The thing was, everybody wanted to achieve that, while only few really achieved it.
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians wouldn't wait there quietly until you formed all of your holy points. In this process, you would need to control your force well so that you wouldn't achieve the Reaching Heaven State before the thirty-two holy points were formed.
However, many people failed to control their force when they'd progressed to the second or third extraordinary meridian and they achieved the Reaching Heaven State ahead of schedule.
If you wanted to form all of the thirty-two holy points smoothly, you would need to try to form as many holy points as possible before you achieved the peak of the late stage.
That also explained why geniuses usually had more holy points than average people.
"As long as you follow my instructions and try your best, I'm sure you can achieve it," Shi Gandang said reassuringly. He seemed quite confident.
Jiang Chen's eyes suddenly lit up. One year was really a short time, but the Sacred Institute had the Time Palace!
If he could enter there, one year would be far more than enough!
"Get your head out of the clouds. Follow me," Shi Gandang reproached him. He took Jiang Chen to a garden where there were many towers.
"This is the practice room. The higher the tower is, the better effect it can bring you. As a member of the superfine class, you'll be able to practice for two hours here every day," Shi Gandang said.
"Two hours is too short." Jiang Chen didn't think it through. Time passed much faster during practice.
"You'll see why when you get in." Shi Gandang wasn't a patient man. He wasn't in the mood to explain it to Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen entered the practice room skeptically and immediately understood why.
It was because there were not only abundant spirits, but also the spirits of five phases in the practicing room.
The Sacred Institute had collected treasures with the properties of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, the five phases, and used them as the construction materials to build the practice room. They mingled with the spirits first, then got converted into usable energy.
Mental Wander States could yield twice the results with half the effort with no need to take great amounts of monsters' meat and blood if they practiced there.
Among the five phases, the liver pertained to wood, the heart pertained to fire, the spleen pertained to earth, the lung pertained to metal, and the kidney pertained to water.
The liver was in charge of the tendons. The heart was in charge of pulse. The spleen was in charge of the muscles. The lung was in charge of skin. The kidney was in charge of the bones.
That was how the body managed to take in more spirits as it got stronger.
Jiang Chen knew how to build such practice rooms, too, but he didn't have the time and energy to collect the treasures with the properties of the five phases, the resources for construction.
Even if he made up his mind to do it, he could probably only collect the amount for half a day of practice after half a year's hard work.
This was one of the benefits to being at a big institute. Even a mediocre person could become a powerful man thanks to the endless resources.
That was why the Sacred Institute was so many people's dream.
Although Jiang Chen only practiced two hours every day, he broke through to the peak of the middle stage in only two weeks.
"That's what I've been looking forward to."
Jiang Chen was satisfied with the progress. The Sacred Institute hadn't disappointed him.
He was already powerful enough to form twenty-four more holy points. Adding to those he already had, the total amount would exceed forty-nine.
But this was only in theory, since one could form forty-nine holy points at most in the Twelve Standard Meridians.
"You've got forty-nine holy points. You can start to break through to the Reaching Heaven State."
"Yep."
Although he was only in the peak of the middle stage, his forty-nine holy points qualified him for the Reaching Heaven State.
There had been people who achieved the Reaching Heaven State without achieving the peak of the late stage first.
However, everyone preferred to have a better foundation to enhance their success rate for the breakthrough and form more holy points as long as they were in a suitable condition.
"Haste makes waste. It would be stupid for you to do that. Remember! Form the thirty-two holy points of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians first," Shi Gandang told Jiang Chen this so that he would do the right thing.
Despite his identity as a short-term disciple, his holy pulse and talent had won him the recognition of the Sacred Institute.
"Go ahead. Your fight with Zhuang Tian is nearing. Form more holy points and defeat him," Shi Gandang said.
"I almost forgot about it."
Jiang Chen was telling the truth. If Shi Gandang hadn't reminded him, he would have completely forgotten about the fight.
A guy appeared beside Shi Gandang after Jiang Chen had left. It was Shi Wengong, the Dean of Students at the Sacred Institute.
"Looks like the decision to recruit short-term disciples was right. You can always find one or two geniuses," Shi Wengong said.
"Yep. This guy will be very formidable in the future. Now, the Sacred Institute will have a greater chance of winning."
Shi Wengong flashed a rare smile and said, "You're paying so much attention to him because you're aiming for the great competition of the four courtyards, aren't you?"
"Of course I'm not. I like talented people. I'm just following the guideline of the Sacred Institute." Shi Gandang had been seen through. He tried very hard to argue back.
"Alright. He has just achieved the peak of the middle stage, although he has all of the holy points in the Twelve Standard Meridians. I believe he can form all of the holy points in the Eight Extraordinary Meridians too. I've appealed to the top officials to give him access to the Purgatory of Sword so that he can channel his martial arts techniques and state together when it's time for him to break through to the Reaching Heaven State."
"Sounds good."
Jiang Chen was thinking about Shi Gandang's words.
It was commonly agreed among Mental Wander States that they should be in no rush to form the forty-nine holy points and try their best to focus on the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
But this was quite time-consuming.
He had to force himself to stop when he was so close to the Reaching Heaven State, only because it would do him more good.
Why couldn't he form the holy points in the Eight Extraordinary Meridians after achieving the Reaching Heaven State?
He knew why. It was because of the way most people broke through to the Reaching Heaven State. They wouldn't be able to go back after achieving it.
Even if they tried to form the holy points in the Eight Extraordinary Meridians at that point, they wouldn't get the wonderful effects that other people could get before the state breakthrough.
"That's putting the cart before the horse," Jiang Chen exclaimed.
Of course, people could also explore the wonderful effects of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians when they were in the Reaching Heaven State.
Most people had to make such an arduous but fruitless effort only because they had deficiency in their practicing methods.
But by that time, it had become a rule. Jiang Chen didn't know whether he should cry or laugh.
All of the top groups in the Sacred Zone had magic methods that allowed practitioners to break through to the Reaching Heaven State first and explore the Eight Extraordinary Meridians next.
So did the Over Cloud Palace, so Jiang Chen had made up his mind to break through to the Reaching Heaven State first.
He wouldn't be comparable to other Reaching Heaven States if he made the breakthrough from the peak of the middle stage directly, but he would be able to improve himself as a Reaching Heaven State.
Before that, he had to form all of the holy points of the Twelve Standard Meridians and defeat Zhuang Tian.
There were seven or eight days to go until the fight, so he had enough time. The Sacred Institute would provide him with the resources.
When the forty-ninth holy point had been formed successfully, Jiang Chen manipulated his holy yuan excitedly.
The Twelve Standard Meridians started to burn immediately, as if oil was meeting fire.
The fire achieved its peak rapidly and kept burning like that. This fire would never extinguish.
"Haha! I feel so great! Like I could cover the sky with a single hand. No wonder the Third Prince was so arrogant. People could get lost because of this power!"
Jiang Chen stood up. He felt like his body would burn out soon. The holy yuan circulating through the forty-nine holy points would never disappear. He had had to accumulate force to launch a powerful attack, but a slight movement of his now carried the same strong power.
The change was so tremendous that he had to spend the whole night practicing his knife skills to adapt to his new situation.
"Go to heck, Dragon Rise List. I'll beat you into a pulp!"