Getting on Track

Having broken through the Obstruction of Knowledge and Views in his heart, Ling Yi did not receive any kind of spiritual baptism, nor did his Mental Strength advance by leaps and bounds.

At most, his Mental Strength was a little more active than before, while his convictions had deepened somewhat. They contained not only persistence toward cultivation and life, but also the willingness to humbly absorb outside information, to think twice when encountering matters, rather than denying them without even thinking.

There was no helping it. His foundation was still too shallow. The three realms of "seeing oneself, seeing heaven and earth, seeing all living beings" also required sufficient experience and sufficiently powerful Mental Strength to sublimate through being "moved." It was just like an Ordinary Person in his previous life—even if a flash of inspiration let him suddenly understand a math problem, that feeling of being aided by the divine was exhilarating, but afterward, he was still whatever he had been before.

Although Ling Yi's Mental Strength was stronger than that of ordinary people, even stronger than some low-level Soul Masters, in the end it had not reached the critical point of being truly stirred. He could only keep this realization and experience in the depths of his heart, so that when he one day broke from his cocoon and became a butterfly, it would turn into nourishment.

Aside from that, through Zhang Lei's account of his own cultivation state, Ling Yi discovered another misconception of his own.

He had treated his own Mental Strength, which exceeded that of ordinary people, as the standard for other Spirit Disciples of the same age and level.

One had to know that, according to the analyses of certain big shots on Douluo forums in his previous life, in Soul Master cultivation, unless the martial soul specifically involved Mental Strength, Soul Masters on other paths would generally not first come into contact with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, as well as the spiritual impact of the remnant soul after a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast died, until they reached the Soul King level. Then, only at the Soul Saint level, when they could use their Martial Soul Avatar, would they be able to make preliminary use of their own Mental Strength. And only when they reached the Titled Douluo level could they truly control their Mental Strength and, together with the soul power raised all the way to Level 90, as well as the powerful physical body nourished by soul power, achieve a transformation of Essence, Spirit, and Vitality—the Three Flowers Gather on the Crown!

As for how valuable and reliable those analyses were, Ling Yi would only know after entering Martial Soul Academy, where he could read through the academy library and compare the fantasies and reality of two lifetimes.

And right now, for Ling Yi, at least he had broken through his own Obstruction of Knowledge and Views. His Mental Strength had become a little more agile, he had gained more understanding of the Meditation Method, and he had greater confidence in his subsequent cultivation, as well as in improving the Meditation Method!

The mighty pass is truly like iron, but now I stride forward from the start!

Reciting that line softly in his heart, Ling Yi gathered his thoughts, closed his eyes, breathed evenly, calmed his mind and quieted his energy, and in an instant sank into Deep Sleep.

At this moment, within Ling Yi's mind, a figure that seemed to have been carved from crystal appeared. The figure generally resembled Ling Yi, with more than ninety percent of it vivid and lifelike. Only in some minor details did it appear gray and hazy.

As Ling Yi breathed in the outside world, the crystal figure within his mind also breathed in and out with him, and those gray, hazy areas gradually began to turn transparent.

He believed it would not be long before this crystal figure became completely clear and translucent, like a bright mirror stand.

As he entered Deep Sleep, Ling Yi's brain, heartbeat, blood circulation, organs, and so on all began to adjust themselves spontaneously, turning into an indescribable state of harmony.

"Inhale—exhale—"

His Mouth and Nose breathed in and out, and as his chest rose and fell, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy of the outside world silently entered Ling Yi's body along with the airflow. It was not only through his Mouth and Nose. All across his body, tiny specks of spiritual energy slowly moistened and seeped into him as well, though the amount was extremely, extremely small.

This spiritual energy, invisible to the naked eye, was in fact multicolored when viewed microscopically. The moment it arrived in Ling Yi's sleeping body, it spontaneously began to travel along channels of varying sizes and lengths.

