With a large swelling on his cheek, Wang Qi could do nothing about it. He really had no heart for anything else.
Scribe Zhao was also summoned to examine Wang Qi, but ultimately had little to say. He merely instructed him to cultivate in moderation and stop forcing his Inner Force training, or he would damage his body.
Everyone around him went off to train, and Wang Qi finally had an entire tent to himself.
He considered what Scribe Zhao had just said, but something felt off... he had told him not to force his Inner Force training, yet Wang Qi had done no such thing.
What he cultivated was internal qi, not Inner Force.
Although Inner Force was transformed from Inner Force, once internal qi became force, it grew more aggressive and destructive.
No matter how gentle an Inner Force cultivation method was, it could never compare to the internal qi that arose from the human body itself.
For Wang Qi, internal qi did not even need to be accumulated and stored in his dantian. It could exist throughout every part of his body.
Then, with a single thought, it could surge out of his limbs and bones. It simply could not be as powerful and concentrated as when it circulated through his meridians.
That was why he found Scribe Zhao's warning less than satisfactory.
He decided to assess his body in his own way... honestly, if he had known sixteen years ago that he would come to this world, he would certainly have stocked up on a mountain of esoteric knowledge...
He decided to try cultivating his internal qi again, very cautiously. He believed that any problems would surely reveal themselves during cultivation.
So he slowly sensed his dantian, and immediately felt a swelling, burning sensation.
Then he carefully called upon his internal qi to rise from his dantian... but he encountered some resistance. It was not that the passage through which his qi flowed had become blocked again, but that his breathing naturally sent some newly generated internal qi pouring down.
He had not been able to feel this before opening the crucial passage in his chest, but now he could sense it quite clearly... perhaps this was not a bad thing?
However, moving his internal qi against the new qi generated by his breathing did not seem quite right. Wang Qi simply followed the rhythm of his breathing instead, merging the new qi into his internal qi and letting them descend into his dantian together...
At that moment, rather than deliberately directing its course, he was letting it follow its natural momentum.
But just then, he felt the internal qi suddenly slide past the perineum beneath his lower abdomen, sending a shudder through his lower body.
The sensation was rather indescribable. Fortunately, no one else was around, or he would certainly have embarrassed himself... his cultivation was interrupted as a result.
This was somewhat beyond his expectations. He hurriedly suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind again, bringing himself into a state free of sorrow or joy, then sensed the rhythm of his breathing and continued guiding his internal qi along its natural course.
Thus, the internal qi passed around his perineum again... but this time he was mentally prepared and forced himself to remain utterly unruffled.
Then, carrying that swelling heat, the internal qi curved around his tailbone and seemed poised to climb all the way up his spine...
He felt that this was a natural flow of the qi within his body and should not be stopped, so he actively guided it with his will to lend it strength.
At first, he felt obstructions everywhere, but with the abundant internal qi supplied by his true yang qi, he pushed steadily upward.
Whenever he encountered an obstruction he truly could not advance past, he paused briefly to slowly examine the blocked area, while gathering strength to launch another assault...
The barrier was breached in a single rush, but a patch of his back was instantly seized by an aching tightness, making even the corners of his mouth twitch involuntarily.
But he suddenly realized that the muscles in that area had once been strained for some time when Wang Dashan forced him to practice archery...
Had his old injury flared up, then?
Wang Qi could not help wondering.
It had not.
He discovered that after enduring the most uncomfortable period, letting his internal qi remain in that aching, painful area for a while actually produced an unexpectedly pleasant sensation.
It felt just like getting a massage.
As his internal qi traveled back and forth through that area, it really felt as though he were receiving a pressure-point massage to clear his meridians. The aching tightness was strangely comfortable.
This made him put Scribe Zhao's warning out of his mind completely... it clearly felt good, so surely this was not where the problem lay?
But soon, he once again reaped the bitter fruit of his own actions.
This time, after deciding he had done enough and drawing his internal qi back into his dantian, he discovered that a patch of red rash had appeared on his back without his noticing, and it soon began to itch.
He found this rather hard to accept. Cultivating had felt so comfortable, so why had it brought so many side effects?
Wang Qi could not make sense of it, but he truly did not dare continue cultivating this way.
However, the qi passage in his back... or rather, his meridian, was already halfway open. He decided not to open the remaining portion for the time being, and instead try circulating his internal qi through the parts he had already cleared to see what effect it had.
Mostly, the sensation of internal qi settling against his old injury was simply too memorable. He did not want to give it up just like that.
And so he rested for the entire afternoon, even skipping his hunting trip for once.
He had initially worried that Commandant Lin would come looking for trouble... but it turned out he had overthought things. Commandant Lin was such a high-ranking officer; how could he possibly still remember something from a month ago?
Perhaps, after not seeing him for a month, the man had already forgotten him.
The night passed just like that...
He still did not sleep on the communal bed in the tent, but he rested quite well that night.
What he had not expected was that, upon getting up the next morning, his nose began running nonstop. Had he caught a chill the night before?
But that was impossible. His body was now brimming with true yang qi. How could he still catch a cold?
Was this another side effect of his reckless cultivation, then?
Doubt stirred in his heart once more.
He clearly felt as though his body was in excellent condition, yet minor ailments kept cropping up, pestering him beyond endurance.
That day, the officers in the army noticed his severely runny nose and immediately grew alarmed.
In those days, a cold was an epidemic illness that could kill!
So they hurriedly settled Wang Qi in a corner of the camp and placed him in complete isolation... they had not simply given up on him. They still thought highly of his talent and hoped he could pull through on his own, then return.
Wang Qi looked at the little private tent assigned to him. Though crude, it unexpectedly gave him a sense of security...
He had never imagined that the "small goal" he had originally set for himself would be achieved just like this.
Having a private tent in the army made him feel as though his thoughts had suddenly become much clearer.
"If you need anything, just tell us, and we'll get it ready for you... once you recover, you still have to come hunting with us."
Xu Sanlang spoke with a hint of sadness.
In those days, a cold really could cost an ordinary person his life.
Wang Qi nodded, wiped his nose, and said, "Don't worry. It's only a minor ailment. I'll be better soon."
Now he, too, was beginning to worry about himself. Was he actually cultivating correctly?
Before you continue