Chapter 0012: Opening of the Ren Meridians
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Qi Tian swiftly returned to his room with the Essence Qi Pill and began his cultivation anew.
Unlike the Blood Essence Pill, the Essence Qi Pill is a medicine specifically designed to increase True Essence, more suited for Mage Cultivators. For cultivators like Qi Tian who only practice the "Black Jade Skills", the Essence Qi Pill is more fitting for him than the Blood Essence Pill.
Indeed, once he swallowed the Essence Qi Pill, Qi Tian could distinctly sense that the medical potency released by the pill seemed tailor-made for him. He activated the Heavenly Dao Engine again, drawing upon the medicinal strength to open his energy channels. Under the effects of the Essence Qi Pill, his efficiency had increased to about two and a half times its usual, a boost of around fifty percent. This improvement was significant.
However, as he opened an increasing number of energy channels, Qi Tian found his speed gradually decreasing again. This could be due to him developing a resistance to the pill, or perhaps because opening the meridians required more and more resources as he progressed. Fortunately, Qi Tian had in his possession over sixty Essence Qi Pills, enough for his needs.
In the blink of an eye, Qi Tian had been in closed-door cultivation for over three days. He had already consumed forty Essence Qi Pills, and he was near to fully opening his Ren Meridians, leaving only the last acupoint unopened. During the process of opening the previous few acupoints, Qi Tian discovered that two Essence Qi Pills were not enough. It was expected that the last acupoint would most certainly require more than two pills. Qi Tian planned to open the last acupoint in one go, so he threw three Essence Qi Pills into the air and swallowed them, before commencing his assault on the last acupoint of the Ren Meridians.
Severe pain emanated from within his body. Qi Tian felt as if he was being torn apart, his body involuntarily shivering. Despite the sweat, the size of soybeans, raining down from him, he did not let out a cry of pain. He gritted his teeth, refusing to give up like a coward.
"It's nearly done, the breakthrough is about to come."
Qi Tian chewed up the last Essence Qi Pill in his mouth. As the pill's power dispersed, he used his formidable willpower to continue circulating the new medicinal energy. Sensing Qi Tian's determination, the Heavenly Dao Engine whirled wildly. His efficiency, which had dropped to less than two times, slowly started to rise again, regaining its earlier level of doubling his strength.
"Bang..."
It felt as though something had shattered a glass layer. Qi Tian momentarily blacked out, staggering as if he had stepped into thin air.
Steadying himself, Qi Tian felt a roaring sensation akin to a river flowing within his body. Upon closer inspection, the sound originated from his Ren Meridians, which he had opened after investing ten Blood Essence Pills and forty-three Essence Qi Pills. The True Essence flowed like a clear stream, making his entire body feel light and refreshed, bringing about a sense of mental elation.
"Haha, Heaven rewards diligence. I've finally broken through." Qi Tian clenched his fists, feeling as though his whole body was bursting with explosive power. He was eager to know the extent of his strength augmentation after opening the Ren Meridians.
Qi Tian left his room and went to the practice field reserved for outer sect disciples. The field was similar to the open stadium of his previous life. There sat a large empty plot in the center, surrounded by tiers of seats. Numerous rooms were situated under these seats. Some of these rooms were reserved for disciples to cultivate, while others were for various types of tests
Qi Tian used his Disciple Card to enter the practice field. He found an unoccupied Force Measurement Room, walked in, and locked the door from inside.
The Force Measurement Room was bare, save for a huge iron wall. This wall was a lower-rank magical tool crafted from special metal. If one's punch exceeded a certain strength level, it would leave a mark on the iron wall. Moreover, as the punching force increased, the mark would deepen, and it would remain on the wall longer.
Specifically, a four hundred pound punch would leave a mark for one minute, a five hundred pound one for two minutes, up to six hundred pounds for three minutes...and so on. For every additional hundred pounds, the mark would remain for an extra minute. When the time elapsed, the punch mark would completely disappear—truly a remarkable instrument.
Qi Tian's original strength was slightly over four hundred pounds—not outstanding among the outer sect disciples. The average strength of a Qi Cultivation First Level cultivator is four hundred pounds, and Qi Tian's strength was only a bit above average. His victory over Ma Wu, who held the strength of a tiger, was solely due to the doubling effect provided by the activation of the Heavenly Dao Engine. Without the Heavenly Dao Engine safeguarding him, he would have fallen prey to Ma Wu long ago.
This time, after Qi Tian opened his Ren Meridians, his strength should increase by at least a hundred pounds as per convention, reaching over five hundred pounds. Adding the doubling effect of the Heavenly Dao Engine, that would mean over a thousand pounds. This was indeed an impressive amount of strength. It can be noted, considering strength alone, a cultivator would generally need to reach the Qi Cultivation 7th Level to acquire such might.
