Within Cao Yun, the flow of Qi was erratic. His Po character was slowly getting cracked all over as he was losing control of this accelerated Qi. Right now, the only thing he could really do was preventing the dangerous energy from going into his own organs. Thankfully his meridians had been tempered enough with Chief Instructor Peng's training. Otherwise, he wouldn't have broken through, his meridians would have simply collapsed and he would be as dead as the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. Right now, Cao Yun was feeling as though molten lava was flowing through his meridians. The walls of those meridians and vessels were thenakfully extremely resistant and the energy didn't leave them. As he was a Mortal cultivator, his meridians and vessels were still immaterial and a surge of Qi could go through them if it was violent and powerful enough. If that were to happen, given the speed of the Qi in his body, he would die instantly.
Cao Yun couldn't divert any fraction of his mind to stop the Qi from leaving through the twenty acupoints in his extremities. In fact, the Qi was already trying to leave through other acupoints. If it did, these points would be damaged beyond repair. Only the twenty acupoints it was already exiting his body from had been used by Chief Instructor Peng and were more resistant as a result. In fact, his body was naturally using them as an exit because of the habit developed by Chief Instructor Peng when he expanded and retracted his own Qi through them. However, it didn't mean that they could bear the brunt of these waves of energy for very long. And Cao Yun needed to learn how to close them. Otherwise, they would keep on leaking his Qi.
Around him, Mei Hua and Sun Liao used all their perception to gather as much information as possible. As Mortals, they couldn't see the Qi, and just to feel it, they needed to be close enough. However, the intensity and violence of Cao Yun's Qi were so high that it was visible to the naked eye. All around his body, waves of blue hue kept on washing over him. In a few instants, it allowed his friends to understand exactly what was going on inside of his body.
Ren Chao who slowly got up with bleeding forearms was at the very limit of his will. Without his robust Zhi, he would have collapsed from the pain a long time ago. Anyone could literally see his marrow through his wounds. However, he got more worried for his brother than for himself.
"Brother Ren, take it, quick!"
Mei Hua sent him some purple pill she had bought before leaving the Wubei Sect. It was the highest grade she could find in the Wubei Merit Market, a 3-star Human pill. Even she was unable to refine such a pill with her current cultivation. As his sister was giving it to him, Ren Chao did not hesitate and gulped it down instantly. The moment he ate the pill, he felt a nice warmth spread through his wounds. Gradually the pain subsided and the wounds visibly began to close themselves. It would still take more than an hour, but it was extraordinary. This pill was the Golden Threads Salvation pill. It could heal any flesh wound. However, to heal Ren Chao's bones, it would take a bit longer and even more extravagant pills. Thankfully, Mei Hua knew she could count on her master. And she had enough pills to make sure her friend's wounds wouldn't get any worse on their way back.
"Brother Ren, put my arm back!"
Sun Liao's arm was bent and had a huge swelling. Indeed, his bones had been broken in several places. But without his arm, he couldn't do what he wanted. Even with pills, his bones wouldn't naturally get back in place.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Do it!"
Sensing the urgency in his friend's voice, Ren Chao understood he wanted to help Cao Yun. He also understood how critical the situation was. Putting his own pain aside, he grabbed Sun Liao's arm. Just closing his hands was painful with the holes in his bones. But he pushed through the pain and in one brutal move, he put back his friend's arm the right way. Using his left sleeve to bite into, Sun Liao stood the agony. But he ended up kneeling on the floor and panting. His forehead was covered in sweat. With an embarrassed look on his face, Ren Chao was standing above him. Even if Sun Liao had asked him to do it, it didn't feel good to torture his friend.
"Brother, I need you to collect some things." Before he could even register what was going on, Mei Hua kept on asking for his help. "Take the silk glands and the ovaries from this Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. I imagine that Brother Sun will also need its cores. If I'm right, she should also have a pseudo-4-core given her appearance."
"Also take some silk and break her legs. I can use them as a form of flag with some work." Still panting and with a short breath, Sun Liao added some instructions.
Ren Chao didn't know what they wanted to do but he felt the urgency of the situation and the anxiousness in their voices. Thus, he went to work without any protest.
He wasn't an alchemist but Mei Hua gave him clear enough instructions on how to take the parts she needed. At the same time, Sun Liao activated the spatial pouch and Mei Hua immediately gathered her alchemy tools and began to prepare some ingredients. Each time Ren Chao brought her some parts, she began to prepare them as well. It was obvious that she was trying to refine pills for Cao Yun. On the other hand, Sun Liao ignored the pain and began to make some makeshift array formation flags. During their attack of the nest, he had used all of his flags as well as his spirit stones and demonic cores.
In the end, considering how much it had cost them, they wouldn't gain much from their hunt. Thankfully, they had kept some 2-core demonic beasts' corpses. Even though they had used up all their cores, they could still collect important parts.
When Ren Chao was done with the spider's materials, he decided to help Sun Liao with the flags. As a blacksmith, he was way faster with this kind of work.
After almost a stick incense of time, Sun Liao was ready at last. As fast as he could, still fighting the pain, he set up an array formation all around Cao Yun. The moment it was done, the Wei Qi around the young man's body began to stabilize. This was the Solemn Celestial Lake, a 5-star Earth array formation. Inside, it could soothe both the body, the mind and the Qi. Usually, it was meant to meditate and recover from fatigue both physically, mentally and spiritually.
Cao Yun's senses had stopped focusing outside of his body and were fully engaged on controlling his critical situation. And as soon as the array formation got set up, he felt his turbulent Qi calm down a little. Even his Po character was able to breathe a little. It was covered in so many cracks that Cao Yun was fearing that it might crumble at any moment. This soothing sensation was a lifeline in a chaotic sea. It calmed even his sea of consciousness that was still a bit red despite the fact that the Heart Star had slowed down significantly.
