Inside the tent, breathing long and even, Zhao Cheng closed his eyes and carefully sensed the changes within his body.
After a thousand years of deductions, his body was already filled with Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, which slowly and meticulously transformed his bones, flesh, and internal organs. The transformation brought him an utterly comfortable sensation with every passing moment.
This was the first time since he began body refinement that training had felt so pleasant. He could hardly bring himself to stop.
Vast vitality sprouted within him. Unlike the violent force of a volcano on the verge of eruption, this life force was endless and radiant. At rest, it was like a boundless ocean, yet with a single thought, it could shatter heaven and earth.
He breathed deeply, every pore on his body drawing in and releasing wisps of Primordial Qi drifting between heaven and earth.
With each breath, more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi entered his body, while some continued to dissipate.
Overall, as long as he was breathing in and out in cultivation, the rate at which he absorbed and stored it far outstripped the rate at which it dispersed.
But if he breathed naturally, the rate of absorption would slow somewhat.
And in the midst of fierce battle, his consumption would far exceed his rate of absorption.
Still, with the amount of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi stored in his body and his current rate of absorption, he could fight at the same intensity as before for three days and three nights without a problem.
After experiencing this for a while, Zhao Cheng decided to continue his deductions and cultivation.
His life had been snatched from the jaws of death, but his strength was his own. It wasn't as if there were no more battles to fight, so he might as well keep refining.
"I'm probably close to perfecting my body refinement. I'll test the waters with a bit more—invest five hundred and twenty-five years in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique!"
[Beginning to invest lifespan in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique.]
[Year one: You continue to absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi through breathing exercises. Your entire body is now filled with it, and it constantly transforms and tempers your body. Your flesh, bones, and internal organs are continually growing stronger.]
[Year one hundred: Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi continues to temper your body. You feel your vitality growing ever stronger, and your lifespan increases by fifty years. Your Qi Body Refining reaches the minor mastery stage!]
[Year three hundred: After hundreds of years of Qi Body Refining, you feel that every corner of your body has accumulated a vast amount of Primordial Qi.]
[Year four hundred: Your entire body has been tempered to the utmost. You are indestructible from head to toe, your life force surges like the sea, and your internal organs are like a pill furnace. A rolling tide of vitality courses through your body. Your lifespan increases by two hundred years. Your Qi Body Refining reaches the great mastery stage!]
[Year five hundred: You feel that Qi Body Refining has reached some kind of limit. Your bones, flesh, and internal organs make no further progress through tempering, but the Primordial Qi within your body continues to dissipate. You realize this path seems to have reached its end...]
[Year five hundred and twenty-five: Your body refinement makes no further progress, and your Primordial Qi continues to dissipate...]
"Hm?"
"Have I reached the peak?" Zhao Cheng furrowed his brow. His body refinement didn't feel complete—not even close. "I'll add another hundred years..."
[Year five hundred and fifty: Your body refinement makes no further progress, and your Primordial Qi continues to dissipate. You feel this cannot go on, and begin trying other methods of cultivation...]
[Year five hundred and sixty: You try rapidly expending your Primordial Qi, then absorbing and storing it again through breathing exercises. The upper limit of your internal Primordial Qi remains unchanged, and your body refinement remains stagnant...]
[Year six hundred: Over the past forty years, you have tried standing meditation, boxing, stopping your breathing exercises, injuring yourself and recovering, and many other methods. None have worked. You are utterly frustrated...]
[Year six hundred and fifteen: With your body refinement unable to advance by even an inch, you start venting without restraint, throwing punches with all your might. The Primordial Qi in your body surges with your strength, coursing through your limbs and bones. In the midst of this frenzy, you suddenly sense something breaking open in the center of your chest and abdomen, and Primordial Qi flows into it!]
[Year six hundred and sixteen: After repeatedly investigating, you discover that this spot is special. It is neither bone nor flesh, and you have never sensed it during your previous body refinement. You begin studying this part of your body.]
[Year six hundred and twenty: You determine that this place is a meridian, and infer that meridians and acupoints are crucial for storing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. You begin by working on the meridian you have opened, trying to store all your Primordial Qi inside it!]
