Forming the Spiritual Meridian Root

"You craz-!" Zhang Wanqing cursed instinctively, but her words were cut short when she realised that she was actually not sinking into the lake this time.

Instead, her feet seemed to have landed upon a strange surface, stopping her from falling any deeper. As she stood on this invisible floor, the water actually only came up to her knee.

"Eh? What's going on?" Zhang Wanqing looked towards Wu Meng for answers.

She was certain that this floor did not exist earlier, or they would not have been able to dive to the bottom of the lake.

Only a few minutes had passed since they came out of the lake, and now this invisible floor had suddenly appeared?

Zhang Wanqing was sure that this had to be Wu Meng's doing.

Of course, she was also secretly relieved that this was the case. She would hate to have to go underwater once more.

"Craz? What were you about to say?" Wu Meng narrowed his eyes at her.

"No, no, I didn't say anything," Zhang Wanqing shook her head profusely. "Just tell me what to do, and I will definitely obey without question!"

"Sit down and close your eyes."

"Got it!" Zhang Wanqing immediately did as she was told, letting the water rise up to her chest level.

In her current state, she could once again feel that the water in the Myriad Wonders Lake was extremely heavy, completely unlike ordinary water.

"Enter a state of self-introspection by seeing into your own body, focusing on the dantian area."

Zhang Wanqing: "..."

What is he talking about?

Enter a state of self-introspection?

See into her own body?

How?

"Just imagine that you are a mere wisp of consciousness, entering your own body through the forehead and slowly falling to the dantian area," Wu Meng tried to describe the visuals for her. "Take your time."

Huu-!

Zhang Wanqing let out a deep breath before trying to follow Wu Meng's instructions.

Still, it was easier said than done.

Time and again, Zhang Wanqing tried to see herself from a third-person point of view, but how could it be that easy?

She ended up failing each time, and having to repeat the process, only to fail again and repeat again.

"Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is but a foolish endeavour. You need to make necessary adjustments if you truly wish for a different result," Wu Meng advised. "Ultimately, your dantian is a part of you. Take control of both the origin and the goal, slowly allowing them to come together naturally."

Zhang Wanqing did not reply.

Instead, she took his advice and silently started making adjustments to her attempts.

Her progress was not fast by any measure, but there was progress, nevertheless.

Bit by bit, she made adjustments to her methodology.

And bit by bit, she got closer to observing her dantian.

Wu Meng did not press her either, allowing her to keep trying while making adjustments.

Who knew how many times the sun slowly crossed the sky, replaced by the moon, and then rose up again from the other end?

Zhang Wanqing was simply too focused on the task at hand to even notice.

And her concentration did not go unrewarded, either.

After a unknown amount of time had passed, after countless attempts had failed, Zhang Wanqing finally managed to see that elusive dantian that she had been seeking all this time.

Or perhaps it was more accurate to call it sensing the dantian instead.

At this moment, Zhang Wanqing instinctively understood – this was the state of self-introspection that Wu Meng had mentioned before!

"Well done," Wu Meng's voice sounded out in her head immediately. "Now comes the next step. Feel the world origin energy in your surroundings and guide them into your dantian. The more, the better, so don't hold back!"

Once again, Zhang Wanqing did not respond.

She could feel that she had entered a strange state right now – one that greatly aided her in the process. It was as though her concentration had risen to an unprecedented level, allowing her to analyse her surroundings and get that much closer to understanding just how she should go about doing what Wu Meng had told her to.

Therefore, Zhang Wanqing was afraid that the moment she opened her mouth to speak, that would trigger the end of this mysterious state of enhancement.

Should that really happen, who knew how long it would take for her to get to this point again?

Instead, Zhang Wanqing merely tried to expand her senses while not losing track of her dantian area.

In order to feel the world origin energy in her surroundings, she would need to replicate this state of self-introspection to a certain extent, doing so for her surroundings as well.

To Zhang Wanqing's surprise, this step was actually rather easy.

The heavy water around her continued to rise and fall according to the gentle waves of the lake, splashing against her body and allowing her to clearly feel the movement of the tides.

And this heavy water contained an extremely dense amount of world origin energy, almost making it such that it was the only relevant body of energy in this area.

Even to Zhang Wanqing, who was almost completely ignorant of the ways of cultivation, this was a fact that simply could not be missed.

It was a feeling that arose from one's fundamental instincts – akin to how people would just know that it hurt when they came into direct contact with fire.

As the heavy water rose and fell, so did the world origin energy in her surroundings.

It created a physical sensation for her, allowing the cultivation novice to directly visualise the flow of world origin energy around her.

In her mind, Zhang Wanqing imagined the pores of her skin expanding, hungrily absorbing energy particles from the heavy water and allowing them to enter her body.

And just like how she had imagined her wisp of consciousness entering her forehead and making its way to her dantian, she imagined the same for these energy particles, slowing guiding them towards the position of her dantian.

