Ysabel, Jaya, DongBin, Xiaohu, spy, Anh, Sky, HPC, you are welcome. Akolaw, thanks for the info. I did not have time to post last night, so here's a bit extra.

Book 14 Chapter 3 - Altering the Acupoint, Exchanging Meridians

Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were eagerly looking up and around. On the starry sky under the moonlight, Xu Ziling's familiar shadow appeared; small at first, but quickly growing bigger. Hastily they raised their power, ready to provide support.

Amidst the light flutter of the sleeve, Xu Ziling came to within three zhang above their heads. Suddenly he flipped over, and miraculously slowed down. And then light and easy like a falling leaf he floated for about a zhang, before finally landed on the ground. Afterwards he staggered a little bit and nearly falling on his b.u.t.t on the ground.

Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were stupefied.

Although this cliff could not be considered high, but it was at least thirty zhang tall. Upon introspection, they realized that if they jumped down, although they would not die, but at least they would receive light injury from the shock; they could not do like Xu Ziling just did.

By the time they rushed over, Xu Ziling was already one step ahead by darting toward the woods on the opposite cliff. Of course the other two knew what was going on; without wasting any time they followed his lead.

After running for more than twenty li at a stretch, the three stopped in a dense forest at the foot of a mountain.

Opening up his left hand, Xu Ziling smiled and said, "Look! It was because of this treasure that Lin Xiangru's [3rd century BC famous statesman of Zhao] name spread throughout all ages.”

The two were unable to take their eyes off the treasure in Xu Ziling's hand.

Kou Zhong reached out to take it, "Ow!” he cried and said, "My heavens! Why is it so scalding hot?”

Xu Ziling was dumbstruck, "That's impossible,” he said, "It is clearly as cold as an ice cube.”

Kou Zhong handed it over to Ba Fenghan and said, "You be the judge; is it cold, or is it hot?”

Very carefully Ba Fenghan took it. The first to capture his attention was the engraving, "Ordinary Han characters I know, but these eight undecipherable writing, do you know what they say?”

Kou Zhong leaned over to look; shaking his head, he said, "This is bird-shaped seal character, we need w.a.n.g Tong here to read it. Ol' Ba! I wanted you to feel this ghost thingy, whether it is cold or hot, not to research what characters are engraved on it.”

Ba Fenghan smiled and said, "Right now my heart is calm; I feel so relaxed and comfortable. Evidently the legend that the Jade Annulus of He Clan can calm and subdue the mind is not fabricated.”

Xu Ziling reached out to gently stroke the characters engraved on the seal. With his fingertips he traced two simplest characters and said, "Although I do not recognize these two characters, I can guess what it is; it must me ‘Yu Tian' [from heaven] two characters. It is really strange that a moment ago this ghost thingy was able to make people feel agitated and wish to die, but now it's giving people light, relaxed feeling.”

Kou Zhong also reached out to stroke the characters; he said, "The first two characters should be ‘Shou Ming' [ordained/appointed], and the last two characters are ‘Yong Chang' [forever/eternally prosperous]. Ha! Shou Ming, Yu Tian, something something, Yong Chang, only two characters are not recognizable. The three of us combined ought to be equal to six out of eight w.a.n.g Tong.”

All along Ba Fenghan's attention was focused on the treasured seal he held on his open palm. His eyes s.h.i.+ning with strange light, he said, "And now do you guys feel this is cold, or hot?”

"Of course it is hot!” Kou Zhong exclaimed.

Amazed, Xu Ziling said, "What seems to be the problem? How could there be hot jade and stone?”

The two boys turned to Ba Fenghan, waiting for his answer.

Ba Fenghan's whole face lit up; he said, "I have never seen jade and stone with this kind of texture, with cold inside the heat, and heat inside the cold. Even more, there seems to be endless energy hidden inside. If we could use it for ourselves and carefully research it, I am sure there will be some previously unimagined gain.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, "Problem is even the nuns and the monks of Ci Hang Jing Zhai and Jing Nian Chanyuan are unable to do anything about it; what can we possibly do?”

