Playing with fantasy beasts in the martial arts world

Chapter 54 Four Masters Lead Me into the World

At this moment, Cha Nan was not paying attention to what the Water Mother Yin Ji was saying; her attention was entirely focused on the true energy circulating within her body.

This powerful and domineering true energy, transferred from the jellyfish Yin Ji, was also full of vitality. While repeatedly tempering his meridians, it also imprinted complex and ever-changing energy circulation routes onto him, gradually guiding the internal energy within Cha Nan's body to form certain energy circulation habits.

Such thoughtfulness is equivalent to skipping several years of slow progress for Cha Nan, and directly replicating the energy flow path of the seventh level of the 'Heavenly Water Divine Skill' into Cha Nan's body in one step, which is almost like ascending to heaven in one step.

Generally, more advanced internal energy cultivation methods are divided into levels. They start with an initial energy circulation route as the level increases, and the energy circulation route expands and grows on the original basis, gradually becoming more and more complex, and eventually involving the main meridians of the whole body, as well as most of the obvious acupoints.

Furthermore, the divine skills and ultimate techniques also involve the development and utilization of hidden and abandoned acupoints, as well as the application of many peripheral meridians in addition to the twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians, forming a more complex and varied system of exercises.

Therefore, the more profound the internal energy cultivation method, the more comprehensive the improvement to the body. Any strong person who has learned a divine-level martial art is unlikely to have any obvious weaknesses. High attack but low defense? That's impossible!
The Heavenly Water Divine Skill is similar. Once the seventh level is mastered, if one has abundant internal energy, one can release internal energy through the peripheral meridians, forming rings of energy on the body surface that resemble flowing water or ocean waves. This not only resists the opponent's attack force but also generates a terrifying propulsive counter-shock, fully demonstrating the comprehensiveness of this divine skill.

After circulating the energy for six full cycles, Cha Nan opened her eyes, feeling both pain and itchiness in her body, yet also a sense of relief and liberation from burdens.

If he looked in the mirror now, he would easily find that not only was he bleeding from all seven orifices, but his skin was also red all over, as if he had just been scalded in hot water at 50 or 60 degrees Celsius.

“I have already opened up the twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians for you. With your current skill level, it will be difficult for you to reach the limit of your meridians’ capacity in a short time. However, you need to improve your skill level quickly, otherwise some of the meridians I opened for you will shrink back and become blocked again.” Jellyfish Yin Ji released her hand from Cha Nan’s back, sat cross-legged on the spot, holding several pieces of Palu ore in her hands, and slowly regulated her breathing. It was clear that helping Cha Nan open up his meridians and imprint the energy circulation route had consumed a lot of energy.

After all, such behavior is already close to transferring power. If she were to retain the true energy that was transferred into Cha Nan's body, it would be a complete power transfer process.

"So, I'm already second-rate now?" Cha Nan asked in surprise.

An hour ago, he hadn't even opened a single meridian. An hour later, all twelve regular meridians, the eight extraordinary meridians, and many hidden acupoints and peripheral meridians involved in the 'Heavenly Water Divine Skill' had been opened. Could there be anything more exhilarating than this?

"Not yet! Sister Jellyfish has only taken care of a lot of the hard work for you now; you still have to cultivate your inner strength yourself."

“You can now think of yourself as a genius who is born with all the meridians open!” Huang Rong took the meat stick from Yun Zhonghe’s hand and started grilling it herself, clearly looking down on Yun Zhonghe’s clumsiness.

Guo Xiang once said that the so-called "all meridians are open" innately means that one's meridians are naturally strong and have a high tolerance. Even without repeated tempering by internal energy, one can withstand a large amount of internal energy circulating at high speed in the body.

According to this theory, Qiao Feng was obviously born with 'all meridians open', so in just thirty years, his internal strength was no weaker than that of those old monsters who had lived for decades or even centuries.

"This is great!" Cha Nan said happily.

The meridians have been strengthened, the hidden acupoints have been opened, and the energy circulation route has been imprinted in the body. Just follow your instincts. The rest is just to hold onto the fragments of Palu ore and continuously absorb the primordial energy to strengthen your internal strength.

