One month.
A whole month.
Zhao Ming had shut himself in the alchemy room at the top of the Pill Tower. Manuals on meditation methods lay piled across the desk before him like a small mountain.
The Nine-Hearted Begonia Meditation Method, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Meditation Method, the Angel Meditation Method, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Thunder Meditation Method...
The high-level meditation methods Qian Renxue had collected for him were even more varied. Some were suited to elemental Martial Souls, others to Beast Martial Souls, tool Martial Souls, or spiritual cultivation. Together, they covered nearly every mainstream cultivation system on the Douluo Continent.
Zhao Ming had read every manual carefully at least three times. He tried to draw out the principles they shared, then combine them with the properties of Nine-Breath Qi Absorption to create a new method that could open the Extraordinary Meridians and Eight Vessels.
The Extraordinary Meridians and Eight Vessels were the Du, Ren, Chong, Dai, Yang Linking, Yin Linking, Yin Heel, and Yang Heel vessels. Unlike the Twelve Primary Meridians, they were not directly connected to the internal organs or paired with one another. They followed separate, unusual paths—hence their name.
In the martial arts novels Zhao Ming had read in his previous life, opening all eight vessels marked an advanced stage of internal cultivation. Once they were open, inner energy could circulate without end.
On the Douluo Continent, however, a Soul Master's cultivation revolved entirely around Martial Souls and Soul Rings. Research into meridians was virtually nonexistent.
Soul Masters cultivated Soul Power by using meditation methods to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Their Martial Souls then converted that energy into Soul Power, which was stored in the dantian.
As for meridians, few people paid them any attention outside of the