Meditation

The new students' first Public Meditation Class.

As the most basic yet most essential class in a Soul Master's career, it had drawn not only every new student, but also plenty of upperclassmen crowding the back rows and hallways, craning their necks to see what this year's three monsters with Innate Full Soul Power looked like.

At that moment, the main screen at the United Command Center on Earth was broadcasting Su Yun's first-person view in real time.

Captain Lei stood before the enormous main screen with his arms folded across his chest.

The tiered seats behind him were packed with the finest representatives from every field in Huaxia who might have touched upon the mysteries of the evolution of life...

The leader of Taoism in a purple robe, eminent monks in brocade kasayas, biological grandmasters clutching Nobel medals, Olympic champions who had repeatedly pushed the limits of the human body, renowned doctors of traditional Chinese medicine receiving special State Council allowances, physics experts studying quantum entanglement, and even a few old scholars devoted to researching ancient texts...

"Ahem. Quiet, please."

At the lectern, a middle-aged man in a neat robe, his hairline receding slightly, tapped the blackboard with a stern expression.

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

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm your meditation instructor, Li Gang. My Martial Soul is the Iron Ruler, and I'm a twenty-sixth-level Power Attack System Soul Grandmaster."

Teacher Li could never have dreamed that the basic lesson he was teaching in this small town had drawn the most extravagant audience in all of Huaxia.

Usually, weren't these people all academic powerhouses who stood on podiums, waxing eloquent while countless people below them took notes and revered them like gods?

To see so many top minds, who normally never crossed paths, sitting obediently and listening to a country schoolteacher was unprecedented in history.

Every word Teacher Li said would be repeatedly scrutinized and analyzed, one by one, by dozens of Huaxia's brightest minds.

In everyone's eyes burned a desire to explore the unknown. Their pens hovered above their notebooks, waiting to record the first line that might rewrite the history of human evolution.

Teacher Li tapped the blackboard, his expression solemn.

"Students, today we'll be learning the foundation of Soul Master cultivation: meditation."

"Heavenly Energy fills every corner of the world. Meditation is the gateway to your bodies. Like a funnel, it draws in these free-floating energy particles and transforms them into your own Soul Power."

As he spoke, Teacher Li sat cross-legged on a cushion at the lectern, closed his eyes, and opened his hands with his palms facing upward, settling into a standard meditation pose.

"First, empty your mind and forget all distractions. Then regulate your breathing: three long breaths and two short ones. Feel the faint points of light in the air..."

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

It was weak, but it undeniably proved that he was absorbing energy.

For the entire next hour, Teacher Li seemed to have opened the floodgates.

He went from thirty-six different breathing rhythms to seven major pitfalls in mental guidance, then moved on to basic techniques for filtering Soul Power.

The blackboard was filled, erased, then filled again. White chalk dust danced in the sunlight.

The new students below listened until their heads spun, their pens never stopping. They filled several pages with notes, only now realizing that this seemingly simple matter of sitting still and daydreaming involved so many twists and turns.

The sun had climbed from the windowsill to the middle of the desks before Teacher Li finally tossed aside the chalk nub with lingering reluctance and dusted off his hands.

"All right, that's the theory."

He braced both hands on the lectern, his gaze turning unusually profound as he surveyed the fledglings who had just stepped into the world of Soul Masters.

"I know many of you found those breathing exercises boring. Some of you are probably already imagining that tomorrow you'll be Titled Douluo, punching Spirit Hall and kicking the two great empires."

A few scattered chuckles came from the class.

"Go ahead and laugh while you still can."

Teacher Li's voice suddenly turned colder.

"But reality is far crueler than you imagine."

He pointed to the two-striped Soul Grandmaster badge on his chest, a complicated emotion in his voice.

"In the Soul Master pyramid, not everyone gets to stand at the top."

"For ninety percent of the ordinary Soul Masters on this continent, their talent is decided the moment they awaken. Without a top-tier Martial Soul or abundant family resources, they'll spend their entire lives between twentieth and thirtieth level. That's an insurmountable chasm."

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

"Even someone like me had to cultivate for thirty whole years before I barely broke through the level-twenty bottleneck and became a respected Soul Grandmaster. In a remote little town like Notting City, I already count as what people call an important figure."

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

"So don't underestimate this meditation technique. For a genius, it's the starting line. But for most of you sitting here, this... may be the only lifeline you'll ever grasp to change your fate."

At this, Teacher Li paused. His eyes suddenly lit up as his gaze passed through the crowd and landed precisely on the three figures by the window.

"Of course, there are always exceptions."

