A Soul Beast's Study of Human Meridians

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Su Lin, get up! Time for class!"

Early the next morning, barely after dawn, crisp knocking suddenly rang out, accompanied by a girl's clear voice.

Rubbing his bleary eyes, Su Lin rolled over and sat up. He glanced at the clock on the wall; the hour hand had only just reached six thirty.

He could not help letting out a long yawn. In his drowsiness, he felt a moment of disorientation, as though he had returned to his high school days in his previous life, rushing to early self-study before daybreak.

He buried his face back in the pillow and rubbed against it twice before reluctantly bracing himself against the edge of the bed and sitting up.

Two more knocks sounded outside, and a hint of urgency entered Xiao Wu's voice. "Are you awake yet? If you don't come out, I'm going to kick the door down."

"Coming, coming." Su Lin clambered out of bed, shuffled to the door in his slippers, and unlocked it.

Outside, Xiao Wu wore a brand-new academy uniform. Her scorpion braid was neatly done, its tip resting over her left shoulder, and she was unbelievably bright-eyed and lively.

Without waiting for Su Lin to invite her in, she ducked under his arm the moment the door opened and slipped inside. Stopping beside the door, she naturally swept her gaze around the room before it settled on the golden ball of fur at the head of the bed, wrapped in a corner of the blanket and sleeping with all four limbs splayed.

The little fellow was sleeping soundly, its belly rising and falling with each breath.

"Hehehe, Pikachu, here I come!" Xiao Wu walked over and scooped Pikachu up without ceremony.

The instant Pikachu was lifted out of the covers, its ears twitched. It cracked its eyes open to look at the newcomer, apparently recognized Xiao Wu, and closed them again without worry. Its four little legs curled into her hands as it went on snoring.

"Give me a moment. I'll be ready soon." Su Lin yawned. He said nothing about the way she made herself at home and turned to slip into the bathroom, where he turned on the tap to wash up.

Holding the warm little ball of fur, Xiao Wu restlessly wandered around. Before long, she reached the desk, and her gaze fell on the open Complete Explanation of Human Body Meridians.

The book was still open to the diagram of the forearm meridians, with several lines of tiny handwritten notes beside it. Xiao Wu leaned closer in curiosity and casually flipped through a couple of pages, but her brows slowly drew together.

When Su Lin emerged from the bathroom, wiping his face, he saw her standing before the desk with Pikachu in her arms, staring at the book in bewilderment.

"What's wrong?" He walked over and casually draped the towel over the rack.

Seeing him come out, Xiao Wu lifted the book and waved it at him, tilting her head as she asked, "Su Lin, why are you reading this?"

"I was interested, so I took a look." Su Lin draped the towel over the chair back and answered offhandedly, "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Hmm..." Xiao Wu bit her lip and tapped the meridian diagram with a fingertip, saying frankly, "But there's so much missing here. Lots of the tiny meridians aren't drawn at all, and the acupoints are a little off, too."

Su Lin blinked, but inwardly, he was not surprised.

This was precisely what left him most helpless.

On the Douluo Continent, Soul Masters' cultivation revolved around their Martial Souls from beginning to end. Soul Power circulated through the pathways of their Martial Souls, while their development of the human body's own meridians and acupoints remained extremely rudimentary. Soul Masters disdained studying them in depth and saw no need to do so.

After all, Soul Power was guided and released through Martial Souls. Who cared about the paths taken by those tiny branches within the meridians?

As a result, the study of human meridians had long occupied an awkward position on the Douluo Continent. Most of those who truly researched it were ordinary people without Soul Power. Lacking financial support and receiving little regard from the Soul Master class, their research progressed at a pitifully slow pace.

Perhaps top powers such as Spirit Hall and the Upper Three Sects possessed more complete and precise inherited knowledge, but how could a Soul Emperor of common birth like Grant gain access to such secret teachings?

The Complete Explanation of Human Body Meridians he had was already the most detailed edition available on the market, yet it could barely provide a framework.

He had originally planned to make do and learn the broad outline first. Once his spiritual power grew strong enough for him to look inside his own body, he would fill in the gaps himself, correcting the inaccuracies in the diagrams one by one.

It was a clumsy method, but given his circumstances, it was also the only one.

The question now, however, was that he knew the book's information was flawed because he had picked up some knowledge of acupoints before transmigrating. How did Xiao Wu, a transformed Soul Beast, know...?

Wait, Soul Beast Transformation!

During Soul Beast Transformation, the power of heaven and earth merged with the beast's own soul to nurture an entirely new human body from scratch.

In other words, she had witnessed the entire process as every inch of the meridians, every meridian pathway, and every acupoint in this body materialized from nothingness.

Perhaps she really did understand the structure of the human body better than humans did.

At this thought, Su Lin's eyes lit up. He quickly took Xiao Wu's small hands, his gaze burning as he looked straight into her eyes. "Xiao Wu, you'll teach me, won't you?"

Feeling the boy's warm touch against her palms, with the fresh scent of mint toothpaste lingering around her nose, Xiao Wu froze for a moment. A sudden warmth rose in her heart at being trusted and relied upon, and she immediately nodded hard. "Yes!"

Half an hour later, after breakfast, Su Lin and Xiao Wu arrived at the first-year classroom and made their way to seats beside the windows in the back row.

The classroom was neither large nor small, with eight rows of two-person desks arranged side by side. Their surfaces bore all manner of doodles and scratches left by generations of older students. Su Lin glanced over these historical relics, confirmed that they were clean enough, and only then sat down and leaned against the chair back.

He did a rough count. This class alone had over thirty children, tall and short, plump and thin, with the differences in their family circumstances apparent from the fabric of their clothes.

As far as he knew, the first year had four such classes, totaling a hundred or so students. For all that it was called Nuoding City's best junior Soul Master Academy, its scale was little different from a rural township primary school in his previous life.

A few minutes later, the bell rang. An ordinary-looking male teacher with short, pale green hair walked up to the teaching platform carrying his lesson plans. Once he stood in place, he tapped the desk, and the classroom instantly fell silent.

"My name is Mo Hen. You can call me Teacher Mo. Starting today, I'll be teaching basic theory and physical training to your class, First-Year Class A."

"I know quite a few of you here have already begun cultivating Soul Power, but let me remind you: basic theory is the root of a Soul Master's cultivation. No matter how simple you think it is, please be patient and listen to the end. If one day you discover that you've laid your foundations crooked, it'll be too late for regrets."

Su Lin recognized him. He was the dormitory teacher on duty whom Grandmaster had asked to deliver bedding to Tang San in the original story.

However, Tang San had become a disciple yesterday. From now on, he would most likely cultivate separately under Yu Xiaogang rather than join the crowd in a large class like this.