White-Robed Chief

Mulin stared at Chu Li and stroked his beard. He scoffed, “Speaking of methods… there actually is one.”

Chu Li looked at him sideways in doubt. He then averted his gaze.

Mulin widened his eyes and called out in anger, “What? Do you not believe me?”

“I can hear the doubt in your voice, Elder Mulin. You don’t have confidence in what you say! If not even you dare to use it, I have no reason to listen,” Chu Li lazily said.

“Bullshit!” Mulin sneered. “Why do I not dare to use it!?”

Chu Li smiled. “Try and talk about it.”

Mulin scoffed, “Have you heard of the Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique.. ?”

Chu Li shook his head. “Never heard of it.”

“You don’t know anything about medicine. Of course, you’ve never heard of it!” Mulin looked at him from the edge of his eyes, full of disdain.

“Elder Mulin, I may have never learned medicine, but I still do know quite a few things in the field.”

“You know medicine?”

“I read quite a lot about it. I remembered some.”

“I’ll ask you then, what’s the problem with a flood pulse?”

“Intense heat.”

“A fine pulse?”

“Deficiency in the Yin and blood.”

“Seems like you do know something. What about the similarity between the flood pulse and rapid pulse?”

“High heat energy.”

“You actually have some ability on the theoretical side of things…”

Mulin’s expression relaxed. He stroked his beard as he said, “Seems to me like you enjoy the field of medicine too.”

Chu Li smiled and nodded.

Of course, Chu Li did not say that he learned medicine just because of martial arts. At the time, he thought of all the possible ways to speed up his foundation building, which led him to the field of medicine. Chu Li memorized the entire script of medical skills, but he ended up relying on the Life and Death Scripture anyway.

“The Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique isn’t like any other normal acupuncture techniques.” Mulin sighed. “It’s a miraculous acupuncture technique that can turn the impossible into the possible!”

“Changing the impossible to possible…” Chu Li muttered, “Will it shed all hair and clean the marrow as well as mend the tendons and change bones?”

“About that… it was close.” Mulin stroked his beard and nodded. “But the easiest thing to change would be the meridians. The tendons and bones…” he said in discomfort.

“I understand. The Meridian Reforming Technique.” Chu Li smiled as he nodded. “It’s just used for foundation building, isn’t it?”

“You’re right!” Mulin said slowly, “Think about it. Others take ten years to build their foundation but with this acupuncture technique, you only need a few days, or at the very least one and a half days! It saves so much time and effort. Can you see how magical this is!?”

Chu Li was surprised. “Only that amount of time?”

Mulin stroked his beard and nodded proudly. “That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

Chu Li said in a deep voice, “If it’s really that amazing, why haven’t I heard of it before?”

“Cough cough!” Mulin coughed. “The technique itself is too dangerous. It’s either you live or you die. Foundation building itself doesn’t bet on your life. There’s no need to take such a huge risk. Of course, there’s no one that has used it before.”

“I’d assume those who missed out on their foundation building would probably dare to give this a try?”

“Who would miss their foundation building?” Mulin gave him a strange look. “A heart technique for foundation building is everywhere. All you’d have to do us just pick one. No matter how poor someone was, they’d still be able to learn it unless they were unsuitable to cultivate martial arts.”

Chu Li had a sudden realization and helplessly shook his head.

He missed his foundation building back then because he was isolated in the temple studying the Scripture of Wisdom’s Root. Chu Li did not care about anything else. He did not even think about martial arts cultivation.

Now that he was in this world, foundation building was just like vaccination in modern times. It was something everyone would probably go through, nothing special.

“This acupuncture technique is appropriate for you right now. However, it’s too dangerous. I’ve been contemplating if I should use it, but I decided in the end that it was best to not talk about it,” Mulin said.

“How is it dangerous?”

“Every single acupuncture point will have to be perfectly accurate. Not even a slight variance is allowed.” Mulin shook his head.

“You’ve studied medicine before. You should know that everyone has an acupuncture point, albeit slightly different going from person to person. The Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique needs every acupuncture to be accurate! Even a slight difference would result in death!”

Chu Li thought for a moment and nodded. He had the ability to look through one’s body. Of course, he understood that everyone’s acupuncture point was different, just like their height.

“Elder Mulin, can I learn this acupuncture technique?”

“What for?”

“I feel that this acupuncture technique is quite notable. I’d like to research it,” Chu Li said, “I want to find out how it really changes one’s meridians.”

