bestfiction Chapter 12: Teacher, Father.
Chapter 12: Teacher, Father.
A peculiar combination was formed inside the cabin.
Zhong Ming lay on the black stone slab, sweating profusely from the pain, screaming and yelling. A large basin of cold water was placed beside him, ready to be used at any time.
Xiao Zhao knelt quietly to the side, and out of nowhere produced an enormous ancient book, almost as thick as his thigh. He turned the pages one by one, studying Zhong Ming's meridians according to his condition.
Through the window, you can see Xiao Yu huffing and puffing as he carries firewood from the woodshed across the street. He'll be spending the whole day in the kitchen next.
"Here...here...."
Xiao Zhao dipped her finger in cool water and pressed it onto the Zhongzhu acupoint on Zhong Ming's body. Then she soaked a towel in cool water and placed it on Zhong Ming's forehead.
"Xiao Zhao, do you think... this matter... might be better handled by a girl...?"
"In our Taoist temple, the only woman is Sister Bai. If she comes... she'll just lie on the roof, and your life or death will be in the hands of fate."
Zhong Ming gradually accumulated spiritual energy. This is the characteristic of dragon veins. Other meridians start and end at points like the toes, head, or internal organs, but dragon veins are just circles with no entrance for spiritual energy.
Originally, it relied on the dragon energy infiltrating the flesh and blood to automatically absorb spiritual energy and send it directly into the dragon vein. However, now that the dragon soul is hidden, even Zhong Ming has difficulty activating the dragon vein, let alone the tiny dragon erosion area in the flesh and blood that is now completely imperceptible.
We can only leave it to fate and accumulate wealth slowly.
Xiao Zhao carefully examined the records in the ancient book, while reminding Zhong Ming, "Slide your finger along with the dragon vein, let me see the specific trend."
The human body has two types of meridians: meridians and collaterals. Meridians generally run deep and straight along the trunk, while collaterals are usually the horizontal branches of the meridians, which are shallower and spread throughout the body like a net.
The meridians mainly consist of the twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians. However, there is one meridian that is very special. It is the belt meridian among the eight extraordinary meridians. As a meridian, it is horizontal, like a belt that binds together many other meridians.
The dragon vein and the belt vein are similar, encircling the waist, but rising straight up like a fish leaping over the dragon gate at the waist, reaching the armpit, and then sinking down like a dragon diving to the bottom, covering most of the meridians in the flank.
If the dragon energy permeates the shoulder and then activates the dragon vein, the fish leaping over the dragon gate will leap to the shoulder in one breath, and almost all the meridians in the body will be threatened by the dragon vein.
Xiao Zhao dipped her finger in water again and slid it along the dragon vein that Zhong Ming pointed to.
At this point, Zhong Ling was too distracted to pay attention, otherwise he would have really wanted to move Xiao Zhao away.
It's fine for a young girl to touch me, and it's also acceptable for a big, white-bearded traditional Chinese medicine doctor to do so, but for a delicate-looking young man to touch me like this gives me goosebumps.
The commotion within the dragon vein drew all his attention back to controlling the spiritual energy.
The second strike was much more frenzied; he was much more skilled at circulating his spiritual energy than the first time.
The dragon vein is only so wide, but Zhong Ming gathered more layers of spiritual energy. If the width is not enough, the length is increased. The entire spiritual energy, like a dragon at the bottom of the river, swirled wildly within the dragon vein before suddenly crashing into the gap.
"Ow!"
A scream startled Xiao Zhao, who instinctively poured a whole basin of cold water over it.
"Ouch! Glug~ Glug~ Burp~~"
Zhong Ming flailed his limbs wildly, but the impact of spiritual energy had stiffened the flesh around the dragon vein and affected the muscle groups in his arms. It took him several seconds to remove the basin.
"Ah, Zhong Ming, you're awake!"
"I... burp... didn't pass out..." Not only did she almost suffocate, but she also drank her fill of water. The immense pain coming from her waist and abdomen was now more than just the flesh damage caused by the impact.
