So It Was "Detoxing" All Along

Alone in the quarantined tent, Wang Qi could do nothing else anyway, so he simply decided to use this rare stretch of free time to continue experimenting with his cultivation.

As for whether he would be "sent back"... Wang Qi did not care. He had already discovered the joy of cultivation, and to him, it made no difference where he was.

Besides, if he were sent back now... the timing would be rather delicate. The mass conscription for the Northern Expedition had just ended, so he would effectively have dodged this round of military service.

For an insignificant commoner, that would be a splendid outcome.

Wang Qi sat cross-legged and entered meditation. As he breathed, his internal qi sank into his dantian, then passed around his perineum and rose along his back...

He felt that circulating his qi was much smoother now than it had been half a month ago, perhaps because he had spent that time nourishing the meridians he had already opened.

But when he continued pushing his internal qi toward the junction of his shoulders and neck, he found that the slightest push carried it effortlessly through a barrier and up to the crown of his head...

The crown of his head had long since been opened. When his internal qi reached it, he even wondered why that area felt so hollow and spacious... as though there were a hole there.

Everything afterward went exceedingly smoothly. The internal qi that passed through the crown of his head flowed like a river rushing east, plunging straight down to gather in his dantian again...

The entire route had been opened, and his internal qi began cycling rapidly through his torso. It could even sustain that circulation on its own without his deliberate guidance.

Under these circumstances, he discovered that his body's potential was being rapidly unearthed, and the total amount of his internal qi was swelling swiftly.

Every circuit seemed to increase his internal qi. The sensation of his cultivation advancing by leaps and bounds was truly intoxicating to Wang Qi.

Yet he also worried that he might be cultivating himself into another problem.

This time, however, there were no unpleasant symptoms. Instead, every breath naturally drew a wisp of true yang qi from the outside world into his dantian, strengthening his own true yang.

He was indeed growing stronger and stronger.

Faced with this continuous circulation of internal qi through his torso, Wang Qi finally realized, rather belatedly: Could this be "opening the Ren and Du meridians," like in martial arts novels?

The "Ren and Du meridians" were a very familiar concept to him. It was just that he had never paid particular attention to such knowledge before, so he did not know exactly where those two meridians were.

With that realization, he finally set aside his confusion and fear about cultivation... I haven't been doing it wrong. I've even opened the Ren and Du meridians!

Boundless delight immediately welled up in his heart.

Now he could say he had tasted the joy of cultivation.

Having lived through an age of information overload, Wang Qi also knew the concept of the Twelve Primary Meridians... but he remained utterly clueless about where they were or which way they ran.

Now, however, he was particularly bold, because he had experience opening the Ren and Du meridians... all he had to do was follow the natural tendency of his internal qi's flow. He felt it should not be difficult...

So he first set his sights on his hands, raising a large mass of internal qi to the major acupoint in his chest before trying to guide it toward his right hand.

He soon discovered that this important acupoint in his chest, whose name he did not know, seemed to connect directly to a meridian leading to his right hand. Then that aching, swollen sensation appeared again as his internal qi began expanding the meridian and passing through the inside of his right shoulder into his arm...

He began playing around with it. His internal qi felt endlessly replenishing now, so he had no need to worry about running out of steam.

Honestly, turning an epidemic quarantine into secluded cultivation was quite a feat in its own right.

Meanwhile, Commandant Lin, who was overseeing the training, suddenly remembered Wang Qi... after all, the entire camp was supporting just this one idle man, and he had given the commandant quite a headache some time ago. How could he not leave a deep impression?

When Wang Qi had first developed all those symptoms, Commandant Lin had actually come to see him right away... but it was hardly fair to blame his lack of experience. He simply could not have imagined that someone practicing qi cultivation "in the wild" could begin opening the Lesser Celestial Circuit.

Thus, he believed Wang Qi's qi had gone astray during practice and that he had suffered cultivation deviation... such incidents were not uncommon.

Martial artists cultivated inner force, which was produced by concentrating the power of internal qi. It was more efficient and powerful, but that also meant it was no longer harmless to the body as internal qi was.

Thus, if martial artists forced their cultivation of inner force, they could easily train their bodies into wrecks riddled with injuries and become sickly invalids... in fact, Xu Sanlang and the others had all reached that conclusion after seeing Wang Qi's condition.

Normally, once Wang Qi was judged to have suffered cultivation deviation, he should have been given a small resettlement allowance and discharged from camp... but Commandant Lin could not suppress his fondness for talent, and he also felt that he might bear some responsibility.

He felt that if he had not ordered Xu Sanlang and the others to take Wang Qi hunting in the mountains every day, Wang Qi would not have been left with so little time to cultivate that he resorted to forcing his practice at night.

That was why he had left Wang Qi alone for half a month, hoping to see some sign of improvement.

But half a month later, when he suddenly thought of Wang Qi again, he felt that rather than keep supporting him indefinitely, it would be better to give him a substantial severance payment and let him return to an ordinary person's life.

So that day, he personally came to the quarantined tent, intending to discuss the matter with Wang Qi face-to-face...

But what did he see?

He actually saw Wang Qi practicing an exceedingly fierce palm technique in the camp, his movements whipping up the wind like a prowling tiger. Then a single palm strike left a shallow handprint in a rock!

"Mighty Stele-Crushing Palm?!"

Commandant Lin let out a startled exclamation.

Hearing him, Wang Qi hurriedly stopped and looked over... What's with these officers, coming up without making a sound?

Then he hastily greeted him. "Greetings, Commandant."

Commandant Lin waved a hand and asked, "Who taught you that?"

Wang Qi had nothing to hide about this and answered honestly, "My father taught me. According to him, it isn't any particularly remarkable external technique, and it's fairly widespread in the martial world... I usually only practice it to strengthen my body."

Commandant Lin nodded. That much was true. Although the Mighty Stele-Crushing Palm was not some run-of-the-mill technique, it was widely circulated.

But he was more concerned about another question:

"Has your body recovered?"

Wang Qi immediately answered, "Yes, I've fully recovered, and my cultivation has improved greatly!"

Such an honest, straightforward answer actually left Commandant Lin with no suspicions. It was normal for cultivation to improve after setting things back on the right course... most importantly, though he was knowledgeable, his own cultivation realm was still somewhat lacking.

So he said, "Congratulations, then. Since you're all right now, return to camp tomorrow and resume training."

"You've already lost more than half a month."

"The Grand Military Review is another month and a half away. If you perform well, I may be able to make some other arrangements for you... so do your best."

Wang Qi was deeply reluctant to let go when he heard this. Just like that, he was about to lose his private tent.

But the mention of "other arrangements" caught his attention.

Could this be a chance to be promoted to squad leader?

Above squad leader was team commander, and above that was garrison commander, the "hundred-man commander."

Once he became a garrison commander, he could have a tent all to himself... that was the goal he was working toward at this stage.