Over the next few days, Tianlong continued to notice the cultivation process of old Zhan.
The bandit was formerly an expert who was just a step away from Yin Yang cleansing. As such, his meridian pathways had almost become corporeal.
It should be known that meridians were just pathways through which the internal qi flowed inside the body, they didn't have any physical form like blood veins.
Only upon reaching Yin Yang cleansing would one be able to create spirit veins that give the meridians a physical form. This helped cultivators to form a natural connection with the five elements.
The nature of the spirit meridians would heavily dictate the future cultivation path of their cultivator. Someone with ice veins would find it easy to cultivate cold qi; someone with solar veins could extract the essence of sunlight; thunder veins gave their cultivator innate control over lightning. There were many different spirit veins each with its own miraculous properties.
The semi-complete spirit veins of old Zhan radiated a light aura of earth qi. If he ever reached Yin Yang cleansing, he would find it easier to cultivate earth techniques.
Its presence wasn't surprising because corpse devils used to spend the majority of their time sleeping underground. The great earth was like a mother. One was born from her and unless one achieved immortality, one would return to her embrace.
If Tianlong could find some enlightenment on these earth veins, he might get the opportunity to cultivate earth techniques.
Unfortunately, they were all heavily damaged. Due to this, not only was old Zhan's progress extremely difficult, a considerable amount of spiritual energy would leak out every time he circulated his cultivation base.
Old Zhan was destined to never achieve Yin Yang cleansing in his lifetime. Even if by some chance he managed to reach it, he would forever be stuck in the first vein creation.
Thus whenever old Zhan cultivated, he needed to give excessive care to his foundation. However, Tianlong could care less about old Zhan's foundation.
By making him forcefully refine all the human blood elixir in the pot, Tianlong propelled old Zhan's cultivation all the way up to the seventh layer of Qi condensation in just two days. The crippled foundation was even more damaged.
Judging by how old Zhan's meridians were leaking energy, Tianlong calculated that the man would drop from the seventh layer to the fifth layer all within a few months. If he continued to increase the cultivation at such a breakneck speed, the man would eventually lose all his cultivation and become a mortal.
But even if he became a mortal so what?
Old Zhan was already dead. The thing left behind was just his husk.
Tianlong was using this husk to see the intricacies of the Qi condensation realm. Old Zhan was just his lab rat.
Upon seeing his actions, many would say that he was just wasting his time.
The Qi condensation was the most simple realm of Qi refining. It could all be summed up in two words – Gathering energy. As simple as that.
So was there any need to go to such lengths for finding hidden details within it?
While eating, one didn't need to know how their digestive system worked.
While riding a ship, one didn't need to know why a piece of metal floated on the water when given accurate designs.
Similarly, people didn't need to spend their time pondering how the cultivation system worked.
The path was pre-established by others, one just needed to walk. Very few of them stopped in their tracks and thought about its complexities. Who created the path? How was it created? And where does it lead?
Although their breed was rare, people who asked these questions were surely there. Their critical thinking and unending thirst for knowledge created the civilisation of today. Humanity's foundation was built upon their blood, sweat, and tears. The same could be said about all the other races.
But once the cultivation systems were discovered and established, people took them for granted and rarely tried to improve them. In their world where vicious beasts ran asunder and everyone madly pursued after immortality, strength was what determined their survival. Martial merits overshadowed everything else.
Yet here he was. Instead of raising his cultivation base or practising his battle arts, he was just studying how others cultivated.
He had his reasonings.
His biggest being his mother's illness.
The same mysterious flower vine which was wrapped around his heart was also responsible for her condition. Previously, she acted as its carrier. Then it changed its target to Tianlong when he was in her womb.
From what he was able to discern, the flower had some extraordinary origins. The fear of getting exposed kept them from seeking a physician's help.
This was one of the reasons his father couldn't take them to his clan where experts were abundant. People see through them in a heartbeat.
After he was born, his father visited many doctors to heal his mother. None of them could remove the problem without knowing its cause. Unfortunately, doing so would expose them.
Helpless, he decided to join a sect in Holy Suzaku which was known for their healing and medicine arts.
And now it was him who had fused with the flower, yet he knew nothing about it. For him, it was like a sword hanging over his head.
Whenever he refined his qi, much of it would be absorbed by the flower. He had no control over its action. For all he knew, the flower may very well decide to absorb his entire cultivation one day.
The very notion of leaving his and his mother's fate in the hand of something unknown disgusted him.
If he wanted to wrest control over his life, he needed to understand what he was fighting against.
He needed to figure out how the unknown lifeform affected him and what was different between himself and others. He was the patient and he also needed to be the doctor.
As a result, he started studying the biology of cultivators. It was both for him and his mother.
He knew that the chances of achieving positive results were slim, and death might be his final outcome.
All of his work might be for nought. Maybe he'll achieve nothing.
After all, this was something that his parents couldn't solve, so how could he?
However, if he didn't do anything, he would always be at the mercy of the unknown.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. The frail minded cowers at the length of the journey and doesn't take a step while the determined walks the path slowly and steadily.
And thus he researched and experimented.
It yielded some immediate results.
He found that the way qi circulated inside himself and old Zhan had some minor differences. It was similar yet different.
On an ordinary Qi condensation realm cultivator, their internal qi would flow through the twelve principal meridians. Each of them was connected to an internal organ that formed a Yin Yang pair.
Although the locations and size of the meridians might differ among the races, their functions were absolutely the same.
Hence, he was shocked to find that, unlike the others, his Qi seemed to flow in a slightly different pattern.
People's notion of what they considered normal or ordinary was shackled with by their worldview. Having awakened as a Qi refiner away from the watch of his parents, he perceived all Qi refiners must cultivate the way he does.
Sometimes it took an outsider's perspective to see a complete truth. Only after carefully comparing himself with someone else was he able to find the difference.
"This phenomena would've been immediately exposed if I became a Qi refiner back in front of them.
"Hm, this certainly isn't the effect of dual refining. Blood qi and Spiritual qi differ in nature. The former won't affect the latter. Certainly, the flower is the culprit…
"But why didn't it affect my blood when I reached Blood surging realm? Does it not feed on blood qi? Or is it that I'm affected and still do not know?
He wrote all these questions on a parchment.
The current most pressing matter was finding out how did the flower affect him. He needed to save himself first. Only after he was safe, could he think of saving others.