Chapter 101 - 46: Acupoints Opened: 83!

Chapter 101: Chapter 46: Acupoints Opened: 83!

After receiving advice from Xia He and expressing his thanks, Jiang Xuan hurried toward the Martial Arts Arena.

This time, however, his fighting spirit was even more passionate, yet he remained deeply cautious.

"Although I haven’t lacked resources lately and have made tremendous progress, I can’t be careless," he thought. "Xie Hanshuang, Qin Feng, and the others inherently possess Earth Level Top Grade Spirit Roots. They lack neither resources nor guidance from their teachers. Even people like Zeng Jun, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin will absolutely not be slow in their Cultivation progress.

"The share of cultivation resources I’m currently receiving has only barely allowed me to catch up to them... I still can’t let my guard down."

While on his way, Jiang Xuan had a sudden thought and summoned his attribute panel.

[Player: Jiang Xuan]

[Age: 14]

[Cultivation: Spirit Core Initial Stage]

[Main Combat Profession: Clear Heart Swordsman (4/5), Beginner Qi Cultivator (3/4)]

[Auxiliary Profession: Daoist Acolyte (3/3), Gourmet (2/7)]

[Talent: Spirit Root (Profound Middle)]

[Cultivation Technique: Nine Breath Qi Refining Method (Third Realm: Mastery), One Qi Sword Technique (Third Realm: Mastery)]

[Magic: "Guicang Jie Mie Sword" (Fragmented)]

These were Jiang Xuan’s current general attributes. Clicking on each entry would reveal even more detailed information.

For example, clicking on the Guicang Jie Mie Sword would reveal why it was listed as fragmented. The reason was that out of this entire Swordsmanship, Jiang Xuan had only learned Winter Solstice and the first three swords. He had not yet practiced the subsequent Swordsmanship and Sword Techniques.

However, Jiang Xuan quickly set this aside and focused his gaze on his Cultivation.

Spirit Core Initial Stage did not mean that Jiang Xuan had failed to activate even thirty-six acupoints over the past half-month.

After entering Four Seasons Valley and gaining Granny Lan as his teacher, Jiang Xuan had learned some secrets about Spirit Core Awakening.

According to Granny Lan, thirty-six acupoints were merely the minimum threshold to condense a Spirit Core.

The human body contained three Dantian Spirit Cores: the Lower Dantian Primordial Essence, the Middle Dantian Sea of Qi, and the Upper Dantian Purple Mansion. These three Dantians represented a Cultivator’s essence, qi, and spirit, respectively. Furthermore, each Dantian was connected to one hundred and eight acupoints.

At this thought, the memory of Granny Lan instructing him became even clearer in Jiang Xuan’s mind.

"Although condensing your Spirit Core won’t affect the activation of your subsequent acupoints, I still hope that you will activate as many acupoints connected to your Lower Dantian as possible before proceeding to open the Middle Dantian."

He also recalled the confusion that had appeared on his face upon hearing this. "Why is that?"

"Because it prevents chaos." At the time, Granny Lan’s expression had been exceptionally serious. "The initial acupoints are inherently easy to find. There is no threshold for the first thirty-six of any Dantian. Even with the poorest Yellow Level Spirit Root, as long as one is willing to spend the time, they can find all the first thirty-six acupoints across all three Dantians.

"However, when moving from thirty-six to seventy-two, the difficulty begins to rise. At this stage, those with outstanding Spirit Root Talents (Celestial Level or Earth Level) can still find them easily.

"But when it comes to the final thirty-six acupoints connected to a respective Dantian, the difficulty of finding them is on a completely different level."

Originally, Jiang Xuan hadn’t cared much about this matter. He figured that with his Clear Heart Mirror (Observing Oneself), he could easily locate all the acupoints within his body.

But when Granny Lan revealed the profound mysteries of the acupoints, Jiang Xuan immediately fell silent.

"Don’t be so dismissive." Knocking Jiang Xuan on the head, Granny Lan spoke with deep caution. "Do you know that some Great Cultivators believe these final thirty-six acupoints are actively concealed by the Laws of Heaven and Earth? The Celestial Dao hides their forms, conceals their traces, and severs one’s sensing of them. Only Cultivators whose Heart Nature and Comprehension have both reached Perfection, and who can achieve Resonance with Heaven and Earth, can manage to find these last thirty-six acupoints.

"There are also some Great Powers who believe that these final thirty-six acupoints are tied to a person’s fate, and that only those possessing immense fortune can uncover them..."

Although the speculations Granny Lan mentioned remained unconfirmed, the words "concealed by Heaven and Earth" were enough to make Jiang Xuan understand exactly how difficult it was to find the final thirty-six acupoints.

Furthermore, he had learned from her that the Inner Sect Disciples of the Shenxiao Sect’s Lower-Class Dharma Veins were required to open all of the first seventy-two acupoints across the three major Dantians.

Fierce competition was everywhere within the Shenxiao Sect, and Inner Sect Disciples were naturally no exception.

For Daoist School students like Jiang Xuan, entering the various peaks and veins didn’t mean they could just sit back and relax once they secured their positions. Those Dharma Veins all had their own assessment methods; if they failed to meet the requirements, their status as Inner Sect Disciples could very well be stripped away.

Among these rules, one of the basic requirements for an Inner Sect Disciple of the lower peaks was to successfully locate all of the first seventy-two acupoints across the three Dantians.

For Middle-Class Dharma Veins, the requirement was eighty-one.

