36: Automatic training is too fast, it's really bothering me!

Late at night, the moon hung high in the sky.

The hustle and bustle of Tianqiong War God Academy gradually quieted down, and most of the freshmen had fallen into a deep sleep after a day of being beaten down.

But in Dormitory 404, the atmosphere was exceptionally strange.

This legendary haunted house was now split into two halves by two completely different styles.

On the left was Xiao Fan's territory.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, shirtless, revealing lean and sweat-covered muscles. At this moment, he seemed tireless, frantically operating the "Desolate Body Refining Art."

The surrounding Spiritual Qi was forcibly pulled over by him, turning into wisps of white mist that seeped into his pores.

With every breath, his muscles trembled—a sharp pain from pushing past his limits—but he clenched his teeth and didn't make a sound.

"I want to become stronger! I want to trample Gu Fan under my feet! I want to prove that I am the strongest newcomer of this year!"

Xiao Fan roared in his heart. This obsession turned into a powerful mental drive, making his cultivation efficiency tonight thirty percent higher than usual.

And on the right was Gu Fan's territory.

The style suddenly changed.

Gu Fan lay sprawled out on the bed, his quilt having long been kicked onto the carpet. He was sleeping so soundly that he even left a puddle of drool on his pillow.

"Snore... hu... lu..."

This rhythmic snoring sounded particularly piercing in the quiet night, almost as if it were mocking the desperately hard-working Xiao Fan next to him.

However, the most infuriating thing wasn't that he was sleeping.

It was that even though he was sleeping, the fluctuations of Spiritual Qi around his body were ten times more intense than Xiao Fan's!

The System was frantically working overtime in the background.

[Detected that the host is in a deep sleep state (Salted Fish Mode).]

[Detected intense jealousy and competitive malice generated by 'Xiao Fan' nearby. malice points are pouring in continuously.]

[Full-Automatic Idle Cultivation Module activated!]

[Current malice points balance is sufficient. host's command: Activate 'Turbocharged' mode!]

[Consuming 5,000 malice points to purchase and activate the "Great Dao Returns to One Art · Qi Refining Chapter Idle Acceleration Pack."]

[Cultivation speed increased by 300%!]

The Spiritual Qi that was originally flowing slowly into Gu Fan's body suddenly seemed to be attracted by some powerful magnet.

"Buzz—!"

The air in the entire Dormitory 404 suddenly jolted.

A visible vortex of Spiritual Qi actually formed above Gu Fan's belly!

The vortex spun frantically like a bottomless pit, overbearingly plundering all the energy around it.

Xiao Fan, who was in the middle of bitter cultivation, suddenly felt his body go empty.

The bit of Spiritual Qi he had just painstakingly gathered around him, before he even had a chance to inhale it, was actually forcibly torn away!

"What's going on?!"

Xiao Fan snapped his eyes open, nearly suffering from True Qi backflow and Qi Deviation.

He looked across in terror.

He saw Gu Fan enveloped in a mass of spiritual mist so dense it was about to turn into water. The concentration of Spiritual Qi was so high that it even formed tiny rainbows at the head of the bed.

"Is... is this a Spirit Gathering Array? No! Even an Advanced Spirit Gathering Array isn't this overbearing!"

Xiao Fan's eyes widened. "He's sleeping! He's clearly sleeping! Why is his cultivation speed while sleeping a hundred times faster than when I'm risking my life?!"

The Remnant Soul Old Man inside the ring couldn't help but float out at this moment, his translucent figure trembling in the Spiritual Qi storm.

"Is... is this the legendary 'Unity of Heaven and Man'? Or the 'Sleeping Arhat' Legacy?"

"No! This kid's Cultivation Technique is too overbearing! It's practically plundering heaven and earth! Xiao Fan, quick! Quickly set up a barrier to protect yourself, otherwise your cultivation will be sucked away by him!"

Hearing this, Xiao Fan's face changed drastically in fright, and he hurriedly scrambled to take out several Spirit Stones to set up a formation.

