First Cultivation!

"Hello, ma'am."

Lin Yuan offered a tentative greeting.

He had to admit.

Having a beautiful woman stare at him like that.

Made the hair on the back of Lin Yuan's neck stand up.

Su Qingxue did not reply.

She circled Lin Yuan once.

Her steps were light, utterly soundless.

"Your name is Lin Yuan."

Su Qingxue finally spoke.

Her voice was crisp, like shattering ice.

"Yes."

"Do you know why you were called here?"

Lin Yuan shook his head.

"No."

"The officer said the country needs me."

Su Qingxue smiled.

In her previous life, it had been because of those same words—"the country needs me"—that he had stepped onto the front lines without hesitation.

"Do you want to become stronger?"

"Do you want power beyond ordinary people, even beyond the limits of the human body?"

"Do you want... to protect your family in this world that is about to undergo drastic change?"

Su Qingxue asked bluntly.

Lin Yuan frowned slightly.

A world about to undergo drastic change?

There was far too much information in those words.

But he did not ask further.

After delivering takeout for three months, the most important thing he had learned was not to ask questions he should not ask.

"I do."

Lin Yuan answered without hesitation.

"Good."

Su Qingxue walked to the center of the training ground and sat cross-legged.

"Sit like I am."

"Close your eyes."

"Feel your breathing. Do not control it; experience it."

"Imagine that your body is an empty shell."

"Between Heaven and Earth, there is an invisible energy. I call it spiritual energy."

"What you need to do is open the pores of your body and let the spiritual energy flow in."

Lin Yuan did as she said.

But inwardly, he was speechless.

What was this supposed to be?

Immortal cultivation?

Qigong?

The military had gone to such lengths to bring him here just to practice qigong?

But he said nothing.

He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.

At the same time.

In the underground base's surveillance center.

A massive screen spanning an entire wall displayed a live feed of the training ground.

Nie Dingguo had both hands pressed against the control console.

The supreme commander of the Northwest Military Region barely dared to breathe at that moment.

Behind him stood more than a dozen senior military officials, their stars gleaming.

"Old Commander."

"Is this kid... really that extraordinary?"

"Earlier, we selected the hundred finest soldier kings from the entire military."

"They were true battle-hardened elites!"

"They trained under Su Qingxue for a full seven days."

"Only one of them barely managed to sense this so-called spiritual energy."

"This kid is a takeout deliveryman. His foundation is far worse than those soldier kings'."

A lieutenant general could not help speaking up.

"Yes."

"Although Su Qingxue said he is a peerless genius of the future."

"That is still only her word."

"What if..."

Another major general chimed in.

Bang!

Nie Dingguo slammed his palm onto the alloy control console.

"Shut up!"

"All five of Su Qingxue's predictions have come true."

"Spiritual energy truly exists."

"This so-called spiritual energy revival is probably not false either."

"Whether this kid is a genius or not, we have to try!"

"Keep a close watch on every piece of data!"

"Report any fluctuation immediately!"

The generals fell silent as cicadas in winter.

The head of the research team was drenched in sweat, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

"Reporting, Commander!"

"The target's heart rate is stable, sixty beats per minute."

"Body temperature is normal."

"Brain waves are normal."

"No abnormal data fluctuations have been detected so far."

Time passed second by second.

Inside the training ground.

Lin Yuan gradually entered a strange state.

The surroundings were utterly quiet.

At first, he could only hear his own heartbeat.

Thump, thump, thump.

Slowly, even the sound of his heartbeat vanished.

It was as if he were suspended in a void.

Within the darkness, a faint glimmer suddenly appeared.

It was not light that he saw.

It was an instinctive sensation.

The specks of light were incredibly tiny, like dust floating in the air.

They drifted.

They pulsed.

Lin Yuan tried to touch them with his mind.

Boom!

It was as though some barrier had shattered.

The light specks seemed to have found an outlet, surging madly toward Lin Yuan's body.

Through his pores.

Through his breath.

Through the patterns of his skin.

They streamed endlessly into Lin Yuan's body.

The feeling was beyond words.

Like parched, cracked earth suddenly being struck by a torrential rain.

Every cell in Lin Yuan's body greedily devoured that energy.

His muscle fibers tore apart, then reassembled at an unimaginable speed.

Waves of tingling spread from deep within his bones.

It hurt.

But it felt incredible!

Lin Yuan clenched his teeth, refusing to make a sound.

He could clearly feel his body undergoing earth-shaking changes.

Strength was growing within him.

A violent strength that seemed capable of punching straight through a steel plate.

Inside the surveillance room.

A piercing alarm suddenly sounded!

Red lights flashed frantically.

"Reporting, Commander!"

The research director's voice cracked from overwhelming excitement, and he was practically screaming.

"The target's vital signs are showing violent fluctuations!"

"His heart rate has soared to one hundred and eighty beats per minute!"

"His surface temperature has reached forty-two degrees Celsius!"

"His muscle density is increasing at a rate visible to the naked eye!"

"Cell activity... my God!"

"His cell activity is three hundred times beyond the limits of a normal human!"

"These are not numbers a human should have!"

The entire room fell deathly silent.

More than a dozen generals stared wide-eyed.

They watched the wildly soaring data curves on the screen.

Nie Dingguo gripped the edge of the console tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Half an hour.

Only half an hour!

What ninety-nine top soldier kings had failed to achieve in seven days.

This ordinary young takeout deliveryman had achieved in half an hour!

And besides.

These phenomena, these readings.

Compared with the soldier king who had barely sensed qi.

This was a complete crush!

A dimensional strike!

"A genius..."

"No."

"A monster!"

"This is a true monster!"

"No wonder Su Qingxue said he could end the world-ending catastrophe."

"This combat talent, this gift..."

Nie Dingguo muttered.

Then.

He abruptly turned, fixing his gaze on the research director.

"Record all the data!"

"Establish a top-secret file!"

"Codename—Hidden Dragon!"

"Without my authorization, no one is allowed to access it!"

Training grounds.

Su Qingxue was equally stunned.

She could sense that the spiritual energy around Lin Yuan was forming a small vortex.

One had to know.

There were still six months before spiritual energy fully revived.

The spiritual energy in the air was pitifully thin.

Yet in such an environment, Lin Yuan had forcibly drawn spiritual energy into his body.

Such talent was simply unheard of.

No wonder.

In his previous life, he had managed to cultivate directly to the peak of the second rank in such a harsh environment, relying only on commonplace basic cultivation techniques!

And in this life.

Give him the best cultivation technique.

Give him the best resources.

How far could he go?

Su Qingxue did not dare imagine it.

But her heart was pounding more fiercely than ever before.

Humanity truly had hope.

Time continued to pass.

Two hours later.

The spiritual energy vortex around Lin Yuan gradually dissipated.

The trembling of his body also stopped.

A layer of blackish-gray impurities was expelled from Lin Yuan's pores, giving off a pungent, fishy stench.

That was proof of cleansing the marrow and purging the body.

Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

A sharp gleam flashed through them, almost tangible.

His entire bearing was completely different from what it had been two hours ago.

Before, he had merely been an ordinary person with decent physical fitness.

But now.

He was like a crouching cheetah, radiating danger from head to toe.

Even though he had no actual combat experience.

That oppressive feeling stemming from the essence of life itself could not be faked.

Lin Yuan lowered his head and looked at his hands.

This was spiritual energy?

"Go take a shower."

"Change into some clothes, then come out for testing."

Just then.

Su Qingxue pointed toward the changing room beside them.

Hearing this.

Lin Yuan nodded.

He immediately got to his feet and headed for the changing room.