Chapter 30: The Seventh Innate Meridian

Northern Cloud City,

In District D, twenty-five teams—over a thousand trial participants—watched in unison as Wei Cheng led his group back. Sixteen had left, and sixteen returned, not a single hair missing. Yet now, they carried with them dozens of wolf demon corpses, an enviable bounty by any measure. Not to mention, they had achieved the first kill of a demon scout squad.

Some wanted to step forward, offer congratulations, flatter him, but the echoes of past mockery still lingered in their ears. Other team members were wounded, their meridians severely damaged, so even if they wished to cozy up, they could not. But those originally part of Wei Cheng’s team—especially the dozen or so who’d been shielded by him and escaped injury—regretted their earlier choices so bitterly it was as though their guts had been twisted to shreds.

They gazed pleadingly at Wei Cheng, hoping to find a reasonable excuse, or swear fierce loyalty, willing to do anything so long as he would not abandon them.

“Wei Boss, you see, we brothers were just confused for a moment. We’re willing to be punished, to hand over all our pay—”

Guo Jiangshan sidled up, sincere in his repentance.

“No need for that, I understand. I won’t dock your pay; you’re still members of Team D Twelve. Relax. We’ve suffered heavy injuries and need rest now. You all patrol the city walls for us.”

Wei Cheng, far from angered, smiled warmly, even patting Guo Jiangshan’s shoulder in a friendly gesture. His attitude left Guo Jiangshan and the others baffled; as they prepared to say more, members of other teams shouted loudly, “Wei Boss, I’m Ling Yan from Three Alpha. Give us a chance to cooperate!”

“Wei Boss, I’m Zi Xia from Two Alpha. Let’s join forces!”

“Get lost! Is your ‘strong’ the same as ‘cockroach’ strong?” Yu Liang could not help but curse. These opportunists wanted to cozy up now—did they think them fools?

Wei Cheng alone kept smiling, holding a bronze command token. With a gentle infusion of inner power, a faint glow appeared simultaneously on the bodies of all fifty members of Team D Twelve. Too late to change sides now.

“Wei Boss, we can cooperate! I’m Liu Ze from Pegasus Group in P City. Five Alpha Mountain Movers. We’ve gathered twelve Five Alpha Mountain Movers—enough to take down another demon scout squad. We don’t care about the first kill of the stone tablet, just let us touch it.”

A group strode over, imposing in manner; they had been the powerhouses of District D.

Wei Cheng shook his head. “I advise you to give up. The chance to defeat them separately is gone. The two demon scout squads have merged. Even if I agree, together we’d still lose—only throw our lives away.”

“Wei Boss, could you share intelligence about the demon scout squad’s strength?” someone asked, unwilling to give up.

“Certainly. The demon scout squad’s leader is like a mage, able to cast nine fire lances at once. Each lance easily shatters the golden bell shield of a Five Alpha Mountain Mover. Two lances kill a Five Alpha outright; three break the shield of a Six Alpha, four guarantee death for a Six Alpha.

Now, with two squads merged, you can do the math yourselves.”

Wei Cheng withheld nothing. The crowd stared at each other, hardly able to believe it.

Liu Ze wanted to say more, but suddenly cries of alarm rang out. Outside the city, the two floating stone tablets merged into one before their eyes.

And so, Wei Cheng had not lied; the chance to defeat them separately was truly lost.

Wei Cheng glanced back, said nothing, and without pausing, returned directly to the Delightful Inn.

He needed to hurry.

For a sudden worry gnawed at him—what if the real goal of the fifth stage was to defend Cloud City? Hold the city, and you pass. Lose it, and you fail.

What a pitfall!

—

“Captain, there are thirty-seven wolf demons. They’re nothing rare, the meat’s poor, but their pelts are intact, so how about thirty silver coins apiece?”

