89: It's better to train on your own body.

"Exactly!" Lin Yu's voice suddenly became resonant and filled with powerful confidence. "Although I am currently only a wisp of a Divided Soul and cannot use Divine Thought to instantly let you clearly see your own Meridians, I can use a different method—I will guide your Qi sensation, allowing you to use your own body to remember that unique path!"

Su Ming's heart trembled violently upon hearing this, and his breathing stopped.

"The human body itself is the most precise and profound blueprint!" Lin Yu's voice echoed in his mind. "Which Acupoints will produce soreness, numbness, distension, or pain when stimulated, and which Acupoints will cause heat, coolness, cold, or flow when touched—your body will tell you itself! What I need to do is guide your faint Qi sensation to run along the absolutely safe path I have deduced. At each critical Acupoint, I will stimulate it with a secret technique, allowing you to engrave its exact location into your Divine Soul forever with the most profound physical sensation!"

These words were like a thunderclap in the dark night, instantly dispelling the fog in Su Ming's heart.

He trembled slightly all over from excitement.

"Master!" He blurted out, "When do we begin?"

"No rush." Lin Yu's voice returned to normal. "Take out the 'Zhengren Mingtang Tu' you got from Xu Qing. Although crude, it at least marks the general direction of the Twelve Main Meridians. Memorize it first, keep it in your heart, and have a general framework. I will handle the rest."

Su Ming immediately pulled out the hemp paper from his In my arms, using the last ray of natural light from outside the window to memorize every word and every line on it.

Late at night, when all was quiet.

Su Ming sat cross-legged in the courtyard, moonlight like water, spilling over the entire space.

He closed his eyes, the crude 'Zhengren Mingtang Tu' already clearly imprinted in his mind.

"Are you ready, Disciple?" Lin Yu's voice sounded at the opportune moment.

"I'm ready, Master!"

"Good. Focus your mind and calm your Qi, then draw out that wisp of Qi sensation from your Dantian." Lin Yu instructed, "Don't be afraid."

Su Ming did as he was told. He carefully manipulated the tiny speck of light in his Dantian, and a faint, almost imperceptible warm current was drawn out, aimlessly wandering within his body.

"Steady it. Now, listen to my command." Lin Yu's voice became incredibly focused. "Imagine your chest, about six inches out from the midline. Yes, right there. That is the 'Zhongfu Acupoint,' the starting point of the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian."

Su Ming used his mind to guide the warm current, slowly approaching the position his Master had indicated.

"Very good." Lin Yu praised, "Now, hold it. The next part might feel a bit... special, so endure it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Ming felt as if that spot on his chest had been suddenly pricked by a cold, thin needle!

"Hiss!"

He gasped, and the warm current he had painstakingly gathered instantly dispersed, scattering in all directions. A sharp sensation of soreness and numbness came from his chest, almost jolting him out of his meditative state.

"Idiot! Who told you to get distracted!" Lin Yu scolded him unceremoniously. "I told you to endure it! If the Qi disperses, gather it again! If you can't even bear this much pain, what kind of immortal cultivation are you doing? Go home and farm!"

Su Ming's face turned pale. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the strange sensation in his chest, and once again calmed his mind, gathering the scattered Qi sensation.

However, Lin Yu's inner thoughts were far from as calm as he appeared.

Oh my goodness, I think I was a bit too heavy-handed just now. The intensity of this Soul Power stimulation is really hard to control, like trying to pick up a fly with chopsticks. I almost poked a hole in my Disciple's lung. No, no, I need to be gentler.

The second time, when Su Ming guided the Qi sensation to that spot again, Lin Yu's movements were much gentler.

This time, the sensation was no longer a needle prick, but like a drop of cold dew falling on a red-hot iron plate, emitting a soft 'sizzle' sound.

An indescribable sensation of soreness and distension instantly spread from that point, making half of his body feel somewhat numb.

Su Ming was prepared, and he firmly guarded his mind, allowing the Qi sensation to circle and familiarize itself within the center of the soreness and distension.

"Did you remember it? This feeling!" Lin Yu shouted. "This is 'Zhongfu'! Now, follow the inside of your arm, downwards, about a palm's distance. That's 'Tianfu'!"

Su Ming used his mind to drive the warm current, slowly moving downwards along the direction his Master indicated.

This path was only a blurry red line on the 'Zhengren Mingtang Tu,' but in his body, it was an unknown dark area.

