Chapter 9

From beginning to end, Chen Qing did not show up, but before Chen Hai left, Su Ziling came over again, following Chen Qing’s orders to reclaim the talisman that allowed him to enter and exit the Qingxi Peak’s Jianyun Cliff Cave.

This meant that Chen Hai would no longer be able to enter Chen Lie’s Jianyun Cliff Cave at will unless summoned, let alone wander around Qingxi Peak freely.

He would receive a new talisman for the Tieliu Ridge Dao Academy, but the many privileges he enjoyed due to Chen Lie would no longer be available.

Afterward, Su Ziling also went into hiding and did not show up again.

Although Chen Lie’s will could not be defied, Chen Qing was in charge at this moment. Even if Chen Hai was not afraid of Su Ziling’s ill intentions, he did not dare to go to Chen Qing to plead for help, secretly feeling that this tigress had a fiery temper. The fact that she did not strike him dead or throw him off Jianyun Cliff was already a sign of respect for her father, Chen Lie.

Chen Hai simply packed his belongings into a bundle and walked out of his bedroom. He saw that Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi were still waiting in the courtyard with empty hands, seemingly ready to go down the mountain.

Chen Hai was slightly stunned and asked, "Are we walking to Tieliu Ridge?"

"Miss said that the spirit cranes of Jianyun Cliff are equivalent to Dao soldiers. Since Young Master Xing is not yet a Dao soldier, riding a spirit crane might cause these feathered beasts to throw a tantrum halfway and drop Young Master Xing..." Qian Wenyi, being more tactful, explained with a smile.

Chen Hai coldly snorted and glanced at the courtyard where Chen Qing was in seclusion. Even though he did not dare to provoke this tigress at the moment, he could not suppress the resentment in his heart.

Chen Qing was not just trying to get him out of Jianyun Cliff for peace and quiet; she was clearly giving him a lesson.

The Wuwei Army was responsible for the military defense of the northwest region of the Great Yan Empire. As the two sides of the same coin, the Taowei Sect’s core function was to cultivate and supply qualified generals and lower-ranking military officers to the Wuwei Army.

True disciples like Chen Lie held important military positions in the Wuwei Army, and the most elite Dao soldiers of the Wuwei Army were almost all composed of the lowest-ranking Dao soldiers of the Taowei Sect.

Therefore, in addition to the inner gates of the seven peaks deep in the Taowei Mountains, such as Qingxi Peak, the Taowei Sect also had multiple Dao academies in the various counties of Hexi.

The many Dao academies of the Taowei Sect corresponded to the outer gate system of ordinary sects. However, since the main function of these Dao academies was to cultivate lower-ranking military officers or elite Dao soldiers for the Wuwei Army, the lowest-ranking disciples admitted to the Dao academies had no distinction between servant disciples and outer gate disciples; they were all called Dao soldiers.

Tieliu Ridge, where Chen Hai was going, was one of the many outer gate Dao academies of the Taowei Sect, located in the southwestern corner of the Taowei Mountains, adjacent to the important town of Mengcheng. It was a key point for entering the Taowei Mountains from the various counties of Hexi and connecting to the border counties of Jinzhou to the west.

Although Tieliu Ridge was part of the Taowei Mountains, it was actually the tail end of the Taowei Mountains. There were paths connecting the two, but they were over a thousand miles apart.

Now, Chen Qing did not let him ride a spirit bird to Tieliu Ridge but instead had him walk over a thousand miles under the "escort" of Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi. Was this not a way to show him who was in charge?

Over the years, although Chen Hai had become more worldly and smooth, he still had a streak of pride. He felt that Chen Qing wanted to give him a lesson, but he did not believe she would dare to let him die of exhaustion in the Taowei Mountains.

To turn the situation around and stay in the Taowei Sect to cultivate, he could not let Chen Qing, Zhao Shan, or Qian Wenyi look down on him. More importantly, to survive and adapt his soul to his new body, he had to cultivate his physical body intensely.

This kind of hardship was nothing for a martial cultivator who trained his physical body.