Next to the Delightful Inn was a butcher’s shop. Wei Cheng ordered his group to haul the wolf demon corpses over for sale. Though they could eat wolf meat, it wasn’t cost-effective for cultivation.

“Good! That price is fair. Give me a thousand coins; the remainder we’ll trade for meat.”

Wei Cheng made no attempt to haggle, took his thousand coins, and together with the team’s pay for the next five days, went to the wine shop and bought twenty-two jars of osmanthus liquor.

Thanks to his earlier feasting, he knew better than most trial participants that, so far, the most cost-effective cultivation resource in Cloud City was osmanthus liquor.

“Everyone take a jar, cultivate on your own. Remember my words: aim to reach Four Alpha!”

With that, Wei Cheng carried the remaining jars to his room and began cultivating without pause. Time was tight, and he could not anticipate what changes the next wave would bring. If the demon army launched a full assault, how many of the five thousand trial participants would survive?

Breaking the seal on the wine, Wei Cheng drank three jars straight. Instantly, it was as if a blazing fire ignited in his belly, threatening to burst him apart—the liquor’s power was fierce indeed.

Practiced, Wei Cheng activated the Mountain Moving Mind Technique. Under the vast sweep of his mental strength, the Mountain Moving Visualization slowly materialized in his mind, transforming into a more vivid, towering mountain.

The inner power of Mountain Moving flowed like mountain winds, like water, traversing the ridges, always companion to the majestic mountain, feeling its force, copying its stability.

Perhaps because the divine radiance had loosened his body’s growth bottleneck, Wei Cheng now experienced a direct sensation he’d never felt before.

It was something mental strength could not replace—only the body could truly feel it.

No matter how one imagined warmth and softness, it could not match the experience of mounting a steed and feeling it firsthand.

Previously, Wei Cheng saw the Mountain Moving Visualization as merely an ink painting, imagining it as a real mountain. Now, with the loosened bottleneck, he began to feel he was truly within the mountain itself.

From pretending it was a mountain, to being within the mountain.

Perhaps, in the future, he might reach the point where he was the mountain.

The bright moon shone, pine waves murmured.

—

Jagged rocks and deep valleys.

Wei Cheng felt his Mountain Moving inner power and mental strength merge into one. With each passage through the mountain ridges, he gained a new experience.

With each cycle of cultivation, even without deliberate observation, he acquired deeper details.

The benefits of the loosened bottleneck were immense. Newly generated Mountain Moving inner power sprang forth like water, gathering into streams that nourished the towering mountains.

At one moment, Wei Cheng even felt an illusion—as if his inner power were about to transform in essence.

Alas, that feeling vanished in a flash, leaving no trace.

He did not know how much time passed, but when the surging inner power accumulated to a certain level, Wei Cheng clearly sensed the presence of the seventh innate meridian.

Previously, innate meridians could only be sensed after breaking through them.

This time was different.

No, not just the seventh; he vaguely sensed the eighth, even the ninth.

He even felt the end point.

There are only nine innate meridians. In the midst of these towering mountains, they are like nine foundations, nine transformations, nine earth veins.

They form the structural skeleton of the Mountain Moving Visualization.

They solidify the foundation of inner power circulation.

They forge the body’s hidden treasures.

To discover and explore them is the essence of searching the human body, the origin of cultivation, the beginning of everything.

Wei Cheng felt, standing among the mountains visualized by Mountain Moving, as if he had suddenly found the direction for immortality, the secret of cultivation.

At that moment, his vast inner power surged like a divine dragon, shattering stone and startling the heavens.

In a flash, he broke through the seventh innate meridian.

But in the instant after, inspiration struck—he could decide the precise path and structure of this seventh meridian.

More accurately, the previous six meridians had laid a solid foundation, allowing him a bit of freedom, a small adjustment in direction without affecting the overall framework.

It was like finishing six years of primary school and three years of secondary school, now finally able to choose between arts or sciences.

“This is like a talent skill tree—so I’ve finally earned a free attribute point?”