After the Zhang family uncle and nephew departed, the three of them could not wait to take out the Zhenxia Mountain Cultivation Manual to examine it.
This martial arts secret manual, titled the *Zhenxia Mountain One-Yang Technique*, was an introductory manual for the Qi Refining Stage. For three healers familiar with the meridians, it was not difficult to comprehend. However, it was also apparent that this manual could probably only help open a single meridian, possessing a relatively low upper limit. Of course, its lower limit was also low, making it accessible for ordinary people to cultivate.
He Xiaoyao asked Ye Tangshi, "Teacher, will you cultivate this manual?"
Ye Tangshi replied, "I have already practiced the *Muscle-Tendon Change Classic* and the *Play of the Five Animals*, giving me a small foundation. Although my True Qi is modest, it is sufficient for treating illnesses and saving lives, so I have no need to cultivate a new manual for now. In my view, if the two of you young men study it, you might grasp the basics in just a few days, and it would hardly be surprising if you opened your meridians in three to five days."
He paused for a moment and continued, "However, once a single meridian is opened, making further progress becomes quite difficult. You can use the manual's descriptions of the meridians to better understand meridian flow from a martial arts perspective, which will be of immense help to your future practice of healing the sick and saving lives."
Li Shi'an and He Xiaoyao said delightedly, "We can actually learn this? You are too generous!"
Ye Tangshi laughed heartily and said, "I have always been generous. Whatever questions you ask me, I teach you everything I know without holding anything back or concealing a thing!"
He Xiaoyao said, "As the saying goes, 'teach the apprentice and starve the master.' Won't you keep a trick up your sleeve? With such a precious manual, you could keep it for yourself until you grow old and retire from practice, then bestow it upon your apprentices—wouldn't that be much more secure? At least it would make your apprentices more filial toward you."
Ye Tangshi laughed heartily once more and said, "There is no need. If I treat others with sincerity, my apprentices and descendants will treat me with sincerity in return. Heritage is more important. If I keep it here and do not practice it, what if it gets lost? Wouldn't that be a sheer waste of Great Knight Zhang's kind intentions? Besides, Zhang Bolun said the two of you could learn it as well; how could I go against the wishes of the giver?"
Li Shi'an and He Xiaoyao immediately bowed to express their gratitude.
Ye Tangshi went on to say, "Come, let me take your pulses and see if you have opened any meridians."
After taking their pulses, Ye Tangshi announced, "Shi'an has opened one meridian, and Xiaoyao has opened two."
Having felt countless pulses, Ye Tangshi possessed a profound understanding of the meridians. His pulse-based assessments were nearly infallible.
Li Shi'an let out a loud cry. "What? I've only opened one meridian! Why does Xiaoyao have one more than me? I'm older than he is—could his body possibly be better than mine? The little fatty!"
He Xiaoyao retorted, "Though I am a bit plump, opening meridians isn't a matter of being older or physically stronger allowing you to open more."
Ye Tangshi said, "I have only opened two meridians myself, and I am fifty-one years old with a sound constitution. To think my count matches that of Xiaoyao, a fifteen-year-old youth! So you needn't envy him, Shi'an."
Li Shi'an said, "Envy is out of the question—I'm more handsome than he is, why would I envy him! I just don't understand what determines the number of meridians a person can open."
Ye Tangshi explained, "It depends on many factors. Some are innate, some come from absorbing an abundance of the heaven and earth spiritual qi, and others are cultivated through practice. Xiaoyao, you haven't been practicing some secret manual behind our backs, have you?"
He Xiaoyao protested, "Where would I get a manual? All the medical arts I've learned came from right here with you. Though I've read many books, the two of you have read every single one of them too, and I don't know any martial artists—where would a manual come from? I'm simply lucky, that's all."
Li Shi'an mused, "Could it be related to drinking the Ancient Well water? You can't find even a few people who have opened their meridians in an entire town, yet here in Ancient Well Village, any three people you pick all have their meridians opened—who knows how many the others in the village have opened. Legend has it that this ancient well possesses the immortal and spiritual qi of heaven and earth. If we explain it that way, it's no wonder Xiaoyao can open two meridians. When martial arts clans or sects select martial artists, they usually look for those with exceptional bone structure; having three or four of the Eight Meridians open is the baseline requirement. As for those heaven-sent prodigies born with five or six meridians open, they are probably ready to practice immortality."
