He could resist the temptation of the wealth a Golden Core master had accumulated over many years, but he was unable to resist what the black ox had mentioned before it had left. “I’ve left something in there for you.”
Th black ox could give such a terrifying ability of the demonic path like the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty to Xiao An, so since he had told him about this in such a solemn matter, just what treasure would it be?
Would it be a legendary weapon? A tremendous, supreme ability? Or a miraculous pill or medicine that could allow him to ascend and reach beyond the Nine Heavens upon ingesting it?
He was afraid of thinking about it normally. The more he thought about it, the more restless he would become. He sighed inside, Brother ox, oh brother ox. Just what did you leave for me? Couldn’t you have given it to me directly? Must you make things difficult for me? I’m even forced to open the sumeru ring through the methods of humans. Back then, it was you who wanted to turn me into a daemon, so I turned into a daemon.
Although that was how he lamented, he felt like the black ox definitely had his reasons for this. The black ox must have expected him to return to human society as a human, which was why he gave him a trial like this. Did he want him to accomplish something with human cultivation?
He was unable to understand why, so he just stopped thinking about it. He needed this identity as a human. In just the past two days he had spent in Jiaping city, he had obtained over a hundred Qi Gathering pills. The stronger he grew, the easier it would be for him to obtain pills and the safer he would be.
At the end of the day, he still could not depend on transforming in public. Most of the time, he would still have to rely on his path of practising qi, but the first layer of Qi Practitioner was just too weak.
He suddenly stopped cultivating. The essential ideas behind the fourth layer of the Innate Method of Practising Qi floated through his head slowly, word for word. All of it was extremely clear.
He was attempting to open the Yang Heel meridian of the eight extraordinary meridians so that he could break through to the second layer of Qi Practitioner. This would be the first meridian he had to open, and it would also mean that he would formally set foot in the path of practising qi. It could be said that the significance behind this was utterly different from the first three layers of the Innate Method of Practising Qi.
Under the control of his mind, his true qi flowed into his left leg like water, sinking to his ankle, to the Shenmai acupoint. This was the beginning of the Yang Heel meridian. If he wanted to open the Yang Heel meridian, this was where the door for opening it lied.
He no longer sat on his bed with his legs crossed. Instead, he maintained a strange posture, where he leaned forward on his arms and legs with his left leg extended. It looked like some sort of yoga pose.
Xiao An had originally been crouching beside the bed, directing all his focus to the pile of buddhist scriptures and classics that Li Qingshan had brought back for him, but now, he had placed down his books and was watching Li Qingshan carefully.
What Li Qingshan wanted to do was knock on the door!
True qi rushed towards the Shenmai acupoint wave after wave, but the door remained firmly shut, without any intention of opening up. Let alone opening the acupoint, he could not even shake it up.
He knew his accumulation of true qi was still not enough. He had yet to reach the peak of the first layer with his quantity of true qi. The ordinary method would be to continue accumulating true qi over time, and in just a few months’ time, the true qi in his body would become like a great river, easily smashing through the obstructing dam.
What he was trying to do right now was to smash through the dam as a tiny stream, so it was truly difficult. However, just like how he would eventually succeed but all he could do was control the present, he had to give it a try and make an attempt. Only then would he be satisfied. He chewed up another Qi Gathering pill to replenish his true qi.
After several attempts, he failed to benefit at all, so he finally stopped. However, he did not give up. Instead, he concentrated on controlling his true qi; he constantly concentrated it further, turning it from a stream into ice, into a long spear. It became a hundred times smaller, but also a hundred times tougher.
Afterwards, when he could not condense it any further, the ice spear rushed towards the great dam in an unstoppable manner.
There was a sudden sting of pain from the bottom of his foot, but Li Qingshan completely ignored it. Instead, he was joyfully surprised. This time, the true qi had not been blocked. It stabbed into the Shenmai acupoint, and under his control, it inched deeper with great difficulty.
A gentle sound seemed to ring through his body. A hole formed in the dam that blocked the stream as true qi rapidly surged through the Yang Heel meridian.
A speck of light suddenly lit up inside him, like the first star in the endless cosmos.
Before Li Qingshan could even celebrate, the true qi slapped into another obstacle, the Pushen meridian, also located near his ankle.
The true qi shattered upon collision and did not condense together again. Under the invisible pressure of the Yang Heel meridian, it was forced back out.
He failed in opening his meridian!
Even the Shenmai acupoint he opened closed up once more.
Li Qingshan breathed in heavily. Who knows how many times Yan Song had called him a cultivation prodigy, but he could not even open his first meridian today, even struggling to reach the second layer of Qi Practitioner. Only then did he understand that the path of practising qi would not be simple.
In comparison, daemon cultivation was much more mindless. All they had to do was inhale and exhale spiritual qi of the world or ingest spiritual medicines and pills so that their daemon qi would constantly grow. Once they reached a certain level, they would condense a daemon core automatically. The cultivation that came after that would be the same as before, constantly gathering daemon qi in the daemon core. Upon reaching another certain level, there would be a crackle of heavenly lightning. If they survived, they would become Daemon Generals. If they failed, they would be burnt to a crisp. It was as simple as that.
Most daemons began as wild beasts or even plants, cultivating based on their instincts. If the entire process required even just a tiny bit of intelligence and thought, there would be no daemons in this world.
However, while it was simple, it took time. Let alone plants, even if an ordinary wild beast in nature wanted to become a Daemon General, it would take them a century at the very least. Moreover, they would have to eat a spiritual medicine at least on par with the spiritual ginseng to have a chance. There were plenty of daemons who took several centuries.
Opening meridians was both a gift from the heavens to humans, as well as a shortcut that humans had discovered. However, no matter how great of a shortcut it was, he still had to take one step at a time.
In the eyes of other Qi Practitioners, a person like Li Qingshan was utterly out of his mind. He had only practised qi for a few days and already wanted to open his meridians, even sighing about how difficult it was to practise qi after failing.
However, Li Qingshan did not become discouraged. He grabbed a Qi Gathering pill and shoved it in his mouth first, but he did not eat it. He tried to break through again.
With his experience from the first time, it was much easier for him to rush through the Shenmai acupoint, but after that, he dared not lose his concentration. Chomping down, he crushed the Qi Gathering pill. As he replenished his true qi, he focused on the next obstacle.
Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 101-Chapter 200)
Dream Teller's books
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 201-Chapter 300)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 301-Chapter 400)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)