Opening the Meridians and Charging the Acupoints

Formless is the wind; Formless is the cloud.

The Sword Intent Li Yuan had just comprehended was Cloud Formless.

Sword Intent, like Fist Intent, was also a type of Martial Dao True Intent.

Illusory clouds and mist manifested outside his body. They appeared to drift lazily, tranquil and peaceful, but anyone who entered them would be sliced into pieces in an instant.

No matter how harmless the clouds and mist manifested by Cloud Formless looked, they were swords in essence!

Nothing could escape their cuts!

Nothing could withstand their cuts!

By now, Li Yuan had grasped three types of Martial Dao True Intent: Dragon's Bloodshed, Ten Thousand Ranks Cold Pool, and Cloud Formless. This made his mental power grow even more formidable!

Li Yuan's eyes shone with an alarming brilliance. His vast and tenacious mental power had nearly materialized, bursting dazzlingly from his eye sockets!

Li Yuan had never slackened in his cultivation of the mental domain. His vast mental power allowed him to control these Martial Dao True Intents with greater ease, while his Martial Dao True Intents seemed to be undergoing some unknown change, faintly drawing closer to an unknown domain.

Li Yuan sensed that this change in his Martial Dao True Intent was a good thing, so he was not alarmed.

It was only that his knowledge of the martial path was too limited, and he did not know what this change was about.

"I'll have to find time to visit the Special Capture Division's Stone Tower."

The last time Li Yuan had gone to the Stone Tower to exchange for martial arts, he had seen several books about Martial Dao True Intent. He had not had enough contribution points to exchange for them then, but now that he had money, he could go take a look at those books.

The martial art Shocking Step that he had previously submitted to the Special Capture Division had passed the review. As long as someone exchanged for it, Li Yuan would earn a profit from it. However, profits from exchanging for techniques were settled once a month, and there were still several days until the end of the month.

Once the contribution points arrived, he could go to the Stone Tower and consult the relevant materials, rather than always stumbling around in the dark.

And now, with the Cloud Stream Sword Record perfected, it was time to do something else.

Open the meridians and charge the acupoints!

At the Body Tempering Realm, a martial artist's primary cultivation consisted of constantly tempering the flesh, hammering the sinews and bones, and increasing strength.

The main task of the Inner Force Realm was to continuously temper inner force, making it more abundant and condensed.

But upon reaching the True Qi Realm, one had to open the meridians and charge the acupoints!

What did opening the meridians and charging the acupoints mean?

After opening the first martial acupoint in the human body and condensing Martial Arts True Qi, one had to use that true qi to continue opening new acupoints within the body!

Once the acupoints were opened one after another and linked together, they formed meridians!

After linking the twelve standard meridians and increasing the Martial Arts True Qi within the body more than tenfold, one would be a mid-stage True Qi Realm martial artist!

Next, after opening the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and connecting all the meridians within the body into a complete circulation, with true qi circulating endlessly and regenerating without cease, one would be a late-stage True Qi Realm martial artist!

If one continued tempering the true qi, constantly refining and purifying it until it liquefied into True Essence, one would step into an even higher realm... the True Essence Realm!

Xu Zhe, who had previously traveled with Li Yuan and the others to lure and capture the Corpse Demon, was a top-tier powerhouse of the True Essence Realm!

After breaking through to the True Qi Realm, Li Yuan had only opened one acupoint so far—the Qi Sea Acupoint—making him an early-stage True Qi Realm martial artist.

Next, he needed to continuously open new acupoints and meridians, allowing his body to contain more Martial Arts True Qi so that he could continue advancing his realm.

Qi Zhengyang's Cloud Stream Sword Record contained a method for opening the meridians and charging the acupoints. Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground and began attempting it according to the method.

Within his qi sea, violent Martial Arts True Qi spiraled like a storm, displaying terrifying might.

Suddenly, a strand of true qi within the vortex trembled slightly. Then it broke away from the vortex and flew out of the qi sea.

