This body had been cultivating since age six, and now, nearly fifteen, after seven or eight years, only three major acupoints had been opened and three channels of true qi condensed.
For an ordinary child, having three channels of true qi would already be something to be proud of.
But he was the son of a marquis, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Good bloodline, abundant resources, decent talent — and after seven or eight years of cultivation, still only at three channels of true qi. It was, without exaggeration, the worst of the worst.
"Come to think of it, old Father Jiang Han — that fiercely protective old man — really has been quite patient." Jiang Chen let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh. He wasn't too discouraged.
"Twelve stages of true qi, heh. If I remember correctly, this sort of basic cultivation belongs to the Minor Circulation method. Among all cultivation techniques, it sits at the very bottom. In my previous life I oversaw the Celestial Library, perusing texts from all the heavens and every mundane plane. Now that I've been reborn, should I really be cultivating this Minor Circulation method?"
That's what he thought, but reality was harsh. Here and now, Jiang Chen had a mind full of cosmic knowledge and techniques from across the heavens — yet with this body's foundation, all he could cultivate was this Minor Circulation method.
If he attempted one of the great heavenly techniques right off the bat, given this body's aptitude, he probably wouldn't achieve anything meaningful even if he cultivated until the day he died.
Jiang Chen felt a twinge of frustration. It was like sitting before a table laden with the finest delicacies, but being able to eat nothing but pickled vegetables.
Still, he didn't let himself sink too deep into despair. He knew —
"The path of cultivation, regardless of the route, leads to the same destination. In the mundane planes, plenty of geniuses have shattered their limits and ascended to the heavenly planes. Didn't they all start with the Minor Circulation method? I'll follow local customs, but I can still make improvements and adjustments based on this method."
Jiang Chen was brimming with confidence.
Once he'd worked through this, his entire mood lightened.
"Haha, I was overthinking things just now. I get to this world and immediately want to overturn its cultivation laws — how ridiculous is that? Sure, I can't cultivate the great heavenly techniques, but within this trifling true qi realm, I have countless methods to accelerate my cultivation speed and catch up in no time."
If it were about cultivating the great heavenly techniques in this body, Jiang Chen genuinely had no solution. But for the Minor Circulation method, within the true qi realm, the options at his disposal were practically limitless.
And it was exactly as he suspected — in the true qi realm, his repertoire was vast.
"This fool — no wonder his true qi is so feeble. Fishing for three days and drying nets for two — how could his true qi possibly advance?"
"Also, the rhythm of his true qi circulation is completely wrong. And his breathing technique is absolute garbage."
"Heavens, did this guy ever actually put any serious effort into cultivation before? The sequence of true qi circulation is sometimes flat-out wrong — unbelievable!"
"How laughable. 'Opening twelve major acupoints' — these warriors in this world don't even have a method to locate their acupoints. They have to discover them through trial and error?"
Jiang Chen casually circulated his true qi a few times and immediately identified a whole host of problems.
The most ridiculous thing was that for warriors in this world, opening a single major acupoint was an incredibly difficult process requiring layers of painstaking exploration.
Admittedly, the distribution of acupoints varied from person to person, with no universal pattern to follow.
But surely some method of locating acupoints existed in this world?
Jiang Chen did a quick search through his memory archives and pulled out four or five different acupoint-locating techniques.
What Jiang Chen didn't realize was that these techniques he'd so casually retrieved from his memory — if word got out — would cause a massive upheaval across the entire plane.
"Ah, so the mundane plane I've been reborn into really is weak. The weakest of the weak." Jiang Chen gained a deeper understanding of his current circumstances.
At least when it came to cultivation texts, this place was severely impoverished.
"Maybe it's just that the cultivation world of the Eastern Kingdom is too weak? Could there be much stronger domains elsewhere?" Jiang Chen had no intention of being dismissive. Even of the Eastern Kingdom, he had no grounds to look down upon.
Theoretically, he held the knowledge of the cosmos within him, but in actual cultivation, if he walked onto the streets of the capital right now, any random warrior could crush him as easily as stomping on an ant.
Having identified all those problems, Jiang Chen addressed them one by one. He activated his three meridian channels, and the three streams of true qi began circulating through his body once more.
At first, Jiang Chen still felt a bit clumsy, controlling the true qi with some difficulty.
After a few complete Minor Circulations, however, managing the three streams of true qi became second nature.
Initially, the true qi crawled along like earthworms through mud, painfully slow. As the Minor Circulation deepened, it picked up speed — faster and faster.
Suddenly, all three streams of true qi surged toward a single point inside his body like a crashing wave.
They crashed against the blockade like three torrents slamming into a dam, shattering it in an instant.
A sensation so exhilarating it nearly made him cry out flooded through Jiang Chen. His entire body tingled with ease, and a rush of hot blood surged to his head.
He felt as though he might float right off the ground.
A vortex of heat formed at that point, and along his meridian, like spring rain bringing new life, a fresh pathway opened within him in an instant.
The fourth major true qi acupoint — broken open!
Four channels of true qi!
It had to be said — this body's natural aptitude was actually quite decent. By correcting all the previous owner's cultivation mistakes using the distilled wisdom from his memories, the results were immediate.
His pitiful three channels of true qi shot straight up to four!
And Jiang Chen himself stepped from the initial stage of true qi straight into the advanced tier!
"Hahaha, so this is what cultivation feels like!" With this single step forward, thoughts from both his past and present lives rushed through his mind, and he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
It hadn't been easy. In his previous life, born as the Son of the Celestial Emperor, he'd been unable to cultivate due to his Extreme Yin physique. He'd waited a million years, endured a cataclysm, welcomed his rebirth, and finally — finally gained the right to cultivate.