A mocking laugh came from the brightly lit room: "It's that little rascal Baogen, isn't it! He's always teasing his grandpa, what's gotten into him today?"
Song Hao and Tang Yu couldn't help but chuckle at the old man's humorous words.
"I brought two friends to see you, this extraordinary person who never sleeps!" Liu Baogen said, opening the door and entering the house.
An elderly man, holding a book, sat in a chair. Although his hair was snow-white, his face was ruddy. When he stood up, he was tall and robust, and very well-preserved, showing no sign of illness. The room was simple, with only a few pieces of furniture, but half of it was filled with books, indicating that this man spent most of his time reading day and night.
"You really brought friends! Welcome! Welcome! I am Gao Mingda, and what are your names, young friends?" Gao Mingda said with a smile.
"Hello, Uncle Gao! My name is Song Hao, and this is my friend Tang Yu. Sorry to bother you!" Song Hao hurriedly stepped forward and said respectfully. He was secretly surprised that there was such a learned and magnanimous elder in this small fishing village.
"Oh! Looks like you've come from afar, have a seat!" Gao Mingda moved two low stools for Yu Songhao and Tang Yu to sit on.
Liu Baogen found a bundle of books and was about to sit down when Gao Mingda pulled him up and said, "Sit to the side, don't make my books smell bad, then you won't be able to read them."
Liu Baogen chuckled and said, "Only you would treat these things like treasures. I'll sell them to you as scrap the day you fall asleep forever."
"Dream on! When that time comes, I'll donate these books to the village library. You won't get a single page. You want to curse me to die? We'll see when you're seventy," Gao Mingda said with a laugh.
"Alright, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. These two friends of mine are doctors. They've come to take a look at your strange insomnia," Liu Baogen said.
"Grandpa, I heard you suffer from 'insomnia.' Is it true that you've never slept?" Tang Yu asked.
“Let me correct you,” Gao Mingda said. “I am perfectly healthy and have never suffered from any illness in my life. This ability to not sleep should be called the ability to stay awake, not ‘insomnia’.”
“I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t call it that, but this insomnia is against the laws of nature and is abnormal, so it should be classified as a medical condition,” Tang Yu said.
"Heh! It goes against the laws of nature! Does that mean that things beyond human comprehension are against the laws of nature? The world is vast, and there are always countless things that cannot be explained. As for the human body, humanity's current understanding of the mysteries of life is but a drop in the ocean. Since you are doctors, you should be able to diagnose pulses. If there is an illness, there must be a corresponding pulse. Show me what the pulse indicates," Gao Mingda said.
Song Hao had intended to examine the pulse to determine the truth of the matter, especially since the other party's words were extraordinary and insightful, suggesting that the "insomnia" might have another cause. So he said, "This junior has a rudimentary understanding of pulse diagnosis and is willing to give it a try."
Gao Mingda laughed and said, "Curiosity is what makes people want to learn! So let me show you what I'm capable of."
Song Hao then carefully examined the patient's pulse, finding it to be even, slow yet strong, like that of a young person, unlike the pulse of someone in their seventies or eighties. Song Hao was slightly surprised, but calmed himself and focused his attention, examining all the pulses thoroughly. Although there were occasional unusual movements, none of them indicated illness.
After a short while, Song Hao stopped and respectfully said, "Old sir, your six pulses are all in good condition, you are indeed free from illness, you must have mastered the way of health preservation. Although the left pulse is slightly abnormal, it is just an old injury caused by an external impact to the left shoulder, it can not be considered an illness."
"Huh?" Gao Mingda exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't expect that you, at such a young age, could have such accurate pulse diagnosis! You were able to diagnose my old injury on my left shoulder, an old ailment from thirty years ago, caused when I was swimming underwater in the lake and was hit by a boat that had strayed into the water. Nobody knew about it. Yet you were able to detect it in my pulse. It's clear that you have mastered the essence of pulse diagnosis; you truly have divine pulse diagnosis!" After saying this, Gao Mingda, filled with admiration, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Song Hao.
Liu Baogen listened in stunned silence.
At this moment, Song Hao said, "Uncle, the pulse is gentle, which means that the qi and blood are at peace. However, the insomnia is a symptom. I don't know the reason. Please enlighten me."
Gao Mingda said, “There are indeed cases of insomnia in the world caused by restlessness of the spirit and disharmony of qi and blood. Even when extremely tired, one cannot fall asleep and suffers all kinds of pain; that is a real illness. But my ability to not sleep causes me no physical discomfort. Although I may feel a little tired from work, I can sit for a while and it is never a big problem. If I read for a long time at night, I will lie down to rest, and I will feel at peace once I am quiet. I have never had any other troubles because of not being able to fall asleep. On the contrary, I feel that my life has been extended by twice as long, and I am very happy!”
Tang Yu said, "I wonder if this ability is innate or acquired by chance?" Although Liu Shan had mentioned at the Liu family that Gao Mingda's insomnia appeared when he was twenty, he wanted to verify it himself.
