34: test

Late at night.

In dormitory 404, there was a deathly silence.

Four young men sat cross-legged on their respective futons, attempting the ethereal "Mind Purification."

"Damn it, Mind Purification, what purification!" Han Li had already cursed ten thousand times in his heart.

The more he tried to empty his mind, the faster the images in his head flashed.

Liu Lian, next to him, was also suffering, his brows knitted into a tight knot.

His mind was filled with images of himself, dressed in white, a sword coming from the west, captivating countless young women.

But this damned Spiritual Qi, he couldn't even feel a trace of it!

"What a load of rubbish, 'guarding the Mysterious Pass'! My Mysterious Pass only has a shoe cabinet! How do I guard it?"

In the corner, Xie Wangsheng sat motionless like a statue, his breathing long and steady.

And Fang Yuan, he was struggling in pain.

Images of his failed college entrance exam, the mocking faces of his classmates, his parents' disappointed expressions, replayed in his mind like a movie.

He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

"Forget it! Forget it all!"

"This is my last chance! I cannot lose!"

In this oppressive atmosphere, Fang Yuan's obsession, instead, allowed him to enter a peculiar state of focus.

He stopped thinking about anything else; only the thought "I want to become stronger" remained.

Suddenly, he "saw" it.

In the air, those tiny white wisps of Qi that he had seen in class before.

They were right beside him.

Fang Yuan's heart pounded. He cautiously, following the method Li Heng taught, tried to touch one of them with his Mental Energy.

It worked!

That wisp of Qi seemed to come alive, gently wrapping around his Mental Energy.

"The third step, refining."

Fang Yuan dared not be distracted, fully operating his Cultivation Technique, slowly, little by little, pulling this tiny wisp of Qi into his body.

The moment the wisp of Qi entered his body, an unprecedented sense of comfort spread throughout his entire being!

Boom!

A faint but clear current of Qi gently rippled outwards, centered on Fang Yuan.

The dormitory instantly fell silent.

"Holy crap!" Han Li was the first to jump up, staring intently at Fang Yuan. "Yuanzi, you... you succeeded?"

Fang Yuan opened his eyes, feeling the faint but real warm current in his Dantian, and nodded heavily.

His face was filled with uncontrollable ecstasy.

"I... I have successfully guided Qi into my body!"

"Damn it!" Liu Lian also opened his eyes, his face filled with shock and unwillingness. "How is that possible? Aren't you the one with the best Aptitude, kid? How are you also so fast?"

Just then, Xie Wangsheng in the corner slowly opened his eyes.

He said nothing.

But a fluctuation, more solid and stable than the current of Qi around Fang Yuan, emanated from him.

If Fang Yuan had lit a match.

Then Xie Wangsheng had turned on a gas stove.

Han Li and Liu Lian's mouths were wide enough to fit an egg.

"Another... another one?"

"And he feels even stronger than Yuanzi?"

Xie Wangsheng merely glanced calmly at Fang Yuan, then closed his eyes again, as if he had just completed a trivial matter.

This silent display of arrogance was the most deadly.

"Damn it!" Liu Lian was provoked, his eyes red. "I don't believe it! Isn't it just guiding Qi into the body? What's so great about it!"

He plopped back down, his eyes tightly shut, veins bulging on his face, looking like he was about to fight for his life.

Han Li looked at his three roommates who had already entered the Dao, feeling like a useless outcast.

The immense pressure almost suffocated him.

"No! I can't lose!"

He also sat back down and started to work desperately.

After an unknown amount of time, a wild howl broke the silence.

"Hahahaha! I made it too!"

Liu Lian suddenly jumped up, gesticulating wildly. A visible white current of Qi, though somewhat scattered, swirled around him, indicating he had successfully guided Qi into his body.

Now, in the entire dormitory, only Han Li was left.

The night grew deeper.

Han Li was drenched in sweat, his face pale.

He had tried countless times, failing at the last moment each time; the Spiritual Qi was too slippery to grasp.

Despair, little by little, devoured his confidence.

In the distance, the sky began to show a hint of dawn.

Just as Han Li was exhausted and about to give up.

A faint, almost imperceptible coolness suddenly seeped into his body.

He trembled violently, almost crying out.

He had succeeded!

