Second Body Tempering

Jiang Tang served a few small dishes and prepared a hangover soup before returning to Xun Mei's place.

Meng Yuan enthusiastically urged him to drink, and only then did Nie Yannian bring up the matter of the Eighth Rank.

To enter the Eighth Rank, one must open one of the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens.

The Lower Thirty-Three Heavens are located within the flesh and skin, four in each limb, sixteen in the front and back torso, and one on the head, totaling thirty-three.

The distribution of the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens is the same as the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens, except that the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens are located within the muscles, bones, and internal organs.

To open the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens, building up strength and combining tension and relaxation is naturally unavoidable, but it is no longer the most important thing.

"Generally speaking, it's still True Qi impacting the Acupoints, and then breaking through the blockage. Then, starting from a point and expanding to a surface, all of them are opened."

"However, the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens are within the internal organs and bones, unlike the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens which are in the flesh and skin, so they are not easy to find. This is the difficulty. Therefore, you must first find those Acupoints. This is the work of sensing. How do you sense them?"

"I've taught you the method of circulating True Qi using the Gale Wind Saber Technique. Although it's circulated within the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens, if you use it more, you can slowly sense the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens. Then, Opening Acupoints will be a matter of course!"

"Similarly, because they are within the internal organs and bones, if you are not careful, you will injure yourself. Therefore, you cannot rush, you can only go slowly."

Nie Yannian taught everything in one go, truly without holding anything back.

"Then I'll give it a try?" Meng Yuan said.

"Okay... Hey! No, no, no!" Nie Yannian remembered that Meng Yuan had just said he would try, and as a result, he reached Ninth Rank Perfection. He quickly held down Meng Yuan's arm, "No need to rush!"

"Yes." Meng Yuan was an honest person and most receptive to advice, so he immediately poured another drink.

"Wait a moment, slow down." Nie Yannian was very serious, "This is based on experience."

After he finished speaking, he was about to leave, but Meng Yuan quickly stepped forward to support him.

After leaving the door, Nie Yannian turned back and pointed at Meng Yuan, saying, "When the Princess Consort goes out for a spring outing, I'll take you to meet her. Don't embarrass me!"

This was another piece of advice, but what could the Princess Consort advise? Was she also a martial artist? Meng Yuan didn't know, but his loyalty was pure, and he was least afraid of meeting the Princess Consort.

"When are we leaving?" Meng Yuan asked.

Nie Yannian was about to answer, but seeing Meng Yuan eager to try, he quickly pointed a finger at Meng Yuan and said, "Don't be so lawless right now. If you stutter when you see the Princess Consort, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"Master Nie is underestimating me too much!" Meng Yuan immediately said.

"That's because you haven't seen the Princess Consort!" Nie Yannian pulled Meng Yuan closer and whispered, "A celestial being, understand?"

"Truly a peerless beauty?" Meng Yuan asked in a low voice.

"Could it be fake? I watched the Princess Consort grow up!" Nie Yannian boasted, and seeing Meng Yuan actually rubbing his hands, he quickly slapped them down and said angrily, "Don't have any improper thoughts!"

"How can Master Nie slander my innocence out of thin air?" Meng Yuan immediately argued.

"What innocence do you have?" Nie Yannian understood completely.

Meng Yuan felt guilty and dared not argue further.

Nie Yannian walked a couple of steps, then turned back, pinched the back of Meng Yuan's neck, and said, "Go take the old gelder and his son to Drunken Moon Pavilion sometime, put it on my tab!"

"Is Master Nie treating? That's too kind." Meng Yuan smiled.

"You don't need to be embarrassed. I'm not treating you, nor am I giving you face! Your little girl cooked for me, I'm giving her face!" Nie Yannian said angrily.

After seeing off Master Nie, Meng Yuan sat alone for a long time, savoring Master Nie's words.

Afterward, Meng Yuan didn't go to the Training Field, but practiced the Gale Wind Saber Technique in the courtyard, supplemented by the True Qi circulation method. The True Qi in his Dantian circulated back and forth between reflection and depiction.

The first few times he practiced, he was not skilled and still felt a sense of stagnation. But after practicing more than ten times in a row, the circulation was smooth and unimpeded, feeling perfectly round and satisfactory.

"Using the Gale Wind Saber Technique like this, both strength and speed are faster."

"This is related to the amount of one's own True Qi, the speed of circulation, and experience."

