Yang Bin sat on the ground with the sky chrysanthemum in his hand. The fragrance of the flower tickled his nose. In his mind, his father's words rang out. "Most of the cultivation properties of the sky chrysanthemum lies in the stamen and petal. Eat the two and you can throw the stem away. If you aren't willing to directly eat it, you could pluck it off and grind it. However, using that method would cause it to lose some of its potency, thus it's best to eat it directly."
Looking at the sky chrysanthemum, Yang Bin did as his father instructed: biting off the stamen and eating the petals. As the cool feeling entered his stomach, Yang Bin felt his qi fluctuate and surge. Quickly channeling the energy that was starting to spread, he directed it to the location of his third meridian.
The mighty wave of energy continued to grow before colliding with the accupoint of the third meridian. Slowly and steady, the meridian began to clear. The third meridian put up a lot more resistance compared to the first two. Nonetheless, the sky chrysanthemum was a 100 year herb, a treasure for body tempering cultivators. In the end, Yang Bin was able to fully clear it, but the remaining energy wasn't even one fifth of what it was originally.
The first two meridians were opened using a ten year herb, but a 100 year herb was barely able to open the third meridian! At this rate, won't I need a 1000 year herb to unblock the fourth meridian? Feeling helpless, Yang Bin decided to absorb the remaining energy. He had high expectations for the 100 year herb, but he never thought opening the third meridian would take so much energy. Using his three opened meridians, the leftover energy was quickly devoured. Even though there was only less than a fifth left, it was still more efficacious than any 10 year herb.
Feeling the mighty wave of energy tunneling into his body, Yang Bin couldn't help but open his eyes in surprise. Wow. This is really potent. No wonder Yang Yu is one rank higher than me. He could clearly feel himself getting stronger.
Yang Bin didn't know that the effects of herbs are stronger on him because of the opened meridians. Ordinary cultivators weren't able to assimilate all the energy supplied by the herb, meaning some of the energy would be wasted. Since he had now opened three of his meridians, he was able to absorb almost all the energy.
Still feeling the effects of the sky chrysanthemum, Yang Bin decided to cultivate some more. After a few minutes, he stood up, satisfied with his progress. Before heading to bed, he checked himself, making sure he didn't have filth on him. Fortunately, there weren't any. Nearly all of his impurities had been flushed out after opening the first two meridians and cultivating them.
****
"Son, show me your movement technique." Yang Gang commanded. They were in their home's backyard, or just behind their house. There weren't any fences to determine the edge of their property, so it merged with the forest beyond.
"Alright!" Yang Bin ran at Yang Gang, while activating phantom tracks.
Yang Gang raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, as he saw about two or three overlapping figures of Yang Bin running at him. All of them except one looked like mirages, blurry and translucent. Then Yang Gang saw the ghostly images disappear, leaving one Yang Bin in front of him.
"It doesn't appear to be that great. Although it does make you faster, the afterimages are rather terrible. In fact, the afterimages can't be considered afterimages, as they overlap you." Yang Gang gave his evaluation. "This little trick might scare those in the body tempering stage, but it'll not be of much use when they get used to it. It'll be completely useless against anyone that is past the qi condensing stage."
Hearing all these critiques, Yang Bin rubbed his head sheepishly. "Dad, I was only able to perform a rudimentary form of technique yesterday. It's not very good now, but when trained to perfection, the effects would be a lot better."
"I see." Yang Gang nodded in understanding. "Follow me. I'll teach you an offensive technique." He began to walk towards a small boulder.
"All active techniques, like your movement technique, have a grade. The grade is ranked based on what cultivation stage you need to be in order to bring out the technique's full power. For example, an earth grade technique requires an cultivation of earthy qi stage in order to bring out its true potential. However, the techniques for body tempering and qi condensing stage cultivators are just called elementary techniques. Passive techniques, like cultivation and spirit cultivation techniques, also have grades, but its grade is based on how effective it is, so it's harder to classify." He stopped in front of the boulder and turned to him. "Speaking of which, what rank are your techniques?"