Although that trace of spiritual power was as weak as a flickering candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish at any moment, it had, after all, succeeded!

Han Li opened his bloodshot eyes, baring his teeth in a smile that looked worse than a cry...The next day, in classroom 404.

Two hundred new students gathered, many with dark circles under their eyes, but all beaming with excitement.

Overnight, almost everyone had successfully guided Qi into their body, taking the first step in Cultivation.

On the podium, Li Heng's figure appeared out of thin air.

"It seems you have all entered the Dao."

His tone was flat, showing no emotion.

"Being able to draw Spiritual Qi into your body is just the first step. It's like putting gasoline in your tank, but if you don't know how to press the accelerator, the car still won't move."

He extended a finger.

"Today, I will teach you how to 'use' it."

"The application of spiritual power is divided into three steps: activating, circulating, and unleashing."

"Activating means making the spiritual power in your Dantian move. Circulating is making it flow through your Meridians according to your will. And unleashing is releasing it to become the Spell you desire."

As Li Heng spoke, he extended his right hand.

"Like this."

A small cluster of flames abruptly ignited at his fingertip, flickering quietly.

All the students watched with wide eyes.

"So cool!"

"Hand-crafted fireball!"

Li Heng flicked his finger, and the flame extinguished.

"The principle is very simple. Sense the attribute of your spiritual power, then guide it to flow to specific Meridians at your fingertip, and finally, unleash it."

"Now, try it yourselves."

The classroom instantly fell silent as everyone closed their eyes and began to try.

Five minutes later.

"Ouch!"

"Hiss--"

"What's going on? Why is my spiritual power running wild like a stray dog?"

"Help! I feel like my Meridians are getting tied in knots!"

Complaints rose one after another.

They found that the spiritual power they had so painstakingly drawn into their bodies simply wouldn't obey.

Tell it to go east, and it insisted on going west.

Tell it to speed up, and it would lie down on the spot.

Forget about unleashing it; they couldn't even make it complete a full circuit within their bodies.

"Dean!" Han Li was the first to burst, raising his hand and wailing, "This thing is too difficult! It's harder than the second subject of the driving test!"

"Yeah! I can't control it at all!"

"Are there any tricks?"

The students clamored, all talking at once.

Li Heng looked at them expressionlessly.

"Tricks? The only trick is practice."

He flipped his palm, and a transparent crystal the size of a human head appeared in his hand.

"This is the [Test Crystal]."

"In one week, you will have your entrance assessment."

"The test content is very simple." Li Heng placed the crystal on the podium. "Infuse your spiritual power into it."

"The passing standard," he surveyed the room, enunciating each word, "is to make it shine as bright as day."

The entire classroom instantly fell silent.

Shine as bright as day?

They couldn't even manage a fart now, and in a week they had to make it shine as bright as day?

"Dean, isn't this... isn't this a bit too difficult?" a student asked tremblingly.

"Difficult?" Li Heng retorted, "Failure to complete it will result in a deduction of ten academic credits. Those whose academic credits reach zero will be directly expelled."

Boom!

This sentence, like a bomb, exploded in the classroom.

"What?!"

"Ten points deducted? How many points do we have in total?"

"Expelled? This is serious!"

Everyone panicked, their faces drained of color.

This was no longer a question of difficulty; this was a matter of life and death!

In the corner, Xie Wangsheng, who had been silent, suddenly pushed up his glasses and spoke coldly.

"To make this crystal shine as bright as day, the spiritual power output must reach a stable and continuous threshold."

"This is no longer something that can be achieved by merely guiding Qi into the body."

He looked at Li Heng on the podium and uttered a conclusion that plunged everyone into despair.

"This is the assessment standard for a Cultivator at the first level of the Qi Condensation stage."

Qi Condensation stage, first level!

One week's time!

From a rookie who could just barely sense Qi, to a true Cultivator at the first level of the Qi Condensation stage?

The students present were all shocked and incredulous.

Just then, a clear and calm voice suddenly rang out.

"Dean."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.

They saw the young woman with the innate Heavenly Spiritual Root, Zhang Qiqi, slowly rising from her seat.

Under hundreds of shocked, confused, and bewildered gazes, she met Li Heng's eyes and asked calmly:

"I'd like to take the test now, if I may?"