Once they arrived at their quarters, Elena took a seat on the couch and motioned for Michael to sit across from her. He hesitated for a moment, but eventually took a seat, still feeling uneasy.
Elena cleared her throat and said, "Alright, Michael. I'm waiting for an explanation."
Michael sighed deeply trying to collect his thoughts, he wasn't sure if he could trust Elena; someone he had only just met for a couple of days. Archie was useless as usual, not giving one good suggestion throughout the day.
"Can I trust you?" he said softly, locking gazes with Elena to get an accurate gauge on her reaction.
Seeing Michael stare deeply into her eyes caused her cheeks to flush red reflexively due to her originally timid nature. She held his gaze for a moment before nodding gravely and replied "Yes, I won't tell another soul. It's not like I talk to many others here".
"Okay good." He nodded, happy with the response.
'Wait, you're not gonna tell her everything are you Master?' with an almost shrill like scream, Archie asked.
'Shut up, adults are talking' he chastised.
Clearing his throat he began to describe his affliction, stating that he had become a cultivator no less than 20 times in the past month. Describing the difficulties of breaking into his Dantian again and again, the refining of his meridians as well as his best friend becoming a disciple ahead of him.
He left out anything related to the Eternal Pendant and the happenings of Rigante Village, he was not willing to entrust any information that didn't involve his cultivation issue to someone who he'd just met.
Elena listened intently, she didn't dare to believe the words coming out of Michael's mouth. After every sentence she was waiting for him to shout that it was all a big joke. However, from his mannerisms to the conveyed frustration, she saw no falsehoods in his words. After some time, she was steadily starting to believe him.
Michael finished his explanation and his tense body relaxed, as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He seemed to realise the truth of the old adage that a burden is easier to bare when shared with another.
"So, is that a good enough explanation for you?" he said with mixed emotions.
Elena remained silent for a while, seemingly going over everything in her head and ensuring there were no inconsistencies "Mhmm" she nodded slowly.
"Any questions?"
"I've never heard of a condition like yours before. Does your Dantian have a leak or something?" she asked with a puzzled look.
Archie scoffed 'If it were that simple, do you think Master would still be in this situation?'.
Michael lightly cleared his throat "No, my Dantian is perfectly intact. I've thoroughly checked it after breaking through multiple times."
Seemingly at a loss, Elena shook her head and thought to herself 'What a pitiful person. I don't know what's worse, having no talent to cultivate? Or having great talent and waking up every morning with your cultivation reset.'
She chided herself internally at her earlier envy of Michael, realising that everyone has their own circumstances and not to judge a book by its cover. Perhaps feeling guilty for her previous attitude Elena decided to open up to Michael and confess her own issues in hopes of making him feel better. They say that misery breeds company.
"I-I also have issues cultivating" she stated, "I can't even draw Qi into my meridians, so I don't even know what it's like." She bowed her head in defeat as she admitted this out loud. Vocalising her issues seemed to make it even more real.
"Huh? You can't draw Qi into your meridians?" Michael's ears perked up, this was the first time he'd heard of such a thing. From his narrow understanding as long as one had a cultivation manual and time, even if they had terrible talent they would at least be able to gather some Qi.
Elena shook her head grimly, "No, I've been trying for over 2 years and seen countless Alchemists and Physicians to find out the reason." Pausing for a moment, she continued "But they said they couldn't help me".
'Archie, what would cause someone to not be able to gather Qi?' Michael asked Archie who had been eavesdropping this whole time. Although not reliable in social circumstances, Michael knew that Archie had access to information that may not be available to others.
'Interesting' Archie pondered, adopting a similar stance to that of Michael, rubbing his chin in thought.
'There are two possible situations' he replied 'The first is that her meridians are solidified, not allowing Qi to pass through them.'
'Is it treatable?' Michael asked hastily.
Archie shook his head vehemently 'If her meridians are truly solidified there is nothing we can do about it, she would be essentially crippled'.
'What the hell? What about the second possible situation?'
'Well the second situation is rare, from my memories there is only one case ever recorded in history' he replied seriously. 'Also don't ask me how I know this, the information just appears when you ask the question' he continued matter-of-factly.
