Li Yun’s understanding of the meridian reached large perfection. It gave him the ability to zoom in closer to the meridian points. The closer he zoomed into the center, the more apparent it was that there was nothing within the node, it was simply an empty space. Rather than a node of mass, the meridian was a field that had its own rotation.

The acupuncture needle in close proximity to the field could disrupt the field and activate the meridian to open the channel into the dantian. The closer the needle was to the center, the greater the disruption and channel. Aside from acupuncture, there were other methods to activate meridians, like the movement of the physical body. It wasn't direct like acupuncture, but it was a way to stimulate all the meridians. Many classical texts had different theories on the number of meridians from 360 to 670. Based on Li Yun's understanding, there were between 1000 and 1300 meridians, some of which were embedded deep within the bones and organs; inaccessible by acupuncture needles.

As Li Yun exercised using taolu, he could feel multiple meridians opening at the same time, accelerating certain muscle-building mechanisms in his body. Meditation and breathing exercises were the best methods to open all meridians at the same time, but it was the most difficult to achieve and required a lot of focus. Food and medicine, to a certain extent, could open all meridians, but it was the least effective. The only medicine, or poison, that affected all the meridians didn’t come from Li Yun, but the poison that inhibited his ability when he was in the woods. Li Yun had replicated a few poisons but none was as strong.

Pressing on certain parts of the body using tuina, a form of massage therapy, also stimulated the meridian. It wasn't as effective as acupuncture or taolu, but Li Yun could see it being much more useful as it could be performed on another person. Lastly, there was bone-setting, which was capable of moving the meridian several centimeters. He had seen several patients with dislocated shoulders and joints, many of whom had meridian points moved as much as two centimeters away from their original location. The misdirected meridian points created internal disruptions with other nearby meridian points. However, the disruption caused by dislocated joints was chaotic and created problems if they weren't properly realigned. Once the joints were manipulated back, the meridian points returned to their original locations. Using the knowledge he had acquired, he taught Rouxi the basics.

"I do wonder if I'm dating someone ninety years old," Rouxi commented as they both got up early to work on their taolu. It was very similar to taichi.

"You're not doing it right," Li Yun stopped his movement to correct Rouxi's stance. "Do you feel anything from these movements?"

"I have to admit, my aura looks stronger," Rouxi had been practicing for a few weeks.

Her dantian grew stronger as she trained under Li Yun's guidance. It was not a simple process. Li Yun constantly had to correct her taolu form in order to optimize the positions of the meridians. He also taught her meditation. She grasped the concept quickly but had yet to feel its movement internally.

"I prefer the tuina though," Rouxi commented after feeling exhausted.

"I'm sure you do," Li Yun responded as Rouxi collapsed on the couch. They had barely exercised for thirty minutes, but she was already tired. At least it was better than in the beginning when she was tired out after ten minutes.

"Hey, I don't like to do strenuous exercise," Rouxi pouted.

"It's not strenuous. Aren't you the one that calls taichi exercise for old people?"

"It is!"

Li Yun lifted her feet from the couch and sat down beside her. With her feet stretched out, he massaged her feet. "You're lucky you have a high metabolism now."

"Are you saying I'll get fat later?" Rouxi glared jokingly at him.

Li Yun pointed to himself. "If I don't exercise, I'll gain weight within a week."

He was slightly exaggerating. With his wu ling maxed out, his overall metabolism was a lot higher than before. He could maintain his form for a good month before his body bellied out.

"Are you really planning to teach these methods to everyone?" Rouxi asked.

If Li Yun could teach others to exercise properly, their overall health would improve. He wasn't being completely altruistic. His AP points were currently 1910, and it was closely related to the people who had consumed the Huifu and Yunli during the clinical trial. The more he helped others, the more AP he was gaining. If he thought people a method to improve their health, he would gain more AP.

The only purpose of AP was to be absorbed by his spiritual seed. Even with close to 2000 AP, there was barely any sign of movement in the seed or even improvement in Li Yun’s overall body. To understand the purpose of the seed, he needed to gather a lot more AP. With his mind made up, Li Yun set Rouxi’s feet aside and turned on his ZZ-Live. 

“Hi everyone!” Li Yun greeted the dedicated 100 viewers who were usually always active online. The numbers were slowly increasing, but he didn’t need a large audience. He only needed enough people to start a discussion. “Today, I am announcing my intentions to research the meridian field.”

NeuroScientist: Meridian field? Is it like meridian channels and nodes?

The chat made up of mostly doctors and scientists quickly chatted casually about the topic of meridians.

“As we all know, meridians are not detectable by any known means,” said Li Yun. “However, based on my experiment with inducing sleep based on certain acupoints, it is possible that our bodies have fields that interact with our physical body and world.”

DocChang: It’s certainly an interesting topic, but something that isn’t detectable, isn’t that a meaningless approach?

PassingResearcher: Gravity isn’t detectable either, so as a theory, a discussion is warranted. Who knows what it will unlock?

ProYY: There are many theories out there about meridians, but it’s going to end up bordering pseudoscience.

PRoSS: If the work can be replicated, then wouldn't it be revolutionary?

MaDong: If Dr. Li is leading the research, I am sure there will be some interesting results.

 “As everyone is aware, everyone is different, from appearance to internal organs. The same can be assumed for acupuncture points,” Li Yun explained. “However, how are we to make adjustments if we cannot see meridian points?”

DocC: That’s certainly one of the biggest mysteries in TCM. Even an old practitioner could only approximate the location.

“This is likely a difficult process to replicate,” Li Yun explained. “Meridians are different in everyone. Many early doctors had proposed the existence of more meridians in women.”

He knew that most women had around 1260 meridian points and pregnant women had developing meridian points of their unborn child. 

“Our other challenge is how to detect a field that is undetectable by existing means. What if meridians are tiny massless particles that are quickly destroyed and regenerated? We do not have a mean method in medical science to understand how it works. We will need cooperation from other researchers from other fields who are willing to observe the different theories and hypotheses. I plan to write a book on the different theories. Hopefully, after it is published, will allow scientists to test and replicate the observations in their own laboratory.”

The more Li Yun spoke, the more excited the other scientists appeared. They were in awe of Li Yun’s ability to put people to sleep, but if it could be replicated, there were more implications than just advancing sleep study. They were one step closer to indirectly observing the nature of meridians. 

As for Li Yun, there were other reasons to reveal the existence of the meridian. The more he knew about meridians, the more aware he was of his own limitation to reach the pinnacle state. He could not reach the pinnacle of perfection by himself. He needed help from a community of scientists to analyze the data that only he could feel with his own body.

Missions:

Comprehend Feng Shui to Small Perfection.   

Comprehend Meridian to Pinnacle Perfection.

Comprehend Alchemy to Small Perfection.

Li Yun turned off the ZZ Live and looked at his itinerary for the next few weeks. He had a lot of travel plans. The first was to Vagas to meet with one of Bufu’s buddies in charge of their card counting operation and then Blackhead Institute affiliated with the Weigh Institute of Technology. During his trip to Beauty Country, he hoped to make some connections with the research community. Rouxi would meet up with him during her Spring Break and head to Maple Country to visit Master Shang and finally to the Sunny State.