Chapter 8: Breaking Through

“You little brat, I’m going away for a while. Stay at home and don’t cause trouble—otherwise, when I die, no one will help bury you!”
That morning, as Rod finished his training and stepped out of his house, he heard the old man’s harsh voice.
Used to such harsh words, Rod didn’t react much and simply nodded slightly. “I’m still young and won’t die so soon. You don’t need to worry! If you have time, think about yourself instead. You’re already half in the coffin yet still acting arrogantly. Be careful—otherwise, you might die right away, and no one will handle your affairs when that happens.”
In his heart, he thought this, but politely said, “Oh, go ahead and come back soon. I won’t see you off!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon!” The old man said indifferently, flashing a strange smile at Rod before picking up his belongings and disappearing from sight.
“Hehe, now the world is peaceful. I can have some quiet time!” Rod murmured to himself with a faint smile. He didn’t know what the old man was going to do, nor did he need to. He understood that even if he asked, he wouldn’t get an answer, so it was better to use this time to do what he needed to do.
After casually organizing himself and having a light breakfast, he quickly went to the open space in front of his hut to start training. It had taken over ten days to recover from his injuries, and today was the perfect day to train hard!
Due to his injuries, he hadn’t been able to train properly during this time, but he hadn’t stopped practicing the third level of training either. The energy within his body had grown significantly and spread throughout his meridians. Though he still didn’t know how to use it or its effects, it was very powerful for healing. The fact that he could recover so quickly from such severe injuries was proof of that.
……
“Huff, huff, huff…” Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Even in the middle of winter, wearing only thin clothes, he felt extremely hot after training.
After resting for a long time and taking a deep breath, Rod reluctantly got up and headed toward the small room. The cool breeze made him feel a bit chilly as his sweat dried.

Entering the room, he quickly prepared hot water. He went to the old man’s room, to the familiar spot, endured the pungent smell, took out a pack of grayish-black powder, and then returned to the small room to pour it all into the wooden barrel and mix it thoroughly with the hot water.
…
After washing up, Rod let out a satisfied groan and lingered for a long time before reluctantly stepping out. Back in his own room, feeling the chill of winter, he went to the bed and without delay entered his meditation state once again. Time did not wait, and he understood this well—especially lately, as he often saw people acting suspiciously around him. Rod knew they might be sent by Vidoc. He couldn’t keep waiting; he had to grow stronger as quickly as possible and carry out his plan at the earliest opportunity.
He quickly immersed himself in meditation and immediately sensed the flow of energy within his body. Focusing his mind, he slowly guided it to start moving. He breathed deeply, using every pore in his body to inhale and absorb energy without restraint. The internal energy flowed repeatedly through his meridians, nourishing every corner of them, while his pores generously supplied his body with energy, undergoing repeated purification processes.
Finally, after countless cycles, Rod felt his body was fully charged. At that moment, he knew the time had come! Hadn’t he been waiting for this moment these past days? Although it would have been possible a few days earlier, Rod knew now was the best time. Back then, he was worried his body wouldn’t withstand it, but after several days of recovery, he was now fully capable.
Indeed, just a few days ago, Rod had felt he had met the requirements of the third stage and could proceed to the next level of unblocking his internal organs. But since his internal organs hadn’t fully recovered from the previous injuries, he hadn’t acted. Now, he no longer hesitated. He quickly gathered all the energy in his veins and sent it in several streams toward his internal organs. Moving cautiously, never daring to be careless, this was the most critical moment—any disturbance could ruin everything and put him in grave danger.

Sweat began to appear on Rod’s forehead unnoticed, his face turned slightly red, and the veins on his head bulged, showing just how tense he was at that moment.
“Is the master about to start?” At the same time, the sword pattern on Rod’s lower abdomen seemed to sense something as it trembled slightly, with the sword spirit inside whispering to itself.
“Mm, let’s go take a look. Maybe we can be of some help!” After remaining silent for a while and observing Rod’s situation, the sword spirit spoke to itself again.
His internal energy flowed in eleven streams toward the five internal organs—heart, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys—and the six external organs: small intestine, gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, bladder, and triple energizer, slowly moving along their main meridians.
“No good! What is the master thinking? This approach definitely won’t work! His mental strength isn’t enough to support such a large-scale operation. Damn it! Can’t he think of a way to tackle them one by one?” Watching this from the shadows, the sword spirit cried out anxiously before complaining.
Indeed, he knew all too well how much mental strength and internal energy were required to open up these eleven areas simultaneously. Such a task was impossible for someone just starting out in martial arts. It required a strong mental foundation, supplemented by ample internal energy, to succeed. After all, no one had ever been heard of using this method to advance to the Qi Refinement stage!
Frowning deeply, beads of sweat the size of beans slid down Rod’s forehead like raindrops, his face turning bright red. The energy he had expended far exceeded his expectations. He could feel that he was on the verge of giving up!
Bearing down, resisting the urge to quit, he gathered his internal energy and finally reached the critical moment. Just then, the eleven streams of energy encountered a faint barrier.
“That’s them!” Sensing this barrier, Rod thought to himself. Yes, what he had to do now was to break through these eleven meridian obstacles and connect the five internal organs and six external organs, thereby allowing the flow of energy through them and reaching this stage of cultivation.
Frowning tightly and letting out a groan, he realized right when he touched these obstacles that he wasn’t up to the task. He couldn’t even launch an attack—his mental energy was almost exhausted, leaving him with no strength to continue. At that moment, Rod’s mind grew foggy. The loss of mental energy left him utterly exhausted. All he wanted now was to stop immediately and rest properly.

“Damn it! If others can do it, so can I. If I can’t overcome this, then I might as well give up! What’s the point of talking about the future?” Rod quickly dismissed that thought and roared fiercely. If others could pass this hurdle easily, it meant it wasn’t that difficult—so why couldn’t he? Rod never believed otherwise. If others could do it, he could do it too, and even better. That was something he firmly believed in. Unaware that he was already on the wrong path, he silently encouraged himself.

Gripping his teeth tightly, he roared inwardly while forcing himself to muster his eleven streams of internal energy to launch an attack. Pain—unbearable agony—spread instantly throughout his body, affecting every nerve. The moment it touched those nerves, he felt an indescribable pain.

“This won’t work. If this continues, something serious will happen!”

The Sword Spirit was worried. By now, Rod had already started, and it wouldn’t be easy for him to stop. Interfering rashly would only cause trouble, distract him, and ultimately lead to danger. All he could do now was watch quietly, see if he could help in any way, and hope that Rod would wisely choose to give up at this point. At least that way, he could stay safe, with many more opportunities ahead.

As for a miracle, he didn’t dare hope for one, because such miracles had never happened before—and could very well never happen.