Chapter 70: Seven Stars
The heat made Anji shiver. Even though Yan Ping was already doing her best to suppress her cultivation level when guiding Anji through the Tai Yin Meridian channel, the warm, soothing bath quickly turned into an unbearable sauna. Anji’s breathing became laboured, but she did not request Yan Ping to stop. With difficulty, the student and teacher finally reached the Yunmen acupoint. There was only one more checkpoint to clear for the Tai Yin Meridian path to be completed.
Truthfully, Yan Ping had her concerns. According to Doctor He, Anji had a history of small asthma attacks when she was an infant. Many children often suffer from asthma but outgrow it as they grow older. Weak lungs were usually the cause of respiratory issues. Proper nutrition and exercise would strengthen the lungs over time, and asthma would disappear. However, Anji had shown no signs of improvement in her lungs even after her third birthday. The tonics that she took helped to suppress the symptoms for a while. Yet, when Anji exerted herself in exercising physically, the laboured breathing would return.
"Breathe," she instructed. "From your nose, not from your mouth. Focus on the sensations inside you instead of outside. The air will never disappear, even if you cannot feel it. There’s only one more acupoint to go. The Zhongfu point is very close to the Yunmen point. What did Doctor He tell you about the functions of the Zhongfu point?"
Diverting her focus from the intense heat, Anji searched her memory to recall the medical functions of the Zhongfu point as her teacher guided them away from the Yunmen point.
"The Zhongfu point is a major acupoint that connects the Tai Yin Meridian to the core. It is located in the intercostal muscle beneath the collarbone and is aligned with the armpit. It helps to clear heat and dampness from the lungs. The Zhongfu acupoint is commonly used to treat cough, wheezing and asthma, although it is sometimes used to relieve shoulder and back tensions."
As Anji recited what she knew, Yan Ping made it halfway to the last checkpoint they needed. Anji might not know it yet, but she would soon figure it out. In guiding her through Yan Ping’s personal Tai Yin Meridian channel, the blind cultivator also laid down some temporary spiritual channels in her little disciple’s unawakened meridian. Without a golden core to act like a furnace, borrowing external power to forge a meridian path forcefully was the only way Anji could cultivate.
This method was not often employed among cultivators because it reduces the stronger cultivator’s cultivator base. The drawbacks could last from a week to a decade, depending on how much energy they expend. Only dual cultivators favour this technique. Moreover, there must be a high compatibility level between the two cultivator’s spiritual roots for this to work.
While Yan Ping pulled Anji along the last stretch of the Tai Yin Meridian path, the little girl felt as if she was drowning in a sea of fire. No matter how hard she breathed, it felt as if her lungs would not accept oxygen. Once, she had a fever that made her bedridden for half a month. She thought that was the worst kind of heat she would ever experience. However, this took the cake. It was a new level of burning up with no way out. Anji had no strength left to resist the searing agony and resigned to fate, melting completely into Yan Ping’s pull.
It took a while for Anji to finally stop resisting. The moment she did, Yan Ping did not miss the opening. She seized the opportunity and dragged Anji past all the pressure, dropping into the Zhongfu meridian and stewing in it for a while. The last temporary spirit channel was completed in Anji’s body, and Yan Ping started transferring part of her purified qi strands to her student’s body to rebuild the basic structure of the meridian. However, she was merely the power source. It was up to Anji to determine how she wanted to utilise this resource and establish her cultivation path.