Using complex, high-frequency sound waves to induce the human brain into meditative cultivation was a technological product of the Western Continent. It could help the brain find the frequency of meditation in a short time, allowing one to quickly cross the threshold into meditation.
Not only that, it could also enhance the effects of meditation.
It worked on a principle similar to how people used soothing music for hypnosis, writing, flirting, and the like.
However, ordinary Transcendents definitely could not endure such high-frequency, complex sound waves at first.
That required extraordinarily powerful talent. Just like composers and performers—without talent that stood head and shoulders above the rest, one could not stand at the pinnacle of the world.
The limit for ordinary Transcendents was fifteen minutes. Those who were relatively outstanding could manage half an hour, while forty-five minutes could already be called elite-level talent.
Anyone who exceeded an hour could be considered a genius with a name that ranked within the entire nation.
But one hour was a watershed. After that point, countless people fell away with every passing minute.
As the saying went, those who traveled a hundred miles considered ninety to be halfway there. Listening to the Meditation Qi Yin Art for an hour was like walking ninety miles of a hundred-mile journey.
At that point, what was needed was not merely talent, but a comprehensive test of one's perseverance and other qualities.
The adult Xu Xiaojing had mentioned, who could persist for one hour and forty-five minutes, was named Dongfang Mingde. He was not only the foremost figure among Qingyang Kingdom's Transcendents, but also one of the top ten powerful existences in the world.
Figures like him were practically pillars of the nation. If a country lacked such a powerful existence, it could only suffer bullying at the hands of others.
A weak nation had no diplomacy.
The world's resources, trade, and all sorts of other matters—were they not controlled by those powerful nations?
A country without a super-powerful Transcendent like Dongfang Mingde could only be exploited by stronger countries in all kinds of ways. The entire world was like this.
And even such a figure had only lasted one hour and forty-five minutes. That was enough to show what an enormous gulf every single minute after the first hour was.
Time trickled by. Xu Xiaojing watched the clock and even forgot to organize the other students to continue adapting to the Meditation Qi Yin Art. Instead, she stared at Chen Nan with tense concentration.
Fifty minutes passed;
Fifty-five minutes passed;
One hour passed!
Xu Xiaojing excitedly clutched her collar. Was this possible? A genius—a genius!
He had actually been enlightened by her. She had actually enlightened a genius!
Then another two minutes passed.
The record had been broken!
Xu Xiaojing nearly suffocated. Chen Nan was actually about to break the record of Wu City Preparatory Academy. And as his enlightenment teacher and witness, she would surely be remembered alongside him in the school's history. Wow, happiness had come far too suddenly!
Teacher Xu Xiaojing was so overwhelmed by Chen Nan's astonishing performance that her whole body nearly went limp, and she almost collapsed to the floor.
Yet time continued to trickle away. Although Chen Nan had discovered the pattern within the sounds and entered meditation because of it, he found that he could not maintain it for particularly long.
The process of meditation involved using one's own brain electromagnetic waves to guide the electromagnetic waves in nature, activating one's brain cells.
Under the effects of complex electromagnetic waves, his brain cells naturally generated heat. Such heat could damage the cells' various enzymes, protein structures, and so on, causing incalculable harm—perhaps even irreversible damage.
Fortunately, the AI System could regulate the electromagnetic waves and reduce their heating effect on brain cells.
At the same time, it could promote various neural activities and accelerate blood circulation, allowing cerebrospinal fluid to circulate and exchange. Like a water-filled cooling device, it could swiftly carry away the heat from his brain cells.
But such regulation naturally had severe limits.
Chen Nan could see that the AI System was monitoring the SAR value. Based on it, it had created a temperature curve related to the SAR value and calculated the critical threshold for safe meditation.
On the time axis, Chen Nan could see that he could still hold on for roughly another fifty minutes.
However, even while meditating, he could sense that something was abnormal in his surroundings.
Everyone was staring at him in shock. Their breathing had become extremely heavy, and that tension and attention made Chen Nan feel as though he were beneath a scorching heat lamp.
He immediately realized that something was wrong. He had truly been too careless. Having persisted for so long was clearly no ordinary matter. He had to stop.
Thus, he immediately withdrew from meditation, pretended to retch, and said that his head hurt badly and that he felt dizzy.
But Xu Xiaojing, stunned as she was, forgot to give Chen Nan earplugs. Like a machine, she glanced at the clock: one hour, twenty-six minutes, and thirty-seven seconds!
Then her eyes seemed to bulge, her hands clenched into fists, and she charged straight at Chen Nan.
