Forget it! Don’t think about it! Henry Carter shifted his focus back to cultivation. The faint fragrance of the pill was far more potent than he had imagined. If the absorption of vital energy before was just a trickling stream, now it was like dozens of smooth streams converging together, surging true qi into his body.

Pain, pain, pain, pain, it hurts!

A massive influx of vital energy suddenly entered. Henry Carter felt that the strength and width of his meridians couldn’t bear it. Each meridian was like a duck being force-fed, suddenly swelling up, and the slender meridians began to show tiny cracks.

Not good! They’re really about to burst! Cold sweat broke out on Henry Carter’s forehead. He tried to stop absorbing more vital energy, but found that the pill’s fragrance attached to the true qi quickly filled the cracks in his meridians. The meridians that were about to burst, under the nourishment of the pill’s aura, rapidly recovered and even seemed to become more resilient than before.

The width of the meridians—did it just increase?

Henry Carter squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard to sense the state of his meridians.

The resilience has at least doubled! The width has increased by nearly ten percent!

How… how did I get so much stronger? Henry Carter felt his breathing quicken, his chest even a bit tight, all from the excitement and surprise.

A martial artist’s flesh is relatively easy to temper, but the meridians are much harder to cultivate. Usually, they are slowly nurtured by the flow of true qi during cultivation, or by soaking in medicinal baths. During the foundation-building stage as a martial apprentice, there’s usually a significant leap in meridian development.

Back in childhood, carefree play and an aversion to the hardships of martial cultivation delayed Henry Carter’s foundation-building as a martial apprentice. His meridians were much more slender than those of his peers, which was one reason for his slow progress. Now, with a sudden ten percent increase in width and double the resilience, Henry Carter was so excited he didn’t know how to describe this stroke of luck.

More vital energy was transformed into true qi, joining the circulating flow and stimulating the acupoints to absorb even more of the world’s energy into his body.

Time flew by. The pill’s aura mixed in the true qi gradually diminished, either fueling the surging true qi or repairing the stretched meridians.

As the pill’s aura faded, the flow of true qi slowed, and the speed of converting vital energy into true qi also gradually decreased. Henry Carter had to return to his previous cultivation methods, using the blade-shield iron scroll to wield the true qi blade, shredding the vital energy absorbed into his body before converting it into true qi.

After another round of absorbing vital energy, not only was his true qi fully restored, but it had also made tremendous progress compared to before. Just one night of cultivation felt like a whole month of hard training in the past. The surging true qi flowed through his meridians, and the swelling on his beaten buttocks had unknowingly subsided, returning to its pre-beaten state.

“This… I recovered so quickly?”

Henry Carter stood up and patted his butt, which last night had been so swollen it felt like a pillow stuffed in his pants. He hadn’t used any special ointment for the swelling after the beating. By rights, even circulating true qi on his butt, it should have taken two days for the swelling to go down.

One night? Henry Carter recalled the pill’s aura that had lingered in his meridians. Looks like that medicinal aura helped me again. What a treasure! If I could enter that place often, I might reach the Qi Spring stage in no time!

Qi Spring! Condensing qi into a spring! Henry Carter subconsciously clenched his fists. He had thought it would take three years of hard work to reach the stage of condensing qi into a spring! Now, if he could absorb the medicinal aura a few more times and accumulate enough true qi, he could break through to Qi Spring.

Qi Spring! Henry Carter took a deep breath. He had thought it would be a long, long time before he had a chance to condense a Qi Spring, but now he finally saw a glimmer of hope.

A glimmer of hope? Henry Carter quickly shifted his attention back to the stone gate at his dantian, the entrance to that place called the Heavenly Court of the Southern Gate. Clearly, it was because of this stone gate. He hoped he could continue to enter through it; otherwise, that glimmer of hope would be extinguished again.

“Last time I entered, it was because I channeled true qi into the stone gate, making the thin line at the bottom flash. Does it require true qi input?”

Henry Carter tried to recall the details of his accidental entry into the Heavenly Court last time. That’s right! It was indeed true qi entering the stone gate that activated some of its abilities! I wonder if channeling true qi again will trigger it? That Heavenly Court is so vast, the treasures inside must be more than just a little bit, right?

Just a bit of medicinal aura had strengthened and widened his meridians by ten percent! What if he swallowed that silver-glowing pill? And what about those magnificent palaces?

“Why are you pushing me? It’s not like I can’t walk!”

In the corridor outside the confinement room, a rebellious-sounding voice rang out, interrupting Henry Carter’s thoughts.

“If I don’t push you, you walk so slowly…”

“I say, big brother guarding the confinement room! You think I want this? After taking fifty strokes on the butt and not being allowed to use true qi to protect myself, how could I possibly walk fast? My delicate butt is so swollen now, it’s probably the most shapely in the whole Yi family.”