"Only nine more than the lower peaks?" Upon first hearing this, Jiang Xuan hadn’t felt relieved. Instead, he had truly grasped the daunting difficulty of searching for those final thirty-six acupoints.

Granny Lan’s subsequent words had confirmed this for him. "Although it’s only nine more acupoints per Dantian, the difficulty of finding these nine is greater than finding the first seventy-two combined."

...

In addition to this, Jiang Xuan also learned that the Upper Peaks had even higher requirements; their assessment baseline was ninety-nine.

"The Celestial Level Disciples within the Shenxiao Sect all enter the Upper-Class Dharma Veins," he thought. "Even with so many individuals possessing extraordinary talent, their assessment baseline is still only ninety-nine?"

At this realization, a genuine trace of anxiety welled up in Jiang Xuan’s heart.

"I originally thought the later acupoints were just hidden deeply," he pondered. "I never expected it would actually involve being concealed by Heaven and Earth. If that’s the case, even with the Clear Heart Mirror, I might not be able to find all of them."

After informing Jiang Xuan about the difficulty of opening acupoints, Granny Lan also explained why she wanted him to exclusively look for acupoints connected to Primordial Essence in the early stages.

"Regardless of the reason, the acupoints ultimately exist within the human body and will be observed by Cultivators using their Heart Soul. However, spiritual observation emphasizes absolute purity. The purer your heart and body are, the lower the difficulty of finding those final thirty-six acupoints will be.

"If the acupoints in your body are solely connected to Primordial Essence, then under such circumstances, your body remains pure, and the difficulty of searching for them will be immeasurably reduced.

"Conversely, if you open both your Primordial Essence and Qi Sea Acupoints simultaneously, your Essence Qi and Magical Power will mix together, causing the auras in your body to intertwine. Such chaos will multiply the difficulty of finding acupoints several times over.

"Because of this, the prodigies within the Sect search for them one Spirit Core at a time. They will find as many acupoints connected to their current Spirit Core as possible before moving on to the next one."

...

Finishing his recollection, Jiang Xuan closed his eyes and sensed the number of acupoints within his body. The number displayed was eighty-three!

"I have to think of a way," he murmured. "Otherwise, my speed of Refining Spiritual Qi will surpass my speed of searching for acupoints, and that would be too much of a waste."

Yes, for the time being, the Spiritual Qi Jiang Xuan had refined still hadn’t caught up to the numerous acupoints he had discovered.

At this moment, inside his body, six faint, translucent white points of light were flickering in and out of existence. These were acupoints he had found but had not yet activated with Magical Power.

This situation was certainly influenced by the erosion of the frigid energy, which severely limited the amount of Magical Power he could refine each day.

However, the main reason was that the Three Purification Spell and the Clear Heart Mirror (Observing Oneself) were working exactly as intended. Their efficiency had merely decreased; they hadn’t become completely useless.

Among all this, the passive Skill he had acquired upon taking up the Qi Cultivator profession—Qi Sensitivity—had given him a tremendous surprise.

Originally, Jiang Xuan had assumed this ability would only allow him to sense the Spiritual Qi of the outside world, or perhaps enhance his control over the Magical Power inside his body.

But now, he realized that he had vastly underestimated Qi Sensitivity.

This profound, instinctual connection to "qi" could actually be applied to un-opened acupoints as well. After all, acupoints were fundamentally the convergence nodes where Spiritual Qi and Magical Power condensed, making them a match made in heaven with Qi Sensitivity.

Under the empowerment of the Three Purification Mantra: True Communication, Jiang Xuan, with his Qi Sensitivity fully unleashed, could faintly perceive the general locations of his acupoints.

Although this sensation was extremely vague, having a general direction was countless times better than searching aimlessly in a void.

"It’s just that searching like this is still a bit too slow. In two or three days at most, the speed at which I uncover acupoints won’t be able to keep up with my Refinement speed."

At this thought, Jiang Xuan’s gaze suddenly landed on the [Beginner Qi Cultivator] entry in his Attribute Interface.

[Beginner Qi Cultivator]

[Rating: Blue Rare]

[Level: 3/4 (672/3300)]

[Professional Passive: Refining Essence and Qi, Qi Sensitivity]

[Exclusive Ability: Dao Foundation Contract (1/1)]

The Level displayed above made Jiang Xuan instantly clench his fists.

"It’s already Level Three! As expected, binding the Nine Breath Qi Refining Method with the Dao Foundation Contract was the right move. For the Qi Cultivator profession, I just need to circulate the Cultivation Technique once, and my professional experience will increase by one.

"And with the Nine Breath Qi Refining Method’s Circulation of Heaven and Earth Traits, I barely have to worry about a thing. Whether I’m sitting, sleeping, or walking, my professional experience increases automatically, just like idle grinding."

For Jiang Xuan’s Profession System, Levels were still incredibly useful.

Regardless of the profession, the primary condition for a class advancement was to raise the current Professional Level to Perfection.

Seeing that Beginner Qi Cultivator had already reached 3/4, Jiang Xuan immediately knew that this profession’s class advancement wasn’t far off.

Considering how perfectly Qi Sensitivity synergized with his acupoints, Jiang Xuan pinned his hopes of finding all the acupoints within his body on the class advancement of the Qi Cultivator profession.

"Sigh, I hope this class advancement will be a bit simpler," he muttered. "I still haven’t even completed the class advancement requirements for Profound Scripture Daoist yet."