Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art

Hidden Merit Pavilion.

The entrance to the Stone Tower looked no different from before. The cultivator guarding the first floor was resting with his eyes closed.

Li Yuan handed over his waist token and the document bearing the Wang Family's seal.

The guard accepted the document, scanned it twice, then looked up at Li Yuan.

"The third floor?"

"Yes."

The guard turned the document over, confirmed it was correct, then took a dark-silver token from his waist.

"You may only stay on the third floor for one hour. Once you have chosen, come register with me."

The token felt slightly heavy in his hand, much thicker than an ordinary waist token. A tiny three was carved into its surface.

Li Yuan accepted the token, climbed the wooden stairs to the second floor, passed through the familiar bookshelves, and reached the wall at the far end of the floor.

A narrow door was embedded in the wall. There was no handle on its panel, only a groove in the center shaped to match the token.

Li Yuan inserted the token into the groove, and the narrow door silently slid inward.

Beyond it was an even narrower wooden staircase, wide enough for only one person.

Li Yuan climbed the stairs. After more than ten steps, his view suddenly opened up.

The third floor was nearly half the size of the second. There were only two rows of shelves, one against the east wall and one against the North Wall. There were not many books and scrolls on them, but they were arranged with exceptional order, each separated by half a foot.

Just like on the second floor, a wooden placard stood before every book, listing its name and grade.

The first book: Azure Underworld Sword Art, a cultivation technique. It contained only the first three layers, corresponding to the early, middle, and late stages of Qi Refining.

Li Yuan placed his finger on it, but the panel did not react.

The second book: Blazing Sun Palm, an immortal technique. When his finger touched it, the panel remained just as silent.

The third book: Clear Water True Art, a cultivation technique, incomplete. The panel did not react.

The fourth book: Cloud Splitting Finger, an immortal technique, complete.

[Detected equippable item... Trait grade: gray...]

Gray, but at least it had reacted.

Li Yuan did not linger and continued onward.

As he felt his way through the books, the pattern became clearer and clearer.

Any books marked as incomplete volumes, incomplete, or only the first few layers produced no reaction when he touched them. Only books marked as complete had a chance of triggering the panel.

And not every complete book could trigger it. Some books marked as complete likewise produced no reaction at all.

Li Yuan turned toward the bookshelf on the North Wall.

There were fewer books on the North Wall, only eight in total.

His finger touched them one by one from left to right.

The first book... the second... the third...

The fourth—Mystic Light Slash, an immortal technique, complete.

The instant his finger touched it, the panel displayed a notification.

[Detected equippable item]

[Item trait grade: blue]

[Note: This item does not belong to you. Unable to equip. Unable to view detailed information.]

Blue.

Li Yuan's finger lingered on the book for a while before he continued feeling his way down the shelf.

The last book: Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art, a cultivation technique, complete.

The instant his finger rested on it—

[Detected equippable item]

[Item trait grade: blue]

[Note: This item does not belong to you. Unable to equip. Unable to view detailed information.]

Blue again. Two blue traits—one immortal technique and one cultivation technique.

The placard for Mystic Light Slash read: Immortal technique, offensive type. It could condense spirit power into blades of light. Its power increased with the purity of one's spirit power. It could strike from afar or up close, an offensive method.

The placard for Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art read: Cultivation technique, foundational support type. It could be cultivated to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement. It could harmonize the meridians, sort through the hundred meridians, be cultivated alongside most cultivation techniques, and improve the efficiency of spirit power circulation.

Li Yuan thought for a moment and chose Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art.

For one thing, the Spirit Guiding Art only covered the first through seventh layers of Qi Refining. Once he reached the Qi Refining Late Stage, he would have to ask the Wang Family for a follow-up technique.

For another, compared with immortal techniques, Li Yuan preferred cultivation techniques that could improve himself.

When the first-floor guard saw Li Yuan come down, his gaze fell on the book in Li Yuan's hand, and he opened the registry.

"Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art?" Seeing the book Li Yuan handed over, the guard added another remark.

"Is there a problem?"

"Nothing's wrong. It's just that few people choose this one. This technique leans toward the fundamentals. Most people prefer more advanced cultivation techniques or immortal techniques."

"Of course, being fundamental does not mean it is of poor grade."

After explaining, the guard had Li Yuan sign and leave a handprint, then took back the token.

Li Yuan tucked the book into his sleeve and left the Hidden Merit Pavilion.

