Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 70: Seven Stars

The heat made Anji shiver. Even though Yan Ping was already doing her best to suppress her cultivation level when guiding Anji through the Tai Yin Meridian channel, the warm, soothing bath quickly turned into an unbearable sauna. Anji’s breathing became laboured, but she did not request Yan Ping to stop. With difficulty, the student and teacher finally reached the Yunmen acupoint. There was only one more checkpoint to clear for the Tai Yin Meridian path to be completed.

Truthfully, Yan Ping had her concerns. According to Doctor He, Anji had a history of small asthma attacks when she was an infant. Many children often suffer from asthma but outgrow it as they grow older. Weak lungs were usually the cause of respiratory issues. Proper nutrition and exercise would strengthen the lungs over time, and asthma would disappear. However, Anji had shown no signs of improvement in her lungs even after her third birthday. The tonics that she took helped to suppress the symptoms for a while. Yet, when Anji exerted herself in exercising physically, the laboured breathing would return.

"Breathe," she instructed. "From your nose, not from your mouth. Focus on the sensations inside you instead of outside. The air will never disappear, even if you cannot feel it. There’s only one more acupoint to go. The Zhongfu point is very close to the Yunmen point. What did Doctor He tell you about the functions of the Zhongfu point?"

Diverting her focus from the intense heat, Anji searched her memory to recall the medical functions of the Zhongfu point as her teacher guided them away from the Yunmen point.

"The Zhongfu point is a major acupoint that connects the Tai Yin Meridian to the core. It is located in the intercostal muscle beneath the collarbone and is aligned with the armpit. It helps to clear heat and dampness from the lungs. The Zhongfu acupoint is commonly used to treat cough, wheezing and asthma, although it is sometimes used to relieve shoulder and back tensions."

As Anji recited what she knew, Yan Ping made it halfway to the last checkpoint they needed. Anji might not know it yet, but she would soon figure it out. In guiding her through Yan Ping’s personal Tai Yin Meridian channel, the blind cultivator also laid down some temporary spiritual channels in her little disciple’s unawakened meridian. Without a golden core to act like a furnace, borrowing external power to forge a meridian path forcefully was the only way Anji could cultivate.

This method was not often employed among cultivators because it reduces the stronger cultivator’s cultivator base. The drawbacks could last from a week to a decade, depending on how much energy they expend. Only dual cultivators favour this technique. Moreover, there must be a high compatibility level between the two cultivator’s spiritual roots for this to work.

While Yan Ping pulled Anji along the last stretch of the Tai Yin Meridian path, the little girl felt as if she was drowning in a sea of fire. No matter how hard she breathed, it felt as if her lungs would not accept oxygen. Once, she had a fever that made her bedridden for half a month. She thought that was the worst kind of heat she would ever experience. However, this took the cake. It was a new level of burning up with no way out. Anji had no strength left to resist the searing agony and resigned to fate, melting completely into Yan Ping’s pull.

It took a while for Anji to finally stop resisting. The moment she did, Yan Ping did not miss the opening. She seized the opportunity and dragged Anji past all the pressure, dropping into the Zhongfu meridian and stewing in it for a while. The last temporary spirit channel was completed in Anji’s body, and Yan Ping started transferring part of her purified qi strands to her student’s body to rebuild the basic structure of the meridian. However, she was merely the power source. It was up to Anji to determine how she wanted to utilise this resource and establish her cultivation path.

The feeling of bathing in flames did not dissipate. Instead, it intensified as Anji felt a sharp tugging at her Zhongfu point. It was as if someone was pulling at her muscles painfully. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. Instead, she felt the tip of her thumb throbbing as the connected Tai Yin Meridian flared to life, differentiating itself from the rest of Anji’s body on both arms.

The pain was different from a muscle cramp or a fever. As more time passed, Anji felt it easier to understand the intense boiling sensation. If anything, she grew a little more accustomed to the rolling waves of heat. It would sometimes abate a little before being replenished. It wasn’t a steady heat source like she initially thought it was.

"Follow the sensations in your body to establish the Tai Yin Meridian," Yan Ping advised, tightly controlling her qi distribution. Circulating strands of diluted pure qi from her body into Anji’s required incredible control. One wrong move and her fragile student would become crippled forever.

Heeding her shifu’s advice, Anji allowed her consciousness to scrutinise the energy tugging at her towards different acupoints along the Tai Yin Meridian. Unlike the book, the energy did not always follow the cycle sequence from top to bottom. Logically, Anji knew that skipping steps would result in qi deviation. However, her shifu told her to follow the sensations. Her body knew better what her mind did not. Hence, the four-year-old followed the blazing trial, hopping from one point to another.

