Qi coursed through the heavenly circuit!
Qi and strength, thick as flood dragons and pythons, surged swiftly through his body. Though this was his first attempt, the wealth of memories in his mind made it feel as though he had immersed himself in this path for decades. The instant his body mobilized its qi and strength, he slipped into a state of instinctive action.
A faint rumble of thunder seemed to rise from his meridians. The coursing qi and strength opened a great meridian, and once it was cleared, they flowed unhindered, racing through it again and again-sixteen heavenly circuits in a single breath!
Li Hao then performed it a second time. This time, he was more practiced, his body gradually falling into step with his memories.
Thirty-eight heavenly circuits in a single breath.
On the third attempt, fifty-two heavenly circuits in a single breath.
The fourth, the fifth... until he finished the seventh attempt: one hundred circuits in a single breath!
The Hundred Dragons Body was also called the Hundred Circulations Body because, upon reaching major mastery, it produced exactly one hundred heavenly circuits-no more, no less!
Li Hao glanced at his panel and discovered that his cultivation had long since ceased to be the tenth layer of the Power Through Realm. It now read: Circulation Realm, first layer!
Having officially entered the Circulation Realm, Li Hao felt the qi and strength racing through this great meridian, brimming with tension. Compared to before, it was as though his body had suddenly gained another spine, allowing his whole being to truly "stand."
He could circulate his qi at will as he moved, unleashing power far beyond what he had possessed before!
Delighted, Li Hao went on to practice Primordial Beginning.
Following the practice sequences in his memories, he progressed from the second level, Star Body, to the third, Profound Passage Body!
As he practiced, the qi and strength within him surged ever more fiercely, like furious waves on a mighty river!
Li Hao discovered that the Profound Passage Body also contained a Qi Circulation Method. It was not the least bit inferior to the Hundred Dragons Body-in fact, it was even more formidable!
Li Muxiu had not told him about this, most likely because the old man had never studied this martial art in depth. After all, it was a Body Refining art, and an incomplete one at that. The old man probably had not considered having Li Hao cultivate it.
As he practiced it over and over, becoming more familiar with it, Li Hao's body underwent tremendous changes. A second great meridian slowly opened within him!
Moreover, this great meridian was exceptionally sturdy, thick, and broad. The amount of qi and strength it could hold far exceeded that of the first!
This great meridian was the core of the Profound Passage Body-the Profound Meridian!
From the art's descriptions, Li Hao learned that this Profound Meridian had another name in martial arts: the Yin Meridian!
Li Hao checked his cultivation. Although he had opened a second great meridian, he remained at the first layer of the Circulation Realm, without advancing.
This great Yin Meridian was like a hidden great meridian, excluded from the count of the others.
The Hundred Dragons qi and strength originally contained in his first great meridian poured into the Yin Meridian as well, circulating back and forth between the two. Yet the Hundred Dragons qi and strength that had nearly filled his first great meridian were like a little stream within the Yin Meridian, unable even to surge against its inner walls.
Sounds like rolling thunder and roaring tigers came from within Li Hao, as though a vicious beast were awakening from its slumber, slowly opening its eyes.
The outward force released by his surging qi and strength swept away the dust around him, leaving not a speck within three feet!
The insights from Entering the Dao at rank three of the Path of the Physical Body gave Li Hao a profound understanding of both arts. He immediately sensed places where their Qi Circulation Methods overlapped and intersected.
With a thought, he performed both arts simultaneously. Soon, the two Qi Circulation Methods began interacting, splitting his qi and strength into two streams that chased each other through his great meridians like two flood dragons.
As Li Hao practiced more and grew increasingly proficient, the two streams of qi and strength intertwined and fused.
This was the interaction and fusion of cultivation arts!
The overlapping portions were consolidated, while the intersecting parts became one, making his qi and strength circulate even faster.
From One Meridian, One Hundred Circuits, he reached One Meridian, One Hundred and Thirty-Two Circuits!
His circulation speed had increased by thirty-two circuits!
This already surpassed the Li Family's top-tier Qi Circulation Method, the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art.
Outside the imperial family, this was one of the finest Qi Circulation Methods in Great Yu, something martial artists throughout the world yearned for.
As his qi and strength coursed through the Yin Meridian, Li Hao sensed a special power of utmost yin and cold flowing through his body. If he cultivated arts such as the Frozen Ice Palm or Ice Soul Body, he could achieve twice the results with half the effort!
Once he finished cultivating, Li Hao planned to look up exactly what this Yin Meridian was.
For now, however, he continued practicing his third Top-Tier Body Tempering art, the Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body.
Compared to the previous two, though, the third level of this art was slightly inferior.
The Leaping Shell Body also contained a Qi Circulation Method, but it only achieved seventy-two heavenly circuits. In other words, cultivating this art alone could still help Li Hao break through to the Circulation Realm.
Leaping Shell used qi to direct strength, allowing the practitioner to remain airborne and fly briefly.
Remaining airborne was an ability normally available only in the Soul Succession Realm.
However, the distance the Leaping Shell Body could sustain in the air could not compare to the Soul Succession Realm. It could produce surprising effects in certain unusual combat situations, but did little to improve direct fighting power.
The second level of the Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body, on the other hand, was quite powerful. Previously, when he had been at rank one of the Path of the Physical Body, Li Hao had only cultivated its second level to minor mastery. Now, its second level, the Crouching Dragon Body, had reached perfection!
This brought him terrifying, berserk power like that of a dragon elephant-a pure increase in physical strength of at least twenty thousand jin!
