Chapter 498: Meridian Reshaping

Chapter 498: Reforming the Meridians

Zhao Changhe returned to the courtyard and glanced through the bamboo screen beside him. The lights in Yue Hongling's room were already out, indicating she had likely gone to rest.

After consecutive days of bitter battles, bruised and battered all over, she was bound to be exhausted. Even for Zhao Changhe, once the effects of the voodoo art faded, a deep weariness washed over him, making it clear that their afternoon of dual cultivation had not yielded much of an effect.

After a brief thought, he chose not to disturb her and headed back to his own room to begin what the blind woman considered the first priority for any proper martial artist.

The blind woman watched with tears streaming down her face as Zhao Changhe pulled out the Heavenly Book.

Seeing the two pages turn into three, he felt it at least looked a bit less like a flyer now... Though flyers or instruction manuals often came in three-fold leaflets too, so it still felt rather lacking in the dignity befitting a Heavenly Book... Come to think of it, even with nine pages, it would probably still look unsightly, resembling a cheap erotic novel from a street stall. He wondered if it would transform into tens of thousands of pages once fully assembled?

Yet regardless of how unimpressive its appearance might be, that boundless aura was unmistakable, far more staggering than when it had only been two pages. The moment it was drawn out, energy overflowed, carrying with it a pressure so intense it felt impossible to approach.

Not daring to let the aura of the Heavenly Book leak haphazardly, Zhao Changhe could only honestly store it inside his ring, using his consciousness to perceive it.

Fortunately, this was the Night Emperor's ring. Had it been an ordinary one, it would likely have failed to conceal the aura of the book entirely; the level of this artifact was simply too high.

As his mind delved within, he entered that same illusion of beautiful mountains and clear waters. The difference was that previously, there were only plants and flowers, with the occasional animal appearing merely as an imagery of a white crane flying past. This time, however, he could clearly see phoenixes soaring and dragons roaring across the nine heavens, with all manner of rare and exotic beasts roaming everywhere.

The aura of the Heavenly Dao loomed indistinctly, and countless inexplicable, profound insights drifted through his heart.

Being immersed in it felt as though he had truly returned to the primeval wilderness of the previous era.

It was amidst such a grand atmosphere that the ancients had risen, comprehending heaven and earth, learning from divine beasts, and pioneering the path of martial arts.

Theoretically, with these three pages, the entirety of martial arts could already be encompassed. For the moment, Zhao Changhe could not even fathom what content the remaining pages could possibly hold.

The previous second page could roughly be called the Book of Nature, and the blind woman's primary introduction to it was its utility regarding Tang Wanzhuang's illness. It was indeed useful, having at least prolonged her life for now; otherwise, Zhao Changhe wouldn't even know if he would be attending a funeral feast upon his return this time.

As for its effect on himself, it was relatively minor, merely teaching him to perceive and utilize the environment when breaking through the first tier of the Secret Realm. Apart from benefiting his Spring Water sword intent and the Thief Saint's lightness skills, its main use lay in perceiving and experiencing the surrounding malevolent qi, which did not quite align with the Dao of Nature itself.

Of course, since it aided in breaking through the first tier of the Secret Realm, it was already of great importance.

But the current page, the Book of Life, held an incomparable significance for Zhao Changhe, a page practically tailor-made for him.

For now, the Blood Asura Body had reached a temporary plateau, so it was not immediately relevant, but future breakthroughs would certainly require the support of this page; the correlation between the two was blindingly obvious.

What remained urgent right now was the issue of his meridians.

Narrow and rigidly formed meridians were indeed a major problem, serving as the foundational root of a person's martial potential, and rarely could any treasure alter them. Yet, strictly speaking, this was still just a foundational flaw, not something so absurdly absolute that it defied a solution. Even Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had managed to resolve it using the strange power of the He's Jade.

Consider the Imperishable Blood Demon Body of Venerable Duoluo, who could find a way to reincarnate from a single drop of blood... Could a meridian issue possibly be more exaggerated than that? The man didn't even have meridians left and simply grew an entirely new set from scratch.

