[NR] Clearing A Meridian - Chapter 460 (Patreon)

After bandaging up Jason’s arms, the party retreats out of the dungeon. Not just that, but they decide to let the dungeon reset. Of course, they would have preferred just resetting the fourth floor, but that wasn’t an option.

As for why? Simple, they shouldn’t have suffered so much so early. While the glass tardigroid was a surprise, it shouldn’t have been a “nearly lose both arms” surprise.

Even the easy going Rosha agreed that they weren’t taking the dungeon seriously enough. So sure, they could just get Jason healed up and return. However, a reset would allow them to mentally reset how they’re thinking about the dungeon as well.

Besides that, it had been a while since any of them had really had time out of game. Jason, in particular, hadn't really focused on his time out of the pod. Sure, he had advanced some, but it always felt like every step forward was followed by a half step back. His meridian being clogged up with new nonsense over time.

So for this time out he had a plan. Even before leaving the pod, Jason is preparing himself by eating a big meal. Sure, the food you eat in NeoRealm doesn’t equal food irl, but large meals do cause a bit extra nutrients to get fed to you so you feel properly full on all levels.

Then, as he is leaving the pod, he is ready. Jason has already confirmed that while his mom had been in the house recently, she isn’t anymore and he himself doesn’t have anything that needs done. So, after a quick round of stretches and a little exercise, he settles down and focuses inward.

All things considered it hasn’t been that long since his last bit of irl cultivation and he hasn’t lost nearly any progress. Jason is a little annoyed, though. Despite being so quick, some of the nonsense had calcified already. So with a gusto, he begins to dig out his potential again.

Wave after wave of his power flows out of his dantian and into his one open meridian, wearing away at the blockage. Then finally, in the third hour, he has a breakthrough, quite literally. His power washes up against the rock-like blockage, only for it to crumble in the center, allowing his power to flow through.

And as the power flows, the blockage crumbles and wears away. Still, Jason chases after every single particle of that blockage, removing it from his meridian. While he doesn’t quite know what is up, his instincts are telling him to not leave even the most miniscule bit of the stuff.

Then finally, with his first meridian cleared, Jason had a chance to see the bigger picture and map the path it takes. With that, he is able to confirm it at best, only superficially looks like what this world thinks they should be and hardly anything like what they were in his last life. Still, some things remain that connect the various concepts.

The meridian he had just cleared would be classified as yang aligned since it flows along the outer region of his arm and head. This seems to remain true, though part of that comes from the fact that they run along areas that are more commonly exposed to the sun. While not certain, such a position would nudge things in that direction.

Though Jason doesn’t spend too much time on observing as he still has around four hours before he is needed back in NeoRealm. While that is a decent amount of time, the next step is tough and would only become tougher if he doesn’t get it done in one go. Because sure, he could just begin excitation of the next meridian and that would be easy enough, but at this step he needs balance.

The first meridian was one of the yang meridians that flowed through his head and an arm. To keep things balanced, the next can’t just be any meridian. It needs to be one of the matching yin meridians that flows through the head and that same arm.

This is not a straightforward thing to find, as the dantian and meridians are not physical pathways through the body. That means the entrance to the meridian he is looking for doesn’t have to be located somewhere that makes sense. Instead, Jason falls even deeper into his meditation and feels for the slightest bit of movement.

Not even a flow, but rather just the most miniscule of pressure changes. For while they aren’t physical, the meridians in the same regions will affect other similarly located meridians. Not as much as they can if he manages the eight extraordinary meridians, but enough.

Then he feels it. A slightly cold movement. One of the blocked meridians shifted a fraction. He had felt similar movements already, but the previous few times there was a sense of light or warmth. This time, though, his instincts grabbed onto it and screamed at Jason, this was the yin meridians he was looking for.

So he dug in. Just as with the first, Jason began to remove the debris and cruft. It wasn’t any easier, but after the outer layer was removed, it became easier to feel the pulse of his opened meridian.

Then his alarm went off. Jason had made decent headway, but things certainly weren’t going to breakthrough so easily. Not that he wasn’t happy. In a single bout of cultivation, not only had one meridian been completely opened, he had found the next one and begun work on it.

Of course, if he wanted to push it, he could have cultivated for another hour and change. However, he needed to prepare himself for the dungeon. That meant doing a few stretches irl, his cultivation not nearly enough to ignore hours of sitting still and of course sleep.

That was what the final hour was for. Though thankfully NeoRealm was a real force multiplier when it came to time spent sleeping. One hour turned into five as Jason slept within his home instance.

Sure, normally Jason would make sure to sleep within NeoRealm. This time, he wanted to make sure he got all he could out of his rest. Not saying the beds at the inn they were staying at were bad, but compared to the bed he had been customizing since he first learned to modify his instance it might as well have been a lumpy rock.