Meditation

Huo Ling read through the meditation method word by word, then memorized it, rather than merely reviewing the original text.

He also worked hard to study and understand the meditation techniques and notes Alik had left afterward. With these, it would be much easier to master it.

After studying earnestly for half a day, Huo Ling began his first attempt at meditative cultivation.

Recalling the cultivation steps of the meditation method, Huo Ling found the most comfortable posture and sat down, beginning his meditation.

As time passed, more than half an hour went by before Huo Ling opened his eyes, surprise in his gaze.

Could it be that he was actually a genius?

He had grasped the Dark Breath Meditation Method on his very first meditation session. Feeling the mana absorbed into his body through that meditation—

A smile appeared on Huo Ling's face.

After thinking it over, he summoned his status panel to see whether there had been any changes after this meditation.

Name: Huo Ling

Bloodline: Human

Rank: Tier 0 Apprentice

Strength: 1.3

Constitution: 1.1

Agility: 1.1

Mental Power: 2.1

Mana: 1.7

Skill: Breath of Darkness Beginner

Potential Points: 0

Several changes had appeared on the panel. His rank was now displayed: Tier 0 Apprentice. It seemed that only after gaining an initial grasp of meditation could one truly step into the extraordinary.

There was an additional attribute: mana. However, its value was not particularly high.

Based on Huo Ling's own sense of his body, this mana value should still be able to increase. After all, he had only meditated once.

As for skills, he had gained Beginner Breath of Darkness. That was likely because he had just learned this meditation method.

At that thought, Huo Ling's emotions surged. With the help of the status panel, he could observe his cultivation progress in time and receive positive feedback.

That made his feelings toward meditative cultivation entirely different. Many people could not persevere in cultivation because they saw no changes after practicing.

After finishing his meditation, Huo Ling stood and stretched, then leaned toward the window to look outside.

The sky had already begun to darken. In less than an hour and a half, night would likely fall completely.

Seeing no signs of danger, Huo Ling sat back down and continued meditating.

Right now, he was like a child who had just received a fun new toy, caught up in excitement and wishing he could meditate every moment of every day.

Huo Ling finished another round of meditation and felt the abundant mana within his body, leaving him deeply satisfied.

He summoned the panel for a look. None of his other attributes had changed; only his mana had risen to 2.1. It seemed mana was also linked to mental power.

What a pity. He had a body full of mana, yet he had not learned a single spell. His mana had nowhere to be used.

Huo Ling smacked his lips, then suddenly heard sounds from downstairs growing louder and louder.

It made him panic, and his face went pale with fright.

He cautiously stood, picked up the fire axe, and slowly edged toward the window.

Through the drafty window, he saw what was making the noise below.

It was a huge horde of walking corpses, staggering forward along the road.

Huo Ling's heart pounded like a drum. His palms were sweating as he tightened his grip on the fire axe, as though that gave him a little support.

Walking corpses were a kind of mindless creature not often encountered in the Spirit Realm.

The reason walking corpses came into being was simple. After a world fell into the Spirit Realm, if the races within it could not withstand the corruption of the Spirit Realm's aura, they would become walking corpses that had lost their sanity.

Such walking corpses existed in some places within the Spirit Realm.

Though they lacked intelligence, they could naturally absorb mana. This mana sustained their bodily consumption, and as long as they were not killed, they could even live for centuries.

Moreover, the walking corpses produced after each world fell into the Spirit Realm differed. Some could keep growing until they became as tall as giants.

Some walking corpses were bloodthirsty and would seek out living creatures to drink their blood at any cost.

Walking corpses could also reproduce. Though they had no intelligence, their instinct to reproduce remained, and generation after generation of walking corpses was born this way.

Perhaps someday in the future, the descendants of walking corpses might even develop intelligence and become intelligent creatures of the Spirit Realm.

Huo Ling had only skimmed this information while reading an encyclopedia of the Spirit Realm. He now deeply regretted not studying the information on walking corpses more carefully.

Of course, even thoroughly studying those records would not have helped much. The walking corpses ultimately produced in every world had different habits.

Some possessed vision, some had enhanced hearing, and some had powerful senses of smell. None of that was certain, and it could not be judged by appearance alone.

Only now did Huo Ling finally understand what had happened to the skeleton in the neighboring room. That skeleton had likely been discovered by walking corpses.

Although walking corpses could survive on mana, they were also bloodthirsty. If another creature entered their territory and was discovered, it could easily become their food.

That skeleton had probably once been an unlucky person. No wonder there were bite marks on the bones.

Everything made sense now.

There were likely over a thousand walking corpses downstairs. They staggered down the road, and no one knew where they were headed.

Although walking corpses had no intelligence, their hearing and sense of smell were enhanced, allowing them to hear sounds from far away.

But they were basically blind. Walking corpses feared light. Though sunlight could not harm them, it made them uncomfortable, so they generally rested in dark places during the day.

At night, these walking corpses would emerge in groups and head toward different destinations, drawn by the various sounds in the darkness.

Huo Ling was on the fourth floor. As long as he did not make any noise, he was relatively safe.

The horde below stretched for more than a thousand meters, with over a thousand walking corpses shuffling along unsteadily.

Huo Ling did not dare rest now. He feared that he might make a sound after falling asleep, or that one of the walking corpses might come upstairs later.

Fortunately, he had been meditating without making a sound. As soon as he finished, he heard the walking corpses and cautiously came to investigate.

Otherwise, if he had made a sound then, the horde would not have been moving so slowly as it was now.

According to the books, walking corpses moved extremely quickly when hunting, no slower than a normal adult running.

There were also quite a few powerful walking corpses among their kind.

Though they lacked intelligence, years of absorbing mana would increase their strength. Generally speaking, the longer a walking corpse had existed—

The stronger it would be. Although ordinary walking corpses only lived for around a century, some lucky ones accumulated enormous amounts of mana within their bodies.

They would gain a rank advancement, and their physical strength would become even greater.

According to the records, a mage who had ventured deep into the Spirit Realm once encountered a massive horde of walking corpses. Among them were no shortage of Black Iron and Silver-ranked walking corpses.

He had even discovered several Gold-ranked walking corpses. Fortunately, even after becoming powerful, those walking corpses had not gained intelligence.

They possessed only beast-like instincts. Otherwise, whether that mage could have escaped would have been another matter.

After waiting for quite some time, the horde of over a thousand walking corpses finally moved away, allowing Huo Ling's suspended heart to settle slightly.

While the horde had been there, his nerves had been taut the entire time. Such tension was exhausting.

Once he relaxed, he slowly slumped onto his backpack, not daring to make a sound.

At this point, he did not dare meditate either. While meditating, he was completely defenseless and unaware of what was happening outside.