"Morning," Lin Chen's mother spoke out loud from the kitchen as his sister walked into the dining room while rubbing her eyes, still feeling sleepy after waking up early.
"Morning…" She replied in an unenthusiastic and exhausted tone as she sat down next to her dad, who was drinking his morning coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Here you go." Lin Chen's mother brought a cup of coffee to his sister, who grabbed it from her hands and took a short sip before placing the cup on the dining table and leaning back, stretching both her arms as she grunted.
"Don't make noises," Her father took a sip from his coffee cup as he spoke, and she shrugged her shoulders in response. "Where's brother? Isn't he up yet?"
"I don't know." Lin Chen's father responded while shaking his head before turning his attention back to the newspaper. His mother also shook her head. "It is strange. He usually is up by now. Is he getting lazy?"
At the same time, in Lin Chen's room.
"Ugh!!" Lin Chen grunted, squinting his eyes as he concentrated on circulating his internal energy through his meridians in an even manner so as to stabilize its chaotic nature, after which he could begin the meridian clearing process.
The golden threads of morning light entered Lin Chen's room through the window, passing through the curtains, which added an orange glow to it. The light touched Lin Chen's face, giving him an orange glow as well.
[ Isn't it enough, kid? You've already prepared the blocked meridian to be ready for opening up. Should you be spending so much time on stabilizing your qi first? Aren't you wasting the effects of the tablets? ]
The boar demon's voice was heard in Lin Chen's head. He sounded concerned. And his concerns weren't without reason either, as Lin Chen was continuously cultivating throughout the entire night without any rest.
Lin Chen had spent the whole night slowly chipping away at the blocked meridian, getting it set up to be cracked open within a single cultivation cycle. And now that it was finally ready to be cleared, Lin Chen turned his focus towards his internal energy, which was now behaving in a chaotic manner, partly due to the effects of the tablets and partly due to the unhinged manner in which he utilized his qi to attack the blocked meridian.
'Boar demon!' All of a sudden, Lin Chen called for the boar demon's help in his mind.
[ So you finally need my help, huh? Well, you've got it, boy!" ]
The boar demon knew exactly why Lin Chen was calling him. It was finally time for the meridian clearing process!
Whoosh!
As soon as the boar demon finished speaking, Lin Chen's eyes opened wide, and his pupils became crimson red. His body began to emit a dark and demonic aura, and the atmosphere surrounding him suddenly turned cold.
'Just a bit more!' Lin Chen could feel a sense of comfort that almost made one wish to cry out in satisfaction, saturating within his body as the boar demon lended him its powers, and a rush of blood went straight to his brain.
His entire body felt incredibly comfortable, as if it was about to take flight, and Lin Chen could feel that the meridian was close to completely opening up.
All of a sudden, Lin Chen could feel the rush of internal energy moving through his body like a hot air current and flowing down the new meridian like the gentle spring rains, spontaneously creating a new pathway for qi within his body.
"HAAAH!! YES!!" Lin Chen was ecstatic as he felt his qi pool expanding rapidly.
He had successfully cleared five meridians!
One had to say, Lin Chen's original body possessed really bad potential to begin with. And yet, Lin Chen had successfully cleared his fifth meridian before the completion of the final test, and he did so by utilizing the harsh mindset that he had developed during his time as a dark sorcerer and sticking to his crazy training regimen from his second life, which helped him correct the mistakes that he had made in his first life. The results were instantaneous.
The original pathetic E-Grade talent result that he had received in his first life would definitely have improved with the clearing of his fifth meridian. He could now be considered a D-Grade, or perhaps even a C-Grade, if he attained a perfect score in the rest of the trials.
After a few more seconds of stabilizing his qi by repeatedly circulating it through the fifth meridian, Lin Chen leaned back and landed on the floor with a long sigh and a faint smile on his face. With the clearing of the fifth meridian, he had now created a divergence in his future. He had changed the path that he was intended to take by carving out a new one in his second life; a path that is better than what his previous two lives could offer. A life that wouldn't end in failures and regrets.
"Hahaha, who would've thought that the hellish training that I endure would help me in such a way!" Lin Chen's mind was full of various thoughts at the successful completion of him taking this step. "I didn't think that I could be this excited about something!"Perhaps it was because he hadn't experienced an achievement that he could be proud of in a long time, but Lin Chen was momentarily overwhelmed with emotion.
[ You sure did well, kid… ]
The calm voice of the boar demon echoed in his mind, causing Lin Chen's eyes to widen. "Boar demon!" He spoke in a tone filled with gratitude. "Thank you for your help! I couldn't have succeeded in clearing the fifth meridian without your support!"
[ Of course you couldn't have! ]
The boar demon spoke with a proud tone, but Lin Chen could also feel a hint of exhaustion in his voice. Perhaps he was tired from lending Lin Chen his power?
"Lin Chen!" His mother's voice interrupted Lin Chen's thoughts, snapping him back to reality, and he turned to look at the clock.
"Ah shit! It's already the next day?!"