Impatient to test out his new cultivation level, Cao Yun left his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation.
"Young Master Chen, congratulations on your breakthrough." Huang Cixi was waiting for him a little higher.
As there were still some spirit stones left in the array formation, Cao Yun proposed her to take his place.
"Mei Yuzhi, you could still cultivate in there for an hour or so."
"But, these are your spirit stones." Once again, Huang Cixi was surprised by the generosity of Cao Yun. In the array formation, there were five spirit stones.
"They are almost depleted. Go down, I'll stand guard while stabilizing my breakthrough, do not worry." While speaking, Cao Yun almost pushed her toward the array formation.
She reluctantly agreed and began to cultivate. Her cultivation level was pretty weak as she was a middle 3rd-grade Mortal. When she had asked to join the Wubei Sect, she was still a 2nd-grade Mortal. But she trained intensively to reach the 3rd-grade. And thanks to Cao Yun's help during the beginning of the year, she had progressed pretty fast. In a matter of months, she could probably break through to the 4th-grade.
When she began to cultivate, she felt the Qi density around her. It was at least ten times higher than what she had ever experienced. Her cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds within the array formation. Even though she could not absorb Qi as fast as Cao Yun, this was still four to five times faster than her usual cultivation.
On his end, Cao Yun was sitting cross-legged. He kept his senses active but a part of his mind was busy feeling all the changes within his own body.
When the last spirit stone crumbled to dust, Huang Cixi left the array formation. "Thank you, Young Master. This was extremely beneficial."
Cao Yun stood up. "Don't sweat it. You should go back and meditate on what you just cultivated. Try to really feel the Qi pulsating in your Lower Dantian. And it could also be useful to divert a small part of your intent to feel your vessels. Even though you did not train them yet, some Qi should still be flowing in them. The sooner you feel it, the faster reaching the next level will be. But don't focus too much or you risk to make the Qi you accumulated leave your Lower Dantian to flow through your vessels. Only focus on the natural flow of Qi to try and feel your vessels."
"I understand. Thank you for you advice." The girl bowed and they parted ways.
Cao Yun wanted to try his martial arts now that he had broken through.
-
He went back to the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. This time, he started with the 8th-grade Mortal setting without any weapon. His body took the blunt of the shock waves. Without using 'Forging the Fort', he could sustain a dozen of them. Then, he shifted to using his Qi to strengthen his body and resist longer.
Finally, he took his 'Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'. When he got to the 9th-grade Mortal setting, he realized that this became a bit too easy for him. Thus, he took the decision to up the setting up to 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. This change got everyone's attention. A Mortal against the strength of a Mortal Warrior was something to behold. With Cao Yun's reputation, many thought he could sustain it, but they never saw him do so. Many disciples just stopped their training to watch him.
The force was way stronger than the 9th-grade Mortal setting. Cao Yun did not try to resist with his body because he felt that his bones would break if he did. Even with his spear, each wave made him feel as though his hands would split. However, he circulated his Qi in them and the pain almost disappeared.
People were really astonished by his session. Even though the array mimicked the strength of a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, it wasn't the same thing as fighting the real deal. After all, a cultivator would not mindlessly attack with the same thing over and over again. The greatest advantage of the Mortal Warrior realm over the Mortal one was Qi Manifestation. Their martial arts could literally manifest physical phenomena thanks to their Qi.
When Mortal cultivators fought, they were able to move nature around them thanks to the circulation of their Qi within their bodies, just like an array formation. However, their Qi never actually left their bodies. The difference was huge on their fighting prowess. Resisting this setting did not mean that Cao Yun could fight against a Mortal Warrior. However, it meant that he could probably fight on equal footing against a 9th-grade Mortal.
Seeing as Cao Yun could stay within the array formation for so long, the disciples soon understood that he had broken through. After all a 5th-grade Mortal could not sustain this setting for so long, no matter how talented they were. Some kept looking but Cao Yun did nothing extraordinary.
He stayed in the array formation for an entire hour and had no problem at all. His reflexes were a bit faster. In fact, his mind was just as fast as before but his Qi responded faster to his commands. As time passed, he focused more and more on the third star that was slowly condensing in his sea of consciousness. Since his breakthrough, he felt that it was going to change very soon.
In the end of his training session, Cao Yun tried out the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior setting. As the force wave hit him, he was able to deflect it at the very last moment but the spear almost left his hand. He tried two more moves and was forced to focus on his technique as much as possible, unable to rely on his body or his Qi too much. Suddenly, an explosion echoed in his sea of consciousness. The third star had fully materialized. It was a white star as big as the Neck Star. Cao Yun tried one last move and stopped because he felt that his grip would really let go of his spear if he kept going.
After leaving the building, he went back to his room to observe the third star. Focusing his mind, he realized that this was not one star. There were two stars. The second one was four times smaller and was almost eclipsed by the bigger one's light. Straining his senses even more, he saw that both of them were binary stars. This third star system was the Root Star. It pertained to defense and was composed of a total of four stars.
By focusing on this star, Cao Yun did not see the vague image of a dragon. This star had just been forged and he still had to understand its profundities to extract its moves. Its appearance was a good surprise for Cao Yun. But to get the moves from the star, he would probably need a month or two.
Anyway, he had gained a lot of benefits today so he meditated on those.
-
The week was soon over and the weekly training of the first-years was today. Chief Instructor Peng was still putting them through the same training. In the first part of the day, they were whipped with the turtle tail in order to guide their Qi in their vessels. As everyone was gathering, the instructor in charge of Cao Yun touched his shoulder. Cao Yun felt a surge of Qi within his body. In his mind, he immediately thought that this was an attack.
