Chapter 61 - Meridian Reconstruction Begins
The pre-dawn mist hung thick over White Lotus Peak, settling into the stone hollows of the courtyard. It was a cold, silent hour, the time when the spiritual energy of the earth was at its most dense, pooling in freezing pockets before the first light of the sun could stir it.
Outside the prepared chamber, Elder Bai Zhen stood motionless, his hands tucked inside his wide sleeves. With a flick of his fingers, three formation flags sank deep into the soil. A thin golden barrier rippled into existence, fading into transparency—a basic containment formation designed to quiet the turbulent Qi within and prevent spiritual noise from echoing down the mountain.
Beside him, Lin Yao stood against the wooden door, her arms crossed over her chest. The cold air damped her collar, but her eyes were wide and alert, scanning the dark paths leading up from the outer peaks. Neither of them spoke, and the quietness of the peak was heavy, keeping watch as the trial of life and death prepared to begin inside the chamber.
Inside the chamber, the air was warm, carrying the heavy, bitter fragrance of the Life-Stabilizing Elixir. Wang Tian lay on the cleared wooden table, his bare skin flushed a deep crimson and steam rising in faint wisps from his shoulders after spending two hours soaking in the Healing Yang Pool. His breathing was shallow, his jaw locked tight against the throbbing heat that had forced open his dormant, damaged pathways, softening the stiff vessels and preparing them to receive the needles.
Bai Qingxian stood nearby, adjusting the small brass spirit lamp so the light fell cleanly across his bare chest. Beside her, the flat wooden case of specialized Azure Iron needles, forged flawlessly, lay open on a clean silk cloth, their dark blue surfaces catching the flickering light. She looked up as Su Ming stepped to the head of the table.
Su Ming closed his eyes to center his mind, setting aside any external thoughts to push his focus to its absolute limits. With the preparations complete, he had decided to trust his own control. When he opened his eyes, they were clear. He extended his right hand, and the first specialized needle rose from the case, hovering above his fingers.
He remained silent, waiting for her command.
Bai Qingxian inspected the hover-alignment, her face serious. "Your hand must be perfectly steady," she said, her voice low but firm. "This is not swordplay. A hair’s breadth of error will rupture the remaining meridians beyond repair. We are targeting the surviving twenty percent of his shattered meridian network first."
She poured a single drop of the emerald-green Life-Stabilizing Elixir onto Wang Tian’s tongue, then pressed her hand to his chest, channeling her gentle, cold-tempered Qi to guide the medicine down.
"Now," she instructed. "Target the four primary points along the central chest pathway. Thread your balanced Qi through the needles. Link them to the rest of the Twelve Principal Meridians, but do not pull too tight. Think of the remaining broken segments as sharp, brittle shards of obsidian. If you drag them too fast, they will slice through the surrounding channels, causing permanent damage that no elixir can seal."
Su Ming nodded silently. Activating his Essence Sight at a steady level, he watched the colors of the room bleed away. The warm yellow glow of the spirit lamp, the dark blue sheen of the needles, and the rich green of the elixir all faded, leaving the world in a quiet, silent grey.
Through this monochrome frame, Wang Tian’s physical form grew semi-transparent, his internal structures laid bare. Running along his chest, Su Ming saw the thin, glowing fragments of the broken meridians clinging like the roots of a plant.
His fingers flicked. The first needle plunged into the center of the chest, wrapped in a thin thread of balanced Qi. Wang Tian’s body jerked, fists curling as a low gasp escaped his teeth, but he stared at the ceiling without crying out.
"Slow," Bai Qingxian murmured, her eyes locked on the entry point. "Feel the resistance of the membrane. Drag the thread through the tiny gaps. Do not force the needle. The energy must be balanced; else they will shatter."
Su Ming made no reply. He closed his lips tight, his fingers moving in swift, controlled patterns. He sank the second, third, and fourth needles, weaving the silver Qi threads to pull the scattered porcelain-like fragments together. Internally, he marveled at her diagnostics.
Even without a cheat like his Essence Sight, she was reading Wang Tian’s body perfectly, her instructions pointing to the exact locations of the fragmented meridians. He executed the steps without a single flaw.
"Hold the needles exactly at this depth," she commanded.
As Su Ming held the needles motionless, Bai Qingxian placed her fingers on Wang Tian’s ribs, releasing the elixir’s essence. The green energy flowed along the stitched paths Su Ming had wove, wrapping the fragments like fresh plaster on a broken wall. The initial twelve meridians began to tremble, drawing in the medicine.
"They are anchored," she said, exhaling a quiet breath as she wiped a drop of sweat from her cheek. "The meridian foundation is established. But the true trial begins now. We must weave new channels across the empty gaps where his meridians were completely destroyed. To do this, you must build the pathways using the needles."
She looked at the scroll blueprint on the desk, then at Su Ming.
"The body’s natural Qi has no specific path left; it will cling to the pathways and crystallize into permanent spiritual channels," she explained, guiding him through the medical mechanics. "The elixir is the water that allows them to naturally fuse with the body. You must weave a spiral pattern, keeping it tight—exactly three loops per inch—so the new channel can withstand any Qi."
Su Ming picked up another needle. He did not speak, his eyes narrowing as he channeled balanced Qi down the shaft and pushed it through the skin of Wang Tian’s shoulder.
"Perfect," Bai Qingxian nodded, administering another drop of the elixir. "If the channels are too loose, they will collapse before they can crystallize. If they are too tight, the pressure will rupture his muscles."
Su Ming wove the Qi thread in a delicate, spiral pattern, creating a hollow, microscopic tube. Under Essence Sight, the tip dragged a fine thread of Qi, forming the channels exactly as she directed. As the elixir’s vibrant energy surged through Wang Tian’s blood, it followed the path of least resistance, clinging to the scaffold.
It was an agonizingly slow process. Every inch required dozens of tiny, precise stitches. Wang Tian’s face was covered in sweat, his eyes bloodshot as the pain of having pathways wove through his flesh tore at him.
"Wang Tian," Bai Qingxian said, her voice carrying a physician’s quiet authority. "Do not lose focus. Your Qi is the anchor. As your master weaves the meridians, you must use your own willpower to guide your residual energy along his needles. If you let it wander, the channel will freeze."
Wang Tian nodded, his chest heaving. Recalling the theories he had studied under them, he treated the pain as a map. He gathered the tiny, scattered remnants of his Qi and dragged them toward the heat of the needle. Slowly, his Qi followed Su Ming’s thread, sealing the new channel from the inside.
Hours bled into one another as morning light filtered through the windows. Bai Qingxian stood motionless, sleeves damp with sweat, adjusting the elixir flow and guiding Su Ming’s needle angles. She could feel the immense difficulty of the work; every stitch was a defiance of nature, but she kept her voice calm, calling out coordinates and flow rates.
By midday, the first major channel was complete, running from the reconnected chest pathways up to Wang Tian’s right shoulder. It was thin and sensitive, but it was real.
Su Ming withdrew the final needle, breathing slowly. Though sweat soaked his inner robes, his hands remained steady as he returned the needle to its case. Wang Tian had closed his eyes in exhaustion, his breathing steady.
"Rest," Bai Qingxian said, checking Wang Tian’s pulse. "He survived the first day."
She let out a long breath, leaning against the edge of the desk. She looked at the blueprint, then at the new pathway in Wang Tian’s shoulder. "The first step is successful, but next we start the complex pathways. The channels will only become more complex. Do not lose your steady hand."
Su Ming looked toward the courtyard where the golden barrier still shimmered, his expression showing signs of exhaustion, as he wiped his hands.