Breathing Through the Five Great Obstacles

Over the three days of the holiday, Su Yuan earned nearly four thousand yuan in total.

For ordinary people, this amount would be enough to live comfortably for a month, but if used for cultivation, it was clearly not enough.

Not to mention the various medicinal pills for cultivation, the rental fee for an artificial Spiritual Root alone could consume all his hard-earned money in just a few hours.

Looking at his significantly depleted account balance, Su Yuan felt a pang of regret.

However, the effect of the artificial Spiritual Root was indeed worth the price.

He opened the box containing the artificial Spiritual Root. As soon as he opened the precise preservation box, a wave of cold air rushed out.

A silver-white patch, resembling a navel sticker, appeared before Su Yuan.

With many years of development in artificial Spiritual Root technology, there was no longer any need to transplant the Spiritual Root into the body. You could just stick it on directly.

He took out the patch, lifted his shirt, and stuck it onto his abdomen.

Instantly, a cool sensation surged from the patch, like plant roots extending into Su Yuan's body and establishing a connection with his Dantian.

As the artificial Spiritual Root took effect, the surrounding spiritual energy began to actively converge towards Su Yuan. Now, he only needed to casually circulate the Breathing Technique to gain a tenfold or greater boost to his normal cultivation speed.

"I wish the System would just give me a Spiritual Root someday."

Su Yuan felt the changes brought about by the Spiritual Root and secretly hoped.

Even in this era of universal cultivation, those born with a Spiritual Root were as rare as one in ten thousand, just like in ancient times. Current cultivation technology had not yet developed to the point of altering the genes of newborns.

More than ninety percent of geniuses with innate Spiritual Roots could be admitted to top universities, and some even had the potential to enter the ten greatest immortal sects.

If he could get his own Spiritual Root, he would gladly trade it for a luxury car and a mansion!

Su Yuan repeated this wish in his heart several times, hoping the System would hear him.

He suppressed his distracting thoughts and wholeheartedly began circulating the basic high school Breathing Technique. Centered on his Dantian, a small vortex of spiritual energy appeared around Su Yuan.

Instantaneous meditation.

This was the benefit brought by the Pure Devil Heart. Normally, Su Yuan would take at least three minutes to enter a meditative state, and he would often get distracted.

In the entire class, no one could achieve instantaneous meditation.

Even Chen Nuoyi, the top student in the class, needed about thirty seconds to enter the state.

Therefore, Su Yuan's performance stood out in the class.

Sensing the spiritual energy in the classroom rapidly converging in one direction, Yue Lin cast his gaze over. Upon seeing Su Yuan absorbing spiritual energy at such a rapid pace, he couldn't help but be startled.

How could this kid be so fast? Did he get a cheat?

Or was Su Yuan's instantaneous meditation just a fluke this time, and it wouldn't last long?

Yue Lin couldn't help but pay more attention to Su Yuan.

Time slowly passed, and basically all forty-eight students in the class entered a meditative state.

However, breathing was a task that required absolute focus. Even a momentary distraction or a slight disruption in breathing rhythm would cause the rate of spiritual energy absorption to plummet.

Yue Lin stood on the podium with his arms crossed, scanned the entire class, and said coldly:

"When you hear the following sentence, you'll find that swallowing will change from automatic to manual."

As soon as he spoke, several students' throats involuntarily contracted, and their breathing rhythm was immediately disrupted.

One student, forced out of their meditative state by the disruption, opened their eyes, a flicker of panic flashing within them!

Here it comes! The Five Great Obstacles of Breathing!

Yue Lin continued:

"From now on, blinking will change from automatic to manual!"

"From now on, there will definitely be an itchy spot somewhere on your body!"

"Feeling sleepy? Think about all the yawning you've seen in your life!"

"From now on, your breathing will become manual!"

With each sentence Yue Lin spoke, a portion of the students in the room lost their composure, and their cultivation rhythm was instantly disrupted.

These were the Five Great Obstacles that every cultivator faced when breathing in spiritual energy!

Blinking, breathing, swallowing, yawning, and an itch somewhere on the body due to psychological effects – each bodily instinct, when prompted by an external factor, would be forced into manual control.

This was like a thunderous blow to students who needed to breathe in spiritual energy with a completely clear mind!

After Yue Lin revealed all Five Great Obstacles, more than two-thirds of the students in the class broke their concentration and began to struggle to adjust their bodily functions. However, the more anxious they became, the less their bodily instincts could recover.

Yue Lin said coldly:

"Your minds are filled with distractions, your Dao heart is unstable. A few words have caused you to lose focus. During an hour of breathing, you'll be out of sync for at least half an hour! Get back to practicing properly!"

After scolding the unfocused students, Yue Lin's gaze shifted back to Su Yuan, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

This kid was completely unaffected by the Five Great Obstacles of Breathing and was cultivating at the most efficient rate. This level of focus was even slightly inferior to Chen Nuoyi's.

Had he awakened?

With such a high degree of concentration, his performance in terms of Dao heart would not be bad.

But regarding his classmate Su Yuan, Yue Lin knew him very well. Su Yuan's Dao heart cultivation was only average. Now, after just three days, he had to look at him with new eyes?

Something was strange.

Compared to cultivation that could be improved with external aid, the Dao heart could only be improved step by step.

A sudden surge in Dao heart cultivation could only mean one of two things: either he had encountered a major turning point in his life and found a goal to strive for his entire life, or... he had gone insane.

Hmm, many mentally ill people think differently from ordinary people and can maintain a level of focus on certain things far exceeding that of normal individuals.

Su Yuan's situation... seemed to show signs of this!

Yue Lin's mind flashed to Su Yuan's family background. He was an orphan with no parents. An unhealthy family environment, coupled with the pressure of the college entrance exams and life... hiss...

A hint of concern arose in Yue Lin's originally cold and stern gaze.

Two hours later, the dismissal bell rang.

Su Yuan looked at his account balance, which had been deducted by a thousand yuan. He tore off the Spiritual Root patch as if it were a plague god and put it in a fresh-keeping box, sending it away with his unmanned flying sword.

However, feeling the significant improvement in his cultivation over the past two hours, Su Yuan felt the money was well spent.

The high school's basic Breathing Technique included a method for self-testing cultivation results. Su Yuan circulated this method briefly, and a set of data appeared in his mind.

[Spiritual Power: 57.5 (Fifth Layer of Qi Cultivation)]

This wasn't System data, but a rough estimate he had calculated. It couldn't compare to a professional cultivation detection artifact that could measure to three decimal places, but it was reasonably accurate.

Two hours ago, his cultivation data was only 57.0. An increase of 0.5 in cultivation progress was very significant.

"It's different with the Pure Devil Heart. In the past, using the same amount of time and an artificial Spiritual Root, the cultivation progress was at most 0.2 to 0.3. The System is still amazing."

Su Yuan sighed inwardly.

Just then, Su Yuan saw his homeroom teacher, Yue Lin, walking towards him.

His heart stirred, and he thought:

"I performed so well in this class. Teacher Yue must have seen it. He probably recognized my talent and is planning to give me special training."

Thinking of this, Su Yuan couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Then, he saw Yue Lin reach out and pat his shoulder, speaking with a hint of concern:

"Su Yuan, if you're having any difficulties, you can come to my office. Don't keep them bottled up inside. You have to look forward. Don't do anything rash."

Su Yuan: "???"