Had His Qi Training Gone Wrong?

After waking with a start from a dream in the latter half of the night, Wang Qi kept trying to gather his internal qi, but with little success.

His internal qi seemed utterly lifeless compared to usual, as though all its vitality had suddenly been drained away.

Yet just then, dawn began to break...

He had actually been ready to give up. When he thought of the mountain animals' spirits he had helped pass on, he felt no regret. Instead, heartfelt joy welled up from deep within him...

In that instant, he suddenly perceived the world through his Mind's Eye and resonated with heaven and earth.

A warm breath quietly appeared amid the cold night around him... He understood: This is heaven and earth origin yang.

Understanding suddenly dawned on him, and he recalled what he had experienced when he first achieved first yang arises...

But this time, things seemed different.

He had expected the sensation of soaking his whole body in a hot spring. Instead, as he inhaled during his breathing practice, he seemed to draw in an immense, surging torrent of heaven and earth origin energy, which poured straight through the crown of his head...

Wang Qi was astonished. He had been completely unprepared for this... It was almost like a gift bestowed by heaven and earth.

At that moment, he felt everything from his head down to his shoulders... that entire upper region of his body was churning.

It was as though some tremendous power was stirring inside him, roiling ceaselessly until everything from his face to his chest felt numb.

Flustered, he thought this might be an extraordinary opportunity, so he tried to guide that endlessly churning power...

Sure enough, under the guidance of his awareness, the roiling power slowly settled and transformed into something resembling internal qi.

No, it resembled the true yang he had exhausted earlier.

Once this internal qi settled in his chest, it filled his entire upper body with a melting warmth... No, there was also a slight feeling of swelling.

Wang Qi knew internal qi should be stored in the dantian, so he hurriedly guided this sudden influx of true yang qi downward...

This true yang qi seemed a little too vast, making it somewhat difficult to control.

But his long practice in controlling internal qi still allowed him to barely rein in this mass of true yang qi and move it down toward his dantian...

Then something completely unexpected happened. As the true yang qi descended, it was firmly blocked by a spot right in the center of his chest!

He did have some knowledge of meridians and acupoints, and knew that a major acupoint in his chest must be blocking the way.

All this time, his cultivation of lesser yang qi had consisted of breathing exercises to accumulate internal qi. He had never practiced Qi Circulation and Meridian Opening.

In an age when such advanced knowledge was held by aristocratic clans and powerful lineages, he truly had no idea how to identify the body's meridians. As a result, his cultivation had been stuck at this point lately, leaving him able only to keep accumulating qi.

This time, however, he discovered that if he wanted this mass of true yang qi to enter his dantian and become part of his reserves, he would have to open the passages along its route...

This inevitably alarmed him, for he feared that cultivating with only a half-baked understanding of meridians might cause qi deviation and leave him in trouble.

The moment that thought arose, his mind grew restless, and he seemed about to lose control of the mass of true yang qi.

Fortunately, he was extremely good at suppressing his thoughts. He hurriedly gathered his mind and entered a state free of sorrow or joy... The true yang qi naturally came back under his control.

Once he had suppressed his distracting thoughts, he discovered that a single thought was enough to send the true yang qi seeping into the vital acupoint in his chest.

In that instant, he felt as though the center of his chest had suddenly been forced open, with a swelling sensation tinged with soreness.

He distinctly felt the true yang qi find a passage on its own, then begin sinking slowly but steadily downward... Along the way, it felt as though a channel was being carved through his body, leaving soreness and swelling wherever it passed.

Then...

"Boom!"

The true yang qi flowed into his dantian. His entire lower abdomen felt swollen, and a searing warmth that did not burn began brewing within his dantian.

He felt much more comfortable all over as a result. Even the cooling weather could no longer make him feel cold.

His dantian was now filled with spreading warmth, and the slightest movement of his thoughts brought a sensation of swelling.

His true yang qi had not only returned, but seemed to have advanced further and become abundant... At this point, Wang Qi had to start considering the next stage of his cultivation.

Without a follow-up cultivation method, he had no prescribed way to circulate internal qi or open his meridians... But judging by what had just happened, finding his own way to open them did not seem all that dangerous!

Ultimately, he knew little about cultivation. Even though Wang Dashan had taught him before, that instruction had been half-baked even by a dabbler's standards.

With his incomplete understanding, and having tasted a little success, he could not help growing bolder...

But now did not seem the right time to continue cultivating. Day had broken, and they had another day of training to begin.

Further cultivation would have to wait for now.

As usual, he was the first to finish washing up, then began his target practice.

The first three months could be considered basic training, primarily intended to develop the recruits' fundamental combat skills.

Then, starting in the fourth month, came another three months of formation drills... Those were the true key to whether an elite force could take shape.

During that morning's training, however, Wang Qi, who had always performed well, kept frowning... He discovered that his palate and gums had begun swelling, as though excess internal heat were flaring up.

It grew worse as time passed, until even lightly clenching his teeth brought a sharp wave of pain.

This made it difficult to concentrate during target practice. His performance plummeted, and he even missed the target altogether.

His good superior, Xu Sanlang, quickly called him over and asked, "What's going on with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

The comrades beside him immediately reveled in his misfortune. Wang Qi usually acted far too aloof, after all. Who wore their disdain for others so openly on their face?

They thought that Wang Qi, who had always performed outstandingly, was surely in for trouble this time... Making a fool of himself right before the Military Marquis-surely he would be punished with laps?

They imagined all sorts of punishments for Wang Qi.

But what actually happened...

Wang Qi held his cheek and said, "My gums suddenly started hurting. Could my qi training have gone wrong? That shouldn't be possible. Everything seemed fine."

Xu Sanlang immediately looked deeply worried. "Go and rest right away. I'll find someone and ask about this... You have to be careful with qi training!"

With that, he handed the training over to the two platoon leaders and dashed off to find someone... He did not dare approach Commandant Lin, but he could ask Scribe Zhao.

Meanwhile, Wang Qi's comrades exchanged looks...

Their hearts brimmed with resentment. Wasn't this preferential treatment a little too blatant?

"It's only because he got friendly with the Military Marquises while hunting with them... I could do that too!"

A young man who also came from a hunting background voiced his dissatisfaction.

But that did him no good. However dissatisfied he was, he could only work hard at target practice and strive to stand out in the Grand Trial at the end of the third month, beating Wang Qi.

They had heard that Commandant Lin would personally watch the Grand Trial. Outstanding men from each unit might even receive skills or cultivation methods taught by Commandant Lin himself!

Everyone looked forward to that day, hoping to put on a fine performance at the Grand Trial.