Chapter 12 - The Night Class
Maya finally told Eli the truth.
Riverside College had a cultivation club.
Officially, it was called the Historical Meditation Society.
Unofficially, everyone called it Night Class.
They met in an unused martial arts room beneath the old gym.
Eli entered expecting incense and robes.
He found twelve college students eating pizza around a whiteboard that read:
MIDTERMS / MERIDIANS / WHO STOLE MY SPIRIT TEA?
A gray-haired janitor swept the corner.
Maya pointed at him.
“That’s Mr. Zhou.”
The janitor looked up.
His system froze.
[ANALYSIS FAILED.]
[ANALYSIS FAILED.]
[PLEASE STOP STARING.]
Eli immediately looked away.
Mr. Zhou smiled.
“Young man. Your qi is messy.”
“Thank you. My apartment is also messy.”
The room laughed.
Maya introduced him.
Some students were Body Tempering.
Most were Qi Gathering.
One guy named Brent wore sunglasses indoors and called himself a sword prodigy.
Mr. Zhou handed Eli a laminated meridian diagram.
“Your first circuit is simple. Guide qi from dantian to lung channel, shoulder, wrist, then return.”
Eli tried.
His qi went toward his stomach.
He burped.
Brent laughed.
Mr. Zhou nodded seriously.
“Progress.”
“Really?”
“No.”
For three nights, Eli failed.
On the fourth, his system changed the exercise.
[BONUS CONDITION]
Complete circuit while distracted.
Maya threw foam balls at his head for twenty minutes.
On attempt forty-seven, the qi finally moved.
A full circuit formed.
His whole right arm warmed.
[MERIDIAN CIRCUIT 1/12 COMPLETE.]
Then Mr. Zhou stopped sweeping.
His eyes narrowed.
“Interesting.”
“What?” Eli asked.
“You didn’t open the standard route.”
He pointed at Eli’s chest.
May you like
“You opened an extinct one.”
