The Legend of Min Hong

Immediately Min Hong did that, he felt his entire body being sucked into another dimension, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark space. Everywhere around him was dark except from the altar that was glowing a few meters away from him.

Min Hong approached the alter and noticed that whatever he was currently walking on didn't feel like hard floor. He then looked below his feet and saw a glowing image of himself reflecting on the ground that seemed like a liquid surface.

The image looked exactly like him in every sense but also felt intangible, like a spirit, like it was all made out of Qi. After observing every part of himself, he then approached the altar. When He got to the altar, he noticed there was an energy barrier surrounding it, like a big ball of light.

The altar looked more like a stage in the modern earth. It had a few steps going up to the main platform at the top. Then on the stage was a white floating futon with purple-gold engravings on it. The engravings consisted of humongous trees, mythical beasts and all sorts of birds that portrayed the scene of all creation in one painting.

Hovering in front of the platform was the light orb which contained the Primordial Chaos treasure 'Eye of Myriad Universe' the ball of light looked light green in color as opposed to the energy barrier of the altar which was white.

Min Hong tried pushing the barrier with his hand (which was made of Qi) and it passed through the energy barrier without any resistance, he then entered and walked up to the platform. When he got to the top, he kept observing the futon and was really captivated by the engravings.

After observing for about what seemed like ten breaths, he then sat on it. Immediately he sat on the futon a connection was establish between himself and the entire dimension. He could sense everything that was inside this dimension and although there wasn't much objects inside, the entire dimension was still vast.

At least from the little he could sense it covered at least 100 Kilometers from end to end. But what he never knew was that the sea of consciousness of a 2 Star Qi Creation stage was only about 10 kilometers in radius.

Where he was felt like and island, the land being the altar which was about a hundred meters in diameter surrounded by what he perceived to be Qi instead of water. He opened his eyes and looked at the ball of light currently hovering just in front of him, and he touched it.

~Swish~ Min Hong felt the ball of light establish a link to his mind, and with a thought from him it exploded into countless motes of green light, like those usually seen in mystical forests where fairies live.

These motes of light spread out far and wide bringing little ambience to the formerly dark dimension that was Min Hong's sea of consciousness. Then Min Hong could actually get a view of what this dimension looked like.

It was indeed a sea of mental Qi as far as His eyes could see, then the altar located at what he perceived as the center of this dimension. The white energy barrier was still there and the motes of life moving around in a lifelike manner.

He then noticed four books hovering there in front of Him, looking at what was written on them he saw; [Willow Leaf Palm], [Chaotic Shadow Steps], [Rain-Dragon Meridian] and [Jade Primal Dragon Body]. These were the techniques given He had read and was training in.

As if struck by lightning, Min Hong realize that the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' was nowhere to be found. Scrunching his brows, his forehead became itchy, and as he tried to scratch it, he felt a slight bump on his forehead.

Bending over to look at his face on the mirror like surface of the altar, he noticed there was a slit on his forehead. It looked like a closed eye slumbering there in a vertical position. With a thought, he opened it and a mental shockwave blasted across the entire dimension, causing large wavy ripples to form all over the surface of his sea of consciousness.

Min Hong observed the eye which had a white iris but a gold pupil. It looked like they eye of a celestial god that could see everything, look into a person soul and gaze into the boundless void.

He looked up and immediately all the motes of light in his sea of consciousness increased in brightness as if responding or paying homage to its creator.

Min Hong then looked at the techniques hovering before him and touched the [Willow Leaf Palm] and immediately a long whistling sound echoed in this dimension and a mote of light dashed over as if being called by Min Hong.

When the mote of light arrived, it transformed into a glowing green figure, the figure stepped on the altar and got down on one knee, bowing reverently to Min Hong like a commoner bowing before an emperor, or a slave before its master.

Carefully inspecting this figure, he realized that to his surprise, the figure had a striking resemblance to himself. However, there was no sign of life radiating from it, rather it was expressionless as a doll.

"What is going on…" Min Hong blankly gazed at the glowing figure in front of him, his brain somewhat crippled with fear by this creepy sight.

"Ka!" While he was still in a daze, the glowing "Min Hong" figure suddenly moved to a corner of the altar, adjusted its body and extended both palms, displaying a familiar palm technique with those hands.

"Is this… Willow Leaf Palm?" As he gazed at the palm technique displayed by the glowing figure, Min Hong's pupils dilated in shock. Soon after, a startled expression surfaced on his face as he realized that the Willow Leaf Palm displayed was even more refined and elegant than Min Tian's.

"Ka~Ka~Ka" In the darkness, the glowing figure moved deftly as it waved its palms. Its moves were smooth and gentle like a swaying leaf, and seemed much swifter than when Min Tian displayed it.

Three muffled sounds!

Min Hong stared in awe at the glowing figure that resembled him almost perfectly. As the figure executed the Willow Leaf palm, he could clearly hear three echoes.

"Three muffled sounds…" Just as Min Hong mumbled to himself, his mental body suddenly jolted in shock. Just as the glowing figure finished displaying the set of palm technique, its body jerked in a strange manner. Immediately, a soft echo resounded from its arm!

"What!"

The sound generated was extremely soft. Only because Min Hong was in a state of high alert within this quiet space, was he able to hear that last sound.

It was a fist strike that came after the reflecting palm, but with the energy flow of the glowing figure, it seemed this fist strike was executed using both the absorbed force and the figure's energy.

Min Hong looked at the glowing figure in astonishment. He clearly knew that there were only supposed to be three palm moves in the Willow Leaf Palm technique, yet this glowing figure was actually able to add a follow-up fist strike?!