Li Hao estimated that his raw physical strength alone was now around fifty thousand jin.
Yes, it was that outrageous.
Now at rank three of the Path of the Physical Body, Li Hao could roughly gauge his body's condition without even testing it.
If he combined it with the circulating qi within him, achieving Qi Strength Unification, he could unleash around one hundred thousand jin of force!
One circuit of qi and strength yielded the strength of one cauldron.
Li Hao could now perform one hundred and thirty-two circuits, giving him one hundred and thirty-two cauldrons of strength. With two meridians, that became two hundred and sixty-four!
Each cauldron represented two hundred jin, totaling around fifty thousand jin.
Such strength was enough to easily blow apart an ordinary martial artist at the perfected Circulation Realm with a single punch.
An ordinary perfected Circulation Realm practitioner with ten meridians and ten heavenly circuits stood at the lowest tier of that realm, with virtually no hope of reaching Soul Succession. Their qi and strength amounted to only one hundred cauldrons, or around twenty thousand jin.
At the first layer of the Circulation Realm, ten circuits through one meridian meant an increase of only 2,000 jin. Although this was nearly double the ordinary Power Through Realm's 3,600 jin of strength, those with Divine Blood had twice the strength in the Power Through Realm-7,200 jin. At the perfected Power Through Realm, they could fight and kill an ordinary first-layer Circulation Realm practitioner!
That was the might of those with Divine Blood.
Moreover, this did not include the additional improvements granted by techniques, cultivation arts, and the like.
After all, what martial artist had not learned a couple of signature arts?
Besides, given the backgrounds and family resources of those with Divine Blood, their cultivation arts could hardly be low-tier, widening the gap even further. Generally, someone with Divine Blood at the perfected Power Through Realm could easily defeat martial artists at around the second or third layer of the Circulation Realm through their techniques.
Some monstrous geniuses could even fight opponents four or five layers above them!
Once they reached the Circulation Realm, differences in cultivation arts and resources created even greater disparities in fighting power and cultivation speed.
With the Li Family's two supreme arts for qi circulation and meridian opening alone, mastering both would grant one million jin of strength at the perfected Circulation Realm!
Yet the weakest had only twenty thousand jin-a difference of at least fiftyfold!
Still, ordinary martial artists at the perfected Circulation Realm rarely cultivated only the weakest method, which allowed just ten circuits of qi. That was the absolute lower limit.
Everyone had at least a few fortuitous opportunities. Even without them, by struggling and venturing out on their own—or simply enlisting in the army—they could obtain a middle-tier Fortune Circulation Method and a middle-tier Meridian Opening martial art capable of opening eighteen meridians.
The Li Family's Yuan Character Camp, for instance, bore the designation of the camp their ancestor had once commanded. Any soldier selected for the Yuan Character Camp could cultivate a high-tier Fortune Circulation Method and Meridian Opening arts. Every one of them was a powerhouse among their peers, which was why the Yuan Character Camp's ten thousand troops surpassed an ordinary army of a million!
Feeling the qi and strength surging through his body, Li Hao smiled.
The terrifying improvements granted by cultivation arts far exceeded those of Divine Blood. After all, Divine Blood could only be activated to double the Power Through Realm's base strength of 3,600 jin; it could not double the strength gained from cultivation arts.
To him now, a mere increase of three thousand-odd jin was hardly worth mentioning.
Without counting offensive traits such as Tiger Pressure and Flying Section, or the Boundless Sea Sword Art, I should now be able to easily defeat unaffiliated martial artists at the tenth layer of the Circulation Realm through physical combat alone. But compared to the perfected Circulation Realm soldiers of the Yuan Character Camp, I'm still far behind, Li Hao thought.
The soldiers of the Yuan Character Camp were all fierce tigers of Great Yu. Among the Demon Race of Northern Yan, the Yuan Character Army was synonymous with the god of death.
Whenever they marched beneath the Yuan Character banner, demons and fiends lost their courage at the mere whisper of their approach. The reason was that their high-tier Fortune Circulation Method and Meridian Opening arts granted them five hundred thousand jin of strength at the perfected Circulation Realm!
How terrifying would it be to have ten thousand such soldiers march to war?
And the Circulation Realm was only the weakest realm within the Yuan Character Camp.
Right now, I can only just barely spar with Yuan Character Camp soldiers at the third or fourth layer of the Circulation Realm. But with their wealth of combat experience, I might not even be a match for them.
Although his improvement had been tremendous, Li Hao did not let it go to his head.
He then fused in the Qi Circulation Method from the third level of the Dragon Cicada Vacuum Body. After eliminating the overlapping portions, his qi circulation speed increased once more, reaching one hundred and forty-three circuits in a single breath!
That was fifteen circuits more than the Hundred Battles Heavenly Circulation Art. A difference of fifteen circuits per meridian would accumulate into an enormous gap upon reaching the perfected Circulation Realm.
Still, it remained far inferior to the imperial family's All Heavens Heavenly Circulation Art.
Next, Li Hao practiced all his other high-, middle-, and low-tier Body-Tempering Arts several times, until his body and memories were fully synchronized.
This gave his physical strength another substantial increase of around fifteen thousand jin-the combined, interwoven effects of dozens of arts, after all. Every part of his body was also greatly enhanced. His eyesight, hearing, skin sensitivity, and more all grew several times stronger.
When facing an enemy, all these things would have a considerable impact on the outcome.
Afterward, Li Hao began searching through the building for information on the Yin Meridian.
(End of chapter)
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