I tilted my head back and scanned the boathouse's interior. The loft above me would give me some warning if I had any unexpected visitors. Unfortunately the steps up to it were rotted and had collapsed.

  With a sigh of resignation I approached a thick wooden pillar that ran from floor to ceiling and wrapped my arms and legs around it. My muscles screamed in protest with the first pull upward. Centuries of a perfected body and I was now reduced to wheezing up a pillar. As I dragged myself up I seriously doubted if this body had done an honest, or even dishonest, day's work in its life.

  With an ungainly heave I hauled myself up onto the loft floor, and flopped, panting, for a moment. Dust billowed around me and I let out a loud sneeze that startled my curious sparrow friend but, much like the dust and cobwebs that surrounded us, we both soon settled. Him onto a beam, and me into my cross-legged meditation position.

  I closed my eyes and began the basic technique of drawing in ambient ki that I had used to get to Breakthrough stage. At this point of my journey a proper cultivation technique was still unusable, I had to rely on pure stubborn will instead. I was fortunate that I had a lot of it.

  While I had helped myself somewhat by advancing to the Breakthrough stage earlier that morning that was nowhere near enough time for this body to saturate itself in ki. And, for the avoidance of doubt, there was no way that I was going to wait the year or two most people would take to allow that saturation to take place naturally.

  Cultivating like this was slow, painful work, I was trying to do the work of weeks in minutes. In my prime, ki flowed through me like a flood but now I fought to absorb even a drop.

  "Focus," I commanded myself. The sparrow gave a cheep of encouragement. Thanks little friend.

  After a few moments this body started to respond and small quantities of ki began to enter me as I breathed in and out. It took a few minutes but I managed to fall into a rhythm so I put part of my mind to consolidating the thoughts I had been having all day about my path forward.

  The five ki elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water each offered different strengths. Over the years I had acquired enough knowledge to be able to cultivate any of the elements, and there was an appeal to taking a new path. However I soon put those daydreams to one side, in my weakened state, only one made sense.

  Water had always been my element. It had shaped me, taught me, and ultimately crowned me as the Tidebound Emperor.

  Yet more than just water, it was the ocean that was my mistress. The knowledge that I had meant that I would not start with a simple water affinity, I could specialize in the sea sub affinity from the start. I would rebuild what I had until recently but I would rebuild faster and stronger.

  With the decision to follow in my own footsteps made, I knew what I wanted to do next. I would begin with opening what I knew as the Tidesworn Pillars, although others gave them different names. These were the four key meridians for enhancing muscles and improving strength and speed. Wherever a cultivator of the seas ended up these would have to be mastered first. The Abyssal Deep for my torso, the Sea Gate for my legs, the Storm Wake for my shoulders and arms, and the Horizon Crown for my head.

  Strengthening my body was valuable, nay critical, of itself. But, more importantly, without a ki-enhanced frame it would be impossible to manage the strain that higher levels of cultivation would put on me. The meridians of the Tidesworn Pillars would form the foundation I needed to rebuild my power.

  For most people, opening one meridian was already far beyond what they could hope to achieve. To walk the path of a cultivator was a privilege afforded to only the most talented, or those with access to the best resources. While in my previous life I was both talented and showered with resources, in this life I had just my talent. But I had plans for how to get the resources I needed.

  For all cultivators the order of things is to create a core first. That made you an Initiate Stage cultivator. If you could do that you could live your lives as outer sect members or leave to head up a village somewhere.

  Those who managed to open their first meridian would become a Disciple Stage cultivator promoted to the inner sect where treasures, teaching and techniques would be lavished upon them. Each further meridian that they were able to open would lead to greater power, prestige, and wealth.

  The most that the bulk of Disciples would aspire to was opening the four open meridians that made up the Tidesworn Pillars. If you could do that you would reach Adept stage. The summit of the Awakening Realm. For those that reached those heights, wealth and honor as Sect Elders awaited.

  For those few men and women of talent and ambition who dreamed of more, and survived the challenges that were required to develop a second core and open further meridians, unimaginable glory awaited. That was what it took to break into the Master Realm.

  These were they who would head sects, rule vast regions and lay waste to armies while they roared their defiance at the heavens. For those that went further still. Well. That would be the likes of me.

  With that in mind I could open the other eight meridians now as well, of course, but haste would only lead to weakness. Better to wait until I could acquire cores and materials from spirit creatures and plants. I was in a hurry but I would prioritize quality over pure speed. After all, I hadn't become Emperor by taking shortcuts.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "The tide always returns," I said to the sparrow as I felt the accumulated ki within me reach the levels that I needed. "And so shall I." He stared at me, clearly impressed with my platitudes, and I gave him a determined nod.

  Enough dreaming. It was time to work.

