Self-Created Spell Eight Meridians Mystic Pole

Chapter 3: Self-Created Technique, Eight Meridians Mystic Pole

Although he was desperate to understand this world, He Yu knew he was not yet strong enough. Setting aside the "demons" that might also feed on the essence of heaven and earth, even common predators like tigers, wolves, or giant bears were beyond his current capabilities. His only task now was to improve his strength; regardless of the dangers, personal power was paramount, especially in an unknown world.

Looking at the abundance of spiritual essences before him, He Yu suppressed his desires and ventured deeper into the forest. He needed to prove one thing: whether the spiritual essences of heaven and earth were truly as ubiquitous as he suspected.

After walking for at least a mile, He Yu was exhausted, but his heart was in a state of turmoil. The amount of spiritual essence he had seen along this mile was beyond his imagination. Vermilion Fruit, lingzhi, fleeceflower root—these precious herbs were as common as roadside cabbage! He encountered several stalks every ten or twenty meters, and they were not young; the youngest were over a century old, and the largest reached over a millennium.

Though excited, He Yu did not fully grasp the value or utility of these herbs. While he had read many ancient texts in his past life, they only provided simple descriptions of medicinal properties and ages. Furthermore, as he was not a practitioner, he could not fully identify these herbs. However, this was secondary; the important thing was that his spiritual energy problem was solved.

After traveling a mile, He Yu lost interest in venturing further. Just as he prepared to consume the spiritual essences to grow the "Half-Demon Core Seed" within him, a thunderous roar erupted not far away.

"ROAR...!"

"HISS...!" The massive roars and hisses rang out clearly, and simultaneously, a terrifying sense of crisis welled up in He Yu's heart.

After a moment of hesitation, his curiosity won out. He immediately lowered his presence and approached with extreme caution. Fearing he might attract attention, he moved at a snail's pace. Fortunately, the distance was short, and he arrived in no time.

Peering through the gaps in the lush vegetation, He Yu saw the source of the roars and hisses, and he gasped, a chill running down his spine. It was a giant striped tiger and a massive brown python locked in battle. Both beasts were gargantuan; the tiger was ten times larger than the biggest tiger he had seen in his past life, and the python was a hundred meters long and as thick as a water barrel. Its gaping maw could swallow an elephant whole, and its forked tongue flickered incessantly, creating sharp, piercing sounds as it cut through the air.

What truly terrified He Yu was the "demonic aura" radiating from both beasts. The tiger's was pale yellow, the python's brown. Though the colors differed, He Yu could feel that their essence was the same as his own. Yet, compared to him, both beasts emitted countless strands of demonic aura over ten meters long. He was not even in the same league as them.

BANG!

The tiger and python fought relentlessly, but since their strength was evenly matched, neither gained the upper hand. The tiger possessed ferocious power, while the python was agile, cunning, and venomous—each had its own strengths.

During the struggle, both beasts glanced toward He Yu's hiding spot, then ignored him and continued their all-out fight.

I was discovered. A wave of chill surged through He Yu. He had thought his concealment was perfect and the distance sufficient to remain unnoticed, but they had spotted him in mere breaths.

He Yu was certain the beasts knew he was there but didn't care; it could only mean he was too weak to be a threat.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Just as He Yu was struck with horror, the tiger and the python both leaped into the air. Their demonic auras coalesced into clouds that supported their bodies, and they soared into the distance, continuing to fight as they went.

"Demons?" He Yu exclaimed inwardly as he watched the two beasts riding the clouds. This completely shattered his worldview. If the demonic aura from before could be likened to Qigong, then riding the clouds was the path of immortals!

Having walked the line between life and death, He Yu felt both relieved and excited. The appearance of the two beasts gave him more confidence in his path to becoming a demon.

He turned back. This forest was too dangerous; this time it was a fight between two beasts, but if he encountered one alone, He Yu feared he would already be dead.

Returning to the riverbank, he found a gap between some scattered rocks and arranged them slightly to form a shelter. His body was small, so setting up a simple home was easy.

He placed the few spiritual essences he had gathered into his shelter and blocked the entrance with a few small stones. He needed to cultivate in peace.

Since he had decided to cultivate into a demon, a cultivation technique was essential. With a technique, he could achieve twice the result with half the effort. In his past life, He Yu had been obsessed with Taoism and immortality, researching numerous online cultivation methods and Qigong techniques. He had read almost all the ancient texts like the Tao Te Ching and the Daoist Canon, so his theoretical knowledge was quite high.

Now, He Yu wanted to create his own cultivation technique. Setting aside whether the methods from his past life were useful, they were designed for humans. Now that he was a crab, how could he practice human techniques?

The human body's meridians were divided into the Twelve Main Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians!

The Three Dantian: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Dantian!

The Five Viscera were also divided according to the Five Elements!

A crab's body was different. He Yu didn't know the specifics, as he had never paid attention to such things before. Perhaps biologists knew, but he didn't.