After thinking about this, Chen Hai did not go to argue with Chen Qing. He packed his belongings and walked down the stone steps of Qingxi Peak, step by step.

Although the spirit medicines Chen Lie gave him were of the highest quality, which ordinary people could not even dream of, Chen Hai had only been unconscious in bed for seven or eight days and no longer felt the pain of broken bones, but his body was not fully recovered.

Chen Hai had not even left Qingxi Peak and was still a distance from the foot of the mountain when his heels began to swell and hurt as if pricked by needles.

Seeing a few clusters of purple bamboo-like shrubs with seven or eight purple fruits the size of a baby’s fist in a rocky ditch by the roadside, Chen Hai thought they were low-grade spirit fruits called purple bamboo fruits. Despite the pain in his legs, he gritted his teeth and walked down the stone steps to pick the seven or eight purple bamboo fruits. He gave one each to Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi and said, "It will take ten to fifteen days to reach Tieliu Ridge. Uncle Zhao, Uncle Qian, have a couple of purple bamboo fruits to quench your thirst..."

Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi thought that Yao Xing would start complaining and cursing after supporting himself for half a day. Seeing him still able to be polite, they were secretly surprised but did not show it. They firmly refused the purple bamboo fruits, saying, "We dare not violate the mountain rules..."

Although there were no explicit prohibitions, how many of the attendants, maids, and retainers of the various cave dwellings on Qingxi Peak dared to act as Chen Hai did in the mountains?

Chen Hai, who was about to be expelled from Qingxi Peak and would have few opportunities to enjoy privileges in the future, did not hesitate. He bit into one of the fist-sized purple bamboo fruits, feeling a surge of saliva and a burning heat spreading through his body.

Although the purple bamboo fruit was a low-grade spirit fruit that no one cared about on Qingxi Peak, it was like a powerful elixir to Chen Hai at this moment. His body suddenly felt hot, as if it were about to burst from an invisible force.

This was the result of a weak body unable to handle the nourishment.

Fortunately, the medicinal power of the purple bamboo fruit was not particularly strong. Although Chen Hai felt some discomfort at first, he did not bleed from the seven orifices.

Since the snake bracelet was embedded in his wrist, it seemed to have become a special organ in his body, allowing Chen Hai’s consciousness to easily enter the Blood Cloud Wasteland...

At this moment, the puppet body was sitting in the endless desolate wasteland, surrounded by strange skeletons, emitting a faint green light. Under Chen Hai’s perception, countless green threads spread from the throat to the limbs and bones of the puppet body...

As Zuo Er had said, the movement of true essence or vital energy in the meridians would be reflected in the puppet body like a mirror. These intricate green threads were the direct manifestation of the medicinal power of the purple bamboo fruit being converted into vital energy in the body.

However, he did not expect the meridians in the human body to be so dense...

Carefully observing the fiery medicinal power of the purple bamboo fruit spreading through the body, Chen Hai noticed that these green threads varied in thickness and complexity, forming twelve main meridians that ran through the body, despite their intricate web-like structure.

This was the origin of the twelve main meridians. Although the *Dao Bing Tong Xuan Bu Lu* described the twelve main meridians, it was not as intuitive and profound as seeing them with his own eyes.

Chen Hai took out the *Dao Bing Tong Xuan Bu Lu* from his bag and compared it, quickly identifying the twelve main meridians, including the three yang and three yin meridians of the feet and hands, without any error.

Chen Hai was secretly amazed. When he combed through Yao Xing’s memories, he found that Yao Xing had also studied the *Dao Bing Tong Xuan Bu Lu* but had not fully understood the specific locations of the twelve main meridians in the body. It was no wonder that Zuo Er, the old man, felt that giving him this puppet body was a great honor.

Chen Hai also noticed that the six main meridians in the lower legs and feet of the puppet body were slightly red.

Subconsciously, his real body reached back to touch his heels, and the puppet body mirrored the action. The more swollen and painful the area, the redder it appeared.

After walking for half a day, Chen Hai had taken countless steps, and his feet were already injured. He did not expect that the puppet body could even reflect the injuries of his real body so vividly...