Isn’t this just a matter of having hands?
“It can be even better!” Huang Rong glanced at Guo Jing.

Guo Jing strode forward, grabbed Cha Nan, and led her to another corner. Then he began to 'knead' Cha Nan in the air into various bizarre and inexplicable positions, such as her buttocks behind her head, her legs crossed and bent behind her back, or simply rolled into a ball and tossed back and forth between Guo Jing's hands.

At the same time, a profound and mysterious incantation was transmitted to Cha Nan's ears through sound transmission, imprinted in his mind, and he could not forget it even if he wanted to.

Amidst the pervasive pain, knowledge was forcibly injected into Cha Nan's mind in an unimaginable way. Clearly, Guo Jing, in order to ensure that Cha Nan would remember the profound and essential principles of the Nine Yin Manual, even resorted to the Soul Transfer Technique to forcibly imprint it on Cha Nan's mind.

While Cha Nan was forced to memorize the general principles and formulas, she also felt as if her body, which had just been scalded, was now being folded into various inhuman shapes.

The Yi Jin Duan Gu chapter of the Nine Yin Manual is actually a method of stretching tendons and bones by combining internal force.

The saying goes, "For every inch of tendon lengthened, life is extended by ten years." The Nine Yin Manual originated from the Daoist Canon of Longevity and was originally a Daoist method for nourishing life and prolonging life. The so-called improvement of martial arts aptitude was merely a byproduct.

After a series of operations, although Cha Nan had memorized the general principles of the Nine Yin Manual, he felt as if all the bones and tendons in his body were about to break. He lay on the ground, covered in sweat, panting heavily.

There were many moments when he felt like he was really going to die... He even thought that it might be better to just die and revert to a previous state.

"Wait...wait! We still have plenty of time, there's no need to rush!" Cha Nan shouted, taking a deep breath as she saw that Guo Jing seemed ready to continue.

Huang Rong shook her head: "One effort is not enough, the second effort is weak, and the third effort is exhausted. Your body has already been opened by Sister Jellyfish. It is time to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. If you change the time, it will be difficult for you to gather so many experts to help you establish a foundation."

"By enduring this night, you will save at least ten years of hard work and it will also help you achieve twice the results with half the effort in your future cultivation."

"However, seeing how hard you've worked, let you rest for a while and relax a bit!"

After she finished speaking, her gaze turned to Qi Shaoshang, who hadn't said much.

"I'll teach you a sword technique!"

"Also known as the One-Character Sword Technique, this sword technique follows the path of 'straight thrust and horizontal jab,' without many fancy variations. It emphasizes speed, ruthlessness, and accuracy. Seize the opportunity, thrust the sword in a straight line, and continuously accelerate... thrust!" Qi Shaoshang waved his hand, drew the long sword from his waist, assumed a stance, and began to demonstrate in front of Cha Nan.

Just as he said, the moves are really simple. They really only involve simple strikes like stabbing, thrusting, horizontal parrying, and intercepting. The completeness of the moves is not even comparable to many basic sword techniques.

But sometimes, the simpler something is, the more dangerous it can be.

In Qi Shaoshang's hands, this simple sword technique displayed a rhythm and danger that was clearly visible to the naked eye.

Wherever the sword pointed, the sword energy was released, causing the firelight to flicker and sparks to fly. The sword energy cleaved into the night sky, emitting a sharp, long howl, which frightened the phantom beasts that were hiding in the shadows and watching, causing them to flee in a panic.

Cha Nan had no martial arts background. Even though she was originally an athlete with good physical talent and athletic learning ability, it would still take a long time to hone and get used to those complex and systematic martial arts.

However, this one-word sword technique is clearly designed to follow his style. It is wide-open and straightforward. What needs to be paid attention to is the rhythm and timing of the strike. Once the sword hits, the strike is taken immediately. Combined with body movement and footwork, it can be regarded as a first-class sword technique in the martial arts world. Even if it cannot be considered a unique skill, it is close to it.

(End of this chapter)