[Thousand Vows Pavilion’s Grandmasters Codex]
1. Breathing Technique
9. Uncategorized Path and others.
Tang Shaoyang rechecked the list after reading the note. The note was certainly helpful. The most important for this cultivator was the breathing technique. That was the foundation for the cultivator, and each breathing technique had its own elemental power.
However, with only the advanced technique that had elements in it, the basics were similar to each other, but some basics were used to prepare for a certain advanced technique. There was an intricacy in cultivation, more complicated than just leveling up.
The first step in the breathing technique involves absorbing energy to cleanse and reinforce the body, thereby building a strong foundation for cultivation. It was a preparation for the next step, where they started to gather the energy inside their body. That was why Grandmaster Xu told Tang Shaoyang not to worry about the breathing technique since he had his own energy already.
He tapped into the Breathing Technique menu and looked at the recommendation, The Essence of Tranquility Breathing. He was shocked by how many breathing techniques were on the list. The technique was divided into four different categories: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master.
Tang Shaoyang recalled from the note that Grandmaster Xu mentioned teaching the basics before slowly going up in level. Xu Guanyu mentioned that cultivators could pick an intermediate technique when they reach the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Grandmaster Xu wrote the cultivator ranks in the note, but Tang Shaoyang forgot about it already. The rank was long, and their name was complicated. He opened the basic breathing technique to look at Grandmaster Xu’s recommendation for him. He wanted to know how to learn the technique from the codex, testing how the codex worked.
The list of basic breathing techniques was extensive. There were more than a thousand techniques. It would be listed with the technique name, the creator name, and then the rank for the technique. There were five ranks for the technique. It was Mortal, Profound, Earth, Heaven, and Divine.
Another piece of advice from Grandmaster Xu, tell him not to pick the highest rank technique, but the one that is compatible. Achieving harmony from the basic technique up to the master technique would obtain a stronger result than picking all the highest-ranked techniques.
Fortunately, the list was listed alphabetically, and he quickly found what he was looking for.
Essence of Tranquility Breathing - Grandmaster Ma Zheng [Earth]
He tapped the technique, and it gave him two options: [Learn] and [Impart]. After a little hesitation, he decided to learn.
The codex immediately disappeared as a golden book materialized before him. The book gave up a brilliant light before it shot toward his forehead.
Tang Shaoyang’s eyes widened as unknown knowledge entered his head. It was as if the book also contained an authority. He sat down on the ground with his legs crossed, then he started to follow what appeared in his head.
It was weird because it told him how to breathe. It was weird because he never got to learn to breathe, as it just happened naturally. He followed the rhythm and the steps. At first, he felt nothing, but then he started to absorb the energy around him.
The energy entered through his hands, and at first, the energy dispersed quickly when it reached his wrist. He furrowed his brow, but then he felt something. As if the book spoke to him, telling him to calm down and repeat the breathing. Again, it contained a weird authority that made him listen, and he was not repulsed by this authority because he could sense the intent. It did not mean to harm him; it meant well, which was why he repeated the breathing.
Tang Shaoyang thought he would be bored to death to execute the breathing. When he absorbed the knowledge, it told him the process, and he could not imagine himself sitting on the floor doing nothing but breathing. He was wrong because of the challenge from the technique itself.
The energy he absorbed through the breathing technique kept dispersing inside his body, but he made progress with each cycle. The energy he absorbed gave him a cool and calming sensation.
He kept trying until he succeeded in the first cycle. Of course, one cycle was far from mastering the technique. There was a lot inside the technique. First, it explained that there were meridians or pathways for the internal energy. The book mentioned this energy as Qi. The energy he absorbed moved through this meridian.
The breathing technique was used to strengthen, cleanse, and open the meridian. It sounded confusing at first, even for Tang Shaoyang. He could understand the technique was strengthening and cleansing the meridian, but what to open? He understood it immediately when he completed the first cycle for his body.
The meridian was like a circuit inside his body, and he could not circulate the energy through his meridian because it was blocked. This was what the breathing technique was for: to open up the blocked path in his meridian.
The normal meridian, or what the book called as Mortal Meridian, had twelve blocked paths, but the book mentioned there was a unique meridian. The book mentioned a few of them: The Demonic Blood Meridian, the Heavenly Meridian, the Extreme Yin Meridian, and the Extreme Yang Meridians. There were more, but it was never mentioned in the book.
Of course, Tang Shaoyang was still far from opening his meridian since he had just started if he wanted to start cultivation from zero. The cultivator started to gather the internal energy inside their body after opening the first meridian, but he was a unique case. Tang Shaoyang had a deep pool of energy that nestled in a different place.
His energy pool was massive, and he could easily cycle Chaos Energy by following the Essence of Tranquility Breathing Technique. It would speed up the progress, and he might be able to open all paths in less than a year.
[I agree with Grandmaster Xu. You’d better follow the steps carefully. Understanding the basics will bring you further into this path than just following what is already in front of you.] Vandir voiced his thoughts, but he brought up something that Tang Shaoyang did not mention.
[But aren’t you curious about your meridians? I can understand if you have a unique meridian, but your meridian looks too complicated, and you have to open 256 pathways?]
Not that Tang Shaoyang did not bring it up, but he actually did not notice it until Vandir mentioned it. He was too focused to fully complete the first cycle of breathing. He did the second cycle, and this time he paid more attention to his meridian.
Tang Shaoyang opened his eyes before he finished the cycle. Not because the energy was dispersed, but because he got a clear look at his meridian, and he was stupefied at what he discovered. He stopped the breathing technique because he was surprised by his own meridian.
He blinked his eyes, recalling the image of his meridian, "So which path should I open first?" His understanding faltered because the book mentioned the steps, and this breathing technique did not include the explanation for someone with a unique meridian like him.