He Xiaoyao said, "How wonderful it would be if I could practice immortality. Shi'an, do you have any connections to introduce me?"
Li Shi'an laughed heartily. "I'd like to as well, but where would I get connections? If I had any, I'd have gone long ago. Besides, you've only opened two meridians—what kind of immortality could you cultivate? You wouldn't be able to get into any major mountain sect."
Ye Tangshi, having lived long and seen much, remarked, "Plenty of people enter immortal mountain sects through connections. I've heard there are children of high-ranking officials and nobles, even imperial offspring, or those with relatives inside the immortal sects. Yet, without reaching five meridians, they still cannot enter an immortal sect. Perhaps without opening five meridians, one cannot practice immortality, or simply cannot survive in that environment."
He Xiaoyao asked, "Teacher, have you ever thought about practicing immortality? Why are you so well-informed?"
Ye Tangshi smiled faintly and said, "You are trying to tease me, Xiaoyao. When I was your age, I too had a dream of cultivating immortality. But as the years passed, it faded away long ago."
He Xiaoyao said, "Isn't it good to have a dream? You should hold onto your dream. Now that there is a meridian-opening manual, why don't you practice it until you reach the level of four or five meridians? Who knows, you might be able to cultivate immortality and fulfill your dream."
Ye Tangshi said, "Then the two of you had better practice yourselves to death and see if there's any way to open six meridians, instantly becoming high-level immortal cultivators, shedding your mortal shells to become phoenixes soaring above the clouds and summoning the winds and rain."
He Xiaoyao said, "Let the two of us practice together and discuss it with each other. Teacher, you should offer some advice as well. After all, you are the only one who has practiced a manual and possesses True Qi."
And so, Li Shi'an and He Xiaoyao practiced frantically deep into the night. While this manual was simple to understand on paper, because neither of them had ever practiced martial arts before and possessed zero True Qi, going from zero to one, from nothing to something, was the hardest part. For a time, they could not find the trick to it. No matter how much they practiced, there was not the slightest reaction inside their bodies—where was the Qi? The only Qi they felt was exasperation!
He Xiaoyao had to admit that thinking he was a genius had been a mistake. Learning medical arts had seemed effortless only because he had Li Shi'an and Ye Tangshi guiding him from the side and had been immersed in it, watching them heal the sick every day until he was familiar with it just by observation. Now, facing a completely new domain, every beginning was difficult.
When practicing the *Zhenxia Mountain One-Yang Technique*, the practitioner had to gather the scattered Qi of the entire body into the Dantian. For someone completely devoid of True Qi, controlling the scattered Qi within the body was immensely difficult. Some wisps of Qi were far away, others close by—for instance, the Qi at the Zusanli point on the leg needed to be transported to the Dantian, or the scattered Qi from the stomach meridian needed to be gathered into the Dantian. The distances differed, the difficulties varied, and the methods of exerting effort were diverse and distinct. He Xiaoyao practiced through the first half of the night without the slightest result, his Dantian remaining completely empty.
He returned home, drew a bucket of water from the water vat, heated it up, and poured it into a large wooden tub, soaking in the hot water while meditating.
The manual only taught the direction and principles, omitting the finer details and small techniques. He Xiaoyao really wanted to curse those fellows from Zhenxia Mountain for writing a manual like this instead of providing clear, easy-to-understand, and practical instructions.
As he soaked, He Xiaoyao's mind and body relaxed. He stopped trying so hard and simply let his body steep in the hot water, feeling as though he were floating on the clouds.
A quarter of an hour later, He Xiaoyao reflected that since the goal was to gather the body's scattered Qi into the Dantian, the difficulty lay in the fact that not a single thread of True Qi in his body was obedient or controllable. If he tried to practice using the whole body simultaneously, the difficulty would be more than a hundred times greater. It would be better to try practicing one small meridian first.
Which meridian should he practice first, then?
