Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue couldn't help but feel excited when they heard the old man's words, this meant that even if they were weak now, they had a chance to be stronger than the strongest person.
Old man Cang gave them some time to absorb the information before he continued with his explanation.
"Cultivation starts with awakening one's meridians." The old man started and the two boys listened attentively.
There were nine extraordinary meridians in a person's body and each meridian had twelve acupoints. The so-called awakening the meridians meant using the heaven and earth qi to unblock the acupoints along the meridians.
However, this was easier said than done; detecting and attracting the heaven and earth qi required a breathing technique and even then, one may not be able to open all the acupoints within a meridian.
Acupoints were divided into seven earth acupoints, three heaven acupoints, and two divine acupoints.
Most people could open the seven earth acupoints to form a sixty-three-point cycle, but opening the heaven and divine acupoints was another matter. One required at least a high-tier or peak-tier breathing technique to open the heaven acupoints while opening the divine acupoints was a matter of fate rather than technique. Either way, one could break through to the origin forging realm if they formed a qi cycle with at least sixty-three acupoints.
"It is beneficial to open more acupoints because it will determine your future potential." The old man said as he looked at the two sternly.
In fact, he didn't need to say it.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were very smart people and they had already guessed that opening more acupoints was better.
"Breaking through to the origin forging realm is only the beginning…."The old man began, but his words were interrupted by a bout of coughs.
Yu Nianzhen had noticed that the old man's condition had been getting worse and he could tell that he may not be able to go on for much longer.
Old man Cang noticed the concern in the two boys' expressions and he smiled before he spoke, "the old man is not talented and could only reach the peak of the origin forging realm but I am satisfied with meeting two exceptional talents before my death."
The old man wiped a stream of black blood from the corner of his mouth, but his expression showed no reluctance towards his cruel fate.
"Old man…" Jiang Yue started but couldn't continue because he didn't know what to say.
They hadn't known the old man for a long time, but the other had been kind to them. He was clearly not wealthy, but he had treated their wounds, fed them, and educated them in the week that they had been together. His kindness was a reprieve from their reality of transmigrating into a terrible situation and both boys wanted to do their best for him before he died.
"The old man was poisoned and doesn't have long in this world." Old man Cang said with a sigh.
"This one wasn't lucky to find a companion to accompany him into the sunset, but I am satisfied to meet the both of you."
After he said that, the old man removed something from his right sleeve robe and pushed it towards the boys.
"Take it." He said when he saw that neither had moved to take the scroll.
"Unfortunately, the old man doesn't cultivate the sword or illusions and can't help you with a cultivation technique; but if you don't dislike it, I can still offer a breathing technique."
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were excited when they heard that the old man was willing to give them a breathing technique and they cupped their fists in gratitude.
They had already learned that cultivation was a very expensive endeavour in the Cangxing world; it was like constantly pouring a load of resources into a black hole which was part of the reason why cultivators were so lawless-if one couldn't use just means to gather the resources that they needed, they could only use their strength.
Old man Cang chuckled when he saw their excitement, "I was lucky to encounter a high-tier breathing technique during my travels and if you work hard, you should have no problems opening your heaven acupoints."
"These young ones, thank the elder for his favour." The two thanked and then opened the scroll.
Old man Cang's high tier breathing technique was called the sky dragon breathing technique and as the old man had said, it could allow the user to open their heaven acupoints.
"Good." The old man said as he nodded his head in appreciation.
"The old man doesn't have much, but he is willing to leave it all to you."
"If there is something we can do for the elder, we are willing." Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue immediately responded because they could tell that the old man had something on his mind.
"Hmm." The old man hesitated for a moment before he spoke.
"There are two things."
"Please speak." Yu Nianzhen urged.
"The old man is not long for this world and hopes that his body will rest in peace after he rides the crane to the west."
"We understand." Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue immediately agreed.
It wasn't a hardship to give old man Cang a decent burial and they would have done it even if he didn't ask.
"The other matter…." Old man Cang began and then stopped.
Instead, he tore a piece of his robes, used a small knife to make a one centimetre cut on his right index finger, and then began to use the bleeding finger as a brush to paint something on the torn cloth.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue waited for almost one hour until the old man was satisfied with his work before pushing the painting towards them.
The painting was of a flower that looked black due to the old man's blood, but Jiang Yue could still recognize it.
"Oleander flower?" He asked.
Jiang Yue knew that the entire oleander plant was poisonous and he wondered whether it was the source of the old man's demise.
"In the future when you have sufficient strength, the old man would like you to avenge him." Old man Cang said and for the first time since meeting them, his face didn't have a smile. He simultaneously looked angry, helpless, pained, and a myriad of other emotions that the two boys couldn't interpret.
"Is the poisoner called oleander or do they use an oleander to poison?" Yu Nianzhen asked as he looked at the flower.
"She is known as Siwang and the oleander flower is her poison mark."
The old man didn't know much more than the cultivator's name and gender, but the two boys weren't worried because there was no time frame to fulfil the request. They figured that they would naturally find the person after they got stronger so they immediately accepted the old man's term which was nothing more than repaying his life-saving grace.
Afterwards, old man Cang helped Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue catalogue everything on the bullock cart.
The cart had a lot of things that the old man had collected on his travels but only a few were valuable. One of the more valuable was the origin test stone.
According to the old man, most villages and small towns didn't have any origin test stones so people could only travel to larger towns or hope that a travelling trader would have one. However, origin test stones weren't easy to find and most travelling traders didn't have them.
Those who had one could charge one silver per test and although it wasn't a lot, the amount would accumulate as one travelled from one place to the next.
There was also quite a number of books that were especially valuable for the two who knew very little about the world, but the most valuable thing was a treasure compass that old man Cang had found but unfortunately, had not gotten the chance to use before he was poisoned.
The compass looked like a brass pocket watch with a bronze needle and when it detected treasure, its body would become hot and the needle would turn from brass to gold.
As people who had nothing but the clothes on their backs, the old man's inheritance, especially the treasure compass was a godsend. Having it would allow them to discover hidden or disregarded treasures and over time, they would be able to accumulate enough wealth to form a good foundation in the Cangxing world.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had been the heads of powerful families in their previous life and they were quite cognizant of the fact that a good background was the basis of power.
No matter how strong a tree was, it would still break down if subjected to many winds, but if that tree was at the centre of a forest, the other trees would shelter it from the wind and even if they couldn't completely stop all the wind, the remnant wind would never be enough to shake the tree, let alone break it down.