"As expected, you're too old." Xanda said, shaking his head. His gray eyes didn't shake, showing that he had expected this result.
"I'm only twenty-seven years old. I still got my whole life ahead of me." Finn grumbled and put his shirt back on.
"You're spirit meridians are completely withered. I have never seen anything like it. It's like they have never interacted with Qi ever before."
"Your bones have completely settled. Your body is unhealthy, filled with impurities, and your mind has begun to slow down. Even if you had divine talent before now, you can barely practice martial arts." Xanda explained and was surprised to see that disappointment was absent from Finn's face.
"Even if I'm bad, at least I can practice. As long as there is hope, I'm fine with it." Finn said with a smile.
How could he be disappointed when he never had any expectations in the first place?
He was from Earth. It wouldn't have surprised him that he didn't have spirit meridians.
Back on Earth, he had never heard of anyone being able to use qi. Their martial arts were purely physical, so it wouldn't make sense that there existed a special part of the human body that had never been discovered before.
But would he give up if he heard he couldn't practice this world's martial arts? No!
He would just find his own way back home.
If he could get here, then there had to be a way back.
Seeing that his lack of talent didn't quench Finn's motivation, Xanda sat up.
I can work with this. Xanda thought to himself as he remembered his youth. He was just like this back then.
"Glad you haven't given up. But having hope isn't everything. We need to open up your spirit meridians before you can start learning my martial arts."
Xanda pressed his finger on his belly button and gave several instructions.
"Press your finger on your belly button until it starts to hurt, then back off a little. Take your other hand and press it in between your eyebrows. Afterward, close your eyes and repeat 'Open...Close' again and again."
Finn followed Xanda's instructions as best as he could.
"Open...Close....Open...Close..."
Finn repeated this chant over and over again until he lost count. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he kept going until he felt a change.
He opened his eyes and found himself floating in darkness. The only light came from an enormous...purple... beating heart.
Thump....
Each pulse shook the darkness like an earthquake. It was slow but steady and powerful.
Seeing the purple heart again, Finn clenched his fists and shouted.
"Yes!"
"If you're here, that means that you have brought me here! That means the secret to leaving must also be with you!"
Finn couldn't help but feel exhilarated! His blood was boiling.
This was the clearest clue he had gotten.
The clearest path to get home.
"What exactly are you? Are you alive? Can you take me back home now? I don't want to be here. I still need to find my brother." Finn asked as he floated closer towards the purple heart.
As he grew closer, the true size of the purple heart showed itself.
It was the size of a mountain. Finn was completely insignificant compared to it.
It was no wonder each time the purple heart thumped it caused an earthquake.
Unfortunately, no matter how much Finn tried to interact with the purple heart, he failed to get a response. His blood cools down as the reality that he still had a long way to go before he got back home settled.
Still, he didn't let his disappointment get to him.
"Is that blood?"
As Finn saw the purple heart in closer detail, he noticed that a small part of it was bleeding. Purple colored blood was leaking out.
Intrigued that such a massive heart could be injured, Finn reached out to take a closer look. As his finger touched the blood, a change occurred.
The purple blood suddenly became alive. It flowed into the body like he was a sponge absorbing water. He couldn't move his body away at all.
He was completely stuck.
"Gaaa!" Finn screamed as his body caught on fire. Purple flames ignited on his fingers first before rushing to the rest of his body next.
He was being burned alive!
The pain was enormous. It was the most pain he had ever experienced. Every part of his body was burned. He couldn't think as his thoughts were being burned, too.
As Finn thought this was his end, he blacked out. When he regained consciousness, he was back at the Forbidden Martial School courtyard.
Day had turned to night. Xanda was missing from his chair.
"Wasn't I burning?" Finn muttered as he patted himself. His heart was racing. Cold sweat covered his body as he felt the threat of death had given him a pat on the back.
As Finn regained his composure, he noticed something strange. Underneath his skin were two different sets of vein-like branches.
The one that caught his eye was bright purple and as thick as his fingers. It reminded him of the purple heart's light.
The second set was far dimmer and extremely thin. It was only a bit thicker than a strand of hair.
What was astonishing was that as the light of the purple veins dimmed, the other veins became brighter and thicker.
But even as the purple veins completely faded, the second set of veins were only a third as bright and thick.
Eventually, even the second veins faded away, leaving his skin back to normal.
"What the hell? Were those my spirit meridians?" Finn gulped.
"But there were two sets. The purple veins are clearly from the purple heart, but what about the second set. Are those mine?"
Although Finn guessed that his spirit meridians might have been opened, he couldn't be sure. The only way to check was by seeing if there was a change when he followed Xanda's instructions.
But when he thought about the pain of being burned alive, Finn couldn't do it.
"I'll try it tomorrow. For now, I'll get some sleep. Yeah, tomorrow." Finn muttered nervously and stood up.
The stench of his body wafted into his nose, making him immediately gag. The combination of mud, rain, sweat, and other dirty muck gave birth to a stench almost as bad as Xanda's stench.
"I need to ask Xanda where I can take a bath in the morning. I stink." Finn muttered and found himself in an open room.
The room was as badly taken care of as the rest of the place. But compared to outside, it was much better.
"Tomorrow. I'll ask Xanda tomorrow to check my spirit meridians."
Grumbling himself to sleep, the fatigue overwhelmed Finn. He fell asleep without an issue with his faint snoring, bringing life to the lifeless Forbidden Martial School.