Meditation

The first public meditation class for the new students.

As the most fundamental and core course in a Soul Grand Master's career, not only had all the new students shown up, but even quite a few upperclassmen were crammed into the back rows and hallways, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of what those three Innate Full Soul Power freaks looked like this year.

At this moment, on the main screen of the Earth Joint Command Center, Su Yun's first-person perspective was being broadcast live.

Captain Lei stood with his arms crossed, towering before the massive main screen.

Behind him, on the tiered seating, were gathered the pinnacle representatives of all walks of life across the entire Huaxia—everyone who might touch the mysteries of life's evolution...

A Taoist leader in a purple robe, a high monk draped in a kasaya of brocade and gold, a biology titan clutching a Nobel Prize medal, an Olympic champion who had broken human limits multiple times, a national medical sage enjoying State Council special allowances, a physics heavyweight researching quantum entanglement, and even a few old scholars specializing in ancient texts...

"Ahem, silence."

On the podium, a middle-aged man in a neat robe with a slightly receding hairline tapped the blackboard with a stern expression.

He deliberately puffed out his chest, showing off the badge engraved with two stripes pinned there.

"Let me introduce myself. I am your meditation instructor, Li Gang. My martial soul is the Iron Ruler, a twenty-sixth-level Assault System Soul Grand Master."

Teacher Li on the podium probably never dreamed that this basic class he was teaching in a small town was currently being watched by the most luxurious audience in all of Huaxia.

On any normal day, which one of these people wasn't a towering academic authority standing at a lectern, holding forth eloquently while countless people below scribbled notes as if worshipping a deity?

For so many top-tier minds, who normally never crossed paths, to gather together like this and obediently sit listening to a rural teacher lecture—this was absolutely unprecedented in history.

Every word Teacher Li said would be scrutinized and analyzed word by word by these dozens of Huaxia's sharpest brains.

In everyone's eyes burned a thirst to explore the unknown world. Pens were already poised over notebooks, ready to record the first line that might rewrite the history of human evolution.

Teacher Li tapped the blackboard, his expression grave.

"Classmates, today we will learn the foundation of Soul Grand Master cultivation: the meditation technique."

"Heavenly Energy fills every corner of heaven and earth. Meditation is the act of opening the gateway of your bodies, like a funnel, channeling these free-floating energy particles into your bodies and converting them into your own soul power."

As he spoke, Teacher Li sat cross-legged on the cushion on the podium, closed his eyes, and placed his hands palms-up on his knees, assuming a standard meditation posture.

"First, empty your mind, forget all distractions. Then regulate your breathing—three long, two short—and feel the faint specks of light in the air..."

As Teacher Li demonstrated, a very faint white glow gradually appeared around him.

Though weak, it was solid proof that he was absorbing energy.

For the entire next hour, Teacher Li seemed to open a floodgate of words.

He went from thirty-six different breathing frequencies to seven major pitfalls in mental guidance, then to the basic techniques of soul power filtration.

The blackboard was filled and erased, erased and filled again, white chalk dust dancing in the sunlight.

The new students below were dizzy from it all, their pens never stopping, filling several pages of notes. They only felt that this seemingly simple act of sitting and spacing out actually contained so many twists and turns and intricacies.

It wasn't until the sun had climbed from the windowsill to the center of the desks that Teacher Li reluctantly tossed aside the chalk stub in his hand and dusted off his palms.

"Alright, the theory is done."

He braced his hands on the lectern, his gaze turning unusually deep as he swept his eyes over the fledglings who had just stepped into the world of Soul Grand Masters.

"I know many of you think all this breathing and exhaling just now was boring, and you're already fantasizing about becoming a Title Douluo tomorrow, punching out Martial Soul Hall and kicking the two empires."

Scattered laughter rippled through the audience.

"Laugh while you can."

Teacher Li's voice suddenly turned a few degrees colder.

"But reality is far crueler than you imagine."

He pointed to the two-stripe Soul Grand Master badge on his chest, a complex emotion in his tone.

"In the pyramid of Soul Grand Masters, not everyone gets to stand at the top."

"For ninety percent of ordinary Soul Grand Masters on this continent, talent is already set in stone the moment they awaken. Without a top-tier martial soul, without vast family resources, their entire lives—level twenty to level thirty—is an insurmountable chasm."

The classroom fell silent instantly, the children's smiles frozen on their faces.

"Even someone like me, who cultivated for a full thirty years before barely breaking through the level twenty bottleneck to become a respected Soul Grand Master. In a remote town like Notting City, I'm already considered a so-called big shot."

Teacher Li sighed, a glint of reality flickering in his eyes.

"So don't underestimate this meditation technique. For geniuses, it's the starting line. But for the vast majority of you sitting here... this might be the only straw you'll ever grasp to change your fate."

With that, Teacher Li paused, his gaze suddenly turning fervent as it cut through the crowd and landed precisely on the three figures by the window.

