Chapter 32 - Acupoints Opening

The days of rest were over, and the training fatigue of the previous week had subsided. Hei, as he was used to exercising since he was a child, was in full force while Lian was still a little sore due to the recent muscular awakening. But, even though she didn't have a robust body, Bao Bei judged that she could be subjected to the acupoints’ opening.

The acupoints, also called pressure points, were a series of points present in all living beings. In them, spirit power flowed following a path similar to the circulatory system. Depending on the pressure with which they were struck, various effects could occur. Normally, martial artists during the cultivation would open the internal connection between the acupoints. But, they would keep the connection between these and the outside closed due to the attached dangers.

The acupoints were delicate body parts, and it was risky to modify them since it was easy to incur internal wounds and disturb the inner spirit power’s flow. There were even martial artists specialized in hitting acupoints, according to a fighting style called the touch of death because of the internal damage they quickly caused.

However, spirit beasts differed from humans and demons, in addition to many other features, precisely because they had a connection between the acupoints and the external environment. They assimilated spirit power into the air with the whole body. Then, they circulated it in unison from all sides without a precise pattern, unlike the circuit used by humans and demons. Because of this, spirit beasts were used to have more amounts of spirit power and faster regeneration.

Of course, noticing the difference between them and the spirit beasts, various martial artists tried to open the external connection of their acupoints with the result that they all died from the bursting of their internal organs when they attempted to cultivate using this method. Eventually, it was considered impossible to proceed with that method, and it was discarded from human and demon cultivation methods.

But if humans and demons had failed to find a solution to apply this use of acupoints in a cultivation method, it didn't mean that spirit beasts couldn't do it.

Hei An, Bao Bei’s companion, with the help of the divine beast Bai Ze, succeeded in inventing a cultivation method for humans and demons using the spirit beasts’ characteristics.

It should be known that the Bai Ze was a very particular type of divine beast. It was similar to a bull and a lion, and it had nine eyes and six horns. They were arranged in sets of three and two on both its flanks and on its face.

At the time of the great war that saw the three races that inhabited the world involved, there was a single existing Bai Ze. He, besides being the only known Law of Energy’s user, also possessed an incredible knowledge.

It was he who invented the spirit vein restoration formation, then teaching it to a close circle of divine beasts. But he also developed a set of cultivation methods and techniques by exploiting the spirit beasts’ characteristics and adapted them to be used by the other two races.

He did this under Hei An’s orders, the then Emperor Beast. After all, fighting alongside them divine beasts, there were also humans and demon beast tamers who had denied everything to stand by their fellow spirit beasts.

The goal was to grow human children and demons within their colonies and train them following these methods. Unfortunately, the project didn’t see the light because there wasn’t enough time to find valid candidates, and the final battle had already arrived. But, after more than one hundred thousand years, this project would finally see the light thanks to Hei and Lian.

Since she was the Beast Emperor’s partner and herself an influential member of the divine beasts’ community, the Spider of Nightmare, Bao Bei, was entrusted with the manuals and techniques invented according to the snake and spider style. Furthermore, the queen of plant-type divine beasts, the Lotus of Love, had entrusted to Bao Bei, who was her best friend, a copy of the techniques invented according to the lotus fighting style. She did that just in case Bao Bei found a candidate valid during her travels with Hei An.

And in the end, Bao Bei had managed to find the perfect candidates to whom to entrust the secret project that they, divine beasts, had been unable to implement. Hei would inherit the spider and serpent style while Lian the lotus style. Even though she didn't have a bloodline, she was a girl, and the lotus fighting style was better for her than Hei.

The choice of candidates was made through two criteria: talent and the amount of trust.

Talent was essential to be able to practice this type of cultivation, and only those who had awakened their spirit power before they were thirteen could have it. This was due to the low amount of formation seeds. These were special seeds on which particular formations had been engraved; by inserting them in the candidates’ body in specific points, it was possible to induce the acupoint’s external connection without lethal consequences.

The amount of trust, however, was the most important; only those who had gained the trust of the divine beast, from which they wanted to learn, could receive such teachings. And this was also mandatory for the beast tamers’ children who already had the community trust.

After all, this method was only feasible when one hadn’t yet started cultivating, and it wasn’t sure that the children would be as loyal as the parents. Therefore, for this series of reasons, the project couldn’t have been completed during the war.

*

When Hei and the others woke up and finished digesting breakfast, Bao Bei had Shui and the other buffalos watch over the spiderweb house’s perimeter from the outside while they stayed inside. This was because the process she was about to implement was very delicate, and required maximum concentration by Hei and Lian. As a result, she didn’t want any strangers to disturb them.

