Tang Shaoyang had set up a routine for himself. If he were not in cultivation, he would be in the bathhouse, browsing the codex. In the first three days, his body continued to expel the impurities inside. He did not know why there was so much impurity in his body until now.
He put his focus on the Essence of Tranquility Technique. His meridian became stronger and larger, absorbing more energy. His speed to finish a cycle had become much faster as well. Not just that, he could feel that his head became clearer and his body felt lighter. There was no indication that his stats were increasing, but he could feel it.
On the fourth day, his body finally stopped releasing the disgusting impurity. That was when Zara and Avyn asked him to go out because they wanted to try the hot bath as well.
Tang Shaoyang glanced at the waterfall bath where the two women washed their bodies naked. Looking at the curvature of their bodies caused Little Shaoyang to shoot up. The surprise came after because he controlled his urge and desire well. He was surprised at himself.
If it were before, he might hold back for a few seconds before jumping out of the basin. This was when he realized the influence of the Essence of Tranquility Breathing. Of course, they ended up doing it in another room after taking a bath.
On the fifth day, Tang Shaoyang sensed the feeling that it was time to open the first meridian. He understood what the book and Grandmaster Xu said when they described that he would know the time to break through. However, he did not push himself hard and prepared to break the first meridian tomorrow instead.
Tang Shaoyang sat cross-legged on the floating island, the place where he had usually cultivated in the last five days. He did not immediately attempt to break the first meridian. He took his time as he did a hundred cycles, calming his mind as preparation because he did not know what to expect from breaking through.
The book mentioned opening a meridian, and opening a meridian was about patience. The instruction from the technique mentioned that opening the meridian was harder than mastering the technique itself. For some people, they could not fully open their meridian, and forcing it might cause permanent damage to the meridian.
A damaged meridian was a nightmare for cultivators because the meridian could not be healed with just a healing potion. There was a special elixir to heal a damaged meridian, but the elixir was even rarer than the Divine Grade Technique.
Tang Shaoyang focused on cycling the energy inside the body. His spirit went silent, not wanting to disturb their master. He did a cycle before pushing the energy into the first point, where he must open. He re-learned the circuit of his meridian again earlier and guided the energy to open the first point from twenty points.
He felt something getting pushed as the energy reached the blocked path. He expected resistance, but there was no resistance. He kept pushing the energy and kept going until he heard a popping sound in his head.
Tang Shaoyang thought something was wrong, but he checked his meridian and there was nothing wrong. In fact, he succeeded in opening the first meridian easily. Then he saw his body automatically absorb the surrounding energy.
The flowing energy entered a Dantian that looked like a core. The blank black core was slowly filled by the energy and turned his core into light blue. That was when he noticed something resided inside his Dantian. That was right, there was something inside his Dantian, and that something was a small creature that assumed a sleeping pose.
"What is this?" He asked, but of course, no one could answer him.
The book did not mention anything about this. The Dantian was a core energy where a cultivator stored their internal energy. They used this internal energy to execute the technique, whether it was a breathing technique or a battle technique later on.
Grandmaster Xu Guanyu also did not mention anything that might reside in his Dantian. Just to make sure that he did not miss it, he opened the note once more. He skimmed the note with his spirit’s help, and they did not find anything that mentioned his issue.
Tang Shaoyang was confused, puzzled. He tried to look at his Dantian once more, getting a clear look at the sleeping creature. It looked like a worm at first, but upon closer inspection, he saw the scales, the snout, the horn, the whiskers, and everything resembled a dragon.
It was not a worm, a dragon. It had a similar appearance to Azure Dragon with no wings. This is what people call a Chinese Dragon, and Avyn was considered a Western Dragon.
"This is good, right?"
[That sleeping dragon might be the reason why you have a complex meridian, and maybe your meridian is called Dragon Meridian or something. I am not sure, that’s just a guess, but I think you do really need to visit this Sacred Realm as quickly as possible because we don’t know if that sleeping dragon is a good thing or a bad thing.]
Vandir’s voice showed concern because they were entering a realm that they were unfamiliar with.
"So... Should I stop cultivating for the time being or keep going?" Tang Shaoyang understood Vandir’s concerns, but his instinct told him that this thing was not dangerous to him. If he had to choose, he would continue cultivating, but he respected the veteran’s advice like Vandir, Nikolas, Avyn, and the others.
[Do you feel something? Feel uncomfortable anywhere? Why don’t you try to use a skill and let’s see if it affects you in any way.]
Tang Shaoyang listened to Zara and used a skill, summoning a Chaos Blade. However, he was drawing Chaos Energy from a different energy pool located above Dantian. His energy pool was like a black hole with a swirling energy around it. It looked like it was moving slowly, but it was moving so fast that it looked like it was swirling so slowly. He drew the Chaos Energy instead of from his Dantian when he activated a skill.
"I will try with the Nine Heavenly Gates instead."
He tried to draw the energy from his Dantian, moving toward his right palm. He tried to use the Fourth Heavenly Gate - Heaven Shattering Palm. A weak blue energy covered his palm, but the energy quickly dispersed after.
"What’s wrong?" He muttered in confusion.
Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow and tried again. This time, he could not pull the energy from his Dantian, and he found out why he could not use Heaven Shattering Palm. He did not have enough energy to execute the technique.
Tang Shaoyang sat cross-legged and did the breathing technique. He focused on gathering the energy inside his Dantian instead of cultivation. It was faster to gather energy when he used the breathing technique. He was surprised that his Dantian could no longer store the energy after five minutes. This was when he realized that his Dantian was still small.
"I feel is still not enough to use Heaven Shattering Palm." He could tell that he did not have enough energy to use the technique, "Or maybe..."
He stood up and tried to use Heaven Shattering Palm. Sure enough, he quickly emptied the energy in his Dantian, but this time he used a breathing technique. He absorbed energy and sent the energy to his hand.
Tang Shaoyang was surprised by how long it took to gather the needed energy to execute the Heaven Shattering Palm. He estimated it was about ten minutes before he could gather the energy needed to use the technique. That was right, he stood for ten minutes, maintaining the Heaven Shattering Palm while using the Essence of Tranquility Breathing Technique.
He did not wait any longer as he sent the Heaven Shattering Palm to the ground. It went with a boom as the dust rose and the floating island shook slightly. With a swing of his hand, the dust swept away, and he saw the palm mark on the ground.
"Weak, is it because I don’t use Chaos Energy?"
If it were the normal Heaven Shattering Palm, he was confident in destroying the island or even making a hole in the island.
[Focus! Check your Dantian!] Vandir recalled.
Tang Shaoyang checked his Dantian, and there was nothing changed aside that his Dantian was empty. The sleeping dragon remained in its position with its eyes closed.
[Do you sense something different when you use the technique?] Zara asked.
Tang Shaoyang recalled the sensation when he threw his palm and shook his head. He felt nothing different, internal and external. He shook his head.
[Maybe it’s safe, or if something goes wrong, you can send your Chaos Energy to swallow that little dragon.] Vandir commented.