Chapter 38: Wheel Meridian
Currently, Zhang Ruochen had nineteen meridians within his body, which was already quite impressive among martial artists.
With his cultivation at the mid-level of the Yellow Extreme Realm, he could already contend with martial artists at the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
If he could open twenty-seven meridians when breaking through to the high-level of the Yellow Extreme Realm, just how powerful would his combat strength become?
After taking the first dose of Marrow Cleansing Liquid, he spent half an hour opening his twentieth meridian.
After taking the second dose, he spent two hours opening his twenty-first meridian.
After taking the third dose, he spent four days opening his twenty-second meridian.
After taking the fourth dose, he spent half a day opening his twenty-third meridian.
The more meridians one had in their body, the harder it became to continue opening new ones.
After consecutively opening four meridians, most of the true qi in Zhang Ruochen’s qi pool was consumed. His entire body ached, and he felt utterly exhausted.
He paused temporarily, not immediately attempting to open his twenty-fourth meridian.
Taking out a Three Purities True Qi Pill, he swallowed it, using the pill’s energy to restore the true qi consumed in his body.
A quarter of an hour later, the true qi in his qi pool was fully restored, and his body was once again brimming with strength.
Zhang Ruochen placed the meridian diagram of the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture* before him and carefully studied it.
The pathways of the thirty-six meridians depicted in the diagram had long been firmly memorized by Zhang Ruochen. Even with his eyes closed, they could clearly appear in his mind.
In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen had only managed to open thirty-three meridians. The other three, no matter how hard he tried, he could never open.
Those three meridians were the Wheel Meridian, the Blood Spirit Meridian, and the Soul Meridian.
All three meridians were profoundly mysterious, surpassing the understanding of ordinary martial artists and even transcending martial arts. Otherwise, given Zhang Ruochen’s talent in his previous life, he would not have failed to open them.
The Wheel Meridian was the martial artist’s annual ring.
Ordinary people only knew that trees grew rings year by year, but after cultivating the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture*, Zhang Ruochen understood that martial artists could also cultivate annual rings.
Only martial artists who opened the Wheel Meridian within their skin could cultivate annual rings.
Each layer of an annual ring was a layer of skin armor.
For every additional year of cultivation, one more layer of annual ring would form, and the defensive power of the skin would correspondingly increase.
A martial artist’s annual rings were extremely thin, invisible to the naked eye.
Even if one cultivated for a hundred years and developed a hundred layers of annual rings, the thickness of their skin would be no different from an ordinary person’s. However, the defensive power of the skin would reach an incredibly terrifying level, absolutely capable of making it impervious to blades and fire, and difficult to melt.
The Blood Spirit Meridian referred to a meridian connected to the blood.
Blood was liquid. To cultivate a gaseous meridian within liquid blood completely defied ordinary understanding. Even Zhang Ruochen doubted whether the Blood Spirit Meridian truly existed.
The Soul Meridian was even more extraordinary. According to the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture*, it was a meridian existing within the martial artist’s soul, connecting the physical body and the soul.
Once the Soul Meridian was cultivated, a martial artist could see their own soul and even achieve soul projection. With a single thought, the soul could fly a thousand miles away and witness events occurring there.
The Wheel Meridian, Blood Spirit Meridian, and Soul Meridian were so mysterious that they exceeded the cognition of normal martial artists. That was why Zhang Ruochen had failed to open these three meridians in his previous life.
In this life, Zhang Ruochen could not afford to miss any opportunity to strengthen himself. If he could open these three meridians, his physique would undoubtedly be even more formidable than in his past life.
“Among the three meridians, the Wheel Meridian is the most likely to exist. Perhaps there’s a chance to open it successfully.”
Zhang Ruochen stared at the meridian diagram, fully focusing on comprehending the “Wheel Meridian,” attempting to open this meridian within his skin.
After spending nine days, Zhang Ruochen gained some insights. He channeled true qi toward his skin, but no matter what, he could not succeed. Instead, he ended up injuring himself all over.
“Could it be that the Wheel Meridian doesn’t exist at all?” Zhang Ruochen was drenched in sweat, soaking his clothes through.
From within the Cosmic Divine Wood Map, a voice sounded, “Young man, the Wheel Meridian does exist; it’s just that your method is wrong.”
“My method is wrong? Then what is the correct method?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“Release me, and I will tell you. Don’t worry, I have no ill intentions. Even if I wanted to harm you, isn’t the Cosmic Divine Wood Map suppressing me? With just a thought, you can take me back into the map,” the voice said.
With a thought from Zhang Ruochen, the Cosmic Divine Wood Map immediately flew out from between his brows.
Holding the map in his hand, he infused it with true qi, unsealed it, and released the large black cat.
“Now can you speak? How do I open the Wheel Meridian?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The large black cat said, “The answer is in your hand.”
“In my hand?”
Zhang Ruochen looked at the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree depicted in the scroll and suddenly seemed to understand. “The Sky-Connecting Divine Tree?”