Volume Two: The World of Traditional Chinese Medicine - Chapter Forty-Six: The Seventy-Two Classics
Medicines have different properties; not all doctors need to know this, but itinerant doctors must. Pulses have extraordinary meridians; not all doctors need to know this, but itinerant doctors must know this. Using extraordinary methods in unexpected situations is a shortcut for a time; achieving mastery comes from daily practice. —From *The Complete Book of Elegance*, Introduction
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Gao Mingda said, "That was when I was twenty-four years old. I was young and impetuous, and I had a breath-holding contest with someone in Qinghai Lake, betting a boatload of fish. As a result, I suffered from severe oxygen deprivation and passed out underwater. I was later rescued, and from then on, I gradually lost my sleepiness. A month later, I was completely unable to fall asleep. Since I felt no discomfort, I didn't pay attention to it and let it be. Later, I met a wandering Taoist priest by Qinghai Lake. Hearing that I had the ability to not sleep, he checked my pulse and said that it was because of holding my breath underwater that I had unintentionally opened up my internal meridians. It was not an illness, but rather that I had gained a special ability."
Tang Yu said, "That's right. Now it seems that this phenomenon of not being able to sleep is indeed a kind of supernatural ability. But how can a person alleviate the exhaustion caused by not being able to sleep, and where does the energy to maintain this state of not being able to sleep come from?"
“Meridians!” Gao Mingda said.
"Meridians?" Song Hao and Tang Yu were taken aback upon hearing this.
Gao Mingda said, "You are knowledgeable in medicine, so you should know about the meridians in the human body."
Tang Yu said, "Of course I know. Besides the twelve meridians, there are the eight extraordinary meridians."
Gao Mingda asked, "So, how many meridians are there in the human body?"
Song Hao said, “There are twelve meridians, one on each side, making twenty-four meridians in total. Among the eight extraordinary meridians, there are also the Yin Wei Meridian and Yang Wei Meridian, as well as the Yin Qiao Meridian and Yang Qiao Meridian, which run parallel on both sides. Adding the Ren and Du Meridians, the Chong Meridian, and the Dai Meridian, there should be thirty-six meridians in the human body.”
Gao Mingda nodded and said, "What Shixing said is indeed true. Doctors throughout history have also respected the thirty-six meridians to treat people's diseases. However..." Gao Mingda changed the subject and said, "The thirty-six meridians only account for half of the meridians in the human body. The real number of meridians in the human body is seventy-two."
"Seventy-two meridians!" Song Hao and Tang Yu exclaimed in surprise. Song Hao, in particular, had never heard of the existence of seventy-two meridians in the human body before.
"How did you come to the conclusion that there are seventy-two meridians in the human body?" Song Hao asked in surprise.
“This is not my opinion!” Gao Mingda said, “It was told to me by that wandering Taoist priest back then. He said that the human body originally has seventy-two meridians, but doctors only know about the twelve main meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians, which is enough to treat the diseases of the world. Those who practice Qi cultivation also consider opening up the twelve main meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians as their true goal. The thirty-six meridians that people know are the source of life-sustaining power, and countless wonders and unsolved mysteries have arisen in these thirty-six meridians. Humans are the most intelligent of all beings, and they also have untapped potential hidden in the human body, especially in the other thirty-six meridians that are still unknown. Sometimes, the various diseases of the human body are not necessarily diseases; under the influence of illness, true abilities can be revealed.”
Upon hearing this, Song Hao suddenly realized that this must be the extraordinary ability that Sun Baoli displayed during his nighttime wandering. That strange ability appeared and disappeared intermittently, likely lurking within the other thirty-six meridians, and only activated in the dream state. Therefore, it could not be fully detected through his meridians.
Gao Mingda said, "Human health, and even the boundary between humans and gods, is based on how many of the seventy-two meridians are open. People say that someone has superpowers because they have opened up a certain meridian. If all seventy-two meridians are open, one must have the body of an immortal. Oh! Let's stop here. Such alchemical theories are not something we can discuss."
"Seventy-two classics! I only know half of them!" Song Hao thought to himself.
Gao Mingda added, "Back then, that Taoist priest also told me that there are seventy-two meridians in the human body, the most important of which is the central meridian, which is located in the center of the body and is still invisible, regulating the other seventy-one meridians."
"The central meridian? The very center of the human body?" Song Hao suddenly recalled his past adventures in the Moon and the copper mine, where he had seen ancient humans carving patterns of human meridians on the stone walls deep underground. At that time, he noticed strange and mysterious meridians that differed from normal ones, and the one he remembered most vividly was the central meridian that ran through the center of the human body. It turned out that those ancient people had also discovered some unknown meridians.
All these events proved true, showing that the wandering Taoist priest's words were not false, and also indicating that this reclusive master had already known the secrets of the seventy-two meridians of the human body. The depth of his cultivation was unknown.
Gao Mingda continued, “Perhaps that Taoist priest saw that I was different from ordinary people, so he taught me a method of health preservation, which is to focus on one acupoint every day and follow the order of the meridians. In a year, one should focus on 365 acupoints on the body to complete one full cycle. It is said that this can ensure various sleepless effects and prolong life. I have been practicing this method for more than 60 years and have achieved my current good health.”
"So that's how the old man found this way to maintain his health!" Song Hao exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes! According to that Taoist priest, if I want to live to be over a hundred years old, I must use this skill, but I must not engage in human relations, that is to say, I cannot marry or have children. I am afraid of death, so in this life I only ask to live alone and be happy to live a long life." Gao Mingda said with a chuckle without any restraint.
"So that's how it is! No wonder you were having such a good time all by yourself! Looks like you could live another eighty years without any problem." Liu Baogen shook his head and said.
Gao Mingda laughed and said, "I'm eighty years old now, but I have the heart of a twenty-year-old. I could live another hundred years without any problem. Ren Zhiqian was so envious of me back then!"