Even if they wanted to try it, they could not have done it immediately. They needed to find a quiet place.
When the sun was setting in the evening, they entered an inn in a small town. Chu Li and Siao Qi were arranged to stay in a courtyard and it was surrounded by Protectors, with the six Grandmasters were settling themselves in the middle of the courtyard.
The west room had nine tallow candles lit up. It was bright as daylight.
Chu Li sat cross-legged on the couch wearing nothing except a pair of trunks, his body was marked with a hundred and nine black and red spots. Mulin opened the silver box on the table, taking out wooden, silver, and gold needles.
Siao Qi stood to the side, naturally looking at the red spots on Chu Li's body, as if Chu Li still had his robe on.
"Third Lady, if I run out of energy afterwards, please feed me a Pill of Energy." Mulin picked up one wooden needle and reminded Siao Qi.
Siao Qi gently nodded.
"Alright, let's begin!" Mulin nodded. As he almost pierced Chu Li's skin with the wooden needle, he stopped. "Have you prepared the Pill of Solicit Energy?"
Siao Qi nodded.
Mulin took a deep breath. He looked grave and stiffed.
Chu Li opened his eyes and sighed, "Elder Mulin, just do it. I won't die!"
"Shut up!" Mulin stared at him, "Spouting all these unlucky words!"
Chu Li closed his eyes, and began to use his inner vision, "If you manipulated the needle wrong, I'll tell you."
"Very well." Mulin scoffed, "If you feel like anything is going wrong, remember to tell me immediately!"
"I know, I know, hurry up!" Chu Li said.
Mulin took a strong breath and began to slowly poke Chu Li with the wooden needle.
"There's no problem." Chu Li said.
Mulin poked Chu Li again with another wooden needle. Chu Li continued to determine whether the needle was in the correct position.
After some time, all the thirty wooden needles had been pricked in. Every single needle was accurate, with no mistake made.
After thirty-six needles, Mulin swept off the sweat off his forehead. It was easy in the beginning, but it will gradually become much harder the closer the operation was to the end. At that point, mistakes would have been a lot more susceptible, and once one was committed, the risk of dying would be even higher.
After poking the thirty-six silver needles, Mulin was sweating buckets.
Siao Qi was staring at Chu Li to find that he was talking very calmly, as if nothing was happening and there were no needles in his body. She left a little relieved. After all, she was here to save him if anything happened in the first place.
Mulin looked at the golden needles in the box and clenched his teeth.
They were much softer, and needed inner energy to help control them to be more precise. If one weren't cautious enough, it might become dangerous. He needed to be very precise when maneuvering the needle. This was much more difficult than the wooden and silver needles.
"Elder Mulin, just rest for a while." Siao Qi said.
Mulin hesitated, and then nodded.
Siao Qi took the porcelain bottle from the table and handed it to Mulin. He took one of the Pills of Energy and wiped his sweat, "Be careful, young man. Remember to quickly tell us if anything feels off!"
"Elder Mulin, just poke the needles as you see fit. I'm not that fragile!" Chu Li smiled.
"Look at you!" Mulin scoffed and nipped a golden needle. He slightly shook it and made it straight. He then slowly set the needle into Chu Li.
He finished all the needles at great speed. In only a few moments, he had already poked all thirty-six needles, leaving the last one to be done.
Chu Li observed his own body. A hundred and eight needles were sunk into his body, but he felt nothing. It was indeed peculiar. With common acupuncture techniques, one should have felt something when one of their meridians were interfered with. When the number of needles poked into them increased, the feeling should have been even stronger, but this acupuncture technique was the complete opposite of the common ones. It was sore and numb in the beginning but when the number of needles in his body increased, the feeling got milder and milder. In the end, he felt like anesthesia had been injected into his body.
Mulin was sweating all over. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the acupuncture point in the middle of Chu Li's chest. The golden needle slightly trembled, as if it were about to fly out of his grip. Mulin was channeling inner energy into the needle. This last needle was one needed a unique heart technique.
The golden floated ever so slowly towards the middle of Chu Li's bare chest. As it did, Mulin's expression became even more serious and concentrated.
