Chapter 169: The forgotten path

"How did you manage to do it?' A gracious figure was currently forcing herself on Li Meng. Her beauty couldn't be described by mere words. Bu Puti tried to intervene and calm the sect leader.

She finally let the shoulders go and calmed her demeanor. Her face changed back into a cold and serene expression." I apologize for losing my composure a moment ago. Your achievements managed to surprise the hell out of me. You certainly are eligible to train within the pool now."

"You must be informed about the upcoming tournament. Enter the pool and start accommodating with the energy first. We will talk about the other matters later."

Bu Puti stood up and decided to take his leave. "I leave my student in your care sect leader."

Li Meng followed the instructions given by the sect leader and entered the thunder pool after undressing. "You will first be trying to accommodate yourself to the violent thunder energy in here."

"The constituted thunder energy is not something anyone can practice in. The concentration increases as you enter deeper into the pool. The border areas are something only people at the peak level of Qi general can adapt to. There is another path which makes your body capable enough to be a vessel for the thunder energy."

"Body cultivation…" Li meng spoke instantaneously.

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"Exactly. Body cultivation is the only other way to enter. Now when I say body cultivation, it refers to the process of enhancing the attributes of your body. There has been no confirmed pathway for body cultivation in the history of martial artists, or if I may say it has been long lost."

"It gave rise to researches conducted by various martial artists to create skills which can help enhance the body's attributes and elemental power, or even raw strength in general. 9-Thunder body art is something on the line of those skills, and was created by one of our ancestors for the disciples to practice in."

"The thunder energy here can only be handled by someone who has reached the 6th level of 9-Thunder body art at the very least. But you are a much more specific specimen."

"Remember when I previously said that all the ancient methods were lost. There were some instances where martial artists were able to get their hands on some pages or parts of those scriptures. It was also the base for the modern body cultivation arts. Opening the meridians was one of the recorded steps in the scriptures recovered by the martial artists at Thunder-god academy."

"The path of body cultivation is a way slower and arduous one because of the lack of these methods. Until now I have never seen a person who managed to open all their secondary meridians, except for my teacher. The major reason for that is not lack of talent, but rather the fact that the difficulty seemed to have pushed this domain of cultivation as a neglected stream."

'It is something which you might call as a forgotten path of cultivation."

"But you managed to surprise me. Not only have you managed to open your primary meridians, but even all the secondary and tertiary meridians. My master did say that when you open a set of meridians, your body undergoes a metamorphosis. The metamorphosis includes both cleansing and enhancing body qualitatively."

"From that perspective, you should have undergone it three times by now, have you not."

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Li Meng was surprised to see someone so knowledgeable about body cultivation in these regions. The last time he managed to converse on this topic with someone was when he got the inheritance from the white dragon emperor. 

"I understand your surprise to see someone having the knowledge about body cultivation, although I don't have much practice in that domain. It is because of the scriptures on this topic which my master force me to read."

"If you want to get your hands on that advance knowledge, you too need to get accepted as a core disciple of the academy. This pool just might be able to help with that. You will be concentrating on training here for the next four months, after which I will be accompanying you to the Thunder-god academy."

"I have never experienced the training speed of someone who has opened up all their meridians. I will now be passing the last four steps of the 9-thunder body to you along with my experience while cultivating it."

"Can master tell me the highest speed while cultivating this art?" Li meng wanted to have an objective to pursue. The best way was to concentrate on someone who was at the top of the achievement board.

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"The record is held by the current sect leader of the Thunder-god academy. He managed to complete the whole 9-thunder body art while still being in the 6th level of Qi general. Li Meng couldn't see the relevance of this achievement.

"You must be thinking about the relevance of this speed, now that you are at the 3rd level of Qi general and already at the 5th level. You must be thinking that you just need to concentrate on the 9-thunder body art ad you would be able to do it.". Li Meng didn't expect the sect leader to be so blunt.

"I too had the same doubt. You will find the fault when you start cultivating it. The only warning I can give you is in form of your master, Bu Puti."

"What do you think about his currents stage of 9-thunder body?"

"Master must have completed the art already since he is already at the peak of Qi general."

"Your master is still in the 7th level peak of 9-thunder body. You shouldn't underestimate the difficulty of this art. Go ahead and do your best. Given you were able to reach the 6th level peak, you would already be able to reach the core disciple group."

"What is the strength of the participating candidates master?"

"The participants have varying strengths which can't be measured with the traditional methods. But there were some instances of participants being able to exert the power of QI Kings two-three times."

Li Meng's thoughts were thrown into disarray once more." You need to get a hold of yourself brat. Do you think you are the only one in the world who has got a good fortune in his life? Also, given you are ready to stake your life, you can easily take down a Qi king level practitioner at the beginner stage with that move of yours."

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Li Meng entered the pool and the first wave of energy that entered his body on the first touch of water was already violent enough to make him halt and refine the energy.

"Accommodate yourself at the outer borders first. Once your body is able to refine the energy continuously, enter the outer ring, and start training with it."

"If you do manage to reach the seventh level of 9-thunder body, you will start training with the thunderstones. We can have a conversation about the competition after your training period ends"

The sect leader was looking at Long Tao who was refining the energy. "Can this boy be the key to the development of the hall?"