With all this excitement going on in his mind, Cao Yun had to test it out. Due to his injuries, he couldn't overdo it, but he had to do something. From everything he had witnessed and from what Mei Hua had told him, he knew what had happened in the Lunar Marsh. Everything was meant to target him specifically. And because of that, his friends got injured and almost killed. He even had to leave Mei Hua behind to run away.
All this frustration and bitterness were mostly silenced by his mind cultivation. But it didn't mean that these feelings were not there. In fact, Cao Yun was somewhat glad they were strong because they could be a fuel for his ambitions. Clearly the demonic cultivators were planning nefarious things for at least the Wubei Sect, but most likely the entire Hongchen Kingdom and the human race as a whole. He had been right in his determination. Just avenging his family was not enough. What he needed to do was to use this desire to achieve something bigger. Instead of just helping himself, he was going to help all mankind, at his own scale.
If he couldn't have his vengeance himself, he could maybe at least help the powerful cultivators from the kingdom eliminate this threat. After all, he had helped Xiao Xuefeng, who was the cultivator with the best perception, to see a bit through their deception.
Not wanting to stay idle by but not ready to compromise his recovery, he decided to just try accelerating his Qi to threefold. This was a threshold he knew he was already able to control without any problem. Controlling his Qi only started to get difficult when he reached a fourfold increase. He also limited this acceleration in specific pathways to avoid his heaviest injuries. And just like he was expecting, he could control his Qi with way more ease. In fact, he could also control its speed with more precision. Thanks to this, he would probably never again exceed his limits unknowingly.
Of course, he could still speed up his Qi over the limit. But with this small test, he was sure that he could stop the acceleration at any point before this limit. However, he wasn't sure about the limit yet. Hence, he preferred not to play with fire. His meridians were still recovering. The wounds were especially severe in his forearms and legs where his first acupoints had been opened. Indeed, it was through these acupoints that his body had tried to alleviate the pressure by releasing the uncontrolled Qi.
Cao Yun would have to calm his excitement and wait for a few weeks before he could attempt to use the technique in real life. While waiting for this moment, he could still use his 'Shen Visualization' to perform his martial arts in his mind. And the technique that interested him was 'The Son of Heaven's Cavalry'. In the very last moment of the fight, he had a form of epiphany and instinctively used this technique without really understanding what he was doing.
This attack consisted in concentrating all of his mind, intent, energy, will, everything, at the tip of his spear. During this technique, he was one with his weapon. Then, he just released all his strength to dash forward and pierce through his enemy. It was so fast that it became almost impossible to dodge even for an early Mortal Warrior. And the attack was so focused that it could go through many defenses. It was as though all of Cao Yun's strength and energy was applied to a single point.
Thinking back on this technique, Cao Yun also remembered Zhi Yin's way of fighting. During her duel, she had been able to mimic Qi Manifestation. The idea behind her trick was to project her Qi within her attack. Even though she had no control over her Qi outside of her body, it simply flowed with the shock wave caused by her attack and strengthened it. Now that Cao Yun had opened twenty of his acupoints, he could release Qi in high quantity. As he wasn't a Mortal Warrior yet though, he had no control over it once outside of his body.
But he could still use Zhi Yin's idea. His attacks were also using the wind created by his weapon. If he projected his Qi into it, it would probably behave in the same way, being manipulated by the wind and the shock waves of his attacks. This kind of technique was not comparable to Qi Manifestation at all, but it would probably increase the strength of his attacks beyond his expectations.
Because he couldn't really train on it with the acupoints he had currently opened as they were still recovering, he decided to try to open other ones. The 'Cultivation of Wrath' had given him several ideas and his own experience was also useful. Last time, despite being in a precarious situation, Cao Yun had tried to focus on the sensations he had felt. The first points that were in theory the most difficult to control had revealed themselves to be quite easy instead. Most of all, it was thanks to Chief Instructor Peng's training. And Cao Yun had still one session scheduled with him.
As he had been confined to his room, he probably wouldn't be able to go see him. But, afterward, he would have to thank him again.
Right now, he would be as gentle as possible. Targeting some of the easiest acupoints on his belly, just in front of his Lower Dantian, Cao Yun began to focus. The point he chose was Qi Hai, sometimes called the Fake Dantian. It was directly in front of his Lower Dantian and Chief Instructor Peng had also stimulated it, but not as much as the other ones. Using his mind cultivation, Cao Yun brought the intent of the Drop of Wrath over this point. Once again, he knew exactly where it was so it wasn't that difficult.
But without the Qi pressure and the excitement, opening the acupoint proved troublesome. After several hours of work, he had not opened the acupoint but he had gained a lot. Indeed, he could test several ways and theories. With both his Chamber of Jade and Chamber of Ultimate Truth energized, even the slightest thing gave him some insights. By the end, he wasn't even trying to open the acupoint, he was just trying out ideas.
Then, Cao Yun spent many hours reading the books he had already memorized on many subjects. As their contents were entirely in his mind, he just imagined them in his sea of consciousness and read them. That was strange but he felt better imagining reading the actual book than just remembering his content. In a way, if he didn't, he felt as though he wasn't doing anything. By imagining that he was actually holding the real book in hands, he felt more active.
Mainly, he focused on alchemy, array formations and cultivation. Now that he had energized his Chamber of Ultimate Truth, he realized that everything seemed to make more sense. This was subtle at first and he couldn't pinpoint the origin of the feeling. But as he read and read again, he understood. Each time he read something, he was able to figure out the links it had with other things he had read. Slowly in his mind, a gigantic map of interconnections between subjects that seemed completely foreign to each other was being built.
