Upon returning to his courtyard, Li Guanqi was surprised to find his master standing right outside the courtyard gate.
Li Guanqi hurried over to the old man, offering a smile as he asked, "Master, what brings you here?"
The old man let out a hearty chuckle and said softly, "I was just curious to see what cultivation technique you managed to get."
Li Guanqi opened the door and ushered the old man into the main hall.
Looking somewhat abashed, the youth said, "I ended up taking a remnant scripture..."
Hearing this, Li Nanting's brows instantly furrowed, and his tone deepened. "You didn't get that Primordial Heavenly Thunder Art?"
Yet the old man did not say more to scold him. Smiling gently, he consoled, "No matter. Once you reach Core Formation, Master will take you to some auctions to try our luck and see if we can find you an even better technique."
The old man's comforting words brought a wave of warmth to the youth's heart.
As for the real reason he had chosen this technique, he could not yet reveal it to his master.
Afterward, the old man did not leave, but led him into the quiet cultivation room.
Li Guanqi's courtyard featured a sizable quiet chamber intended for cultivation.
Once they entered, the old man waved his hand, setting ten low-grade spirit stones into the spirit-gathering array.
In an instant, the spiritual energy within the quiet chamber grew noticeably rich and dense.
The old man said with a smile, "Let me help you comb through any tricky points in the technique. It's your first time cultivating it, so we must make sure nothing goes wrong."
The youth nodded. Hiding nothing from the old man, he directly spread open the Nine Revolutions Punishment Thunder Scripture and began to read through it.
It had to be said that the explanations contained within the technique were somewhat abstruse and difficult to grasp.
Fortunately, Li Nanting remained patiently at his side, explaining everything and pointing out the crucial nodes among the human body's meridians.
Even so, Li Nanting did not dare impart too much at once.
Knowing too much could easily backfire. It was enough to explain how the technique directed the circulation of spiritual energy and which meridians it traveled through.
After a full half hour, Li Nanting repeatedly confirmed that Li Guanqi had thoroughly memorized the circulation path within his body.
Only then did Li Nanting recite the technique's key mnemonics and principles several more times.
He then lit a stick of calming incense before Li Guanqi. As thin curls of blue-gray smoke drifted upward, the youth felt his spiritual terrace turn crystal clear, stripped of distracting thoughts.
The old man then fell silent, sitting quietly to the side with his eyes fixed on Li Guanqi, ready to intervene at any moment.
By this point, the spiritual energy in the quiet chamber had accumulated to a thick density. Li Guanqi sat cross-legged, settling into posture, but did not rush to begin cultivating right away.
Instead, he kept the old man's earlier reminders firmly in mind. When cultivating a technique for the first time, the most crucial step was to guide the worldly spiritual energy through the path recorded in the manual, completing a full circuit through the body.
Throughout this process, a wandering mind or surging distractions were strictly forbidden.
Otherwise, one could easily fall into qi deviation and damage the meridians.
After a mere dozen breaths, the youth's breathing steadily evened out.
Watching the earnest young man, the old man wore a gratified smile.
He had never expected the boy to possess such extraordinary focus. An ordinary disciple might have struggled for a long time after entering meditation without ever achieving such tranquil stillness.
Yet Li Guanqi's ability to focus so quickly on a single task stemmed largely from his childhood experiences.
Back then, he had often spent hours staring blankly into space, simply because he had nothing else to play with.
As a result, his mind could sometimes wander freely, yet he could also hold his attention on a single object for hours on end.
He could have crouched on the ground and watched an ordinary pebble for an entire day.
*Buzz!!*
A faint ripple gradually spread outward, and the old man beside him sat up straight without realizing it.
His hands gripped the corners of his robes tightly, prepared to leap to his feet and intervene at any second.
Li Guanqi had already sensed the dense worldly spiritual energy, slowly drawing it into his body.
At this moment, the most vital part was to steer this spiritual energy to batter through all the blockages in his body!
Gradually, Li Guanqi felt the thin mist within his dantian grow thicker and thicker.
He attempted to mobilize this mist, which had not yet condensed into true essence, and drove it to surge into the meridian where the technique began!
*Bang!*
A soundless detonation echoed in his mind.
Li Guanqi's complexion instantly flushed red, and his brow knitted slightly, as though he were enduring immense pain.
The old man stared intently at the youth's changing expression, yet he did not step in just yet.
Sweat beaded in his palms as he muttered inwardly, *Hold on!!*
*Boom!!*
Inside the youth's body, the meridians were forcibly burst open by that concentrated spiritual energy. The resulting agony was beyond words, as if his very intestines were being twisted together.
Yet for a youth who had weathered so much hardship, this degree of pain remained bearable.
Compared to the agony of soaking in the medicinal bath back then, this was as gentle as could be.
Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, the old man's face drained of color!
*Damn it! I forgot to tell him that breaking through meridians cannot be rushed—he could have broken through a little each day!*
Yet he could not step in to halt Li Guanqi now. Forcibly interrupting him at this stage would likely tear his meridians.
It could even severely injure his still-unstable dantian!
A flash of remorse surfaced in the old man's eyes.
If Li Guanqi were harmed because of this oversight, he would never forgive himself.
Meanwhile, Li Guanqi's entire consciousness was completely immersed in clearing the meridians.
With every meridian he punched open, he could feel subtle transformations taking place throughout his body.
And so, while Li Nanting spent a full hour on tenterhooks, the spiritual energy within the quiet chamber began condensing into a distinct draft, pouring straight into the youth's nose.
The old man's eyes widened in sheer disbelief!
Originally, Li Nanting had assumed that after breaking through a portion of them, Li Guanqi would naturally withdraw from meditation.
Yet the present situation made it unmistakably clear that he had already opened every single meridian in his body.
What was more, he had already begun circulating his very first heavenly circuit!
Right at that moment, however, Li Guanqi's face paled, and his body swayed faintly.
A violent ripple of spiritual energy erupted from within him!!
Almost the instant the youth turned pale, the old man appeared behind him in a flash.
Pressing both hands lightly against Li Guanqi's back, he channeled an exceptionally pure stream of origin essence into his body.
Then, a voice resonant as a bronze bell rang out inside Li Guanqi's mind.
"Guard your heavenly spirit! Fasten your mind!"
Feeling that pure origin essence surge into him, Li Guanqi found all his exhaustion swept away in an instant.
Borrowing this strength, he gathered his resolve and completed a full circuit of the Nine Revolutions Punishment Thunder Scripture in one go.
The moment Li Guanqi finished that single circuit, a soft pop suddenly sounded from the location of his dantian.
The sound was so faint as to be barely audible, like the bursting of a bubble.
Inside Li Guanqi's body, his dantian abruptly expanded several times over. Moreover, the circulation of the technique within him grew faster and faster, gradually turning into second nature.
All the remaining spiritual energy in the quiet chamber was swept up and absorbed by him.
Refined and tempered by the circulation of the technique, it slowly condensed into a milky-white mist that flowed smoothly into his dantian.
No one noticed that upon the stone carving of the sword casket resting beside his feet, a streak of crimson suddenly flashed and vanished.
Chapter 27