Initial Breakthrough in Heart Separation Control Upon Leaving Nuoding

Ye Feng slowly pulled the graduation certificate from his bosom and unfolded it before his eyes.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am no longer a student at Nuoding Academy."

Yu Xiaogang's pupils constricted sharply.

"A graduation certificate... This is impossible! How could you possibly have graduated?!"

He snatched the paper away, scrutinizing the red seal and the dean's signature, the color draining from his face to be replaced by a livid pallor.

Every plan, every prepared argument, and every tactic had become a joke in this single moment.

Since the boy was no longer a student of Nuoding Academy, what authority did he have left to use his "Grandmaster" status to suppress him?

"You idiot, just you wait!"

Unable to catch his breath, Yu Xiaogang trembled with rage, eventually managing to squeeze out only this hollow, pathetic threat through gritted teeth.

Ye Feng didn't even have the interest to spare him another glance; he took back his certificate, brushed past the clown, and walked completely out of the gates of Nuoding Academy.

Behind him came Yu Xiaogang's furious roar, one that sounded as if he wanted to devour him alive.

To this, Ye Feng merely curled his lip.

He was nothing but a theoretical failure living in his own world; if not for having too many concerns, he had ten thousand ways to make this man shut up forever.

After leaving the academy, Ye Feng did not linger for a second.

Nuoding City was not large, but it wasn't small either. Finding a quiet place where no one would disturb him was not a difficult task.

He specifically chose to walk through the remote and dilapidated alleys.

The houses here were mostly old, with peeling plaster and moss everywhere, the air permeated with a damp, decaying scent.

There were few pedestrians on the road, and the few he occasionally encountered were all ragged paupers with numb expressions.

This was exactly what Ye Feng wanted.

In a place like this, no one would care about a newly arrived neighbor.

Deep in the furthest reaches of an alley, he spotted a small house with a courtyard.

The courtyard wall was half-collapsed, overgrown with weeds, and the wooden door was so rickety it seemed a gust of wind could blow it down.

A crooked wooden sign hung on the door, with the word "For Rent" scrawled on it in clumsy handwriting.

Ye Feng stepped forward and knocked on the door.

After a long while, a thin, withered old man wearing a grease-stained jacket poked his head out, eyeing him warily.

"What do you want?"

"To rent the house."

Ye Feng was concise.

The old man scanned him up and down, noting that although his clothes were plain, they were clean and neat, and he possessed an extraordinary air, unlike the local paupers.

"Five Gold Soul Coins, for a year."

The old man held up a withered, bony finger.

In this neighborhood, this price was clearly an exorbitant demand.

Ye Feng, however, couldn't even be bothered to haggle.

He reached into his bosom, pulled out five Gold Soul Coins, and tossed them over.

"The key."

The old man scrambled to catch the coins, biting them to confirm they were real, and his wariness instantly transformed into a fawning smile.

"Right away! Just a moment, sir!"

He turned and went into the house, quickly returning with a rusted set of keys, which he handed to Ye Feng.

"This courtyard is yours from now on, do whatever you like with it!"

Ye Feng took the keys and, without a word, turned and left.

He had no need to establish any unnecessary relationships with anyone.

A transaction, nothing more.

Next, he went to the city market to purchase daily necessities like pots, pans, bedding, and clothing.

Everything was kept simple; as long as it was functional, it would do.

By the time he returned to the dilapidated courtyard carrying his bags, it was already evening.

The afterglow of the setting sun painted the weeds in the yard a layer of gold.

Ye Feng set his things down and, instead of rushing to tidy the house, he first set to work clearing the weeds in the yard and found some wooden boards and stones to reinforce the half-collapsed wall.

Finally, he walked to the rickety wooden door, pulled it shut with force, and slid the bolt into place.

"Creak—"

A dull sound echoed, sealing off everything from the outside world.

From today on, this place would be his sacred ground for cultivation.

Night fell.

Ye Feng sat cross-legged in the center of the cleared courtyard.

He did not rush to cultivate his soul power, instead taking the thin booklet, Introduction to Heart Separation Control, from his bosom.

His experiences in the Star Dou Great Forest had made him deeply understand that relying solely on soul skills and his External Soul Bone was not enough.

When facing a true life-or-death struggle, the slightest oversight could be fatal.

And a Self-Created Soul Skill would be his greatest trump card for survival in the future.

"Light Particle Theory"

This was a concept he had proposed by combining his knowledge of physics from his past life, with its core being extreme compression and control.

And Introduction to Heart Separation Control was precisely the key to realizing this concept.

He closed his eyes and, following the methods in the booklet, began to attempt to guide his spiritual power.

The first step of so-called Heart Separation Control was to split one's complete spiritual power into several independent, non-interfering trickles.

It was like forcing one brain to think about several different problems simultaneously.

The initial attempts were painful and tedious.

Ye Feng felt as if his head were about to be torn apart.

He tried to split his spiritual power into two strands, but those two forces were like mischievous children; the moment they separated, they would entangle again, even colliding with each other and causing a sharp pain in his brain.

Sweat slid down his temples.

Failure.

Try again.

Enduring the discomfort, he attempted it time and time again.

From two strands to three.

Every time he added a new trickle of spiritual power, the difficulty increased geometrically.

The consumption of spiritual power was far faster than meditating to cultivate soul power.

After only one hour, he felt dizzy and mentally exhausted.

But he did not give up.

Genius is ninety-nine percent inspiration and one percent perspiration.

He might have that one percent of inspiration, but without one hundred percent perspiration, everything would be empty talk.

He spent the entire night repeating this process.

Failure, failure, and more failure.

Until the horizon turned a fish-belly white and the first ray of dawn pierced the darkness.

When that golden sunlight spilled onto his body, Ye Feng trembled.

The light-attribute soul power within his body resonated miraculously with the morning light.

In that instant, inspiration struck.

Why must he forcibly "tear" his spiritual power apart?

Light itself is composed of countless light particles.

His soul power and martial soul were, in essence, light.

What he needed to do was not to split, but to "guide."

He closed his eyes once more. This time, instead of forcibly dividing his spiritual power, he imagined it as a calm lake.

Then, using his spiritual power as a guide, he gently "pinched" a wisp of the purest light-attribute soul power from the soul power vortex within his body.

Wrapped in his spiritual power, this wisp of soul power transformed into an incredibly slender golden thread of light.

Success!

Ye Feng felt a surge of joy.

He immediately followed the pattern, beginning to guide the second, the third...

When the fifth thread of light was successfully condensed and suspended within his spiritual world, he once again felt that familiar tearing sensation.

His spiritual power load had reached its limit.