Eric Turner carefully memorized everything, then silently recalled it several more times to make sure he hadn’t forgotten a single detail. Only then did he burn the Dao De Jing to ashes in one go. It was only at this point that he finally let out a breath and relaxed his whole body. From the moment he went to buy the Dao De Jing, to slowly testing it page by page, his mind had been taut with tension, constantly making sure no one was coming for him, and always bracing himself for the blow of not having any internal energy. Only when he truly obtained this internal cultivation method did he finally relax from the pressure. However, even though his mind was at ease, his work was not yet finished.

　　(All evidence has been erased. Tomorrow I’ll go to the school to ask for leave and visit that little girl. That way, I can completely hide it from that person. The jade pendant worth two thousand yuan also fits the little girl’s family situation, so it won’t seem out of place. It’s also a good chance to probe why that little girl can change so many people’s futures... What secret does she have?)

　　Eric Turner pondered silently, and since he couldn’t figure it out, he simply set the thought aside. Then he picked up that newspaper fragment and muttered, “Since this is a treasure, it’s not fitting to keep calling it a newspaper fragment... Let’s just call it the Fengshen List. In the legend, the Fengshen List in ‘Investiture of the Gods’ could also reverse cause and effect, turn the world upside down. Although this newspaper fragment doesn’t have such great power, it’s not too far off... Good, from now on, you’ll be called the Fengshen List. You even helped me obtain a true internal cultivation method. Thinking about it now, it’s still hard to believe such a thing happened...”

　　“It’s just that...” Eric Turner suddenly frowned slightly, thinking to himself, “It’s just that this internal cultivation method clearly requires many years of training and practice to gradually master. To begin with, just controlling the flow of qi and blood in the body is no simple matter, not to mention combining blood flow, breathing rhythm, and physical training—only then can one generate a sense of qi, and thus condense internal force from the body’s energy. Who knows how long that will take... The hardest part is generating the sense of qi. If only the Fengshen List had some way to help me generate that sense of qi ahead of time.”

　　As he was thinking this, the number of causality points on the Fengshen List in Eric Turner’s hand fluctuated again. When it reached negative three thousand or so, it finally blurred and disappeared completely. The causality point number changed to zero, and the negative three thousand or so flashed by in an instant—Eric Turner only caught a glimpse before it vanished as if it had never appeared at all...

　　At the same time, Eric Turner felt a wave of warmth in his dantian, and as this warmth spread, the blood throughout his body gradually warmed up as well...

Chapter Five: Countercurrent and Clues (Part One)

　　After seeing the causality points on the Fengshen List turn negative, Eric Turner hadn’t yet figured out what it meant when the warmth inside his body completely drew his attention. This warmth wasn’t harsh; on the contrary, it felt like soaking in warm water, his whole body comfortable and relaxed.

　　With the appearance of this warm current, Eric Turner felt as if he could see the flow of blood inside his body with the naked eye. No, “see” wasn’t quite right—“sense” was more accurate. He could clearly feel the existence of a certain energy within his body, present in his cells, generated as fat or sugar was broken down. Most of it turned into heat, some entered the cells, and some was carried by the blood throughout the body. At least more than half of the energy was wasted during blood transmission, and most of the energy that became heat was also wasted—over seventy percent, in fact. The energy truly absorbed by the body was just a little over ten percent of the total.

　　Eric Turner finally understood why that overseas wanderer said that qi was just the flow of blood—because humans aren’t actually that sensitive to their own bodies. With deeper training, people can sense from skin to flesh, and with even deeper training, into blood and bone, but that takes years of practice or innate martial talent. Ordinary people can never sense their own blood, and even sensing the blood doesn’t mean they can feel the energy flowing within it. If someone could, without external help, train their body to the point of sensing the energy in their blood, their physical body alone would already be superhuman, and the tiny amount of energy in the blood would be negligible. That’s why internal cultivation methods have faded away—it’s not without reason.

　　In fact, qi is not the flow of blood, but the energy within the blood’s flow. The heat released from the body also carries this qi, as does the energy consumed for nothing. For an ordinary person to sense the energy in their blood flow is already a mark of genius, and if they can also sense the energy consumed within the body and condense it, that is true internal force—the real essence of internal cultivation!