Aperture Opening

"A person's acupoints are like the stars of the celestial cycle in the world. But a person's body, in relation to the world, has nine more shackles."

"Burn your qi and blood into an inner fire. Burn through the first lock, and you can open the Sea of Qi and melt the Snow Mountain. Once the Sea of Qi is open and the Snow Mountain melts, a person's innate essence can connect with heaven and earth. This is called Aperture Opening."

"But the locks are so strong that people lose heart just looking at them. To burn through the first lock, those with weak qi and blood can use someone else's True Essence as fuel, strengthening their inner fire until it breaks the lock. Those with abundant qi and blood can kindle the inner fire themselves."

"Once the inner fire is lit, if no True Essence is infused into your body, it will keep burning until your qi and blood are spent. You'll have to exchange blood before achieving Aperture Opening, and without an Aperture Opening martial artist watching over you, the danger is beyond imagining."

"If you reach this stage one day, don't rush. You must find someone to watch over you."

The words Chief Clerk Sun had spoken to explain things to Chen Zhuo flowed through his mind like running water.

"Nine shackles. Exchanging blood until you reach Aperture Opening—that's the first lock."

"Then..."

Chen Zhuo murmured to himself, lost in thought. "How do I kindle the inner fire?"

He kept feeling the heat sear his body. He thought of how the soup in the pool had grown scalding after Demon Blood was added, and remembered how the first flame had come to be at the dawn of time.

Chen Zhuo began consciously guiding his qi and blood.

Faster!

Faster still!

His qi and blood gradually began to race at his command, gathering around his Sea of Qi.

Spinning.

Compressing.

Rubbing together.

Before he knew it, beads of sweat were seeping from his forehead, one by one, then dripping into the soup.

"Drip."

"Drip."

"Drip."

His body was burning hot. A heat wave seemed to surge inside him, growing stronger with every gathering pulse of qi and blood.

Suddenly, the rolling heat reached a critical point. A fierce burning sensation erupted, making Chen Zhuo tremble all over. It seemed as if all forty-eight thousand of his pores had opened as wide as they could.

The soup in the pool boiled more violently.

The inner fire kindled; the lock broke.

But this was a slow, painstaking process.

"Chief Clerk Sun never said it'd hurt this much. Damn it, he held back on me."

Chen Zhuo clenched his teeth, enduring the agony.

Pain!

The inner fire burned away his stray thoughts. At that moment, only one thought remained in his mind.

Break through to Aperture Opening, burn through the shackles, and be reborn.

He had no idea how much time passed. As the inner fire seared him, Chen Zhuo's mind grew hazy.

It was as if he had returned to that Snow Mountain, surrounded by endless ice and cold. He couldn't help curling in on himself.

So cold!

His consciousness slowly sank.

Then, a "crack" rang out from within him. The shackle had broken completely.

Chen Zhuo suddenly opened his eyes.

The Sea of Qi opened; the Snow Mountain melted.

Vast amounts of innate essence flowed from the melting Snow Mountain into the Sea of Qi, transforming into True Essence.

At this point, he had already completed most of the journey to Aperture Opening.

All that remained was to connect with the essence of heaven and earth.

For Chen Zhuo, this final step was the easiest of all.

"Minor Heavenly Cycle Qi Circulation Method."

At the turn of his thoughts, his body began circulating True Essence of its own accord.

From the Sea of Qi, it flowed through the major and minor meridians, reaching all the way to his extremities.

As it circulated, the essence of heaven and earth seemed drawn to him. It streamed in through his pores, merging with his True Essence.

The True Essence completed a full circuit through his body. Not only did it extinguish the blazing inner fire, it had grown considerably stronger before returning to the Sea of Qi.

"Aperture Opening. I did it."

After enduring such agony, Chen Zhuo had finally become a second-realm martial artist.

He had also become one of the few top martial artists in Baiyun County.

His body gradually cooled, and the soup in the pool was no longer scalding. It had even grown a little thin.

