Chapter 9: Physique's & Meridians

I didn't understand what father meant by that, so I looked over to my grandparents, hoping they could explain it in more detail.

"Hmph, stop trying to act all mysterious, boy, and explain it to him, seeing as you have barely contributed to helping Elif." Said Tiana as she snorted in response to Marcus's answer.

"B-But I've been taking care of Elaine." Responded Marcus as he tried to ease Tiana's anger, to no avail.

"Ok, and? You're an Emperor and a father, so are you telling me you can't take care of your own children?" Said Tiana with piercing eyes as she stared at Marcus.

Whenever father or mother gets reprimanded by my grandparents, it is always fun to watch for me as they can never argue back; otherwise, it'll just get worse for them. And this situation was no different as father didn't bother trying to argue against grandmother anymore and looked over at me with a gloomy face as he informed me about physiques.

"Haa, Elif, physiques are similar to spirit roots as both are categorized using the same ranks, although physiques don't have a Mortal rank. The easiest way to understand physiques would be to think of them as an accessory; you don't need to have a unique physique in order to cultivate, but having one will enhance your cultivation in one way or another, whether it's your cultivating speed, your strength, your affinity towards a weapon, or if you're lucky all of the above. That is just the basic understanding of physiques, but I'm sure you get the idea, Elif." Explained Marcus, who was no longer feeling down by the end of the speech.

When father finished explaining it to me, I understood the concept of physiques, but with how he described it, it sounded like there were many different types of physiques, more than father let on.

'I can learn more about physiques and spirit roots later as mother said that I'm now allowed access to the Royal Library, but right now, I'm curious if I have a physique, and if so, what rank is it?' Though Elif.

"So, how will we check if I have a physique? Do I have to do something like putting my hand on a tree?" Asked Elif, curious to know his physique.

"Well, we do have a tree that can inspect someone's physique, but it's much easier if one of us passes our own Qi through your body, as categorizing a physique is even easier than a spirit root." Answered Maria as she poked Elif's cheek.

"Well, mother, can you tell me how?" Asked Elif.

"It's simple, dear. Have you ever heard of meridians?" Replied Maria, while also asking her question.

"Hm, yeah, actually, earlier, I heard grandfather say that by opening all the meridians in the body, I will be able to advance to the next step in cultivation." Stated Elif while looking up at Maria.

"Good, now think of meridians as tiny pathways that travel all over your body. Every living creature with a body has meridians, and naturally, there are twelve meridians, each connecting to an important organ in the body. But having a unique physique will increase the number of meridians, every increase in rank, whether they're a minor or a major rank, will have an increase of four meridians to the body." Stated Maria.

"So then wouldn't that mean that meridians have some sort of impact on cultivation, as they are tied to the rank of physiques?" Asked Elif.

"Yes, you see, meridians allow the Qi within your body to freely pass through your body without damaging it, and the more meridians you have, the faster and smoother your Qi will be. Which may not sound that great to you currently, but in the middle of battle, utilizing your Qi faster than your opponent is a huge advantage." Said Maria while reaching for Elif's nape.

"Now, dear, I'm going to check your physique so when my Qi flows through your body, it'll feel slightly uncomfortable as it's a foreign energy coursing through your body, so stay calm and relaxed." Advised Maria as she put her hand on Elif's nape and inserted her Qi through his body.

Taking mother's advice to heart, I take a deep breath and relax my body; similar to when I'm asleep, now when I feel mother's hand placed on the back of my neck, it feels soft and silky, just like the rest of her skin. Then I felt mother's hand start heating up, which felt comfortable for a second before I felt the heat slowly spread throughout my body, causing me to feel like a whole bunch of needles were poking my body from every possible angle. This continued for several more seconds until I finally felt the heat receding back to my neck before eventually completely leaving my body.

'Finally, that felt terrible, but at least it didn't hurt.' Thought Elif while remembering the intolerable feeling that was in his body until just a few seconds ago.

Once I had calmed down, I looked up to mother to ask what rank my physique was, but again she had a surprised face.

"Mother, what rank is my physique?" Asked Elif expectantly as he conjured up his own thoughts seeing Maria's surprised face.

"Well, I can't actually tell you." Said Maria in a weird tone.

"What do you mean you can't say it, Maria?" Asked Tyler, who had a curious but also slightly confused expression from hearing Maria's response.

"Yeah, why can't you tell me, mother?" Questioned Elif with obvious disappointment in his voice.

"I didn't mean it like that, dear; I meant that I can't tell you as I don't know your physique rank." Responded Maria as she rubbed Elifs head to cheer him up.

"More details would be appreciated, dear." Said Tiana, who somehow has Elaine in her arms now.

"Elif doesn't have any meridians." Declared Maria, who watched the various reactions from her family.

"How can that make sense, mother? Didn't you say that every living being with a body would have at least twelve meridians? If so, how can I have none!?" Asked Elif, in shock and sadness at Maria's revelation.

"Before you jump to conclusions, Elif, very rare physiques exist that can have an unnatural number of meridians, ranging from one hundred to below twelve. So that just means your physique is quite unique." Stated Tyler, informing Elif about unique physiques.

"S-So that means I still have a physique?" Asked Elif with hope.

"Yes, you do. Now give me a second as I try to find more information about your unique physique." Answered Tiana as an ancient-looking book suddenly manifested in her hands.

Sitting in mother's lap, I watched as grandmother constantly flipped through the pages of the ancient-looking book that appeared out of nowhere till she finally stopped on a page and read the contents of the page out loud.

"Ahh, here it is. 'There are multiple unique physiques in the vast OverRealm which grant the user an abnormal normal of meridians, whether it is more or less than twelve. But the only physique in all of the time that has been recorded to have no meridians is the Myriad Immortal Physique, a middle Immortal rank physique. Not much is known about the Myriad Immortal Physique as every user of this physique recorded in history hasn't been capable of unleashing the true potential of this physique. But the information we know about it is that the user of this physique does not need to create a Dantian, as the body itself is considered one, and with the user's body being a Dantian, the user has a vastly expanded Qi reserve of what one would usually have.' That is everything said about the Myriad Immortal Physique, and I must say to not only have a high Immortal spirit root but also have a middle Immortal physique; it's something unheard of." Said Tiana as she gave her comments after reading all the information about Elifs physique.

When grandmother finished reading about my physique, the ancient book closed itself before vanishing from her hands, but I was too preoccupied with what grandmother said to bother with such a feat.

'Information on my physique isn't much, but from what I could understand, my Qi reserves will be much larger than a normal persons when I cultivate, which means I could use more Qi in my attacks and still have plenty left over, but won't that also mean that It'll take longer to cultivate if I have to absorb more Qi than usual?' Thought Elif, pondering deeply about the possible potential of his physique.