"Therefore, even two people who have reached Ninth Rank Perfection, using the same set of Gale Wind Saber Technique, will have differences in skill."

Meng Yuan practiced for another while, until he felt tired, but he still didn't sense the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens.

After dinner, Meng Yuan simply locked himself in his room, planning to temper his body with Essence Flame.

After the First Body Tempering, the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens loosened, and from then on, he progressed rapidly, already reaching Ninth Rank Perfection.

After that, the Essence Flame nourished slowly, and only after swallowing the Green Fruit did it reach Perfection again.

Meng Yuan estimated that this body tempering would likely be even more effective.

He was not in a hurry. He first rested his spirit. After his Dantian was full of True Qi and his spirit was clear and his energy sufficient, Meng Yuan simply stripped off his clothes and sat on the ground.

With a slight thought, he saw a great fire engulfing him.

With a thought in his heart, the Essence Flame exploded with a roar.

For a moment, Meng Yuan felt the flames rushing through his body, following the Meridians and penetrating into his flesh, muscles, bones, limbs, and internal organs, like a surging flood, unstoppable.

Then Meng Yuan felt the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens tremble incessantly. After each Acupoint was scorched, the flames actually drilled in along the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens, and then his internal organs and bones shook violently. Finally, the Essence Flame completely fell into his Dantian, as if to boil the True Qi.

Meng Yuan felt his whole body burning, especially his Dantian, which was in excruciating pain. After enduring for more than ten breaths, the Essence Flame slowly receded.

After a long time, Meng Yuan finally opened his eyes.

The discomfort in his body was still there, and his Dantian felt torn.

Meng Yuan carefully examined the changes after body tempering. Not only was his flesh more condensed, but his Meridians were also wider.

During the first Essence Flame Body Tempering, I felt as if I had been Reborn and my Meridians had been cleansed, but compared to this time, I only felt that the impurities in my body had been completely burned away, giving me a sense of shedding the mundane and seeing the world anew.

Not to mention my body feeling light as a swallow, my mind clear, and changes in my strength and reaction speed, the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens that were opened were also different.

It was as if the riverbed had been widened and dug deeper. And the Dantian was even more vast, like a larger reservoir for water.

Before the tempering, my True Qi was originally abundant, filling my Dantian, but now I felt empty, and the stored True Qi was only half left, showing that the Dantian had solidified and expanded significantly.

Thinking back to the Essence Flame, it was only the size of a soybean.

This Essence Flame Body Tempering still didn't break through any Acupoints, but Meng Yuan felt that the Middle Thirty-Three Heavens had loosened.

Sitting cross-legged in meditation, Meng Yuan carefully felt and visualized the Great River Water, and saw that below the Lower Thirty-Three Heavens, there were other riverbeds.

Carefully locating a spot, Meng Yuan intended to guide his True Qi to impact it, but felt a sense of exhaustion.

"True Qi is insufficient, it needs to be nourished, and I'm still very hungry!"

Meng Yuan didn't force himself. Anyway, serving the Princess Consort wasn't urgent.

He simply got up and went to the kitchen to eat a few steamed buns to fill his stomach. Meng Yuan lay down to sleep, planning to deal with it tomorrow.

Falling asleep in a daze, not long after, he heard someone enter the room. Then, that person tucked in the quilt, then used a small hand to feel his forehead, and finally leaned close to his ear to speak, "Brother, the food is in the kitchen, the shoes and socks are by the bed, the saber is by the pillow, and your homework is on the table in my room."

After a long time, Meng Yuan opened his eyes and immediately saw a large face.

"Why are you here?" Meng Yuan was startled to see Tie Niu leaning in to look at him.

Tie Niu was very serious and said, "Brother, why are you sleeping in?"

He wanted to lift the quilt but didn't dare. "Grandmother isn't hiding in your quilt, is she? My dad said that if you only think about sleeping and have no energy to do things, I have to remind you!"

"I... I know." Meng Yuan knew it was useless to reason with Tie Niu, so he directly lifted the quilt. "Grandmother isn't here."

"Then I'm relieved." Tie Niu breathed a sigh of relief, but still craned his neck to look closely, as if searching for Weasel fur.

"Why did you come?" Meng Yuan rubbed his temples.

"Almost forgot!" Tie Niu slapped his forehead. "Hu Qian and Wu Changsheng asked me to find you and tell you to hurry to the Training Field!"