Su Yuan slightly slowed his steps.
Zhang Wei grinned and followed.
The two returned to the queue together.
After Zhang Wei took his position, he began to show off the Profound Rank Cultivation Technique he had chosen to the people around him, drawing sidelong glances from many Low Grade Spiritual Root Disciples, and Zhang Wei's expression was smug.
The observant Su Yuan, however, noticed that a few Disciples looked at Zhang Wei with a hint of ill will.
However, most of the Disciples were closing their eyes and comprehending the Cultivation Technique, working extremely hard.
Su Yuan did not go to comprehend the Cultivation Technique; he was still accumulating time for Labor and Rest Combination. Comprehending a Cultivation Technique should also count as Cultivating, right?
He then started chatting idly with Zhang Wei.
"Zhang Wei, you need to pay attention, the seventh Disciple to your left in front of you seems very displeased with you!" Su Yuan whispered a reminder.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei wanted to turn his head to look.
Su Yuan stopped him: "Don't look, you'll alert them."
Zhang Wei pretended to casually glance at the Disciple in that direction, then disdainfully whispered back: "Oh, so it's that good-for-nothing from the Zhou family. He came from the same cultivation city as me. I didn't realize his talent was even better than mine. Hmph, he definitely didn't choose a Profound Rank Cultivation Technique, he's just jealous of me! Little brat, dare to provoke me, I'll beat him into submission!"
"Hmm, and the third, seventh, and fifteenth in the fifth row, and the ninth and twenty-fifth in the sixth row, all seem to have some issues with you," Su Yuan continued.
Zhang Wei's expression immediately became unnatural, and his smug look receded quite a bit as he complained: "Is it really that bad?"
Su Yuan reminded him: "Also, haven't you noticed that many Disciples who obtained Cultivation Techniques are closing their eyes and comprehending them? Even the High Grade Spiritual Roots in the first row are diligently comprehending. You're in the last position of the sixth row, why don't you have any awareness?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei specifically observed and found that it was indeed as Su Yuan said; many Disciples were silently comprehending their Cultivation Techniques. In the seemingly noisy crowd, there were actually not many people talking and chatting!
"With such good talent, and still so diligent, how am I, a Low Grade Spiritual Root, supposed to live!" Zhang Wei's face turned dark.
He immediately closed his eyes and began to comprehend the Cultivation Technique.
Not long after, he opened his eyes in confusion and saw Su Yuan still looking here and there, with no intention of comprehending the Cultivation Technique.
"Why aren't you comprehending the Cultivation Technique?" Zhang Wei asked.
Su Yuan shrugged: "I've already accepted my fate. My talent is too poor, and I have no background. Effort is useless; I can't even enter the outer Sect. Cultivating doesn't need to be rushed in this little bit of time. You're different; you're someone who's going to enter the outer Sect, how can you not work hard?"
Zhang Wei: "..."
These words made sense, but he always felt something was off, though he couldn't pinpoint it.
After several rounds, the Valley Master finally walked out of the Scripture Pavilion.
With a wave of his hand, hundreds of streams of light fell into the hands of the Disciples.
A jade token appeared in Su Yuan's hand, with "Two Nine Nine" written on it.
The Valley Master said: "These are your Disciple tokens, and also the keys to a distant cluster of houses. Today, you can go back and rest first. Various items have been prepared for you in your rooms, including Disciple uniforms, a map of the valley, today's resources, the Immortal Seed Valley Cultivation manual, and other things."
"Starting tomorrow, in the Valley's Lecture Hall, high-Realm Disciples will come to explain various Cultivation Techniques and answer questions. Notices will be posted in advance, and you can decide whether or not to attend the lectures. In ten days, there will be the first Cultivation assessment. I hope you are prepared!"
After the elder finished speaking, he gazed at everyone, then soared into the air, transforming into a white light and disappearing, displaying extreme grace, which made Su Yuan incredibly envious.
The crowd immediately erupted, and a clamor instantly arose.
Su Yuan saw Zhang Wei talking with a few people, apparently negotiating the previous transactions.
He shook his head, greeted Zhang Wei, and walked straight towards his residence.
Halfway there, five people blocked his path.
