Meridian Channel

Previously, when Chu Xiaotian practiced the Mad Battle Blade Art given to him by Ba Dao, the spiritual energy he absorbed into his body according to the cultivation method consisted of mere wisps, barely thicker than a strand of hair. But now, practicing according to the Heavenly Corpse Art, every wisp of spiritual energy entering his body was more than twice as thick as those from the Mad Battle Blade Art.

This was a fact that brought Chu Xiaotian immense joy. Being twice as thick meant that the cultivation speed of the Heavenly Corpse Art would be twice as fast as that of the Mad Battle Blade Art. This was a very simple logic that Chu Xiaotian understood after a moment's thought. Although he did not know why his Heavenly Corpse Art was twice as fast as Ba Dao's Mad Battle Blade Art, this did not hinder his extraordinary excitement.

In fact, what Chu Xiaotian did not know was that throughout the Moon-Refining Continent, although everyone practiced, their respective cultivation techniques differed vastly. The entire Moon-Refining Continent divided cultivation techniques into three grades: Heaven, Earth, and Human, with Heaven being the highest and Human the lowest. Each grade was further divided into low, medium, and high tiers. The higher the tier of the technique, the faster the cultivation speed, and conversely, the slower. The Mad Battle Blade Art that Ba Dao had given Chu Xiaotian belonged to the bottom-tier Human grade in the continent's classification; naturally, such a technique could not offer a fast cultivation speed. As for Chu Xiaotian's Heavenly Corpse Art, while its grade was unknown, one could tell from its dominance in the ancient era that it was at least Earth grade, if not Heaven grade. Thus, it was perfectly normal for the Heavenly Corpse Art to be so much faster than the Mad Battle Blade Art.

Of course, Chu Xiaotian was not yet aware of these things. The only thing he knew was that by continuing to practice at this speed, he would soon be able to elevate his physical strength to a new level. Perhaps, by the time the Greenwood Three Tigers recovered, his strength would be enough to face them without any fear.

The valley was filled with an incredibly dense masculine energy, yet it was impossible for there to be no trace of yin-cold energy. Chu Xiaotian's Heavenly Corpse Art was being cultivated by absorbing this very bit of yin-cold energy. In truth, he was well aware that if he were outside the valley, the speed of absorbing yin-cold spiritual energy would certainly be much faster, but he feared that once he left the valley, he would be unable to suppress the Corpse Poison within him. That was why he chose this relatively safe place in the valley to practice.

The yin-cold spiritual energy flowed through his pores, merged with the Corpse Poison in his body, and then circulated throughout his entire being, strengthening every fiber of his flesh and blood. As the Corpse Poison completed its first true cycle within him, Chu Xiaotian's body underwent a visible change. His yellow skin vanished entirely, replaced by a cold, icy purple that gave off an eerie feeling.

Of course, this did not mean that Chu Xiaotian had successfully entered the Purple Corpse realm; if one had to describe it, he had only stepped half a foot into it. This was because, at this moment, the meridians in Chu Xiaotian's body had not yet been opened; the Corpse Poison was only circulating through his flesh and blood, having not yet entered his meridians or his Sea of Qi acupoint.

The cultivation techniques of the Moon-Refining Continent all focused on Body Refining first, then slowly opening the meridians and the Sea of Qi acupoint. However, Chu Xiaotian's technique, which came from the ancient era of the world he previously lived in, had a heaven-and-earth difference from the cultivation methods of the Moon-Refining Continent. In that world, regardless of one's level, one had to open the meridians and the Sea of Qi acupoint from the very beginning of cultivation.

Although such a cultivation method was more difficult at the start, once successful, the subsequent path of cultivation would be much easier to walk than for the practitioners of the Moon-Refining Continent. At the same time, opening the meridians and the Sea of Qi acupoint allowed the spiritual energy within the body to become more condensed, making the attack power undoubtedly much stronger than that of the Moon-Refining Continent's practitioners.

Chu Xiaotian was very clear on this point. Therefore, upon discovering that his body had turned purple, he did not show any signs of joy, but instead gathered the Corpse Poison within him and began to strike at his meridians. Having just started his cultivation, it was naturally impossible to open all the meridians of his body at once. If Chu Xiaotian could now open the four Shaoyin meridians of his limbs, connecting them to the Sea of Qi acupoint, he would be considered to have truly stepped through the gates of cultivation.

However, opening meridians was no child's play. A single moment of carelessness could damage the meridians, causing irreparable harm and making it difficult for a person to progress for the rest of their life. In the ancient era, when disciples of various sects practiced, they would have experts to protect them, or they would be granted medicinal pills to protect their meridians, allowing them to open them with as little damage as possible. Chu Xiaotian had none of these luxuries; the only thing he could rely on was himself.

The Hand Shaoyin Meridian started from the Shaoshang Acupoint at the tip of the thumb, while the Foot Shaoyin Meridian started from the Rangu Acupoint at the front of the sole. Each of the four meridians extended, with the Yunmen and Chongmen acupoints—two above and two below—as their endpoints, all converging into the Sea of Qi acupoint. The Heavenly Corpse Art recorded the most detailed and effective method for opening meridians, which could save the practitioner time spent fumbling. Following the records, Chu Xiaotian first guided all the spiritual energy in his body to the vicinity of the Shaoshang Acupoint on his right hand, wrapping that acupoint tightly. Then, he gathered the spiritual energy into a sharp cone and thrust it fiercely toward the acupoint.

