Emily Thompson stood in a daze for a long time. That incense burner—could it really have such a function?

Spiritual herbs are violently potent and cannot be consumed directly; their properties usually need to be neutralized and refined into pills before they can be taken. Wouldn’t this method of directly absorbing the medicinal power skip the entire pill-refining process, and even better, preserve the maximum potency of the spiritual herb?

While Emily Thompson was stunned, Little White Tiger was also frozen in place. With its limited intelligence, it couldn’t figure out how the fruit it had coveted for so long had suddenly disappeared.

However, since it had intended the fruit as a token of gratitude anyway, it didn’t dwell on it. It let out another low growl at Emily Thompson and ran off in another direction.

Emily Thompson closely followed behind it, and before long, the man and the tiger stopped in a valley.

Emily Thompson could clearly sense that the vegetation in this valley was exceptionally lush—so much so that it seemed almost unnatural, with greenery covering the entire valley. On a clearing where the trees grew thickest, Emily Thompson spotted a green medicinal herb.

This herb had slender leaves like an orchid, with small purple flowers blooming atop it.

He didn’t recognize this particular herb, but he could feel the intense spiritual energy contained within it.

This was clearly another spiritual herb. Little White Tiger gestured with its mouth toward Emily Thompson, indicating that this one was for him as well.

At the same time, Emily Thompson felt a sense of longing emanating from the incense burner mark on his chest.

With the experience from earlier, Emily Thompson slowly walked up to the spiritual herb, reached out, and gently touched one of its leaves. In the next instant, the herb withered to ash, transforming into a stream of energy that surged from his fingertip to his chest.

Unlike the violent energy of the vermilion fruit, this energy was much gentler, brimming with vitality—clearly a wood-attribute spiritual herb.

Just like before, most of the herb’s energy flowed into the mark on his chest, while a small portion rampaged through Emily Thompson’s body. Emily Thompson was filled with anticipation, hoping to use this spiritual energy to break through to his third acupoint, but things didn’t go as he wished.

The spiritual energy passed by the fire meridian three times without entering, and finally surged fiercely toward another acupoint in Emily Thompson’s body.

Emily Thompson’s expression changed dramatically, and he cried out in alarm, “No, not there!”

That acupoint didn’t belong to any of the seventy-two fire meridian points. Forcibly breaking through could have serious consequences.

Boom!

Emily Thompson felt a buzzing in his head as that acupoint was forcefully opened by the spiritual energy. A trace of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but instead of feeling much pain, Emily Thompson actually felt quite comfortable.

Standing in the valley, he could sense the vibrant life force of the surrounding plants.

A possibility suddenly occurred to Emily Thompson: could the acupoint that had just been opened be the wood meridian?

He looked down and saw more black filth seeping from his body. Emily Thompson was all too familiar with this phenomenon—it seemed he had undergone another round of qi condensation...

Qi condensation is the process of using spiritual energy to open up the meridians. Every person has five meridians within their body, all innately sealed. In theory, a person can undergo qi condensation five times, but very few actually do so.

The path of cultivation is extremely arduous. Every cultivator struggles against fate, wishing they could live another five hundred years. Even cultivating a single meridian is fraught with peril; if one cannot break through and extend their lifespan before their years run out, only true geniuses would consider spending time on other meridians.

For cultivators, wasting time truly is wasting life.

Of course, cultivating an extra meridian brings enormous benefits: it means having much deeper spiritual power than others at the same stage. Someone in the Qi Condensation stage with five meridians is on a completely different level from someone with only one.

Not only that, but cultivating two or more meridians at the same time can unleash power far beyond that of a single meridian.

Those who cultivate both the fire and water meridians can, after reaching Foundation Establishment, practice lightning techniques, which are even more violent than fire spells.

Meanwhile, dual cultivation of the water and wood meridians, after Foundation Establishment, can fuse into wind attributes, making escape so swift that even those a whole realm higher would struggle to catch up.

Additionally, high-level alchemists must cultivate both fire and wood meridians to better control heat and medicinal properties, while powerful artifact refiners always cultivate both fire and metal meridians...

Although, given Emily Thompson’s aptitude, cultivating two meridians at once might not be a good thing, the extra spiritual power was a free gift—he’d be a fool not to take it, especially since it didn’t cost him any time.

Emily Thompson didn’t have time to think further, as Little White Tiger was already calling him to the next location.

A look of delight appeared on Emily Thompson’s face. “There’s more?”

Another half an hour later, beside a waterfall in the mountain stream.

A waterfall dozens of zhang high cascaded from the peak, forming a deep pool in the valley below. Little White Tiger nodded toward the waterfall, and Emily Thompson immediately understood, leaping up and passing through the waterfall to discover a hidden cave behind the curtain of water.

It was a water cave several zhang across, with some standing water on the floor. At the center, on a stone platform, grew a pure white lotus.

Another spiritual herb!

Little White Tiger gave a light leap, astonishingly crossing several zhang to land inside as well.

Emily Thompson glanced back. Treasures like these usually only grow in blessed lands; they’re rarely found in the outside world. He wondered where Little White Tiger kept finding one after another...