As Anji borrowed Yan Ping’s purified qi to weave her own Tai Yin pathway, the blind cultivator observed closely with interest how her student was following the pattern of the Big Dipper. Even though Anji’s knowledge and understanding are still insufficient to unleash the formation’s full potential, the girl was cultivating according to the calculations of the seven visible stars. She had no idea if Anji had learned this from somewhere else, but not everyone who had learned this could pull it off. The seven stars represented the maker of destiny. More importantly, only the ones with the purest souls could achieve this level of enlightenment. It was often said that cultivators born under the lucky stars are children of the dragon. To think that a child of the Celestial Dragon Sect was really a child of a dragon... this must be fate.

While Yan Ping closely monitored Anji’s progress, the youngest princess of the Celestial Dragon Sect felt a change in how she perceived the energy coursing through her body. While the heat was still scorching hot, she was picking up on something underlying that was cooler in nature. Curious, Anji waited until Yan Ping’s energy circulated back into her body to study the different energy qualities that were only present in her teacher’s body. After several circulations, Anji finally realised why such a cooling sensation was hidden in the heat.

The Tai Yin Meridian was of the metal element. As the pure energy circulated from Yan Ping’s golden core, which acted as a furnace, transferring the energy to Anji’s incomplete pathway, it did not directly affect her teacher’s already established Tai Yin Meridian channel. The yin and metal properties of the Tai Yin Meridian path remained unaffected by the raw and unprocessed qi that felt like scorching lava to Anji, who received it without a proper vessel to contain it.

Working quickly to repurpose the cores in her body, Anji left the Zhongfu valve untouched first. She had to activate the cores in every other acupoint in its path to build a reservoir capable of throwing excess energy to the environment like the limiter. That seal was located in the Shaoshang point, explaining why the heat was less intense there than at the Zhongfu point, which contained a valve connecting to her cultivator core.

Yan Ping smiled as Anji finally connected the dots and started working on establishing her own circuitry after opening most of her cores. It wasn’t perfect, but Yan Ping was satisfied with this. The receiving and emitting elements were the most important parts of any spell array. In addition to those, Anji figured out a way to add a limiter at the Shaoshang core. It was impressive enough for a four-year-old.

Three hours passed in the blink of an eye as Anji finally stabilised her first meridian pathway. Yan Ping did not comment on the incomplete channel. Many cores remained half-shut as Anji failed to fully connect them to the main pipeline. However, she was finally able to receive energy and store it in her cores like the runes. Although it was only for a very short period, it was a major breakthrough for someone told they could never cultivate.

Releasing the two small and sweaty palms, Yan Ping finally withdrew all her energy and let Anji circulate the remaining qi stored in her newly established Tai Yin Meridian a few times. The girl must adjust to the newly gained ability, and it will take about half an hour before Anji comfortably assimilates into her new channel.

"Don’t worry about preparing food," Yan Ping told her student. "Establishing the connection is not enough. You must fully integrate this into your breathing to establish a stable foundation; otherwise, all the efforts will be unravelled in vain."

Heeding her shifu’s advice, Anji dared not leave her spot even though her bottom was sore from sitting for many hours. More importantly, even after her teacher’s energy traces had left, the lingering trails of qi in her cores were still rather active. Anji had to subdue them before they turned on her. She closed her eyes again and slowly coaxed them along her newly established Tai Yin meridian circuit. Without Yan Ping’s help to force the stubborn energy along the thin circuit, Anji felt like a huge lump was stuck in a small pipe. She had to constantly inhale and exhale deeply to make little progress, shoving them along the miserable meridian pathway to reach the next point. No wonder her shifu told her to incorporate the remaining energy into her Tai Yin Meridian fully. A blocked meridian was no different from having no established circuitry.

Working hard, Anji meditated with the sole intent of creating her first meridian pathway. Unknown to the child, the sun started setting, and soon, the moon rose. Yan Ping had long finished cooking dinner and was seated across from the focused girl. The more Anji meditated, the smoother her newly established Tai Yin Meridian became. In fact, through meditating and smoothing her circuits, Anji saw some flaws in the flow and started patching them up using the seven-star calculation method.

After nearly eight hours of self-regulation, Anji finally felt the small traces of energy swimming smoothly. The last thing she needed to do was activate the Zhongfu valve spell and connect the smoothed Tai Yin pathway.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Back at the Celestial Dragon Sect, close to curfew hour, the huge silver bell tower started to vibrate and ring by itself. Many hundreds of tinier bells followed suit as disciples and elders noted the strange phenomenon.

Startled by the unusual activity, Zhao Mingfeng stepped out of his study to investigate the cause. However, as soon as he looked up towards the bell tower, he saw seven comets flying across the Celestial Dragon Mountain towards where Anji and Yan Ping were training.

Shocked, the patriarch of the powerful martial clan let his jaw drop. Although he was not as well-versed in astrology as some of the strategists and scholars, he knew enough to know this was a heavenly sign. The star of death had always marked Anji, and no matter how many times he had calculated her fortune, her fate did not change.

Tonight, the heavens finally listened to his prayers and created a miracle. Tears of joy streamed down his eyes like rivers as he knelt at the family altar that night with the rest of his family to thank the Gods for their mercy. Their youngest princess was going to live, and it was all thanks to Yan Ping’s endeavour.