CHAPTER 183: ONE IN A MILLION?

"Unable to generate vital energy? That’s... rare, to say the least. Let me take a look..."

Elder Kong Ye placed two fingers over Han Xuhan’s kneecaps and closed his eyes, sinking into the spiritual inspection.

Han Xuhan and Xuanyuan Zhou waited for his verdict nervously.

For two whole days, they’d tried countless times to solve the problem. The longer the trial went, the worse the problem became.

As it turned out, his inability to generate vital energy through martial techniques wasn’t limited to the ’Swallow’s Slicing Wings’ move. More than two-thirds of the moves displayed in his manual showed the same phenomenon.

To Xuanyuan Zhou’s chagrin, she failed to discover what was wrong with him, or if the manual itself had wrong illustrations and instructions. She even tried to execute the moves herself.

But she somehow succeeded in generating vital energy whereas Han Xuhan couldn’t.

When they went to visit their mountain master, Elder Daheng, he refused to come out of his bedroom. And getting Elder Long’s help in this matter would be tough.

So they had approached Elder Kong Ye, who was a lot more approachable and had goodwill towards Han Xuhan.

The Elder spent a long time examining all the points of his body where vital energy had been generated so far, and where vital energy didn’t. Although his face remained tranquil throughout the process, Han Xuhan could tell that things weren’t looking good for him.

Elder Kong Ye had a slightly different temperament when compared to the rest of the Elders of the Crimson Snow Sect, perhaps due to being a lot younger than the lot. He didn’t have the habit of maintaining a pretentious solemnity.

A while later, he pulled his probing fingers back and opened his eyes, staring at him with a complicated gaze. Realizing that Han Xuhan was too afraid to ask the question, Xuanyuan Zhou spoke up from the back.

"Elder Ye, could it be because of his messy meridians? Is his physique affecting the operation of vital energy in his blood vessels?"

This was the tentative conclusion she had come up with after their countless experiments in the last two days.

But Elder Kong Ye shook his head slowly.

"At first I had the same suspicion. So I put some of my own vital energy inside his body and made it do rounds from his head to toe. The meridians didn’t interfere with the flow at any point."

"What else could be wrong with my body?" Han Xuhan said morosely.

"Have you made anyone else try out the moves of your manual? Maybe-"

"I did, Elder Ye," Xuanyuan Zhou cut him off quickly. "And I could harness the vital energy just fine. So the manual has no flaws to speak of."

"...In that case, wait for me to consult some records in my collection. It’s better not to make random guesses in matters so important."

The Elder rose to his feet and disappeared inside his mansion, leaving Han Xuhan and Xuanyuan Zhou waiting in anxiety.

"Martial Sister Zhou, is there any concept of special physiques in the Martial path as well? Maybe I have a ’rare’ physique in this domain of power as well," Han Xuhan said dispiritedly.

Xuanyuan Zhou nodded, much to his surprise.

"Sure there is. A lot of people in society are born without an arm or a leg, or without any of their four limbs. Some come out blind, some come out dumb. There are also the dwarves, the intersex, and the rarer hermaphrodites. These are all special physiques in regards to the Martial path."

"....Is this the time to be making jokes?" Han Xuhan couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

"That’s rich coming from you. You were making terrible jokes even when we were at death’s door back at the Holy Land of Laws. Why do you look ready to give up on life now?"

Han Xuhan was taken aback. There was actually some merit to her logic. He, a transmigrator with a golden finger, did not even fear death. He was just having fun in this new life as a cultivator.

Even if this new obstacle on his way was some elaborate setup of the ’author’, how could he let it ruin the wonderful experience?

Hmph! If a thousand obstacles block my path, I shall find a thousand ways to have my fun! Let’s see how if you dare to compromise your own story just to bully me, author!

So, by the time Elder Kong Ye returned outside, Han Xuhan was back to his cheerful self. Whatever the verdict may be, he would take it in stride and move forward.

"Seems like I was under a small misconception earlier," Kong Ye said in a tone that conveyed both interest and caution.

"This phenomenon of being able to cultivate only a few moves of a martial art... it’s not as rare as I thought. One in a million martial artists face this issue!"

"One in a million?! How is that not rare?" Han Xuhan lost his cool immediately. But Kong Ye waved off his concern lightly.

"The macrocosm is a big place. If you took all the ’One in a million’ geniuses and stacked them on top of each other, you could build a ladder to the sun."

"....What?"

"Never mind. As I was saying, there are quite a few historical records of such situations. I’ve gone through what I have in my collection and reached a conclusion.

"Vital energy, the core component of martial cultivation, is a little different from qi. We absorb qi from nature into our body, whereas vital energy is born inside our blood vessels naturally. Hence, the nature of vital energy can differ from person to person in extreme cases.

"It seems that some people are born with a body built for specific types of vital energy. Throughout life, they will be unable to produce any results with moves that don’t generate that kind of vital energy. You, disciple Xuhan, seem to fit these characteristics perfectly!"