Spiritual veins were veins that transported energy from the pores on the skin, to and all around the body. Meridians, on the other hand, were broad valve-like checkpoints that existed in the complex network of spiritual veins. There were actually thousands of spiritual veins, but only 20 of such meridians.

Places, where spiritual veins intersected, were called acupoints. One could freely operate one's acupoints to assist in directing energy, but meridians were different.

There were two types of meridians, called the Eight Gates and the Twelve

Doors, respectively.

How many meridians you had unsealed at birth was a measure of your cultivation talent. Especially your Gates: the more you trained, the more Doors you could open. The number of Gates however never changes, you are stuck with that number for life.

In the beginning, Will had six Doors that were unsealed and five unsealed Gates.

Each of the Doors was trait less and thus was simply named according to the order in which they were unsealed, from the First Door to the Twelfth.

The more Doors were opened, the better your control of energy.

The Gates, however, were named according to the attribute which they boosted. The Gates available in Will's body were; the Water Gate, the Spirit Gate, the Wood Gate, the Space Gate, and the Metal Gate. His Fire, Earth, and Taiji Gates were forever untouchable.

The 12 Doors and the 8 Gates.

These were the true symbol of being a cultivator. It didn't matter what class or what abilities one had, they all hinged on the operation of these 20 meridians. Energy traveled in separate veins called spiritual veins. A human had as many spiritual veins as they had capillaries, thus the routes energy can take in a circulation are nearly endless. Some veins, especially those which have the Gates, have certain attributes that allow for extra abilities. All cultivation routes must pass through at least one Door and at least one Gate.

Acupoints were areas were spiritual veins intersect. There were 120 major acupoints within one body. Usage of these major acupoints determined a key role in one's power. To unlock a Door, one had to have 10 major acupoints under their complete control.

In Will's case, he had sixty-nine acupoints under control and was about to gain control of his seventieth. Once that happened, energy would flood to the nearest closed Door from the tenth acupoint and forcefully open it. The more Doors one unlocked, the faster they could cultivate.

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Opening a Door was essentially opening an unused powerful spiritual vein. One's cultivation path is only allowed to deviate from its course when passing through a newly unlocked meridian, and that meridian would integrate itself into the course creating a new one. This is why few powerful cultivators are the same and there are millions upon millions of classes, some more common than others.

Will was somewhat aware of this information, but there was still a lot he did not understand. He was not at the level where he could fully explore his own body so he barely had an inkling of what was occurring.

It was only when Will struck out for the ten thousandth time that he understood what was happening.

The answer was nothing. There was no resistance, there was no odd feeling there was no energy drain. In fact, Will felt as if this was the smoothest and most perfect strike he had ever performed. As Will was striking, he felt as if he had control over every single fiber within his body.

The output of the strike was now completely clear to him. Before he had been merely fiddling around, but now this became second nature to him. This caught Will by surprise, but he did not have 64 minds for nothing. Mid-way, he quickly adjusted his power output to the smallest he could release.

The result was... nothing.

Yes, nothing.

Will produced a True Strike, but there were no effects visible to the naked eye! Even Will himself was somewhat stunned. After the attempt, a prompt rang out and words appeared in front of him.

Quest: Complete ten thousand true Strikes completed.

Will already knew that the system would not reward him, but he didn't care. He knew that the results of his labor were rewarding enough.

Multiple feelings and multiple thoughts were raging throughout Will's mind. He didn't know how or why, but he felt that his next actions would be very crucial in regards to his future cultivation. Will closed his eyes and looked deep within him. Once he found out what he was seeking, Will created multiple water blades. With but a thought on his part, they struck the roof of the cave, leading to large rocks dropping into his river, increasing the overall water level.

Afterward, he walked straight into the circular river and allowed himself to fall inside...

A week or so later, Adelda was standing in Will's cave, observing the latter's body float on the surface like a corpse. Will had been like this for the past week. From time to time, his body would meet a protruding rock, bump into it, and eventually move past it.

It was as if Will had become a stick of wood in a stream. Adelda knew that there was more than met the eye to what Will was doing because the speed at which his body was moving was very fast due to the raging waters.

Will had virtually no qi in his body and had completely let down all his defenses. His clothes had been torn all over and he was covered in bruises from colliding with the protruding rocks. Yet, after a while, this had changed: Will would still hit the rocks at the same speed and in the same manner, but somehow he would just slither past like he had not been damaged whatsoever.

There was no protective membrane on his skin, yet as time went on, fewer and fewer bruises formed, till eventually, none were forming at all!

It would be more accurate to call him a leaf in a river instead of a stick, because a stick is stiff, yet Will's body was conforming perfectly, balancing out forces from the impact points and redistributing them evenly across his body.

Adelda marveled at the sight of Will's odd behavior, as she was no stranger to this behavior. This was called a First Opening, when one opened their first door, which would be the moment when their connection to nature is at its strongest, and when there was a high possibility of gaining an insight into the Dao.

When Will had opened his seventh door, Adelda was curious as to what he would do when his insight came. When the First Opening occurred, it did not guarantee a full insight into the Dao, usually, it would manifest as an improvement in one's technique or an ability, but Adelda had no doubt that with Will's monstrous perception, he would pull a rabbit out of a hat, shocking everyone... and that, Will, did.

'This...this is without doubt water intent!'

The longer a First Opening occurred, the more powerful the results. The greatest prodigy Adelda knew of had a First Opening that lasted for half a day, and that news was enough to cause shockwaves across all of the planets within the system.

Yet here she was, gazing at a young man who had shattered her notion of what a mortal was capable of, all by just taking a dip in some water...

........................................