324: Chapter 324 Cultivation Speed ​​Increases Rapidly

The temperature in the Immortal Cave had risen significantly without him noticing. The Body Tempering paste on Su Cheng's body had been washed away by sweat and the expelled Impurities, leaving his Daoist robe soaked and sticking to him in a sticky, uncomfortable mess.

But he could not care about that. His full attention was concentrated within his body. The scouring of the medicinal power had entered the final stage, and the four thickest of his twelve main Meridians (the heart-lung meridian, the Dantian main meridian, and the Du and Dai Meridians) were undergoing their final expansion.

These four were the main thoroughfares for the circulation of Spiritual Qi throughout his body, and their width determined the upper limit of his intake and output of Spiritual Qi.

The Qi of Creation shuttled back and forth through these four main Meridians, working with the medicinal power over and over again in a cycle of "widening, nourishing, and stabilizing."

With each completed cycle, the membrane walls of the Meridians became more supple and translucent, and the diameter expanded by a fraction.

Twelve days later, the medicinal power was finally exhausted.

Su Cheng maintained his seated posture without moving, his entire body covered in sweat and the expelled black Impurities, emitting a nauseating stench.

But he could not bother to clean himself up and instead inspected his Meridians internally.

Su Cheng's Divine Sense swept from top to bottom along the Du meridian, then the Ren meridian, then the twelve regular Meridians, and finally the eight extraordinary Meridians.

The results were even better than expected; the diameter of all his Meridians had doubled.

This meant that in the same amount of time, the total amount of Spiritual Qi his Meridians could intake and output had doubled.

Previously, it would have taken two years to go from the Early Foundation Establishment Stage to the Middle Stage, but now it would only take one.

If he combined this with the subsequent Meridian tempering from the Burning Heaven Art...

Su Cheng did not rush to think further. He first circulated the Qiankun Creation Art for three minor cycles to let the newly expanded Meridians adapt to the flow of spiritual power. After confirming there were no hidden injuries or risks, he finally stood up to clean himself.

Washing, changing clothes, and cleaning the Immortal Cave, it took him a full two hours to clear away that stench.

Su Cheng sat back down on the futon and took out the three fire Spiritual Ore gifted by the Deputy Hall Master Chi Yan, placing them before his knees.

The surface of the dark red Ore had faint fire patterns flowing across it; it felt warm to the touch and contained pure fire-elemental spiritual power.

These were auxiliary Materials for Cultivating the Burning Heaven Art, which could accelerate the speed of opening up the fire-elemental Meridians within his body.

Su Cheng closed his eyes and brought up the circulation route of the Burning Heaven Art from his memory.

This Cultivation Technique was completely different from the Qiankun Creation Art; the Creation Art was systemic, with spiritual power circulating along all Meridians without distinction.

The Burning Heaven Art, however, had an independent route, traveling only along specific fire paths: starting from the Dantian, moving up to the Shanzhong point via the Mingmen point, then descending along the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian and Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian of both arms to the palms, and finally converging back at the Dantian to form a closed fire-elemental loop.

This route did not exist in the bodies of ordinary Cultivator, and required repeated infusion and forced opening with fire-elemental spiritual power.

Fortunately, Su Cheng possessed the strange fire, the abyssal fire.

He pulled a wisp of purple flame from the independent area at the edge of his Sea of Consciousness and introduced it into his Dantian.

The moment the purple fire entered his body, a burning, stinging pain came from deep within his Meridians; that was the instinctive rejection produced when the strange fire invaded Meridians that were not fire paths.

Su Cheng remained unmoved, wrapping the outer edge of the purple fire with the Qi of Creation and pushing it bit by bit toward the Mingmen point.

The opening of the fire path was far more difficult than he had imagined.

The circulation route of the Burning Heaven Art required the Cultivator to open up a set of fire-elemental paths within the body independent of the original Meridian system. Every inch the Abyssal Purple Fire advanced, it consumed a large amount of the Qi of Creation to mediate and harmonize.

In the first month, he only managed to barely open the segment from the Dantian to the Mingmen point.

Fortunately, the impartial and peaceful nature of the Qi of Creation saved him from many detours; if it were an ordinary Cultivator without the help of external forces, this segment alone would be enough to struggle with for half a year.

The second month, from the Mingmen point to the Shanzhong point.

This segment had to pass through the Jiaji acupoint group on both sides of the spine, which was densely packed with sensitive spiritual power nodes; the slightest carelessness would cause spiritual power to run wild.

Su Cheng suffered twice. Once, the inner wall of his Meridians was scorched with tiny cracks by the Abyssal Purple Fire, causing him so much pain that cold sweat drenched his back; he only managed to stop the damage by relying on the repair of the Qi of Creation.

The second time was even more dangerous; the purple fire lost control and overflowed near the Shanzhong acupoint, almost impacting his Sea of Consciousness, but it was bounced back by the self-vibration of the creation furnace.

