Heavenly Sword Saint
The seventh meridian had already been opened.
Yet Jian Chen knew that his current strength was still far from sufficient.
Inside the quiet courtyard, he sat cross-legged with the mysterious black case placed several feet away.
The case remained sealed.
Even after the auction, Jian Chen had not attempted to open it.
The Starfall Iron inside was extraordinary, but the ancient sealing markings surrounding it were even more concerning. He could feel that the seal was connected to a power far beyond his current level.
Opening it now would be no different from courting death.
Jian Chen withdrew his gaze.
There was no point wasting time on something he could not yet control.
He needed strength.
More importantly…
He needed strength quickly.
His enemies were not waiting for him.
Lin Xue'er.
Long Tian.
The forces standing behind them.
Every one of them existed far beyond his current reach.
Even if he possessed the experience of his former life, experience alone could not replace cultivation.
A weak body could not withstand powerful techniques.
A damaged dantian could not contain endless spiritual energy.
And seven opened meridians were still far too few.
Jian Chen slowly closed his eyes.
"Moonriver City is too small."
The thought appeared in his mind with absolute clarity.
This city might be suitable for ordinary cultivators.
It might even be enough for the younger generation of the Jian Clan to struggle for recognition.
But for him…
It was only a temporary resting place.
The resources available here were limited.
The spiritual energy was thin.
The strongest experts in the city were not powerful enough to provide him with the pressure and opportunities he needed.
If he continued cultivating at this pace, he would eventually reach the limits of what Moonriver City could offer.
And when that happened, his progress would slow to a crawl.
"I cannot remain here forever."
Jian Chen's fingers slowly tightened.
"But before I leave…"
"I must build a foundation strong enough to survive the outside world."
His current goal was simple.
Open the eighth and ninth meridians.
Advance to the Eighth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.
Seven days.
That was all the time he had set aside.
To an ordinary cultivator, opening two meridians in seven days would already be an astonishing achievement.
To Jian Chen, it was necessary.
But necessary did not mean safe.
The resources he had purchased from the Treasure Hall were arranged beside him.
Spirit herbs.
Medicinal pills.
Several bottles of concentrated spiritual liquid.
Each item was valuable enough to attract the attention of the major clans.
Jian Chen had spent nearly all the resources he had obtained from the auction.
If he failed, he would not only lose his wealth.
He would also damage the foundation he had worked so hard to rebuild.
He picked up one of the pills and examined it carefully.
Then he swallowed it.
Boom!
The medicinal energy erupted inside his body.
A violent heat spread through his meridians, rushing through his flesh like molten metal.
Jian Chen immediately circulated the Heavenly Sword Scripture.
Spiritual energy surged into his body from the surroundings.
The Scripture refined it.
The refined energy was then compressed and transformed into sword qi.
Unlike ordinary spiritual energy, sword qi possessed an extremely sharp quality.
It could cut through obstructions that normal cultivators could not touch.
But that sharpness came at a price.
Every strand of sword qi that entered his meridians felt like a blade scraping against his flesh from the inside.
Jian Chen's expression remained calm.
He guided the sword qi toward the blocked passage leading to his eighth meridian.
The obstruction appeared dense and twisted.
It was not merely a blockage of spiritual energy.
The meridian itself had been damaged for years.
Its walls were fragile.
Its structure was unstable.
If he used too much force, the meridian would rupture before it could be opened.
If he used too little, the sword qi would disperse without achieving anything.
Jian Chen carefully controlled the flow.
One strand.
Then another.
The sword qi gathered at the obstruction.
He slowly increased the pressure.
Pain exploded through his body.
His muscles tightened.
Blood began to seep from the corners of his mouth.
Yet Jian Chen did not stop.
He had endured far worse pain in the Divine Realm.
Compared to the suffering of betrayal and death, this was nothing.
But the body he possessed now was not the body of his former life.
It was weak.
Its meridians were damaged.
Its dantian was incomplete.
A single mistake could destroy everything he had rebuilt.
Jian Chen's breathing became slower.
He did not fight the pain.
He used it to measure the condition of his body.
The eighth meridian was beginning to loosen.
However, the obstruction did not collapse.
Instead, it suddenly expanded.
A terrifying force rebounded through the meridian.
Bang!
Jian Chen's body shook violently.
The sword qi inside him scattered.
His organs trembled, and blood surged into his throat.
He swallowed it with difficulty.
A crack had appeared along the wall of his eighth meridian.
Not enough to destroy it.
But enough to warn him.
If he continued using the same method, the meridian would rupture.
Jian Chen opened his eyes.
His gaze was cold.
"The blockage is resisting the sword qi by using the meridian itself."
