Chapter 116: Testing and Teaching

The dimly lit room, the swaying curtains.

A mysterious black cat on the sofa.

A peculiar green fish in the water basin.

And in the center of the room, a handsome man with his upper body exposed.

"Is this what it feels like to open the meridians?"

Chen Huaian clenched his fist and took a deep breath.

The wind pulsed in his ears.

The grass on the windowsill was green, the banana on the table smelled like a banana, and the feces in the litter box were stinky.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Huaian suddenly opened his eyes, stepped forward, and threw a punch at the wall in front of him.

Boom!

"Ouch—!!!"

A pitiful wail echoed through the entire apartment building.

Countless people shivered, thinking someone was slaughtering a pig.

After a moment of silence, the muscular cat continued licking its paw.

The green fish blew a bubble, flicked its tail, and sank back into the water.

...

Ten minutes later, Chen Huaian had already applied some bruise ointment to his swollen fist.

While tending to his wound, he had figured it out.

It wasn't that there was a problem with opening his meridians.

It was that he hadn't cultivated any internal techniques.

Without internal techniques, there was no spiritual energy. He hadn't practiced martial arts, didn't work out regularly, and his physical strength was insufficient. Without the support of spiritual energy, the power of that punch was naturally underwhelming.

There was another issue as well.

He noticed that after opening his meridians, the spiritual stone bracelet on his wrist had completely dimmed.

It wasn't that opening the meridians consumed the spiritual energy from the bracelet.

Rather, the Great Perfection Meridian-Opening Technique required spiritual energy to function. Otherwise, he should have had spiritual energy by now.

"Most importantly, the wound on my fist isn't showing any signs of healing…"

Chen Huaian looked at his swollen right hand and finally understood.

The rapid healing of his wounds before was entirely due to the spiritual stone bracelet. It had nothing to do with cancer cells.

Back then, he had fantasized that one day his arm would transform into a massive insect like K9999 from The King of Fighters, capable of sending monsters flying with a single punch. How cool would that be? Now, it seemed he'd have to settle for being an ordinary cultivator.

Ah, such is the life of a Versailles expert.

When you have too many excellent choices, it's inevitable to feel regret over the ones you've lost.

Chen Huaian opened the game and saw that Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi were cultivating on the flying ship.

He zoomed in on Li Qingran's face, admiring it intently, as if gazing at a piece of exquisite porcelain.

If he didn't use the word "amazing,"

Chen Huaian couldn't think of any other vocabulary to describe her. He could only give a general impression.

It was like during his clueless student days, under the old tree on campus, where layers of leaves cast a shadow. A girl sat there, slowly flipping through the pages of a book. A gust of wind tousled her hair, and she brushed the strands away from her cheek, a gentle smile curving her lips.

Even though they were strangers, she could captivate an entire summer.

Perhaps everyone has encountered someone like that during their school days.

And Li Qingran gave him that exact feeling.

Just looking at her from afar was enough to bring joy. He subconsciously reached out and poked her cheek on the screen.

Her skin seemed to indent under his finger, as if he had really touched her.

"Amitabha, form is emptiness, emptiness is form!" Chen Huaian collected his thoughts and opened the talent page. He noticed that the previously grayed-out Tideborn Art was now fully lit, indicating that he met the cultivation requirements.

"Ke ke ke! I want the heavens to no longer obscure my vision!"

Chen Huaian held his phone, threw his head back, and laughed maniacally as he opened the Tideborn Art.

As a genius, a child of destiny, he was sure to figure out how to cultivate it in a single day.

As the saying goes, a small step in Qi Refinement is a giant leap for an Immortal Venerable!

Whoosh—!

The sound of surging seawater suddenly echoed in his ears. Chen Huaian felt as if he was seeing a vast ocean, with towering waves crashing against the shore. In the midst of the waves, the figure of a cultivator appeared faintly, surrounded by swirling spiritual energy. With every movement, the tides rose and fell, and the sun and moon alternated.