"Friend, I am Zhou Wuyou. My family is in the Medicinal Pill business, and I have many elders in the Sect as well, you understand, right? Follow me, and you'll have enough Medicinal Pills and Spirit Stones without worry in the future!" a slightly chubby young man said proudly.
Su Yuan said apologetically: "Sorry, I've already made arrangements with someone else!"
"Is it Zhang Wei?"
The young man said disdainfully, "He's just a hothead, a brainless fellow. What's the use of following him? When you get bullied, he can't protect you!"
Su Yuan frowned, there was a hint of threat in these words!
"I'm very sorry," Su Yuan said, lowering his eyes.
A hint of annoyance flashed across Zhou Wuyou's chubby face, and the few people behind him also glared angrily.
"Will you reconsider?" Zhou Wuyou said expressionlessly.
Su Yuan shook his head.
Zhou Wuyou gave Su Yuan a deep look, then turned and left.
The four Disciples behind him all snorted coldly, then followed Zhou Wuyou away.
Su Yuan watched their retreating figures speechlessly, thinking to himself: "They just entered the Sect and they're already forming small groups? These should all be under the eyes of the Sect's higher-ups, right? Aren't they going to stop it?"
Su Yuan shook his head and continued forward. No one bothered him after that, and he successfully found his house. It was a detached house with a small courtyard, and inside, a Cultivation room, bedroom, latrine, shower room, and kitchen were all fully equipped, which made Su Yuan very satisfied.
He took a refreshing bath, changed into new clothes, then lay down in bed and slept soundly. This whole ordeal had indeed been very tiring.
However, other Disciples didn't fall asleep so quickly.
Zhang Wei collected a total of thirteen portions of Cultivation resources, which amounted to thirteen fragmented Spirit Stones, from various Disciples. This amount of fragmented Spirit Stones was truly very little, but in the early stages of Cultivation, it could indeed play a significant role, increasing Cultivation progress by thirty to forty percent!
Zhang Wei happily returned to his residence, then immediately plunged into the Cultivation room to begin trying to Cultivate the new Cultivation Technique.
The night passed without incident.
Morning.
Su Yuan woke up refreshed, and after washing up, he fell into contemplation as he looked at the Spirit-Cleansing Pill in his hand.
He had just looked through the items given by the Sect and unexpectedly found Spirit-Cleansing Pills. Eating one pill meant he didn't need to eat for a day. This item seemed to be available for daily collection and was part of the Cultivation resources!
He was very curious about the taste of this Medicinal Pill, so he popped it into his mouth and started chewing. A bitter taste immediately spread through his mouth, and he quickly drank water to swallow it, gulping down several mouthfuls, but the bitterness in his mouth lingered.
"A bit outrageous! This taste is incredible!"
Su Yuan pulled out the valley map and began searching for the cafeteria's location, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find it.
"Knock! Knock!"
"Su Yuan, are you awake?"
Su Yuan raised an eyebrow, it was Zhang Wei's voice.
"Coming!"
Su Yuan got up and opened the door.
Zhang Wei walked in with a smug look on his face.
His twitching eyebrows made him look quite comical.
"What's the good news so early in the morning?" Su Yuan asked.
Zhang Wei's smile widened a bit: "After a night of Cultivation yesterday, I've already Cultivated fifteen wisps of spiritual power! How about you? How many wisps?"
Su Yuan said: "Um, how many wisps do you think I should have?"
Zhang Wei guessed: "I guess you only successfully circulated three cycles and Cultivated three wisps of spiritual power?"
Su Yuan nodded: "You're very impressive!"
Zhang Wei patted his shoulder: "It's okay, don't be discouraged. My talent is better than yours, my Cultivation Technique is stronger than yours, my resources are more than yours, I Cultivate harder than you, so it's normal for my Cultivation effects to be four or five times better than yours!"
"You really know how to comfort people!" Su Yuan said exasperatedly.
"Haha! This time, I'm definitely getting into the outer Sect!" Zhang Wei grinned, "I'm going back to Cultivate. See ya!"
Zhang Wei waved goodbye, walking with a swagger.
Su Yuan turned and walked into the Cultivation room.
He looked at his System panel.
