Chapter 34: Flawless Body, Ten Million Jin!
Upon reaching perfection in the Zhoutian Realm, with 54 meridians, one gains an additional 4,320 cycles of power, equivalent to more than 800,000 jin of tremendous strength!
However, the royal clan possesses the Eastern Huang Scripture, the premier meridian-clearing technique of Great Yu, capable of opening 62 meridians. This results in 8 additional meridians, translating to roughly 600,000 jin of additional power.
But this was not Li Hao's limit.
The Taiyin Vein alone equaled the strength of ten meridians, adding 2,480 cycles of power—nearly 500,000 jin!
Moreover, Li Hao's meridian-clearing techniques were not limited to the Dragon River Divine Veins. He had also cultivated the Nine Revolutions Stellar Technique, alongside three mid-tier and several low-tier meridian-clearing techniques.
The low-tier techniques, however, only opened the most easily accessible major meridians, which were subsequently covered by the mid-tier techniques, rendering them ineffective.
In contrast, the Nine Revolutions Stellar Technique and the three mid-tier techniques allowed Li Hao to open meridians untouched by the Dragon River Divine Veins. As a result, the number of meridians he had opened had now reached 69!
This had already surpassed the number of meridians opened by the royal clan's Eastern Huang Scripture!
Li Hao was not content with this. He now intended to rely on his physical insights to deduce the fourth layer of the Primeval technique and shatter the Hidden Dragon Body!
“The first layer harnesses the forces of heaven and earth, yin and yang. The second layer is the stars across the heavens. The third layer is the imperceptible ghostly veins within the human body. For the fourth layer, I hope to open the Taiyang Vein, where yin and yang merge!”
Li Hao’s ambition was not unfounded. Having reached the fifth stage of the Body Dao, he was already considered a half-master in body refinement.
What does it mean to be a master? It is the ability to create martial techniques and establish one’s own school!
The original Primeval manuscript’s fourth layer had been lost to time. The Li family had failed to preserve it over the years, leaving it likely destroyed—a relic of history.
Since that was the case, he would personally write a new chapter for this supreme body-refining technique!
He would let this pearl shine once more, untainted by dust!
...
Several days later, at Blackwater Demon Lake...
Li Hao sat outside a fishing platform. Suddenly, inspiration struck. His blood surged violently, his bones trembled beneath his skin, and his internal energy roamed through the 69 major meridians in his body. Eventually, an immense force surged toward the top of his skull, as if it would burst his brain apart!
This was an extremely perilous process. But Li Hao’s control over his body had already reached an extraordinary level. He could fold his ears to seal them, and every inch of his bones was as flexible as his fingers, capable of precise manipulation and exertion!
With a loud boom, his brain seemed to tremble. A swelling, painful sensation rippled through him.
Li Hao gritted his teeth and endured. Finally, that overwhelming force found a breakthrough, rushing out and then cycling back into his body through another channel, forming a complete loop!
Li Hao’s eyes gleamed with dazzling light, excitement brimming within.
Finally, it was a success!
The Taiyin Vein was a wandering vein that appeared anywhere in the body at different times, elusive and difficult to control. Hence, it was also called the Ghostly Vein, implying its mysterious and untraceable nature.
In contrast, the Taiyang Vein was fixed, located within the skull.
However, compared to the Taiyin Vein, the Taiyang Vein was even more dangerous. No one dared attempt to open it. Failure could result in anything from permanent brain damage to death by cranial explosion!
Even though the Taiyang Vein equaled the strength of ten meridians, few were willing to take such a significant risk for the added power.
That was because nearly all who attempted it had failed.
Only certain martial fanatics or extraordinary geniuses would engage in such madness!
Now that the Taiyang Vein had been opened, Li Hao immediately felt the Ghostly Vein finding an anchor point. It no longer drifted aimlessly but instead began to converge toward the Taiyang Vein, intertwining with it.
“Yin and yang converge... I shall name the fourth layer the Flawless Body!”
Li Hao summoned his panel, and with a mere thought, the Primeval technique advanced to its fourth layer, labeled “Flawless Body: Minor Completion.”
Li Hao immediately mobilized the yin and yang meridians, repeatedly circulating his internal energy through them to perfect his control.
Before long, the entanglement of yin and yang produced a peculiar vortex-like force.
Through the vortex, Li Hao seemed to glimpse a faint golden light within his skull.
He tried to reach for it with his energy, only to find it impossibly distant, beyond his grasp.
“It is said the human body has a total of 108 major meridians. If I can open them all, perhaps... I might reach that golden light.”
This insight was born from the Body Dao, and Li Hao’s extensive cultivation experience gave him a deep understanding of the human body’s potential.
Body refinement was far from simple and by no means as fruitless as some elders claimed. On the contrary, Li Hao believed the limited refinement techniques in Tingyu Pavilion hindered progress. Even techniques like the Sacred Body of a Thousand Serpents, stored on the sixth floor, could only take a cultivator to the Soul Fusion Realm at the fourth layer!
By comparison, other techniques aimed directly for the peak.
Body refinement’s lack of prominence was due to many factors. Apart from the difficulty of cultivation, Li Hao believed the scarcity of advanced techniques played a significant role.
If the Li family’s collection of body-refining techniques was so sparse, what could other places possibly have?
...
