During the three-day break, Su Yuan had earned nearly four thousand yuan in total.
For an ordinary person, that was enough to live comfortably for a month. But if he spent it on cultivation, it was nowhere near enough.
Never mind all the pills used for cultivation. Just renting this artificial spiritual root could burn through all the money he'd worked so hard to earn in a matter of hours.
Looking at the large sum deducted from his account, Su Yuan winced.
Still, the artificial spiritual root was worth every penny.
He opened the box containing the artificial spiritual root. The moment he opened the precision cooler, waves of chill air poured out.
A silvery-white patch, shaped like a navel sticker, appeared before him.
After years of development, artificial spiritual root technology had advanced to the point where there was no need to implant the root into the body. You just slapped it onto yourself.
He took out the patch, lifted his shirt, and stuck it onto his stomach.
A refreshing coolness immediately flowed from the patch. It reached into Su Yuan's body like the roots of a plant and connected to his dantian.
As the artificial spiritual root took effect, the spiritual energy around him began to gather of its own accord. Now, all he had to do was casually circulate the Breathing Technique to cultivate at more than ten times his normal speed.
"If only the system could give me a spiritual root someday."
Feeling the changes the spiritual root brought, Su Yuan secretly looked forward to it.
Even in the age of Universal Cultivation, those born with spiritual roots were just as rare as they had been in ancient times—one in ten thousand. Cultivation technology still hadn't advanced to the point where it could alter the genes of newborns.
More than ninety percent of geniuses born with spiritual roots could get into key universities, and some even had a shot at one of the Ten Great Immortal Estates.
If he could get a spiritual root of his own, he'd be willing to drive a luxury car and live in a huge mansion!
Su Yuan repeated the wish to himself several times. Hopefully, the system would hear him.
He pushed aside his distracting thoughts and focused completely on circulating the high school basic Breathing Technique. Centered around his dantian, a small vortex of spiritual energy appeared around him.
He entered a meditative state in an instant.
That was the benefit of the Pure Devil Heart. Under normal circumstances, Su Yuan would have to fidget for at least three minutes before he could get into a state of cultivation, and he'd still get distracted from time to time.
Not one student in the entire class could enter a meditative state in an instant.
Even Chen Nuoyi, the top student in the class, needed about thirty seconds to get into the zone.
So Su Yuan's performance stood out in the class.
Feeling the spiritual energy in the classroom rapidly gather toward one spot, Yue Lin turned to look. When he saw Su Yuan greedily absorbing the energy, he couldn't help but freeze.
How could that kid get started so fast? Was he cheating?
Or was Su Yuan's instant meditation just a fluke that wouldn't last?
Yue Lin couldn't help paying a little more attention to Su Yuan.
Time passed slowly, and practically all forty-eight students in the class had entered a state of cultivation.
But breath cultivation required absolute concentration. Even a momentary distraction, or a slight disruption to one's breathing rhythm, could make the speed of spiritual energy absorption plummet.
Yue Lin stood with his arms crossed on the podium, swept his gaze across the class, and said coldly:
"When you hear the next sentence, you'll find that swallowing will switch from automatic to manual."
At his words, several students instinctively swallowed, throwing off their breathing rhythms.
One student, forced out of his cultivation state by the interruption, opened his eyes, a flash of terror in them!
It was coming! The Five Great Mystical Obstacles of Breath Cultivation!
Yue Lin continued:
"From now on, blinking will switch from automatic to manual!"
"From now on, some part of your body is bound to start itching!"
"Feeling sleepy? Think about all the times you've seen someone yawn!"
"From now on, breathing will switch to manual!"
With each sentence Yue Lin spoke, some of the students lost their composure, and their cultivation rhythms fell apart in an instant.
These were the five great obstacles every cultivator had to face while breathing in spiritual energy!
Blinking, breathing, swallowing, yawning, and that itch somewhere on the body caused by the power of suggestion: when reminded of them from the outside, every one of these bodily instincts became something they had to control manually.
For students who needed to breathe in spiritual energy with their minds completely free of distractions, it was like being struck by a bolt of thunder!
After Yue Lin had pointed out all five obstacles, more than two-thirds of the class lost their rhythm and began struggling to regain control of their bodies. But the more anxious they got, the less their bodily instincts cooperated.
Yue Lin said coldly:
"Your minds are full of distractions, and your Dao Hearts are unsteady. A few words are enough to keep you distracted. In an hour of breath cultivation, you're out of it for at least half the time! Get back to practicing!"
After scolding the students for their lack of focus, Yue Lin looked over at Su Yuan, surprise flashing in his eyes.
That kid wasn't affected by the Five Great Mystical Obstacles of Breath Cultivation at all. He'd been cultivating at maximum efficiency the whole time. Even Chen Nuoyi fell slightly short of that level of concentration.
Had something clicked for him?
With that kind of focus, his Dao Heart score couldn't be bad.
But Yue Lin knew his class representative very well. His Dao Heart score had only ever been above average. And now, after just three days, he'd become a whole different person?
Something was a little strange.
Unlike cultivation level, which could be boosted with external aids, the Dao Heart could only improve gradually.
There were only two possibilities for such a sudden leap in someone's Dao Heart score. Either he'd experienced a major turning point in life and found a goal worth striving toward for the rest of it, or... he'd developed a mental illness.
Well, many mentally ill people thought differently from ordinary people and could maintain far greater concentration than others on certain things.
Su Yuan's situation... showed some suspicious signs!
Yue Lin's mind turned to Su Yuan's family background. He was an orphan with no parents. An incomplete household, on top of the pressure of the college entrance exams and the pressure of making a living... Damn—
The cold sternness in Yue Lin's gaze gave way to a touch of concern.
Two hours later, the bell rang.
Su Yuan looked at the thousand yuan missing from his account balance, then peeled off the spiritual root patch as if it were a plague and put it back in the cooler. He had the unmanned flying sword take it away.
But when he felt how much his cultivation had improved over those two hours, he decided the money had been well spent.
The high school basic Breathing Technique included a method for checking one's own cultivation progress. Su Yuan ran through it, and a set of figures appeared in his mind.
[Spiritual Energy: 57.5 (Fifth Layer of Qi Cultivation)]
This wasn't system data, just a rough estimate. It couldn't compare to a professional cultivation-measuring artifact that could give a precise reading down to three decimal places, but it was still fairly accurate.
Two hours earlier, his cultivation score had been only 57.0. He'd gained 0.5 in cultivation progress in one go—a very impressive amount.
"Having a Pure Devil Heart really makes a difference. With the same amount of time and an artificial spiritual root, I used to get at most 0.2 to 0.3 progress. The system really is amazing."
Su Yuan sighed to himself.
Just then, he saw his homeroom teacher, Yue Lin, walking toward him.
He couldn't help thinking, I did so well in class today. Teacher Yue must have noticed. Maybe he's already seen my potential and is planning to give me extra lessons.
At the thought, Su Yuan couldn't help getting excited.
Then Yue Lin patted him on the shoulder and said with a touch of concern, "Su Yuan, if you're having any difficulties, you can come see me in the office. Don't keep them bottled up. You still have to look ahead—don't do anything rash."
Su Yuan: "???"
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