[Realm: Aperture Opening (1)]

[Training Method: Dragon-Roar Iron Cloth Shirt: 50/80 (Not Initiated) (Blood Exchange: 1)]

[Training Method: Minor Heavenly Cycle Qi Circulation Method: 1/80 (Not Initiated)]

"The Minor Heavenly Cycle Qi Circulation Method didn't get a boost because the First-Tier Demon Beast's blood only contained qi and blood, not essence."

Chen Zhuo glanced at the panel, then held up a finger. A wisp of white mist at its tip drew his gaze.

The white mist was True Essence.

After thinking it over, Chen Zhuo sighed. "If I want to boost my progress in the Minor Heavenly Cycle Qi Circulation Method too, it looks like I can only use the blood of a second-tier demon beast."

"But second-tier demon beasts..."

He felt a headache coming on.

No wonder the Sun Family and the Huang Family had both set their sights on that third-tier demon beast on Dangyun Mountain.

Across all the years of Baiyun County's history, there probably hadn't been many second-tier demon beasts in the area.

"But even if I improve the honest way, I can still advance faster than other people. Catching up to or even surpassing Chief Clerk Sun or Huang Tianhe is only a matter of time."

Setting aside the matter of demon beasts for now, Chen Zhuo noticed the color of the soup. After a moment's thought, he closed his eyes again.

He couldn't let it go to waste.

From this moment on, his advantage in martial arts became even more obvious.

It wasn't just that he could steadily improve by following the proper steps, without running into any bottlenecks, and that his foundation was firmer than anyone else's.

More importantly, with Spontaneous Myriad Laws, he could keep advancing through every realm without end.

As long as he lived long enough, one day he would be able to sweep across the world using nothing but the purest strength of his flesh and blood.

The road was long, but take one step at a time, and you would get there...

[Iron Cloth Shirt +10]

[Minor Heavenly Cycle Qi Circulation Method +1]

In a flash, it was midday.

The back kitchen bustled with its daily work.

The new, plump cook was quick and quiet. Before long, he had earned the approval of the kitchen staff.

Everything went on as usual, except Chen Zhuo was nowhere to be seen.

In the small courtyard beside the back kitchen, the door to the Practice Room swung open. A handsome young man with a tall, slender frame walked out.

A long saber hung at Chen Zhuo's waist. As he walked, he moved with the light, nimble grace of a swimming dragon.

Sunlight fell across his face, outlining features as sharply chiseled as if carved with a knife and ax.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked around. It seemed to him that the whole world had changed.

He could clearly hear the birds calling in the distance, the insects chirping, and the rustle of the breeze passing through the leaves.

Chen Zhuo first went to the room next door and offered incense to his master and senior brother. Then he went to look in on Yan Ming's room.

He didn't go inside. He only peeked through the window.

"At this hour, there's no need to go to the back kitchen. I'm full of energy anyway. I may as well practice my blade technique."

With that thought, Chen Zhuo strode toward the center of the courtyard, drawing his saber as he walked.

By the time he stopped, the long saber was already out of its sheath.

He didn't use True Essence, relying purely on his physical strength to perform the Zhengyang Blade Technique.

His first draw since breaking through.

Even without using True Essence, his blade technique was worlds apart from before.

It wasn't that his blade technique had improved. It was simply that he himself was no longer the same.

[Zhengyang Blade Technique +1]

[Zhengyang Blade Technique +1]

The Zhengyang Blade Technique was already fierce and powerful. Though he didn't give it his all, he still brought out its essence.

With every move, every stroke of his blade, it seemed the air itself could not bear the force and roared again and again.

A short while later.

Under his practice, the Zhengyang Blade Technique finally reached the entry level.

[Combat Technique: Zhengyang Blade Technique: 7/40 (Initiated)]

It wasn't that he didn't want to keep practicing. Someone was already nearing the entrance to the courtyard.

Chen Zhuo sheathed his saber and slowly turned to look. A burly figure was drawing closer to the courtyard gate.

"Fatty Sun's more and more like Chief Clerk Sun these days."

Chen Zhuo smiled and went to greet him.

"Brother Sun, won't you come in and sit?"

Chen Zhuo walked to the courtyard gate, intending to invite him in for tea and a catch-up, but Fatty Sun waved him off.

"We'll have plenty of chances for tea later. There's something important today, and you have to come with me."