Chapter 13 - My Meridian Was Supposed to Be Extinct
Mr. Zhou locked the gym door.
That killed the jokes immediately.
He placed two fingers on Eli’s wrist.
Qi entered Eli’s arm like cold electricity.
Mr. Zhou’s expression changed.
“Again.”
Eli circulated the route.
Dantian.
Lung.
Shoulder.
Wrist.
Then a hidden channel beneath the heart.
Mr. Zhou pulled away.
“The Beggar’s Loop.”
Brent laughed.
“That’s a terrible name.”
Mr. Zhou looked at him.
Brent stopped laughing.
Maya asked, “What is it?”
“A discarded cultivation route from three hundred years ago. It was used by wandering cultivators who lacked pills, sects, and resources.”
Eli raised a hand.
“So... poor people kung fu?”
Mr. Zhou sighed.
“Yes, unfortunately.”
The loop’s advantage was brutal efficiency.
It could absorb trace qi from food, motion, sunlight, even city electricity.
Its disadvantage was equally brutal.
It placed enormous stress on the body.
“You should not have been able to open it at Body Tempering III,” Mr. Zhou said.
Eli’s system flashed.
[HIDDEN COMPATIBILITY CONFIRMED.]
[PATH: STREET IMMORTAL]
He did not show anyone.
Mr. Zhou handed him an old notebook.
“Read this.”
The cover said:
SURVIVING CULTIVATION WHEN YOU ARE POOR.
Eli nearly cried.
“My people.”
That night, he used the Beggar’s Loop while delivering food by bike.
Every mile generated a thread of qi.
Every staircase strengthened his legs.
Every delivery became training.
At 1:03 a.m., the system chimed.
[BODY TEMPERING IV]
Then his delivery app pinged.
New order.
Customer name: L. VANE.
Address: the most expensive hotel in Riverside.
Eli stared at the screen.
May you like
“Oh, this should be terrible.”
