Although the Heaven and Earth Treasures are able to reinforce one’s meridians, there are still many risks involved in opening and expanding one’s meridians. These items would only be able to reduce some of these risks,” Elder Yi said solemnly as he looked at Fang Qiu.
“The risks and dangers one would face would depend on one’s fortunes,” he said.
Suddenly, Fang Qiu who had remained very still and silent while Elder Yi was talking reached out and grabbed Elder Yi’s arm and started to do a thorough check-up.
Elder Yi stiffened for a brief moment before he quickly relaxed.
A while later.
“Based on your current condition, I’d say you’d be able to advance to grade-three Martial Superior with some difficulty but if the Earth Treasures are indeed as effective as you say they are, it would not be a problem for you to advance to grade-three,” Fang Qiu said after he concluded his check-up.
“Really?” Elder Yi exclaimed in joy.
“Yes,” Fang Qiu said with a nod.
“Alright, I’ll have to rely on your help next,” Elder Yi said with an excited smile.
Since the mysterious man had already looked through his ancestor’s notes, this meant that he was willing to help. Thus, Elder Yi did not stand on ceremony at all.
“We’re just taking what we each need,” Fang Qiu said.
“Shall we set off three days later? Based on my observation, the Bingdi Lotus should be ripe in the next few days,” Elder Yi said.
“Sure!” Fang Qiu nodded.
“That’s settled then,” Elder Yi said with a wide smile as he nodded.
After they fixed a date, Fang Qiu left after agreeing on a meeting place with Elder Yi.
On the other hand, the crowd of martial arts practitioners gathered in the manor had not dissipated.
Everyone was waiting for the mysterious man to make a reappearance.
However, they failed to see him but instead, they were notified that he had already left.
Everyone felt very dejected but they had no choice but to leave while refreshing the forum homepage.
…
At the University of Jiangjing Chinese Medicine.
Fang Qiu quickly rushed back to the university under the cover of the night. Then, he changed into his regular clothes and strode back to his dormitory with a satisfied smile.
He had made the right decision by going to the gathering today!
He had reaped gleaned very important pieces of information over the past few hours.
He had even opened a new method of improving his mental power from an acupuncture treasure book before he left for the gathering. This made him even more keenly aware of the importance of mental power.
Naturally, the most important information he had gleaned was how to get his Dantian to bear flowers.
He had already found the answer on how to get his Dantian to bear flowers despite not having a clue earlier. Now, that he knew the exact method, he couldn’t help but feel excited.
Most crucially, Elder Yi’s ancestor made no mention of super-powerful experts with two, or even three flowers. This meant that there weren’t that many such experts.
Most people within the Wulin had no idea that a Dantian could bear three flowers, and even the importance of expanding one’s meridians, so there were very few who managed to reach the top of the martial way.
Now that he had gained an understanding of the situation, he felt as though he might be able to carve a unique path for himself.
This was because he was the first person in history who managed to defeat a Martial Superior while at martial arts practitioner level.
He was the only person who was able to use his internal force to overcome his opponent’s internal Qi!
He returned to his dorm.
The moment he opened the door, he saw Zhu Benzheng and two others crowded around his study.
“What are you doing?” Fang Qiu asked.
All three of them turned to look at him.
Their expressions immediately changed when they saw that he had returned and they looked at him resentfully.
“The youngest, I didn’t expect you to be that kind of person!” Zhu Benzheng said solemnly as he looked at Fang Qiu.
“I’m really disappointed in you,” Sun Hao said with a sigh. He shook his head and looked very weary.
“I, I can only say that I look down on you and I despise you,” Zhou Xiaotian said earnestly as he glared at Fang Qiu.
Fang Qiu was completely confused.
What were his three friends up to?
What was going on?
“What are you trying to say?” He asked incredulously.
“What else can we say?” Zhou Xiaotian said as he scoffed.
“This is your handiwork, so how dare you question us?” Sun Hao said as he rolled his eyes.
“The youngest, it’s not that I don’t want to speak up for you and I can’t blame the others for being so angry either. You’ve truly gone too far this time, so I can’t help you,” Zhu Benzheng said with a sigh.
Fang Qiu was even more confused than ever.
“What’s going on? Why don’t I understand what you’re trying to say?” He said with a wry smile.
“Are you still trying to deny it? Sun Hao said as he jumped to his feet in righteous anger. He shot out his hand and said loudly, “This is evidence. Do you dare to deny it?”
Fang Qiu looked at Sun Hao’s palm and realized that Sun Hao had somehow managed to untie the 20 coins that he had strung up in the afternoon.
“This is it?” He asked in surprise.
“What’s wrong? Is that not enough for you?” Sun Hao said with a cold scoff. Then, he said, “You wastrel. This is 20 yuan! 20 yuan! This would be enough to cover my expenses for the day, so how could you destroy money in this manner?”
“Yes, you’ve gone too far this time. You can’t do that even if you have money. Moreover, it is a crime to mutilate currency. Do you not know that?” Zhu Benzheng asked solemnly.