He headed east along West Street. There were even more people in the market than there had been a few days ago. However, most of the new faces were not rogue cultivators, but traveling merchants—caravans carrying bundles on their backs and storage bags at their waists, moving through the streets in groups of three or five.

When he reached the middle of East Street, a group of traveling merchants by the roadside was resting beneath a crooked-necked tree. There were seven or eight of them, dressed in all sorts of ways. Some wore leather armor, while others were wrapped in hemp robes. Each had a waterskin, some sitting and some squatting.

Among them, a bald, brawny man had the loudest voice. He was raising a waterskin to his mouth and gulping it down, yet that did not stop him from talking.

"...Have you heard about that Monster Hunting Squad that came from the southern section?"

"Which one?" a tall, thin man beside him asked.

"The squad led by that fellow surnamed Ma. More than a dozen people. They made a trip to the middle section of the mountains." The bald man lowered his waterskin and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

The bald man stoppered the waterskin. "They found the remains of a Second-Order Demonic Beast in a valley."

"Remains? It was dead?"

"Dead as a doornail. Its entire chest cavity had been ripped open, its inner core was gone, and its body was covered in bite marks and claw marks."

The bald man gestured as he spoke.

"Boss Ma said the wounds looked like it had been bitten to death by its own kind, but something about it did not seem right."

"What was wrong?"

The bald man lowered his voice, but his voice was naturally so loud that the people around him could still hear every word clearly.

"Second-Order Demonic Beasts tearing each other apart is rare. They all have fixed territories, and none of them lack food, unless one is about to break through."

"And Boss Ma said the wounds were spread too evenly. Its chest, back, limbs, and belly were all covered in them. They did not look like wounds left by a head-on fight. It looked more like several beasts had surrounded it and torn it apart at once."

"Several Second-Order beasts ganging up on one Second-Order beast?" The tall, thin man stroked his chin. "What kind of grudge was that?"

"Who knows?" The bald man shrugged. "Some people even said it was not beasts tearing each other apart, but someone commanding demonic beasts to do it. But isn't that nonsense? Who could command a Second-Order Demonic Beast?"

A middle-aged woman who had been silent for a long while suddenly spoke up. "No matter the reason, the presence of a Second-Order Demonic Beast's remains proves the middle section is dangerous. Taking the southern section as a detour adds two days, but at least you do not have to live with your heart in your throat."

"Exactly." The bald man took another gulp of water. "Fewer and fewer rogue cultivators are taking the middle section now. They are all going around through the southern section."

Second-Order Demonic Beasts possessed combat strength corresponding to Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. They were not something Qi Refining Stage cultivators could handle.

The route he would be patrolling in the Yuanheng Mountains was only around the outskirts, even shallower than the middle and southern sections they had mentioned. There were not even many Upper First-Order demonic beasts there, because the beasts wandering near the market were mostly low- and mid-grade beasts. Naturally, the investigation had to begin from the outskirts.

Li Yuan committed the information to memory and continued north along East Street toward North Alley.

By the time he finished the patrol route, it was already afternoon.

Returning to his residence, Li Yuan slid the bolt into place and sat beside the bed.

He took the Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art from his sleeve and opened its wrapping paper.

The book was thicker than Origin Condensation Art. Its paper was fine, its writing neat, and every step of the technique was accompanied by detailed diagrams of meridian pathways, drawn with greater care than those in the Spirit Guiding Art and Origin Condensation Art.

The instant his finger touched the book, the panel displayed its complete information.

[Detected equippable item: Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art (Complete)]

[Trait preview: Hundred Rivers Return to Sea (Blue)—the circulation of all spirit power, vital energy, blood, and mana within the body will be automatically harmonized and optimized. Conflicts between different cultivation techniques will be reduced, and overall efficiency will significantly increase when multiple cultivation techniques and different immortal techniques operate simultaneously.]

[Condition for permanence: cultivate two cultivation techniques with mutually conflicting attributes to Perfection / consume two Second-Order Medicinal Pills with mutually conflicting attributes at the same time (either condition will suffice)]

[Current Equipment Slot is full (3/3). Replace current equipment?]

Hundred Rivers Return to Sea, a Blue Trait.

It automatically harmonized and optimized, reduced conflicts, and improved the overall efficiency of running multiple cultivation techniques and immortal techniques at the same time.

There were two options for the condition of permanence. He only needed to fulfill one of them.

The first was to cultivate two cultivation techniques with mutually conflicting attributes to Perfection. He currently only had one cultivation technique, the Spirit Guiding Art. He did not even have a second one, much less two with conflicting attributes.