Not knowing which one was already open, he had no choice but to test them one by one.
Thus, he decided to try the Yangqiao Vessel first.
The Yangqiao Vessel originated at the heel, running all the way up the outer posterior side of the body to the head and entering the Fengchi point behind the ear.
First, he let his body, soaking in the water, relax completely, then silently visualized his Dantian as a hollow, black hole with suction.
Next, he took a slow breath in, visualizing a wisp of Qi as fine as silken thread, slowly and step by step rising upward from his left heel.
After practicing for half an hour, there was not the slightest reaction.
Then he tried the Yinqiao Vessel.
This vessel similarly originated in the center of the heel, running up the inner side of the foot, then straight up the front-center of the torso to the head, entering the Jingming point.
Again, he silently visualized his Dantian as a hollow, black hole with suction.
Next, he took a slow breath in, visualizing a wisp of Qi as fine as silken thread, slowly and step by step rising upward from his right heel.
After half an hour of practice, a tiny wisp of breath actually surged up from his heel! That was it—this was the one he had opened!
He continued to practice. Over and over again, sometimes stirring, sometimes unresponsive, but with every extra quarter-hour of practice, the airflow advanced a tiny bit further toward the Jingming point.
Since this breakthrough in his cultivation had been achieved under the condition of soaking in hot water, He Xiaoyao dared not alter this environment. He proceeded to heat water five or six more times, continuing his practice while immersed until his skin turned pale and his fingers wrinkled. Finally, during his sixth soak, a thread of True Qi in the Yinqiao Vessel finally reached the Jingming point!
He Xiaoyao could not help letting out a loud cheer, slamming his hands fiercely against the water's surface like a joyful little duck.
After drying himself off and dressing, he looked outside and realized dawn had already broken. He hurried over to the medical clinic to sweep the floors, wipe the tables, boil hot water, and so on.
Li Shi'an was startled when he saw He Xiaoyao. "Whoa! Why do you have two dark circles like a giant panda? You didn't go out to whisper sweet nothings with Cuihua, did you?"
He Xiaoyao replied in an exhausted, feeble tone, "Ah, don't ask—it's from practicing cultivation. Look in a mirror yourself, you're in the exact same state!"
Indeed, both of them had worked equally hard, and both harbored the same yearning to cultivate immortality!
Just then, the sound of a gong drifted from the head of the village. *Clang, clang, clang.* A man shouted at the top of his lungs, "Villagers, listen up! Three nights from now, the Zhudi Mountain Sect will descend upon our village to recruit disciples. Any villagers interested, along with their families, are requested to gather at the open square in front of the village after dinner that evening!"
He Xiaoyao glanced over and asked Li Shi'an, "What's going on? How is it that the moment we talk about cultivating immortality, an actual immortal sect shows up?"
At that moment, Ye Tangshi returned from outside and said, "Have you both heard? They really are recruiting immortal cultivators! There truly are immortals on Zhudi Mountain! The two of you should go try your luck three nights from now."
Li Shi'an said, "I think I'll skip it, Master. I'm already twenty-one this year, and I've chosen to study medicine under you. Healing the sick and saving the common people is my lifelong dream, and I am already living it."
Ye Tangshi said, "Even if you study medicine, it won't delay your cultivation of immortality, and cultivating immortality won't delay your pursuit of healing the sick and saving the world. A medical practitioner can save individuals, while an immortal cultivator can save the world; the two do not contradict each other."
He Xiaoyao asked, "Sir, are you planning to go as well?"
Ye Tangshi said, "I'm going, I'm going—of course I'll go take a look. Hahaha."
He Xiaoyao said, "Why would the recruitment take place at night? Wouldn't things be clearer during the day? Could they be fake immortals? I've heard that demons and monsters love to roam about at night!"
Ye Tangshi said, "An immortal should be easy to tell apart from the fake ones at a glance. Didn't they come find the village chief during the day? Choosing the night is likely because everyone is busy right now, with folks working the fields during the day and only having free time at night, while some still have to study during daytime hours. Besides, nighttime might make it easier for immortals to see clearly and select candidates."
