Chapter 14 – Awakening the Major Meridians

"The missing book was a gift from Dad, I want access to the library in the guarding division!"

"Sweety, they don't have a specialized library. They only have a general one about cultivation and fighting. You can't go there, it's dangerous."

His mom refused his request. They were protective parents, and they wouldn't let their only baby risk himself.

'Tsk. Fine, I will just show some of my memorizing abilities.'

Ken clicked his tongue mentally before thinking of something else.

"Then where are the books the kids used from?"

"What kids?"

Haoran asked with confusion and looked at his wife who shrugged back.

"When daddy took me to watch him at work, he was teaching some kids. I still remember some parts of it. Lay down and concentrate on channeling the Qi!"

He started reciting some parts of the manual the kids whom Haoran taught how to cultivate the first stage used. His parents widened their eyes with surprise, then it changed to horror.

"Ken, you didn't try anything you just recited, right?"

His mom asked with a serious voice she had never used with him. He only recited parts of it and even had some mistakes, so she was worried he'd try those parts which would be more dangerous than trying the whole manual.

"Not yet because I wanted to read the book Daddy gave me before trying. But since I can't have it, I will just start using what I learned."

"No, no! You must not!"

"Darling, he doesn't have Body Strengthening Liquid, he can't practice it anyway. Let's not worry about it."

Mei panicked and forgot this detail, but Haoran quickly remembered it and used it to calm down his wife. He said it too quietly for Ken to hear, assuming that Ken was a normal toddler.

"I want to do alchemy like Mommy, I must do it!"

Ken ignored his father and lay on the floor in front of his parents and closed his eyes.

"Lay down and concentrate on channeling the Qi energy. Hehe, I can feel the energy going to my leg!"

He recited and then shouted in excitement. His parents exchanged panicking looks, both having the same thought crossing their minds.

'It can't be, right?'

They quickly touched his leg and scanned it for signs of Qi. To their horror, they found Qi in his leg!

Ken had awakened his dantian, and all he had to do was channel a bit of Qi from it to his leg.

His guess was correct; his parents couldn't detect the Godly Qi. After he learned more about cultivation, he realized that they should've been able to sense it when he cultivated at night when they were home.

The only explanation he had for it was the difference in his cultivation; the usage of the Godly Qi instead of the normal Qi they used. He assumed they were too weak to sense it, and he could sense it only because it was in his body and because he was created with it.

Back to his parents, they almost went through a heart attack.

"Ken! Stop! Stop! It's dangerous! You can have access to the library!"

Ken stopped his actions and opened his eyes.

"I want access to both of them."

Mei gaped at his response. Who taught him to negotiate?

Ken just gave her a scare and closed his eyes again.

"Wait, ok, fine! You can have it, but you must promise me not to practice without our supervision!"

"Hehe, I promise! Thank you, Mommy, I love you!"

He gave a victorious giggle and hugged her knee. He didn't plan to keep this promise but never had anything against lying.

Haoran looked at her with jealousy; he didn't remember the last time Ken hugged him. Did he even hug him before?

With his plans succeeding and his goals achieved, he rewarded his mom with some affection for giving him what he wanted. After all, people need incentives to keep doing the best they can for you.

After laying Ken to sleep, Haoran and Mei entered their room. Haoran grabbed his wife and lifted her in the air as they kissed deeply. Out of habit, he quickly raised a sound barrier with a snap of his fingers.

Suddenly, Mei pulled her face away from him and looked at him with an ashen face.

"What happened?"

"If he remembers the lesson from when he was an infant, does he also remember our noises from when we still didn't use a sound barrier?"

Haoran gaped and the couple stared at each other. With the mood ruined, they just went to sleep.

-----

"Young Master, you're amazing! How did you get permission to get in here?"

Sol admired Ken as they walked around the library. Ken had full access to the libraries now, with the only restriction of not being allowed to take anything outside. That limitation was mainly to prevent Sol from making him borrow books she wasn't authorized to read.

"Just because we're here it doesn't change your goal. Keep learning your new manual."

In three days, Ken read all the books about the body and body cultivation. He didn't need manuals; he needed knowledge. He'd be able to write the best manual himself when he had comprehensive knowledge.

Sol also finished memorizing her technique during those three days, and they tried it out the next day. After the usual process, Ken got up from her lap and spoke.

