Bone Marrow Cleansing and Marrow Washing - Revised Edition

When Zhang He returned home, his mother had already drifted back to consciousness, though she was clearly in agony, curled up on the bed and shivering violently. Zhang Yu watched her mother suffer with tear-filled eyes, at a loss for what to do; seeing Zhang He return, she immediately burst into loud sobs.

Hearing Zhang He's arrival, Mother Zhang struggled to open her eyes and managed to force a faint smile to comfort him. "I... I'm much better. As long as I... sweat it out, I'll be fine. Don't... don't worry."

Even at a time like this, Mother Zhang was still trying to comfort her child, telling him not to worry about her. Yet, speaking those few words seemed to exhaust her final reserves of strength, and her eyes rolled back as she appeared on the verge of fainting once more.

Seeing this, Zhang He's heart tightened. He immediately stepped forward, telling his mother to hold her tongue for the moment, and pulled the Five Poison Beads he had refined from his basket.

Having witnessed the youth's medicinal trial earlier, Zhang He was certain that the Five Poison Beads possessed the power to suppress the toxins of these venomous insects.

However, his mother had already slipped into a semi-conscious state and had no idea how to open her mouth voluntarily. Zhang He had no choice but to pry her jaws apart, shove the Five Poison Beads inside, and tap lightly against her throat. Stimulated by the touch, her throat muscles spasmed, and the beads slid smoothly down into her stomach.

Only then did Zhang He let out a sigh of relief.

With that done, Zhang He looked at his little sister, who was clutching her rumbling stomach, and realized that the family hadn't eaten in two meals. The sky had already turned dark, so Zhang He went out to prepare a meal.

Looking at the family's remaining food stores, a wave of bitterness washed over Zhang He. There was nothing left but a few coarse flour cakes and some shriveled potatoes.

Even a clever housewife struggles to cook without rice. Just as Zhang He was fretting over what to make, Zhang Yu said sensibly, "Brother, why don't we just boil some potatoes to eat?"

In Zhang Yu's large eyes, a hunger-driven glint flickered.

Zhang He added water to the pot, washed the potatoes, placed them inside, and began to boil them.

As he tended the fire, Zhang He looked at the bare walls, the broken cabinets, and the cracked bowls—the sheer poverty of their home—and felt a complex mix of emotions churning within him.

A thought suddenly surged into his mind: "I must find a way to make money and improve our family's life!"

By the time the meal was ready, Mother Zhang had fully regained consciousness. After a bout of diarrhea purged the accumulated toxins from her body, her spirits lifted significantly. Still, her body remained incredibly frail; under Zhang He's care, she managed to eat half a potato before drifting off into a heavy sleep.

Once Zhang He had tidied the bed and tucked his little sister in, he returned to his own room.

Inside, he busied himself with preparing the medicine for marrow-cleansing and bone-forging. He had gathered plenty of medicinal herbs on his way down the mountain.

"Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi, used to cleanse the marrow and forge the bones, stimulating the physical body to generate a powerful sense of Qi."

"True Qi Condensing Liquid, which can urge that sense of Qi to coalesce into true Qi!"

Before Zhang He sat a pile of clay pots containing the herbs he had processed on the mountain—over thirty varieties in total. His hands moved with incredible dexterity, constantly plucking ingredients from the pots before him.

A small charcoal stove sat nearby, where the medicinal liquid in a white porcelain cup bubbled and steamed. Zhang He added the herbs he had selected into the mixture.

Lacking professional alchemy equipment, Zhang He had improvised, using whatever was at hand to create crude tools.

"First, prepare the True Qi Condensing Liquid: one portion of Luo Vine Seed, two portions of Blood Burial Flower, one portion of Snake Saliva Grass..."

A large quantity of toxic materials was added to the white porcelain cup in specific amounts and sequences, methodically. The liquid inside shifted from a reddish hue to purple, and as the final herbs were added, it turned green.

"It's done!"

After the powder of the final ingredient, "Sawtooth Vine," was added, the liquid in the white porcelain cup seemed to be under a spell; the color faded, and within a few breaths, it became clear and transparent.

The True Qi Condensing Liquid was complete.

Zhang He immediately removed the white porcelain cup and placed it into a basin of cold water he had drawn from the well earlier.