As the fiery medicinal power of the purple bamboo fruit spread through the meridians in his feet, the redness and swelling in the puppet body’s feet decreased, and the swelling in his real legs also improved slightly. This showed that the purple bamboo fruit not only replenished vital energy but also had some healing effects.

However, the half-crippled body left by Yao Xing could not fully absorb the medicinal power of a single purple bamboo fruit. Through the mirror-like reflection of the puppet body, he saw that the medicinal power spread too quickly in his body, with only a small part being absorbed, and most of it was lost through sweat, wasting a lot.

With this lesson, Chen Hai did not swallow a whole purple bamboo fruit again. Instead, he bit off a large piece and held it in his mouth, slowly chewing and swallowing as he walked down the mountain, hoping to reduce the loss of medicinal power.

This method worked well.

The deep Taowei Mountains were unimaginably high and deep. Even though there was a simple mountain path between Qingxi Peak and Tieliu Ridge, it took Chen Hai over half a month to reach Tieliu Ridge.

Although the journey of over ten days was extremely difficult, Chen Hai managed to endure it.

Tieliu Ridge was a branch of the Taowei Mountains extending southwest. Although the terrain was still rugged, it was much more manageable than the Taowei Mountains. There were roads between the mountains that could accommodate carriages, and Chen Hai and his companions could hire a carriage to reach the Dao Academy.

At this moment, Chen Hai felt as if his hands and feet no longer belonged to him, wishing he could lie down on the roadside and never get up again.

However, he could not lose face. Since he had come this far, he had to keep up the act.

He could not collapse at the last moment.

Chen Hai sat down on a stone by the roadside, took off his boots, and revealed his blood-soaked, injured feet, with the blood soaking through the grass padding in his boots.

He glanced at Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi and said casually, "We are at Tieliu Ridge now. Uncle Zhao, Uncle Qian, you can rest assured and return to Qingxi Peak to report to Chen Qing."

It was as if the bloody, nearly crushed feet belonged to someone else.

Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi were secretly amazed. When they set out, they did not expect Young Master Xing to make it to the end. According to Miss Chen’s plan, they were to make him suffer, but once they delivered him to Tieliu Ridge, they would no longer be responsible for his life or death. They even thought that if Young Master Xing threw a tantrum and refused to enter the Dao Academy, leaving the Taowei Sect, it would be even easier.

They also saw that the head of the family was extremely disappointed in this nephew but still had a responsibility to take care of him.

During the journey, Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi, both seasoned soldiers with late Xuanxuan Realm cultivation, felt that they could barely hold on. Seeing Chen Hai’s injured feet, they were even more shocked. They could not understand how this playboy had changed so much.

Chen Hai did not know what Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi were thinking. His feet were injured, but he felt an uncontrollable excitement inside.

After over ten days of travel, Chen Hai seemed exhausted, his body almost collapsing, and his feet were nearly crushed. However, by a stroke of luck, as they were about to leave the Taowei Mountains and climb over a mountain ridge, the vital energy in his limbs and bones suddenly activated like a boiling spring, pouring into the Shaoyang main meridians in his feet.

Although this moment was fleeting, it left Chen Hai in shock and confusion.

Cultivators of the mystic arts used the secret visualization techniques of their sects to refine their souls and guide vital energy through the meridians. Martial cultivators, on the other hand, had to reach a certain level in their cultivation of profound martial arts that aligned with the true meaning of martial arts before they could activate the vital energy in their bodies and guide it through the meridians.

The circulation of vital energy in the meridians not only refined the vital energy and strengthened the meridians but also tempered the muscles, bones, and skin near the meridians.

Chen Hai had never cultivated any profound techniques, and the fragmented memories of Yao Xing did not involve any such techniques. How could an unintentional movement activate the vital energy in his body like a boiling spring?

To say that an unintentional movement aligned with the true meaning of martial arts was too absurd, right?

Chen Hai had some basic knowledge of cultivation from combing through Yao Xing’s fragmented memories, but what he experienced did not match his understanding.