Chapter 140: Evolving Meridians

Gazing at the dazzling array of various types of Armor in the online store, Chen Jue resisted the impulse to splurge.

The cheapest single piece cost over ten thousand yuan; they were clearly handmade replicas of Armor.

Besides, this Armor wasn’t very practical. You could only wear it for cosplay or something, and it would just take up space after being bought. He had no choice but to put this hobby on the back burner.

When he was much wealthier in the future, or if he had a large enough space, Chen Jue might buy a set to live out his fantasy of being an ancient general.

As for why he was buying a high-draw-weight traditional bow, it was to further increase his upper body Strength.

Chen Jue’s current muscle-building training primarily referenced modern, Western-style exercise methods. Things like street workouts and power twisters were all techniques from abroad, not developed based on the physiology of East Asians, so there were inherent racial differences.

Different races have variations in muscle fibers, muscle density, muscle mass, and even skeletal structure and organs.

It was like buying those ointments and supplements online that claimed to strengthen tendons and bones. Both Chinese and Western medicines claimed to be highly effective, but results varied when applied to individuals.

In ancient Huaxia, the technology of cold weapon warfare reached its peak. The daily training of warriors must have had its own unique advantages. By combining and experimenting with it via his panel, it wasn’t necessarily any less effective than modern exercise methods.

In Chen Jue’s view, it didn’t matter if a cat was black or white; as long as it could catch mice, it was a good cat.

He had plenty of time now, was financially better off, and was free from the pressures of material and biological needs. He planned to take the opportunity to try out every type of exercise that could strengthen his body.

…

After breakfast, Chen Jue didn’t rush to the university for class. Instead, he found a barbershop near his apartment to get a haircut.

At his current rate of hair growth, Chen Jue estimated that it would only take a few days for enough hair to sprout from his bald spots to cover up the previously bare patches of his scalp.

Previously, when his hair was sparse, he had intentionally grown it to a medium length to cover his bald spots, a way to regain a little confidence.

Now that he had “trained” his hair back, this middle-aged hairstyle that looked like a comical hat naturally had to go.

No membership card, no drama that would end up on a consumer watchdog show—he just went into the barbershop, got a quick buzz cut, and came out. The cut and wash cost 49 yuan in total.

Rent in Hang City had been rising year after year; these small barbershops probably wouldn’t survive if they didn’t raise their prices.

But after getting the new haircut, Chen Jue felt that his reflection in the mirror looked much more spirited.

Just looking at his sunny, refreshed aura and his increasingly ruddy complexion, he no longer looked like a working man, but rather like a student from the neighboring Jiang University.

…

Leaving the barbershop, Chen Jue went back to his apartment to pack his textbooks and his sports backpack.

He had already missed the first class of the morning, but there was still a Traditional Chinese Medicine course for the clinical medicine program, and Chen Jue planned to attend and listen attentively.

Jogging to the Jiang University campus again with a 10 kg load took him less than 10 minutes, and his Free Attribute actually increased by 0.01.

Looking at the notification that had suddenly popped up on his panel, Chen Jue, drenched in sweat, had just plopped down in the back row of the small classroom when an idea suddenly struck him. ‘That’s right! Weighted armor! How did I not think of this before?’

Besides being skilled in archery and horsemanship, ancient warriors wore Armor that weighed at least dozens of kilograms.

Moreover, transportation was inconvenient in ancient times; travel was entirely on foot or horseback. During a military campaign, taking off one’s Armor without permission was punishable by military law. The lightest punishment was a beating with a wooden plank; the most severe was beheading.

In such a high-pressure, weighted environment, it was only natural that they forged powerful physiques and incredible strength.

All of Chen Jue’s previous training had been done unencumbered, and most of the Skills he had mastered were also unweighted.

Seeing that he had managed to grind out a small number of Attribute points in such a short time, and comparing it to the abysmal efficiency of his morning workout, Chen Jue’s mind began to race with possibilities.

Before the class bell could ring, Chen Jue quickly pulled out his phone and searched on Taobao.

One adjustable weight vest with a 20kg maximum, a pair of 2kg wrist weights, and a pair of 6kg ankle weights. The whole set cost him over 500 yuan.

The items weren’t expensive, but the total weight was staggering: 36 kg in all.

Thankfully, they were all adjustable. If he tried to put on that much weight all at once, Chen Jue figured he’d be crushed before he could even adapt.

…

He finished picking out the weights online just as the class bell rang.

The classroom fell silent. At the front, the lecturer was an old professor with graying hair.

The old professor opened his presentation slides, had a student help him move an anatomical model onto the stage, and began to speak. “Class, today we’re going to learn about the basics of meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine.”

“The meridians in our bodies are divided into two parts: meridian vessels and meridian collaterals. The main vertical trunks are called the meridian vessels. To use a simple analogy, the meridian vessels are like the main roads in a city or the main currents in a river.”

“The tributaries that branch off from these main trunks are called collaterals. The collaterals form a network connecting every part of the body, and together with the main meridian vessels, they form the channels for the circulation of Qi and blood.”

As the old professor explained, he used a long, thin pointer to indicate various points on the dense meridian diagram on the anatomical model.

This was Chen Jue’s first time listening to a lecture on Traditional Chinese Medicine, and he found it vivid and fascinating.

