Breakthrough

Liu Xiaolou steadied himself, rested for half a day, and began preparing to open the Neiting point. The Xiangu point was where true essence remained, an essence pool that accumulated and nurtured true essence. Thus, his preparation was in fact to store up true essence within the Xiangu point's essence pool.

At this juncture, Liu Xiaolou understood well that haste made waste. He did not blindly assault the Neiting point. Instead, he drew out all the spiritual power contained within his three spirit stones, refined it into true essence within his body, and stored it in the Xiangu point's essence pool.

Once the three spirit stones had been drained dry, they crumbled into powder and ash. At that moment, the Xiangu essence pool was like a reservoir dammed by a great barrier, its water level rising ever higher, its gathered momentum growing ever stronger.

Until the moment when the "dam" could no longer hold it back.

Liu Xiaolou finally opened the floodgates, allowing the powerful true essence to surge toward Neiting. It roiled and echoed at the Neiting point's barrier, washing back and forth before bursting through in one rush and pouring toward the Lidui point.

The Neiting point governed qi regulation, pain relief, and ailments of the mind. Once he passed this barrier, Liu Xiaolou's mind jolted, and he felt his consciousness become much clearer. His awareness of his surroundings also rose by a measure.

The final point of every meridian was the hardest to open. It did not merely concern the point itself, but one's state of being. That state was mysterious beyond mystery, elusive as the Gobi Desert when absent; when it arrived, it might come like a violent storm, a soft breeze brushing one's face, or a sudden flash of spiritual light. Cultivators also called it enlightenment. Having gone through a life-and-death ordeal at Jinping Mountain Villa, Liu Xiaolou had already grasped this enlightenment. The greatest hurdle had thus been crossed, and all that remained was the unceasing scouring of true essence.

After an unknown length of time, the moment spiritual power broke through the Lidui point, all forty-five points of the Foot Yangming Meridian opened. He felt his heart settle and his spirit calm, his entire body clear from top to bottom, with a faint sensation that he might drift up and fly away. Of course, that feeling of floating away was purely an illusion; he was still far from such a realm. Yet according to the Xuanzhen Scripture, after cultivating to this point, he would at least no longer be troubled by stomach and intestinal discomfort.

After ten years of cultivation, Liu Xiaolou had finally opened four meridians and stepped into the Qi Refining third layer.

At the Qi Refining third layer, he needed to turn back and open the second of the three Hand Yin meridians—the Hand Jueyin Meridian.

The Hand Jueyin Meridian had only nine points on each side, but every one was a major point: Tianchi, Tianquan, Quze, Ximen, Jianshi, Neiguan, Daling, Laogong, and Zhongchong. All nine major points possessed essence pools, making it one of the rare meridians among the twelve that could accumulate and nurture true essence. Opening this meridian required more spiritual power than any of the previous ones.

Liu Xiaolou mobilized the true essence accumulated in the spirit pools throughout the four meridians he had already opened—the Hand Taiyin, Hand Yangming, Foot Taiyin, and Foot Yangming Meridians—and attempted to strike the first point of the Hand Jueyin Meridian, Tianchi. Yet he found it difficult beyond difficulty. That true essence from different places could travel freely through the four meridians was already no small feat. This was what was meant by each having its own territory to guard; one could not take another's burden in one's stead.

Unfortunately, his spirit stones had already been used up. He could only think of another way.

If only he had been born into a Renowned Great Sect, then he would not have had to worry about spirit stones. Liu Xiaolou could not help feeling melancholy.

He took out that spirit herb and examined it for a while, but could make neither head nor tail of it. He prepared to leave seclusion and find someone outside to identify what sort of spirit herb it was—whether it could be consumed directly or exchanged for spirit stones.

One never knew the passage of time inside a cave, but Liu Xiaolou estimated that since he had long finished the rice cakes he brought and had eaten dozens of fat fish Big White Goose had carried back, at least two months must have passed. Those Dongyang Sect cultivators could not possibly have searched Wulong Mountain for so long, could they?

He returned by the same route and cautiously poked his head out from the tree hollow. Instantly, his scalp went numb. Reaching up to pinch at it, he found a large centipede that had just fallen onto his forehead.

The great centipede was more than a finger's length long and wriggled without pause. Though it was not a spiritual creature, its enormous mandibles were exceptionally sharp, comparable to blades and swords. It was precisely the Earth Dragon unique to Wulong Mountain.