[Year six hundred and twenty-five: You fail. The meridian in the center of your chest and abdomen has opened only a little, and no matter what you do, you cannot get more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi to flow into it...]
"Meridians?"
Zhao Cheng was amazed.
He carefully sensed the spot at the center of his chest and abdomen, no bigger than half a fingernail. It contained far more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi than any other part of his body—even his forearm held less.
What's more, once Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi flowed into it, it dissipated much more slowly. Even if a little leaked away, a single bout of breathing exercises could replenish it.
"So this is the path to perfecting Qi Body Refining." Zhao Cheng's eyes brightened. "With my control over my body, I never noticed it before. It was as if it didn't exist."
He could clearly sense even the tiniest fascia in his body, and could even control it.
Yet he had only now learned that meridians existed. It was clear that without some fortuitous coincidence, even if someone told him where his meridians were, he still wouldn't be able to sense them, much less open them. He might have been stuck here for the rest of his life.
"Then the path ahead is simple. I just need to open up my meridians. The one thing I'm not afraid of is grinding away at it."
Zhao Cheng didn't take it to heart. After all, he still had nineteen hundred years of lifespan.
But after thinking it over, he decided to be cautious.
"I'll test how deep the waters are first. I'll invest a hundred years in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique."
[Beginning to invest lifespan in deducing the Basic Body Refining Technique...]
[Year one: You repeatedly practice breathing exercises, trying to guide more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into your meridians...]
[Year ten: You repeatedly practice breathing exercises and try to open your meridians. You fail...]
[Year thirty: You fail to open your meridians...]
[Year fifty: You fail to open your meridians...]
[Year seventy: You try opening your meridians by throwing punches with all your might as before. It has no effect...]
[Year ninety: You fail to open your meridians. This thing seems impossible to open at all...]
[Year one hundred: Through your perseverance, you manage to open your meridian by the tiniest sliver. It is almost imperceptible, barely there, but after years of trying, you know it like the back of your hand. You are certain this meridian has expanded!]
Zhao Cheng was stunned. "This is a bottomless pit!"
A hundred years, and he had only opened it by the tiniest sliver. At this rate, even investing tens of thousands of years would open it only as far as a finger. Who knew how long it would take to open the crucial parts?
"Damn, how could this be?"
"Did I take the wrong path before?"
"Should I have opened my meridians first, then circulated Primordial Qi through them to temper my body?"
The more Zhao Cheng thought about it, the more he felt that this logic made sense. But before, he couldn't even sense where his meridians were. How could he have opened them?
He racked his brains, yet still felt he had overlooked something.
Zhao Cheng sat cross-legged, stroking his chin as he pondered...
Zhao Cheng stood up and paced around the tent, lost in thought...
Zhao Cheng walked out of the tent and gazed up at the moon, deep in thought...
He pondered bitterly for half the night, until the moon stood high in the sky. Then, a sudden inspiration struck Zhao Cheng, and his expression turned gravely solemn!
"Could it be... that my constitution is no good?"
"Don't all those martial arts novels say you have to open the Conception and Governor Vessels to attain peerless martial arts? The Taoist School's cultivation of the Elixir also emphasizes opening the Conception and Governor Vessels..."
"And there's one thing both have in common: you need excellent natural endowments to cultivate..."
"If I can't cultivate, then that means..."
"My constitution is awful!?"
Having figured this out, Zhao Cheng raised his head to gaze at the moon, speechless with sorrow.
What a bitter disappointment.
How desolate.
I'd already reached great mastery in Qi Body Refining, and now you tell me my constitution is no good?
I'd always thought I was so slow because the Basic Body Refining Technique was too basic!!
"Damn you!" Zhao Cheng cursed, then turned and went back into the tent. "I'll save up my lifespan and buy a Marrow Cleansing Pill. I can't fill this hole just by piling on years..."
The next day.
The Qin State army set out from the Mountain Pass, heading toward Ye County.
From Fang City Pass to Ye County, the army had to detour around the Kunyang Mountains and the Zhi River Valley, making the route eighty to a hundred kilometers long.
The mountain terrain and tributaries of the Zhi River made the roads complicated. Under ordinary conditions, it would take four days to reach Ye County.
