Lin Hanzhou had no idea he was already being watched.
Even if he had known, he wouldn't have taken it seriously.
After all, he still had a very solid identity to protect him: a college entrance exam candidate.
With less than a month until the exams, the Great Xia authorities were paying close attention to all candidates.
If a candidate went missing, the Great Xia Patrol Bureau would step in immediately.
No one would alert the Patrol Bureau over an ordinary exam candidate.
His cultivation did qualify him as a prodigy, but not to the point that people would go crazy over him.
When he got home, Lin Hanzhou immediately locked the door and eagerly opened the two boxes.
He spread the cultivation manuals he'd bought across the table, page by page, and began committing them to memory.
He couldn't bring anything with him when he crossed into the Dream World, so he had no choice but to memorize everything.
Unfortunately, he'd bought only paper editions.
If he'd had jade slips—special jade stones that stored information—he could have copied all the contents into his mind in an instant.
He might even have gained some cultivation insights left behind by those who came before him.
But jade-slip editions cost more than ten times as much as paper ones. He couldn't afford them.
Fortunately, as a second-tier martial artist, his memory was already far beyond that of ordinary people.
He couldn't memorize something at a glance, but remembering a cultivation manual of tens of thousands of words wasn't difficult.
He cleared his mind and began reciting and understanding it, word by word.
From how to open the Qi Sea at the third-tier Qi Sea Realm, to how to transform spiritual energy into true essence at the fourth-tier True Origin Realm, and then to how to nurture the soul at the fifth-tier Spirit Nourishing Realm...
The other book, Three Reverse Pulse Styles, was a secret technique that burned one's own blood essence and threw the meridians into chaos in exchange for a boost in realm.
Its side effects were severe. Using it once would cost you half your life.
But as an unexpected trump card, it couldn't be better.
It took him the whole morning. By the time the sun stood directly overhead, Lin Hanzhou finally let out a long breath of stale air. He'd committed every word to memory.
It was noon.
Lin Hanzhou ordered takeout. As he ate, he habitually opened his phone and scrolled through short videos.
Martial arts explainers, beautiful women dancing, cultivation guides—one after another flew past.
Suddenly, his finger stopped. An official local news alert caught his attention.
The video showed a stretch of barren hills on the outskirts of the city.
Military hovercars had sealed off the area, and soldiers in standard-issue combat uniforms had stretched a long cordon around the scene.
At the center of the video was an area marked for special attention.
The space there was warped, like rippling water.
A stern woman's voice came over the video:
"Lin'an City breaking news: At approximately six o'clock this morning, a Spirit Void was discovered on Egret Mountain in the eastern suburbs."
"Preliminary tests by the Great Xia Pioneer Army indicate that this is a low-level Spirit Void, the lowest grade. Energy fluctuations within are weak, and no signs of high-level lifeforms have been detected so far."
"The area is now fully under military control. Pioneer units are gathering in preparation for an exploratory entry."
"Residents are advised not to panic and to maintain their normal routines. Do not approach the area..."
A Spirit Void?
Lin Hanzhou stared at the warped space in the video, surprise flashing in his eyes.
Ever since spiritual energy had returned more than a thousand years ago, spatial rifts had continually appeared around the world.
The Great Xia authorities called the places on the other side of those rifts Spirit Voids.
Each Spirit Void was a world unto itself, filled with resources and legacies of cultivation techniques.
That was why Blue Star's martial arts had advanced so rapidly over the past thousand years.
But the Spirit Voids held dangers as well.
Many were home to monstrous beasts and foreign races. Whenever a Spirit Void opened, they could come to Blue Star as well.
Those creatures were no gentle souls. To them, humanity was nothing but prey.
Not long ago, a Spirit Void had suddenly appeared near a border city. The foreign races that emerged from it had wiped the city out.
At present, Great Xia was locked in a standoff with three top-tier Spirit Voids.
Before today, he'd known no more about Spirit Voids than anyone else.
But now that he knew of the existence of the myriad worlds from the system, he understood these so-called "Spirit Voids" on a much deeper level.
A Spirit Void was simply a small world among the myriad worlds.
Lin Hanzhou guessed that this low-level Spirit Void in the news was like the Great Sui Dynasty: a low-level world.
He trusted the Great Xia Pioneer Army to handle a Spirit Void like this just fine. There was no need for him to worry about it.
He swiped past the video and continued eating his lunch in peace.
He spent the afternoon consolidating his newly attained second-tier cultivation.
Time passed slowly and peacefully.
When the hour, minute, and second hands of the electronic clock on the wall finally converged on the number twelve—
It was midnight.
A cold system notification rang in his mind right on time.
[ Ding, a new day has begun. The host has received one dream-entry opportunity. Use it now? ]
At the system's prompt, Lin Hanzhou sprang to attention in bed.
He'd been waiting for this moment for far too long.
"Use it."
He gave the command in his mind without hesitation.
[ Ding, this is the host's first use of the Dream Talent function. You have received one free draw! ] [ Would you like to draw a talent for the host? ]
"Draw."
[ Command received. Drawing a Dream Talent... ]
The scene before Lin Hanzhou's eyes was instantly replaced by a wheel made of starlight.
The wheel spun rapidly, green and blue light interweaving and flashing until it dazzled the eye.
"Stop!"
At the nudge of his thoughts, the wheel slowed, and finally its pointer stopped on a patch of blue light.
[ Congratulations, host! You drew the blue talent—Martial Arts Prodigy! ] [ Talent: Martial Arts Prodigy (Blue) ] [ Effect: The host will possess extraordinary comprehension of martial arts and cultivation speed. Any cultivation technique or martial skill will come easily, and the host will be able to draw inferences from one example to many, greatly increasing cultivation speed. ]
Martial Arts Prodigy!
Lin Hanzhou's heart gave a mighty thump.
This was practically a god-tier talent made just for him.
He'd been worried that his D-grade talent would hold him back. He never expected to draw a talent that directly boosted his cultivation efficiency right from the start.
With this talent, the next time he crossed into a dream, his rate of improvement would reach an inconceivable level.
As long as spiritual energy wasn't too scarce in that world, he'd have no problem cultivating to the third-tier Qi Sea Realm.
[ Talent draw complete. Selecting a world for the host to cross into... ] [ In view of the host's second-tier cultivation, middle-level worlds are now unlocked. ] [ Drawing a low-level/middle-level world... ] [ Congratulations, host! You drew the low-level world—Last Dynasty World. ] [ Connecting the host to the low-level world, Last Dynasty World... ] [ Connection successful. Enjoy your journey! ]
As one system notification followed another, Lin Hanzhou's consciousness sank once more into the familiar darkness.
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