He realized that all these occupations had many things in common, and much more than what was obvious. Cultivation itself was very close to array formations and alchemy. Many techniques were in fact the same principle applied in different situations. The more he delved into it, the more transfixed he became. At first, his only passion was martial arts. But slowly, he had gotten intrigued by these other occupations. Right now, he realized the truth. He wasn't truly fascinated by martial arts, he was fascinated by learning about them.
Now that he had found interesting things in other domains, he also became passionate about learning more. And the more he learned, the more he realized how little he knew. Instead of disheartening him, it made him even more excited. That meant that there was much more to learn and discover.
Unknowingly, some strange characters began to slowly condense deep into his sea of consciousness. They were unlike any other characters and they were still barely visible and deep under water. However, they were clearly there and Cao Yun did not notice them. Unfortunately, he was more fascinated by what happened in the sky with the five stars and just over the surface with his Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath.
-
Cao Yun got surprised when someone knocked at his door. Kang Cai opened and let the visitor in. He was Chief Instructor Peng.
"Hey, kid!"
Kang Cai left the two men together and retired into her own room.
"Chief Instructor, I'm sorry for missing our schedule session."
As soon as he saw the man, Cao Yun stood up from his meditation pose and bowed.
"Don't worry about that. I heard about what had happened. And this was true it seems... You're already an 8th-grade Mortal. Impressive!"
Chief Instructor Peng took a chair and sat right in front of Cao Yun who was standing where he used to meditate. Understanding that he was here to give him some advice, Cao Yun sat cross-legged and listened.
"You've opened your first twenty acupoints, right?"
"Indeed, thanks to you, Chief Instructor."
"I know. That's the point of 'The Snake Invades the Shell'. But you shouldn't be in a hurry to try and open the others. Listen to me.
Your next five stages of cultivation are all more or less related to acupoints in some way. You'll learn to control them, being able to open and close them at will, even the most subtle of them. When you'll be able to control the points known as the Five Prodigious Gates, you'll be an early Mortal Warrior. Finally, you'll strengthen them to resist your Qi Manifestation and make it more and more tangible and thus powerful.
As you can see, you'll work on these acupoints for a long time. An average cultivator who doesn't have any trouble spends around seven years to conclude all those stages. Some are easier and can be done in months, but others require at least two years. The more acquainted with your acupoints you are, the easier it will be down the line.
Some alchemists or array formation masters have ways to help open their acupoints. But as they don't really control them - they lack sensation - they're way weaker than other cultivators in the same stage. Of course they don't care, they just want to be able to practice alchemy or array formations.
However, it's not your case. You need to really focus on feeling your acupoints. The more you know them and their sensation, the easier it will be to progress and the stronger you'll be. And for that, there's a trick that's really not intuitive. Instead of working on the easiest acupoints, you should focus on the most difficult ones.
The first thing you should do, and it's perfect considering your wounds, is feeling their location. Every acupoint is in a general area, but for each individual, the precise location is different. So, during the weeks you'll have to stay confined in your room, feel them. Since you're a 5-star Earth alchemist, you should have a good perception. Use it to locate all of your acupoints. But don't just stop there. Try to really feel them.
Some will feel very relaxed and easy to control. Others will be almost without any sensation at all, just as if they were dead. These are the most difficult to open. Most of the time, they are in places where there are few tissues over your bones, very rigid places like the back of the neck. But they can vary from people to people.
Once you've done that, you should focus on the most difficult ones first. Like that, you'll be able to keep the easy ones to train with. Every time you fail in opening an acupoint, you'll still get ideas. Use them on the easier ones to try them out. The mistake of some cultivators is to open all the easy ones first because they want quick progress. But then they get stuck because they have no way to test their ideas.
Of course, when you loosen your acupoints, it feels great. You feel more relaxed and more powerful. It's understandable that they want to get this feeling again. I remember, it's just like the first time I... I probably shouldn't talk about that.
Imagine you want to test a new martial art technique but you only have opponents way stronger than you, you won't even be able to use your technique at full power. But if you keep weaker opponents, you can spar with them and test out your insights. That's the same principle here."
Everything Chief Instructor Peng said was aligned with both the 'Cultivation of Wrath' and what Cao Yun had himself experimented. Instead of opening his Qi Hai, he had played with it for several hours to test out ideas.
"Also, there are techniques I could use to help you. But it's best for you if you control your acupoints alone. As I said, the more sensations you obtain, the easier it will be for you down the line. And the stronger you'll become. However, if you need any advice, don't fret about it and come ask me."
For the next few weeks, Cao Yun stayed inside and worked on his acupoints. Just like Chief Instructor Peng had told him, the essential thing was first to locate them and then to try out many different things to see what worked or not for him. Cultivation was a personal journey, it was the same for all and yet different for everyone. Everybody had a similar body and mind structure, but the way they felt and behaved was highly personal.
In total, there were 361 acupoints. Some were easily felt, but others were difficult to sense. Even knowing their general area, feeling clearly their precise position was quite tough. Despite his mind cultivation, several weeks wouldn't be too much to find them all.
Of course, Cao Yun did not neglect his mind cultivation. In fact, it increased a bit as he tried to feel all his acupoints. He also continued reading and understanding the books he had memorized. However, he didn't progress much in his martial arts. The only thing he could really do was observe the stars and imagine the movements. But with his injuries he didn't actually try them out in real life.
In the end, this period of isolation was extremely beneficial to him.