Tranquil and calm, Xu Ziling said, "I have a way. While there is still another sichen before daybreak, we immediately research it, hoping for some result. If our inner power cannot advance greatly in a short period of time, tomorrow will be our ‘unbearable day'!”

The three went into hiding at the top of a mountain about fifty li east of Jing Nian Chanyuan, where they sat cross-legged around a large piece of flat rock, with the rare treasure placed in the middle of the flat rock. In the pitch-black night before dawn, under the starlight above, it emitted an extraordinary splendor, so that they were overwhelmed with an out-of-the-ordinary, free-from-vulgarity, immeasurable-mystery, fantastic feeling.

When Xu Ziling had finished narrating what he went through and what he felt during the stealing of the treasure in the Copper Hall, Ba Fenghan spoke in delight, "Ziling, on this kind of situation, former sage has already said it well; it is known as ‘shedding one's mortal body and exchange one's bones', or perhaps ‘was.h.i.+ng the marrow and exchanging the tendon'; while actually it is only strengthening the meridians and intensify the ability, increasing the capacity of the true qi, or perhaps increasing the speed of the qi power flow. It looks like Ziling is suitable to have the good fortune, as well as foundation, of becoming top-tier martial art master. Usually this kind of process will take long years of struggling arduously, but you have obtained it in mere several breaths. It is indeed unprecedented in the Wulin history.”

Kou Zhong happily said, "Does that mean Ziling's skill has advanced tremendously?”

Shaking his head, Ba Fenghan said, "Skill, perhaps increased a little, but he still has to undergo a period of training. However, what he has is not small matter either. You should know that human power is sometimes exhausted, just like a bucket; it could only contain a fixed amount of water. After the transformation driven by the Jade Annulus of He Clan, Ziling has been transformed from merely a bucket to become n.o.body-knows-how-deep a pool. Afterwards, it will depend on Ziling on how much water he can absorb.”

Xu Ziling wholeheartedly accepted the enlightenment; he said, "That was what I feel. Fenghan Xiong's a.n.a.lysis is very accurate.”

Sucking a deep breath, Kou Zhong said, "And now how are we going to deal with this treasure?”

Ba Fenghan also frowned. "Do I have to wait for this treasured jade annulus to turn berserk and raging fiercely before I can absorb its energy?” he asked.

Having foreknowledge, Xu Ziling replied, "That is unnecessary, plus it will be too dangerous. Could it be that I have to beat you as hard as I can with a staff?”

Kou Zhong nodded. "I understand,” he said, "Xiao Ling, why don't you tell Ol' Ba the details of what you were going through? I am going to check around, perchance someone was hiding nearby and we didn't know it.”

After Kou Zhong left, Xu Ziling said, "This move of mine was stolen from Wanwan; i.e. I gathered all my true qi in the shengsi qiao acupoint at the ocean of qi, so that the meridians do not have the least bit of true qi, so that we can repeat what happened within my body caused by the Jade Annulus of He Clan, and can acquire its energy.”

After pondering silently for half a day, Ba Fenghan sighed and said, "Now I know what true brotherhood is. If it were other people, it would be strange indeed if he did not do anything in his power to monopolize the treasure. But you guys merely treated it just like eating a meal or drinking wine, without giving it the slightest thought. Just from this fact alone, I, Ba Fenghan, submit to you wholeheartedly.”

Xu Ziling laughed and said, "This is called blessing will be enjoyed together!”

And then he carefully explained how to circulate the power.

This moment Kou Zhong returned. The three of them sat in formation. Xu Ziling sat in front, Kou Zhong at the rear, and Ba Fenghan in the middle. The two men on the back had their palm pressed onto the middle of the back of the person in front of him, while Xu Ziling was holding the Jade Annulus of He Clan in his hand.

After taking a deep breath, Xu Ziling said, "Begin!”

Suddenly applying his power, his right foot was burning hot, the true qi from his entire body entered the Jade Annulus of He Clan.

The treasured jade annulus immediately lit up with dazzlingly bright color.

All three of them were severely shaken at the same time, as if they were electrocuted.

It was an intense feeling that was hard to describe.