He had discovered a conspiracy against him within the sect so he got scared. Fortunately, he soon understood. The instructor was only looking at his cultivation to check his level. Indeed, the instructor was only a Mortal Warrior so he could sense Qi but he had no spiritual senses. As such, he had seen that Cao Yun's Qi had changed but could not confirm whether he had broken through or not.
"Chen Guo. You've broken through?"
The instructor was a bit surprised but nothing much. When he enrolled Cao Yun was already a middle 5th-grade Mortal. Reaching the 6th-grade could take from one year to two depending on the cultivator. But Cao Yun had taken around three months to break through. That was relatively fast but not unheard of.
"Yes, Instructor." Cao Yun had no reason to hide anything. Several disciples heard their conversation, including Sun Liao, Ren Chao and Mei Hua.
"Brother Chen, you're a 6th-grade Mortal?!" When Ren Chao yelled out, everyone heard of the news. Murmurs spread throughout the training grounds.
"Silence!" Chief Instructor Peng's voice shut up everyone. "Are you so lively that you want us to train you even harder?"
"No, Chief Instructor. We're sorry, Chief Instructor." Everyone was of the same mind on the subject. If they let him train them harder, they may not be able to move for two days.
Chief Instructor Peng stared at Cao Yun.
"Chen Guo! Come here! Everyone else, start the training!"
Cao Yun was accompanied by his instructor, but Chief Instructor Peng told him to take care of this session in his stead. After that, he also sent his Qi throughout Cao Yun to sense his exact condition.
"Good, good! Your cultivation is not rushed at all. Your vessels and meridians are perfectly connected and very sturdy already. Your natural flow of Qi is intense. You have a great foundation for the rest of the Mortal realm. You should know that the first realm is also called the Foundation realm. Many people try to break through too fast and neglect their foundations. But if you do, you'll hinder your future progress.
So, tell me Chen Guo, do you want to know how to rush forward or are you ready to consolidate your basis even more?"
Cao Yun knew that the stronger his foundation was, the higher he could go afterwards. "This disciple is ready to listen to the Chief Instructor."
"Good, good! Our Wubei Sect has a technique specialized in reinforcing the meridians. You know that there are 8 Extraordinary Vessels and 12 Standard Meridians. But of course, there are many other meridians. You have the 15 connecting collaterals linked to the 12 standard ones to harmonize the overall health of the body. You have the 8 divergent collaterals that go deeper within the body from the standard ones. You also have the 12 muscle meridians that go from the 12 standard ones to the surface of the body, nourishing the muscles. Finally, there are also 4 cutaneous meridians on the surface of the skin.
The most important ones may be the 15 connecting collaterals because they create a complex web of connections between all meridians, but the other ones are also useful for your cultivation. If you train the 12 muscle meridians, you will strengthen your exterior body and if you focus on the 8 divergent collateral, you'll strengthen your innards. However, very little cultivation method talk about them. Indeed, they require a lot of effort and pain to be trained effectively and they're not essential to advance forward.
So, my question is simple, do you wish to suffer through my personal training or are you satisfied with going the easy way?"
Chief Instructor Peng took out a turtle tail and whipped the air right before Cao Yun. A powerful sonic boom echoed in the training grounds.
"I'll have to use much more strength to hit the meridians deep within your body. The pain will be great, but you'll see many benefits. It reminds me of the time this woman hit me with..." As a grin appeared on his face, the burly man stopped talking.
"I probably shouldn't talk about that. What's your decision?"
The decision was obvious for Cao Yun. In fact, he had read about all these meridians in the 'Cultivation of Slaughter'. By using the 'Dance of Slaughter' and the blood of 3-core demonic beasts, it was possible to activate them easily. The main problem was that Cao Yun would have a hard time finding enough blood to train himself. Being a first-year, he could not leave. Perhaps, he could ask Zhi Yin to bring some back, but 3-core demonic beasts were very powerful so the quantity would always be low. On the other hand, if he had a middle Mortal Warrior help him by infusing his own Qi within his meridians, this would be perfect.
Then, he would only have to focus on gathering Qi in his Lower Dantian, condensing it and balancing out the elements within.
"I want to train all my meridians, Chief Instructor."
"Good, good! Usually, only second-years train this way and they need to use their merit points to have enough time with an instructor. But since you have free trainings as a first-year, we'll do that instead of the 'Turtle Whips the Channels'. This technique is from the 'Coiling Turtle' and is called 'The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'. When your 15 connecting collaterals will be trained and infused with Qi, you'll be able to circulate your Qi through new pathways, increasing the speed and strength of your martial arts. Now, get in position."
Chief Instructor Peng showed him the first position and proceeded to beat him up with the turtle whip. There were much more positions than with the 'Turtle Whips the Channels' as it trained 39 meridians and not just the 8 Extraordinary Vessels. Each time Chief Instructor Peng whipped Cao Yun, the turtle tail broke the sound barrier. The pain was extreme but Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to divert his thoughts toward his meridians. He felt very thin canals being bombarded with intense surges of Qi.
Each time, a new part of the canals swelled up as Qi got into them. The pain both on his skin and deep within was hard to sustain. Thanks to his mind cultivation it had subsided greatly. However, the benefits were real indeed. These meridians were not deemed as useful because they connected acupoints already on the 12 Standard Meridians. However, they allowed the Qi to follow other pathways and also nourish both organs and flesh.
So they would not help Cao Yun to break through again, but they would increase his overall strength. His training lasted a bit longer than usual as he had more meridians to work on. After this new training, Cao Yun followed the chief instructor to train his body as usual. This time, he had the chief instructor himself help him out.
Of course, his training got way more intense than before. First of all, he had reached a new cultivation level so he needed heavier weights but his meridians were also full of Qi. He had to disperse the Qi through his body to balance out his internal organs. The new weights he lifted weighed between one and two hundred dan, almost ten tons for the heaviest ones.