Seven World Martial God

Chapter 56: Opening Acupuncture Points

Wu Qinghu, Bai Shui, and Huang Fei quickly chose their squads.

Yun Feifei was also soon finished, her beauty a clear advantage in this situation with many young men eagerly jumping into her camp.

In the end, everyone left over was Ye Tian’s. He had no choice in the matter.

And so, the recruits were organized.

Commander Zhao Dapeng left the stage once more, sweeping his bright gaze over the gathered newcomers, looking into their firm, high-spirited eyes.

“You’re all now part of the Scarlet Guard Reserves. I hope you will quickly enter your names into the official registry!”

Zhao Dapeng saluted, his left fist clasped in the small of his back and his right fist on his chest as his voice thundered: “Defend Blood Jade City to the death!”

“Defend Blood Jade City to the death!”

The four other Commanders had assumed the same stance, vowing the same sacrifice with similarly determined eyes.

In unison, the five thousand Scarlet Guards saluted and cried out: “Defend Blood Jade City to the death!”

“Defend Blood Jade City to the death!”

Ye Tian and the other recruits scrambled to follow, copying the stance.

This was the Scarlet Guard’s military salute, embodying their sacred and historical duty as guardians of Blood Jade City.

Ye Tian stood, his fists clasped tightly, his powerful heartbeat pumping below his right hand, and his eyes like firm steel.

Every recruits’ blood boiled with energy and vigor.

…

In the southern area of the compound, a small camp had been prepared for the recruits with every person still assigned their own wood cabin.

With night falling, all of the recruits retreated to their homes.

Everyone was examining their signing bonus.

This was a one time bonus that all new recruits received. While this bonus might not mean much to the descendants of wealthy families, for a peasant like Ye Tian, it could represent a fortune.

Ye Tian was just like everyone else, sitting in his cabin eagerly going through his small pile of hope.

“Horse Requisition Token, for a Black Blood Horse.”

Ye Tian examined a black steel token before placing it back down.

The Scarlet Guard was truly powerful, giving every single one of their recruits a Black Blood Horse steed.

As recruits and reserves, they hadn’t yet been given their Scarlet Guard uniforms or the eponymous Scarlet Saber.

But Ye Tian cared nothing for these things; his only focus was on the Inner Heart Arts.

Ye Tian turned to the two books resting on his table.

Nice!

The two books weren’t beast skin scrolls like Ye Tian had become accustomed to but true paper. Such a luxury had been unheard of in the Ye Family Village.

Ye Tian eagerly examined the two manuals.

“Eight Principle Blood Arts!”

“Martial Master Basics!”

Ye Tian smiled happily. Even if these two books weren’t particularly precious, they were just what he needed.

Carefully picking up the Martial Master Basics, Ye Tian began reading. The thin book introduced the ten levels of Martial Master and how to break through from Martial Artist.

This information was exactly what Ye Tian needed most, the answer to his bottleneck.

While Martial Artists develop their Ten Principal Meridians, Martial Masters open the 360 Acupuncture Points… So many acupuncture points? … 36 points is equal to a Level… So what I need to do now is open my Acupuncture Points.

Ye Tian carefully read through the manual and began to understand.

He thought about it like this—if the Principal Meridians were the paths of orbit, then the 360 Acupuncture Points were the heavenly bodies. Together, they formed the brilliant galaxy.

With every Acupuncture Point opened, the strength of the body and the density of True Qi would grow. With all Acupuncture Points opened, an expert officially entered the realm of Saint and could now Cloud Step and walk on air. This was the realm above Martial Master, the realm that only the City Lord had reached in all of Blood Jade City.

As he continued reading, Ye Tian soon discovered detailed descriptions of each level in the Martial Master realm.

Ten Levels in total. There was a small bottleneck every three levels—before Level Four, Level Seven, and Level Ten.

Most Martial Masters never broke through to Level Four, and experts who broke through to Level Seven were as precious and rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Everyone at that level was a significant figure in Blood Jade City.

As for the super experts at Level Ten Martial Master, there hadn’t been more than five in all of Blood Jade City.

Most of the Scarlet Guard Centurions weren’t even Level Four Martial Masters since those experts could easily join a bigger city or a big clan. Few such talents would choose to join the Scarlet Guard.

Pretty much every expert above Level Four Martial Master was nurtured and cultivated within the Scarlet Guard, so each of these talents was a precious treasure.

Setting aside the Martial Master Basics, Ye Tian turned to the Eight Principle Blood Arts. This was the Inner Heart Art that Ye Tian had been waiting for.

Barely able to hold back his excitement, Ye Tian began to read carefully.

“Eight Principle Blood Arts: Low Yellow Inner Heart Art. This art has ten levels, each corresponding to the ten levels of Martial Master. This manual contains only the first three levels. Once you have broken through to Level Three Martial Master, you will be granted the higher levels.”