As it circulated, there were twelve relatively spacious channels. Among the five-colored specks of spiritual energy, the white specks remained in the Lungs, the red specks came to Zhao Wuji and stopped there, and the black, yellow, and blue-green specks traveled downward, reaching the kidneys, spleen, and liver respectively.

When the various colored specks of spiritual energy merged into their corresponding internal organs, a mysterious aura quietly appeared. It flowed along the twelve channels, as well as eight even broader channels and countless tiny branching paths, nourishing every corner of his entire body.

Inside the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian, which had become somewhat tense and rigid after the previous hour of cultivation, the nourishment of this mysterious aura gradually restored its original flexibility and vitality.

One hour later, a touch of rosy red appeared at the horizon outside the window, delicate and charming.

His long, black lashes moved slightly, and Ling Yi opened his eyes. His black-and-white eyes were bright and full of spirit, completely unlike the dazed state ordinary people had when they first woke up.

His eyelids lowered slightly. Calming his mind and quieting his energy, his Mental Strength reflected upon himself. After carefully sensing, Ling Yi discovered that not only had his previously depleted mind recovered completely, but the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian in his right arm had also regained its vitality, and was even a little tougher than before cultivation.

"Not bad~" The corners of Ling Yi's mouth lifted slightly, and he nodded in satisfaction.

Clearly, through the human body's self-restoration in a state of Deep Sleep, the effect had reached the expectation Ling Yi had held at the very beginning.

Ling Yi knew what this meant.

From now on, whenever he cultivated to a critical point, he could recover his spirit and meridians by entering Deep Sleep on his own, thereby greatly extending his daily cultivation time!

Although Ling Yi did not know what the soul power cultivation results per unit of time were like for those proud geniuses who began as Soul Masters with Innate Full Soul Power, if it was only in terms of daily soul power cultivation duration, then as long as Ling Yi wanted to, he should be able to surpass them.

After all, in a day of twenty-four hours, if he removed the necessary time for three meals, using the toilet, and so on, Ling Yi could cultivate for one hour, recover through one hour of Deep Sleep, and repeat the cycle, cultivating for more than ten hours a day!

As for those geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power, at Six Years Old, leaving aside whether their bodies and meridians could endure it, the depletion of their spirit and willpower alone, along with the drop in concentration, would be enough to reduce their soul power cultivation time to a certain extent.

As for whether the process of cultivation was as light and blissfully comfortable as some webnovels described, able to replace sleep, or dry and tedious, requiring one to constantly tread on thin ice and expend mental effort, Ling Yi had obtained the answer through personal experience—it was the second.

Perhaps it was due to the differences between world systems. Maybe in some worlds, the cultivation systems there made the cultivation process comfortable and addictive, but unfortunately, in the Douluo Continent Ling Yi was currently in, this Martial Soul System was not like that.

For example, in the original work, Oscar, who had Innate Full Soul Power, lacked enthusiasm for cultivation and often slacked off; Ning Rongrong, the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, was pampered by everyone and had Innate Soul Power of Nine Levels, and whether in background or herself, she was extremely outstanding, yet she still needed others to urge her to cultivate; Xiao Wu, who had shapeshifted from a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit, was clearly a Shapeshifting Soul Beast and even carried the blood feud of her mother's murder, yet in cultivation, she still worked three days and lazed off two...

As for bottom-level grassroots people like Ling Yi and Zhang Lei, even if they wanted to strive hard in cultivation and catch up, constrained by their own aptitude and poor family backgrounds, they sometimes had no choice but to balance work and rest, letting their bodies and their wallets catch a breath~

Of course, that referred to bottom-level grassroots people under Douluo Continent's current Inherent Cognition.

Ling Yi had cheats.

And Ling Yi, who had hand-crafted his own cheat, could not only turn on a cultivation accelerator for himself, but also bring along Zhang Lei, this attached accessory, and stride forward together on the path of martial souls!