Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Golden Needle Acupuncture
In his past life, Ye Xuan was an Eighth Grade Soul Emperor and a Ninth Grade Alchemist. What kind of Cultivation Technique hadn’t he seen?
Even the strongest King Grade Cultivation Techniques only recorded nine Profound Veins. The concept of a tenth simply didn’t exist.
Moreover, having opened all nine Profound Veins before, Ye Xuan could clearly sense that they already permeated every part of the human body, leaving no area untouched.
In other words, there was no space left in the human body for this tenth Profound Vein.
However, the Nine Profound World-Defying Scripture vaguely mentioned a tenth Profound Vein. It just didn’t specify where this tenth Profound Vein was located.
It merely said: "Mortals have nine veins, yet a Saint possesses ten. Above the Life Vein lies the one called the Celestial Vein. The Celestial Vein is not manifest; if opened, one transcends mortality to become a Saint. If it remains closed, one is doomed to be an ant."
This made Ye Xuan wonder, ’Does this tenth Profound Vein truly exist? Or is it just an ideal?’
Despite his doubts, Ye Xuan decided to try anyway. The Nine Profound World-Defying Scripture was the most powerful Cultivation Technique he had ever seen, a Holy Grade technique that surpassed King Grade ones. Perhaps this tenth Profound Vein really did exist.
WHOOSH!
Inside Ye Xuan’s body, dense Profound Qi began to rapidly circulate according to the Scripture’s Heart Method. One by one, the Profound Veins were completely cleared, and potent Profound Qi flowed to every part of his body.
His natal Soul Seal suddenly flared to life. Streams of Soul Power swiftly merged with the Profound Qi, integrating into every part of his body.
Over and over, Ye Xuan followed the Heart Method of the Nine Profound World-Defying Scripture and began to locate the vein apertures.
After the Seven Veins, one had to locate the vein apertures to open the Heart Vein and the Life Vein. This was because these last two Profound Veins were invisible; only by locating their apertures could one determine their exact positions.
But no matter how Ye Xuan tried to locate them, there were only so many vein apertures in his body. No new ones appeared.
’Can it be that this tenth Profound Vein really doesn’t exist?’
Ye Xuan’s doubts grew. He pushed the Soul Power in his mind to its absolute limit, extending his perception of Profound Qi to its furthest reach as well.
One circulation, two circulations, three circulations...
After thirty-two circulations, Ye Xuan still hadn’t found a single new vein aperture.
"It seems this so-called tenth Celestial Vein doesn’t exist at all." Ye Xuan shook his head.
Even without trying to locate the apertures, just based on his perspective as a former Eighth Grade Soul Emperor and Ninth Grade Alchemist, he knew there was simply no room in the body to accommodate any more.
Just as he was about to give up...
Suddenly—
HUMMM!
The three Martial Souls inside Ye Xuan’s body suddenly lit up. In that instant, three points of light, as bright as suns, appeared at his Celestial Gate, Heart Aperture, and Dantian.
As these three points of light flared, Ye Xuan was suddenly stunned.
The Celestial Gate, Heart Aperture, and Dantian—these three apertures formed a vertical line. Along this line, six pre-existing vein apertures also suddenly lit up.
It was as if the three Martial Soul apertures were suns, the six major apertures were moons, and all the other apertures were stars.
This pattern sparked a realization in Ye Xuan’s mind, like a shooting star streaking across the dark sky, instantly illuminating the vast night.
’I understand.’
’This tenth Celestial Vein doesn’t have new apertures. It’s formed by connecting the most important aperture from each of the previous nine Profound Veins.’
’The Celestial Vein... I’ve finally found it.’
A silent cry echoed in his heart. With a deafening RUMBLE in his mind, the tenth Celestial Vein suddenly formed within Ye Xuan’s body.
This Profound Vein ran from top to bottom, piercing through the most critical points of the previous nine Profound Veins. It was thicker and more formidable than any of the veins before it. As dense Profound Qi surged through, it completely integrated all nine of Ye Xuan’s Profound Veins into one whole.
An indescribable feeling welled up from within Ye Xuan’s body.
POP!
At this critical moment, his Profound Qi naturally broke through from the First Layer of Warrior to the Second Layer of Warrior. It then continued to climb, finally stopping at the Third Layer of Warrior.
To break through two minor realms in one go, without taking any Pills or using any external aids—even Ye Xuan was shocked by this.
"After the Nine Heavens is the Martial Emperor. After the Martial Emperor, one shatters the void!"
After his Profound Qi settled, Ye Xuan calmly stood up. He gazed at the horizon, his aura overflowing with pride, like a god looking down upon the world or an emperor reigning over the earth.
For the first time since his rebirth, he truly felt confident he could shatter the void.
Just as he was about to continue cultivating to stabilize his cultivation at the Third Layer of Warrior, Instructor Luo Zhan’s voice suddenly came from outside the door, saying he had urgent business to discuss.
Ye Xuan reluctantly stopped his cultivation and opened the door to the training room.
Instructor Luo Zhan was standing at the door. Seeing Ye Xuan come out, he gave a couple of awkward laughs and coughed. "Ahem, well, you see, I really didn’t want to disturb you, but... ah! Huh? You... you, what’s going on? You broke through to the Third Layer of Warrior?!"
Instructor Luo Zhan didn’t even finish his sentence. He froze, his face a mask of disbelief and shock, his eyes bulging like two eggs.