Li Hao glanced at the panel again. The “Flawless Body: Minor Completion” had now become “Flawless Body: Major Completion!”
The convergence of the yin and yang meridians seemed to connect all the major meridians in his body, allowing him to gather their power instantly. It was as if a dragon’s spine had been raised within him!
Li Hao tested this newfound power by throwing a punch.
With a loud whoosh, the force of his punch roared like a tiger, creating a depression on the water’s surface several zhang away and sending ripples up to seven or eight meters in diameter!
Had this punch struck directly, it would have been no less devastating than a cannonball plunging into the water, triggering an explosive splash!
Li Hao froze momentarily, his eyes reflecting astonishment.
Through his refined sense of his body, he realized just how terrifying the power of this punch truly was.
By condensing the strength of all his major meridians, his power had doubled!
Currently, with his yin and yang meridians combined and the original 69 meridians he had opened, his power now equated to 89 meridians.
At 248 cycles of power per meridian, his total strength reached 4.5 million jin!
With his doubled output, it approached 9 million jin!
He was nearing the mythical 10 million jin threshold. Even a true dragon in the Zhoutian Realm would pale in comparison to such monstrous power.
Even the royal geniuses, armed with the best fortune and meridian-clearing techniques, could only achieve 2 million jin of strength. Unless they, too, opened two meridians simultaneously, they could not consolidate their power instantly to unleash a double-strength burst!
“No wonder that Ninth Uncle was so terrifying. The convergence of dual meridians doubles one’s strength in an instant—it’s incredible!”
Li Hao’s eyes sparkled with awe. He could hardly imagine the power he might wield if he opened all 108 meridians!
After all, the average Zhoutian Realm cultivator only possessed 20,000 jin of strength.
Even though this was the baseline, with 90% of Zhoutian Realm cultivators reaching at least tens of thousands of jin, the gap between them and Li Hao was astronomical.
“With my current strength, even the elite warriors of the Yuan Battalion at the tenth stage of the Zhoutian Realm would be no match for me!”
Li Hao mused silently.
The Yuan Battalion elites, even at their peak, only reached a strength of 500,000 jin. Compared to him, they were like toddlers.
The royal clan’s geniuses were four times stronger than the Yuan Battalion’s soldiers, but Li Hao was four times stronger than the royal clan’s geniuses!
Li Hao withdrew his punch and adjusted his breathing.
The explosive burst of his yin-yang power consumed a significant amount of energy and couldn’t be sustained for long. Nevertheless, in a critical confrontation, it was more than sufficient for a decisive blow.
As his body relaxed and his energy recovered, Li Hao turned his gaze back toward the demon lake, yet saw no sign of Second Grandpa. He had gone to search for the tracks of the demon dragon in the lake but had yet to return.
The demon lake stretched for thousands of miles, its depths unfathomable. A demon dragon hidden within it would indeed be difficult to detect.
Just then, a faint sound reached Li Hao’s sharp ears.
His ear twitched, and he immediately turned to look. Amid the fallen, withered leaves, a snow-white figure darted about, trying to hide.
In a flash, Li Hao appeared before the figure. It was a small, snow-white fox, roughly the size of a newborn puppy.
Examining it closely, he noted the little fox bore no traces of demonic energy, indicating it was an ordinary wild fox.
“Little one, what are you doing here? Where are your parents?”
Li Hao bent down and scooped the little fox out of the leaves.
The fox’s ears had a slight reddish-gold tint, suggesting it was a crossbreed between a white fox and a red fox. As Li Hao lifted it, it flailed its tiny paws in protest, struggling against him.
Li Hao placed the fox in his palm and glanced around, but saw no sign of an adult fox. Perhaps the little one had wandered out of its den?
Shrugging, Li Hao set it back down on the ground, intending to let its parents find it.
The small fox moved clumsily through the leaves, its tiny body slow and unsteady, completely lacking the agility of its kind.
Li Hao chuckled and returned to the lake’s edge to continue fishing.
...
Before long, a figure darted back toward him—it was Li Muxiu.
Li Hao noticed his empty hands and immediately understood that the search for the demon dragon had failed. Over the past six months, his grandfather had searched tirelessly, yet the demon dragon proved to be highly cautious and elusive. After all, a creature that could elude Li Muxiu must have lived for thousands of years.
“Hmph.”
Noticing Li Hao’s amused expression, Li Muxiu snorted coldly and flicked his sleeve. “And you? Empty-handed too?”
“I caught a small one—Tongli Realm,” Li Hao replied with a sly grin.
Li Muxiu rolled his eyes, his frustration deepening.
As the sun set, Li Muxiu finally reeled in a fish demon at the Tongli Realm level, avoiding the embarrassment of returning empty-handed, and the two began their journey back to Qingzhou City.
Before leaving, Li Hao glanced toward the small fox, which had wandered far from its original spot. Still, there was no sign of any adult foxes. He asked his grandfather to take a look, and after a brief search, Li Muxiu found nothing but a patch of blood and a few tufts of snow-white fur. From the traces, it was clear the adult fox had been devoured by a demon beast.
Such occurrences were common in the wild. Li Hao sighed and retrieved the oblivious, clumsy little fox, taking it with him back to Qingzhou City.
From that day forward, a patch of snowy white was added to the withered leaves of the Shanhe Courtyard.