Chapter 0010 Black Jade Skills

Chapter 0010 Black Jade Skills

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After leaving Huangque Hall, Qi Tian headed straight to the nearby National Master Manor. The National Master Manor was not open to outsiders, even the relatives of the disciples had to ask the gatekeeper to pass a message and let the disciple meet them outside the manor. It was absolutely not allowed for anyone to step into the manor. One rule was that any private fight within the manor was strictly prohibited. If the disciples had personal grudges, they could challenge each other publicly during the moon-duel. The manor gave each disciple six exemption tokens a year, and each disciple could not be challenged more than three times a month, and could not be challenged by the same person more than once. In other words, if one person had a grudge against another, they would inevitably have to fight during the moon-duel within seven months.

Exemption tokens were not omnipotent. If an elder of the National Master Manor designated a duel between two people, the one who was named could not refuse. In addition, using an exemption token greatly influenced the user's ranking within the National Master Manor. The ranking determined a person's status and what kind of treatment they could receive in the manor. A disciple who always used exemption tokens would be seen as fearful of fighting, which would not only affect their treatment and status in the manor, but also leave a bad impression on the top figures of the manor. They certainly wouldn't be their first choice when there were good opportunities.

The previous Qi Tian was very weak, his Qi Cultivation First Level could be said to be the lowest ranking among the outer disciples of the National Master Manor. He had been challenged many times before, so his six exemption tokens had long been used up. About half a month before the County Master selection, there was a moon-duel. Qi Tian no longer had the chance to refuse challenges. He might offend many people during his training journey. Kuang Zhiliang at the city gate and Zhou Kunlin, who stood behind Yuan Dan, might challenge him during the moon-duel.

Although he easily killed the four leaders of Dalong Mountain, it did not mean that he was very strong. On the contrary, he was still very weak. If he could not improve his strength before the moon-duel, let alone participating in the County Master selection next month, whether he could survive the next half month was a question.

Qi Tian quickly returned to his room. His living conditions could be considered the worst in the National Master Manor. He lived in a small room that could merely fit a single bed, like a bird in a cage. His neighbors were outer sect disciples at the Qi Cultivation First Level like him. Only when one reached the Qi Training Second Level could they move to a room twice the size.

There was no bed in Qi Tian's room, just a wooden board. He would lay it down when he slept, and prop it up when he didn't.

Qi Tian didn't even bother to change his clothes, he hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door, then sat down cross-legged on the floor. From this moment on, he would start cultivating.

The cultivation method Qi Tian practiced was the Black Jade Skills, a low-grade Xuan level method uniformly distributed to the outer disciples of the National Master Manor. Practicing this method, as long as the talent was not too poor and the cultivator persevered, there was a less than ten percent chance of reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Qi Tian did not know whether the Black Jade Skills were good or bad. He only had this one cultivation method now. If he didn't cultivate this, what else could he cultivate?

The most difficult part of the Black Jade Skills was the beginning, but thankfully Qi Tian's predecessor had already solved the most difficult part, and all he needed to do from then on was to follow the steps and cultivate.

The Black Jade Skills was a technique for mage cultivators. The goal of cultivation was to open up more meridians in the body to hold mana, allowing the cultivator to store more mana, unleash stronger spells, trigger greater power, and fight more resiliently.

As a Qi Cultivation First Level practitioner, Qi Tian had already opened up one meridian in his body. He needed to open up another meridian to reach the Qi Cultivation Second Level. Where to open the second meridian was up to the cultivator to choose. Of course, they could also choose to consult with the mentor. However, there were two to three thousand outer sect disciples in the National Master Manor, but not many mentors. If he wanted to consult, he would need the corresponding status and position and pay contribution points. Even if he had these, he would need to queue up after submitting his application. Perhaps he would have to wait for one or two months and by then, it would be too late.

Qi Tian took out the "Black Jade Skills" from a corner of the room and began to look at the meridian chart on it. The "Black Jade Skills" provided nine meridian charts. With each meridian cleared, the cultivation realm would rise by a level. Almost all the outer disciples of the National Master Manor followed the hints on the meridian charts of the "Black Jade Skills" to clear their meridians.

Looking at these nine meridian charts, Qi Tian found it increasingly strange. When he was on Earth, he had read many martial arts and fantasy novels, which mentioned the Ren and Du meridians. As a result, he had specifically read some related professional books. From a traditional medical perspective, the Ren and Du meridians are the two most important meridians in the human body. The Ren meridian governs the blood and the Du meridian governs Qi. If the Ren and Du meridians are blocked, the blood and Qi in the body will be stagnant, making it easy for diseases to occur.