It was as if the Jade Annulus of He Clan came alive and radiated an incomparably lively extraordinary power that was trying to invade their brain and body. Strange and unfamiliar scenes flitted through their mind, making them jittery and nearly driving them mad and making them wanted to scream, as if they had fallen into a nightmare from which they could not extricate themselves.

Xu Ziling's true qi, which originated from the Secret to Long Life, hastened the violent aspect of the treasured jade annulus.

But this time they were like riding a tiger, from which they could not get off; they could not stop even if they wanted to. The three could only disperse the qi power within their body, while maintaining a little bit of clarity in the taizu qiao acupoint, and keep pressing on.

Xu Ziling, who bore the brunt of the Jade Annulus of He Clan, felt that the extraordinary energy within it was many times more violent than the last time; it unceasingly surged up like an escaping wild horse, entering the palm of his hand, then bursting through each and every one of his meridians, big and small, in his entire body.

Xu Ziling has never imagined this situation would happen. The instant he felt that he gained control over the true qi in his meridians strengthening his body, the qi and blood in his entire body seemed to freeze up, while the coldness of the Jade Annulus of He Clan was increasing steadily without any sign that it would stop soon.

Ba Fenghan immediately detected that something went wrong; he knew that Xu Ziling already lost control over the Jade Annulus of He Clan. Suddenly he was faced with the most painful decision he had to make in his entire life.

If he removed his palm from Xu Ziling's back, which had turned as cold as ice and snow, he would be able to escape unscathed. But Xu Ziling definitely would be done for.

If he continued doing what Xu Ziling taught him to, the outcome might very well be the same as the Buddhist staff Bu Chi used to strike Xu Ziling, i.e. he had to sacrifice himself to withstand the blow.

Ferociously clenching his teeth, Ba Fenghan applied his power for a sudden intake of a breath.

A cold stream like torrential flood after the storm surged violently into Ba Fenghan's system.

‘Wah!' Ba Fenghan spurted mouthful after mouthful of fresh blood, spraying on and turning Xu Ziling's head, neck and back, dark red; it was shocking the eye, astonis.h.i.+ng the heart.

It was as if the palm of his hand has become the bridge connecting the two people's meridians.

The strangest thing happened.

When the unusual qi penetrated his palm, it was still bone-chilling cold, but suddenly the heat and the cold rolled up together as a stream, like a million naughty and repulsive rats were scurrying around wildly all over his body, with no meridian was spared.

The strangest thing was that clearly the cold stream was a lot stronger than the heat stream.

Even with Ba Fenghan's firm, steadfast willpower, he nearly could not help screaming.

The qi and blood in his entire body swelled. His meridians felt as if it was ready to explode. This kind of pain was clearly beyond the limit of pain that anybody was able to endure.

When the strange qi from the Jade Annulus of He Clan going through Xu Ziling's body, during the exit it automatically rushed out in the spiraling manner, and thus the emissive destructive power was multiplied.

Kou Zhong at the back already saw Ba Fenghan spurting out blood, followed by the two were shaking violently, while Ba Fenghan's back alternated between cold and hot; so he knew something was terribly wrong.

But he did not know that Ba Fenghan was in the battle between Man and Heaven. Without even thinking, immediately he used all his strength to absorb the strange qi from Ba Fenghan's body.

‘Wah!' Just like Ba Fenghan, Kou Zhong also spurted blood. It was scorching hot that he felt his meridians were about to dissolve from the heat and turned into violent flow, which immediately piercing through his whole body.

In that instant, Kou Zhong knew that the fate of all three of them was entirely in his hand.

If he let the strange qi conquer him, the three of them would end with their meridians burst open.

He had to send the strange qi back into Ba Fenghan's system, and in turn would have to be transferred back to Xu Ziling, until finally Xu Ziling had to send it back into the dreadful-like-the-G.o.ds-or-the-demons Jade Annulus of He Clan, bringing about a complete circle.

At this time the three's meridians were still linked without any barrier.

Kou Zhong had just had this thought, the spiraling cold qi he stored in his ocean of qi rushed forth in full-strength, meeting the heat energy that was entering his meridians, as swift as the lightning, head-on.

‘Boom!'

The nerves on the entire body of all three persons were split like they were struck by violent lightning; all three of them could not help spurting out more blood.