[Name]: Su Yuan
[Region]: Qingke Continent
[Rank]: Unknown (1/100)
[Realm]: Qi Refining Realm First Layer (0/100)
[Entry 1]: Labor and Rest Combination: You are very good at Labor and Rest Combination. The longer the rest time, the better the Cultivation effect. Current rest time: 8.7 hours
"Let's see how effective this entry is?"
Su Yuan sat down cross-legged, a fragmented Spirit Stone in his hand.
Then he closed his eyes and began to officially comprehend the "Burning Wood Forging Spirit Art"!
As he began to understand the content of the Cultivation Technique word by word, a white light flashed across the Labor and Rest Combination entry on the System panel, and the rest time instantly reset to zero.
At the same time, Su Yuan's mind immediately became clear. The Cultivation Technique content, which had originally seemed extremely obscure and difficult to understand, was quickly understood and grasped by Su Yuan.
The Cultivation process for the first layer of the Cultivation Technique became clear and distinct to him.
The first layer of Qi Refining requires consuming spiritual power to construct three spiritual apertures! Usually, the first spiritual aperture only needs one hundred wisps of spiritual power to be successfully constructed, the second spiritual aperture requires two hundred wisps of spiritual power, and the third spiritual aperture requires three to four hundred wisps of spiritual power.
Of course, this is just the simplest method. The "Burning Wood Forging Spirit Art" has techniques for forging spiritual apertures, specifically Cultivating fire, wood, and metal attribute spiritual power. During the construction process, wood spiritual power is used as fuel, burning fire spiritual power to impact the acupuncture points, and then metal spiritual power is used to reinforce the acupuncture points and stabilize the spiritual apertures. Under such operations, the consumption for opening spiritual apertures can be reduced by twenty percent, and even more after proficiency!
Insights flashed through Su Yuan's mind. In a short period, his understanding of the Cultivation Technique had completely entered the introductory level.
After clarifying his thoughts, Su Yuan officially began to operate the Cultivation Technique, adjusting his breathing, and using the initial wisp of spiritual power in his Dantian as a guide, he began to circulate the cycle!
The Spiritual Qi in the air, with the operation of his Cultivation Technique, entered his body through his breathing and pores, joining the process of Meridians circulation!
At first, Su Yuan was a bit clumsy, but in no time, he quickly became familiar with the Cultivation Technique's operation. The previous stumbling and lost paths in his Meridians rapidly improved, and some blockages were easily overcome as if by divine aid.
When the Cultivation Technique's circulation cycle ended, the Dantian, which originally only had one incomplete wisp of wood spiritual power, now contained three complete wisps of spiritual power, specifically wood, fire, and metal attribute spiritual power.
Su Yuan was surprised by this.
According to Zhang Wei, he only condensed one wisp of spiritual power per cycle, but he condensed three wisps at once!
Su Yuan composed himself and began the second circulation cycle!
This time, he channeled all three wisps of spiritual power into his Meridians to circulate!
During the circulation, the three wisps rotated and intertwined, yet remained distinct. The leading edge was like a triangular spiral thorn, thrusting forward, while the rear condensed into a three-colored rope, providing the most substantial power for the front.
The Spiritual Qi in the air and the Spiritual Qi from the fragmented Spirit Stone in his hand poured into Su Yuan's body at an even faster rate.
And Su Yuan's cyclical circulation rapidly refined this Spiritual Qi into his own spiritual power!
Su Yuan's cyclical circulation, unknowingly, transcended the Realm of a beginner. If an experienced person were to see it, they would surely widen their eyes in astonishment.
The moment the cycle ended.
The spiritual power returning to his Dantian had already increased to twelve wisps!
Su Yuan was also startled!
He pressed on, continuing to circulate the cycle for the third time.
This time, he tried to use more spiritual power to drive it, but eventually found that he could still only use three wisps of spiritual power. He wasn't too disappointed and continued to circulate the cycle steadily.
Just as the circulation was about to end, he immediately felt his mind becoming drowsy, and his control over his spiritual power became slightly sluggish. He realized that the entry effect had ended.
Fortunately, the timing was just right. He continued to circulate for two more breaths, then brought the spiritual power back to his Dantian.
Another nine wisps of spiritual power were added, bringing the total amount of spiritual power in his Dantian to 21 wisps, surpassing Zhang Wei's cultivation results from a night of hard work.