He set the cup inside, letting the cool well water rapidly lower the temperature of the medicine.

Zhang He then placed another black clay bowl onto the charcoal stove. The herbs inside had already been prepared; all that remained was the heating process.

The high heat of the charcoal stove quickly caused the herbs inside to react.

A pungent, stinging odor wafted out. Zhang He's expression grew grave.

The liquid in the black clay bowl began to bubble, and the stinging scent grew increasingly intense.

"The fact that this odor is still being released is a clear sign that I added too much Fu Gui Seed. How strange—I clearly measured it according to the specific proportions."

The preparation of Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi required the efficacy of the main ingredients to reach a state of equilibrium to be effective. If the proportion of any main ingredient was too high, the balance would be lost, causing the medicinal properties to shift.

Zhang He had been prepared for this; he immediately took several herbs from the nearby clay pots and slowly added them to the mix. He watched the changes in the liquid without blinking.

The stinging odor from the black clay bowl rapidly faded.

The liquid in the bowl suddenly boiled. A glint of brilliance flashed in Zhang He's eyes; the boiling lasted only three or four seconds before settling down.

Three or four seconds later, it boiled again. This cycle repeated three times. Then, the liquid in the black clay bowl went still. Even though the charcoal stove continued to burn beneath it, the liquid showed no sign of being heated further.

"Three boils! Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi, successfully prepared!"

Zhang He immediately stripped off his clothes.

He grabbed the black clay bowl with one hand. While it was being heated on the charcoal stove, the bowl itself was only lukewarm. Zhang He naturally knew that all the heat from below was being absorbed by the liquid inside.

Zhang He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth, tilted his head back, and downed the liquid in a few gulps.

"Cleansing my body this time will depend entirely on this stuff."

After drinking the Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi, Zhang He's body immediately turned bright red, like a crab boiled in a pot. Yet, his pores remained tightly shut, and not a single bead of sweat appeared.

Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi, as the name suggested, was an incredibly overbearing concoction; its ingredients were all capable of violently stimulating one's blood and Qi. Once ingested, it could force the human blood and Qi to surge in a short period, inducing a sense of Qi. However, after drinking it, if the surging blood and Qi could not be immediately channeled and resolved, the body would suffer the consequences, sustaining varying degrees of damage.

At best, blood vessels would burst and the body would hemorrhage; at worst, the meridians would be destroyed, rendering one forever unable to cultivate.

Starting from Zhang He's forehead, the veins beneath his skin began to bulge like earthworms, winding their way downward. Across his neck, his torso, and his arms, every single vein stood out in stark relief.

It was as if he were about to burst apart.

At this moment, beneath his skin, it felt as though countless tiny mice were scurrying about in a frenzy. This was the sensation of Qi being generated within his body.

Such was the terrifying potency of the Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi; once ingested, it would frantically stimulate the human body, forcing it to produce a massive amount of Qi sensation.

Zhang He felt as if his body were being gnawed upon by countless ants. Sourness, numbness, swelling—a cocktail of sensations—all slammed ruthlessly against his nerves. An invisible hand seemed to be twisting and kneading his internal organs, and waves of intense pain crashed over him like a rising tide.

Had it been anyone else, they likely would have succumbed to such horrific agony long ago, either fainting dead away or giving up halfway through.

Zhang He fought with all his might to keep his body perfectly still, gathering every ounce of his willpower to begin condensing the stray currents of Qi within him, thread by thread, into his Dantian.

If he could just push through this hurdle now, everything would fall into place. If he failed, the next attempt would only be even more agonizing! In his past life, he had endured this torment three times before he finally completed the initial marrow-cleansing and bone-forging process.

Countless currents of Qi surged incessantly beneath his skin. Zhang He suddenly snapped his eyes open, his fingers flickering as he rapidly tapped and poked at several vital acupoints on his body.

The Pulse-Severing Technique could force the Qi sensation within the body to flow in specific directions.

"By my will, guide the gathering of Qi!"

His powerful willpower exerted a rigid control over those sensations, forcing them to converge into his meridians. One by one, the "tiny mice" burrowed from every corner of his body into his energy channels.

