Chapter 104: Purifying the Heart

"The Seventh Meridian realm, achieved!"

A moment later, Zhuang Jin felt his internal energy consolidate. He opened his eyes and stood up, feeling as light as a swallow; the slightest movement made him feel as if he might drift off the ground.

'This is merely an illusion, yet the breakthrough to the Seventh Meridian truly brings immense changes. There are three primary ones: first, a heaven-defying increase in both the quantity and quality of my internal energy; second, the birth of a new force beyond Mingjin—Anjin, or Hidden Force!'

'Unlike Mingjin, Anjin is a force of a different nature—more insidious and lethal. It can be used independently or layered upon Mingjin.'

Zhuang Jin picked up a walnut that Chen Yun had prepared for him. Silently channeling his Anjin, he applied pressure. The shell remained intact, but when he cracked it open, the kernel inside had been reduced to fine powder.

'The third point is a massive increase in speed!'

He could clearly feel it: while he had gained speed when opening the three Yin and three Yang meridians of his hands, it was nowhere near the magnitude of this breakthrough.

Just as one cannot slim down only their legs while running, every meridian opened provides some enhancement to speed and agility. However, it is undeniable that the meridians of the legs provide a far greater boost than those of the arms.

'The hand meridians were mostly for augmenting output, whereas the leg meridians are primarily for boosting speed. Compared to the Six-Meridian realm, the Seventh is essentially a high-mobility artillery platform!'

Zhuang Jin finally understood why there was an unspoken rule that those of the Seventh Meridian should not strike at those below them. To a Seventh-Meridian martial artist, even those who have mastered the Six Meridians or the Black Fiend Palm are nothing; descending upon them is nothing short of a massacre.

'And this is without me even practicing any movement techniques!'

'With such a heaven-defying leap in strength, it is no wonder that the transition from the Sixth to the Seventh Meridian marks the promotion from a mere servant to a guard!'

A guard is meant to be the "foundation that protects the family and clan," and since they are a foundation, they cannot be easily sacrificed.

He had now transcended the level of cannon fodder. In the eyes of the Shen family, he carried some weight and had truly entered the middle-to-upper ranks.

'In the Shen family headquarters, a Seventh-Meridian expert could serve as a department head under a division director. In the northern, eastern, or southern streets of the city, they would be a district warden, and at the medicine fields outside the city, they would hold the same rank. One can see the difference!'

Zhuang Jin sighed with emotion, a sense of pride rising within him. However, being a man of firm resolve, he quickly cast it aside.

"The path of martial arts is endless. I have only just begun. Not to mention the masters of the Shen family or the Medicine King Gang, even the completion of the Twelve Meridians is still a long way off!"

He shook his head slightly, contemplating his future training. 'On the tenth of the fifth month, when I return to the Shen family headquarters and receive my promotion, I will be able to claim the internal cultivation manuals for the fourth to sixth meridians, which were just enough for this breakthrough. Much like when I broke through to the fourth, I must now return to the headquarters to claim the manuals for the seventh through twelfth meridians.'

'Oh, and I can also claim one movement technique. At the Seventh Meridian, I am finally eligible to learn a second martial art!'

Previously, he had focused solely on the Black Fiend Palm. It wasn't that other arts were unavailable, but the Black Fiend Palm complemented the Black Fiend Technique, creating a synergistic effect. Furthermore, there was no need for a second technique during the first six meridians; he couldn't practice movement arts yet, and a second offensive art would only distract from his cultivation and hinder his progress with the Black Fiend Palm.

But the Seventh Meridian is different. By opening a leg meridian, he finally earned the qualification to practice movement techniques.

'Also, with the breakthrough to the Seventh Meridian, the Low-Grade Black Essence Powder I've been using will have significantly reduced effects. I will need to upgrade to Mid-Grade Black Essence Powder, which I must purchase from the Alchemy Department... If I recall correctly, Mid-Grade Black Essence Powder costs five taels of silver per dose—the price has jumped tenfold!'

Zhuang Jin was not too worried about this. After some expenditures on exotic beast meat earlier in the month, he still had two thousand seven or eight hundred battle merits in his account, along with over two hundred jin of meat from a beast at the peak of Skin-Refining. He was, in a modest sense, quite well-off.

'Internal cultivation manuals, movement techniques, upgrading my cultivation resources—for these reasons, and given my elevated status, I can return to register my promotion whenever I like. However...'

Zhuang Jin frowned at his situation.