"Ok, good. Use this technique to strengthen and enlarge your already awakened meridians. They're complete trash right now, especially those opened with the first manual you had."

"Young Master, you could've said it more nicely."

Sol pouted and complained. He just shrugged it off like always, and she had to swallow back the rest of the things she had to say.

"Here, take this. It will also improve your physique and your foundation from the former stage. You can read it after awakening the last minor meridian."

He gave her the new manual he wrote for her body. Since the order didn't have any future consequences, he chose to let her finish with what she just memorized first instead of making her memorize another book.

The months passed and Ken was opening his meridians systematically. There were 6 yin major meridians and 6 yang ones. For men, the yang meridians were supposed to be much easier to awaken, since men's Qi always had more yang than yin.

However, the same didn't apply to the Godly Qi. The Godly Qi had perfectly balanced yang and yin, and lots of them. Just like when awakening his dantian and strengthening his body, he had to readjust his cultivation techniques while cultivating.

His meridians were turning large and robust, and they pumped huge amounts of Qi into his dantian. If compared to the descriptions of the books he read, his meridians were far larger than the average, and their firmness couldn't even be compared. He figured he might be able to execute techniques above his level once he learned some.

Despite having Qi in his dantian, he didn't use it for his cultivation. The Godly Qi was far superior, and he chose to use it for his foundations for maximum effects. It took him nearly two years to maximize his gains and potential, but he finally finished opening the twelve major meridians.

"Happy birthday, Ken!"

His mother clapped her hands and Ken slurped a long noodle from his bowl. The noodle was way too long; he slurped it for a few seconds until his mouth was fully stuffed, and it still wasn't completely in.

"Dear, I think you overdid it."

Haoran told his wife when he saw Ken's puffed cheeks.

"Nonsense, how can I overdo something that symbolizes the longevity of Little Ken? Ken, Sweetie, you must not cut the noodle!"

"UU I CASH SHALLO!"

Ken protested when Mei banned him from biting the rest of the noodle off. After 4 years of living with his parents and going through their spoiling, he was getting used to them.

Although their love could be tiring at times, he developed feelings toward them back. Even an emotionally scarred man couldn't remain indifferent in front of consistent unconditional love.

'I will tell them about my cultivation when I finish awakening my meridians. For now, they still can't deal with the stress of knowing their son cultivates at 4 years old; they probably never heard of someone doing it and surviving.'

Despite trusting them, he chose to hide the truth for now. He knew that although he got stronger, he wasn't out of danger yet. If his parents made trouble for him because they thought he'd be ok if he started at a later age, it might lead to his death.

----------

Sol wasn't completely outdone by Ken in those 2 years. She finished improving her already-awakened major meridians, and completely awakened the rest of her major meridians as well as her minor meridians. As suggested by their name, minor meridians were smaller than the major ones and were faster to open.

"Hey Sol, let's spar a little. We've both gone a long way since we first met, aren't you curious how strong your young master is?" Ken smiled at his babysitter.

"No, thank you, Young Master. Losing would hurt my pride and winning would get me beaten to death by Elder Mei," Sol hurried to refuse.

"Well, sucks to be you, I only phrased it as a question to be polite. Let's go to the courtyard."

As two of the most important elders, his parents enjoyed a large courtyard as well as tall walls inscribed by formations to keep their privacy. Sol followed Ken unwillingly until the two stood in front of one another.

"I didn't learn any technique, so let's fight hand-to-hand style," Ken set the rules and Sol nodded. "Begin!"

He lunged forward and sent a punch to her stomach. Sol hurriedly took a step back and blocked it with her palm, but hesitated to counterattack.

"Attack, or get beaten!" Ken said coldly and swept her legs with a quick kick, making her fall on her back in a loud 'thud.'

"Fine, you asked for it!" the young lady clenched her teeth in anger as she jumped back to her feet and sent a kick at Ken's head. Because of their height difference, Ken could only aim up to her stomach without jumping and she found it uncomfortable to aim under his chest.

Ken ducked, lowering his head just enough to dodge, and stepped forward, getting behind her. She tried to turn around, but Ken blocked her movement and placed one arm between her legs while the other hugged her stomach. He lifted her in the air and fell backward, slamming her against the ground.

'Hehe, I always wanted to try some type of the suplex move.'

Ken chuckled to himself as his babysitter remained on the ground for a few seconds, shocked by the unfamiliar move.