TBIP: Chapter 20

It was no wonder that Wen Hanshan behaved like this. People’s aptitudes were different. Not everyone could successfully embark on the path of Dark, even if they had spiritual roots.

The first big hurdle in front of a cultivator was to draw qi into the body.

To explain it in more straightforward terms, this process was to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth before communicating with it with the help of spiritual roots. Finally, successfully absorbing a wisp of spiritual energy was considered successfully drawing qi into the body.

However, there were some people who obviously had spiritual roots but were extremely slow in perception. They could hardly feel the existence of spiritual energy, let alone draw qi into the body.

Another big hurdle was the length of time to enter a concentrated state when drawing qi into the body.

On Tianming Continent, there was no specific standard for the length of time to enter a state of concentration when drawing qi into the body for the first time, but according to the observation of predecessors, people who entered a state of concentration for a longer time could often achieve higher achievements.

It was extremely rare for most people with dual spiritual roots to be able to maintain a five day concentrated state when drawing qi into the body, but Lou Xingyao’s concentration lasted for ten years, almost catching up with the time that Wen Hanshan had spent in concentration. How could he not be satisfied?

“Ten days have passed?” A trace of surprise flashed in Lou Xingyao’s eyes. He was unaware of this. Even the entire process of drawing qi into his body was just the snap of a finger in his eyes.

No wonder why people said that there was no time in cultivation.

He looked up and saw that Wen Hanshan was still meditating in the same place as before Lou Xingyao entered the state of concentration. He knew that Wen Hanshan should be guarding for ten days without leaving his side, and he immediately smiled. “I haven’t thanked Brother Wen for taking care of me.”

It was only at this time that Lou Xingyao found he seemed to be particularly strenuous to smile. His face seemed to be covered with something that prevented him from moving.

He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face and heard a crackling sound. He looked down and found that he had been covered with a thick layer of a mud-like substance at an unknown time.

The mud was dark brown in color. Lou Xingyao could even see some blood clots that had already scabbed over, mixed with some unknown black dirt. This formed his current appearance.

As Lou Xingyao moved, the mud that had already dried up instantly broke into pieces and started to fall down. Lou Xingyao could even smell a fishy smell emitted by the middle part of the mud that hadn’t completely dried up after it cracked.

It was said that if there were 10 doctors and 11 mysophobia patients, there would be one person with double the mysophobia who could fight one against two.

Unfortunately, Lou Xingyao was such a case. His whole body became stiff when he saw the dirt that inexplicably appeared on his body. “This is?”

“The blood discharged when the meridians reconnection pill connected the meridians, as well as the impurities discharged from the body when you drew qi into your body,” Wen Hanshan’s voice came faintly from a distance.

Lou Xingyao realized that the person, who had been by his side, stood a few feet away from him without knowing when. It was obvious that Wen Hanshan had anticipated the current situation.

In a trance, he suddenly thought that drawing qi into the body seemed to have the effect of cleansing the meridians and marrow. He immediately became a bit angry. “Why didn’t you remind me just now?”

Don’t think that he didn’t see the gloating in Wen Hanshan’s eyes just because he was standing far away.

After saying that, Lou Xingyao didn’t give Wen Hanshan a chance to answer. He jumped up and rushed to his room with a posture of not stopping until he washed himself from head to toe.

Once Lou Xingyao’s figure completely disappeared behind the door, Wen Hanshan slowly gave an answer. “If I reminded you, how could there be the current lively scene?”

Looking closely, it wasn’t difficult to find a hint of mischief in his eyes.

However, Lou Xingyao was already soaking in the bathtub and naturally couldn’t see it.

The stains on his body had already scabbed and dried up. They started to fall down in large chunks with a bit of effort, so it wasn’t difficult to clean them. For Lou Xingyao, it was more of a psychological comfort.

He soaked his skin until it turned red. Then Lou Xingyao finally climbed out of the bathtub.

He found the closet and took out a clean piece of clothing to put on, only to realize that something was wrong. The clothes that originally fit him well had become much shorter.

At this time, Lou Xingyao finally noticed the changes in himself.

The most obvious one was his height. He was originally less than 1.7 meters tall, but he suddenly jumped up a lot and became around 1.78 meters. He grew nearly ten centimeters taller, so wasn’t it natural for his clothes to become smaller?

Lou Xingyao had been 1.81 meters in his previous life. He still wasn’t satisfied with this height, but he felt it was acceptable when thinking that this body was only 15 years old and there was still room for growth.

In addition, there was the skin on his body.

Lou Xiaowu had suffered a lot of beatings in the Lou family. The wounds healed quickly due to his strong self-healing ability, but the long-term abuse still put a lot of burden on his skin.

It wasn’t rough to the point of being scary, but it was definitely bad.

On the day of the wedding, Lou Xingyao even heard the nanny, who came to do his makeup, whispering that his skin wasn’t as neat as a servant of the He family.

Now the dullness and large pores on his skin had all disappeared. It became smooth and delicate, even having a faint luster that only the best jade had.

If the beauty-loving ladies in his previous life knew about this effect, he wondered what type of fanatical pursuit it would cause.

Lou Xingyao thought to himself as he touched his smooth and delicate arm.

In addition, the strength in his body seemed to have increased a lot.

Lou Xingyao felt that his body had changed when he first obtained the power of the stars, but now this change was even clearer.

Thinking of this, Lou Xingyao picked up the candlestick on the table and gently squeezed it. He didn’t use much strength, but the three finger wide copper candlestick started to twist gradually with his strength.

As for other things like vision and hearing, they had all improved significantly.