Chu Li glared at the golden needle as well. When it got close enough to the middle of this chest, a golden light flashed, and it was already deep into him.
"Woo.." A light hiss could be heard from Chu Li's throat. All hundred and nine needles were vibrating intensely. The whole thing looked like gale stirring waves among the ocean.
Chu Li felt the pores on his body widen, consuming all the spiritual energy from the void at an alarming pace. Spiritual energy rushed into his meridians and continuously strengthened them.
A sudden thought flashed in Chu Li's head and he activated the Sentient Menace. His entire then body flashed in gold, and the bare parts of his body looked as if it were smeared with a layer of golden powder. He was glowing so much golden light, it looked like he was about to turn into the Golden Buddha.
Mulin widened his eyes and looked at Siao Qi.
Siao Qi shook her head, "There shouldn't be a problem."
"But he…" Mulin pointed at Chu Li. It looked too strange.
"This is a martial arts technique." Siao Qi said.
Mulin nodded. He had never thought that the Sentient Menace was the lost study of the Temple of Tempest. Everyone who was not followers dared not cultivate it.
As time passed, the golden light on Chu Li was slowly changing, getting darker before turning purplish gold. A thread of golden light could be seen, glowing in purple. His solemnity and holiness had compelled the people in his presence to bow.
An hour had already passed without realization. The golden light on Chu Li's body was held back, and immediately disappeared right after. The needles in his body ejected like the spikes on the back of a porcupine.
A cold flash came out from Siao Qi's waist, "Ding Ding Ding Ding…" All the needles that were shot towards her and Mulin were all swept away.
Chu Li opened his eyes. A flash of golden light appeared in his eyes, then disappeared right after. The smile on his face spread like a ripple of water. He was unable to hold back the urge to laugh out loud.
This time he had actually gained a fortune from misfortune. He had completed the fourth layer of the Sentient Menace's meridian cultivation!
"How was it, young man?" Mulin quickly asked.
"Elder Mulin, thank you!" Chu Li smiled.
"It worked?" Mulin asked.
"Yes!" Chu Li nodded.
Both of Mulin's eyes brightened up as he laughed out loud, "Good! Good!"
Chu Li wore his green robe and smiled, "The Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming Technique is indeed amazing!"
"We're indeed lucky!" Mulin was so happily laughing that he could not even close his mouth. He then shook his head and sighed in dissatisfaction, "Too bad, too bad!"
Chu Li's inner vision was incredible; he clearly looked through his own acupuncture points down to the millimeter. It would not have worked if even one was inaccurate, which was why the Nine Transformation Meridian Reforming could only be used on him, and not just anyone. It was unable to be used with his own ability as well, which was a waste indeed.
"You've probably ascended a level of your martial arts." Siao Qi said.
"I've completed the fourth layer." Chu Li smiled as he said.
Siao Qi arched her beautiful eyebrows and she looked at him with surprise.
The Sentient Menace's fourth level was an extremely high level. It was close to true invulnerability. Even the inner strengths of the Grandmasters were mitigated in half.
Mulin kept his smile and pulled down his face as he scoffed, "Martial arts! Martial arts again!"
"The Gods did not end me. Elder Mulin, I still have you to thank for this!" Chu Li said.
"Nothing good comes from cultivating martial arts!" Mulin glared at him. He did not even collect the needles as he turned and walked out the door.
Siao Qi shook her head and broke into a smile. Elder Mulin was still preoccupied with what had happened, there was no other way to it.
She looked at Chu Li, "Is your injury getting better?"
Chu Li stood up and left the couch. He turned his arms and smiled, "It's already cured!"
"That's great, then." Siao Qi said, "You'll have to maintain your condition now, though"
Chu Li smiled, "Will I be the secret weapon?"
"Hmm, just in case, I suppose. Hopefully, we won't need you."
"Understood..."
The few days after this, Chu Li stayed on his bed acting as if he were still badly hurt. He watched and looked at the situation of his surroundings, and realized that no one was going to cause a nuisance. The Hu Ren Public House had just suddenly disappeared as if they were not interested in Yi Public House anymore.
Their moves were a little strange, and Chu Li was very curious as to why.