"But that would be wrong. How can a person execute the third palm strike and still follow up with a fist strike?" Min Hong thought but not long after the glowing figure executed another set of the move, but this time Min Hong noticed a slight difference.

The energy output of the fist strike was much stronger than that of the palm strike. Then he realised that the figure was perfecting the technique by eliminating the weaker third palm strike with a stronger fist strike making the technique more powerful and effective.

This means he could actually use a palm strike but a fist strike would be the most efficient way of discharging the absorbed force. Min Hong then thought that if he had truly used a fist strike against his grandfather instead of that fist strike, he would've have most likely sustained a heavier injury at least.

Furthermore, if he had used the fist strike to discharge the energy at the tree in the first place, all the force would have left his body instead of leaving residual force that would continue ravaging his body.

Lastly, he could clearly sense that, the Willow Leaf Palm technique displayed by the glowing figure was even more natural than Min Tians, or perhaps it was perfected.

As to why this glowing figure was able to display such unique ability, Min Hong was oblivious. Nonetheless, he understood that this time, he had indeed found a treasure…

As this thought crossed Min Hong's mind, the glowing figure didn't disappear. Instead, it once again displayed the same set of Willow Leaf Technique moves restarting from the beginning.

As Min Hong stared at the elegant glowing figure, he decided to gather up his spirits and concentrate on the glowing figure. With a very serious expression, he watched every movement again and again, memorizing every minute details in each move.

After observing for a while, Min Hong finally assumed a stance. Gently floating backward, he began to mimic the glowing figure trying to sense the essence behind its every movement.

"Ka!"

In the darkness stood two identical figures, one white figure and one green figure, tirelessly repeating the same set of palm techniques. A series of muffled sounds were continuously made, though the muffled sound generated by the green figure was more subtle than that of the white figure.

Nonetheless, Min Hong did not feel discouraged. An earnest expression remained on his tiny face, as he unconsciously adjusted his moves to resemble that of the glowing figure's

Even though these adjustments were merely minor changes, it was in line with the essence behind every move of the glowing figure, and was akin to the finishing touches to a masterpiece as each tiny adjustment brought about significant effect.

"Ka! Ka! Kum!"

As Min Hong wielded his palms and gracefully moved around, four muffled sounds suddenly rang out, but there were not as subtle as that of the glowing green figure.

Four muffled sounds! Both of Min Hong's eyes brightened! He did not expect that a few minor adjustments would actually cause his Willow Leaf Palm to flow so much smoothly to the extent that he could even execute the follow-up fist strike.

This sensation was akin to receiving guidance from a legendary master. Moreover, the level of mastery attained by this mentor was a truly terrifying one. Min Hong felt truly ecstatic. He had achieved such remarkable progress in just one day that even his grandpa's jaw would drop after witnessing him execute the technique with a fist strike instead of a palm strike.

After making such progress, Min Hong's spirit were lifted. Without taking a break, he once again resumed his fighting stance and repeated the Willow Leaf Palm moves one by one. He was determined to perfect these moves until they were as subtle as that of the glowing figure.

Sometime later, Min Hong finally ceased his training of the [Willow Leaf Palm] and then looked at the [Rain-Dragon Meridian] technique, and just like the first another green mote of light whistled over, the whistling being caused by the speed at which they approached the altar.

This new glowing body didn't display any martial art, instead it sat cross-legged and various lines of light streaked across its body in a specific pattern.

"Are those meridian channels?!" Min Hong was startled, as an unbelievable thought flashed in his mind. "If the first glowing shadow perfected the Willow Leaf Palm, does that mean…?!"

Min Hong sucked a deep breath, as he stared at the glowing shadows with lines streaking across its body. The lines originated from eight points on the body of the glowing shadow which seemed to be the eight great meridians, then they each split into twelve different additional lines which seemed to be the twelve principal meridian channels.

But the amateur Min Hong didn't realize that there was supposed to be only twelve new meridians, but now there were twelve originating from each eight great meridians adding up to 96 meridian channels.

"Is that…?!" Min Hong was truly flustered by what he was seeing. This glowing shadow just displayed the pattern to unlocking his twelve principal meridian channels, and that was not all, the newly formed lines each began to split into another ten lines each before they all gradually came to a stop.

"Did the glowing shadow just perfect the "Rain Dragon Meridian Technique? Moreover, there was a total of 960 unlocked meridian channels?! No, that's supposed to be wrong." Min Hong had begun to doubt if any of it was real.

What Min Hong didn't realize was that in this era, when a cultivator opens their eight great meridians, they believe the next step was to open only twelve more principal meridians, they never truly understood the concept of opening the twelve principal meridians.

So, the cultivators in this part of the world usually select the meridian channel located in their abdomen, since that's where the 'Dan' would be formed, which is the reservoir where all furtherly accumulated Qi would be stored.

To them, using this specific meridian would ensure quick access to their Qi reservoir and as such they would be able to access their Qi at a very rapid rate. But this school of thought or rather concept of understanding the twelve principal meridians was mediocre.

Some old ghosts, scholars and extremely talented cultivators know that since you can choose any one of the eight great meridians to serve as the foundation for the twelve principal meridians, one can also decide to open the twelve principal meridians using two or more of their eight great meridians.

But cultivation itself was going against the will of the heavens and such power would be nothing short of godly, therefore they were faced with several problems in which the two biggest ones were;

Firstly, there were extremely few techniques that shows the procedure of how to open the twelve principal meridians using two great meridians. A technique that shows three was almost non-existent whilst using three had never been seen or even heard of.

Secondly, whilst having multiple meridians would absolutely increase the power, strength of a cultivator due to the rapid pace of cultivation, there was the issue of amount of Qi needed for cultivation.