Little by little.

Bit by bit.

These individually-miniscule energy particles slowly came together and accumulated over time, forming a whole that only continued to increase in mass over time.

Zhang Wanqing had no idea how far she could go, or how far she needed to go.

All she sought was to continue until she could sustain it no longer.

Who knew how long had passed since the start?

Was it hours?

Or was it days?

Then again, it did not matter.

Regardless of how much time had passed, all she had to do was keep going at it, making sure that she did everything that she could, all the way until the point of completion.

And at a certain point, Zhang Wanqing finally heard Wu Meng's voice sound out in her head once more.

"Very well done. Now, leave the rest to me."

These simple words were a hammer striking a bell, instantly creating a wave of relief that washed over her, turning her mental state from tense tranquillity to that of tense excitement.

Badump-! Badump-!

Her heartbeat sounded as loud as drums as she sensed her dantian with self-introspection.

There, the mass of accumulated energy particles was quickly materialising into a single spiritual entity, assimilating into the walls of her dantian and the whole of her inner self.

Badump-! Badump-!

Zhang Wanqing instinctively knew that the process was finally completed, and could not help but admire her new spiritual organ with a mix of appreciation and relief.

Her spiritual meridian root had finally been formed!

"Brace yourself. Here it comes!"

At the point of formation, a wave of energy erupted from her spiritual meridian root and flooded her body. It was almost like there were a thousand bugs nested underneath her flesh, tunnelling through her body by devouring every last bit of flesh and tendons that stood in their way!

For something like that to happen within one's body, it would bring an excruciating amount of pain to any ordinary mortal.

But to Wu Meng's surprise, Zhang Wanqing only furrowed her brows lightly before calming down once more.

Yes, this was indeed a painful sensation.

However, Zhang Wanqing was someone who had only just undergone the forced cleansing of her body at the very depths of the Myriad Wonders Lake. In comparison to that, this level of pain was actually nothing impressive!

Zhang Wanqing tried to release the tension in her body, trying her best to endure the pain while letting the initial wave of energy wash over her.

With each second that passed, she could feel her body getting stronger, nourished by the energy circulating within.

And when the energy within her finally reached the confines of her skin, it exploded out of her in the form of a powerful shockwave.

Boom-!

The heavy water surrounding her was sent out in a circle, creating huge waves that disrupted the peaceful surface.

Her hair and clothes fluttered wildly in the storm of energy, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Zhang Wanqing looked forward at Wu Meng. "Is it... over?"

"Congratulations. By forming your spiritual meridian root, you have just taken your very first step onto the path of cultivation," Wu Meng nodded back to her with a smile.

Badump-! Badump-!

Huu-!

Zhang Wanqing took a deep breath to calm her palpitating heart as the heavy waters of the Myriad Wonders Lake came crashing back against her as they came back into place.

This sensation of water served as another form of spiritual anchor, yet it still proved insufficient in calming her excitement that was about to pierce through the clouds.

"You don't have to hold yourself back when it's just us," Wu Meng chuckled. "Go ahead and celebrate. You earned it."

"Yes!" Zhang Wanqing immediately leapt to her feet upon hearing this, then looked up to holler to the skies. "It's finally over! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Her clothes were drenched, her face was pale, and her dark circles made it obvious that she had just pulled multiple all-nighters in a row.

However, all of that was overshadowed by the wide grin on her face – the best testament to just how elated she was at the moment!

All of the pain and suffering over the past few days had been torturous to say the least, but it was finally over!

And that was not even the main reason for her joy, either.

She had been an ordinary villager girl all her life, resigned to the fact that she would have to live her life to its end in Green Seed Village.

That was no different up until just a month ago, when she was still an insignificant girl whose fate could be dictated by a single word from the mighty and untouchable cultivators.

Yet, how things had changed since then.

As of this very moment, she could officially call herself a cultivator as well!

Wu Meng did not say anything, merely waiting in silence as he watched Zhang Wanqing continue to shout at the sky.

He understood just how much pressure the poor girl had been under over the past week.

Be it the first three days spent cleansing the body of impurities, or the following three days spent forming the spiritual meridian root, neither of them could be taken lightly.

In fact, he had been fully prepared to intervene should things spiral out of control.

Yet this seemingly ordinary girl had still managed to pull through on her own, even ending with a smile on her face.

Completing everything on her own was not all about improving her confidence and strengthening her will. In fact, it would also have a direct and tangible impact on her!

Regular, true, and golden.

These were the different types of spiritual meridian roots that could be formed, but most people never even dreamt of forming a golden spiritual meridian root due to just how incredibly rare it was.

And yet, here it was – Zhang Wanqing's newly formed golden spiritual meridian root.

Yes, Wu Meng had a huge part to play in this as well, but not just anyone would be able to do this despite the favourable circumstances.

It would appear that he had not misjudged Zhang Wanqing – her mental fortitude was indeed quite satisfactory!