How can you handle something so thick?

Ah Zi suddenly remembered: "That’s right! You mentioned you had something to tell me earlier, but when I heard Little Ginger climbing the wall, I thought someone was breaking in... Tell me, tell me quickly, what happened with your cultivation?"

Jiang Mingzhe touched his chest. "Last night, when I practiced internal energy for the first time, I think I accidentally opened an acupuncture point..."

"You—you mean you opened an acupuncture point?" Ah Zi looked stunned.

She shook her head repeatedly. "That's impossible. Even if the 'second-hand' wine the third senior brother gave us wasn't just a tiny bit, you would have had to drink it all and train for at least half a month to even reach the standard for opening a meridian point."

She paused, a new thought occurring to her, and asked anxiously, "Wait, did something go wrong while you were practicing, and you just *thought* you opened a point? Tell me honestly, what exactly felt wrong?"

"Don't worry, Senior Sister, I'm perfectly fine," Jiang Mingzhe said, trying to soothe her visible distress.

He then explained, "Yesterday, after drinking the wine and practicing, I found the sensation of 'qi,' and then I guided that wisp of energy to circulate..."

Ah Zi’s mouth twitched slightly. "You're saying that as soon as you found the sensation of 'qi,' you were able to guide it?"

Jiang Mingzhe nodded.

"And that wisp of energy quickly kept getting thicker..."

"Was it this thick?" Ah Zi asked, holding up a finger.

Jiang Mingzhe blinked, then made a 'C' shape with his thumb and forefinger.

"That thick?! How could your body handle that?" Ah Zi tried to match the size with her own fingers, but found the gap too wide. She had to overlap both her hands—thumb against thumb, forefinger against forefinger—to properly demonstrate the thickness, her eyes filled with shock.

Jiang Mingzhe nodded. "Yes, it stopped changing after reaching that thickness. Following our sect’s mental cultivation method, I tried to sink it back into the Dantian, but when it sank down, it reached this spot..."

He pointed to the area just below his navel, along the upper edge of his pubic bone.

Since this was a rather private area, and although Ah Zi was still naive about such matters, she felt an instinctive sense of shyness and instantly blushed.

Jiang Mingzhe felt embarrassed pointing to such a spot in front of a young girl. He quickly added, "I thought something had gone wrong with my cultivation, so I hurriedly tried to pull the energy back up. But instead, as I tried to lift it, I heard a roar, felt a wave of coolness wash over my body, and then I felt a gateway open there, filled with a soft, lively... well, um, a kind of 'breath' or energy." He had wanted to say "energy," but fearing she might not understand, he used "breath" instead.

Ah Zi’s face was as red as if she had applied rouge, yet she tried to act nonchalant, stammering, "You... you unlocked the Qugu point. This is the second point of the Conception Vessel. The Conception Vessel is the sea of Yin meridians, while the Governing Vessel commands the Yang. The former governs a person's vital essence, and the latter their life force. The Qugu point belongs to the Water element, suggesting a harmony between water and wood. Opening this point allows your internal energy to be tempered by water, making it gentle and enduring, and it helps in storing essence and stabilizing your core. Well, now that this point is open, it will be a great benefit for your light-body techniques."

As she focused on the technical aspects, Ah Zi spoke more fluently and gradually lost her shyness. After explaining the significance of the point, she exclaimed in surprise, "We practice this 'Star-Host Crossing Tribulation Scripture,' and it usually takes a year at the fastest, or three to five years at the slowest, just to grow our internal energy to the thickness of a finger—only then can we even attempt to open a point. Even with the help of the Five-Treasure Nectar Wine, it shouldn't be this fast! And your internal energy is so thick..."

She held her hands together again to show the width of a wine cup. "This thick? No wonder you opened the point instantly! Is the Innate Poison Body truly this powerful? But according to Master, the Innate Poison Body only has a huge advantage when absorbing toxins. How is your energy cultivation so fast? You big ginger, what were you fed as a child?"

Jiang Mingzhe hadn't understood it himself, but hearing Ah Zi’s last remark, everything suddenly became clear.

*What was I fed? Chicken, duck, fish, meat, beef, lamb, seafood, various fruits, milk, sodas... I ate whatever was good!*

He realized that the food he had eaten since childhood in the modern world—despite the food additives—was so rich and nutritionally balanced that even the Crown Prince of this era probably couldn't compare.

Consort Yang had to spend a fortune and drain national resources just to get a few lychees, but he could afford to eat such things for every meal if he wanted. The food in China alone was incredibly abundant, not to mention imported delicacies like tuna, salmon, and king crab—things even the Emperor himself would never see. Then there were imports like peanuts, corn, sweet potatoes, and chili peppers, which likely hadn't even reached this era yet.

He had previously deduced that internal energy is fueled by the subtle energy circulating in the body—what the Scripture called "vitality" or "life force." Having eaten so well his entire life, the energy stored in his body was likely far superior to that of the ancients.

Looking at Ah Zi, who was a favored disciple of the Star-Host Sect, he realized how meager their regular diet must be. She found a simple oil pancake delicious and was moved to tears by a dish of braised snake meat and stone chicken.

Jiang Mingzhe nodded to himself. *That's it. My rapid progress is thanks to the Five-Treasure Nectar Wine pushing me over the threshold of sensing 'qi,' my high-pressure academic background allowing for intense focus, and finally, the massive surplus of nutrition in this body. It’s just like those protagonists in novels who eat rare heavenly treasures without knowing how to refine them, only for the energy to be stored in their bodies until they learn a technique, allowing them to soar like a dragon breaking free.*

With this realization, he immediately thought: *According to Ah Zi, once you reach finger-thickness, you can attempt to open points. Since my energy is so much thicker, doesn't that mean I'm far stronger than that Ming Zhuzi? If I had known, I should have fought him head-on! Crushing the enemy at the peak of their strength—that would have been satisfying and impressive!*

At that moment, he finally understood his own strength. In terms of internal energy, he was likely no longer a weakling among the sect's disciples.

A smile spread across his face. "Senior Sister, I haven't finished. I didn't just think something went wrong; after I broke through the Qugu point, I felt some of the energy stay in the point, merging with that water-like breath, while the rest of the energy I pulled up, and it went on to break open this, this, this, and this point—and only then was my energy exhausted."

He pointed along his pubic bone, tapping four more spots in succession.

Ah Zi’s expression went blank, as if she had seen a ghost. She stared at him, her mouth agape in disbelief.

After a long while, she let out a faint, pained moan. "You damned big ginger, you stinking ginger, you bad ginger! You opened five points at once? You... you’re going to be the death of me! You, you, I, I..."

As she spoke, Ah Zi suddenly burst into tears without warning.

"I worked so hard, and I've only opened eleven points so far! You open five on your first try? Won't you be stronger than me in just a few days? How am I supposed to bully you anymore? I'm leaving! I'm not talking to you! How can there be a 'Little Qing' more powerful than 'Bai Suzhen'?"

Crying as she spoke, she turned around and stomped downstairs. No matter how much Jiang Mingzhe called out to her, she ignored him, weeping all the way back to her own home.