Life's Lock

Cao Liwen pulled a book out from beneath his desk. "Take a look at this first."

Chu Fei took it and flipped through it. It was fairly thick, titled Life's Lock: Protection and Shackles.

Seeing that lunchtime was approaching, Chu Fei asked, "Teacher, may I take it back to read?"

"Yes. Read it yourself."

"Okay, thank you, Teacher."

After running back to the dormitory, Chu Fei eagerly opened it and began with the preface.

From the day life was born, it had constantly challenged its limits.

It challenged the limits of the material world:

From low temperatures to high temperatures, from low pressure to high pressure, from deserts to oceans, from oxygen-free environments to oxygen-rich environments, from toxic environments to nontoxic environments, and so on;

It also challenged the limits of life:

Eukaryotic life, infinite division, limited division, sexual reproduction, animals and plants, viviparity and oviparity, birth, aging, illness, death, even intelligence, and more;

Over billions of years of evolution, life had tested nearly every possibility.

The tests that could not be passed became prohibitions, written into our genes.

These prohibitions protected us, but they also restricted our path to transcendence.

To transcend them, one had to break the prohibitions.

Yet beyond those prohibitions lay both boundless horizons and bottomless abysses.

Success meant soaring into the sky;

Failure meant plunging into the abyss!

As Chu Fei read the preface, ripples stirred in his heart.

Break the prohibitions and soar into the sky!

Liu Tingyun's graceful leap from the cliff suddenly surfaced in his mind: a pair of pure white wings spreading behind her as she soared through the heavens.

Was breaking the prohibitions what it meant to be an Awakened?

A bell suddenly rang, interrupting Chu Fei's thoughts.

"Eat first."

After lunch, Chu Fei thought for a moment and sent Huang Gang a message, saying he would not be going today.

What mattered most now was breaking through! Breaking through the First Limit!

And to continue breaking through the First Limit, he needed to keep studying.

He focused his mind on the Wisdom Tree Seed and the Wisdom Dewdrops within his consciousness space.

The Wisdom Tree Seed was still the same, perhaps only a little brighter;

The Wisdom Dewdrops had now accumulated to twenty-two drops.

"Use one drop!"

His consciousness ascended. Chu Fei opened Life's Lock: Protection and Shackles and began reading carefully.

The book was fairly thick and contained a great deal of material, but with the boost from the Wisdom Dewdrop, Chu Fei finished it in just two hours.

This book was mainly popular science—there was not much complicated content or many formulas, relying instead on straightforward explanations.

The Wisdom Dewdrop's effects faded, but Chu Fei remained immersed in the book's contents.

After reading it, Chu Fei gained a fundamental understanding of Awakened.

An Awakened was, in essence, someone who challenged life's prohibitions and succeeded.

What about those who failed the challenge?

There were two kinds.

The first kind still failed to break the prohibition and fell back;

The second kind broke the prohibition but failed to control it, introducing a new term: aberration!

The fundamental issue separating awakening from aberration was control.

If one's control was sufficient to command the changes caused by breaking the prohibition, one became an Awakened;

If one's control was insufficient and one could not command those changes, it became aberration.

And control was, in fact, "executive ability."

So-called executive ability was mental power, also called thought power. It was the combination of computational power and bioenergy.

Computational power came from the formula S=A*B^n. It was also the core of Big Data Cultivation: the Cosmic Brain;

Bioenergy was the so-called twenty-one grams of pure energy per person.

Only when one's Potential Index exceeded 8.0 would the Cosmic Brain's computational power be sufficient to support awakening.

But on the path to 8.0, there were two limits:

The First Limit, around 7.7;

The Second Limit, around 7.8.

The exact figures varied from person to person, with slight differences.

Ordinary people had an initial Potential Index ranging from 7.2 to 7.8;

But even top geniuses generally only hovered around 7.6 to 7.7.

If one was born with a Potential Index above 7.7, one would actually not be very intelligent!

A higher Potential Index required more energy to sustain it, while the human body could only provide limited energy.

For those above 7.7, the body could not provide enough energy, so it instead overtaxed itself, leading to a short life.

The First Limit was precisely such a prohibition.

It ensured a balance between human health and sufficient intelligence.

But the First Limit was also the easiest limit to break.

The human body could be trained;

The brain, or thought, could also be trained!

A strong body could provide the brain with more abundant energy.

No wonder Zhao Xiaofeng, Huang Dapeng, and the others are all so powerfully built. So to break through the First Limit, I need even more intense training!

But training also needs scientific guidance. Blind training does more harm than good.

Thought training requires science, and physical training requires science.

That is why cultivation cannot be separated from science!

Or perhaps cultivation itself is the ultimate expression of scientific development.

So how should I train next? Do I still need to attend classes?

Standing up and watching the clouds drift outside the window, Chu Fei felt the restlessness in his heart gradually settle. He also gradually came to his own decision.

Though the First Limit was said to be the easiest to break, it was still the First Limit—a prohibition.

To break it, he would need the perseverance and preparation to wear through stone with dripping water.

After calming himself, Chu Fei returned to the office.

Li Honggang and Lu Hong were reading and studying on their own. When they saw Chu Fei enter, they gave him slight nods and continued studying.

Ever since Chu Fei had begun leading everyone in review sessions, and after the "theft" incident, their relationship with Chu Fei had eased—they simply could not compete with him.

Chu Fei walked straight over to Cao Liwen. Before he could speak, Cao Liwen suddenly said, "Li Honggang, Lu Hong, you two can go back."

The two stood up and glanced at Chu Fei. Curiosity, jealousy, and even more envy flashed through their eyes.

After the two had left, Cao Liwen asked, "Finished reading it?"

Chu Fei nodded.

Cao Liwen habitually asked several key questions. Only after discovering that Chu Fei answered them all fluently did he nod slightly. "Not bad. It seems your Potential Index has risen, and your learning efficiency has improved as well."

Chu Fei skipped over that question and asked directly, "Teacher, I should strengthen my training next, right?"

Cao Liwen nodded, then shook his head. "Starting tomorrow, you don't need to run with everyone else. Run by yourself. As for your training plan, you'll have to wait a little longer."

Then he grew more serious. "But there are a few points I need to emphasize. Consider them red lines.

"To break through the First Limit, you cannot take any medication, such as various hormones;

"You cannot use stimulating methods either, such as electric shocks.

"You may take Superbrain Potion, but you cannot use Supernatural Potion.

"If you need scientific methods even to break through the First Limit, then your upper limit will stop short of 8.0."

"Yes." Chu Fei's expression turned solemn.

"Remember, only those who endure the bitterest hardships can rise above others.

"There are no shortcuts in cultivation. Otherwise, Principal Wu would not have needed to establish an academy to select disciples."

Chu Fei nodded.

After asking a few more questions, he returned to the dormitory.

But he saw Sun Xiangqing pacing back and forth outside the dormitory door.

Chu Fei narrowed his eyes. He hadn't shown up for half a month, yet he popped up as soon as the physical examination results came out?