The days of confinement seemed to stretch on for an eternity for Michael. His days consisted of brutally refining his meridians with the Qi he accumulated and arguing with Archie. Fortunately, his sanity was spared with the company of Elena.
On the third day of his confinement, Michael made a breakthrough. His meridians which had been torn and repaired almost 10 times began to give off a red glow, indicating he had stepped into the third phase of his refinement. He opened his minds-eye and peered into the throbbing meridians.
Archie appeared beside him and looked on with an approving look. While the two would often argue, he was proud of Michael's ability to withstand the pain and suffering of the gruelling refining process.
'This is usually the cap of what normal cultivators reach within the Qi condensation stage' Archie said flatly.
'I forgot to ask, what is the benefits of refining the meridians into the Celestial grade?' Michael asked questioningly. He knew that he would need to reach at least the silver tier to be able to withstand the overwhelming Qi from the Qi-Boosting pill, however nothing more than that.
In his narrow view, the more he refined his meridians then the more Qi he could contain. Yet if his cultivation level was substandard, there would be nowhere to store this Qi. He couldn't exactly ask his opponents to wait for 5 minutes while he meditates and gathers enough Qi to utilise them.
Seeing his master ask a valid question for once, Archie had to hold himself back from making a snide remark. He straightened his posture before saying 'Master, the Celestial Meridians or "Upper tier" meridians provide a number of benefits, even to someone with a low cultivation.'
He continued, 'Let's take for example a first layer Qi condensation cultivator with the "lower tier" meridians. If they were to execute a fist technique, they would first need to gather the Qi from their Dantian and project it to the meridians in their arms.'
Michael nodded, although he knew no techniques currently, he was aware in theory how Qi would be utilised to perform them.
'Well on average, it may take the cultivator a breath of time to activate this fist technique. Pretty fast right?' Archie grinned.
'Yeah I guess?' Michael replied, unsure of Archies point.
'Well what if the cultivator didn't have to retrieve the Qi stored from his Dantian?'
'Then theoretically it could be instant right?' Michael responded.
'Exactly!' Archie jumped up enthusiastically. 'Much like the Tyrannical Dragon meridians, the Celestial meridians allows the cultivator to store Qi within them. And depending on how well refined, or what level they are, dictates how much Qi can be stored.'
'Holy shit! Is that even allowed?' Michael cried.
'If I could instantly perform my techniques, that boasts a huge advantage in a fight. It could even be the edge between victory and defeat' he lauded.
Michael's mind began to race, thinking about all the benefits of achieving the Celestial meridians could garner him. His trademark greasy grin appeared on his face as he began to stroke his bald chin.
"Heh ehehe hehe" he chuckled like a typical villain.
'Oh shit I've lost him' Archie said, watching his master go into one of his trances. The first time his master had entered into one of his "trances" was when he told him about the Eternal Pendant's three dimensional realms. He had learned that if he disrupted him without a good reason it would lead to a severe tongue-lashing.
After a few minutes Michael finally ended his trance, he was in a good mood. He turned to Archie and asked, 'Why do cultivators usually stop at the red tier?' he asked.
'Well the Upper tier Celestial meridians are not common knowledge. Not to mention the pain of refining meridians, they also take a tremendous amount of time if refined the normal way.' Archie explained.
Michael nodded, thinking back to the pain he had gone through. 'When can I start on refining my meridians to the silver tier?' he asked
'I'm ready whenever; however, you will likely need to break through to the third layer of Qi Condensation in order to have enough Qi to refine them again.' Archie said with a difficult face.
'Third Layer?' Michael yelled. 'I can't even stay in the first layer! How the f*** do you expect me to get to the third?' Seeing his hopes and dreams crash in front of him, Michael's good mood receded like the tide.
'This is where it gets tricky, usually after accumulating enough Qi one can step into the second and third layers. However, your case is a little tricky.' Scratching his head, Archie stated the obvious.
'Thank you for your insights', Michael said sarcastically.
Archie poked his tongue out playfully at his master's quip before saying 'If you can't accumulate Qi then you'll just have to get it all at once.'
Michael's eyebrow raised at the suggestion before Archie continued 'Just get some low-tier spirit stones, as long as we can get enough it should be easy to reach the third layer.'
'Spirit stones… again.' Michael complained. He already needed 4000 low-tier spirit stones to purchase a pill furnace and Earth-fire stone so he could refine the Qi-Boosting pill. Now he would require them to refine him meridians also.
'Are you sure there's not a spirit stone mine in the Eternal Pendant that you're not telling me about?' Michael asked offhandedly.
Archie laughed 'There is no spirit stone mine in the pendant. Not yet at least' he said.
'Not yet at least?' Michael was shocked at this phrase, 'Do you mean?' He looked at Archie with wide eyes, not believing what he was hearing.
'You heard me.' Archie smiled widely.
'Heh eheh hehe'
'And I lost him again' seeing Michael once again enter one of his trances, Archie decided to retreat into the pendant.