Just then.

The energy accumulation inside Gu Fan's body seemed to have reached a critical point.

The golden runes of the "Great Dao Returns to One Art" flowed under his skin, finally converging in his Dantian.

Qi Refinement Stage Perfection... Breakthrough!

"Pop."

A soft sound, like an eggshell cracking, echoed within Gu Fan's body.

Immediately after.

"Boom—!!!"

A majestic wave of Qi erupted from Gu Fan as the center, exploding in all directions.

This wasn't an ordinary shockwave; it was the Spiritual Pressure brought about by a leap in life level!

Foundation Establishment Stage!

In this era of Spiritual Qi recovery, the Foundation Establishment Stage was already a Realm that many ordinary Martial Artists could only reach after over a decade of cultivation—the starting point of the so-called "Innate Grandmaster."

And Gu Fan had reached it just by taking a nap.

That wave of Qi directly shattered all the fragile window glass in Dormitory 404.

And Xiao Fan, who was closest, was flipped over like a ball despite having set up a barrier.

"Thud!"

Xiao Fan, along with his mattress, was slammed directly against the opposite wall and slowly slid down.

"Cough, cough..."

Xiao Fan scrambled up covered in dust. Seeing Gu Fan still sleeping peacefully on the bed, even turning over to scratch his butt, his mental state completely collapsed.

"Is there any justice left?!"

"Is there any law left?!"

"I'm not practicing anymore! Practice my ass!"

Xiao Fan felt a huge crack appear in his Dao Heart. His over ten years of bitter cultivation seemed like a joke at this moment.

The old man in the ring was also dazed. "This kid... is truly a monster. Xiao Fan, never compare your cultivation speed with his in the future, or you'll go crazy."

And as the instigator of all this.

Gu Fan was dreaming about bouncing around in a world made entirely of jelly.

"Mmm... so soft... so comfortable..."

Gu Fan muttered in his sleep, "Fill it up... this cup of malice... I'll down it..."

...The next morning.

When Gu Fan woke up feeling refreshed, he found the dormitory in a complete mess.

The windows were gone, and the cold wind was whistling in.

The bed opposite him had collapsed.

And his good roommate Xiao Fan was now sporting two huge dark circles under his eyes, huddled in the corner, looking at him with a resentful and aggrieved expression.

"Morning, Classmate Xiao."

Gu Fan stretched, his bones popping. He was surprised to find his body felt countless times lighter, and his vision and hearing had taken a qualitative leap.

"Eh? Was our dorm burglarized? Why are the windows gone?"

Gu Fan asked with an innocent face.

Xiao Fan's mouth twitched a couple of times, finally turning into a powerless sigh.

"No burglars. We were hit by a Prodigy."

Xiao Fan stood up and brushed the dust off himself. "Gu Fan, you... forget it, it's nothing."

He didn't want to ask. He was afraid he'd be even more discouraged if he did.

Just then, the loudspeaker downstairs in the dormitory building blared.

"Attention all freshmen! Attention all freshmen!"

"Please gather at the Gravity Training Hall immediately!"

"The freshman entrance diagnostic assessment—Gravity Pressure Test—will begin in half an hour!"

"This is the first test of your potential! The bottom one hundred will be directly expelled!"

Hearing the broadcast, Gu Fan rubbed his hair in distress.

"Ah? Another exam?"

"I just woke up, can I take a leave of absence?"

"I just infuriated the teacher yesterday, and today I have to go torment someone else? I'm quite helpless too."

Gu Fan sighed and slowly climbed down from the bed.

Behind him, Xiao Fan looked at that lazy back. Although his Battle Intent had been dampened, it soon flared up again.

"The gravity test... that tests willpower and physical strength."

"Gu Fan, even if you Cultivate fast, a lazy person like you definitely won't pass that kind of painful willpower test!"

"This time, I will definitely beat you!"

Both with their own thoughts, they walked out of the now uninhabitable Dormitory 404.

A new day and new fun were waiting for Gu Fan at the Gravity Hall.