The second was to consume two Second-Order Medicinal Pills with mutually conflicting attributes at the same time. Second-Order Medicinal Pills corresponded to the Foundation Establishment Realm, so they would not be cheap.

Neither path could be completed in the short term, but the trait's effect did not need to be made permanent to take effect. He could use it as long as he equipped it.

With a thought, Li Yuan first unequipped the Flame Snake Tube.

The Flame Snake Tube's Precision trait progress was only at nine. Permanence was still far away, so it could give up its place for now.

He equipped Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art.

The book transformed into a deep blue light and merged into his body.

The sensation of information flooding into his mind was stronger than it had ever been before.

The technique of Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art was not a sequence of movements like the Iron Ox Technique, nor was it a spirit power compression technique like Origin Condensation Art. It was an entire system for harmonizing the meridians—how to make energies from different sources coexist within the body, how to guide conflicting nodes, and how to keep multiple Spirit Power Circuits running at once without interfering with one another.

Then the changes within his body began.

It was not heat or cold at any specific location, but a comprehensive change, like an out-of-tune orchestra suddenly finding the same beat.

The spirit power circulation route of the Spirit Guiding Art and the vital blood circulation route of mundane martial arts had originally followed two different meridian circuits. Most of the time, they did not interfere with each other, but at several shared meridian nodes, spirit power and vital blood would briefly meet.

Each time they met before, there had been an incredibly faint sense of hesitation—spirit power had to wait for vital blood to pass first when it reached that node, or vital blood would be pulled off course by the flow of spirit power and could only continue after a slight adjustment.

It was so subtle that he normally could not feel it at all, but it truly existed.

Now, those hesitations vanished.

The rhythm of spirit power and vital blood automatically aligned. As they passed through shared nodes, they no longer yielded to each other. Instead, they were like two parallel rivers, each flowing through its own channel, their surfaces level and currents matching.

It did not only affect the Spirit Guiding Art and mundane martial arts. It also affected immortal techniques.

Li Yuan tried circulating his immortal techniques.

The initial rhythm for channeling spirit power through Fireball Technique and Ice Spike Technique, two immortal techniques with different attributes, became much smoother. Previously, when switching from Fireball Technique to Ice Spike Technique, his spirit power had to undergo a brief redirection, adjusting from the frequency of fire to that of ice. Now, that redirection was almost instantaneous. His spirit power was like fluid that could change shape at any moment, flowing wherever he directed it.

His whole body was like a recalibrated machine. Every Spirit Power Circuit, every channel of vital blood, every shared meridian node—everything had been aligned. Idling and friction had been reduced to the absolute minimum.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled and began circulating Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art.

Equipping the cultivation technique had poured the complete formula into his mind, but the physical cultivation still had to be carried out step by step.

Following the technique's guidance, Li Yuan started from his dantian and combed through the meridians one by one along the twelve primary meridians.

When his spirit power reached the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, he sensed a familiar node.

This node was also a place that the spirit power of the Spirit Guiding Art had to pass through. The two cultivation techniques converged here, and the paths of their spirit power almost overlapped.

The next several meridians were the same.

The spirit power circulation route of Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art overlapped with that of the Spirit Guiding Art over long stretches, but whenever they reached a meridian branch point, the two took different paths.

The Spirit Guiding Art's route was simple and direct—follow the trunk, pass the node, enter the dantian. It was fast and efficient, but precisely because it only traveled the trunk, it could not clear the impurities lingering in those branching meridians.

This was the Spirit Guiding Art's greatest weakness. It cultivated quickly, but its spirit power was impure, and the flaw became more obvious the further one progressed.

Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art was different.

At every branching node, its route sent out a thread of spirit power that traveled a short distance through the branch meridian, stirring the spirit power within that branch and drawing it into the main circuit. After one full circulation, it was no longer just the spirit power in the primary meridians that circulated. Dozens of meridians, large and small, were all operating in unison.

It was much slower than the Spirit Guiding Art, but after completing one cycle, Li Yuan could clearly feel that the spirit power entering his dantian was more condensed than when he circulated the Spirit Guiding Art. Its quality was higher.

After one full cycle, Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art had indeed absorbed somewhat less spiritual energy than the Spirit Guiding Art, and its speed was somewhat slower as well, but the difference was not great.

Yet the improvement in spirit power quality brought by Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art was something the Spirit Guiding Art could never achieve, no matter what.

Feeling the flow of spirit power within his body, Li Yuan continued cultivating Hundred Meridians Origin Return Art.