Failure, failure, and more failure.

Sometimes, the force wasn't controlled well, and the Qi sensation was directly scattered.

Sometimes, Su Ming's own will wasn't firm enough, and the warm current lost its momentum halfway.

Sometimes, Lin Yu's 'Soul Power stimulation' was off by half a point, causing not soreness and distension, but a burning sting.

In just one hour, Su Ming's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and the clothes on his back were already soaked. His face was pale, and his lips were bitten into bloody marks.

This was more tiring than working in the fields for a whole day.

Lin Yu was not having an easy time either. This kind of delicate and precise operation was a huge drain on his weak Divided Soul. He felt like a strong man holding an embroidery needle, carving the 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' on a grain of rice.

Oh my god, this job is not for humans. If I had known it would be so troublesome, I should have tricked him into practicing Iron Head Skill back then.

After another failure, Su Ming's Qi sensation was completely exhausted, and he swayed as if he were collapsing from fatigue.

"Master... Disciple... I can't go on..."

"Useless!" Lin Yu's voice sounded somewhat weak, but it was still stern. "Where are we? One Meridian has twelve major Acupoints, and you haven't even found the second one! Get up, continue!"

Su Ming panted heavily; he could feel the fatigue in his Master's voice. He knew that his Master was working harder than him.

He said no more, but silently circulated the Breath Concealment Art, forcing himself to calm down and recover his Mental Energy.

A moment later, he opened his eyes again, the fatigue in them replaced by a stubborn tenacity.

"Again!"

This time, when that faint Qi sensation reached his arm again, Su Ming's mind was more focused than ever before.

He no longer treated it as a task, but used his entire body to feel and remember.

"It's here!" Lin Yu's voice sounded in his mind at the most opportune moment.

A slight, perfectly timed stimulation arrived.

Boom!

Su Ming felt as if a tiny firework had exploded at that point on his arm. A warm, tingling sensation traveled up his arm, echoing the 'Zhongfu Acupoint' in his chest.

It connected!

That path, which had been fumbled for in the darkness, was at this moment connected by two shining points of light.

With the first success, the subsequent process, though still difficult, became much smoother.

Chize, Kongzui, Lieque, Jingqu... Each Acupoint, through countless failures and precise stimulations, was firmly remembered by Su Ming with the deepest pain, numbness, soreness, and distension of his body.

When that wisp of Qi sensation finally reached the 'Shaoshang Acupoint' at the tip of his thumb, Lin Yu's voice carried a hint of relief.

"Charge through! Complete it!"

Su Ming's mind was unified, and the slightly strengthened warm current unhesitatingly crashed into that final barrier.

Buzz—

A faint hum, as if not coming from outside, but directly resounding in Su Ming's mind.

In an instant, from 'Zhongfu' in the chest to 'Shaoshang' at the fingertip, the eleven illuminated Acupoints seemed to be strung together by an invisible line, emitting a soft glow.

That warm current flowed unimpeded along this path of light, eventually returning to his Dantian.

At the same time, from the ancient well in the courtyard, wisps of invisible, cool Spiritual Qi, as if drawn by some fatal attraction, surged towards Su Ming's body with unprecedented efficiency!

They followed the newly opened Meridian path, were absorbed, refined, and finally transformed into a pure energy that converged into his Dantian.

The speck of light in Su Ming's Dantian, originally the size of a grain of rice, suddenly brightened, expanding and solidifying at a visible rate. He felt his Dantian was no longer a point, but a small, warm Qi Sea.

His Mental Energy also surged, and his five senses, which he could only vaguely perceive before, became incredibly clear at this moment.

He could 'hear' the rustling sound of a late-returning beetle's six legs scraping the ground outside the courtyard wall.

He could 'smell' the subtle sourness of the leftover vegetable soup from his neighbor's kitchen, which had already begun to spoil.

He could 'see' countless tiny dust particles floating in the air under the moonlight.

This world had never been so clear, so vivid.

Qi Refinement Stage, First Level, solidified!

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes.

In those clear eyes, it was as if a galaxy swirled. He looked at his hands, at the courtyard bathed in moonlight, and an unprecedented feeling of controlling his own power arose spontaneously.

"Hmph." From the ring came Lin Yu's light hum, filled with fatigue yet immense satisfaction. "At least you're not completely stupid."

It's finally done! The first stage of my Golden Bodyguard Training Plan, the foundation, is finally laid!