Recalling the countless cultivation methods and theories in his mind, He Yu began to calm his spirit and empty his consciousness, striving to look within. While the methods and theories were numerous, the first step—internal observation—was much the same, and it didn't focus on humans, so he could do it too.

According to his memories, this internal observation was said to take ten days to half a month to master. He Yu didn't expect to succeed on the first try, but to his surprise, following the methods in his memory, it didn't take long before he saw inside his own body. He saw eight main meridians—far fewer than a human's—and no three Dantian. However, each of the eight main meridians had three inner mansions, which were equivalent to Dantian. They were only a third the size of a human Dantian, but their quantity was superior!

Twenty-Four Inner Mansions!

The Half-Demon Core Seed sat in the center of the twenty-four inner mansions.

After some inspection, He Yu was shocked to find that all twenty-four inner mansions were identical. Unlike the three human Dantian, each with its own mysteries, did this not mean he could utilize all twenty-four simultaneously?

Human cultivation involved drawing energy into the body to form true energy in the lower Dantian. In the later stages, one had to return to the origin to achieve innate true energy, then condense a Golden Core, at which point the energy transformed into true essence. The Golden Core would then move to the middle Dantian, while the innate true energy in the lower Dantian merely assisted the core's growth. Finally, the Golden Core would fuse with the three souls and seven spirits to form a Primordial Spirit, entering the upper Dantian. At this point, the middle Dantian became essentially useless, and the innate true energy in the lower Dantian was optional.

Although He Yu's twenty-four inner mansions were inferior to the three human Dantian individually, they were like the three Dantian combined. As he cultivated, he wouldn't need to move to a higher Dantian. The most brilliant part was that all twenty-four inner mansions could be cultivated simultaneously. Even if one inner mansion was inferior to a human Dantian, what about twenty-four of them?

Thinking that while others had one Golden Core, he would have twenty-four demon cores, and eventually twenty-four Primordial Spirits, he felt it was simply too powerful!

Aren't humans supposed to be the most spiritual of all things? Why does it feel like I, a crab, am even more powerful? He Yu wondered, unaware of the madness of this world. Even he, a creature at the very bottom of the food chain, had a talent far greater than that of humans in his past life.

Having clarified his internal meridians and mansions, He Yu continued his inspection. He found that he had no five viscera or six bowels; instead, a "River of Origin" lay in the lower part of his body. This River of Origin was equivalent to a fusion of the five viscera and six bowels. He continued to probe deeper...!

Not long after, He Yu had fully mapped his body. He began to ponder, using the countless memories in his mind as a blueprint to create a cultivation technique. A technique created according to his own circumstances would be the most suitable.

Time slipped away as He Yu worked on his self-created technique. Whenever he felt hungry or thirsty, he would go to the small river to drink and eat some spiritual essences. As time passed, his Half-Demon Core Seed grew twice as large, and his body grew nearly three times its original size. He Yu was now a large crab, the size of a child's palm. His shell was incredibly sturdy, and his claws possessed extraordinary strength. With the aid of demonic power, he could crush a stone with a single pinch. He had become a tyrant in this small river; water snakes, large fish, and crayfish that were once stronger than him now feared him. His shell was too hard to damage, and his claws were lethal. Now, whenever He Yu entered the river, the other aquatic creatures would flee on sight.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but he remembered eating spiritual essences seven or eight times, so it had likely been about a month. His painstakingly crafted cultivation technique finally had a basic prototype.

This technique, which He Yu named Eight Meridians Mystic Pole, took a different path. It used his eight legs to absorb external spiritual energy into his body, directing it straight into the eight main meridians. It opened all meridians at once, forming true energy, demonic aura, and a demon core within the twenty-four inner mansions, which would subsequently form a Primordial Spirit. Furthermore, the Half-Demon Core Seed within him served as a great aid, leading and controlling the twenty-four inner mansions to ensure the twenty-four energies in his body did not fall into chaos.

In addition to cultivation, he constantly trained his eyes. A crab was encased in a thick shell, with only its eyes exposed—a major weakness. How could He Yu allow such a weakness to exist? Even if they couldn't be as hard as his shell, he had to train them to minimize the vulnerability.

The Eight Meridians Mystic Pole was divided into levels: the first level was "Drawing Energy," followed by "Golden Core," and then "Primordial Spirit." As for what came after, He Yu had no idea. In ancient texts, the Golden Core was the limit, and the Primordial Spirit was a legend among legends. He Yu had only perfected the first level, Drawing Energy. He always felt something was lacking in the second level, the Golden Core. It wasn't the difference between a demon core and a Golden Core—that was just a natural variation between species; the giant tiger and python he had encountered earlier had demon cores that differed from his, but they all fell under the category of Golden Cores.

He Yu felt he was missing a crucial step in the path of the Golden Core, but he couldn't figure it out. Now that he had a demon core in his body, what could possibly be missing?