Chapter 10: Meridian Condensation
After he succeeded in amplifying his right hand, Shawn spent his days training and cultivating. After 2 days of training, he was able to cast the technique in 35 seconds. However, today wasn't about that. After a week of cultivation, Shawn had reached the peak of Body Tempering Realm, gathering 100,000 wisps of Qi in his Dantian. Now it was time to condense his meridians.
Shawn was excited, after all, each meridian condensed would increase a cultivator's strength significantly. The minimum required meridians to enter Foundation Establishment was 9. But to progress in his cultivation technique, 'Celestial Breath: Cosmic Qi Refining Scripture', he needs to condense 36 meridians. Furthermore, all 36 must be Celestial Meridians. The process of condensing a meridian was simple. First, he needs to gather a large amount of Spiritual Qi and shape it along the predetermined route. This was precisely the route of Spiritual Manipulation. Each cultivation technique had its own unique route, the same goes for the Cosmic Qi Refining Scripture. With each meridian, the flow of spiritual Qi will become faster and smoother. Using techniques such as Spirit Amplification will be much easier.
"Wait, but how am supposed to gather Cosmic Qi? Don't I need a special environment to gather attributed Qi?" There are some techniques that focus on a single law. Those need a different kind of Meridians, namely attributed meridians. Fire meridians, water meridians, lightning meridians. The advantage of having such meridians is that the cultivator will be able to gather Qi of that attribute much more easily. However, it will be much harder to cultivate other laws. To condense such meridians, the cultivator needed Qi of that attribute, which can be found in places enriched in that Law. A volcano has ample Fire Qi. The ocean has a denser amount of Water Qi. Thunder clouds will have Lightning Qi.
The Celestial Meridians Shawn wanted to condense were similar, but at the same time different. 'Celestial' refers to the quality of a meridian. The quality that is above Perfect-Grade Meridians. Even Immortals can't guarantee to condense such Meridian. But with the System, Shawn didn't need to worry about any restrictions. What he was worried about was the Qi needed to condense such meridians. He needed Celestial Qi, to be precise, Celestial-Grade Cosmic Qi to condense his meridians. Cosmic Qi will enable him to cultivate Cosmic laws easily. As the name suggests, Cosmic laws are related to the workings of the Cosmos. It is an amalgamation of Space, Time, Karma, Star, Gravity and a few other minor Laws. It is one of the highest levels of Law in the Universe, on par with Reincarnation, Heaven, Destruction and Creation. Furthermore, it wouldn't obstruct the cultivation of other minor laws. Obviously, normal Qi couldn't open the gates to such a Law. But our protagonist didn't know where to find Celestial-Grade Cosmic Qi.
[Worry not, Host. The System will provide you with the resources required to cultivate the 'Celestial Breath: Cosmic Qi Refining Scripture'] As soon as he heard that, a few shining stones suddenly appeared in front of Shawn. "Woah, are these Spirit Stones? But I don't feel Qi in them?"
[These are Cosmic attributed Spirit Stones. Furthermore, they are of the highest grade. There are precisely 36 of them, each for one meridian. You should be able to feel the Cosmic energy in them since you cultivate the Cosmic Qi Refining Scripture.
Note that the System will not provide any more spirit stones in case you fail to condense a Celestial Meridian even once.]
Shawn already knew that he'd get no second chance, so didn't mind the warning. He sat in the Lotus position, closed his eyes and focused. He took a stone in his hand. After some time, he could feel an otherworldly energy within the stone. It was unlike anything he felt before. It was similar to Spirit Qi, but at the same time, it was of a higher level. They couldn't be compared at all. After he established a connection to the Cosmic Qi within, he slowly willed it to move and enter his body. Surprisingly, it was easy, almost too easy. As it entered the body, he willed it to first go to his Dantian. After that, he moved it from the Dantian to his spine, especially to the base of his spine, near the tailbone, the place also known as the Root Chakra. There are 36 specific places from the Dantian that Shawn has to condense a meridian to.
