234: Chapter 234 First Cultivation

Su Mingyuan closed his eyes and, following the guided route given by Tianheng, sank his attention into his lower abdomen.

The Spiritual Qi in the Yaowu World was as thick as viscous fog, drilling into his nasal cavity with every breath.

In the past, he only felt that the air here was good, refreshing, and invigorating; only now, when he calmed his mind, did he realize.

That cool entity kept swirling on the surface of his skin, like water flowing over stone, sliding away if it couldn't find a crack.

The Cultivation Technique diagram optimized by Tianheng spread out in his mind, and the first step was very simple:

Focus his consciousness on the Dantian position and actively "pull" the Spiritual Qi wandering on the body's surface.

Su Mingyuan tried twice, but couldn't pull it.

On the third try, he changed his mindset. Instead of pulling, he "opened" the position of the Dantian.

It was just like opening his mouth to breathe, except what opened was a place deep in his lower abdomen that he had never noticed before.

Afterward, the Spiritual Qi came in.

A chill seeped in from a position three inches below his belly button, and then burrowed into a certain thin line on the side of his waist.

That thin line was a Meridian.

The chill flowed in the thin line for about two seconds, and Su Mingyuan could feel the route it took.

Starting from the Dantian, it wrapped around the side of his waist to his back, climbing half an inch up along his spine.

Then it got stuck.

The Spiritual Qi blocked a point beside the spine, like encountering a rusted-shut valve in a water pipe.

Following Tianheng's guidance, Su Mingyuan added a little mental thrust.

The valve didn't open.

Add more.

Still didn't open.

He took a deep breath and turned the thrust up another notch.

With a "pop" sound, that point unblocked.

Pain.

The burning sensation that Tao Zhe mentioned arrived, but the word "burning" was too refined.

The actual feeling was more like someone taking a red-hot iron wire and poking it upwards from his waist along his spine.

The iron wire was very thin, but scorching hot. It stopped for a moment every time it passed an Acupoint, scalded that point open, and then continued to poke forward.

Su Mingyuan's back instantly soaked through.

Sweat didn't seep out slowly, it all burst out with a "swish". His shirt stuck to his back, feeling chilly, but that chill was completely different from the scalding heat in the Meridians.

He clenched his back teeth and didn't make a sound.

When the Spiritual Qi rushed past the fourth Acupoint, he tasted the blood in his mouth—his tongue had been bitten through.

Tao Zhe sat three meters away, staring at Su Mingyuan's real-time physical data on the tablet.

The heart rate surged from a resting 62 to 118, the body surface temperature in the back area rose by 1.7 degrees, and the myoelectric signals jumped in bursts—his muscles were involuntarily tensing.

He didn't make a sound to disturb him, just touched the first-aid kit in his hand to confirm the zipper wasn't fully pulled shut.

Su Mingyuan felt that "iron wire" climb to the back of his neck.

On the skin surface of his neck, a thin red line could be seen extending from below his collar, moving upward along the trajectory of his spine like a blood vessel that had just surfaced.

When it reached the Dazhui Acupoint, the Spiritual Qi blocked again.

This Acupoint was harder than the previous ones. The Spiritual Qi slammed into it, bounced back half an inch, slammed into it again, and bounced back again.

He switched the Spiritual Qi operation mode according to Tianheng's plan.

Immediately after, the Dazhui Acupoint was unblocked.

The moment the Spiritual Qi surged past the Dazhui Acupoint, there was a "buzz" in Su Mingyuan's mind, like someone striking a gong next to his ear.

His vision flashed white, and then all his senses suddenly became sharp.

He could hear someone coughing on the training ground outside the window—at least two hundred meters away.

He could smell the laundry detergent on Tao Zhe; although the scent was very faint, he smelled it.

This sharpness lasted only three or four seconds before fading, but Su Mingyuan knew that after the Meridians were penetrated by Spiritual Qi, his body had already changed.

Once the Spiritual Qi passed the Dazhui Acupoint, the road behind it went smoothly.

From the back of the neck to the Baihui Acupoint on top of the head, the Spiritual Qi passed through in less than ten seconds, and the pain was also reduced by more than half.

Tao Zhe was right; the first time hurt the most, and once the Meridians adapted afterward, it would be fine.

The Spiritual Qi turned back from the Baihui Acupoint, came down through the front Conception Vessel, passed through the Shanzhong and Qi Sea, and returned to the Dantian.

A Small Heavenly Cycle was successfully completed.

Su Mingyuan opened his eyes.

