Improving by the Day

Out-of-body cultivation opened an entirely new door for Wang Qi.

In his out-of-body state, free of his physical body's influence, he possessed absolute rationality and crystal-clear thinking, allowing him to master and become proficient in everything he learned at the fastest possible pace.

Even the Light-Concealing Shadow-Masking Spell, which Scribe Zhao considered a higher-tier spell, was quickly mastered by him... casting it instantly might still prove difficult, but after half a month of practice, he could already cast it silently.

As for the Clothing-Cleansing Spell and Water-Repelling Spell, he could already cast both instantly.

His greater discovery came when he happened to try cultivating his internal qi in this out-of-body state... to his utter astonishment, he seemed able to see the channels through which internal qi flowed inside him-in other words, his meridians.

In his out-of-body state, what he circulated was true yang qi, and he now seemed able to see fiery red paths of qi circulation flickering in and out of view within his consciousness-body.

If this disembodied consciousness-body was a backup of his own condition, then that meant these energy channels also existed in his physical body... these meridians.

Amid his uncertainty, realization dawned on him... so this was where the world's knowledge of meridians had come from!

Perhaps someone long ago had achieved what he could, seeing the condition of their own meridians and then recording that information to form the earliest knowledge of meridians.

Otherwise, how could the ancients have learned of something that even surgical dissection could not reveal?

Wang Qi had originally wanted to find an opportunity to learn about meridians, but now he felt it was unnecessary. After all, his reason for studying them was to understand his own meridians and aid his cultivation.

Now that he could perceive his meridians more directly, why bother learning all that?

Thoroughly satisfied with his current condition, Wang Qi began planning to find some time to practice the Force-Piercing Arrow and Qi-Gathering Finger... only for reality to slap him in the face immediately.

He still had to study meridians, because the use of inner force in these martial techniques involved knowledge of all sorts of acupoints and meridians... couldn't they just give him a diagram of the qi circulation?

They had only provided a pile of acupoint and meridian names. How was anyone without a foundation in the subject supposed to learn?!

Wang Qi was left speechless by the absurdity. In the end, he could only expend far more effort trying them out one by one.

He had never expected to encounter difficulties in martial technique cultivation instead. The Force-Piercing Arrow was manageable: simple and direct, it was all about gathering power.

The Qi-Gathering Finger, however, was troublesome. It involved all sorts of meridians, leaving him tangled in a thousand loose threads.

In the end, he could only design suitable methods of qi circulation based on the Qi-Gathering Finger's movements and techniques. Occasionally, when he truly had no other option, he would alter the techniques according to how smoothly his qi flowed.

As far as he was concerned, whatever allowed the qi to flow most smoothly would do. Before he began cultivating qi, martial techniques had seemed profoundly mysterious; afterward, they seemed to amount to little more than that.

Taking the Mighty Stele-Crushing Palm-the only martial technique he had fully mastered-as a reference, wasn't it true that the more directly his internal qi circulated, the greater its power?

Through all this blind tinkering, the Qi-Gathering Finger, originally a basic finger technique for striking acupoints and joints, became completely distorted, turning into something more akin to an advanced martial technique that cultivated both the internal and external aspects.

It was just that Wang Qi's limited knowledge left him with nothing to compare it against, so he had no idea what level it actually qualified as.

Meanwhile, his practice of the external body-conditioning technique, the Mighty Stele-Crushing Palm, had also advanced considerably.

External body conditioning damaged the body, so cultivating external martial arts actually depended heavily on talent.

Wang Qi's talent for external martial arts could only be considered above average, but he always managed to exercise every muscle in his body, pushing himself to his absolute limit every time he trained.

Normally, this would have caused tremendous damage to his body.

However, Wang Qi's true yang qi could quickly repair the wear and tear on his body, while the "afterglow" he brought back from out-of-body cultivation likewise restored his flesh remarkably well.

Under these circumstances, Wang Qi's cultivation even took the place of the medicinal baths and nourishing diets used by wealthy households, allowing his external body-conditioning arts to advance at tremendous speed.

Wang Qi cultivated alone for twenty days, while his teammates spent those same twenty days bored out of their minds.

Finally, someone could no longer sit still. Several of them gathered in the ice and snow that day and began talking about Wang Qi. "That newcomer really made himself at home and went off to do his own thing... the more I think about it, the more annoying it gets. Doesn't he know to pay his respects to his seniors?"

Another said, "Enough. Spare us that opening spiel. You're bored and want to tease the newcomer. Just say so."

"How is it teasing? We're just helping him stay alert. It's a free lesson."

"So we're going to ambush him along the route he takes every day to freeload meals?"

"That would be too boring, and it'd violate discipline..."

Apparently, they harbored some resentment over Wang Qi going to the Recruit Camp every day to freeload meals.

"Then how do we 'teach' him?"

"Simple. Have Ran Jiao sneak into his tent at night and take all his belongings out and hide them while he's asleep... I'm sure that'll be a lesson he'll remember for the rest of his life."

It was a nasty idea, reeking of mischief.

Yet almost everyone approved... every last one of these people was a troublemaker who could not stand boredom. When it came to watching a spectacle, they never worried about making trouble too big.

The female soldier named Ran Jiao, however, was unwilling... she was the woman with slit pupils whom Wang Qi had seen earlier.

She said, "Why should I be the one to go? I don't want to crawl into some stinking man's tent."

Someone beside her immediately said, "Because your gift is best suited to concealment and infiltration, Ran Jiao. This newcomer might be irritating, but there's no denying he's strong."

At that, Ran Jiao's mood really did soften considerably... after all, it counted as a compliment.

The man continued, "A few of us went with Sima Xu to test that newcomer back then... we never expected him to spot our ambush outright, then weather our attacks while going head-to-head with Sima Xu for several exchanges... that fellow was a real beast."

Ran Jiao became even less willing. "If he's that strong, that's all the more reason not to offend him."

Everyone thought that made sense, but where would their fun come from, then?

So they hurriedly put their heads together for another round of furtive deliberations, and in the end, they still pushed Ran Jiao forward...

Considering Wang Qi's current strength and potential, they changed their original prank into a soldierly attempt to test him and strike up a friendship... with that, Ran Jiao was willing to give it a try.

In her view, this counted as giving the newcomer a warning, then taking the opportunity to get acquainted...

They had not thought along those lines before, but once they discussed it seriously, they realized that Wang Qi's talent and potential were practically visible to the naked eye.

And so, with some intention of befriending him, Ran Jiao, whose cold slit pupils resembled a snake's, cautiously crept toward that secret campsite.

Wang Qi thought he had set up his tent in a hidden location, but in truth, it had never escaped his comrades' eyes. They had simply left it unspoken.

Thus, perhaps because everyone had far too much time on their hands, a few ripples disturbed Wang Qi's formerly peaceful days...