Three Lifetimes - Chapter 14

Authors Note: oops, sorry for the delayed chapter! I fell right asleep on the bed as soon as I got home lol. Another chapter will come in the afternoon, so stay tuned!  

That night, I made Jin sit cross-legged on his bed. I sat on my knees behind him and touched my palms to his back. I was preparing to assess his meridians and open them.

How many meridians do you want me to open? I asked. If I opened all of them at once, the pain would be debilitating to the point where he might die in distress.

All of them.

Are you sure? I hesitated.

Please, he said softly. Dont worry about me, I can do this.

But Ill stop if I sense that you wont be able to make it, okay? I was afraid he would cough out blood in the process.

Okay.

With my palms against his back, I closed my eyes as I circulated my spiritual energy inside his body. I was disappointed to find only two opened meridians in his body, and I clucked my tongue. These commoners did have trash meridians, even the God of War could not escape from this predicament.

The energy passed different parts of his body, pin pointing the locations of the meridians. One by one I gently pried them open until a pu sound could be heard. With every sound I could feel Jin tremble, but he did not utter a word of complaint, nor did he grunt in pain. I was amazed by his perseverance as I continued to unlock these points.

The first five meridians were now open, and the sweat on his naked back was so profuse, I could put a bucket beneath his spine and start a bath.

Are you okay? I asked worriedly.

He grunted in response.

Ill continue, alright? The next five would be even harder to open, so bear with it while you can.

The next meridians were in hiding inside his body, as if they didnt want to come out. But when I probed them to open, I heard a crack. Jin bent forward in agony, and I could tell that with the opening of his meridians, he had also successfully taken in spiritual energy particles that raised his cultivation level. Each breakthrough caused his bone and muscles to collapse then regenerate in a matter of seconds. The newly regenerated bone and muscles were tougher and harder than before, thus people with higher cultivation levels were exponentially stronger.

My palms trembled every time I heard a definite crunch sound, but I told myself to bear with it. My emotional pain couldnt even hold a candle to the kind of pain Jin was feeling right now.

When the 11th meridian was opened, I paused. Jin was sweating so much that his sweat soaked up the whole bed. I was honestly itching to order Seiran to bring a bucket.

Dont stopcontinue Jin said in between ragged breaths. His body was bent forward now as he was in indescribable pain, but I could also feel how much stronger he had become.

The last meridian is the hardest to open and the most painful, I said. I wanted to dissuade him. It wasnt necessary to open the last meridian in my opinion, but cultivation was extremely faster if one had all his meridians opened.

Pleaseone lastcontinue

I sighed.

I already knew the location of the last meridian, and I poked it with my energy. It was a shy one, as it wouldnt open with a gentle tap. I added medium energy to it, and I could see its field crack in surprise. I applied more energy, and the crack expanded more. I continued to insert my spiritual energy little by little until it succumbed to my pressure and opened up entirely. With a huge gasp, Jin fell forward and lost consciousness. I was happy to note that with just that, he leapt from 1st stage to 6th stage Nascent realm! He had skipped 5 levels just by opening up his entire meridians!

The entire process lasted for so many hours, I could already see the sun rising from the windows, and a red-orange glow permeated the room.

Seiran who had been sleeping in the corner, suddenly jumped on the bed. He sat on Jins back, his tail twitching back and forth.

Master, I could go water rafting in this room. Seiran said as he pretended to use Jins back as a raft, pedaling through the waters that were his sweat.

Seiran youre such a moron! I squeezed with laughter.

I was perusing through the skill books that I had in my spatial ring. These were the same skill books I had secretly borrowed from The Jade Emperor, and I knew they would come in handy now. I had transferred Jin to my room, because his own room was soaked, and I already knew he wouldnt wake up for a week.

I had visited his school this morning in order to tell the principal of his absence, stating that he had been incapacitated from his rigorous training. I didnt specifically say what kind of training it was, but the principal seemed to understand. Had he already known about this from the start?

As I sat in the living room with Seiran pawing at some scrolls, my eyes scanned several titles. These titles were written by hand, and the handwriting looked very familiar. What shocked me more after scanning through a variety of skills, was that I had never seen these said skills before in my spatial ring!

[The Jade Emperors Heavenly Dance][The Jade Emperors Divine Retribution][The Jade Emperors Dancing Flowers][The Jade Emperor Is A Handsome Man].

Uncle, you were actually a narcissist, huh?

[The Jade Emperors Niece]My eyes bulged.

wait a minute. Had I read that wrong?!

[The Jade Emperors Niece Who Was Actually A Thief][You Have My Permission][The Jade Emperors Dragon Beast][Here, Take This][And This][Study Hard][My Lovely Niece][Learn This Dance][Make Sure To Return These][We Miss And Love You]I nearly fainted in shock. It was clearly uncles penmanship, but how could he write the titles of these skills as if he was writing a short letter to me! Furthermore, all of the skills books that suddenly appeared were of Heavenly grade! It was the highest skill anyone could make (well, he was The Jade Emperor after all), but the names were senseless if you just happened upon a single skill book in your hands. I imagined a practitioner learning about the Make Sure To Return These skill. He would probably be pressured into learning the skill fast so he could return the book to me

I wasnt surprised how my uncle learned about my treachery, but I had always wondered why I had infiltrated the palace too easily, without any obstructions. Perhaps he already knew of my plan back then, and allowed me to purloin his treasures. But my question was, how was my uncle able to insert these skill books into my spatial ring? Well, again, he was The Jade Emperor. He was capable of doing anythingeven making senselessly named skills for fun.

I sighed and selected a few Heavenly Grade skill books that didnt have such a bizarre name and effect. I chose [The Jade Emperors Dragon Beast] just because I had a dragon masquerading as a feline beside me. When the aforementioned feline heard of this fact, he happily nudged his head against my hand. I stroked him under the chin and he purred loudly enough to bother neighbors. I think he rather liked his feline form a littletoo much.