Chapter 64: The Art of Fortune Manipulation

Ye Xiaolang could see that Yun Qing wanted to go to the Rogue Cultivators’ City, but he also had his own secrets and was more suited to traveling alone, so he didn’t invite her to accompany him.

He thought highly of Yun Qing. Unlike himself, she was undoubtedly of pure human blood.

Ye Xiaolang slapped his storage pouch and took out a book, tattered as it was, and tossed it to Yun Qing. “This is an internal cultivation manual I once acquired by chance, but it doesn’t suit me. You can take a look and see if it’s suitable for you.”

His body differed from that of a human; his acupoints and meridians were not the same, so the book was useless to him.

Yun Qing had just finished the last bite of rabbit and was about to pack up when she caught the beast skin book Ye Xiaolang had thrown over.

“The Heaven and Earth Qi Circulation Technique!” Five ancient characters greeted her on the cover. She flipped open a page; the illustrations were accompanied by annotations.

This—this was exactly the internal cultivation manual Yun Qing had hoped to find, and Ye Xiaolang had simply given it to her.

“This is too precious. I can’t take something so valuable from you,” Yun Qing said, though her hands clung tightly to the book, afraid deep down that Ye Xiaolang might take it back.

“This manual can cultivate you from Postnatal to Innate. If you reach the Innate stage, you’ll be able to seek new opportunities in the Rogue Cultivators’ City.”

She had been considering how to ask Ye Xiaolang to take her there, but before she could even speak up, he had already declined.

She owed Ye Xiaolang a great favor now. Since he clearly didn’t want to bring her along, she would go by herself in the future. “I will. I’ll do my best to reach the Innate stage soon and head for the Rogue Cultivators’ City.”

“Good! Perhaps in the future, in the city, we’ll even be in the same group.”

After lunch, Ye Xiaolang continued deeper into the wilderness to hunt. Yun Qing finally raised her Gathering skill to level 31, but her character level was still 29, since she hadn’t gained enough combat experience.

There were few chances to encounter multiple soul corpses near Leaf Village for experience, and those at Wheat Field Village had mostly been slain by cultivators. Yun Qing turned her attention to the dungeon scrolls.

At level 31, gathering contaminated resources was incredibly lucrative. Although the experience per gather wasn’t as high as at level 30, failure was almost nonexistent, and the value of the herbs was considerable.

Her morning and afternoon harvests were both quite good. The food she’d prepared also needed to be stored in chests to avoid clogging up her system backpack.

As dusk approached, Ye Xiaolang found Yun Qing. She thought he intended to return, but instead, he asked her to prepare dinner; he planned to hunt again at night.

He had reached the Postnatal peak, with excellent night vision, and his hearing and sense of smell far surpassed those of ordinary people due to his bloodline. To save time and provide more food for the relief station, he intended to hunt as much as possible through the night.

Yun Qing had little objection. The wilderness was indeed dangerous, but it wasn’t her first night outdoors. If things became truly perilous, she could always retreat into her cave-dwelling.

After Ye Xiaolang left, Yun Qing, lacking night vision, found it increasingly difficult to see as darkness settled.

While there was still a faint glow, Yun Qing climbed into a tall tree. Taking advantage of the lingering light, she opened the “Heaven and Earth Qi Circulation Technique” that Ye Xiaolang had given her.

First, she read about the Ren and Du meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, the Twelve Principal Meridians, and over seven hundred acupoints. The tiny script made her head spin, but as an exam ace, she found memorizing them wasn’t overly difficult. If she could remember them and practice the method, she could enter the Postnatal realm—a strong motivation indeed.

She decided to wait for better light before memorizing it in detail.

Turning to the next page, a bold line caught her eye: “Those who have used external force to open their meridians may skip this section.”

Yun Qing saw that the following content explained how to guide inner qi through the meridians. Those who had used external force had already had their qi flow directed by others and could not easily change it.

Perhaps the creator of this manual had lacked the means for external opening in his youth, for much precious space was devoted to warning against such methods.

Yun Qing found comfort in this, for in the original owner’s memories, there was no mention of forcibly opening the meridians.

She flipped page after page, feeling as though she were reading an esoteric tome: how to open acupoints, how to gather qi, how to circulate the qi with intention, the routes for Small Circulation and Great Circulation—all of it fascinated her.

In the modern world, Yun Qing had always been intrigued by such things, but there were no martial arts masters to be found—at least, she had never seen or heard of any. Occasionally, one or two would show up online, but they usually turned out to be magicians.

There were all sorts of martial arts manuals online, but none were real. If you believed them, you could practice for years and still remain an ordinary person.

Now, things were different. Yun Qing was convinced that the manual in her hands was genuine. If she followed it, she was sure she could cultivate inner force.

Time slipped by as Yun Qing pored over the “Heaven and Earth Qi Circulation Technique,” until darkness finally fell, making it impossible to read the text or diagrams any longer.

Yet in her mind, based on what she had just read, she had already formed a mental map of circulating inner qi through the body with her will.

With a thought, she stored the manual in her system backpack and, almost without realizing it, Yun Qing’s body began to attempt the Small Circulation, following the mental map she’d just constructed.

She visualized inner qi within her body, circulating according to the Heaven and Earth Qi Circulation Technique.

Yun Qing seemed to sense a current of inner qi being drawn forth, guided by her will, moving her vital energy through her meridians—circulating through the three yin and three yang channels of both arms and legs, through the Belt Vessel, the five viscera and six bowels, connecting the Baihui and Huiyin points, and moving between Baihui and Yongquan.

It was a marvelous sensation. If this had happened in the modern world, she would have thought she was hallucinating.

Or perhaps, even now, it was a hallucination—but the comfortable sensation in her body felt undeniably real.

After completing one cycle of the Small Circulation, Yun Qing opened her eyes, feeling refreshed and clear-headed. When she checked her stamina, it was nearly full.

She hadn’t expended much today, and the food she ate could replenish her energy, but she hadn’t paid attention to her stamina before practicing the Small Circulation.

Her character level and experience remained unchanged, so she couldn’t be sure if this was just her imagination or if it had actually worked.

Night had fully fallen, and Ye Xiaolang had yet to return. Perched atop a tree in the forest, Yun Qing listened to the chorus of insects and birds, with the occasional roar of a tiger or call of an ape echoing from afar.

With nothing to do and darkness all around, even a “grinding emperor” had moments when she couldn’t grind.

Perhaps she should try the Great Circulation, see if she could draw in external qi?

Once the thought occurred, Yun Qing acted. She sat among the branches, and, following the route for the Great Circulation she had just memorized, guided her intent to draw in the qi from the air around her.

Soon, she felt herself entering a profound and mysterious state, as if invisible energy was flowing into her body and circulating through her meridians—or perhaps she sensed nothing at all.