From then on, Su Cheng adjusted his strategy.

He no longer forced a path with the Abyssal Purple Fire, but instead used the Qi of Creation to preheat along the route of the Burning Heaven Art first, "baking soft" the inner walls of the Meridians, and then letting the purple fire follow.

This method was slower, but much safer.

The third month, the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian and Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian of both arms were opened section by section, and the closed loop of the fire path was finally formed.

When Su Cheng opened his eyes, his Daoist robe had been soaked through with sweat countless times.

After three months of seclusion, a pile of discarded robes had accumulated in the corner of the Immortal Cave, and a layer of black grime had formed at the bottom of the stone basin rinsed with spiritual spring water.

He circulated a complete major cycle of the Burning Heaven Art.

The fire-elemental spiritual power surged out from the Dantian, circulated along the newly opened fire path, and when it returned to the Dantian, less than ten percent was consumed.

Three months, starting from zero, to practice a set of fire-elemental Cultivation Technique to the Early Foundation Establishment Stage. (Cultivation steps omitted in between)

Su Cheng was not complacent. Mastering the Burning Heaven Art was just a means; his true purpose was to use it to temper his Meridians.

He rested for two days, replenished his spiritual power and Divine Soul consumption, and then began the Meridian tempering.

The principle of the Burning Heaven Art tempering the Meridians was not complicated: using fire-elemental spiritual power as a blade, and using a unique method to repeatedly scorch the inner walls of the Meridians, burning away Impurities and fragile tissue, and then using his own regenerative ability to grow tougher new membrane walls.

Like refined steel, if one time wasn't enough, he would do it twice; if twice wasn't enough, he would do it three times, until the toughness of the Meridian membrane walls reached its limit.

This process was even more painful than opening the fire paths.

Opening the fire paths at least only affected a few specific Meridians, but the tempering involved all three hundred and sixty-five acupoints, the twelve regular Meridians, and the eight extraordinary Meridians of the entire body, without missing a single one.

Every inch of the inner wall of the Meridians had to be scorched, stripped away, and regenerated back and forth by the fire-elemental spiritual power.

Su Cheng used the abyssal fire again. The temperature and penetrating power of the purple fire were far beyond that of ordinary fire-elemental spiritual power, making the tempering efficiency extremely high.

However, the side effects were also obvious; the abyssal fire carried a malevolent nature, and long-term use would erode the Divine Soul.

Fortunately, the Seal that Sun Boyong had originally placed was still effective, and the malevolence was suppressed deep in the core of the flame; as long as Su Cheng did not overuse it, there would be no problems in the short term.

He had another idea: to use the Qi of Creation in coordination. The Abyssal Purple Fire would burn in front, and the Qi of Creation would nourish behind; burn a layer, nourish a layer.

The wisp of Dao Rhyme carried by the Qi of Creation seeped into the newly grown Meridian membrane walls, allowing the new tissue to possess an extra layer of toughness as it grew, and the effect was surprisingly good.

Fifteen days later, Su Cheng completed the first round of tempering for his entire body's Meridians.

He inspected his Meridians internally; the originally smooth tube walls now presented a warm, translucent texture, and the diameter, on the basis of having been doubled by the dragon-elephant marrow cleansing pill, had expanded outward by another thirty percent.

But what really satisfied Su Cheng was not the diameter, but the toughness.

He tried to inject fifty percent more spiritual power into the Dantian main meridian than the normal circulation amount. Four months ago, this operation would have caused the Meridian membrane walls to issue a sharp warning of swelling pain, and in severe cases, even carry the risk of tearing. Now, he felt nothing.

The Meridians steadily withstood the fifty percent excess load, and the membrane walls showed no signs of deformation. Su Cheng added another ten percent, reaching a sixty percent excess.

This time he felt something; a swelling, tingling sensation came from deep within the Meridians. It was uncomfortable, but it was far from reaching the threshold of "pain," let alone tearing.

This meant that as long as Su Cheng was willing to endure the swelling sensation of the Meridians being near the point of bursting, he could forcibly inject more than fifty percent excess spiritual power during Cultivation.

His Cultivation speed could be increased by another fifty percent.

The dragon-elephant marrow cleansing pill doubled the Meridian diameter, doubling his Cultivation speed and reducing the time from two years to one. The Burning Heaven Art's Meridian tempering expanded them by another thirty percent, and combined with the excess absorption space brought by the increased toughness, the path that would have taken a year now only needed four months. (Don't do the math, everyone, anyway, the Cultivation will be very fast.)

Su Cheng withdrew his Cultivation Technique and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

He hadn't left the Immortal Cave for over four months; he had lost weight, and the contours of his cheekbones were much more defined than before his seclusion, but his eyes were clear, and his spirits were actually even better than usual.

Taking advantage of the optimal state after the Meridian tempering, Su Cheng sat cross-legged again and began to impact the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.