Chapter 2 – Cleansing the Meridians

The morning sun fell softly over the border city of Cali.

In a courtyard in the south of the city, a young man stood quietly, saber in hand. His heaving chest and sweat-covered body the only proof of the intense physical activity recently done.

Near him, wearing a white oriental robe, a girl was waiting below the shade of a tree, prepared to answer timely to any requirement his young master can have.

Feeling the cool breeze caressing his face, the youth left his trance, looking toward the girl with a smiling face.

“Have you prepared everything Lia?”

“Yes, young master. We can begin anytime.”

“Good, then wait for me inside. I’m going to clean my face first.”

“… Yes.”

Nodding softly with an unnoticeable blush on her face, the girl went inside the house leaving behind the smiling youth to continue his morning routine. Washing his face with a bowl of warm water, his mind replayed carefully every one of the necessary steps to guarantee the best possible results of the procedure he was going to do.

Cleansing the meridians is a process that every practitioner experiment at least once in his life. It is normally done in the beginnings of cultivation, at the body refinement stage, with the purpose of allowing a better circulation of energy inside the body; it consists in removing the dregs residing inside the meridians which can obstruct the energy from passing freely through them. Normally, such process carries no risk.

Of course, different from a normal meridian cleansing, the process that Lia is going to face is a bit different, and the consequence a bit riskier.

Drying his face with a towel, Aiden took a deep breath and made up his mind, resolved to give his best to reduce the dangers that Lia was going to face at the minimum.

Entering the house, Aiden left the towel on a table nearby and walked straight to the room where the procedure is going to be realized.

But once he stepped inside the room, what greeted Aiden was the sight of a blushing Lia in a white bathrobe, fidgeting nervously while she waited for him.

Faced with that scenery, Aiden could no help but look agape for a moment despite it not being the first time he found himself in that situation.

Blushing even more deeply, Lia lowered her face as if fearing looking directly at his eyes.

“Y-Young master, p-please don’t look so much…”

“S-Sorry, my bad… I forgot myself a bit…”

Reacting to the words from Lia, Aiden proceeded to look at the rest of the room to avoid her gaze.

in a side of the room was a bed in which anybody would feel cramped. The bed was fitted with white blankets and exuded a light medicinal fragrance, proof of his years being used for medical purposes. Near there, a bowl filled with a greenish medicinal concoction left out a bit of white smoke due to the heat. A set of needles rested over a table together with medical equipment of various kinds and a jade bottle whose content was unknown.

Looking around the room and noting that everything was prepared, Aiden tried to calm himself down and stuttered to Lia:

“… T-Take your clothes off and lie down.”

“Y-Yes young master.”

Seeing the nervous Lia, Aiden smiled at himself and spoke again, this time a bit calmer:

“D-Don’t be so nervous, it is not the first time we do it and, I will be sure that everything will go well.”

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“… That is not the only reason because I am nervous though…”

Smiling wryly to herself, Lia took her bathrobes off leaving only her underwear and lied facing down on the bed.

Staring absentmindedly at Lia's body for a few seconds, Aiden only awoke after she coughed softly.

Walking awkwardly towards the table, he took the bowl and the needles with his hands.

The bowl was full of a greenish liquid composed from a mix from different herbs, some of spiritual nature even if only a bit. It emitted a thick scent of medicine which was pleasant to the nose. It took almost six months for Aiden and Lia to reunite all the ingredients necessary for this medicinal paste, and the price of it reached at a staggering worth of almost fifty gold coins, enough for a small family to live comfortably for a few years. Only the price is enough for anybody to imagine the effects of this medicine in the body. Of course, if compared with the pill in the jade bottle, the medicinal paste is nothing. The bottle contains the last body changing pill that Aiden brought from his home when he escaped. The other two were used before in the previous two sections of meridian cleansing.

Swallowing his nervousness, Aiden used his hands to spread the medicinal paste in the back of Lia, continuing with her arms and legs, being careful to not use too much force and causing a strain.

