For the rest of the day, Daniel sat in his room cultivating.  In order to clear the meridians, Qi must be brought along the bloodstream until the first meridian point, which is the only one connected to the veins.  Meridians are naturally tangled at birth, so finding the first meridian is a task in and of itself.  Before organ refinement, the arteries would be unable to support enough raw Qi to find it, and even afterwards, the Qi that can be sustained us unable to go against the flow of blood.  Additionally, it dissipates after a few seconds, so new Qi must constantly circle.

After three hours, Daniel finally found the meridian point, and after a couple rotations, was able to clear the entrance.  For the rest of the day, he bombarded the meridian with Qi brought along his bloodstream and, deep in the night, succeeded in completely opening it.  Now, Drawing Qi would be much simpler, as well as efficient.

After the clearing, Daniel opened his eyes and hopped off his bed.  Throwing some essentials for the trip in a bag, he quietly left the Clan Grounds.  After renting a horse, he set course for the Hestian Mountains.

As the sun rose, Daniel gazed at the towering Hestian Mountains before him.  After enjoying the beautiful scenery, he made his way to an outpost at the base of the mountain range and tied up his horse.  Giving a couple silver to a stable boy for food, water, and grooming for a couple days, Daniel set out into the wilderness.

“D*mn it,” Seth Noblesse grumbled, “Why am I always the f*cking servant for these guys.  I’m a descendant of the clan too, you know.”

Besides Daniel, Seth was the one publically known as the person with the least talent for cultivation.  He had just broken through to the seventh layer of Body Tempering hardly a month ago, and was likely to only advance by another layer before stagnating.  It also didn’t help that his wiry frame a long, witch-like nose made him easier to pick on.  When going places too toiling for the normal servants, the children of the Noblesse Clan would drag him along to cater to their needs.

“Don’t mess with me just because you’re afraid of Daniel’s father,” Seth continued to complain to himself.

Right now, he was on a chore to dispose of scraps from breakfast and clean dishes at the river.  Suddenly, a crackle of leaves just beyond some foliage caught his attention.  Deciding to see if it was anyone he could force to do his chores with the family name, Seth decided to take a look.

“Hmm?”  Seth quirked.

Looking through some bushes, he found Daniel sprinting at his fastest speed up the mountain.  Seth thought that the loser was just running around randomly, but then Daniel stopped, looked around, and then headed slightly left of his original course.

“Did that lucky brat find something?” Seth asked himself.

Gradually, an evil smile crept up his face.

“I wonder what it is…”

Naturally, Daniel didn’t notice that he had picked up a tail, and continued on, completely oblivious to the malicious intentions behind him.  After another half hour, he finally reached a certain cliff that jutted out from the mountain.  Following the base to the North, Daniel eventually came to a large boulder wedged into the cliff.  Around where the boulder connected to the cliff, mud sealed the seam.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Daniel sighed with relief.  Thankfully, nobody had found his cave.  One day, when he training in the mountains, a terrible storm abruptly appeared, making the mountain face a river almost instantly.  Nonetheless, Daniel continued to train in the billowing winds and heavy downpour.  After all, such extreme conditions were perfect for tempering the body.  How could he know that one wrong step would cause a mudslide that sent him down the mountain and over the edge of the cliff he now stood under?  However, the mudslide also swept away various rocks and sediment that completely sealed a small cave tunneled into the cliff.

Having decided that one near death experience was enough, Daniel took shelter within the cave.  Once inside, his eyes widened in astonishment.  At the far end of the cave, a dead skeleton was sitting cross-legged and leaning against the wall.  Right in front of the skeleton, a small pear connected to a similarly small sprout.  Not only were these anomalies present within the cave, but pure Qi filled the entire cave.  Immediately, Daniel understood that the pear was a great treasure, and, after the storm had passed, he resealed the cave as best he could.  Although he couldn’t replicate the perfect sealing of nature and time, it was better than nothing was.

After returning, Daniel poured over books on natural treasures and finally found what he was looking for: the Immortal Meridians Pear.  The Immortal Meridians Pear was able to widen the meridians to up to three times the diameter of a normal meridian at each layer.  What’s more, as a person’s cultivation increases, the meridians grow with them.  The last major benefit of the fruit was the strengthening of the meridians and dantian, which also improved with each rise in power.

“With this, I won’t have to waste time widening and strengthening my meridians at all!” Daniel told himself after he awoke from his reminiscence.  Then, he removed the rock and started to walk in.

“Hold it!” a voice rang from behind Daniel.

Looking back, Daniel found Seth staring at him with a malevolent smile.  Right now, Seth was feeling pretty good about himself.  This was to be expected, as the person he hated the most had just led him to a divine treasure.  With his seventh layer cultivation, Seth was able feel the Qi undulation from where he was standing, a good ten feet from the cave.

After seeing Daniel pause, Seth’s smile grew larger.  This was probably the only time he would ever be able to bully someone, and it was refreshing.  Granted, he was worried about the Clan Head finding out, but if an ‘accident’ were to happen to Daniel, there would be no problem.  With his chest puffed out, Seth strutted to the cave entrance.  However, just as he was about to pass Daniel, a fist appeared in the corner of his eye.

Frantically, Seth tried to doge, but it was too little too late.  Caught on the jaw, Seth flew through the air.  After a few moments, he finally crashed into the ground, shoulder first.

Quickly rising to his feet, Seth hoarsely growled with a red, embarrassed face, “Your life is mine.”