With the amount of spiritual energy in Chu Xiaotian's body, striking a single acupoint was not difficult. Feeling a sharp pain from the tip of his thumb, Chu Xiaotian discovered that the spiritual energy that had previously surrounded the Shaoshang Acupoint had completely vanished. This was not because his spiritual energy had been exhausted by striking this one acupoint, but because the spiritual energy within him had moved from his flesh and blood into the meridians.

The biggest difference between the cultivation methods of the Moon-Refining Continent and Chu Xiaotian's method was that one worked from the outside in, while the other cultivated both inside and out simultaneously. The techniques of the Moon-Refining Continent only began to open meridians at the second realm, whereas the Heavenly Corpse Art opened the meridians from the very start of cultivation. While drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to strengthen the physical body, the meridians within the body were also constantly being opened, laying a better foundation for future cultivation.

The first acupoint of the first meridian had been opened; what remained was to guide this spiritual energy, using that opened acupoint as a starting point, to open the entire meridian. This was far more difficult than opening the first acupoint. The most critical factor was possessing sufficient spiritual energy to open the entire meridian in one go; otherwise, if one failed and had to start over, the difficulty would increase significantly.

Chu Xiaotian looked at his surroundings. The valley was filled with masculine energy; although the yin-cold spiritual energy was sufficient for his cultivation, it was almost impossible to use it to open the meridians. Therefore, to open the meridians, he had to leave this valley and go to a place outside where the yin-cold energy was more concentrated.

Previously, he had feared that he would be unable to control the Corpse Poison within him, so he had not gone out to practice. But the current situation forced him to go outside the valley. After a moment of contemplation, Chu Xiaotian took a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward the outside of the valley. Compared to temporarily losing his sanity, he preferred to choose to open his meridians and reach the first layer of the Heavenly Corpse Art.

As soon as he stepped out of the valley filled with masculine energy, the Corpse Poison within Chu Xiaotian's body, which had previously only appeared when prompted by the technique, suddenly became violent. It rampaged through his body, causing his sanity to blur, and a violent aura suddenly erupted from his body. Fortunately, he was already able to control the Corpse Poison within him freely, and with the suppression of the jade pendant around his neck, he did not expend much effort to bring all the Corpse Poison under control, forcing it to circulate along his own path.

Chu Xiaotian sat cross-legged on the ground, controlling the Corpse Poison to strike the Taiyin Meridian on his arm, while simultaneously beginning to absorb the yin-cold energy from heaven and earth into his body, providing a continuous supply of support for the Corpse Poison striking the acupoints.

During this meridian-opening process, Chu Xiaotian discovered another fact that made him ecstatic: outside the valley, the yin-cold energy he absorbed into his body from the Shaoshang Acupoint was ten times thicker than what he had absorbed in the valley. Now, he could clearly see a black line of spiritual energy, nearly the thickness of a chopstick, flowing continuously from his fingertips into his body.

If spiritual energy were insufficient, it might make the striking of meridians difficult or even lead to failure. However, at the current rate of absorption, the issue of insufficient spiritual energy would simply not occur. Chu Xiaotian could proceed with opening his meridians without any worry. Without thinking for the moment about why such a situation had occurred, Chu Xiaotian concentrated all his focus and began to strike the meridians with all his might.

With the support of a continuous and massive amount of spiritual energy, opening the meridians became extremely simple. With almost no hesitation, he advanced triumphantly, like a hot knife through butter. In just five minutes, half of the meridian was already opened. This speed was six times faster than the half-hour recorded in the Heavenly Corpse Art, which made Chu Xiaotian immensely happy. In less than ten minutes, the Taiyin Meridian of his right arm was successfully opened, and the light purple Corpse Poison, flashing with a faint, cold light, surged incessantly within this meridian.

Since striking the meridians had become so simple, Chu Xiaotian did not follow the records of the Heavenly Corpse Art to strike the other three meridians. Instead, he directly drove this surge of spiritual energy within the meridian to begin striking his Sea of Qi acupoint. Striking the Sea of Qi acupoint was far more difficult than striking the meridians. Generally speaking, one would need to open all four meridians first and then strike from four directions simultaneously; only then would the chances of success be relatively high.

However, Chu Xiaotian's situation was different. His current absorption of spiritual energy was massive, completely sufficient for him to use it to strike the Sea of Qi acupoint, so he did not need to follow the conventional steps. After all, opening the Sea of Qi acupoint first and then striking the other three meridians was much simpler than the previous method.

Taking a deep breath, Chu Xiaotian controlled all the spiritual energy within the meridian of his right arm and slammed it fiercely against the densely packed Sea of Qi acupoint.

A loud, thunderous boom erupted in his mind as if he had been struck by lightning. A sharp pain radiated from the Sea of Qi acupoint throughout his entire body. Chu Xiaotian felt the world spinning, his vision went black, and he nearly fainted. However, this sensation lasted for only about the duration of a single breath before it vanished completely, and the scenery before Chu Xiaotian's eyes underwent a earth-shattering transformation.