Chapter 2
The first page of the booklet described the technique as an unparalleled art that would allow one to become immortal, akin to the sages from the legends . It stated that when trained to the extreme, the practitioner would have a life as long as, if not longer than, the heavens . However, that was far into the future; The first level of this heaven defying technique, the only which he could practice, was less amazing, though still heaven defying . According to the booklet, when one trained the first level of the technique, his lifespan could be permanently boosted to ten times of what he would normally live! A normal Qi Gathering cultivator could live up to about 200 years, but if he trained this technique even once, he could permanently boost it to two thousand years! However, when he broke through to the Qi Sea realm, he would need to circulate the technique again to boost his lifespan once more . However, since a Qi Sea cultivator could live up to 600 years at most, with this technique, he could live up to six thousand! This was a heaven defying cultivation technique! After all, if one had ten times as much cultivation time as his peers, then even without great talent, he would be able to break through even after all his peers died! If news of this technique leaked in the cultivation world, a bloody war would befall on the one rumoured to posses it .
"This . . . If I train even the first level, I will be able to . . . live 2000 years?!" To Meng Li, such a concept sounded utterly ridiculous . He was merely twenty five - even living to fifty was practically double his current life, not to mention two thousand! This was the time all of modern history existed! It was a concept so alien to him he couldn't even begin to comprehend it .
Deciding not to think too much about it since he couldn't really take it all in, he decided to just practice it . The instructions in the booklet were clear, and the art seemed quite easy . However, when Meng Li tried it, he realised that it was much harder to do in practice than it was on paper . The instructions were to circulate qi around the body in a specific path . It was not the same path as the one described in the booklet he used to break through, but it had some similarities . It too, travelled through practically every part of his body . But the hard part was that while he was circulating the qi, he also needed to constantly revolve it . The revolution itself was quite peculiar as well . If you imagined that a single strand of qi was like a small stream of water, the revolution split this small stream of water into tiny particles, so tiny that the qi was practically gaseous compared to when it was a strand . Then, with the core of the rotation on the path the qi was traveling, the fog of qi had to spread around his whole body and rotate . The centre of the rotation had to constantly be on the path, or the technique had to be restarted . While this was all happening, Meng Li also had to stab specific points on his body as the qi cyclone was travelling through that part . It all required immense control over both his qi, and body . Despite being an art that theoretically could be performed at the level of Qi Gathering, practically it was useless since the skill level required was too high for most practitioners . However, Meng Li was not normal . He had a feeling that if he wanted to get out of the white room, he had to succeed in performing this art . Thus, he persisted . Every time he failed, he simply recharged his qi and tried again . And again . And again . Every time his qi was exhausted, he simply meditated to recover . He didn't give up . What he didn't notice however, was that each time his qi was exhausted, the amount he recovered was slightly more than what he had before . Although it was not much, with the trance he had fallen into, he repeated it countless times . So, the increase started to build up . He slowly rose through the first level of Qi Gathering, slowly reaching the peak . One time, when he recovered his Qi, he was no longer in the first level, but in the 2nd . But he didn't notice it . He was buried in the cycle of trying, failing, recovering and trying again . It was madness . Days passed, but he didn't stop . It was as though he didn't need basic things, such as food and water anymore . But as he kept trying and failing, he slowly got better and better . At first he would fail at the 1 or 2%, but slowly, he managed to bring his average up to 10%, 20%, even 30% . He didn't stop . His cultivation increased as well . 3rd level of Qi Gathering, 4th level of Qi Gathering, 5th level of Qi Gathering . . . The small thread of Qi which previously circulated within his meridians was now a stream . His control over it also improved tremendously . . . He was now capable of completing 50% of the nameless technique . He was fortunate that a failure to complete it didn't create any injury, or else he would've died a long time ago . . . Still, he kept trying . 60%, 70%, 80% . . . 6th level of Qi Gathering, 7th level . . . 85%, 90% . . . 8th level of Qi Gathering, 9th level of Qi Gathering . . . 95%, 96% . . . peak of the 9th level of Qi Gathering . 99% . It was the moment of truth . . . After repeatedly trying and failing at the last step, Meng Li's closed eyes were bloodshot .
"I . . . Have . . . To . . . Do . . . This . . . " He muttered through his clenched teeth . He was lacking one last thing, one last step . There was something missing, that he needed to do in order to complete that last 1% of the technique, otherwise he would fail each and every time . He stopped the constant attempts to think . 'What is this technique even doing? Revolving the mist of qi around my entire body with the centre being the path . . . What is the goal here?'
He needed to observe what was happening on a closer level . So, he started the technique he was intimately familiar with once again . However, this time he did it extremely slowly, and focused on one part of his body to sense what was happening on the level of his cells . Once he focused on his finger, he had a revelation . The extremely tiny particles of Qi, while revolving through his body, were tearing the cells and healing them immediately, before he even registered anything happened . This way, the cells were strengthened through the repeated torture of being torn apart and mended together . So, he reckoned that to finish this technique, he needed to do one last push, where all the cells were simultaneously torn apart and healed immediately . So, what was a way he would be able to create an extreme destructive force? By creating another cyclone of qi mist, and spinning it in the other direction . He would need to be extremely careful, with the spinning time ending extremely quickly in order not to damage his cells permanently, and instantly convert all of the qi to help heal his torn cells .
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