“Since you don’t know what to do with so much money, you could buy me a drink or treat me to a meal. Why did you have to go to such extremes?” Zhou Xiaotian said as he took the coins from Sun Hao’s hand.
He looked very upset as he said, “Look at how cute and beautiful these coins are. How could you deface these pretty things? Why don’t you put your hand over your heart and answer truthfully; tell us how did you manage to bring yourself to mutilate these beautiful things?”
Fang Qiu was speechless.
His three friends were clearly making a mountain out of a molehill.
“Are you acting out lines from a drama?” He asked after a moment of silence.
All three of them burst out laughing at his words.
“We wanted to scare you but you should also know that it is a crime to deface our country’s currency. I remember you used to hang copper coins instead of actual money, so why did you suddenly change your mind?” Zhu Benzheng asked.
“This is just a quirk, what’s wrong with that?” Fang Qiu asked as he pursed his lips.
All three froze in surprise.
They… were at a complete loss for words.
“Hey, the youngest,” Sun Hao said. Then, he picked up a coin and examined it carefully before he said, “How did you manage to pierce a hole through this coin and how did you make this hole so neat? I don’t remember coming across any tools in the dorm.”
Zhu Benzheng and Zhou Xiaotian were equally confused.
“I used a nail to pierce the hole,” Fang Qiu said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Pfft,” all three of them scoffed and rolled their eyes.
“Why don’t you try doing it again?” Zhou Xiaotian said as he dug a coin out of his pocket. “If you manage to pierce a hole through it, I swear I’ll swallow the nail!”
“Oh, I guess I shan’t perform this trick then since you might have to actually swallow a nail,” Fang Qiu said with a cheeky laugh.
“Pfft,” Zhou Xiaotian scoffed and said, “I’m not afraid, so what are you afraid of?”
Sun Hao and Zhu Benzheng immediately joined in and egged him on to do it.
This friendly bickering continued for a while before they finally stopped and returned to their studies.
On the other hand, Fang Qiu sat in front of his desk, took out the acupuncture treasure book, and started studying.
He didn’t manage to complete looking through it this afternoon before he was distracted by the mental power training method recorded in the book. Furthermore, it seemed as though his mental power wasn’t strong enough for he felt as though he could only vaguely sense the words written on the yellowed paper, but he could not take a closer look at what was recorded.
However, things were different after he spent several hours training in the afternoon.
His mental power had improved tremendously, so he guessed that it was time to look through this book.
Fang Qiu took out his book on the foundations of acupuncture as well in order to avoid suspicion, then he placed the blank yellowed paper in between the pages and stretched out to touch it.
“The needle of the mind…”
This time, he could clearly see what was written on it and there weren’t any blurred edges. It was much clearer than before.
The words on the yellowed paper appeared in his mind’s eye like three-dimensional images.
These were words.
After he read through the words, he realized that there weren’t any other words on the yellowed page.
Then, he flipped the page over and placed four right fingers on the back of the yellow piece of paper.
The moment his fingertips touched the yellowed paper!
Fang Qiu felt as though he had been electrocuted.
He shivered.
Then, a huge silhouette appeared in his mind’s eye and this silhouette’s figure was covered in countless red dots.
He took a closer look and realized that they were all pressure points.
These were all the pressure points on a human body!
Fang Qiu immediately examined this figure without any further hesitation.
There was also a similar image in his textbook but the image in his textbook was not as complete nor as well-annotated as what he was currently looking at.
Soon, the image changed.
The large human pressure points image rapidly shrank and it became even smaller and smaller.
When it was half its original size, another human figure that was an exact copy of it appeared.
One figure turned into two, and two turned into four, before four figures became eight.
…
These figures continued to evolve.
When this phenomena finally stopped, Fang Qiu found himself looking at almost 100 human figures.
After 100 human figures appeared, a pair of hands appeared in the void beside each human figure.
He took a closer look and saw that each pair of hands were holding silver needles!
Each pair of hands were either twisting, or inserting their needles that were either aimed at the chest or the joints.
Each pair of hands showed a different action.
Then, as each pair of hands inserted their needles into the human figures, thin silver threads lit up on each human figure that connected the pressure points, meridians, and organs of each human figure.
He took one glance and immediately understood where each needle was inserted and what was the effect of each needle.
At the same time, the pair of hands in the void continued to move nimbly with a myriad of poses and actions.
This seemed very similar to the Theory of Bonesetting.
The pair of hands in the void seemed to be giving Fang Qiu a step-by-step tutorial on the art of acupuncture, including the hundreds of acupuncture manipulation techniques, and the locations of the various pressure points.
Fang Qiu replayed this several times. The pair of hands ceased to exist and instead, multi-colored needles were inserted in the human figures. These multi-colored needles could even move freely in the human figure’s body as though they were alive.
“The needle of the mind!”
Fang Qiu was shocked.
He knew that the multi-colored needles were the needles of one’s mind formed from one’s mental power!
He was shocked but he did not dare to relax. Instead, he sharpened his focus to concentrate on every single pair of hands that moved across each human figure, and the movements of each needle.
He observed the movements very carefully.
10 minutes later, the image silently dissipated.
Fang Qiu was pulled out of his reverie.