As for this cultivation method’s secrecy, if the spirit power’s flow during cultivation wasn’t carefully examined, it was unthinkable that others would discover that the two of them were using cultivation methods according to spirit beasts’ characteristics. Furthermore, it was impossible to do this without being detected. By the time it happened, the people who were cultivating would immediately notice an interference and stop cultivating.

Bao Bei, with Ye and Xing next to her legs, made Hei and Lian sit down and told them.

‘This will hurt a lot, but, whatever happens, don't resist and focus only on my directions, alright?"

The two nodded and looked toward Bao Bei, who was ready to begin. At that point, with the tips of her legs, she stabbed the forearms and thighs of both. The pain was intense since it wasn’t a slight wound like a scratch but a deep lunge. However, Hei and Lian tried to do their best to resist pain.

Bao Bei then proceeded to put in a formation seed inside each wound and made them swallow a fifth seed, which was larger than the previous ones. Suddenly, there was a massive tumult in their inner spirit power that went berserk. That tumult caused another peak of pain that made the two youths contort on the ground.

Wasting no time, Bao Bei formed a series of thin pointed needles with her spider web and stuck them on all their acupoints. Hei and Lian were now convulsing as Ye and Xing were watching the scene in terror. They didn't think the opening process was so scary, and they started to fear the worst.

Naturally, Bao Bei wouldn’t allow the worst to come, so she communicated to the two as she used her spirit power to curb the frenetic flow that was occurring in their bodies.

‘I'm using my spirit power to curb your flow of spirit power. In the meantime, you will have to try to feel where the formation seeds are in your bodies and generate big vortices at those points and induce your spirit power in them.’

It was the secret behind this method. Use four fictitious vortexes in one's limbs to collect the flow coming from the acupoints and direct them into multiple circuits that operated individually, but were joined to the center by the large vortex coming from ingested formation seed.

More independent circuits formed, faster would be the cultivation and regeneration of spirit power. That happened because instead of operating on the whole body, the portion covered by each circuit was only a part, thus making the flow more fluid. However, these circuits had to remain connected in a single point that served as a central connection in the body.

Four independent circuits were the maximum limit that could be created at the beginning together with the central vortex, as well as the number of formation seeds that Bao Bei possessed. It meant that in the future, they could no longer use this method on another person. But she didn't care. Hei was the Spider of Nightmare and the Snake of Darkness’s son, the only successor to become the Beast Emperor. Lian, on the other hand, was a girl with talent equal to or even superior to that of her son, and Bao Bei had full confidence in her ability to judge the human’s character.

When Hei and Lian heard Bao Bei's instructions and received mental images about the form type, it should have the vortex. Therefore, they tried to create them with difficulty until, after many attempts, they succeeded in their intent. Suddenly, the chaotic flow stopped and started to condense on the vortexes. But that didn't improve things for the two of them.

As their spirit power was gathering in the vortexes, these were growing at a dizzying rate, and there was a risk that they would break out.

‘Now create individual circuits, one for each limb and join them with a single connection to the central vortex. At that point, let them flow simultaneously without making them interact with each other, except through the central vortex where you will concentrate most of the energy.’

To help them in the process, Bao Bei was sending them mental images about the shape the circuits should take, and how they were connected. Such images came from her memory when the Bai Ze gave the divine beast’s main members the cultivation method and the techniques he devised. Even though years had passed since then, Bao Bei reminded it as if she had them before her eyes.

And it was thanks to her memory that Hei and Lian managed to create the circuits. Without those images, it would have been impossible for them to come up with a form, based only on descriptions.

Slowly, the spasms that plagued their bodies had stopped as their breathing resumed their regular rhythm. Their bodies were illuminated by a dense aura that emitted a slight transparent smoke. The blood in their wounds had been stopped. Now, there were four burn marks at the points where they had been stabbed.

Ye and Xing immediately went to check how they were, worried that something might have happened to them. When they realized that they were okay, the two little spirit beasts breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and tried to wake the two humans.

Bao Bei stopped them reassuringly and told them,

‘Let them sleep. The opening process of the acupoints is tiring. When they recover, you can play with them. In the meantime, you two go to train with Shui.’

Ye and Xing, somewhat reluctantly, obeyed their mother and went out to communicate the result to Shui and train with it. Bao Bei instead placed one of her legs on Hei's forehead to feel his temperature.

‘Well done, my little boy. I'm sorry you suffered all this pain. But all this is necessary so that you grow big and strong. For now, rest because, unfortunately, you will have to suffer again. The techniques according to the style of us spirit beasts aren’t learnable without suffering.’