Chen Nan was so frightened that he retreated again and again. Fortunately, Xu Xiaojing recovered the composure a teacher ought to possess. With tears glistening in her eyes, she looked at Chen Nan and said excitedly, "Wonderful, Chen Nan. You truly didn't let your teacher down."
She made it sound as though Chen Nan's achievement had all been cultivated by her own hand, as though she had recognized a pearl in the dust with her discerning eye.
Chen Nan looked around, not quite understanding what she meant.
Xu Xiaojing did not care about that at all. She told the whole class, "Continue training. Take it slowly and find the pattern. If you can't take it anymore, put in the earplugs and rest. Teacher will be right back."
With that, she abandoned the children and left the classroom.
Xu Xiaojing had gone to report the matter to the dean. For a genius like Chen Nan, almost unheard of in a thousand years in Wu City, she had to report it at the first possible moment.
Watching Xu Xiaojing leave, Chen Nan felt a faint unease in his heart.
He understood that his performance had certainly caused Xu Xiaojing's reaction. Needless to say, he had performed far too outstandingly.
Logically, this was a good thing, because the academy would surely tilt its educational resources toward him. But he could not ignore the trouble it might bring as well.
Because he was a lone wandering soul. Without a Lineage background or any power to rely on, was a genius truly of any use?
No matter how great his talent was, he would ultimately be nothing more than a precious pearl, endlessly fought over. He would not even have a shred of selfhood. In the end, some great figure would set him into a crown as a display of their own strength.
Why had beauties throughout the ages so often met tragic fates?
Chen Nan understood that principle perfectly well.
He kept blaming himself. Why had he been so careless? But shortly afterward, he realized that self-reproach was meaningless now. It seemed he could only step onto the stage.
Gold would shine sooner or later. That was a kind of trouble too. Chen Nan shook his head and sighed.
To escape those fates, Chen Nan knew that the only thing he could do was keep making himself stronger.
No matter how precious cats and dogs were, they were still only pets; but who would treat a ferocious tiger as a pet?
Of course, he had to become even stronger than a fierce tiger. After all, even a fierce tiger could not escape the fate of being used by others. He had to become strong enough that no one could use him.
Having made up his mind, he calmed down, then entered cultivation once more.
The academy kept Chen Nan's news confidential. The other eight people cultivating alongside him were all called in and given a talking-to. For the time being, no one knew of Chen Nan's terrifying talent.
The dean of Wu City Preparatory Academy, Li Nanchao, had grand ambitions of his own. Since Chen Nan was such an excellent chess piece, he absolutely would not let him slip away for nothing.
He wanted to use Chen Nan to make Wu City Preparatory Academy famous, and to leave his own bold, richly colored stroke in the Transcendent Academy world.
Therefore, he issued a strict confidentiality order—an extremely strict one.
Because when a student with super-powerful talent like Chen Nan was discovered, the higher academy—the National Transcendent Academy—had the right to transfer them away immediately and grant them direct admission into the Transcendent Academy for advanced study.
If such a transfer order came down, the Preparatory Academy had to obey. There was no room for objection.
But this was not an ironclad order involving a crime. If a Preparatory Academy concealed the news and carefully nurtured the student itself, it would not actually suffer much punishment.
Thus, for reasons of reputation, resources, and the like, Preparatory Academies would conduct similar operations whenever they happened upon a genius.
This was called: when there were policies from above, there were countermeasures below.
In fact, Transcendents and major Lineages across the country conducted similar tests on their own children. If they truly found a genius, they would immediately contact the National Transcendent Academy, and the child would be directly admitted.
This bypassed the Preparatory Academy route altogether. Chen Jiadong of the Luojing Chen Family was one such example.
Among the students selected from ordinary people nationwide, those with genius-level talent were as rare as gold sifted from sand. Thus, in practice, it was almost impossible for Preparatory Academies to build their reputations by concealing geniuses.
If any Preparatory Academy encountered one, it would be nothing less than heaven and earth's blessing.
Thus, one could imagine just how far Wu City Preparatory Academy would go in keeping Chen Nan's circumstances secret.
The academy used both favors and intimidation on Xu Xiaojing and the eight students, ensuring that they would not mention the matter to anyone.
At the same time, the academy naturally approached Chen Nan and explained the situation to him.
Chen Nan had no room to object. At the same time, he felt that not flaunting himself was also a good thing.
Thus, although Chen Nan possessed powerful talent by Transcendent standards, the entire academy knew absolutely nothing about it.
At the same time, the academy began drawing up a series of plans for Chen Nan's education. However, in the short term, those plans would not be made obvious, lest they arouse suspicion.
Before you continue