Liu Xiaolou had suffered from these centipedes before. Even the skin of a Qi Refining second layer cultivator could not withstand an Earth Dragon's bite; one bite would immediately leave a bloody wound. Holding this Earth Dragon now, an idea stirred in his heart. He let it bite the back of his hand once, only for it to leave behind a pale mark. He was immensely pleased.

This was the remarkable effect of the Xuanzhen Cultivation Method: cultivation within and without, outer and inner as one.

As he opened his meridians, he was also tempering his body.

He flicked the Earth Dragon away, crawled out of the tree hollow, and silently made his way down the mountain.

It was nearing noon, and the weather grew increasingly stifling. It was likely already the hottest days of summer, though he did not know which stretch they were in. With an additional meridian in his body that drew in coolness from without, the oppressive heat truly felt much reduced.

Moreover, as he raced along the mountain paths, he felt lighter than before. With every leap and bound, each step carried him more than a foot farther than it once had. If that Dongyang Sect cultivator surnamed Han came after him again now, Liu Xiaolou was confident he would not even let the man see his back.

Before returning to the mountain, one first went down it—this was the habit of Wulong Mountain rogue cultivators. At the village entrance below the mountain, Liu Xiaolou chatted with some auntie and some grandnephew, then hurried to Uncle Tian's home to ask in detail. Only then did he learn that this seclusion had actually lasted over two months!

As for those cultivators who had entered the mountain before, they had indeed come from the Dongyang Sect. Yet they seemed to have targeted the wrong person. Their attention had been focused on his sworn brother, Wei Hongqing. Wei Hongqing had not attended the Hero Assembly, and he had long since fled who knew where, so naturally they could not find him. After searching Wulong Mountain for more than half a month without gaining anything, they had long departed.

Thus, Liu Xiaolou's heart settled completely, and he returned to Qianzhu Ridge in peace.

After two months away, the fence wall still stood firmly in place, undamaged. Every wooden stake had been driven deep into the earth, and its foundation was exceedingly solid. Yet weeds grew in wild profusion, the tallest of them climbing to the top. Together with the courtyard's condition and the Thatched Cottage, somewhat battered by heavy rains, the place showed several traces of desolation and decay.

Liu Xiaolou went into the Bamboo Forest, cut down several long stalks of bamboo, chopped them into sections, and climbed onto the roof to repair the Thatched Cottage.

At some unknown time, Big White Goose came darting back and craned its neck to watch its master mend the roof beams.

Liu Xiaolou scolded it, "Don't just loaf around. Weed the yard!"

Big White Goose lowered its head and used its flat bill to peck at the weeds, moving quite quickly. Before long, it had cleared out an open patch.

This beast—say it was not a spiritual creature, and it often understood human speech and did human work; say it was a spiritual creature, and it could neither temper the essence of sun and moon nor absorb spiritual power. Even when it stole and ate something good, it did no good at all. It turned into droppings and came back out, without the slightest change a spiritual creature ought to possess.

He would simply treat it as a companion. In this Three Xuan Sect, only he and it had each other to rely on.

Neither Liu Xiaolou nor Big White Goose knew how many times they had done the work of repairing a house. Both were old hands. By nightfall, they had finished tidying everything up. After eating a pot of river crabs Big White Goose had brought back, they rested in the Thatched Cottage.

The next day, Liu Xiaolou went to Ghost Dream Cliff. He pushed aside the vines covering the cave walls and stood inside the stone cavern for a long while. In the end, he still emerged in dejection. Wei Hongqing truly had gone and would never return.

His master had passed away, and now this close friend was gone as well. Liu Xiaolou felt deeply forlorn. The vast Wulong Mountain seemed empty, unbearably lonely.

No matter what, cultivation had to continue. Liu Xiaolou clenched his fists and strode away.

Below Ghost Dream Cliff ran the surging Wu Chao River. From the grass by the riverbank, he dragged out a bamboo raft. It was covered in mud, but bound very solidly and showed no damage.

Wei Hongqing had made this bamboo raft. Whenever they went down the mountain in the past, Wei Hongqing would often bind a raft and drift downstream, and Liu Xiaolou had accompanied him many times, enjoying its convenience. Now that Wei Hongqing was gone, naturally it was up to Liu Xiaolou, his sworn brother, to inherit the raft.