Routes = Meridians?

While Lu Xuanqing was healing her injuries, Liu Xing had not been idle either. He had kept trying to find a way to communicate with the Spirit-Devouring Beast inside him.

Although Liu Xing did not quite understand what sort of exotic creature the Spirit-Devouring Beast was, it could merge with his divine sense, express joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, and communicate in simple ways within his divine sense. Clearly, its intelligence was no less than a human's.

So far, the Spirit-Devouring Beast's presence in Liu Xing's body had brought him nothing but benefits. If he could figure out how to communicate with it, allowing them to converse within his divine sense as though they were two people talking face-to-face, he could not only learn its origins and history but also make better use of its treasure-finding ability.

But just as Lu Xuanqing had said, the Spirit-Devouring Beast's favorite pastime was sleeping inside its host. Even on the rare occasions when it woke, it ignored Liu Xing's calls within his divine sense and simply scampered madly around inside his body.

Every time the Spirit-Devouring Beast raced around inside Liu Xing, its routes followed a fixed pattern. After enough repetitions, he memorized every one of those routes perfectly.

Liu Xing could not help wondering whether the routes the Spirit-Devouring Beast followed inside him might be the so-called meridians.

In fact, Liu Xing's guess was correct. The routes the Spirit-Devouring Beast traveled were indeed the meridians running throughout his body!

Whether they belonged to the twelve primary meridians, the eight extraordinary meridians, or even certain special hidden meridians within the human body, the Spirit-Devouring Beast had explored them all thoroughly. They, too, were etched deep into Liu Xing's mind.

Liu Xing had no foundation in internal cultivation, yet with the Spirit-Devouring Beast's help, he had gained a complete understanding of his body's meridians. Even across the entire universe, he counted as an anomaly.

By gaining insight into all the meridians in his body, including some hidden ones, Liu Xing had unwittingly come to understand its mysteries better than the vast majority of cultivators in the universe. He simply had no idea yet what benefits this would bring.

The Spirit-Devouring Beast's complete disregard for him within his divine sense inevitably left Liu Xing somewhat discouraged. Still, he was used to living alone on Connors Star and did not think there was anything wrong with its aloofness.

As Liu Xing saw it, since the little fellow ignored him, he simply needed to communicate with it more often. It was like making friends: once they became familiar with each other, the coldness would naturally fade.

Ten days was rather too short a time. Although Liu Xing kept trying, his relationship with the Spirit-Devouring Beast remained unchanged.

After the Icehorn Giant Bear died, everything on Connors Star returned to normal, and the animals that had fled south returned to the Frozen Earth Plains.

Taking advantage of the Spotted Mouse colonies' return, Liu Xing even hunted several of these creatures, the finest delicacy on Connors Star, to treat himself. Unfortunately, Lu Xuanqing was in seclusion healing her injuries and missed out on the feast.

Once Lu Xuanqing recovered, she and Liu Xing together were strong enough to swagger unchallenged across Connors Star. In particular, after regaining her ability to soar through the skies and burrow through the earth, Lu Xuanqing took Liu Xing traveling atop the clouds, letting him experience what it meant to roam the northern sea at dawn and reach Cangwu by dusk.

Connors Star had only one continent, the one where Liu Xing lived. With his abilities, he had already explored almost every corner of it, but as for the far vaster oceans surrounding it, he could only gaze out over the waters and sigh.

With Lu Xuanqing's help, Liu Xing saw Connors Star in its entirety for the first time, which made him yearn even more for a cultivator's abilities.

Without an innate spiritual root, was it truly impossible to soar through the skies and burrow through the earth, move mountains and overturn seas?

Liu Xing refused to bow to fate, and he was unwilling to remain weak. He had therefore long since resolved to carve out his own path to strength!

Liu Xing firmly believed that one day, through his own strength, he would do more than roam the northern sea at dawn and reach Cangwu by dusk. Why could he not streak like a rainbow across the entire universe?

In front of Lu Xuanqing, Liu Xing did not reveal his lofty ambitions, but he made no secret of his yearning for the outside world. Over the next few days, they got along very well. Apart from their most closely guarded secrets, there was almost nothing they did not discuss.

It could be said that Liu Xing and Lu Xuanqing's friendship advanced by leaps and bounds during their days together. Of course, those feelings had not yet become true romantic affection, but given the right chance and circumstances, it was not impossible for friendship to turn into love. Indeed, the likelihood was quite high.

One day, Liu Xing and Lu Xuanqing sat chatting at the entrance to the Cave, discussing tales from the Great Cosmic Expansion Era.

Back then, to preserve the Cultivation World's legacy and ensure the continuation of human society, the senior masters of the Cultivation World had transformed into streaks of rainbow light and traveled through almost the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Naturally, their journeys had given rise to countless legends and extraordinary adventures.

Some of the more famous stories had been spread through novels, films, television productions, and other media, and had already become legendary.

These deeds kindled generation after generation of cultivators' passion for pursuing the Dao. They also filled countless ordinary people with longing for cultivation, further cementing cultivators' supreme status in the mortal world.

Liu Xing was fascinated by these legends. Even though Lu Xuanqing was not much of a storyteller, he still listened with relish.

Lu Xuanqing could see how deeply Liu Xing yearned for the Cultivation World, so she reassured him that even without an innate spiritual root, he could still enter it.

After all, the present Cultivation World was closely connected to ordinary human society, and every cultivation sect and aristocratic clan was countless times larger than those of the Earth Era. The ancient practice of a master and three or five disciples forming a sect was no longer possible.

The larger a sect became, the more affairs it needed to manage. Cultivators always devoted all their time to cultivation, so why would they waste it on mundane matters?

Thus, many mortals could also join cultivation sects or aristocratic clans specifically to handle mundane affairs for cultivators.

Although these people could not cultivate, they still counted as members of the Cultivation World. As its mouthpieces in dealings with the mortal world, they enjoyed very high social standing.

Lu Xuanqing naturally told Liu Xing all this because she wanted to arrange a future for him once he reached the outside world. But how could his ambitions stop there? After hearing her words, he merely smiled without answering.

PS: Another update, another repetition of the same old request: brothers and sisters, please keep those recommendation votes coming!!!!