The army set out at dawn, rested at midday, made camp at dusk, and stood watch through the night.
As Assault Cavalry Commandant, Zhao Cheng led a thousand-strong detachment of Meng Tian's elite cavalry more than ten li ahead of the main force to scout and clear the way. Unfortunately, they encountered no enemies along the route.
"Life without a battle to fight really is as bland as plain water."
Zhao Cheng sighed as much...
While his days were as bland as plain water, hoofbeats thundered outside Yang City County.
A mounted messenger, a grant of rank edict hanging at his waist, galloped into the city and straight to the County Court!
"Report! A grant of rank edict has arrived from the army!"
The messenger dismounted in the County Court. Meng Wei had already stepped out into the corridor, his face alight with joy.
The messenger took the military report and grant of rank edict from the leather pouch at his waist and presented them to County Commandant Meng Wei. "County Commandant, the general has sent this grant of rank edict, along with a military report."
Meng Wei eagerly accepted the edict, his face bright with excitement. He already had a suspicion. "I wonder if it's that boy. This is far too fast. It's only been a few days, and the grant of rank edict has already been sent back."
He took the silk document, then his expression suddenly changed. "Fifth Rank Grandee!?"
The grant of rank edict was written on three chi of white silk, its edges dyed vermilion with madder. That was the prescribed format for the rank of Fifth Rank Grandee!
If not for the army seal stamped in mud on the edict, he would have thought it was a fake!
"This..."
Meng Wei's expression immediately grew anxious.
To become a Fifth Rank Grandee in a single battle meant either a major campaign or tremendous military merit. Either way, the circumstances must have been extremely dangerous!
"Quick, report this to the county magistrate!"
Clutching the grant of rank edict, he hurried toward the county magistrate's office as well.
County Magistrate Wang Yuan was in the rear hall checking the army's grain accounts. On hearing the urgent report, he immediately straightened his hat and came out to meet them.
When he opened the bamboo tube and saw the three vermilion characters "Fifth Rank Grandee" on the silk, the corner of his eye twitched.
The county magistrate exchanged a look with Meng Wei, then broke open the seals at both ends and solemnly unfolded the silk document. They put their heads together and stared at it with wide eyes.
The document was written in small seal script:
Zhao Cheng, an Assault Cavalry Elite of Sanchuan Commandery, distinguished himself in the assault on Han's Fang City Pass in the sixteenth year of King Zheng of Qin.
Leading two hundred elite Assault Cavalry to be the first over the walls and breach the city, he slew two hundred and twenty-seven enemy soldiers, led his men in slaying five hundred and forty, slew a deputy general, captured one commander, and seized one banner.
In accordance with the Military Rank Code, he is granted the rank of Fifth Rank Grandee, a fief of three hundred households, twenty-five qing of land, a residence of twenty-five rooms, twenty-five household servants, an annual stipend of four hundred and fifty shi, and exemption from corvée labor for his entire family.
Meng Wei shuddered from head to toe, startling County Magistrate Wang Yuan as well.
"Why are you trembling!?"
"You aren't?"
"I'm trembling because you startled me!"
"Then hold it steady!"
"Enough nonsense!" Wang Yuan ignored Meng Wei and immediately turned to the County Assistant. "Send for Zhang Yu, the Village Head of Huaiyang Village, at once!"
"Also, send someone to the Field Overseer to collect the Household Register Bamboo Slip and Land Grant Map."
According to the Administrative Correspondence Code, a grant of rank edict had to be formally bestowed within three days, or the chief official would be punished with a caning.
Of course, even without the Administrative Correspondence Code, Wang Yuan intended to settle the matter of bestowing the rank as quickly as possible.
Come on, he had watched that boy enlist. He had only just turned sixteen, and he'd been away from the County Court for less than half a month, yet he was already a Fifth Rank Grandee!
He had leaped eight ranks!
And then there were his battle merits.
First over the walls and through the gates!
He had slain the enemy and captured their commander!
In a single battle, he had killed more than two hundred enemy soldiers and seized the enemy commander alive from the heart of their formation!
With a rise this meteoric, how could Wang Yuan dare neglect him?
Before you continue