“U-Uhh.”

Suppressing a moan from escaping her mouth and distracting Aiden, Lia bit her lips and cleared her mind for what was to come. Then after a few seconds, a biting pain spread through her body attacking her muscles.

“U-Ugh!”

Seeing the twisted expression in Lia’s face, Aiden took the pill out from the jade bottle and put it in her mouth.

“Hurry up! Swallow it!”

Opening her mouth and swallowing the pill, it only took an instant for Lia feel a warm current spreading through her body, stimulating the energy in her and cleaning her meridians.

Observing the situation, Aiden didn’t hesitate to take the needles and insert it carefully in some points on her back, arms and legs; putting and quitting the needles in various places and inserting his energy following the changes in Lia’s body.

Concentrating completely, Aiden did his utmost to prevent any problem of surfacing. Forgetting about time while continuing to interchange the needles, Aiden didn’t dare to lose the concentration for one second.

Different from the normal process of meridian cleansing, the procedure that Lia was experiencing could be said to be “induced” instead of the natural and painless process occurring during the body refinement stage. The normal process of meridian cleansing consists in simply expulsing the impurities from the body. Instead, the one Lia is currently experiencing not only expulse the impurities but also expand and strengthen the meridians and improve the circulation of energy. No just it, but she is receiving it during the core-forming stage instead of the body refinement stage.

Because of it, the process realized is bit riskier. Normally, the injuries incurred in this process would be minor with at most some strained muscles, but with Lia doing it during the core-forming stage instead of the body refinement stage, the risks present are greater; going from rupturing some meridians to even death in extreme cases. The cause is due to the greater quantity of energy present inside the body in this stage.

This “induced” meridian cleansing is a process realized for influential families at their heirs during the body refinement stage to create a great foundation for their future cultivation, reason because Aiden is determined to use it in Lia. Different from the thoughts of commoners, the body refinement stage doesn’t consist simply in increasing the physical strength of the body, instead, its main goal is to attune the body to energy, making it easier for the user to manipulate it in the future, bringing great advantages in the upper levels of cultivation. If they need to increase their bodily strength, then there are various methods going from cultivation techniques to some medicines and spiritual plants which can do it during any stage of cultivation.

On the other hand, though it is possible to correct a mistaken body refinement in the future, the greater the cultivation level the harder and more expensive is to do it. For this reason, Aiden made a significant effort with the purpose of correct all the imperfections in Lia’s body and widen her future path of cultivation.

A long time after, Lia began to feel the energy coursing through her body beginning to subside. Noticing the change, Aiden retired all de needles and took a deep breath, allowing the tension to leave his body.

Sitting cross-legged in the ground, Aiden entered in meditation to recover the energy wasted during the process of cleansing. Meanwhile, Lia activated her cultivation technique to integrate the leftover medicinal effect from the pill with the energy on her body, so to avoid leaving it to be wasted.

Five minutes after it, when Aiden was almost completely recovered, a sudden spike of energy awoke him from his state of meditation. Surprised, Aiden turned toward the bed only to see Lia meditating, a film of light covering dimly her body.

Moments later, Lia opened her eyes and saw a happy Aiden smiling at her from ear to ear.

“Congratulations Lia! I didn’t think you would breakthrough during the process of meridian cleansing.”

“Young master…!!!”

Jumping from the bed, Lia ran and hugged Aiden excitedly. All while crying from happiness.

Surprised, Aiden tried escaping from her awkwardly and avoid thinking about her (almost) nude body making contact with him.

Suppressing his emotions, Aiden blushed furiously and shout nervously:

“L-Lia! I know you are happy! B-But, think a bit more before you act!!!”

“Hahaha! what do you mean, young master!? Of course, I’m happy! After all I alrea-”

A few seconds after it, a slap followed for a cry resounded inside Aiden’s house.