55: Chapter 55 Calamity

"Hiss!"

Ling Yichen was completely shocked.

With a single strike, tens of thousands of demonic beasts were insta-killed, including no small number of adult elite-class demonic beasts.

No wonder the old man said the Great Elder could slap Xu Tiansheng into a meat patty with one hand.

Both being A-ranks, their strength should be roughly similar; at the very least, when facing a B-Rank Expert, it would definitely be a complete crushing.

At this moment, he felt his own weakness once again.

Although he could currently parasitize C-rank experts and killing them wasn't a problem...

...he was helpless against B-ranks, let alone A-ranks.

Just as he was thinking this, the old man suddenly tapped his pipe gently against Ling Yichen's head and said irritably, "You brat, have you caused trouble again? Out with it, what happened?"

The old man and Long Daoyi hadn't received news from the teaching building yet.

Ling Yichen immediately said aggrievedly, "I didn't! At least, it doesn't have much to do with me."

"It was that tentacle Lin Hao just awakened; it went out of control and killed several of his companions. I just happened to be on the scene and became the sole eyewitness, so Xu Tiansheng came to grab me."

"But that guy definitely had no good intentions. He surely wanted to take me back and kill me."

Hearing this, the old man's snowy-white eyebrows knitted slightly as he looked at Ling Yichen suspiciously. "How is it that people die wherever you go, brat? You aren't a calamity star reincarnated, are you?"

Ah, this...

Ling Yichen was speechless.

Because he realized that what the old man said seemed... correct.

Ever since he escaped from the Celestial God Laboratory, people really did die wherever he went.

But... it actually wasn't his fault.

As long as those people didn't have malicious intentions, they definitely wouldn't die.

Every single person who died had harbored malicious intent, and none of them had clean hands; they were all people who deserved to die.

Therefore, Ling Yichen didn't feel any guilt at all, and he wasn't soft-hearted when it came to killing them.

"Master, I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!"

Ling Yichen quickly retorted.

He would absolutely never admit to being a calamity star.

"Looking at this situation, you've clashed with the Discipline Hall. But you can't stay here forever, right? You still have to go back to class."

Long Daoyi looked at Ling Yichen with concern.

At the mention of this, Ling Yichen's eyes lit up, and he immediately looked at the old man.

"Master, can I skip class? What they teach in the classroom... seems to be nothing but fallacies!" Ling Yichen expressed his thoughts directly.

Both the old man and Long Daoyi were drawn in by his words.

"Oh? How is it fallacious?" the old man asked with interest.

Ling Yichen immediately responded, "Look, the teacher said that if you encounter a demonic beast stronger than yourself in the wild, you can throw the weakest person in the team out as bait to buy time for everyone else to escape. Isn't that a fallacy?"

"Shouldn't the correct way be for the strong to stand up and hold off the beast to give the weak a chance to survive?"

"If the three of us went to the battlefield together and encountered a powerful demonic beast, would Master and Senior Brother throw me to the beast and then run away yourselves? Wouldn't your consciences hurt? Won't you be afraid of me turning into a vengeful ghost and knocking on your door at night?"

"Also, the teacher said that if you get separated from your teammates during a mission, you can just wait for death on the spot?"

"What kind of talk is that? Human potential is infinite. As long as there's a sufficient desire to survive, even a single person can create infinite possibilities. How can you just tell people to wait for death?"

"Is this even teaching students? This is leading them astray!"

Ling Yichen's little mouth babbled on, making both the old man and Long Daoyi frown deeply.

After Ling Yichen finished speaking, the old man tapped his pipe on Ling Yichen's noggin again. "I think you're the one with a pile of fallacies. In the end, you just don't want to go to class, right?"

The old man was so wise; how could he not see through Ling Yichen's little scheme?

"It's fine not to go to class, but you must practice the Star Origin Guiding Technique here with me for four hours every day."

Upon hearing this, Ling Yichen was instantly overjoyed.

He was fine with cultivation, but attending class was truly unbearable.

Seeing him so happy, the old man sighed helplessly.

However, he didn't say anything more, instead quietly reclining on his armchair and smoking.

Seeing this, Long Daoyi immediately pulled Ling Yichen to the other side. "Don't disturb Master. I've actually practiced the Star Origin Guiding Technique too. I'll teach you the opening chapter first: opening the sea of consciousness."

"Everyone has a spiritual sea of consciousness, but the size varies. The spiritual sea of consciousness is an enclosed space. The first step we need to do is to break a gap in this enclosed space, then enter it, expand the territory, and enlarge the sea of consciousness so it can hold more Mental Energy."

"So the first thing we need to do is sense the existence of the sea of consciousness. Only by sensing its existence can we begin to open it."

"Come, calm your mind, concentrate your thoughts, and sense its existence."

Saying this, Long Daoyi sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Seeing this, Ling Yichen followed suit, sitting cross-legged and closing his eyes to sense the existence of his spiritual sea of consciousness.