The large black cat nodded. “If you see yourself as a human, you naturally cannot open the Wheel Meridian. But if you see yourself as a tree, it might no longer be difficult.”
Hearing this, a flash of inspiration struck Zhang Ruochen. He finally stepped out of his previous blind spot. Immediately sitting cross-legged, he stared at the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree in the scroll, imagining himself as that tree.
For two consecutive days, Zhang Ruochen remained motionless, like a ten-thousand-year-old divine tree, his breathing seemingly ceasing.
By now, he had entered a profoundly mysterious state. Under unconscious control, he swallowed a bottle of Marrow Cleansing Liquid and immediately began opening the Wheel Meridian.
An hour later, a faint halo of light emanated from the surface of Zhang Ruochen’s skin.
A thin white line flowed across his skin, like a vast net enveloping his body.
“He actually managed to open it! Damn, the Wheel Meridian really exists?” The large black cat’s eyes widened in astonishment.
In truth, it had no idea about the Wheel Meridian. It had only said that to get Zhang Ruochen to release it, making up nonsense on the spot.
“Success!”
Zhang Ruochen was incredibly excited, finally having opened the Wheel Meridian.
A meridian like a ray of light coursed through his skin.
Whenever he circulated his true qi, the surface of his skin seemed to gain an invisible layer of armor. Even if he stood still, ordinary blades could not pierce his skin.
This was his twenty-fourth meridian!
Zhang Ruochen’s confidence soared. He immediately continued opening meridians, pushing toward the high-level of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
After another four days, he had opened a total of twenty-seven meridians, finally reaching the high-level of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
With this breakthrough, the capacity of his qi pool expanded tenfold.
“Twenty-seven meridians—this is fantastic! As long as I keep working hard, I will surely surpass my previous life. With my current strength, I could probably send a martial artist at the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm flying with a single punch.”
A martial artist at the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm could unleash a force of twenty-five oxen.
When Zhang Ruochen first broke through to the mid-level of the Yellow Extreme Realm, using the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, he could already unleash a force of twenty-five oxen. When his cultivation reached the peak of the mid-level, he could even unleash thirty-six oxen.
Now, having broken through to the high-level, even without using the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, a casual strike carried a force of thirty-six oxen. If he used the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, he could reach forty-nine oxen.
Zhang Ruochen’s current maximum explosive force was forty-nine oxen, roughly twice that of an ordinary martial artist at the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
Legend had it that the strongest force a martial artist in the Yellow Extreme Realm could achieve was one hundred oxen, known as “Extreme Realm Power,” and no one could surpass that limit.
No matter how powerful the martial technique you cultivated or how strong your physique, you could never exceed that boundary.
In reality, Zhang Ruochen had never seen anyone unleash a force of one hundred oxen in the Yellow Extreme Realm. One could approach one hundred oxen infinitely but could never actually reach it.
In his previous life, at his peak in the Yellow Extreme Realm, he could only unleash a force of ninety-four oxen.
“Young man, I have to say, you’re almost catching up to me when I was young!” the large black cat said shamelessly.
Zhang Ruochen gradually calmed his excitement and glanced at the large black cat. “I can now carve six of the eight basic space inscription marks: point-type, horizontal-type, vertical-type, height-type, line-type, and plane-type. But no matter what, I can’t carve the remaining two. Do you know why?”
“What? You can already carve six inscription marks? How could that be so fast?” The large black cat shook its head vigorously, refusing to believe Zhang Ruochen’s words.
In fact, before breaking through to the high-level of the Yellow Extreme Realm, Zhang Ruochen could already carve six basic space inscription marks. After three months of practice, how could there be no results?
Zhang Ruochen directly took out six sheets of spirit paper and quickly carved inscription marks on them with an inscription pen. Soon, he had carved six marks, presenting them on the paper.
The large black cat crawled over, stared at the six sheets of spirit paper, and nodded. “Impressive! So these are the six basic space inscription marks. Of the eight basic marks, you’re only left with ‘expansion-type’ and ‘contraction-type’ that you can’t carve successfully, right? That’s actually normal. ‘Expansion-type’ and ‘contraction-type’ are inherently much harder than the other marks; they won’t be easy to carve successfully. Young man, do you have any jade items on you?”
“Jade items?”
Zhang Ruochen was a bit puzzled but still took off a jade thumb ring from his thumb and placed it in his palm. “What do you need jade for?”
The large black cat glanced at the jade thumb ring and nodded. “The jade quality is decent; it can be used for artifact refining.”
“Artifact refining?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The large black cat said, “That’s right, artifact refining. You’ve already learned six basic space inscription marks, so you can start refining the simplest type of space-based True Martial Treasure—a space ring. In all the world, only you can possibly refine it.”
“What is a space ring?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
The large black cat continued, “It means constructing an independent space within the ring. If your spiritual power and cultivation are strong enough, you could even use the ring to hold an entire mountain or an entire world. Of course, with your current cultivation, being able to open up a space of one cubic meter would already be quite impressive.”