Chapter 61 - My Own Path, My Own Way

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While the locations of the meridians in our body can only be remembered by hard memorization, the details about them are not difficult to remember. For example, each of the twelve standard meridians refers to a major organ of the human body.

They are the lung, heart, pericardium which can also be called the heart protector, the triple burner which is fascial compartments of the chest, abdomen and pelvis. The next meridians are the small intestacies, large intestines, spleen, kidney, liver, gall bladder and urinary bladder and finally, the stomach.

The eight extraordinary meridians are more illusionary in nature, and on Earth, they did not have any importance besides being essential to the study of tai chi, qi gong, meditation and Chinese alchemy.

On Earth, Chinese alchemy is often believed to be fiction but only traditional Chinese medicine practitioners know that it is not fiction. It is possible to cook a bunch of Chinese herbs together and form a pill, but these pills that they made were not miracle pills like those in the stories. Nobody really knows if the alchemists in the past were able to create better and more effective pills. Furthermore, the criticism behind the science of Chinese alchemy that is based upon illusionary meridians and the concept of yin and yang, which has never been proven, led to the practice of such alchemy being avoided by the people.

In this world, however, these eight extraordinary meridians are real and the cultivators here, used qi to form these illusionary meridians, making the illusionary a reality. These eight meridians are the Conception Vessel (Ren Mai), Governing Vessel (Du Mai), Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai), Girdle Vessel (Dai Mai), Yin linking vessel (Yin Wei Mai), Yang linking vessel (Yang Wei Mai), Yin Heel Vessel (Yin Qiao Mai), and the Yang Heel Vessel (Yang Qiao Mai).

Ever since the discussion about the truth behind cultivation confirmed my thoughts on how to proceed with my cultivation, I had been refining my qi using Standing meditation and slowly clearing and healing my qi pathways. Right now, standing meditation cannot make me qi purer and I should have had the same amount of qi that I had before I entered the realm of Qi Flow.

It took me a while to finally figure out a proper pathway between all the twenty whirlpools I wanted to develop and it was only a few days before we set out that I managed to complete the ideal pathway between the twenty meridians that I will be forming.

In fact, forming this cycle was difficult because some western doctors actually created a flow with 14 meridians. They used the twelve standard meridians and two of the extraordinary meridians to form their theorized cycle. These two extraordinary meridians are the conception vassal and the governing vassal, which they used to draw out the entire central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system of the human body according to the anatomy of the human body.

I had problems moving away from the proposed cycle that these doctors used and I spent several days trying to ignore their cycle. When I eventually completed my own unique cycle, it was completely different and the distance between each meridian was short.

Before we set off on our journey to Wei Gou City, I cooked a huge amount of popcorn and made enough jerky to last everyone two months, and locked myself in the carriage so I could spend the time cultivating. I had informed everyone that I was going to create my qi whirlpools and they told me to cultivate in peace, as they would ensure my safety while I was cultivating.

...

The journey to Wei Gou City took roughly 90 days, only a few days away from 3 whole months and I managed to open 7 of the meridians. Everyone shared their experiences of how they formed their whirlpools with me and it was easy for me to form mine.

Aside from those with secret cultivation techniques, all you had to do was just constantly swirl the qi at a specific location in your qi pathways until the swirl was strong enough to sustain itself. It would eventually expand that area of the qi pathway, which would cause some pain but would do no harm unless it was at an improper location.

If a person tried to create a whirlpool in a wrong location, the area of his qi pathway would break and in the worse scenario, become crippled but usually, the qi pathway would heal themselves after a few years. He will be unable to neither manipulate any qi at all nor cultivate while the qi pathway is broken.

After creating my first whirlpool, my theory that each and every location of the qi pathway is the same spot as the meridians in traditional Chinese medicine was confirmed and I went all out in my cultivation.

When a whirlpool is successfully formed, that part of the pathway would stretch instead of break, and would slowly become bigger and deeper, forming a circle with a whirlpool that could somehow absorb qi from the air, through the skin. It was mysterious and mystical and right now, I already have formed a small cycle within me.

I learnt from Ding Sha that some cultivation techniques create a small cycle in one limb first, for example, the arm, and then slowly extends to the rest of the body, but my cultivation technique creates a complete cycle after the third whirlpool is formed, and then I slowly fill develop the rest of the whirlpools, creating a complex and complete cycle.

Ding Sha and Zhao Keng said that cultivation techniques like mine are numerous as they are balanced, while cultivation techniques that create a small cycle in one limb are rarer. This is because it gives them explosive power in that limb but many things can go wrong while developing such a technique. Regardless, I am sure that my cultivation technique will destroy every other cultivation technique.

It also seemed like once I have created a whirlpool, I am able to live without eating and sleeping. Of course, it does not mean I do need nourishment anymore, but that I am using qi to replace food and water. Every time my body requires food and water, my body automatically consumes qi and sooner or later, I would become void of qi and die of hunger, unless I can draw in more qi than what my body requires to sustain itself.

According to Judge Tang, going without food and water for a year after creating 5 whirlpools is normal, but you would be unable to stop eating or drinking forever unless you have developed your core.

As we near Wei Gou City, I had already left my seclusion in the carriage and was walking towards the city with the rest of the guards. Wei Gou City is a vast, walled city and is similar to the capital where I grew up. Wei Gou City was so much more advanced than Yao Feng town which still had its wall being built and still smelled of animal faeces for some odd reason, that comparing both was insulting to Wei Gou City.

As we near the huge, wooden gate with welded iron bars, the guards stopped us and asked us for our identification as we were using the entrance for VIPs.

"We are the judges sent by the governor." I calmly inform the guards as I pass them our identification documents.

"A little kid is a judge? Let me check your papers and I will spank you once I find out you are lying." One of the guards mischievously says as he flips through our documents and his smile slowly fades away.

I don't understand these people. I am already in my late teens, why do so many people still refer to me a little kid?

"Si...Sir...Here are your documents, please proceed straight and turn left once and you will see the yamen on your right after a few minutes." The guard stutters a little as he returns the documents to me.

As we cross the gate, this city reminds me of the capital, where there are no stalls, only shops. As we pass the guard who is afraid that I will punish him, Zhuge Pang softly laughs at him.


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