“Learning it is fine, but you aren’t allowed to use it under any circumstances!” Mulin scoffed.

One could not poke needles in themselves. Mulin was not worried that Chu Li would do anything stupid. He was not going to make someone else use it, either; it would have been the same as murder.

Chu Li was overjoyed. “Thank you, Elder Mulin!”

“You hold on, I’ll get it for you.” Mulin got down from the carriage and returned in a flash. He handed a very thin and small book to Chu Li, with the title “Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique” written on it.

Chu Li flipped it, a total of thirteen pages. One hundred and nine acupunctures and every acupuncture technique had strict requirements on every acupuncture point. Parameters such as how deep each needle had to be or what kind of material the needle was made of, like silver, golden, wooden, bending, straight, deep first then shallow or shallow first then deep, to press on the hole after the needle leaves or just picking it up.

Chu Li flipped the book again and closed his eyes to ponder on it. All the pages were clearly engraved onto his mind.

He lifted his head and looked at Elder Mulin, noticing his witty glances.

Chu Li smiled. “It’s actually quite complicated.”

“Now do you know how great it is?” Mulin scoffed. “Do you think that medicine is easy now?”

“Has Elder Mulin ever used this acupuncture technique?”

“No!” Mulin shook his head. “I’m old. When I got this book, I was already far too old. My memory had already deteriorated, I can’t remember it. In fact, it takes too much energy! I can’t withstand it, and I might even endanger someone’s life!”

Chu Li smiled. “How about I try it?”

“Y-You–?” Mulin broke into laughter as he shook his head. “Let’s not even talk about whether you can identify the acupunctures clearly or not. Do you even know these acupuncture techniques?”

“I guess Elder Mulin will just have to teach me,” Chu Li said.

Mulin scoffed hard, “Do you think that it’s that easy?”

“There’s no harm in trying, is there?”

“… Very well. I’ll teach you then, but only once. If you can’t understand, then we’re done.”

“Thank you, Elder Mulin!”

Mulin took out the needle box from his sleeve, and along with it every needle within, explaining to Chu Li which was the long needle, the short needle, and also practiced their usage. He demonstrated it once and passed the long needle to Chu Li.

Chu Li smiled as he practiced what was demonstrated once. The way he used it was completely accurate and precise.

Mulin’s mouth twitched. “You aren’t honest with me, young man. You’ve learned this before, haven’t you?”

Chu Li shook his head.

Mulin sneered, “Okay then, I shall take it as you’ve never learned this before! There’s much more after this!”

He again used the force-feeding teaching method to tell Chu Li all about the appreciation he had towards the needles, as well as some unique ways of handling it.

Chu Li repeated what he said word for word. He had Mulin understand that he had the ability to never forget what he saw or heard. Chu Li was a gifted genius, just like the Third Lady.

“Quite well done, Young Chu!” Both of Mulin’s eyes were on fire. He smiled. “Haha! Learn medicine from me! Since your martial arts is destroyed, you can surely use this opportunity to concentrate on learning medicine! You’ll surely become a master in medicine!”

Chu Li smiled. “I can use the Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique, then?”

“If you train and learn it well, maybe.” Mulin nodded. “But you still can’t use acupuncture techniques on yourself. You’re better off giving up on your little ideas!”

Chu Li never forgets what he has seen. He had clearly memorized all one hundred and nine ways to handle the needle. The biggest problem had already been dealt with.

“Elder Mulin, you’ll use the needle on me,” Chu Li said.

“M-Me–?” Mulin furrowed his brows. “I’d rather not! Even the slightest of difference might cost someone’s life!”

Chu Li smiled. “I’ll identify the acupuncture points for you. I can still identify my own acupuncture points accurately. I’ll mark them with a pen and that’s it!”

Mulin hesitated. “You can clearly identify your own acupuncture points?”

Someone who had cultivated martial arts for long enough would have a knack for looking into their own body. Chu Li indeed knew his own acupuncture points. If one cultivated long enough, the acupuncture points on the meridians when they channeled their inner energy could be sensed, but the acupuncture points not on the channeling circuit were hard to clearly identify. He was an innate master, but the points, not the circuit, were still a blur to him.

“Elder Mulin doesn’t know about my cultivation of Zen for more than ten years, right? I understand quite a lot about the observation of myself,” said Chu Li.

“You have inner vision?” Mulin asked.

Chu Li slowly nodded.

Mulin himself had been eager to try out a technique as unique as the Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique. He wanted to attempt and use it himself.

“Alright. Then we then shall try it!”