  The true challenge started now, I would try to open the Abyssal Deep Meridian in my torso. For the avoidance of doubt, I hadn't gotten confused. I was well aware that, rather than opening a meridian, the first task for anyone aspiring to be a cultivator is to develop a core. Indeed it is at this stage that most fail.

  The reason for doing so is clear. A core combined with a suitable meditation technique can draw in ki to allow the cultivator to solely focus on breaking open a meridian rather that splitting their attention.

  My initial plan was indeed to follow the traditional route of core then meridian. Cultivate, fight, win, defy the heavens. The path I had trodden previously to become as a god.

  However, now I was indeed intending to open my first meridians without a core. It was something I had theorized with the scholars at my academy over the centuries. Bypassing the need for an initial self-crafted core, I could establish a larger foundation from the start by absorbing a powerful core from a powerful spirit beast. It would be like building a harbor that could accommodate warships rather than fishing boats. This would be incredibly difficult from multiple angles but that was something for future me to worry about.

  In addition this method meant that I could ensure that my meridians were as perfect as they could be before they connected to a core. You will all have experienced, no doubt, the frustration that comes from uneven, or poorly connected meridians. I could avoid that from the start.

  It is, of course, possible to improve meridians while they are connected to a core. That's what everyone does. However, ki that has been refined through a core makes the meridians less malleable as it flows through. By perfecting my meridians before they connected to the core I could significantly enhance my cultivation.

  When I say I could significantly enhance my cultivation I mean that, if I got this right I might be able skip most of the Awakening Realm. Once I created my core I wouldn't be a mere Initiate or even a Disciple, I should be able to leapfrog both those stages to go straight to Early Adept Stage. A little effort now should lead to faster growth later. To get to Champion in time, I would need all of the advantages I could come up with.

  But, there was a reason why, with all of its benefits, no one opened their meridians before creating a core. That reason was ability and risk. This approach is only possible when starting out on a journey to the heavens. And the start of the journey is a time when, at best, a cultivator has theoretical knowledge about cultivation. As had been shown by the multiple ruined cultivators who had tried this approach, the theoretical knowledge was not enough to get this right.

  Given how insanely hard cultivation is, no one who was in a position to try this method would know how to succeed. Except of course if you were starting your journey with 700 years of knowledge and experience under your tricorn…

  As for the risk. The risk was the same as with every time one tries to break open a meridian. If you failed you would cripple your cultivation permanently. It was why so few people chose to advance as far as their talents might allow them. The cost of failure grew exponentially the stronger you became.

  Of those brave souls who had tried to accelerate the start of their cultivation journey by using this method, none had ever succeeded. All of them had been crippled, their quest for power over before it had even started. The theory was right but none had even a fraction of the ability needed to pull it off. My decision to bypass this step was deliberate. Risky, yes, but there was no way that I could get from here to defeating a Vanguard in a year if I followed the conventional paths.

  So was it even possible? Well, I was about to find out.

  * * *

  Decision made, I wasn't one to delay before acting.

  The start of the Abyssal Deep Meridian is in the lower back and I sent my accumulated ki to crash against the blockage there like waves battering a wall. It started simply enough, but it soon got harder. Now that I had started there was no going backwards. Sweat streamed down my face and stung my eyes before dropping on the dust below. I forced myself to ignore it as I strained to draw in more ki while simultaneously sending waves of ki to pound against the blockage.

  Time lost all meaning as I fought with this body. The pressure built inside me and forced its way into my head. This was a battle of wills that threatened to tear my mind apart.

  Obviously, I had opened all of the meridians in my previous body and I had thought that each one had been the hardest struggle that I had up to that point. This was already far harder than any of those. My previous body had been a finely tuned racing clipper while this one was an untested fishing boat being hurled against jagged rocks. The need for a core before opening a meridian was clearly even more significant than I had thought. The blockage remained unyielding, mocking my centuries of mastery with its simple, brutal resistance.

  Darkness swallowed the edges of my vision like an advancing tide and I felt my consciousness start to slip away. My body convulsed and the maelstrom in my head turned into a storm that stabbed spikes of pain into my brain while my muscles trembled from sitting motionless for so long.

  Above me the sparrow hopped down from the beam and started to investigate the corner of the loft. Perhaps he sensed the titanic struggle occurring within my body. Perhaps he was bored.

  The edges of my vision started to turn black and I felt my consciousness starting to drift. I gritted my teeth and refused to give in.

  "Not like this." I snarled out the words and spat out the blood I could taste in my mouth.

  My journey in this world would not end here. This was no longer anything to do with experience or knowledge, or even defeating the Vanguard, this was purely about my will. If I wanted it enough, if I could hold on, I would succeed. I drove on, drawing in ki through each painful breath and directing it towards the blocked meridian.

  With one final, defiant surge, I channeled everything I had left, not just ki, but rage at what had been done to me and seven centuries of stubborn pride, into that single blocked point.

  I was either going to succeed, or I was going to break.