"I hear our academy has three geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power this year. Why don't you come up and demonstrate?"

Teacher Li looked expectant. "Tang San, you first."

Tang San froze for a moment, set down his notebook, and walked to the lectern under the gaze of the entire class.

He sat cross-legged and formed a hand seal.

However, when Tang San actually closed his eyes and tried to sense the energy, a trace of disappointment rose in his heart.

This is meditation? It's so crude...

Looking at the dozens of curious eyes below the lectern, Tang San briefly considered hiding his abilities, but immediately crushed the thought without hesitation.

A line of admonition from the general principles of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record echoed in his mind:

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

Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength.

A true powerhouse would never stoop to concealing their abilities over something as fundamental as cultivation.

"If I'm going to cultivate, then I'll give it everything!"

A brilliant light flashed in Tang San's eyes. The dormant inner force of the Mysterious Heaven Skill inside him surged awake like an enraged dragon, coursing wildly through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians!

At the same time, the stirring deep in his bloodline was released without restraint.

BOOM!

There was no sound, but Teacher Li clearly felt the air shudder violently.

The light particles that had been drifting lazily around Tang San suddenly seemed to be drawn in by some powerful magnetic field, instantly forming a pale blue vortex!

"Th-this is..."

Teacher Li stumbled backward, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

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

Teacher Li's voice went from trembling to shrill.

"Fifteen times!!!"

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

The class fell deathly silent, then erupted in a collective gasp that seemed to steal the air from the room.

Tang San slowly ended his cultivation, his expression calm, though his clenched fist showed that he was fairly satisfied with the result.

Fifteen times. The figure sounded horrifying, almost too absurd to believe.

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

It wasn't a miracle. It was simply the inevitable result of overwhelming them from an entirely higher level.

"Excellent! Very good!"

Teacher Li's face glowed, as if he could already see the academy's future. "Next, Xiao Wu!"

At the sound of her name, Xiao Wu glanced at Tang San's impassive expression, then sneaked a look at Su Yun, who was still leisurely wiping his Sunglasses. A fiery spark of defiance flared in her eyes.

Hmph, who knew that blockhead Tang San was so strong?

No way. If I lose to him, how will I face Boss Su? Won't that make me look useless?

Xiao Wu took a deep breath, banishing every trace of carelessness.

She walked to the lectern and, in a rare display, sat with impeccable solemnity.

She closed her eyes and focused.

While Tang San relied on the domineering power of his cultivation technique to seize energy, Xiao Wu relied on the ultimate affinity of a child of nature.

HUM—

The air shuddered again.

Countless points of light swept into Xiao Wu like young swallows returning to their nest.

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

"Twenty times!!!"

Teacher Li's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees at the lectern.

He clung to the desk, feeling as though his entire worldview had shattered into powder.

The class fell deathly silent, then erupted in a collective gasp that seemed to steal the air from the room.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

What did twenty times mean?

She could achieve in one day what it took someone else twenty days of cultivation to accomplish!

One at fifteen times, the other at twenty...

Where the hell had these two monsters come from?!

Xiao Wu opened her eyes and lifted her chin proudly, flashing a V sign toward Su Yun. Her eyes clearly said, "Hurry up and praise me!"

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

Looking at that terrifying figure, Tang San's previously calm face finally cracked.

I lost? I actually lost to her?

He clenched his fist unwillingly, his nails digging deep into his palm.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill was a top-tier cultivation technique. How could it lose to a little girl?

Tang San unconsciously looked toward the sun outside the window, and an image surfaced in his mind: Su Yun telling him to live toward the light.

My light must not be strong enough yet!

If I could learn more about the mysteries of light from Mr. Su, if I could let that sacred power of light fully merge with me...

Next time, I absolutely won't lose!

Amid the deathly silence of people questioning everything they knew, Teacher Li turned shakily and directed his last sliver of hope toward the boy who had been sitting in the back the whole time, wearing Sunglasses.

If the first two underlings were already such world-destroying monsters...

Then just how terrifying was Su Yun, the one they willingly called their boss?

He had to be...

A monster among monsters! The ceiling of talent!

"Su Yun, you're next."

Before the words had even left his mouth, every gaze in the room snapped toward Su Yun, pinning him like a spotlight.

Far away, in the United Command Center on Earth, the atmosphere had frozen solid.

Captain Lei clenched his fists without realizing it. Behind him, the Taoist priest, High Monk, and scientists all held their breath and leaned forward, staring intently at the Large Screen.

Su Yun pushed up his Sunglasses, stood up calmly, and swaggered to the lectern with a strut that said he didn't care who he offended.