"Of course, there are always exceptions."

"I heard our academy has three Innate Full Soul Power geniuses this year. How about you come up and demonstrate."

Teacher Li's face was full of anticipation. "Tang San, you go first."

Tang San was taken aback. He put down his notebook and walked up to the podium under the gaze of the entire class.

He sat cross-legged and formed a hand seal.

But when Tang San actually closed his eyes and tried to sense, a trace of disappointment couldn't help but rise in his heart.

"So this is the meditation technique? Too crude..."

Looking at the dozens of curious eyes below the podium, a thought of playing it safe flashed through Tang San's mind, but the next second, he crushed it without hesitation.

His mind echoed with the precept from the general outline of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record:

Never try to play the pig to eat the tiger, or you might easily become a real pig.

Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit.

True experts never bother to hide or cheat on fundamental issues like cultivation.

"Since I'm going to train, I'll go all out!"

Tang San's eyes blazed with sharp light. The dormant Mysterious Heaven Skill inner force within him, like an awakened furious dragon, surged wildly through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians!

At the same time, the tremor from deep in his bloodline released itself without reservation.

Boom!

Though there was no sound, Teacher Li clearly felt the air shudder violently.

All around Tang San, the previously lazy, scattered light particles now seemed drawn by some powerful magnetic field, instantly coalescing into a pale blue vortex!

"Th-this is..."

Teacher Li stumbled back a step, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Five times... ten times..."

Teacher Li's voice shifted from trembling to a shriek.

"Fifteen times!!!"

"His absorption speed is a full fifteen times that of an ordinary person!!"

Dead silence fell below the stage, followed by a suffocating wave of gasps.

Tang San slowly withdrew his technique, his expression calm, but his clenched fist showed he was fairly satisfied with this result.

Fifteen times—the number sounded shocking, like something out of a fairy tale.

But only Tang San himself knew that this exaggerated multiplier was based on comparison with ordinary people.

It wasn't a miracle; it was the inevitable outcome of a dimensional strike.

"Good! Very good!"

Teacher Li's face glowed red, as if he saw the future hope of the academy. "Next, Xiao Wu!"

Hearing her name called, Xiao Wu glanced at the composed Tang San, then secretly peeked at Su Yun, who was still leisurely wiping his Sunglasses. A flame of unwillingness to lose burned in her eyes.

"Hmph, that blockhead Tang San is actually this strong?"

"No way—if I lose to him, how will I ever hold my head up in front of Boss Su? Won't I just look useless?"

Xiao Wu took a deep breath, shedding all her carelessness.

She walked up to the platform and, in an extremely rare move, sat down in a proper, solemn posture.

Eyes closed, mind focused.

If Tang San relied on his domineering technique to plunder, then Xiao Wu relied on her extreme affinity as a child of nature.

Hum—

The air trembled again.

Countless light particles, like fledgling birds returning to their nest, surged into Xiao Wu's body.

"Ten times... fifteen times..."

"Twenty times!!!"

Teacher Li's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed onto the podium.

He gripped the desk, feeling as if his worldview had shattered into dust.

Dead silence below the stage, followed by another suffocating wave of gasps.

Everyone was stunned.

Twenty times—what did that even mean?

What took others twenty days of cultivation to achieve, she could do in just one!

One at fifteen times, one at twenty times...

Where the hell did these two freaks come from?!

Xiao Wu opened her eyes, raised her chin smugly, and flashed a peace sign toward Su Yun, her expression screaming praise me.

As for Tang San beside her, she elegantly ignored him.

And Tang San, staring at that terrifying number, finally saw a crack appear in his usually calm face.

I lost? I actually lost to her?

He clenched his fists unwillingly, his nails digging deep into his palms.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill was a supreme technique—how could it possibly lose to a little girl?

Tang San's gaze unconsciously drifted toward the sun outside the window, and the image of Su Yun telling him to live toward the light surfaced in his mind.

My light must not be enough yet!

If I could grasp more of the profound truths about light from Mr. Su, if I could let that sacred power of radiance fully merge into myself...

Next time, I will not lose!

In a deathly silence of self-doubt, Teacher Li tremblingly turned his head, casting his last shred of hope toward the boy who had been sitting in the back all along, wearing sunglasses.

Since the first two underlings were both world-shattering monsters like that.

Then this Su Yun, whom they willingly called boss...

Just how terrifying must he be?

He must be...

The monster among monsters! The ceiling of talent!

"Su Yun, your turn."

Before the words faded, the gazes of the entire venue instantly converged, shining like searchlights onto Su Yun.

And in the distant Earth United Command Center, the atmosphere froze to an extreme.

Captain Lei subconsciously clenched his fist. Behind him, the Taoist master, the eminent monk, and the scientists all held their breath, leaning forward, staring fixedly at the big screen.

Su Yun adjusted his sunglasses, stood up calmly, and walked onto the stage with a swaggering, unbridled stride.