Strangely enough, as he sat cross-legged and focused his mind, he soon felt himself enter an extremely tranquil state. All surrounding sounds slowly faded away, and unconsciously, it was as if he had entered another space.

A wisp of breeze brushed past, making him feel a bit chilly.

He couldn't help but open his eyes. In the next second, he was astonished to find that he was actually floating above a lake, but the area surrounding the lake was endless desolation and a darkness that seemed to have no end.

"Is this my spiritual sea of consciousness?"

"Is that my Mental Energy?"

Ling Yichen looked curiously at the fairly broad lake below.

It was just that the feeling here was too desolate.

The lake was surrounded by weeds and scattered rocks; there was nothing else.

"It seems there's a reason I don't like studying; my head is empty."

Ling Yichen lamented to himself.

At this moment, Long Daoyi's voice suddenly echoed in his spiritual sea of consciousness.

"Junior Brother, don't rush. It's indeed not easy to find the spiritual sea of consciousness the first time you practice."

"Back then, it took me a whole month just to sense the location of my sea of consciousness."

Hearing this, Ling Yichen was instantly stunned.

A month...

That was way too slow.

He had found it in an instant.

In the next second, Long Daoyi's voice rang out again: "After finding the sea of consciousness, the next step is to open a gap to enter it. This stage is quite difficult; it took me nearly three months back then."

Ling Yichen froze.

"Opening a gap in the sea of consciousness? Where is the gap?"

Ling Yichen looked around blankly; he seemed to have skipped this step and entered the sea of consciousness directly.

After searching for a while, he couldn't find any so-called gap in the sea of consciousness.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter, as long as I can get in!"

Ling Yichen thought to himself. Then, his consciousness returned, and he opened his eyes to ask Long Daoyi, "Senior Brother, what happens after entering the sea of consciousness?"

Long Daoyi also immediately opened his eyes and looked at Ling Yichen in surprise.

"After entering the sea of consciousness, you naturally begin formally practicing the Star Origin Guiding Technique. You draw the power of the stars into the sea of consciousness and continuously expand its barriers, making it larger and larger so it can hold more Mental Energy."

"Of course, that's something you'll need to do later. For now, you must first find the sea of consciousness and then open its entrance."

However, Ling Yichen replied flatly, "Uh... I've already found the sea of consciousness!"

Long Daoyi was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion, "You really found it?"

Ling Yichen nodded seriously and replied, "Found it."

Long Daoyi's expression instantly became animated.

His eyes gradually widened, growing rounder by the second, and then he let out a soft cry: "Wow, Junior Brother, you might be a genius! You actually found the sea of consciousness in such a short time. That's incredible."

He began to get a bit excited and continued, "Since you've found the sea of consciousness, you should have noticed that it's actually a closed small world. You need to condense your will into a tool and chisel away at the barriers of the sea of consciousness to open a gap."

Ling Yichen immediately replied, "Senior Brother, I might need to skip that step, because I'm already inside the sea of consciousness."

As soon as these words were spoken, Long Daoyi completely froze.

He looked at Ling Yichen in disbelief and only spoke after a long while: "Real or fake? You're already inside the sea of consciousness?"

Ling Yichen nodded solemnly.

"Senior Brother, I have no reason to lie to you!"

Upon hearing this, Long Daoyi jumped up from the ground, his hands clutching his cheeks as he looked Ling Yichen up and down.

"Junior Brother, you are definitely a genius. Are you sure you haven't practiced Mental Energy before?"

Ling Yichen replied seriously, "Really, never!"

Seeing this, Long Daoyi immediately ran over to the old man, shouting, "Master, Junior Brother is a genius! He hasn't practiced Mental Energy, but he sensed the location of his spiritual sea of consciousness immediately, and he didn't even need to chisel a gap—he's already inside it!"

Soon, the old man walked over to Ling Yichen with his pipe. He looked at Ling Yichen with a serious expression and asked, "You really found the sea of consciousness and are already within it?"

"Mm!" Ling Yichen answered calmly.

A visible joy appeared in the old man's eyes, but he remained restrained. He asked again, "Since you're already in the sea of consciousness, tell me, how big is it? Is it as big as a house?"

Ling Yichen frowned slightly.

"A house?"

"How big is a house?"

An average house was at most one or two hundred square meters. But as for how big his spiritual sea of consciousness actually was, he didn't know because he hadn't seen the barriers at all.

At this moment, he suddenly realized that his spiritual sea of consciousness was indeed different from others.

So he immediately asked, "Master, how big is a normal person's sea of consciousness?"

"The size of an unopened sea of consciousness varies from person to person, but a normal person's is roughly the size of a room, about 20 square meters."

"Those with a bit of talent have one as big as two rooms, about 40 square meters."

"And those who can be called geniuses must have one at least as big as four rooms, which is 80 square meters."

Having finished, the old man looked at Ling Yichen with some fervor. "I think you might be stronger than an average genius, which is why I asked if your sea of consciousness is as big as a house—about 150 square meters!"

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