I think projecting more qi didn't make a particularly appealing upgrade because qi leeching is a rare forbidden technique while damn near any martial art has some kind of qi projection. Right now we have Raging Claws of the Mad Lion in addition to the Xianglong Eighteen Palms for qi projection.
The qi projection technique didn't strike me as your typical, run-of-the-mill qi projection either, though:
If he wants your inner strength, he can take it: you unleash all of the energy you can muster, pouring it into the old man in an attempt to overload his meridians. Your proficiency at extending qi outside of your body will be tested and possibly pushed beyond its limits.
...
Gathering all of his power, Ahura moves to attack the Grand Taoist. You do not catch what happens next clearly, but it ends with the Fire Lord wreathed in flame, screaming as he is burned by his own fires. His arms and legs fall limp by his side as he collapses to the ground. Ahura crawls towards his adherents in pain, inching away from the Grand Taoist. His Amesha Spenta, regaining their consciousness, run to his aid and drag him to safety as Wang watches on.
“Strange… I did not know Taiji had such a move in its arsenal. He must have utterly destroyed Ahura’s meridians with that attack, but it should be impossible for him with Ahura's level of qi,” mutters Shangguan Chuji, his hand on his chin. “Wait. Something is not right. The Grand Taoist…” The Sword Saint looks slightly worried as he runs towards the unmoving Wang Zhengchong. You have a bad feeling about this.
It sounded more akin to what the Grand Taoist did to Ahura, really. A much less refined, unskilled version of it, of course. I could be wrong about this, though. Also, I always figured that
qinggong had more to do with dancing around your opponent's attacks with crazy acrobatics, and the stuff that you mention, while good, seems more like it improves our ability to
avoid damage rather than
take damage, so I'm not sure if it has anything to do with END. We'd be far better off learning a defensive
neigong that allows us to take damage; unfortunately, we don't meet the END threshold for the awesome Shaolin Jinzhongzhao, but maybe we'll find something else. It's a definite weakness that we have to shore up eventually.
I'm not sure how Herbalism relates to our
qinggong or how Cao'er would help us here either. She's the greatest medic in the world, yet she's not much of a fighter and has some pretty mediocre skills at
qinggong herself. Not sure she could help us here. Maybe the Qingcehng defensive
qinggong is more up our alley as far as learning goes, though.
Until then, I guess we'll just have to rely on our ridiculous AGI 12 to avoid damage.