His clothes were completely soaked, like they had just been fished out of the water. Sweat dripped from his chin onto the futon, grayish in color, carrying an indescribable fishy stench.

Tao Zhe handed over a towel.

"How long?" Su Mingyuan took the towel and wiped his face.

"From when you started guiding Qi to the completion of the Small Heavenly Cycle, eleven minutes."

Eleven minutes.

"Tianheng estimates that the time for an S-rank to penetrate the Small Heavenly Cycle for the first time is ten to fifteen minutes. You are on the slightly faster side of the middle." Tao Zhe looked at the data on the tablet. "The total absorption amount of Spiritual Qi is eight percent higher than the estimated value, and the Meridians' wall adaptation speed is also faster than the model's prediction."

Su Mingyuan stood up and moved his shoulders.

His body felt light, an indescribable lightness—his bones were still those bones, and his flesh was still that flesh, but his whole person was like being oiled, and there was no longer the slight astringent feeling when his joints turned.

He clenched his fist.

His knuckles made a crisp and neat sound, like snapping bamboo.

"Did my body feel such obvious changes just from the first cultivation?"

"S-rank," Tao Zhe said, his tone sounding like he was explaining why one plus one equals two, "The amount of Spiritual Qi you absorb in one Small Heavenly Cycle tops what a C-rank practices for several weeks."

On the training ground outside the window, more than 30,000 people were sitting cross-legged in their respective areas.

Seen from afar, it looked like a gray-green phalanx—the color of military uniforms.

Most people were still struggling with the first step, trying to find the location of the Dantian.

Occasionally someone let out a muffled grunt; that was the reaction of Spiritual Qi rushing open the Acupoints.

More people sat with blank faces, closing their eyes, frowning, and looking like they had constipation.

In the C-rank area, the instructor's voice came out from the loudspeaker: "Don't rush! If you can't find the Dantian, look for it slowly; you can't find it the moment you sit down! Get your breathing even first—"

The B-rank area was quieter, and the progress was faster.

Some people's backs were already starting to sweat; that was the sign of Spiritual Qi entering the Meridians.

The A-rank area was the fastest.

Among the more than 1,300 people, about a third were already in pain—the pain of Spiritual Qi rushing through the Meridians. A stout man propped his arms on the ground, veins bulging on his forehead, sucking in cold air with a hiss, but he refused to make a sound.

Su Mingyuan turned his gaze to the other rooms of the S-rank building.

The door of the next room was open a crack, and Zhang Dabiao could be seen sitting inside, shirtless, the red line on his back having climbed to the position of his shoulder blades.

His face turned flush red, the tendons on his neck bulged one by one, his teeth were clenched tightly, and the muscles on his cheeks bulged rhythmically.

But he didn't make a sound.

Zhang Dabiao's Acupoint response speed was 88 points, and the Spiritual Qi moved faster in his body than Su Mingyuan's. Accordingly, the pain of rushing the Meridians came even more fiercely.

Su Mingyuan looked for two seconds, didn't go to disturb him, and pulled the door shut.

He returned to his own room and sat down again.

The first Small Heavenly Cycle was completed, but the Spiritual Qi in the Dantian was still very thin, like a drop of ink dripped into a cup of water, having color but far from enough.

To reach the standard of a First-Order Martial Artist, the Spiritual Qi in the Dantian had to accumulate to a certain density—the number given by Tianheng's model was "one hundred and twenty times the initial penetration volume".

That is to say, he still had to run one hundred and twenty more Small Heavenly Cycles.

According to the speed of eleven minutes for the first time, it would get faster and faster later. Tianheng estimated that it would average three to four minutes per cycle.

One hundred and twenty, about six to eight hours.

Su Mingyuan took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The second cycle began.

The Spiritual Qi familiarly set off from the Dantian and walked through the Meridians that had already been blasted open.

This time there was no burning sensation, only a warm flowing feeling, like soaking in hot water, the warmth when blood circulation accelerated.

Four minutes and twelve seconds, the second cycle was completed.

The Spiritual Qi in the Dantian grew a layer thicker.

The third, three minutes and forty-eight seconds.

The fourth, three minutes and thirty-one seconds.

Su Mingyuan stopped counting and sank all his thoughts into the operation of Spiritual Qi.

The sky outside the window changed from afternoon to dusk, and from dusk to night.

The lights on the training ground lit up, the phalanx of more than 30,000 people was still there, some people had collapsed on the ground to rest, and some were still gritting their teeth and persisting.

Su Mingyuan didn't stop.