His meridians were instantly flooded with a vast amount of Qi sensation. If Qi sensation was water vapor, then True Qi was mist; to condense that vapor into mist required further effort.

Holding his breath, Zhang He picked up the white porcelain cup and downed its contents in one gulp. The clear medicinal liquid flowed directly into his body.

Zhang He immediately felt a trace of coolness finally enter his scorching frame as the True Qi Condensing Liquid took effect. That cool sensation traveled rapidly through his body, covering his meridians in mere moments.

As the water vapor cooled, it naturally began to condense. Under the influence of that cool sensation, the previously sparse Qi within Zhang He's meridians began to coalesce rapidly.

A small sliver of pale white True Qi finally formed within him.

At this moment, a layer of pale gray, oily filth mixed with streaks of blood covered Zhang He's skin, emitting a foul, fishy stench. These were the impurities that had been accumulated in his meridians, now forcibly expelled by the surging Qi within.

Zhang He had no time to worry about this; he formed seals with both hands, guiding his intent toward his Dantian. That short, thin thread of True Qi began to circulate slowly through his body.

Big fish eat little fish, and little fish eat shrimp. Within his body, that sliver of True Qi was the big fish, swimming forward and constantly devouring the stray Qi in his meridians.

Gradually, that thread of True Qi grew steadily stronger.

As time ticked by, Zhang He gritted his teeth. The True Qi within him circulated incessantly, finally absorbing every bit of the Qi sensation generated by the stimulation.

The sliver of True Qi grew even more formidable.

Because of the Pulse-Severing Technique, a portion of his meridians had been sealed off, causing the formed True Qi to circulate only through a specific path.

When the True Qi flowed to a junction above his Dantian, it was split apart like a river dividing in two. One stream flowed downward into the Dantian, while the other followed a different meridian, guided by the Pulse-Severing Technique, into the Guanyuan Acupoint below the Dantian, where it curled into a ball and lay dormant.

In this way, it was as if he had created two Dantians. However, the True Qi within the acupoints was called Rejuvenation True Qi, while the energy in the Dantian was ordinary True Qi.

"The first stage of the Rejuvenation True Explanation requires filling eight different acupoints above and below the Dantian with eight distinct strands of True Qi. I have only just crossed the threshold; the road to completing the first stage is still very long."

Zhang He let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes.

The Rejuvenation True Explanation he practiced was a profound art he had derived from the Tang Sect's Myriad Poison True Scripture. To put it plainly, this technique was actually his own creation. Based on the I Ching, he had tentatively extrapolated the Rejuvenation True Explanation up to three major stages.

The first stage involved opening eight acupoints around the Dantian.

The second stage involved opening eighteen acupoints.

The third stage involved opening thirty-six acupoints.

Each acupoint served as a Dantian. The Rejuvenation True Explanation treated these acupoints as Dantians for cultivation. Every person possessed only one Dantian, but by practicing this art, one could possess countless!

Relying on this technique, when he reached the second stage on the resource-scarce Earth, he had managed to cultivate his physical body to sainthood and ascend in broad daylight.

"Force Martial Realm, True Martial Realm... I was a frog in a well. The physical sainthood I was always so proud of is, here, nothing more than the peak of the True Martial Realm. Hah, I wonder what realms lie beyond the True Martial Realm; it truly piques my curiosity."

Zhang He was filled with longing for the realms of cultivation that lay ahead. This was a wish he hadn't been able to fulfill in his previous life, but this time, he would witness its completion.

He possessed enough self-confidence. The Rejuvenation True Explanation could be further refined; once he reached the third stage, he would surely be able to break through his shackles and easily step into even higher realms.

Zhang He exhaled, and a nauseating, pungent odor suddenly wafted into his nose. He frowned slightly, only then realizing that his body was covered in a layer of black, bloody filth that reeked. The stench clearly originated from this. Zhang He couldn't help but offer a wry smile; the Ten-Perfect Dominant Qi had the effect of cleansing the marrow and forging the bones, and now, many of the impurities within him had been purged. Looking out the window, the sky was already faintly brightening; he had actually been at this for the entire night.

Feeling refreshed and full of energy, he decided not to sleep. He rose directly, intending to head to the courtyard to fetch water and take a proper bath before anyone else was awake.