Chapter 20: Cultivation

"Take off my clothes?" Xu Yuan asked instinctively.

Ran Qingmo's expression remained utterly still, her voice soft and calm:

"My injuries are severe; my control over Qi has diminished greatly. If you're wearing clothes, you might harm yourself."

Hearing this from the woman before him—no pretense, no flourish—Xu Yuan simply removed his ornate robe.

For the first time in his life, under the faint glow of the night pearls etched into the stone wall, he saw how thin his body had become.

Standing over one meter eighty, his weight might not have exceeded one hundred and ten pounds. So thin that his ribs were clearly visible.

Years of indulgence in wine and women had completely hollowed out this frame.

Xu Yuan turned his gaze away, his expression calm and steady as he asked Ran Qingmo:

"Need I take off my underpants too?"

"......"

Ran Qingmo looked up at him, her cold gaze silently fixed upon him.

Alright, it seems there's no need.

Xu Yuan sat cross-legged opposite her, just about to speak.

"Lie down," she whispered.

Xu Yuan silently adjusted his position and lay flat before the woman.

Ran Qingmo lifted a slender jade finger; a faint blue glow appeared at the tip:

"My Qi will enter your body."

Xu Yuan glanced sideways:

"Will it cause any harm?"

He remembered what Ran Qingmo had said—her Qi, once inside him, would directly rupture his narrow entrance.

"........"

Ran Qingmo had almost grown accustomed to this "Qi Da Yuan Chū" powerhouse before her, asking her such foolish questions about cultivation.

Pausing, she shook her head and explained:

"Qi only exists on the surface—it does not enter your meridians."

Xu Yuan nodded, indicating she should continue.

In the dim cave, the woman's slender fingers moved slightly, and the blue glow at her fingertip instantly dispersed into countless points, like fireflies, gently settling across every part of Xu Yuan's body.

The sensation was slightly cold.

Then, at the next moment,

those points vanished into the ground, seamlessly passing through his skin and entering his body.

Instantly,

In Xu Yuan's vision, his own body instantly became a clear anatomical diagram.

One by one, the glowing dots connected into a seamless whole, and distinct, vivid meridians and acupoints appeared before his eyes.

Soon, Xu Yuan felt his body gradually slipping into a numbness as these points seeped in.

Yet alongside the numbness came waves of tingling sensations—his Qi was icy, cool, and strangely comforting.

"Ah~"

Ran Qingmo's gaze came toward him.

Xu Yuan closed his eyes.

Ran Qingmo withdrew her gaze, speaking calmly:

"I'll first teach you to identify the acupoints."

"Acupoints?"

"Acupoints are vital nodes along the meridians," she explained.

"Oh, alright," Xu Yuan said with a nod.

"It might hurt a little now."

With those words, Ran Qingmo extended a slender finger and tapped it gently against Xu Yuan’s neck.

Her fingertip was not warm; on the contrary, it felt rather chilly.

"This is the Huiyuan point."

The moment her voice fell and her finger made contact, a sharp, piercing pain instantly shattered the comfortable numbness from before.

The ache on the right side of his neck caused Xu Yuan’s body to shudder involuntarily.

Yet, this degree of pain was still just barely tolerable.

Ran Qingmo’s hand did not pause, her finger continuing to light upon Xu Yuan’s supine form at a steady pace of once every five seconds.

With each tap, Ran Qingmo would name a corresponding acupoint, and a sharp pain would ripple beneath the skin at the spot where her fingertip lightly pressed...

Time slipped quietly, tick by tick...

Two hours later,

Hundreds of acupoints across the human body had been touched in full.

Ran Qingmo slowly withdrew her hand, gazing at Xu Yuan, and spoke softly:

"Have you remembered all of these?"

Xu Yuan opened his eyes.

For a single second, he met her gaze, then opened his mouth,

saying:

"Ah?"

Would she think he could remember them all at once?

"........" Ran Qingmo.

Silence. Ran Qingmo quietly extended her finger again, pressing gently:

"This is the Huiyuan acupoint..."

"......"

"......"

It was unclear how much time had passed—perhaps an hour, perhaps a few hours. The tutorial on identifying acupoints had been repeated countless times.

Ran Qingmo withdrew her hand once more, gazing at the man lying flat before her.

"Have you remembered this time?"

Xu Yuan closed his eyes, carefully sensing the residue of the Qi that had entered his body through Ran Qingmo, and nodded slightly.

"Basically, I've got it down."

"Basically?"

"Seventy to eighty percent."

"........"

Ran Qingmo stared at her with a strange look, his eyes filled with utter confusion.

So stupid...

She couldn't understand why this man before her was so stupid.

"......"

Xu Yuan roughly grasped the meaning behind this block of ice's gaze and opened his mouth to explain.

In his previous life, regarded as a prodigy by others, he believed his speed in memorizing acupoints had already been fast enough.

But in the end, Xu Yuan swallowed the words that had nearly escaped his lips.

Compared to her, perhaps his previous life as a "study genius" was truly just an ordinary person.

He remembered that at this exact point in the plot, the black-robed woman before him seemed to be only seventeen years old.

At seventeen, her cultivation had already reached the level of Grand Master, just one step away from attaining the origin of Qi.

The gap between people is truly greater than the difference between a person and a dog.

Ran Qingmo said nothing further, silently raising her finger and said:

"We continue."

"Okay."

Xu Yuan nodded, and once again focused his attention.

Time passed, tick by tick...

In the cave, no sky could be seen, and there was no way to tell how much time had passed.

Another ending.

Xu Yuan only felt as though his entire body was slowly transforming into the deep, ethereal blue essence of Ran Qingmo.

At that moment, Ran Qingmo spoke:

"Continuing like this will injure your body."

"........."

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, hesitated slightly, and finally nodded in agreement with Ran Qingmo's suggestion.

Though Ran Qingmo's essence was gentle, it remained foreign. Prolonged entry into his body would inevitably impose a burden.

At this very moment, he already sensed a creeping nausea and dizziness.

Moreover, the sustained mental focus had left his body feeling an unprecedented weariness.

Human determination is indeed vital, yet the body's condition stands in the way—no matter how strong the will, it cannot alter what is already set in stone.

After a day's lessons,

Ran Qingmo did not rest; she remained seated in meditation, regulating her breath to heal her injuries.

Xu Yuan, on the other hand, climbed onto the single jade bed within the cave, his head resting against the pillow, and his consciousness slipped into deep sleep.

In his dreams,

it was still the scene of her teaching him how to identify acupoints...

...

...

Ran Qingmo seemed to require no rest at all.

While Xu Yuan was awake, she taught him the foundational principles of cultivation.

While Xu Yuan rested, she silently sat in the corner, regulating her breath and healing her wounds.

The cave had no food, yet that single pool of water seemed forged from some celestial treasure; a single sip provided her with the energy to last a full day.

Life here felt as if time had ceased—days slipped by without knowing whether it was dawn or dusk.

And in these days without day or night, Xu Yuan slowly began to grasp the obscure and intricate teachings of cultivation.