“Inner Heart Arts are forbidden material. Anyone who passes on knowledge to outsiders will be destroyed without mercy!”

…

Ye Tian was somewhat disappointed when he read that the manual only had the first three levels of the art, but it made sense. The Inner Heart Art was incredibly precious and the Scarlet Guard couldn’t risk circulating it.

With so many members in the Scarlet Guard, there were surely people who leaked the Eight Principle Blood Arts, but as long as only the first three levels were circulated, that would be an acceptable loss.

Ye Tian eagerly read, immediately memorizing the Inner Heart Arts mnemonic chant then setting down the book. Crossing his legs and closing his eyes, Ye Tian placed his upward-facing palms on his knees and focused on his Dantian.

Focusing his inner gaze, Ye Tian circulated his True Qi according to the mnemonic chant. Soon, he noticed brilliant sparkles of light along his Principal Meridians.

The sparkles of light were like bright stars that immediately reminded Ye Tian of the night sky.

Acupuncture Points! Ye Tian thought, his heart stirring as he continued to follow the mnemonic chant. Very quickly he realized that with his Qi circulating in the mysterious manner dictated by the chant, his Spiritual Qi absorption had doubled.

Double Ye Tian’s already extraordinary Green Martial Spirit cultivation speed!

Ye Tian was bold enough to claim that in all of Blood Jade City, there wasn’t a single warrior who could absorb Spiritual Qi more rapidly than he.

Incredible! Even a Low Yellow Rank art has double my cultivation speed! Then the legendary God Rank Inner Heart Art could transform the most ordinary Red Martial Spirit cultivator into a genius!

Ye Tian astonishment quickly cooled as he reflected. He thought that with his ability to Devour Martial Spirits, his talent would quickly outstrip all his competitors, even believing himself a one-in-a-million genius.

But that kind of arrogance now seemed hilarious. Not only was Shen Zhou Continent so immense that simple probability dictated that geniuses more talented than he were born everyday, but high ranking Inner Heart Arts leveled the playing field.

Even if he could continually devour Martial Spirits, without suitable Inner Heart Arts, he would never compare to the true geniuses.

One can never grow complacent in the Dao of Cultivation. I’ve been too naive and must temper my arrogance.

After reflecting for a long moment, Ye Tian set aside his worries and returned to his cultivation, circulating his Qi according to the formula in Eight Principle Blood Arts and focusing on a single Acupuncture Point.

A Martial Warrior with an Inner Heart Art would’ve begun opening Acupuncture Points as soon as they broke through to Level Ten Martial Artist.

With Ye Tian’s dense, powerful True Qi and the powerful Eight Principle Blood Arts, Ye Tian took only an hour to easily open his first Acupuncture Point.

Not satisfied with his achievement, Ye Tian turned to the next point.

Every Acupuncture Point took a significant amount of True Qi, but with Ye Tian’s powerful Green Martial Spirit, he recovered quickly enough to continuously break through.

After cultivating the rest of the night away, Ye Tian opened six Acupuncture Points. At this rate, he would break through to Martial Master within the week.

The next morning, Ye Tian left his cabin and cheerfully headed over to the dining hall.

As he walked down the street, Ye Tian was surprised by the festive decorations and colorful lanterns. After a moment, he cracked a wry smile.

I almost forgot it’s New Year’s day. I wonder how people are doing back home! Ye Tian sighed. After today, he would be seventeen.

Ye Tian had celebrated every New Year’s day of this new life in the Ye Family Village, but this year he had left home for a foreign land. The young expert stopped, looking up at the bright sky as memories raced through him.

“Little Brother Ye, over here!”

Ye Tian had eventually shaken off his melancholy and pushed his way into the dining hall where he was immediately greeted by Huang Fei.

Ye Tian turned and saw the four other Centurions waving at him.

In the recruit dining hall, the Centurions naturally sat together, so Ye Tian waved in reply and walked over.

An attendant very quickly brought him breakfast.

“Little brother Ye, how did it go? How many Acupuncture Points did you open last night?” Huang Fei asked hurriedly, barely waiting for Ye Tian to sit down.

Everyone was curious about the genius in their midst.

“What about you guys?” Ye Tian smiled.

“I opened three!” Huang Fei declared proudly.

“I opened eighteen…” Bai Shui began before Huang Fei rolled his eyes and interrupted: “You started before us—that doesn’t count!”

“Eh…” Bai Shui grunted, smiling bitterly.

Everyone laughed.

Ye Tian chuckled along. When they introduced themselves the previous day, Bai Shui had explained that he was from the Blood Jade City’s Bai Family Clan. Although the Bai Clan wasn’t one of the peak families in the city, it was still a first rank power and had their own Inner Heart Art.