The vision lasted only a moment before disappearing.

A scroll with wave-like patterns unfolded before his eyes.

[Tideborn Art, Volume One - Observing the Tides: To begin cultivating this art, one must calm the mind and settle the thoughts, with the five centers (palms, soles, and crown) touching the ground, to achieve a connection between heaven and man. This posture aligns with the principles of Yin and Yang, connecting the three realms (heaven, earth, and man), forming the foundation for entry. This art requires the spiritual consciousness to sense the rotation of the sun and moon, the alternation of Yin and Yang, and to internally visualize the surging tides of spiritual energy. Spiritual energy permeates the universe, originating from a single source, dispersing and gathering without constancy, cycling endlessly, following the profound principle of the Dao generating the One…]

The first page was filled with dense text.

Chen Huaian fell silent for a moment, then pulled up a translation app.

If he wanted to cultivate, he'd have to translate this into plain language first.

Otherwise, with his limited knowledge of classical literature as a science student, he had no idea what it was saying.

...

"Did Master just touch my face?"

Li Qingran opened her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering twice as she felt the lingering warmth on her cheek. A blush spread across her face, and her ears burned.

She glanced at her senior sister beside her, confirming once again that it was indeed her master who had poked her face.

Leaving aside the fact that her senior sister was taking full advantage of the advanced spirit-gathering array to cultivate intensely, the force used was completely different. Her master used a gentler touch, giving her a sense of careful nurturing, unlike her senior sister, who would playfully squish her face into all sorts of strange shapes and then burst into laughter.

"Master rarely visits me, and yet I was cultivating when he came…"

Missing the chance to speak with her master, Li Qingran pouted and furrowed her brows.

"Wait, that's not the right way to think about it. Master would definitely prefer that I focus on my cultivation. If I was diligently cultivating when he visited, wouldn't that make him happier?"

"But then I wouldn't get to talk to him…"

She sighed in frustration, her fingers fidgeting in front of her chest.

If she immersed herself in cultivation, she wouldn't know when her master visited, missing the chance to be close to him.

But if she didn't cultivate, she'd get scolded by her master…

Ah, what a dilemma~

[Qingran.]

A voice sounded in her ear.

Li Qingran's eyes lit up, her brows curving into crescents as she gazed into the void above her. "Master, you're here!"

Feeling a pair of eyes sweep over her, she quickly added,

"Your disciple has been diligently cultivating. I just wanted to take a short break after cultivating for so long…"

[Mm.]

"Master, is something troubling you?" Li Qingran's heart tightened.

She keenly sensed that her master's mood seemed a bit down, his tone carrying a hint of weariness.

Chen Huaian was indeed exhausted.

He had spent half an hour studying the Tideborn Art and still couldn't figure out how to perform the first step.

Even though the first step was clearly written out in front of him, he felt like a tiger trying to eat the sky—utterly clueless where to start.

Back when he practiced the Qinglian Sword Codex, it wasn't this troublesome.

That one had diagrams, straightforward instructions, and the support of the game helmet.

But the Tideborn Art had none of that—just a bunch of classical Chinese text that made his brain ache.

The translation app's output was even more nonsensical, seemingly missing a lot of key information.

He finally understood why the Demon-Slaying Division had spent a full decade deciphering breathing techniques.

The Tideborn Art was a derivative item provided by a companion spirit, and the text was already in Chinese, translated for him. Yet, he still couldn't make sense of it.

But he couldn't just leave the cultivation technique unused, could he?

So, he came up with a plan. Seeing that Li Qingran had stopped cultivating, he said, "Qingran, how's your progress with the Tideborn Art? Explain the details to me carefully. I'll check if there are any issues with your recent cultivation."

From the void that Li Qingran was eagerly gazing into, a solemn male voice rang out:

[Qingran, you've been cultivating for a while now. The Tideborn Art is profound and difficult to comprehend. Today, I shall test your understanding!]

…

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