Chapter 18

In the blink of an eye, more than three months had already passed.

For Zhu Lingwu, the days had been quite fulfilling, but the cultivation of the Ninefold Thunder Dominating Body Art was not as easy as he had imagined.

In fact, compared to others, his cultivation speed was already quite good. He had already broken through eighteen of the twenty-four acupoints on the Conception Vessel.

The remaining six acupoints were indeed quite far, and most importantly, he was stuck at the Qihai acupoint. This acupoint seemed to be the most difficult to break through on the Conception Vessel, and it was also quite far from the heart. Therefore, after three days of attempts, Zhu Lingwu still couldn't break through, and he eventually felt his strength waning, so he had to temporarily give up.

Fortunately, Zhu Lingwu was not stubborn. Since he was stuck here, he decided to switch to cultivating the Governor Vessel. He then broke through the acupoints on his back, from the Dazhui acupoint all the way to the Changqiang acupoint. Zhu Lingwu felt that the Governor Vessel was much easier to cultivate than the Conception Vessel. However, he didn't dare to easily attempt the acupoints on his head, even so, he had already broken through fifteen acupoints on the Governor Vessel.

However, the drop of special blood in his heart, which carried electric power, was still slowly developing and had not yet reached the threshold for qualitative change. It still could not be considered Heart Essence Blood.

However, in just three months, to have made such rapid progress in unblocking acupoints was something Zhu Lingwu himself found hard to believe.

Of course, before doing this, Zhu Lingwu had naturally asked Liu Ping whether there would be any adverse effects if he switched to cultivating the Governor Vessel before fully unblocking the Conception Vessel.

Liu Ping didn't see any problem with Zhu Lingwu's approach. After all, unblocking acupoints was just about controlling one's body. It didn't matter which acupoints were unblocked first. Before ultimately connecting the Conception and Governor Vessels, they were originally cultivated independently.

As long as he spent more time each day, driving his qi and blood to circulate through these acupoints and meridians several times, and didn't neglect his practice, it was just a more complex process. After completing the circulation of the Conception Vessel, he could then circulate through the Governor Vessel several times.

However, Liu Ping's feelings about Zhu Lingwu's cultivation speed were quite complex. According to the normal cultivation speed, it would take at least four or five years to reach such a realm.

If one wanted to connect the Conception and Governor Vessels to achieve the Small Circulation, it would take at least ten years, even for those with some talent in martial arts cultivation, like Liu Ping himself. He started practicing the Crimson Flame Profound Art at the age of ten and only connected the Conception and Governor Vessels at the age of twenty, entering the Small Circulation realm.

For someone with poorer aptitude, it might take over ten years to connect the Conception and Governor Vessels, and some might never achieve it in their lifetime.

But at Zhu Lingwu's current speed, it was estimated that he would connect the Conception and Governor Vessels and enter the Small Circulation realm in less than half a year, allowing his qi and blood to automatically circulate through the Conception and Governor Vessels.

With this foundation, connecting the twelve main meridians of the Great Circulation was just a matter of time. At Zhu Lingwu's current cultivation speed, it might take about ten years, or even less, to complete.

In other words, by the time Zhu Lingwu turned eighteen, he would be a high-level expert at the Ninth Level of the Postnatal Martial Arts realm.

This left the now forty-something Liu Ping feeling quite helpless. In the ranking of martial arts talents among the commoner clans, he was considered a highly talented genius, but he only entered the Ninth Level of the Postnatal Martial Arts realm a few years ago, around the age of thirty-eight or thirty-nine.

So what did that make Zhu Lingwu now?

An absolute genius in the cultivation of Postnatal Martial Arts?

It should be noted that the cultivation of Postnatal Martial Arts does not depend on whether one is a noble's offspring. The innate spiritual energy in one's blood, while it can play a role in the cultivation of internal martial arts, cannot make one's martial talent so abnormally high.

Liu Ping had also carefully examined Zhu Lingwu's pulse, but he couldn't detect anything unusual. He could only say that Zhu Lingwu had achieved such cultivation results through the most normal methods. Could it be the effect of the Ninefold Thunder Dominating Body Art?

However, Liu Ping had also studied the Ninefold Thunder Dominating Body Art in private. Although this cultivation method was indeed considered a top-tier internal martial arts cultivation technique, it was impossible for it to cause such rapid cultivation speed.

This was almost like the speed of cultivating demonic arts (of course, the demonic arts mentioned here were also cultivation techniques in the realm of Postnatal Martial Arts). However, demonic arts would cause hidden dangers to the body, and he should have been able to detect them from Zhu Lingwu's pulse.

Zhu Lingwu's pulse was long and steady, unlike the rapid and chaotic pulse of those who practiced demonic arts.

In the end, Liu Ping could only sigh, perhaps Zhu Lingwu's talent was just too good.

Faced with Zhu Lingwu's inquiries, Liu Ping could only comfort him, saying that haste makes waste, and the foundation in martial arts cultivation was important, so he should slow down a bit.

In his heart, he was actually thinking, "Oh my, can you please act more normal? Don't keep stimulating me."

Therefore, Liu Ping only asked Zhu Lingwu to pause his progress in unblocking acupoints and to properly nourish the acupoints he had already broken through, to avoid neglecting the foundation due to rapid cultivation, which could lead to mental issues and mistakes in future cultivation, even causing a mental breakdown.

Zhu Lingwu, of course, didn't know about Liu Ping's inner thoughts, but he humbly accepted the advice of this professional.

He indeed felt that there were some issues with his recent cultivation. He couldn't break through the Qihai acupoint on the Conception Vessel. The blood flow to the Qihai acupoint consumed too much of the electric power and life energy in the blood, leading to insufficient strength to overcome the airflow surging from the Qihai acupoint.

The more than ten acupoints on the Governor Vessel in his head always made him feel dizzy and disoriented whenever he tried to break through them. Clearly, these acupoints were connected to many regions of the brain. Although the resistance from the acupoints was not significant, the higher up he went, the more it involved the brain. Zhu Lingwu was indeed hesitant and dared not act rashly.

Since that was the case, he decided to take a break.

So in the past few days, he only nourished the acupoints he had already broken through and did not further his cultivation, giving him a lot of free time.

He also needed to purchase some herbs and supplies for his cultivation of the Ninefold Thunder Dominating Body Art, so Zhu Lingwu decided to go to the market in Tongshan County.

Since Zhu Lingwu came to this world, he had never left the Tongshan County government office.

Initially, he was confined to his private residence to recuperate, and then he devoted himself to the cultivation of the Ninefold Thunder Dominating Body Art, truly becoming a tech-savvy recluse.

However, this reclusive nature had already been formed when he was a lich in his original world. Although he lived among humans, he was not a normal human, so he usually stayed indoors and rarely went out. This reclusive personality seemed to have carried over.

Of course, Zhu Lingwu had a vague impression of Tongshan County, as the original owner of this body, an eight-year-old child, had visited the market a few times.

Otherwise, this child would not have encountered that commoner conman, leading to the subsequent events.

Although Tongshan County was a small county on the southwestern border of Chong'an Kingdom, its bustling activity was no less than that of a first-class county in the interior of the country...