Chapter 12: Astonishing Speed of Cultivation

After Lin Zhenfeng finished his introduction, he turned and left the martial arts hall.

Shi Yu stood in the practice room, surveying the spacious area of over three hundred square meters, and could not help but feel deeply moved. This was several times larger than his home; Aunt Lan’s apartment was only eighty square meters, barely a quarter of the size of this room. After he graduated from university and had some money, he would definitely help Aunt Lan move into a large, spacious flat, and he would also strive to own a martial arts practice room that truly belonged to him.

Without further hesitation, Shi Yu immediately opened the instructional video accompanying his cultivation technique and began to study with a thirst for knowledge. He was the first student in his grade to receive a cultivation technique, and he knew that being a step ahead meant staying ahead. Generally, according to the standard curriculum, cultivation techniques were not distributed until the start of the third year of high school. However, in practice, to gain a head start, most schools completed this process within a day or two after the soul potential assessment. The direct reason for this was the guiding baton of the college entrance examination.

Two months of summer vacation—sixty days! How could they possibly be wasted? Students with good aptitude could use this time to push their Yuan-Gathering realm to the second or even third level.

After watching the video, Shi Yu sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mind. He placed his hands gently on his knees, and a faint glimmer seemed to flicker between his fingers. At that moment, the golden scroll within his sea of consciousness emitted a brilliant, divine radiance. It was one of the four characteristics of the Heaven-Meteorite Rock Spirit Body: Yuan Energy Resonance! It began to take effect immediately, allowing Shi Yu to sense the energy the moment he started circulating the technique.

"That seems quite simple..." he muttered to himself.

If anyone else heard this, it would surely cause a huge uproar. For an ordinary person, simply sensing the energy flow during the first step of Yuan-Gathering would typically take a considerable amount of time. Those with excellent aptitude would need at least a full day, while for the average person, two or three days was normal. For Shi Yu to react to the energy within a single breath was truly rare.

As Shi Yu’s breathing deepened, the surrounding Yuan energy began to gather toward him slowly. The energy flowed into his body silently like a trickling stream. He could feel a warm aura circulating within him; after guiding this energy to complete one full cycle as required by the technique, it finally gathered in his Dantian energy sea. During this circulation, the higher the soul level and the better the quality, the easier it was to control the energy, and the faster the cycle would complete.

Furthermore, the Yuan-Gathering realm provided bonuses to physical attributes such as strength and speed, which were originally determined by one's constitution. Simply put, the first level of the Yuan-Gathering realm provided a 10% bonus. For instance, if his original punch was 500 kilograms, the first level of Yuan-Gathering would increase it to 550 kilograms. The pattern continued accordingly. At the tenth level, the bonus would be 100%, effectively doubling his strength. Therefore, with a high-level constitution combined with a high-level Yuan-Gathering realm, one’s striking power could reach a terrifying level. As of now, Shi Yu’s level 16 constitution allowed him to strike with 2,800 kilograms of force. If he reached the tenth level of Yuan-Gathering, his power could double to 5,600 kilograms.

Shi Yu was immersed in his cultivation. An hour later, he opened his remarkably bright eyes. The first level of the Yuan-Gathering realm was complete! The system promptly sent a notification:

[Host’s soul level increased to 13.8]
[Host’s constitution level increased to 16.3]

Both his soul and constitution had improved by 0.3 levels. This speed was so fast it was staggering. According to the Great Xia curriculum, for high school students applying to martial arts universities, reaching the sixth level of the Yuan-Gathering realm before the entrance exam was considered the passing mark. Because Shi Yu’s soul level was far higher than his cultivation realm, he was advancing with unstoppable force. The sense of accomplishment brought by such visible progress was intoxicating.

The "God-Devil Contract System" in his sea of consciousness continued to update:
[Host realm improved: Yuan-Gathering realm second level progress increased from 9% to 10%]
[Host realm improved: Yuan-Gathering realm second level progress increased from 10% to 11%]

Thanks to the system, Shi Yu was perfectly clear about his own progress. At this rate, barring any other interruptions, he would reach 100% progress later today, effectively reaching the second level of the Yuan-Gathering realm.

...

In the afternoon, the sunlight slanted across the glazed tiles of the martial arts hall, casting dappled shadows. Shi Yu reluctantly stopped his training and stepped out of the practice room. He had just received notice to attend the class physical assessment, a comprehensive test of basic physical metrics such as strength and speed. The assessment was held in the main hall of the martial arts center, a spacious area of two thousand square meters.

"God Shi, we've been waiting for you!" A familiar voice called out. Jiang Wei, a bespectacled boy with a round face, waved at him enthusiastically.

Jiang Wei had been his desk mate in the first and second years, and the two had a very good relationship. However, after the summer vacation, they would have to part ways because Shi Yu had entered the elite class, while Jiang Wei would remain in the ordinary class. Out of ten classes, there was only one elite class, and the others were ordinary. As for the current Class 1 of the second year, only three people were qualified to enter the elite class: Shi Yu, Li Luoke, and Xia Yu.

Seeing Shi Yu appear, the other students gathered around curiously.

"Shi Yu, how is it? Have you sensed the energy flow yet?" Lin Zhenfeng reached out and patted Shi Yu’s shoulder, saying gently, "If you can't feel it yet, that’s perfectly fine." After all, Shi Yu had only received the technique that morning; it was normal not to have sensed the energy yet.

"Teacher Lin, my energy sea has already begun to gather Yuan energy!" Shi Yu replied with a sincere look.

Lin Zhenfeng’s hand froze in mid-air, and his already large eyes widened even further. "You’ve already gathered energy into the sea so quickly?"

"Doesn't that mean you could reach the first level in two weeks—no, maybe even one week?!" The thick-browed Lin Zhenfeng stared at the earnest-looking Shi Yu, stunned for a long moment. Is this the aptitude of a level 12 soul?! It was truly different from students below level 10; it wasn't even on the same dimension. It was astonishing!

Lin Zhenfeng felt a massive surge of emotion. He realized he could no longer view Shi Yu through the old lens used for typical students. He was a monster!

As for Shi Yu, watching the colorful expressions on Teacher Lin’s face, he decided it was best not to mention that he had already completed the first level. He didn't want the teacher to be so shocked that he suffered a heart attack. The other students didn't feel the impact as deeply as Lin Zhenfeng; to them, as long as "God Shi" was impressive, that was all that mattered.

Only Xia Yu looked thoughtful. Due to her family background, her understanding of martial arts cultivation was far deeper than that of the average student. "Half a day to gather energy into the sea..." she murmured, "Truly a gifted talent." She wondered when her second uncle, Xia Yuan, would come over. Knowing his personality, he would surely appreciate Shi Yu.