[At the end of the eighteenth year, you successfully opened the Yin Qiao Meridian, one of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and your strength consequently broke through to the late Xiantian Realm.
As you successfully broke through, the quantity and quality of the Innate True Qi in your body improved greatly once again, causing your physical body to once again be strengthened by the Innate True Qi.
As your physical body was enhanced again, your martial arts aptitude also improved considerably, greatly increasing your cultivation speed.]
[In the nineteenth year, you successfully opened the Yang Qiao Meridian, another of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and your strength consequently rose to the peak of the late Xiantian Realm.
By then, your Purple Cloud Divine Skill had reached its limit, and you formally began cultivating the Sun-Swallowing Divine Art instead.
That same year, you finally met Wei Xiaobao, the child of destiny.
At that time, having helped the Qing Court and Russia sign a peace treaty, he had already been ennobled by Kangxi as a First-class Loyal Brave Count.
However, this had little to do with you. Your primary goal now was to formally break through to the Grandmaster Realm.]
[In the twentieth year, after a year of arduous cultivation, you successfully opened the Yin Wei Meridian, one of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, with the help of the Perfection Level Sun Swallowing Divine Art, and your strength consequently broke through to the Xiantian Realm peak.
That same year, Invincible Divine Fist Gui Xinshu, his wife, and their son boldly charged into the imperial palace, intending to assassinate Kangxi.]
[This was the first time you had encountered the top experts of this world, and you immediately went over out of curiosity.
Unfortunately, the result left you sorely disappointed. Even the strongest among them, Gui Xinshu, had only reached the Houtian Peak, while his wife was merely at the late Houtian Realm.
You immediately lost all interest in the powerful figures of this world.
As for restoring the Ming and opposing the Qing, what did that have to do with you?
You certainly could not let a moment of hotheadedness make you disregard the parents who had given birth to and raised you in this life, then rebel and implicate your entire clan.
Because you did not interfere, Gui Xinshu and his wife, along with their somewhat dim-witted son, still died together at the hands of the Imperial Guards.
Throughout this whole affair, Wei Xiaobao could be said to have contributed tremendously. He had actually used his own body to shield Kangxi from a blade. Otherwise, Gui Xinshu and his wife might truly have succeeded in assassinating him.]
"It's no wonder Wei Xiaobao eventually managed to become the First-class Duke of Deer Cauldron. With this kind of reckless act of protecting the emperor, even knowing that he was wearing armor impervious to blades and spears, not just anyone could have done it."
Looking at the words that had just appeared on the screen before him, Zheng Qian marveled inwardly.
After all, armor was dead, while people were alive. What if the other person had slashed at his neck? There was no armor protecting it.
He had truly been risking his life to protect the emperor. No wonder Kangxi treated him so specially.
[In the eighth month of the twentieth year, Kangxi issued an edict to strip the vassal kings of their authority. You advised him to gather troops in advance to prevent King Who Pacifies the West Wu Sangui from being driven into desperate rebellion, and Kangxi accepted your advice.]
[In the twenty-first year, you successfully opened the last of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, the Yang Wei Meridian, and your strength consequently rose to the absolute peak of the Xiantian Realm.
That same year, Wu Sangui raised troops in rebellion as you had expected. Because of your meritorious advice, Kangxi promoted you to the Fifth-Rank Hanlin Academy Attendant Scholar.
However, you now needed to spend a great deal of time accumulating astral qi every day. Therefore, you declined Kangxi's promotion on the grounds of ill health and decided to resign and return home to "recuperate."
Although Kangxi found this a pity, he still agreed to your request.]
[In the twenty-second year, with the help of the Sun Swallowing Divine Art, you successfully accumulated a full forty-eight strands of Grandmaster astral qi within your Dantian Sea of Qi, bringing your total astral qi to its limit.
You then officially began cultivating the [Morning Sun Acupoint Nourishing Art] to nurture your Baihui Acupoint.]
[Two months later, you successfully finished nurturing your Baihui Acupoint, then spent a full eighteen strands of astral qi to completely open and form it.
With the successful opening of your Baihui Acupoint, you became a true Half-step Grandmaster.
At the same time, after your Baihui Acupoint was opened and you had fully restored the astral qi in your body, you discovered that your total astral qi had increased by a full nine strands—exactly half the amount consumed when opening your Baihui Acupoint.
Your total astral qi consequently increased to fifty-seven strands.
However, your Dantian Sea of Qi could still only contain forty-eight strands of astral qi. The excess astral qi was stored in the newly opened Baihui Acupoint.]
"It actually consumed eighteen strands of astral qi? But the amount of astral qi gained after successfully opening an acupoint is actually related to the amount consumed during its opening. That really is good news..."
Looking at the words that had just appeared on the screen before him, Zheng Qian's eyes lit up, and he marveled inwardly.
As for why he was thinking inwardly, that was naturally because Lu San was still beside him. Although Lu San could not see the light screen before him, he did not want to be mistaken for a madman.
According to the records of the Morning Sun One Qi Art, opening the first acupoint required at least twelve strands of astral qi.
Yet the simulated Zheng Qian had consumed eighteen strands, a full half more than the minimum requirement.
By that logic, when he opened the ninth acupoint, the total astral qi required would probably approach two hundred strands.
Of course, the greater the expenditure, the greater the gains after breaking through.
If possible, he naturally hoped that the more astral qi he consumed while opening his acupoints, the better.
But that was not up to him.
[After the Baihui Acupoint had been fully opened, you began nurturing the second acupoint—the Shenque Acupoint.
This was a major acupoint located in the center of the navel on the abdomen. It was the second acupoint recorded in the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Acupoint Diagram you cultivated.]
[As you cultivated, you discovered that opening the second acupoint was clearly more difficult than opening the first. You spent a full three months merely nurturing the Shenque Acupoint to its initial state.
Afterward, you spent another full twenty-four strands of astral qi to open it successfully, and the total astral qi in your body consequently increased by twelve strands, reaching sixty-nine strands.]
[In the twenty-third year, after spending nearly five months, you successfully nurtured and opened the Qi Hai Acupoint. This was a major acupoint adjacent to your Dantian Sea of Qi, located on the body's central line, one and a half units below the navel.
Opening the Qi Hai Acupoint consumed a full thirty-two strands of astral qi, while your total astral qi consequently increased by sixteen strands, reaching eighty-five strands.
At the end of that same year, after spending a full six months, you successfully nurtured and opened the Jugu Acupoint, located in the depression between the collarbone and the spine of the shoulder blade.
This was a paired acupoint, meaning that the same major acupoint existed on both the left and right shoulder blades.
It was also more difficult to open than the other major acupoints. You needed to split your focus and open both shoulders simultaneously.
Opening the Jugu Acupoint consumed a full sixty-nine strands of astral qi, far exceeding the expenditure required for a single major acupoint.
With the successful opening of the acupoint, your total astral qi consequently increased by thirty-five strands, reaching as many as one hundred and twenty strands.]
Before you continue