Qi Tian positioned himself before the iron wall and took a deep breath, focusing all his power into his fist. Shouting loudly, he threw his punch at the wall like a gust of wind.
Bang...
His punch landed on the iron wall, and Qi Tian felt as if half his fist had sunk into the wall. As he slowly withdrew his fist, he indeed saw a punch mark more than an inch deep on the wall.
So deeply imprinted, the force of the punch must've exceeded six hundred pounds.
Qi Tian was overjoyed. He took an enormous risk, paid a high price to open up his Ren Meridians, and the result is unexpectedly explicit. His strength has increased by more than two hundred pounds, far exceeding his expectations.
He stood next to the iron wall, waiting for the fist mark to disappear while timing it.
If his punching power reached six hundred pounds, the fist marks could last on the iron wall for six minutes. If word of this got out, it would surely cause a sensation in the National Master Manor. What surprised Qi Tian more was that even after six minutes, the fist marks on the iron wall had not completely disappeared, there was still a noticeable trace. After waiting for another minute, the fist marks finally disappeared completely. This meant that his strength had reached over seven hundred pounds, an increase of three hundred pounds simply due to the opening of the Ren Meridian. This increase was utterly unexpected.
Qi Tian chuckled, the power of over seven hundred pounds was enough to dominate in the early stage of Qi cultivation. If he activated the Heavenly Dao Engine, his strength would surpass that of a bull. Not to the extent of dominating during the Qi cultivation period, but defeating the average Qi cultivator in the mid-phase should not be a problem. Of course, that is only considering pure strength. If other factors come into play, he would need to be careful.
Initially, Qi Tian wanted to test how strong he could become by activating the Heavenly Dao Engine. However, when he discovered that his punching force had violently risen to more than seven hundred pounds, he dropped this idea. It was not that he was not curious about the state of punching with over a thousand pounds of force, but rather worried that his arms and legs could not withstand the rebound of a thousand pounds. If he caused his own fracture due to the recoil, he would become a laughing stock in the National Master Manor.
Qi Tian exited the Force Measurement Room, planning to continue his cultivation so that he can also open up his Du meridian. He had twenty middle-grade essence Qi pills left, even if he could not achieve his goal now, at least he could start part of it.
There were many people in the Practice Field, hundreds to thousands of people coming in and out, either cultivating or sparring. Some also set up stalls to sell items at the entrance.
Qi Tian, who was keen on testing his strength earlier, did not take notice of the surroundings. Now, he arrived at the entrance of the Practice Field and noticed an outer disciple dressed in Zhigeng Palace's attire, selling the primitive bicycle he had "invented", priced at ten silver pieces each. The price was considerably high compared to its cost, but to the disciples of the National Master Manor, ten pieces of silver was not much.
Consequently, Qi Tian found that the primitive bicycles sold well, with many people scrambling to buy them. Some who didn't manage to buy them paid deposits to preorder the next batch.
Qi Tian silently shook his head. In his previous life, he had ridden bicycles for over ten years, and there wasn't a type of bicycle he hadn't ridden. He was not interested in these primitive bicycles that required kicking the ground with both feet. He planned to save up money and buy a horse, which was much more expensive and faster than a bicycle.
As Qi Tian observed, he suddenly felt someone patting his shoulder. He turned around and saw a stranger. The man wore the same clothes as him and was also an outer disciple of the National Master Manor. "Can I help you?" Qi Tian asked.
"You are Qi Tian, right? Please come with me," the outer disciple said.
"Why should I come with you?" Qi Tian asked.
"Our boss wants to see you."
"Who is your boss? And who are you?"
"My name is Wang Gai. Our boss is Ling Mu. You might not recognize his name, but you definitely should have heard about his nickname, Ling Mu the Hand of God," Wang Gai said with a hint of pride. "I'll mention one more person you surely know, Senior Brother Zhou Kunlin, the unbeatable at the Qi Refining Initial Stage in National Master Manor, he is the boss of our boss."
"Oh, I see. So you are Zhou Kunlin's lackey." A cold smile appeared at the corner of Qi Tian's mouth.
"You..." Wang Gai's eyes bulged in anger, and he swung his hand to slap Qi Tian's face.
Qi Tian grabbed Wang Gai's arm in an instant. His hand was like a clamp, gripping Wang Gai's arm causing a cracking sound; he said coldly, "Are you sure you want to start a fight here?"
Wang Gai's face turned green from the pain. "Ouch, it hurts, let go!" He struggled hard, trying to wrestle free from Qi Tian's grip.
Qi Tian didn't want to challenge the rules of the Master Manor, so he didn't intentionally clamp down on Wang Gai. When Wang Gai struggled, he released his hand.
While rubbing his painful arm, Wang Gai glared maliciously at Qi Tian and said, "Qi Tian, if you are a man, follow me. Our boss has set up a challenge ring over there. If you have the guts, go over and take a look. If you're a coward, just scram with your tail in between your legs."