I reckon drinking so much cold river water in one go will give me diarrhea...
Zhong Ming looked at the other person with tears welling up in his eyes.
Xiao Zhao blinked her innocent, wide eyes.
As someone who has never been sick or cared for in the Taoist temple, he dares to guarantee that he is only slightly less skilled than the old Taoist priest.
It's dozens of layers higher than Xiao Yu, Yuan Bao, and Sister Bai.
......
three days later.
Zhong Ming was on the verge of death.
This kind of pain is unbearable for a human being.
He was now begging Xiao Zhao to knock him unconscious the instant he finished gathering his spiritual energy and unleashing it, so that he wouldn't have to endure the most painful period.
Xiao Zhao's advantage is that he's willing to help you with anything you ask.
The downside is that whether the help is effective or not depends entirely on luck.
After repeatedly hitting his head and getting several bumps but not losing consciousness, Zhong Ming refused this "assistance" that could potentially double his pain.
In three days, less than half the progress had been made, and an even more fatal problem emerged.
His body had gotten used to the impact.
He didn't faint!
This means he will have to endure the pain of his flesh tearing apart continuously.
Xiao Zhao stayed close by, constantly cheering him on, but Zhong Ming couldn't understand a word she said.
"Keep going! Once you successfully enter the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian, it's equivalent to entering the Great Circulation. Although it's strange to practice the Great Circulation before the Small Circulation, as long as you practice the Great Circulation well, opening the Ren and Du Meridians will be as easy as drinking water."
Xiao Zhao chattered away, sometimes reading aloud from ancient books, sometimes pointing and gesturing on Zhong Ming's body, explaining which acupoint she was pressing.
Zhong Ming didn't know how much time had passed. The continuous pain had made him lose his sense of time, and he could only helplessly turn his head to the side.
Suddenly, he saw a bald man float past the window.
"Ahhh!!! Who, who walked past?"
Xiao Zhao stood up and peered outside.
"Ha, the Taoist priest is back."
"Taoist priest?"
Isn't the Taoist priest white-bearded? Where is his true form?
He said he sold it and bought something else.
"what?"
Zhong Ming was deeply moved, and immediately felt that his abdominal pain had lessened.
My master used to wear tattered Taoist robes and clean the temple every day; the only thing about him that gave him the air of a sage was his beard. Now he's sold it all for me. What face do I have left...?
and many more.
"Xiao Zhao, what did the Taoist priest say? I didn't hear anything."
"Yes, he told me telepathically not to tell you."
.....
Today, the Kitchen God doesn't have to smell the unknown mushroom and fish porridge for hours on end; he's using medicinal herbs instead.
Not long after, the old Taoist priest came in carrying a large bowl of something black.
"Master...you're back."
Upon smelling the aroma, Zhong Ming knew that the newcomer was not Xiao Yu. Looking up, he saw that the old Taoist was wearing a large Taoist crown and still had long, flowing white "beards" on his chin.
Hmm? Something's not right.
"What are you looking at? Your master has brought you something good, a good product for repairing acupoints. Let me see how it's progressing."
Upon taking his pulse, Daoist Tianfeng knew that Zhong Ming was suffering. His progress was not bad, but it was too brutal, causing too much damage to the surrounding flesh and blood.
"Come, let me teach you. Open your mind and body, let my spiritual energy come in, and follow my spiritual energy once. You must restrain your desire to attack, and compress the attack power of the spiritual energy continuously until it bursts out in one breath just before it touches the flesh barrier."
With tears welling in his eyes, Zhong Ming mumbled a vague "hmm." It had been so many years since anyone had treated him like this since his parents passed away.
The room fell silent, and a silent surge of spiritual energy began to rise.
The birds outside were chirping loudly, and the naked birds were complaining.
It denounces the old Taoist priest's sinful act of plucking hairs and sticking them to his chin.