Li Shi'an said, "Master makes sense."
After discussing it, the three of them decided to go check it out together three nights later and play it by ear. Such a spectacle might not happen even once in a lifetime—who could resist going?
After finishing his chores for the day, He Xiaoyao went back to practicing. A wisp of True Qi emerged from the Yinqiao Vessel; though scant, it had finally begun to form. He then used the same method to practice the other meridians, but try as he might, only the Chong Vessel yielded any Qi. He thought to himself, *It turns out I've only opened the Yinqiao Vessel and the Chong Vessel, and both are Yin meridians while the other six are blocked. I'll focus on these two first and wait until I have more True Qi before worrying about the rest.*
In truth, when practitioners spoke of the Eight Meridians being blocked, it did not mean they were physically obstructed in a way that impaired normal bodily function; rather, while an ordinary person's body could function normally, it simply could not channel True Qi.
If the degree of meridian openness was sufficient to circulate and store Qi, it was what practitioners called "opening the meridians."
Thus, opening meridians was the process of cultivating True Qi, clearing and widening the meridians until they flowed smoothly.
The next day was the Dragon Boat Festival.
Since childhood, He Xiaoyao had learned how to grow vegetables, cook, and wrap zongzi from his grandmother. After finishing the sweeping, he wrapped a large batch of zongzi, boiled them, and brought them over for Ye Tangshi and Li Shi'an to eat.
Li Shi'an said, "Xiaoyao, not only are you brilliant at acupuncture and healing, but your zongzi are also this delicious. It feels like there's nothing you can't do!"
He Xiaoyao replied, "I have no choice; it's forced upon me. If I don't learn and do things myself, how would I eat? You two are always busy seeing patients, so the best I can do is help whip up some good food. I'm just a little odd-job hand, hehe!"
Cooking and wrapping zongzi were things anyone could learn as long as they were willing; there were only lazy people, not those incapable of learning.
Ye Tangshi said, "Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. This afternoon, let's slaughter a chicken and make some good food."
Li Shi'an and He Xiaoyao chimed in together to say yes.
There were no patients that afternoon, so the medical clinic closed early, and everyone bustled about to prepare a table full of delicious dishes.
Three of the dishes were cooked by He Xiaoyao, while the other three were prepared by the mistress of the house—Ye Tangshi's wife, Chen Qingshuang. She had returned to her maternal home a few days prior and had only come back to the clinic today.
Chen Qingshuang asked, "Shi'an, during the few days I was away, did your master secretly drink any alcohol?"
Li Shi'an answered, "Mistress, no he didn't."
He Xiaoyao added, "Mistress, if he were drinking secretly, how could Brother Shi'an possibly find out? Am I right, Teacher?"
Ye Tangshi scolded, "You little brat, are you just trying to stir up trouble? Fine, your allowance for this month is docked—five coins deducted."
He Xiaoyao let out a loud cry. "Oh no! You can't play like that, Teacher! I haven't slacked off for a single day, you shouldn't dock my money! Mistress, won't you put in a good word for me? If you can persuade Teacher not to dock my money, I'll tell you how to figure out whether Teacher has been drinking these past few days, how's that? There are all sorts of methods in medical arts, you know."
Chen Qingshuang urged, "Tell me, tell me quickly! Tell me what medical method can test for it, and I'll give you ten coins..."
Li Shi'an chimed in, "Actually, the animal kingdom has a way to test it too—by using the nose..."
Chen Qingshuang snapped, "Then wouldn't I be acting like a little puppy?!"
After the meal, the group brewed some tea, sitting around the hearth for a chat into the night.
Li Shi'an asked, "Xiaoyao, why don't you formally apprentice to learn medical arts? Actually, your comprehension for medicine is higher than mine. Look, I entered the doors a few years earlier than you, and now your skill level surpasses mine, even though you've only studied for six years while I've studied for ten."
Ye Tangshi said, "Xiaoyao possesses exceptionally high talent. If he were to study medicine, he would undoubtedly become a renowned physician famed throughout the region in the future, and his medical skills would surely far surpass my own. However, everyone has their own aspirations, and we cannot force Xiaoyao."