"It’s just the Third Layer of Warrior. Is there a need to be so shocked? If you have something to say, say it quickly."
’Just the Third Layer of Warrior?’ Luo Zhan wanted to strangle Ye Xuan. ’Breaking through from the First Layer of Warrior to the Third in less than a month, and he called it ’just’? It was simply outrageous!’
He looked Ye Xuan up and down, rubbing his eyes hard. No matter how he looked, he couldn’t believe it.
’How is this possible? Ye Xuan has been in closed-door cultivation all this time, but no matter how hard you cultivate, there’s a limit to how much Profound Qi you can accumulate. Even if he ate Pills every day and trained in a Profound Qi training room, it would be impossible to break through two consecutive layers in less than a month.’
’He remembered how it had taken him almost a full year to get from the First Layer of Warrior to the Third, and the general had even called him a genius and promoted him directly to squad leader.’
’This Ye Xuan couldn’t be described as a genius anymore. He was a monster.’
Luo Zhan felt like his heart couldn’t take it.
Ye Xuan turned to go back into the training room. "If there’s nothing else, I’m going to continue cultivating."
"Ah! Wait, wait, wait! There is something, there is!"
Luo Zhan hurriedly grabbed Ye Xuan. He forced himself to suppress his shock and avoid looking at the Profound Qi fluctuations coming from this freak, which allowed him to regain some of his composure. He then explained why he had called for Ye Xuan.
It turned out that Ye Xuan had promised to perform Golden Needle acupuncture on him after half a month, but now it had been nearly a full month, and Ye Xuan hadn’t made a move. Luo Zhan had become anxious.
For the past month, he had cultivated daily, using his Profound Qi to nourish the meridians in his leg. He had also applied the medicinal formula Ye Xuan gave him and carefully protected his right leg. For the last ten days or so, his right leg hadn’t hurt at all.
However, although the pain was gone, Luo Zhan could still feel that the power of the martial soul in his right leg hadn’t completely disappeared. It was just lying dormant, no longer acting up.
He had been waiting all this time for Ye Xuan’s treatment. But after waiting and waiting, he found that Ye Xuan was always in closed-door cultivation and rarely seen. Even when he did see him, Ye Xuan never brought up the matter. Today, he finally couldn’t hold back any longer.
"Oh, so it was about that..." Ye Xuan rubbed his nose, speechless. Under Luo Zhan’s intense gaze, he said something that almost made the man want to kill him: "If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve almost forgotten."
Almost forgotten! Almost forgotten! Almost forgotten!
The words echoed in Luo Zhan’s mind, and his expression immediately turned as sour as if he had swallowed a rotten egg.
’Good heavens, he had been so preoccupied these past few days that he’d lost his appetite, all because he was thinking about Ye Xuan treating him. To think that Ye Xuan had completely forgotten about it—it made him want to kill the boy on the spot!’
"Brother Ye, believe it or not, I could just kill you right now." Luo Zhan was so angry his hair was standing on end, and he looked like he wanted to cry but couldn’t.
"Killing me is no problem, but you can forget about your leg ever getting better."
"What? It can still be treated?" Luo Zhan grabbed Ye Xuan’s shoulders, his expression fervent.
"Of course it can. But didn’t you just say you were going to kill me?"
"Ahem, you must have misheard. You definitely misheard. I didn’t say anything." Luo Zhan’s face flushed red as he forced a smile.
Seeing that Luo Zhan had completely lost his usual cold-faced instructor demeanor, Ye Xuan couldn’t be bothered to joke around anymore. He said flatly, "Instructor Luo, did you prepare the items?"
These past few days, he had been completely focused on his natal Soul Seal and opening his Soul Vein, so he truly hadn’t had time to think about anything else.
"They’ve been ready for a long time." Luo Zhan quickly took out a jade box. He opened it to reveal rows of slender Golden Needles, each about a foot long.
"Not bad." Ye Xuan took the jade box. ’The thickness, length, and weight of the Golden Needles are exactly as I specified.’
Luo Zhan asked nervously, "Ye Xuan, I’ve been off the medicine for almost ten days. If we do the treatment now, what are the chances of success?"
"It was a hundred percent before. Now, it’s about ninety-five percent."
Ninety-five percent!
The corner of Luo Zhan’s eye twitched. He originally thought that a sixty or seventy percent chance would have been good enough. Hearing Ye Xuan’s answer, he found it a little hard to believe.
’This kid isn’t just trying to trick me, is he? This is an injury that even many Soul Refining masters in the Royal City couldn’t heal.’
"Alright, let’s get started."
The moment Ye Xuan’s voice fell, Luo Zhan immediately started taking off his pants right out in the open.
"Instructor Luo, what are you doing?"
"The Golden Needle acupuncture! If I don’t take off my pants, how are you supposed to insert the needles?"
"Ahem." Ye Xuan was utterly exasperated. "Instructor Luo, I’m going to be using the flying needle technique."
"Why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ve already taken my pants off and now you tell me it’s the flying needle technique..."
Ye Xuan was speechless. He wasted no more words. Pinching his thumb and index finger together, he plucked several Golden Needles into his hand. Without even looking up, he gently flicked his finger.
SWISH!
With a sound of something slicing through the air, Luo Zhan’s pupils contracted. A few streaks of light flashed by. He felt a sensation on his right leg like a mosquito bite. Several hair-thin Golden Needles had passed through his martial robe and embedded themselves in his leg, sending a numb, tingling sensation through it.