Seeing Michael staring blankly and looking distracted, Elena thought that he was depressed. She spoke up "Michael, it's okay your secret is safe with me. I'm not sure anyone else would believe me if I said it out loud anyway" she smiled lightly.
After not receiving an answer, she got up from the couch "Well I'll head off first."
"Ah, yeah I'll see you tomorrow" he replied distractedly. Watching her walk away, he sat back in his chair, intent on hearing Archie's explanation.
'So what is the second situation?' he asked
'Like I said, this has only ever appeared once in history' quickly reminding Michael to not get his hopes up he continued. 'A descendant from one of the 100 survivors of the Human Alliance war was once thought to be a cripple.'
'His affluent family tried everything they could to cure him, searching the lands for renowned physicians and powerful Alchemists hoping to change his fate. Much to their dismay everyone they saw said the same thing, the boy was crippled.'
Archie paused, letting the atmosphere thicken in anticipation. 'The boy decided he didn't want to burden his family any further and felt ashamed to be called a descendant of their powerful bloodline who fought for humanity.'
'He ran away from home and dedicated his life to training, not appearing in the Jianghu for over 30 years. His family hoped he had lived a normal mortal life, started his own family and lived happily. However, one day he emerged in front of his family's gates and bowed for 30 days, 1 day for each year he left.'
Michael was drawn into the story, his laidback posture was now gone, sitting at the edge of his seat.
'Hardly recognising him, his family were overjoyed when they found out his identity and welcomed him back with open arms. Having left for 30 years at the age of 15 he should have the visage of a middle-aged man, however he merely looked like a young man. It turned out that the boy had become a cultivator, changing his fate and overturning the heavens.'
'Wow what the hell did he do?' Michael asked in excitement.
Archie coughed lightly and said softly 'I-I'm not sure'.
'What the F***? What was the point in the story then?' he almost screamed.
'Wait Master, I'm not finished yet. As I was saying, the man came back as a cultivator. His family had obviously enquired on how he managed to overcome his crippled meridians to which he replied that he was not crippled to begin with.'
'He wasn't crippled to begin with?' Michael scratched his head in confusion. 'Then why couldn't he cultivate? I don't understand.'
'Yes well, I don't have too much more information but he had stated the name of his "affliction". Tyrannical Dragon Meridians.'
'Whoa that's a cool name!' Michael thought earnestly. 'It sounds powerful, but what does it mean?'
'I don't know, but judging by the name it was likely that the Qi the man was originally trying to gather was not dense or pure enough to penetrate his meridians in the first place. Therefore, making him and his family think that he was a cripple.' Archie speculated.
'If Elena has this Tyrannical Dragon Meridians, doesn't that mean that she'll be able to cultivate?' Michael asked
'In the highly unlikely probability that Elena has these meridians then theoretically she will be able to cultivate. Not only would she be able to cultivate, she would also likely become one of the most powerful cultivators in Jianghu.'
'Most powerful? Are the Tyrannical Dragon Meridians that strong?' Michael asked with interest.
Archie nodded in earnest 'The man who had these meridians climbed up the Heavenly Rankings and reached the number three spot in all of Jianghu and persisted for hundreds of years.'
'Holy shit that's strong!' he said excitedly. 'So how do we find out if Elena has these meridians?' Michael asked.
'I need to enter her body' Archie said solemnly.
Michael instinctively looked at the pendant hanging from his neck and gulped 'Does she need to swallow the pendant, or worse?' he let his mind run wild.
'No you idiot!' he yelled 'I can enter her body on contact, she just needs to hold the pendant'.
'Oh…' Michael quickly cleared his throat in embarrassment.
'We need to hide the pendants abilities though' Archie said gravely, 'It's one thing that she knows about your cultivation issue, but if anyone finds out about our 3 realms all of Jianghu would hunt us down.'
Archie continued 'How about you offer to check her meridians once you have your next breakthrough. Using that as a pretence you can hold the pendant against her without raising suspicion.'
'Ah yes, that's a good idea.' After thinking a while, Michael decided that this was the best plan of action. He was quite impressed with Archies intelligence which was a far cry from his usual carefree and almost idiotic self.
With that Michael decided to approach Elena tomorrow.