The strand of true qi wound its way through Li Yuan's body. Soon, it reached the tip of his index finger—the Shangyang Acupoint!

The Shangyang Acupoint was the first acupoint of the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, one of the twelve standard meridians, and was located at the tip of the index finger. The strand of true qi coiled there, repeatedly compressing itself through the method of charging acupoints before surging fiercely toward the Shangyang Acupoint!

Li Yuan faintly heard a crisp sound come from within his body, as though something had cracked open.

In his perception, a cavernous object appeared at the tip of his index finger!

This cavern was the Shangyang Acupoint Li Yuan had opened.

The newly opened Shangyang Acupoint was empty. The strand of true qi used to open it had not been greatly depleted and still had eighty percent remaining. The remaining true qi stirred as one and drilled into the Shangyang Acupoint.

Li Yuan smiled faintly and continued controlling that strand of true qi, riding the momentum upward. Using the same method, he opened the second and third acupoints of the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian: the Erjian Acupoint and the Sanjian Acupoint.

After opening three martial acupoints in one breath, that strand of true qi was finally exhausted.

"Heh heh, it was much faster than I imagined!"

According to the method of opening the meridians and charging the acupoints, it was no easy task for a True Qi Realm martial artist to open a new martial acupoint.

When an ordinary martial artist's true qi attempted to charge an acupoint, success was not guaranteed. If the amount of true qi used was insufficient, or if the true qi was too weak to break open the acupoint, all the true qi used would be wasted, and they would have to wait for it to recover before trying again.

If they used too much force, hoping to create a miracle through sheer strength, the acupoint would be damaged by the immense amount of Martial Arts True Qi. Not only would the attempt fail, they would even have to spend time healing.

Recovering true qi took time, and healing took even longer. If one was lucky, spending three or four days to open a single martial acupoint could already be considered fast.

And the acupoints of the twelve standard meridians numbered three hundred and sixty-two in total!

Opening all of them would require several years of work.

Yet Li Yuan had opened three martial acupoints in one breath in the span of only a few breaths.

All three hundred-plus acupoints would take at most a dozen or so days to open completely.

If this matter got out, it would make the other True Qi Realm martial artists beat their chests and die of frustration!

Li Yuan's astonishing speed in charging acupoints was thanks to the extremely high quality of his true qi.

The Martial Arts True Qi transformed from four types of inner force was extraordinary. The quality of his true qi was several times higher than that of other True Qi Realm martial artists.

If other martial artists' true qi was likened to tofu, then Li Yuan's true qi was bedrock!

Hard and immovable!

A mere acupoint could be pierced open with a poke. It was nothing worth mentioning.

After opening three acupoints in one breath, Li Yuan struck while the iron was hot. He circulated another strand of true qi to his arm and continued opening the meridians and charging the acupoints.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Li Yuan had opened half the acupoints on the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian!

Such speed was simply horrifying.

After another incense stick's time, all the acupoints on the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian had been opened!

The Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, one of the twelve standard meridians, had been fully charged!

True qi circulated back and forth through the newly opened meridian. Not only had the total amount of true qi within his body increased, even the quality of his true qi had improved slightly.

The Qi Sea Acupoint was the largest martial acupoint in the human body and could contain the most Martial Arts True Qi. After that, opening each additional meridian would double the amount of true qi within the body based on the original foundation!

Li Yuan now effectively possessed the true qi of two qi seas, doubling his endurance in battle!

If all twelve standard meridians were opened, Li Yuan's total amount of true qi would increase twelvefold!!!

The massive increase in true qi within his body gave Li Yuan a faint feeling of bloating.

He knew that he could not continue opening the meridians and charging the acupoints. He needed to spend some time allowing his body to adapt before continuing.

Li Yuan slowly rose to his feet and practiced swordsmanship and boxing in the courtyard, adapting to the immense true qi he had just gained...