Around his body, he also felt that his Wei Qi was becoming more stable. However, there were still waves of Qi leaving through his acupoints. As he wasn't worried about losing control over his internal Qi, Cao Yun could send parts of his intent on those acupoints. More than his Qi, this sensation calmed his mind and not just because of its effects. Cao Yun knew immediately that this feeling came from his friends. Probably, Sun Liao had set up an array formation around him. That meant that they were safe. This knowledge alone soothed his turmoil. In fact, the sense of danger and urgency almost disappeared when he understood that his friends were helping him.
All these factors contributed to calming the raging Qi in his meridians. And now that he had reached the 8th-grade Mortal stage, they were resistant enough to restrict the Qi accelerated by the Heart Star. Cao Yun's past limit was fourfold but now he could probably push it to sixfold or even sevenfold. He wasn't sure about that right now though, because he had other problems in mind.
His main concern now was to control his twenty acupoints to open and close at will. If he could achieve this, he would have made a huge leap into the 8th-grade Mortal stage and the crisis would be averted. His main worry was that his acupoints would get damaged and he would be unable to close them afterward.
In order to achieve this objective, Cao Yun decided to look back at his 'Cultivation of Wrath'. Normally, he would have gotten some advice from Chief Instructor Peng as he still needed to have at least one session with him to break through. Unfortunately, his cultivation had not been normal. The 'Dragon's Heart' had forced his breakthrough and he had no clear knowledge on how to control his acupoints. Wanting to solve this problem, he went to the books he had in mind. Of course, he had read books on cultivation but he first decided to examine his 'Cultivation of Wrath'. It was the only piece of knowledge from Cleansed Asura he was able to understand at all.
This cultivation method exposed several ways to control one's acupoints. Many ways were not possible right now, among which were using demonic beasts blood to strengthen, loosen and relax them. One could also use massages, or more violent method. But his acupoints were already open and under tension. Finally, he found what he was looking for. The intent from the Drop of Wrath could be used to forcefully open and close one's acupoints. It was deemed as a very dangerous technique, only to be used if one needed to gain control of his acupoints rapidly. Because any mistake would result in injury. Just to be safe, Cao Yun also looked through all the books he had read about cultivation. However, he felt as though he hadn't the time to ponder about it and no other method seemed to be possible.
Despite that, those books gave him more confidence in himself.
Just as he was about to start, he heard Mei Hua's voice.
"Brother, eat this pill!"
Trusting her completely, he opened his mouth as the pill was thrown into it. The moment the pill began to dissolve in his mouth, he felt his mind becoming increasingly clear. After swallowing this Eight Silky Rivers pill, his sea of consciousness regained its absolute calm. The ocean turned crystal clear and so did the sky. With the naked eye, it was almost impossible to see the difference between water and air. Peace and serenity were absolute.
In fact, the pill was so effective that his Po character began to recover bit by bit. Sensing this change, Cao Yun became even more confident and sent as much of the medicinal essence as he could into the Po character. Doing so, he pushed his mind cultivation to the limit. In fact, the Five Agents even started to produce some tiny droplets to nourish the Five Echoes Pearl he had been slowly building up. Using those characters to their utmost, Cao Yun also woke up the Drop of Wrath he had restricted earlier.
With his mind, he sent his intent on only one acupoint at a time. Usually, this was in itself a difficult task to precisely detect one's acupoints. But Cao Yun had several advantages. The first one was that Chief Instructor Peng had used them several times and Cao Yun had felt them back then. But he also could feel his intense Qi leaving his body through them, feeling this stream both inside his body and over his skin.
Controlling the intent from the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun imagined the acupoint he had chosen to be the first as thoug it was a muscle. First, he contracted it as much as possible. This was extremely difficult to do in fact. Because Cao Yun needed to contract the acupoint without contracting any muscle around it. An acupoint was the extremity of the smallest meridians. And just like the meridians, they were not material yet for a Mortal. If Cao Yun contracted his muscles, it would tense the region of the acupoint and make his work harder.
Thanks to his powerful mind cultivation however, he was able to clench this acupoint without much problem. As soon as he did, he felt the pressure slowly build up in it as the Qi was still trying to leave his body. Then, he slowly imagined the point relaxing without opening. It was even more difficult because of the pressure against it. His own body wanted to open the acupoint in order to reduce the internal pressure.
Finally, using the intent from the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun visualized his acupoint as a closed flower. Very slowly, he opened every petal one by one. And in a few minutes, he had learned to open and close his first acupoint. This simple task could take weeks if not months to a Mortal cultivator. Thanks to chief Instructor Peng's training method and this precarious situation, he had sped up the process so much that he felt as though it was unreal.
Then, he focused on every acupoint one by one. And as he progressed, Mei Hua gave him two more pills. After almost two hours, Cao Yun had finally learned to control the twenty acupoints. In total, there were 361 acupoints one had to open and close at will before reaching the 9th-grade Mortal stage. Chief Instructor Peng had worked a lot on these twenty acupoints. He had also worked on several other points that would be easier for Cao Yun to control as well. However, he had no idea how long it would take for him to learn to control his other acupoints.
He didn't even know exactly where they were located. Every person's body was different and to control his acupoints, the cultivator needed to know precisely where his were, not just the general area.
Nonetheless, Cao Yun put all this thoughts aside. The crisis had been averted. He had lost a certain amount of Qi though. That plus his wounds would take some time to heal.
When he finally opened his eyes, Cao Yun saw the injuries of his friends and realized that they all needed to rest. It was urgent for them to go back into the Wubei Sect and lick their wounds for several weeks or months.