That was the danger of opening the remaining meridians.
The first few meridians had been relatively easy because the body had still retained a trace of its original vitality.
But the deeper meridians were different.
They had been sealed for sixteen years.
The longer they remained blocked, the more firmly the obstruction had fused with the meridian walls.
To open them by force was no different from cutting through his own flesh with a blade.
Jian Chen wiped the blood from his lips.
Then he changed his approach.
Instead of attacking the obstruction directly, he divided the sword qi into several thin streams.
One stream moved along the upper wall.
Another traveled beneath the blockage.
The remaining strands gathered at the center.
He intended to weaken the obstruction from multiple directions before destroying it in one strike.
This method required far greater control.
A single strand moving too quickly could tear the meridian.
A single strand moving too slowly could be swallowed by the obstruction.
Jian Chen's forehead gradually became covered in sweat.
His entire attention was focused on the inside of his body.
Time passed.
The spiritual energy in the courtyard slowly weakened as the medicinal energy was consumed.
Jian Chen immediately swallowed another pill.
The medicinal energy entered his body like a raging beast.
This time, he did not suppress it.
He guided it directly into the sword qi circulating through his meridians.
The pressure inside his body increased sharply.
The eighth meridian began to tremble.
Jian Chen's face paled.
The pain was no longer limited to one area.
It spread through his abdomen, chest, and back.
His bones seemed to be splitting apart.
His damaged dantian shook under the strain.
If his control slipped even slightly, the spiritual energy would rush through his body unchecked.
The consequences would be severe.
His meridians could rupture.
His dantian could collapse.
He could even lose the ability to cultivate again.
Jian Chen knew this clearly.
But he continued.
The eighth meridian had to open.
He could not afford to retreat.
A sharp glint flashed across his eyes.
"Break!"
All the sword qi gathered at the obstruction.
Then it struck.
The blockage cracked.
A violent force burst through the meridian.
Jian Chen's body jerked backward.
Blood sprayed from his mouth and splashed across the floor.
For a moment, his vision turned black.
The eighth meridian had not fully opened.
It had only been torn apart.
Spiritual energy rushed into the damaged passage, threatening to destroy it completely.
Jian Chen immediately circulated the Heavenly Sword Scripture.
He guided the energy through the meridian in a precise cycle, using the sword qi to cut away the remaining obstruction while controlling the damage.
The process was far more dangerous than the initial breakthrough.
Opening a meridian was one thing.
Keeping it from collapsing afterward was another.
Jian Chen's body trembled continuously.
The skin around his arms split open.
Blood flowed from several wounds.
His breathing became ragged.
Yet the eighth meridian slowly stabilized.
A new passage formed inside his body.
Spiritual energy began flowing through it.
At the same time, the power within his body surged.
The barrier separating the Seventh Stage and the Eighth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm finally shattered.
Boom!
A deep sound echoed from within Jian Chen's body.
His muscles tightened.
His bones released a faint cracking sound.
The spiritual energy circulating through his flesh became denser.
His physical body also broke through to the mid stages.
But Jian Chen did not smile.
He knew the breakthrough was not the end.
It was only the beginning.
He had promised himself seven days.
And he still had one more meridian to open.
The ninth meridian.
Jian Chen took a moment to regulate his breathing.
His body was already approaching its limit.
The medicinal resources beside him had been reduced by nearly half.
His meridians were blocked.
His dantian was trembling.
Even his consciousness had become slightly exhausted.
Continuing now was extremely dangerous.
But stopping would also create a problem.
The eighth meridian had only recently opened.
If he delayed too long, the spiritual energy within his body would settle, and the next breakthrough would become even more difficult.
Jian Chen looked at the remaining pills.
Then he glanced toward the sealed black case.
A faint pressure seemed to leak from the Starfall Iron.
It was almost imperceptible.
Yet Jian Chen could feel it.
The case had reacted to his breakthrough.
As though something inside was aware of his progress.
He frowned.
The Starfall Iron was becoming more mysterious.
But he still could not touch it.
Not yet.
He turned away from the case.
His enemies were waiting in the Divine Realm.
The path ahead was filled with dangers he could not yet imagine.
If he could not endure the pain of opening two meridians in seven days, how could he ever face Lin Xue'er and Long Tian again?
Jian Chen picked up another pill.
His expression became resolute.
"Continue."
He swallowed the pill.
The moment the medicinal energy entered his body, Jian Chen began cultivating again.
This time, the pain came even faster.
His eighth meridian had not fully recovered.
The sword qi passing through it caused sharp wounds to reopen.
Every circulation tore at the fragile passage.
Jian Chen's body shook.
But he guided the sword qi toward the ninth meridian.