The appearance of the meridian charts, in particular, felt as novel as discovering a secret manual for some divine martial arts technique in a video game or a wuxia drama from his childhood.

“The meridian system includes the Twelve Main Meridians, the Twelve Divergent Meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, the Fifteen Collaterals, the Twelve Muscle Regions, the Twelve Skin Regions, and so on,” the old professor said as he flipped through his slides. He then changed his tone, “You all must be curious why the number twelve appears so frequently in relation to these meridians.”

“Was it because the ancients had some kind of numerical obsession and just forced the number to fit?”

“The real reason is that the ancients discovered the temporal patterns of these twelve meridians’ circulation, which happened to correspond to the twelve two-hour periods of the ancient Chinese day.”

“It’s just like the concept of biorhythms in modern clinical medicine. Our organs don’t work at the same intensity 24 hours a day; they react differently during different time periods. For example, when it’s mealtime, our stomach and intestines accelerate the secretion of gastric acid and digestive fluids, which in turn makes our brain feel hunger.”

“By the same token, the circulation of the twelve meridians also corresponds to the twelve two-hour periods of each day,” the old professor explained, flipping through his slides.

“Actually, the earliest meridian theories, found in the medical texts unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb, only recorded 11 meridian vessels.”

“It wasn’t until the later appearance of the *Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor* that the current theory of twelve meridian vessels was formed.”

“As for this later addition, the Pericardium Meridian of Hand Jueyin, there’s actually a very interesting story behind it.”

“Western anatomy only discovered in 1846 that a persistent median artery in the human upper arm is still evolving. The median artery is a normal artery in the human fetus that begins to degenerate before birth. Only 10% to 30% of adults retain it, and it’s also known as a variant artery.”

“The anatomical position of this persistent median artery in the upper arm, which Western anatomy only recently discovered, happens to coincide perfectly with the path of the Pericardium Meridian of Hand Jueyin!”

“The *Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor* was compiled sometime between the Pre-Qin period and the Han Dynasty. This means our ancestors discovered this evolving meridian nearly two thousand years before Western medicine did.”

After he finished speaking, a look of excitement and pride flashed across the old professor’s face.

The students below were listening with exceptional attention. Even Chen Jue nodded in approval.

‘Traditional Chinese Medicine is just like Traditional Martial Arts,’ he thought. ‘Every year, they’re getting “debunked” and stigmatized online. It all involves the games and machinations of the medical industry behind the scenes.’

‘If Chinese medicine is useless?’

‘Then what did the Huaxia civilization rely on to control diseases throughout its several thousand years of history?’

‘Lip service? Or a Western medicine that hadn’t even been conceived yet?’

‘Anyway, the whole situation was a murky business, and it was none of his concern. He was just an auditor here to learn.’

‘Through a deeper understanding of the meridians, not only could he learn more about his own body, but he could also unlock those human body annotations in the Designated Points menu that were currently filled with “???”‘

…

Due to the sheer number of meridians, this first class didn’t go into detailed explanations, focusing instead on basic learning and recognition.

After the meridians came the body’s acupoint charts, which involved even more information.

However, the old professor on the stage was clearly highly skilled, and his lecture wasn’t the least bit dry. As the class neared its end, he even took out a box of silver Acupuncture needles and had the students come up one by one to try their hand on the anatomical model, likely as preparation for a future practical training course.

Chen Jue had been diligently taking notes in the last row when he suddenly heard the old professor call out to him from the front: “You! The young man in the last row!”

“Why are you squatting and standing up back there during my lecture? Are you practicing kung fu? Doing the Horse Stance? The class isn’t over yet, so hurry up and give this a try!”

The old professor was clearly experienced and knowledgeable, seeing right through Chen Jue’s subtle movements in class with a single glance.

Hearing this, Chen Jue gave an embarrassed smile and hurried to the stage, getting in line behind the freshmen.

By the time it was his turn to try the Acupuncture, the dismissal bell had already rung. The old professor assigned a follow-up task and dismissed the students who had already had their turn.

As for Chen Jue, seeing the classroom emptying, he was suddenly struck by a whim and casually picked up a Silver Needle.

Unlike the other students, who slowly twisted the needles in or just randomly poked at acupoints on the model, he bent his finger and flicked it. Imitating the Flying Needle technique, he sent the long, soft Silver Needle flying through the air and into an acupoint in the mannequin’s eye socket.

He never expected that this single action would cause a new notification to pop up on his panel!

——————

[DING!]

[A qualifying action has been completed.]

[Skill Activated: Acupuncture]

——————

“I actually got a Skill?”

Chen Jue was stunned for a moment.

‘Then he recalled that Acupuncture has health-preserving effects on the body, similar to the body-improving effects of the Eye Health Exercises. It made sense that the panel would register it as a Skill, fitting with his previous theories.’

But seeing the new Skill, Chen Jue couldn’t help but feel his hands itch to try it out. He casually grabbed a handful of Silver Needles from the kit on the desk, held several between his fingers, and flicked them out in succession, lodging them one by one into the acupoints around the mannequin’s eye sockets.

The old professor, who was packing up his teaching materials nearby, suddenly witnessed this astonishing scene, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head like a goldfish’s!

“Zanzhu, Yuyao, Sizhukong, Tongziliao, Qiuhou, Sibai, Qingming, the temples… What kind of needle technique is this?! These are all acupoints for treating eye diseases!”