These are the 7 Chakras
Root Chakra (Muladhara): Located at the base of the spine, below the Coccyx.
Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana): Situated in the lower abdomen, below the Dantian.
Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura): Found in the upper abdomen, in the stomach area.
Heart Chakra (Anahata): Located in the centre of the chest.
Throat Chakra (Vishuddha): Situated at the throat.
Third Eye Chakra (Ajna): Positioned between the eyebrows. Also known as the glabella
Crown Chakra (Sahasrara): Located at the top of the head.
He was to condense a meridian to each of these Chakras in a specific order. These 7 meridians will help in better absorption of Qi, better breathing, enhanced healing of the body as well as increased perception of the cultivator with many more benefits.
After that were the 5 parts of the spine,
Cervical: Upper part of the spine, from C1 to C7 vertebrae.
Thoracic: The middle part, consisting of vertebrae T1 to T12.
Lumbar: Lower portion of the Spine, comprising the vertebrae L1 to L5
Sacrum: Fusion of 5 Sacral vertebrae at the base of the spine.
Coccyx: Fusion of 4 vertebrae, at the base of the spine. It is also known as the tailbone.
He has to condense a meridian from the Coccyx, the base of the spine to the Cervical. One at each division of the vertebral column.
These 5 meridians will increase blood production and recovery speed of the body as it will enable Qi to flow to the bone marrow. The cultivator's spine will strengthen and their overall strength will also increase.
After the spine comes the 5 Zhang Organs
and 6 Fu Organs
Zhang Organs:
Heart: One meridian will go to the heart.
Lungs: One meridian will connect to each of the lungs
Kidney: One meridian to each of the kidneys.
Spleen: One meridian to the spleen on the left side of the abdomen.
Liver: One meridian from and to the liver.
Fu Organs: One meridian will go through each of the Fu Organs, namely the
Gall Bladder
Stomach
Small Intestine
Large Intestine
Urinary Bladder
Triple Burner
A total of 13 meridians will flow through the 5 Zhang organs and 6 Fu Organs. This will increase the flow of blood, and vitality, strengthen internal organs and overall endurance of the body. Internal organs are usually fragile and a weakness of all cultivators. These 13 meridian pathways remove this weakness.
The 7 Orifices of the Head:
2 Eyes, 2 Ears, 2 Nostrils and the Mouth. One meridian will go through each of the orifices.
These 7 meridians increase the sense of sight, smell, hearing and taste of a cultivator. These sensory orifices exponentially increase a cultivator's combat prowess. After all, having a better sense and instincts than your opponent is a huge advantage in a battle between equals.
Finally, Shawn has to condense 4 meridians in each of his 4 limbs, 2 arms and 2 legs. It will strengthen the bones, muscles and blood vessels running through his limbs. It will also enhance its sense of touch and feel. His physical prowess will be enhanced to another level.
These are the 36 points where Shawn has to condense the Celestial-Grade Cosmic Meridians. First, he will move the Cosmic Qi into his Dantian, after which he will move it to one of the designated points, and then again back to the Dantian. This will continue until an imaginary pathway is created between the Dantian and the specified point. Finally, the pathway will absorb the wisp of Cosmic Qi and condense into a Celestial Meridian. He has to repeat the process 36 times. The first meridian alone took 3 hours. The second and third took the same time. By the time it was dawn, he was able to condense 4 meridians, the last one taking half an hour less.
Shawn has to start with the Chakras, then the Spine, Zhang Organs, Fu Organs, Orifices and finally, the Limbs. He planned on giving up on training and only focusing on condensing meridians the next few days.
************
A/N: Good day, readers. This is my first Webnovel, so there are bound to be mistakes and some areas might feel lacking. I hope you guys will inform me about any oversights as well as help me increase the quality of my work. I am open to any advice, ideas or suggestions.