Transcending 10,000 Daos [BL]

The comprehension of the sky dragon breathing technique required a complete disregard of the biology that Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had learned in their previous life and it took an entire week for old man Cang to be convinced that they had understood enough to practice.

At this time, Yu Nianzhen glanced at Jiang Yue, who was seated to his right; then took a lotus position and began to breathe rhythmically.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths,…, twelve breaths

One breath, two breaths, three breaths,…, twelve breaths

After his ninth cycle of twelve breaths, Yu Nianzhen felt himself sink into a strange mood; he felt like he had lost all contact with the world, but at the same time, it was like he had connected with the world at a more intimate level.

Yu Nianzhen continued to meditate rhythmically and after a long time, different coloured strings began to appear in front of him, but when he tried to grab them, they danced away like a group of naughty children.

However, the strings did not go far away and instead lingered at the periphery of his vision as if waiting for something.

Yu Nianzhen forced himself to calm down and on cue, the coloured strings approached carefully and began to once again dance around him, but like before, they didn't allow themselves to be caught and immediately danced away when Yu Nianzhen made a move to catch them.

This cycle continued for a long time until Yu Nianzhen could no longer maintain his focus which interrupted his meditative state causing him to return to the real world.

"How was it?" Old man Cang asked as soon as Yu Nianzhen opened his eyes.

"I saw different coloured qi but I didn't manage to catch any of them." He said as a frown marred his handsome features.

"It shows that your concentration is lacking." Old man Cang said, but his words were the exact opposite of his thoughts.

It was already very impressive that Yu Nianzhen had managed to comprehend the sky dragon breathing technique within a week and to detect elemental qi at his first try was unprecedented.

Heaven and earth qi was a mixture of many elemental qi and a breathing technique allowed one to attract the entire mixture without filtering out the ones that were incompatible with a cultivator's origin.

If Yu Nianzhen could manage to only attract the elemental qi that was compatible with his sword origin, his cultivation speed would be unusually fast because he wouldn't need to spend a lot of time refining qi in his dantian.

However, the old man didn't say these things because he didn't want to unduly impact the young man's path; everything was up to heaven's will and Yu Nianzhen's ability to understand the heaven's meaning.

"I understand." Yu Nianzhen said and then turned to the side to see that Jiang Yue was still meditating which immediately lit a fire in his heart.

He wasn't willing to lose to Jiang Yue!

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Yu Nianzhen sat back in a lotus position and resumed his meditation which made old man Cang smile in amusement.

'They think the same way.' The old man thought as he recalled how Jiang Yue had previously awoken and then immediately resumed his cultivation as soon as he realised that Yu Nianzhen was still meditating.

It didn't take long for Yu Nianzhen to regain his focus and after his ninth cycle of twelve breaths, he fell into the previous meditative state, but this time, he didn't try to attract or approach the coloured threads of qi.

Instead, he patiently observed them and as he did, he began to notice a lot of things that he had missed in his previous attempt.

There were five types of coloured qi: red qi, green qi, yellow qi, black qi, and white qi. The different qi strings were all the same size but as he observed, Yu Nianzhen began to feel a fundamental difference between the different types of qi.

The difference seemed to lie in the attributes of each qi, but since he hadn't learned the relevant theory, Yu Nianzhen could only rely on instinct to differentiate the coloured qi.

The red qi felt hot and it gave Yu Nianzhen a kind of incompatible feeling; as if it was somehow dangerous for him.

The green qi also gave him an incompatible feeling, but this time, he felt like he was dangerous for it.

The yellow qi felt warm, like a mother, but somehow; he still didn't feel that it was compatible with him.

On the other hand, the black qi felt cold, but Yu Nianzhen felt very protective of it. Although he wanted to hold it in the palm of his hand and never let go, Yu Nianzhen could also feel that it wasn't innately suitable.

Finally, Yu Nianzhen turned his attention to a white string of qi and almost gasped in pleasant surprise when he felt an instant resonance between himself and the white thread of qi.

He forced himself to remain calm and when his breathing was as even as he could make it, he placed all his attention on the white qi and began to carefully attract it towards himself.

The whole process was like a subtle seduction and after a long time of cajoling, he finally managed to sufficiently soften the white qi causing it to float towards him and enter his body through the baihui acupoint.

Yu Nianzhen's consciousness observed the strand of qi as it travelled from the baihui acupoint to the first acupoint of his first extraordinary meridian and watched as it rammed itself against the acupoint.

Normally, it would take a long period of accumulation before one was able to unblock an acupoint but the white thread of qi was of extremely high quality and it encountered no resistance as it tore apart the barrier of the first acupoint.

However, the white qi did not stop at one acupoint and Yu Nianzhen watched in fascination as it broke through the second and third acupoints before finally stopping at the fourth.

In his previous life, Yu Nianzhen had signed contracts worth billions and participated in various extreme sports, but none of that could compare to the thrill of unblocking his first few acupoints.

His blood was thrumming with excitement and before he knew it, Yu Nianzhen had become fully engrossed in accumulating more qi to unblock the acupoints on his first meridian.

By the time he woke up from meditation, Yu Nianzhen had already opened all his earth acupoints on the first meridian, which made old man Cang sigh in appreciation.

'A grade ten talent is not to be taken lightly.' He thought as he looked at the two young boys in front of him.

Opening seven earth acupoints within a day was unheard of and if any of the major sects learned of this, the two boys would without a doubt be immediately recruited and trained as core disciples or part of the patriarchal line.

The old man waited for the two boys to fully regain their senses before he started speaking.

"There are ten thousand different types of origin weapons, but all of them are compatible to either of five elemental qi."

"Elemental qi, are they coloured qi that I saw?" Jiang Yue asked the old man.

"Yes, the heaven and earth qi is a mixture of five elemental qi: fire qi, wood qi, earth qi, water qi, and metal qi."

"You should have felt different affinities for the different types of qi." The old man stated as he looked at the two boys.

"I had the highest affinity with the black qi and the least affinity with the yellow qi." Jiang Yue said as he looked to the old man for an explanation.

"I felt the most compatibility with the white qi and the least with the red qi." Yu Nianzhen added and the old man nodded.

"Young Yue's moon pearl origin is compatible with the water element and incompatible with the earth element while Young Yu's sword origin is compatible with the metal element and incompatible with the fire element."

Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue listened carefully as the old man talked about the five elements and the relationships between the elements.

Yu Nianzhen found out that he was incompatible with the fire qi because fire is capable of melting metal while he had a protective feeling toward the water element because metal was able to carry water. On his part, Jiang Yue was least compatible with the earth element because the earth could absorb water.

After the old man finished his explanation, he took a book called 'The Generating and Overcoming Interactions between the Five Elements' from the bullock cart and let the two boys read it so that they would be better prepared when facing enemies in the future.

…..

One month later, old man Cang died and the two boys placed his body on the stone bed within the cave and barricaded the entrance with huge boulders to keep out both humans and beasts.

After bowing three times at the cave's entrance, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue hitched the wooden cart on the brown bullock and began their journey as travelling traders.