The obstruction there was even denser.
It was as if a thick wall had been built inside his body.
The first attack failed.
The second attack only created a shallow crack.
By the third attack, blood had begun flowing from Jian Chen's nose and ears.
His dantian trembled violently.
The spiritual energy he had absorbed began to fluctuate.
Jian Chen immediately slowed his circulation.
He could not force the breakthrough blindly.
The ninth meridian was connected to several surrounding pathways.
If the obstruction collapsed incorrectly, the resulting backlash would spread through his entire meridian network.
One mistake could destroy the eight meridians he had already opened.
Jian Chen carefully observed the obstruction.
Then he noticed something.
The blockage was not uniform.
Its center was dense, but its edges were weak.
The previous attacks had struck the strongest point.
That was why the sword qi had repeatedly rebounded.
Jian Chen changed his strategy.
He sent the sword qi toward the edges.
A thin strand cut through the left side.
Another pierced the right.
Then he attacked the upper and lower sections.
The obstruction began to weaken.
But the pain became unbearable.
Jian Chen's body was drenched in sweat.
His hands dug into the floor.
The wooden boards beneath his fingers cracked.
He gritted his teeth and continued guiding the sword qi.
The ninth meridian trembled.
The surrounding meridians also began to shake.
A dangerous chain reaction was forming.
Jian Chen's expression changed slightly.
If the pressure continued to rise, the newly opened eighth meridian would rupture.
He immediately dicided to multitask.
Part of his consciousness controlled the sword qi attacking the ninth meridian.
The rest stabilized the eighth.
This required an extraordinary level of control.
Even a cultivator at a much higher realm would find it difficult.
Jian Chen's mind began to ache.
His vision blurred.
The sword qi inside his body became increasingly unstable.
For one brief moment, he nearly lost control.
Then he remembered the sword that had pierced his back.
He remembered Lin Xue'er's indifferent eyes.
He remembered Long Tian standing before him as though his life meant nothing.
The hatred did not weaken his mind.
It sharpened it.
Jian Chen's breathing steadied.
His consciousness became clear once more.
"I will not die here."
The sword qi gathered again.
This time, Jian Chen did not attack the obstruction with brute force.
He guided every strand toward the cracks he had already created.
Then he compressed them into a single point.
The obstruction began to tremble.
A low rumble echoed inside his body.
Jian Chen's face turned pale.
The pressure had reached its limit.
If he delayed any longer, the sword qi would explode inside the meridian.
He had only one chance.
"Break!"
The sword qi erupted.
The ninth meridian shattered open.
A violent wave of energy swept through Jian Chen's body.
Blood drop from the corner of his lips to should he has suffer from internal injury.
His dantian shook.
The eighth meridian nearly collapsed beneath the pressure.
Jian Chen immediately circulated the Heavenly Sword Scripture at full speed.
The spiritual energy surged through the newly opened ninth meridian, completing a cycle through his body.
The pain reached its peak.
Then…
It suddenly disappeared.
A powerful aura erupted from Jian Chen.
The spiritual energy surrounding the courtyard was drawn toward him.
His flesh, bones, and meridians absorbed the energy greedily.
The Eighth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm stabilized.
Nine meridians.
Jian Chen had opened nine meridians.
But the breakthrough had come at a terrible cost.
The pain has nearly cost him his life.
His breathing was weak.
Even sitting upright required effort.
He had used nearly all the resources he had purchased from the Treasure Hall.
And he had pushed his body to the edge of destruction.
Still…
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Nine meridians.
The strength of his body had increased considerably.
His foundation had also become far stronger than before.
Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes.
The courtyard was quiet.
Outside, the world continued as usual.
Jian Chen smile for he knewn with every new open meridian his potential also increase and in no time he will raise top.
Then he will stand before Lin Xue'er and Long Tian demanding and explanation from them.
He smile and shocked his his head in other to removed those distracting though.
Jian Chen looked toward the distant city.
Moonriver City appeared peaceful beneath the morning light.
Yet to him, it felt smaller than ever.
The city could no longer satisfy his needs.
Its resources were limited.
Its strongest experts were too weak.
Its opportunities were too few.
If he wanted to continue growing, he would have to leave.
Soon.
"Moonriver City is only the beginni
His gaze became distant.
Beyond Moonriver City lay a much larger world.
There were sects.
Ancient clans.
Secret realms.
Powerful inheritances.
And countless dangers.
That was where true cultivation began.
Jian Chen glanced once more at the sealed black case.
The ancient markings on its surface remained motionless.
For now.
He turned away.
Nine meridians had been opened.
The Eighth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm had been reached.
But Jian Chen knew that this was still not enough.