Of course, Venerable Duoluo had to rely on this very page of the Heavenly Book to achieve that. With the book now right before him, Zhao Changhe refused to believe he could not mend this shortcoming of his.

Yet one thing was quite strange: Venerable Duoluo could borrow the power of the Heavenly Book, whereas Zhao Changhe had carried it for so long without ever discovering how to mobilize its power for his own use...

It was the same now. Prompting it to manifest an illusion that would make the Spirit Race bow down was achievable, as that was merely projecting the inner landscape outward. But when it came to channeling that power into his own body to reshape his meridians, he was completely at a loss, unable to find where the energy of the book even resided.

Was there a possibility... that when the pages of the book were scattered, anyone could tap into their energy; but once collected, the energy was pocketed by a certain blind woman?

Indeed, if the gods and demons of the world were all in a weakened state, then so was the blind woman. On what did her recovery depend?

Son of a bitch.

"Hey, Blindie."

The blind woman played dead and did not respond.

"When you urged me to get the Heavenly Book, you even entered my dreams to press me despite my heavy injuries, but now that I have it, you just play dead, huh?" Zhao Changhe said. "You claimed gathering the book was for my own good, so where is the benefit to me? If you don't give me some perks, I'm not getting the next page. Let whoever wants it take it."

The blind woman remained expressionless.

Who said it was useless to you? I actually intended to urge you to read the book earlier and give you a taste of sweetness beforehand, so you would work even harder next time.

In the end, you had sweetness right in front of you but refused to taste it, choosing to give it to me instead.

Let whoever wants it take it, then.

The two remained locked in a stalemate for quite some time. Zhao Changhe was utterly astonished; even after throwing out such heavy words, the blind woman still hadn't responded. Could she really not be here?

If she wasn't here, then there was nothing for it...

Helplessly, Zhao Changhe began to explore on his own, hoping to find a solution through the synthesis of the three pages. After all, the second page could provide guidance on medicine, the third page could provide a reference for the flesh and blood body, and he himself possessed the Rejuvenation Art... Without relying on the blind woman, he ought to be able to give it a try.

Zhao Changhe attempted to channel his true qi into the ring via the Dragon-Grasping Technique, keeping the true qi continuously linked to himself, using it as a hand to gently caress the Heavenly Book.

The blind woman: "..."

Of course, Zhao Changhe wasn't doing it to touch her, but to let the book perceive the state of his true qi. Based on his understanding of the book, it would display where the problem lay and provide a solution.

Sure enough, before long, large characters began to manifest within the VR-like illusion: "A divine technique newly created by modern men... self-titled the Six Harmonies Divine Technique. This technique is balanced, broad, and profound, drawing upon the imperial intent of the six harmonies returning to one and a hundred rivers converging into the sea. It is compatible with the merging of any energy, magnificent and upright, impervious to evil and filth."

After all that trouble, why was it analyzing the Six Harmonies Divine Technique here...

Zhao Changhe watched patiently as it continued, only to see the Heavenly Book begin to mock him: "Yet the meridians are feeble, the true qi is withered, and the blood malice hangs high, suppressed over it. This is akin to Mount Tai suspended upside down, an emperor dwelling in the common wilderness, and beasts filling the palace walls."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

The blind woman crossed her arms. This really wasn't her mockery.

If it were her mockery, she would have flipped it around to say that this beast of a fool with feeble meridians was the real animal.

"Expanding the meridians perfectly is difficult; it is better to reform them. The Imperishable Sword Body, the Imperishable Demon Physique, the Sacred Body of Creation, the Sun-Shifting Divine Technique... all can achieve this..." The Heavenly Book listed at least thirty different methods in one breath.

Zhao Changhe's lips twitched as he sent a mental link: "What use is just giving me names? Give me a specific cultivation method for a technique or a physique."

"Unable to create something out of nothing."