Lou Xingyao faced this extraordinary power in his body and finally understood why everyone wanted to cultivate immortality, and yearned for it.

Who could resist such a temptation?

As he thought this, Lou Xingyao took out the moon-white robe that Zhou Hanshan had thrown at him when they were leaving the Zhou house.

The clothes that were originally a bit too big on him were a bit small at this moment, but it was already decent compared with other clothes.

Lou Xingyao was no longer picky and walked out the door.

The moment he opened the door, he saw the figure of Wen Hanshan dancing with a sword under the moonlight.

Unlike the sword moves this morning, what Wen Hanshan was practicing now was the most basic sword moves. Even Lou Xingyao could see his movements clearly.

Thinking of Wen Hanshan’s words telling him to do morning and evening training together, Lou Xingyao didn’t say much. He went straight to a corner in the yard where he wouldn’t disturb Wen Hanshan and sat down cross-legged.

This time, what appeared in Lou Xingyao’s mind was still the opening chapter of the Myriad Celestial Stars Method. However, the content changed from drawing qi into the body to the mind method of the qi condensation period.

The so-called qi condensation stage was the process of using spiritual energy to open up the eight extraordinary meridians in the body. Every time one was opened up, the cultivation level would be raised to a higher level until all the meridians in the body were opened up and the cultivation reached the eighth level of qi condensation.

Once the spiritual energy could wander through the twelve meridians and eight extraordinary meridians in the body, forming a complete cycle with the dantian, the person would be able to reach the ninth level of qi condensation. At this time, they could prepare to build the foundation.

For Lou Xingyao, building the foundation was still a very distant thing. The most urgent task before him was to open up the eight extraordinary meridians in his body.

The first one to bear the brunt was the Ren Mai. For Lou Xingyao, who was able to meridian the meridian acupoints in the human body at the age of three and write it down silently, this wasn’t too difficult.

Lou Xingyao once again ran the Myriad Celestial Stars Method. This time, Lou Xingyao’s control of the spiritual energy in his body became more precise and it headed straight to the first acupoint on the Ren Mai.

Opening up the meridians was a simple sentence, but it wasn’t easy to do. Just the first acupoint made Lou Xingyao put in a lot of effort.

By the time Lou Xingyao finally opened the first acupoint and opened his eyes, it was already dawn.

He didn’t feel tired at all despite not sleeping all night.

Wen Hanshan, who was practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard, gradually retracted his sword when Lou Xingyao opened his eyes and slowly walked in front of him.

Lou Xingyao had changed his clothes and didn’t wear the hidden pendant he got when he left the He family. Wen Hanshan saw the changes in his body at a glance, and a look of satisfaction appeared in his eyes. “It is great to open up the first acupoint in one night.”

Of course, what made Wen Hanshan even more satisfied was that Lou Xingyao had taken his words that day to heart.

As early as last night after Lou Xingyao had finished washing up, Wen Hanshan noticed his arrival and didn’t stop in order to see what choice Lou Xingyao would make.

The final result didn’t disappoint him. Not only did Lou Xingyao enter the state of meditation without his reminder, but judging from the result, Lou Xingyao was able to concentrate with no distractions all night.

Lou Xingyao could naturally hear the deeper meaning in Wen Hanshan’s words, and he smiled slightly. “This is all thanks to Brother Wen’s good teaching.”

The words weren’t entirely polite. If it wasn’t for Wen Hanshan’s wake-up call that day, it would be unknown whether Lou Xingyao could survive the effect of the meridians reconnection pill, let alone gain what he had now.

“Just keep talking nonsense.” Wen Hanshan couldn’t help raising a hand to gently tap Lou Xingyao’s forehead.

But since Lou Xingyao had mentioned teaching, he did have one more thing to ask Lou Xingyao. “Even if I don’t say it, you should know the importance of the cultivation method to the path of Dao. My spiritual root belongs to the thunder attribute, and the sword method I learned isn’t applicable to you. I originally thought I would find a suitable cultivation method for you after your meridians were healed, but you unexpectedly drew qi into your body.”

At this point, Wen Hanshan paused as if he was looking for a suitable excuse. Some time passed before he spoke again. “It seemed that there was some movement of the stars when you drew qi into your body, which shows that the cultivation method is of a high grade. From what you have gained today, this cultivation method should be quite suitable for you. I just don’t know if it is complete?”

It was no wonder that Wen Hanshan spoke so cautiously. It was true that the cultivation method was a very secretive thing for cultivators. People who were a bit more knowledgeable could even infer the weaknesses of the cultivation method.”

They would never talk about the cultivation method to others unless it was someone they really trusted.

Therefore, this question was even more sensitive than the money issue Lou Xingyao asked about a few days ago. He also knew why Wen Hanshan asked this question.

In the original novel, cultivation methods were divided into five levels: Heaven, earth, black, yellow, and human. Out of them, the heaven level was the highest. It could be used by cultivators to cultivate to the realm of tribulation transcendence.

The human level was the lowest. At most, it could be used by cultivators to the foundation building realm.

Tianming Continent was a small world and most of the circulated cultivation methods were human level. Only a very small number of people could obtain yellow level cultivation methods.

There were very few golden core cultivators on the continent. It wasn’t just due to internal reasons such as the uneven talents of cultivators, but also because the cultivation methods of most people meant they could only stop at foundation building.

Even if there were occasional yellow level cultivation methods, most of them were incomplete. If such cultivation methods couldn’t be completed, forget building a foundation. If they were careless, it might cause a backlash in the meridians and their cultivation to regress.

Wen Hanshan was obviously worried that Lou Xingyao’s cultivation method belonged to the last case.