could think of at least ten times, and nothing seemed to work. Qing Shan decided that he would take the rest of the day as a rest, and go talk to Master Liu in the morning.
Because Qing Shan still had to keep up the illusion of training, he sat down like he was meditating, and even cast his mind toward his energy channels. However, Qing Shan stopped circulating his Qi and just sat there, watching his Qi just float in place within his Energy Channels. He watched as his Qi began to gather more heavily around his Major Vessels than his Minor Meridians, and more heavily around his Minor Meridians than his Qi loops. He noticed that every area in his Energy Channels was completely covered with Qi at every time, and that the Qi was just thicker in different areas. Qing Shan noticed that the Qi was always humming around, moving a little, and never staying in one place. Unfortunately, this did not really have any meaning to Qing Shan.
That night, Qing Shan exited the Primal Pocket dimension, and walked up to his master.
"Master Liu, I cannot understand how I am to expel Qi from my Energy Channels. I know that I am not supposed to expand my Energy Channels, which I have an idea of how to do, but the walls of my Energy Channels are to thick, and the Qi cannot puncture through…"
"Boy, who said that the Qi had to puncture through your Energy Channels. Better question, why do you think there are walls around your Energy Channels? If you really think there are walls, which way are you looking at them? Because if you are only looking downwards on something, than how do you know what is beneath the top-view? I can tell you that everyone imagines their Energy Channels differently, and there is no real wall of solidified Qi or muscle in the way of your Qi. If I had to guess, this 'wall' of yours is merely a Circulation habit. Perhaps you initially imagined a wall so that that your circulation would stay on track, and that is preventing you from realizing this thing that is actually really easy."
It took Qing Shan a second to comprehend what he had just been told; his Master had really just dumped a lot of information of him…
As soon as Qing Shan realized what aster Liu had said, his hand immediately flew toward his locket.
Qing Shan decided to forgo sleep for training after the explanation that he had just gotten from his master. He dove into his Energy Channels, and tried to change his view of the system. Before, he had been thinking of his Energy Channels from above, like a map. After Master Liu's explanation, Qing Shan decided try to think of his Energy Channels three-dimensionally.
He 'zoomed-in' until he was imagining himself standing inside of his Energy Channels, looking at it Like a long hallway. Qing Shan looked to the right, at the outer wall of his Energy Channels and started to attack it mentally. He was no longer trying to force Qi through the wall, he was not trying to destroy his image of the wall, so that there was no longer anything to stop his Qi.
Qing Shan launched his fists at the wall, and stabbed holes in it with all of his strength. He was no longer the kid that was a virgin to battling, a kid who could barely even fight. This Qing Shan was more powerful than even his mind.
Qing Shan soon found out that destroying your own ideas was really taxing, and took a very long time. In one week, Qing Shan had only managed to make holes in the one wall of his Energy Channel. His goal was to make these holes in between each and every one of his Minor Meridians.
And almost two months later, Qing Shan finally managed to achieve this goal. His energy channel was now encased in walls with holes dotting each and every pathway. The Qi flow still stayed in the same pattern as before; unlike Qing Shan had feared, this change made no difference to his Circulation.
Now that Qing Shan had opened his Energy Channels to the rest of his body, it was not hard for him to move Qi out of his Energy Channels and into the rest of his body. Unfortunately, while Qing Shan had overcome his first hurdle, he had run into another. As soon as the Qi left his Energy Channel, it dissipated from his body, and into the air. As of now, he had no way of preserving his Qi inside his body.
What would he do to fix this problem?