"Acupoints? Could it be that, above the Innate Realm, one must open the acupoints within the body?"
Zheng Qian looked at the speculation about the realm above the Innate Realm displayed in front of him. A flash of light passed through his eyes.
Although his real-world self had not even reached the Innate Realm, he strongly agreed with the speculation about the realm above it.
After all, aside from flesh, blood, sinews, bones, and marrow, the human body was left with the Dantian, meridians, and acupoints.
At the peak of the Innate Realm, the Dantian and major meridians had already been developed to their limits. To continue advancing, would he not have to study the acupoints?
But how many acupoints were there in the human body?
There were at least seven or eight hundred, if not over a thousand.
Although most were insignificant minor acupoints, there were still more than a hundred major acupoints.
And acupoints were extremely fragile. If one opened them recklessly, the consequences would be severe.
Therefore, opening acupoints was certainly an extremely delicate task, and there must also be a set order.
Yet even if he only needed to open the hundred-odd major acupoints, the possible sequences would still be enough to make his scalp go numb.
To discover it all through his own efforts was practically impossible unless he possessed tremendous fortune.
Zheng Qian did not believe that his simulated self possessed any tremendous fortune!
Therefore, if he wanted to break through, he could only rely on the wisdom of his predecessors.
[Twenty-ninth year: After several months of exploration and study, although your strength remains stagnant, you have roughly determined from the Sunflower Manual and Tai Chi Fist Manual that the realm above the Innate Realm should require opening the 108 major acupoints throughout the body. As for the specific order of opening them and the method for opening each acupoint, you have no idea. However, even if you knew, you would not be able to use that knowledge for now. That is because, before formally beginning to open your acupoints, you must first compress and purify your own Innate True Qi. Just as when breaking through from the Houtian Realm to the Innate Realm, there is also a Half-step Innate Realm transitional phase.] [Thirtieth year: Combining the records in the Sunflower Manual and Tai Chi Fist Manual, you successfully improved your Sun Swallowing Divine Art and successfully condensed a power even more formidable and overbearing than Innate True Qi. You named it 'gang qi.' However, although you had successfully condensed a strand of gang qi, you did not dare to use it lightly. It was not that you were reluctant to use it. You truly did not dare. That strand of gang qi was far too overbearing. The moment you had just guided it into your meridians, waves of pain shot through them, frightening you into hurriedly withdrawing it back into the Dantian Sea of Qi and tightly surrounding it with the Innate True Qi within. This experiment also reminded you why Dongfang Bubai had adopted an attitude of being prepared to die together with you despite knowing that she was no match for you. Clearly, she had probably already condensed gang qi within her body at that time. However, the might of gang qi was far too domineering and formidable. Unless her life was truly at stake, she did not dare to use it casually.] [Thirty-first year: After a year of arduous cultivation, you once again condensed twelve strands of gang qi, bringing the total number of strands within your body to thirteen.] [Thirty-second year: After another year of arduous cultivation, you successfully condensed another twelve strands of gang qi, bringing the total within your body to twenty-five.] [Thirty-third year: After another year of arduous cultivation, you condensed only eleven strands of gang qi. At this point, the number of strands of gang qi within your body had reached thirty-six, which was also the limit your Dantian Sea of Qi could contain. You tried continuing to condense gang qi, but whenever a strand was about to take shape, waves of pain came from your Dantian Sea of Qi. Once you dispersed that strand of gang qi, the pain immediately vanished without a trace. Unwilling to accept this, you conducted three experiments in succession, but the results were identical every time. This confirmed that the amount of gang qi your Dantian Sea of Qi could contain had truly reached its limit.] [Thirty-fourth year: You began studying how to use gang qi to open the 108 major acupoints within your body. However, your very first experiment left you seriously injured, and it took more than five months of recuperation before you recovered. At the end of the thirty-fourth year, your father passed away from illness. You returned home to observe mourning for him while continuing to study how to open the acupoints.] [July of the thirty-fifth year: You once again experimented with opening your acupoints. Unfortunately, it ended in failure once more, and you were again seriously injured.] [Thirty-sixth year: After recovering from your injuries, you refused to believe it and continued experimenting with how to use gang qi to open your acupoints. In the end, however, it still ended in failure. As a result, you were injured once again.] [Forty-second year: After several years of study and experimentation, you still failed to use gang qi to open even a single acupoint, leaving you somewhat disheartened. That same year, your mother passed away from illness. You continued observing mourning for her while studying methods of opening the acupoints.] [Fifty-fifth year: After using your own body as a test subject for many years, your old injuries flared up and overwhelmed you like collapsing mountains and surging seas. A month later, you died of illness on Mount Hua.] [You died. The simulation has ended.]
"Hm? I died just like that?" Looking at the outcome of this simulation, Zheng Qian was momentarily stunned.
He had never expected that, as a mighty expert at the peak of the Innate Realm, he would ultimately kill himself through his own foolish experiments...
[Ding! The simulation has ended. Host's evaluation for this simulation: 95 points, perfect.] [Based on the host's score, you may select five of the following options as rewards: 1. Green Talent: Simplified Version of the Purple Cloud Divine Skill (Upon obtaining this talent, the host may cultivate the simplified Purple Cloud Divine Skill anywhere from now on). 2. Half-step Grandmaster Realm strength. 3. Combat experience. 4. Life experience. 5. Sun Swallowing Divine Art (Perfection Level). 6. Dugu Nine Swords (Greater Mastery Level). 7. Sunflower Manual (Not Yet Initiated). 8. Yi Jin Jing (Greater Mastery Level). 9. Star Absorbing Great Method (Greater Mastery Level). 10. ... 895. Jade Breaking Saber (Perfection Level).]
"Tsk, tsk. More than eight hundred options? That really is a lot..." Looking at the eight or nine hundred options, Zheng Qian wore a look of amazement.
However, he had expected this long ago.
After all, in order to cultivate Dugu Nine Swords, he had practically collected every cultivation art and martial art in the entire world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
As for his score, he had practically turned the original plot upside down this time. Combined with the fact that his strength had reached the limit the world could contain, it would have been abnormal if he had not received a perfect evaluation.
Afterward, he made his choice without hesitation. "I choose 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6!"
The talent was naturally a must-have.
This talent would not be of much use to him in the real world, but it would be tremendously useful to his simulated self.
With this talent, he would be able to break through to the peak of the late Innate Realm at the fastest possible speed during future simulations, greatly reducing the time he would need to cultivate within them.
Before you continue