Shifting his true qi, Zhao Changhe pressed a spirit bag against the Heavenly Book: "How about now?"

Inside the spirit bag was the remnant soul of Venerable Duoluo, who knew the Imperishable Blood Demon Body. As long as the book could decode it, the matter would essentially be resolved.

The blind woman silently watched Zhao Changhe's series of operations, her heart feeling somewhat complicated.

This fellow actually didn't ask her at all, relying instead on his existing conditions to actively explore. He might truly figure something out.

Sure enough, character by character, the cultivation method for the "Imperishable Blood Demon Body" emerged upon the Heavenly Book.

Zhao Changhe pondered as he looked over the method. This was actually the White Lotus Sacred Body of the ancient Buddhist sects, which originally only possessed an extremely strong healing capability and lacked the power of immortal rebirth... After Venerable Duoluo fused with the Blood Ao—the Ao being a long-lived species—he had seized and integrated an incredibly powerful undying bloodline force from it, and further obtained a large number of flesh-and-blood voodoo texts as well as the life source of various young boys and girls from the Spirit Race. Combining all this with his original technique, he had finally engineered such an extremely unorthodox demonic physique.

Its prerequisites were incredibly high. First, it required the level of a Yin Spirit, meaning the soul could reside within objects and would not easily dissipate; without even reaching this, one could forget about reshaping a body.

Secondly, Venerable Duoluo had accomplished this by borrowing the energy of the Heavenly Book; without such creative power, it would be utterly impossible to complete. What a load of absolute nonsense, boasting about being imperishable...

It seemed rather useless to him. However, the specific method of reshaping within it was still highly valuable as a reference. Parts of it could be integrated into his Blood Asura Body, imbuing it with a rapid-healing characteristic.

Ultimately, it was all about playing tricks with qi and blood. The offensive template Venerable Duoluo derived from fusing with the Blood Ao was even highly similar to Lie's Blood Malice Technique, allowing them to be referenced from the same source. Furthermore, he still possessed the Rejuvenation Art...

Zhao Changhe stared fixedly for a very long time, then suddenly left the room and headed out into the mountains.

At the previous battlefield, the corpse of the Blood Ao still lay on the ground, surrounded and guarded by a group of Spirit Race people. Sisi had too many matters to attend to and had actually forgotten to arrange for the disposal of this thing.

Seeing Zhao Changhe approach, the Spirit Race guards bowed in unison: "Holy Envoy."

Zhao Changhe nodded, offering no further words to them. Drawing the Dragon Sparrow, he carved out a piece of flesh from the Blood Ao, then carried it up into the neighboring Ao Pool Mountain, arriving at the sea of blood within the Ao Pool, and leapt straight in.

The longevity factors within the Ao flesh could be analyzed and extracted under the influence of the cultivation technique.

The life and bloodline force within the blood pool could also be perceived and absorbed.

Zhao Changhe tried drawing the Dragon Sparrow and slicing a wound across his own arm. Operating the Rejuvenation Art alongside parts of the reshaping method of the Imperishable Blood Demon Body simultaneously, within moments, the wound on his arm visibly mended, growing new flesh before his eyes.

Zhao Changhe took a deep breath, a ruthless look flashing in his eyes. Suddenly channeling his energy into a violent surge, he shattered a portion of the meridian in his pinky finger—the end of the Hand Greater Yang Small Intestine Meridian, where the Shaoze acupoint resided.

The blind woman almost widened her eyes.

How ruthless.

He truly did it as a test, shattering a small part of his own meridians to see if they could be remade!

Even cutting off a little finger does little harm, so shattering this tiny portion of meridians naturally has no effect—it's not like cultivating the Six Meridian Divine Sword... It's merely a test of whether you are ruthless enough.

Zhao Changhe was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, yet his gaze grew ever clearer.

All his knowledge and learning surged into full operation, the life force of the blood pool poured in wildly, and within his inner vision, the shattered meridians began to mend inch by inch, forming entirely new meridians.

Three to five times thicker than before.