However, the nine meridian charts in the "Black Jade Skills" did not mention the Ren and Du meridians. He did not know why.

Qi Tian clearly remembered the acupoints through which the Ren and Du channels pass through in the human body. He thought for a moment and decided to give it a try and see if he could open these channels himself. This could potentially bolster his vitality and aid his cultivation. Despite the risks involved, Qi Tian held onto the belief that the theories of traditional Chinese medicine, developed over thousands of years, couldn't be wrong. Besides, all the external students of the National Master Manor were cultivating the "Black Jade Skills". If he wanted to overtake others on the same path, he had to explore a different route. Otherwise, he would always be trailing behind others, forever doomed to eat their dust.

The principle of opening the energy channels is quite simple; one introduces the Spirit Qi of heaven and earth into the body and uses the Qi as a blade to open the channels. The key to this process is the amount of Spirit Qi one is able to absorb, as well as the channel one chooses to work on.

Qi Tian had decided to open his Ren meridian first. However, drawing Spirit Qi into his body was a very slow process. the National Master Manor was located in the middle of Zhangshui City, which was not a place abundant with Spirit Qi. Even if there were any, the high-ranking individuals and the inner sect disciples of the National Master Manor would have priority to use it. As such, very little was left for the rest.

These external circumstances made it extremely challenging to advance in cultivation and required an excessive amount of patience and time. There were many cultivators who could only advance one level after a year or two of gruelling effort. For instance, Liang Xiaolong, whom Qi Tian met at Room A in Huangque Hall, was already in his late thirties and had only reached the Qi Cultivation 7th level, which is greatly related to the external circumstances.

Fortunately, countless predecessors paved the way for successors, developing numerous methods for cultivation. One of the commonly used methods is to consume elixirs. Qi Tian happened to have some elixirs that could aid his cultivation. Li Jianping, the chief officer of Guangfu City, had given him ten middle-grade Blood Essence Pills in hopes of attaining his forgiveness.

Qi Tian took out all the Blood Essence pills, scraped a bit of powder off each pill, and sprinkled it onto the flatbread he had bought near the city gate. He then placed the bread near the hole of a mouse that had often stole food from his room while he was practicing his cultivation or sleeping.

After placing the bread, Qi Tian sat cross-legged, pretending to cultivate. However, his eyes were slightly open, waiting for the mouse to take the bait and help him test the drug.

Lured by the aroma of the bread, a mouse peeked out from the hole, looked around cautiously and when it noticed that Qi Tian did not react, it boldly darted out and began nibbling on the bread.

The mouse seemed ravenous. Perhaps the Blood Essence pill also had a beneficial effect on it. Although it ate tiny bites at first, it gradually sped up after discovering the benefits of the bread. Towards the end, it began gulping the bread so voraciously that it didn't even bother to look at Qi Tian.

The mouse quickly finished half of the bread, then rolled onto its back and lay sprawled on the ground.

Qi Tian suddenly widened his eyes. He wondered if the mouse had been poisoned. Just as he was about to get up to examine it, he saw the mouse's legs twitch slightly and its chest rising and falling. The mouse was still alive.

Relieved, Qi Tian promptly closed his eyes halfway, secretly observing the mouse.

About half an hour later, the mouse got up from the ground looking more energetic, and even its body seemed to have grown a bit. It poked its nosed, sniffed around, apparently not satisfied and eager to eat more.

Qi Tian suddenly opened his eyes and gave a cough. Startled, the mouse squeaked and zipped back into its hole.

The ten middle-grade Blood Essence Pills that Li Jianping had given him were not poisoned and were safe for consumption. Qi Tian picked up a stick he had found on the way and plugged the hole with it. Once he had securely blocked the hole with a brick, he was ready to start his cultivation practice without the risk of being disturbed by a mouse.

Qi Tian took out a Blood Essence Pill, hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes, tossed the pill into his mouth, swallowed it, and waited for the pill to disperse inside his body.

In less than three minutes, a surge of power began to spread within him. Qi Tian promptly began to enact the "Qi Moving Method" from the "Black Jade Skills", directing the energy to the location of his Ren meridian and using this energy from the pill to open the channel.