Shrugging Yang Bin responded. "I'm not sure. It didn't say."
Yang Gang frowned slightly, but then moved on. "That's alright. You can always find a better one later. This technique is an elementary technique, but it's very versatile. Because of that, almost everyone in the clan knows it. Watch closely, this is Iron Palms."
Activating his mystic pupils, Yang Bin looked with rapt attention. He felt his father channeling his qi into his palm and it started to change color: first gray, then white, finally silver. Drawing back his hand, Yang Gang heavily smashed the small boulder. After removing his hand, there was not a single crack on the boulder, only a fine handprint about two centimeters deep. Yang Bin was amazed.
Yang Gang turned to face him. "As you increase in proficiency, the stronger and harder your palms will be. The color of the palm will also change colors, starting from gray to white to silver. Although this technique is easy, don't expect quick success; Yang Yu has probably practiced this technique for a few weeks now and still has not mastered it. To start, channel qi into your hand and imagine…"
After Yang Gang explained the technique to Yang Bin, Yang Gang watched as Yang Bin attempted to perform iron palms.
Though it wasn't a difficult technique, Yang Bin still failed a couple times before succeeding. On the sixth attempt, he was able to maintain it for second to Yang Gang's surprise.
This elementary technique may have been difficult for Yang Yu, but it isn't for Yang Bin. His spirit is much stronger than Yang Yu's because of his spirit technique, making his comprehension speed much faster.
"Not bad. Now try it on the tree." Yang Gang pointed to a tree not too far away. There was a small smile on his face, as he watched Yang Bin's rapid improvement.
Yang Bin walked to the tree and lifted his palm. Activating iron palms, he struck the tree. "Ah?" Aside from a tree bark flying away, there was no effect at all.
Yang Gang chuckled. "What did you expect the results to be? You just learned the technique, combined with the fact that you are only at the third rank of body tempering, this result is to be expected."
He continued to watch, as Yang Bin threw palm after palm at the tree, producing the same lackluster outcome every time. After a while, Yang Gang said, "Since you seem to understand the technique, I'll head back. Continue practicing, but don't push yourself too hard."
"Mm." Yang Bin nodded and continued to practice, each time he would channel more qi and compress it even further. After about 10 minutes, Yang Bin was able to faintly put a handprint on the wood and decided to take a small break. Deactivating iron palms, he felt a slight stinging pain from his hands, specifically from his palms.
Yang Bin winced and studied his palms. That's why he added the last part. He thought. His palms were now pink and red. The more proficient one was in Iron Palms, the harder the palm was. But since he just started, slapping a tree multiple times would hurt his hands.
Yang Bin frowned a little. In the end, he decided to practice Phantom Tracks while using Iron Palms. Even though he knew both techniques, it wasn't easy to use both at the same time. It required Yang Bin to simultaneously channel his qi to his arms and legs, and this level of control was still a bit beyond his capabilities.
"Brother!" Yang Mengyao's call signaled an end to Yang Bin's training.
"Coming!" Yang Bin shouted back. For the past month, Yang Mengyao would often come to call Yang Bin for lunch around this time, thus he knew this call probably meant it was time for lunch.
"Hurry up! Our parents plan to bring us to the city once we are done!" Excitement was in Yang Mengyao's voice.
Yang Bin was taken aback. The city Yang Mengyao was referring to was naturally Tian Lin city. Since Yang Bin's parents were commoners who enjoyed a quiet life, Yang Bin and Yang Mengyao didn't usually go to the city. Tian Lin city was usually loud and bustling with activity. Not to mention, the products there were much more expensive.
Yang Bin ran home. "Dad, mom, we're going to Tian Lin city later?" He asked his parents.
"Correct. We've decided to buy some elixirs for you. A cultivation technique allows one to absorb qi quickly, thus its true potential would be brought out by absorbing elixirs." Yang Gang explained.
"Also, our small village doesn't have much information about the path of spirit cultivation, so going to the city could help expand your knowledge about spirit cultivation." Li Jing added on.