Grasping the bronze mirror tightly in both hands, Anji closed her eyes. This time, she recalled the different meridians in her body and picked the one closest to the direct point of contact with the bronze mirror. The Lung Meridian started from her thumb and flowed upwards to her lungs.
Unlike traditional cultivators, who started from their golden core and circulated energy from the organs to the limbs, Anji tried to reverse engineer the process and started from the Shaoshang point located at the thumb. The Lung Meridian pathway had eleven acupoints. Her shifu added ten seals and one valve to this meridian pathway. The goal was to reach the Zhongfu acupoint located below her collarbone in the chest area.
Watching over Anji carefully, Yan Ping hid her smile. There was a reason why they were practising qi sensations with an object during her first lesson. Unlike others, Anji did not have a core to store the energy for processing it later. She had to convert energy and process it simultaneously. That level of control would take many years. Only cultivators who were past the Refined Core stage could attempt it. Hence, the only alternative was finding something that could act as an energy bank to replace Anji’s sealed core.
Of course, Mingfeng and Bai Dajin both proposed different methods to help Anji cultivate. Zhao Mingfeng offered to help guide his qi in Anji’s body so that his daughter could sip on it like nectar leisurely while using the already processed energy to activate her meridians. It was efficient in the short term, but Anji would struggle later if she didn’t know how to refine energy on her own. Bai Dajin proposed something worse than the overly doting father. The brute thought he could shove a bunch of herbs and spiritual tonics down Anji’s throat to force her body to process them while she unlocks her meridians. In theory, some rich people used the help of spirit-enhancing pills to hasten their cultivation. However, not everyone was able to endure the tormenting pain that accompanied such herbs. Some combination of herbs came with severe side effects. Given Anji’s weak constitution, it was obvious that she would become bedridden and unable to focus on cultivating much if she followed Bai Dajin’s method.
Anji was a quick learner. As soon as she understood something from Yan Ping’s demonstration with the teacups, she attempted a different method that she had never thought about before. This method of reverse flow cultivation was not written in any orthodox books. Naturally, the Celestial Dragon Sect did not keep any records. However, it was common for cultivators of a higher realm to redefine their imbalanced meridians to alter certain physical properties they wanted to embody. It was a method commonly used to adjust already defined meridians but not create them. Without proper knowledge, reverse engineering a meridian channel was risky. There was a huge chance that the cultivator would miss an important acupoint or make a mistake locating it, creating a merged meridian and tangling the network, obstructing the natural flow of qi that could result in qi deviation. For that very reason, Yan Ping had to monitor Anji’s cultivation progress until she smoothly marked out all the paths for her twenty meridian networks. The only reason why the blind prophet allowed Anji to try such a risky method was because she had faith in her seals and valves. In the event Anji strays from the correct flow, all seals and valves will go into immediate lockdown. It would undo all of Anji’s progress, but it would prevent any qi deviation or harm to her fragile body.
The Shaoshang point on Anji’s left thumb throbbed when she focused on the seal at that location. Unlike previous attempts of randomly trying to assimilate with the yin energy in the mirror, there was finally a movement difference in the yin energy from the bronze mirror.
With her Heavenly Eyes activated, Anji focused her gaze on the object in her hand. For the first time, she could see more than a hazy smoke enveloping the mirror. Simultaneously, she noticed a glimmer on her throbbing left thumb. It was her teacher’s seal! The glimmer intensified as more yin energy was absorbed from the mirror. However, Anji was perplexed. The seal did not dissolve even after reaching its peak brightness. Was this not the end of her cultivation session? Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel~fire~net
Anji had to undo that seal to progress from the Shaoshang point to the Yuji point. The yin energy from the mirror consolidated near her left thumb, but it stopped entering her body after the Shaoshang acupoint reached its brightest point. Anji tried to take in more energy from the mirror, but nothing else happened.
Could it be that her cup for this was already full?
Deactivating her Heavenly Eyes, Anji was now faced with a new problem. She managed to find a way to start absorbing energy from the mirror. However, it would not go past the first checkpoint. What should she do to unlock her teacher’s seal?
More importantly, what did her teacher do to create this seal? Yan Ping told Anji previously how she made the seal using spells. There had to be specific conditions to fulfil to unlock the seal. What was the Shaoshang point’s duty again?
According to her lessons with Doctor He, the Shaoshang point disperses internal heat in the body, including sore throats and nosebleeds. The next point, Yuji, helps to temper and purge the heat through functions like nasal discharge and coughing up stale blood. In accordance with the theory she read, the functions of the organs should take precedence over their symptoms. However, as she was now reverse engineering the flow, Anji had to work differently.
The yin energy she took from the mirror was not the right element to suit the Shaoshang point. Although yin energy was made to counter yang energy, there were different types of yin energy. If the Shaoshang had to disperse internal heat, it would have been of a yin nature and could have been strengthened using the yin energy in the mirror. However, the qualities of this yin energy came from obsession.
In the Five Element Theory, obsession is similar to overthinking and worry. That is from the Earth element. However, the shaoshang acupoint is part of the Lung Meridian, which belongs to the Metal element. No wonder the seal could not be undone! Energy is everywhere but is only useful in the correct form. Fire is a source of energy that produces both heat and light. However, lighting a candle would never cook her dinner. Likewise, sitting near a blacksmith to read a book was not the smartest thing to do.
Breaking her concentration, the Shaoshang seal severed Anji’s cultivation progress and sent any qi she accumulated in that short network back to the bronze mirror.
Saddened by the nullification of her progress, Anji opened her eyes again. How could she transform obsession into anxiety or sorrow that was befitting of the metal element?