On the surface, he had only received the Meridian-Clearing Pills on the fifteenth of last month to break through to the Sixth Meridian, and he had only registered as a Three-Stripe Servant at the start of this month. If he returned to register for promotion immediately, wouldn't it look like he had completed the accumulation for the Sixth Meridian and broken through the bottleneck to the Seventh in just a month and a half?

That would be somewhat absurd!

"Never mind. I shall wait. I will go to register for the promotion in the middle of next month. It will still be somewhat conspicuous, but it won't be too outlandish."

Moreover, as a Seventh-Meridian guard, he would officially be part of the Shen family's middle-to-upper echelon and could afford to face some malice.

'I won't waste the time in between. I will consume the remaining exotic beast meat to assist my Black Fiend Palm, grinding out more proficiency on top of its "Great Success" level.'

Although one must fully open all twelve regular meridians to reach the "Perfection" level of the Black Fiend Palm, there were still distinctions within the "Great Success" level.

Quantitatively speaking, if the proficiency for the "Entry" level was 100/100, and "Small Success" was 200/200, then "Great Success" was 500/500. Even among those with the same level of mastery, one with higher proficiency could suppress another at the same level.

'I have no bottlenecks. By this logic, I can continue to stack my Black Fiend Palm proficiency to 499/500. That way, I won't have to worry about my output against peers while I work on the seventh through twelfth meridians. When I finally reach the twelfth, I'll be able to break through to Perfection immediately!'

Practicing such a core offensive art was essential and inevitable; focusing his energy on this was by no means a waste of time.

In the days that followed, Zhuang Jin practiced the Black Fiend Palm in the mornings and evenings, while spending his afternoons traveling and sight-seeing with Chen Yun.

He found that his comprehension was quite excellent; with the aid of the exotic beast meat, his proficiency accumulated rapidly without needing to rush. Moreover, having broken through to the Seventh Meridian and being stationed at the medicine fields outside the city, the pressure was lower, allowing him to relax. Furthermore, since their marriage, Chen Yun had been his constant companion, handling all the trivialities of life. Though she never complained, he felt he owed her a debt he wished to repay.

At first, Chen Yun refused, worried about hindering his training. Zhuang Jin convinced her by saying, "In my martial path, I have reached a stage where a temporary pause is necessary. One cannot always seek speed; traveling and enjoying the scenery is also a form of training for the mind." He added, "The promise we made to see the world together shouldn't wait until our hair turns gray. Let us enjoy our youth while we can." Only then did she agree.

With the two of them out, Miao Lun was left to look after the medicine fields in the afternoon—if they encountered a beast at the peak of Skin-Refining, she might not be able to hunt it alone, but driving it away was not difficult.

Thus, Zhuang Jin and Chen Yun lived like a pair of celestial lovers, visiting many interesting places near the city.

There was the Fish-Watching Cave, a stone cavern where the ceiling had cracked into large slabs that seemed ready to fall. They walked in hand-in-hand to find a pool of unfathomable depth, rumored to harbor giant fish. They cast bait, though they only saw small fish, less than a foot long, rising to feed.

There was the Sunrise Terrace atop the Small Green Mountain. They went there by name, and Chen Yun brought rice wine and fresh lotus root in the "Plum Blossom Box" he had mentioned before. They climbed the mountain with vigor and stood on the small platform, looking down as the entire Diannan Prefecture appeared like a tiny marble, the rivers and streams like ribbons. Gazing into the distance, they could see hundreds of miles away—a truly grand sight. They laid out their refreshments, sipping wine and watching the view until the sun dipped behind the hills, and they descended the mountain, helping one another along the way.

There was the nearby Stone Mirror Mountain, a twisting place with cliffs and rushing water. The damp mountain walls were lush and green. It was a place difficult for ordinary people to climb, but Zhuang Jin carried Chen Yun, leaping over eaves and scaling walls, moving between the steep rocks until they reached a flat, screen-like stone at the end, clear and green, reflecting their shadows.

In just seven or eight days, Zhuang Jin and Chen Yun visited many places, though it felt as if much more time had passed.

This traveling, witnessing the vastness of heaven and earth, allowed the tension that had been coiled in Zhuang Jin's heart since he arrived in this world to slowly unwind. His mind broadened. Chen Yun’s constant companionship and the deepening of their bond allowed him to temporarily step away from the backstabbing and deceit, nourishing a heart that had been growing cold and dry. He found himself overflowing with a renewed love for life, his temperament becoming increasingly calm, composed, and gentle as jade.