124: Chapter 124 Heart Steel

Chapter 124 Heartsteel

Late at night.

Moonlight sneaked in through the gap in the curtains, resembling a slowly crawling venomous snake.

The sound of a car engine revving came from downstairs, like a bomber diving past at low altitude.

Fang Cheng sat cross-legged on the bed and suddenly opened his eyes.

In the darkness, his slightly reddened gaze looked somewhat terrifying.

The increase in his Mental Energy attribute not only significantly enhanced his sensory perception, but also seemed to make his mind extremely sensitive.

Once there was the slightest disturbance, he would inexplicably become vigilant.

It felt as if menacing shadows of monsters wanting to harm him were lurking all around.

"Hoo—"

Fang Cheng gently let out a breath and shook his head.

There were simply too many external disturbances; his heart could not calm down at all.

Trying to do Meditation in this state was completely testing how resilient and stubborn his willpower was.

Even after using the "Focus" skill, some of the negative effects would still remain.

The effect was obviously inferior to before, let alone reaching that ideal state of absolute calmness and rationality.

Although Ma Jianguo had warned him that Meditation cultivation carried great danger,

judging from his Mental Energy attribute, he had actually already stepped onto this path and could not turn back.

Besides, the abnormalities in his body also needed to be resolved; he couldn't just keep maintaining this state forever.

Right now, he possessed 40 points of Mental Energy attribute in vain, but lacked the ability to control this Mental Energy attribute.

It was just like a strongman who didn't know any combat skills at all.

No, the situation should be even more extreme.

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng rubbed the space between his eyebrows and looked at the skill panel floating before his eyes.

[Focus Lv1 (247 / 250)]

Maintaining the Focus state would continuously consume Mental Energy.

And the purpose of Meditation cultivation was to enhance Mental Energy and better control this energy.

From the perspective of their results, the two could be said to be going in opposite directions.

If it weren't for practicing skills and gaining experience, there was no need to continue beating his head against a brick wall on this path.

Fang Cheng's gaze flickered slightly. Looking at the Focus Skill that was about to upgrade, he muttered to himself:

"Let's continue. Just treat it as practicing skills and tempering my willpower..."

Although there was no progress in Meditation, at least there were other gains, right?

This time, in order to increase the challenge difficulty,

Fang Cheng simply took out the foam earplugs with mediocre soundproofing effects from his ears and faced external interference in a full-load state.

Then, following the most traditional Meditation posture, he began a new round of mental cultivation attempts.

Sitting cross-legged and motionless, his eyelids slightly closed, his eyes focused on his nose, and his nose on his heart.

However, although his eyes were closed, it seemed as if various illusions kept flashing before his eyes.

Inside and outside the house, countless noisy, fragmentary sounds rushed over one after another, forming a chaotic mess.

Fang Cheng's temples throbbed violently, and he immediately chanted silently in his heart:

"Focus Skill, activate!"

In an instant, most of the various noises coming from his ears disappeared, and it became much quieter.

Although there were still some lingering effects, at least it wasn't so unbearable anymore.

Assisted by the Focus Skill, Fang Cheng felt slightly more at ease. Struggling to cast away numerous distracting thoughts, he silently counted his breathing.

"1, 2, 3, 4."

"5, 6, 7, 8."

"..."

This was called the "Breath-counting Method", a breath-regulation technique he learned from a Meditation teaching video, belonging to the basic skills of Zen Meditation training and hypnotic techniques.

By counting the inhalation and exhalation of nasal breath, he adjusted the quality of his breathing, removed selfish and distracting thoughts, and gradually made his body and mind pure and tranquil.

It had the effect of eliminating fatigue, reducing anxiety, and improving mental outlook.

If he didn't have the "Focus" skill, Fang Cheng could actually master this technique to quickly enter a relaxed and calm state when needed.

Its specific practice method was mainly counting numbers: starting counting from 1 upon each inhalation until 4, and counting from 5 upon each exhalation until 8.

If his attention began to wander or he forgot the count, he only needed to gently return to his breathing and restart counting.

As the practice progressed, he would gradually increase the counting duration, counting from 1 to 5, to 6, and then to 10, making his breathing increasingly long, natural, and smooth, fully immersing himself in it.

Until after Cultivating to a certain extent, his breathing would become soft and slow, as if it had stopped. This was the symbol of the perfect Fusion of body and mind.

Fang Cheng didn't know what the "target" Lin Chuqiao mentioned really was, so he simply placed the "target" of Focus on his every breath.

Speaking of which, "Focus" and "entering tranquility" indeed had similarities. When Cultivating Meditation techniques, they could still serve as a reference.

As the Breath-counting Method proceeded, Fang Cheng was like an old monk meditating in Zen. His expression slowly calmed down, and his breathing gradually lengthened.

His whole person also began to become relaxed and serene, no longer so impetuous.

Under the dual auxiliary effects of the Focus Skill and the Breath-counting Method, his body and mind finally successfully completed harmonization, entering tranquility once again.

Without a single error, every head, every hair, every inner part, every content, looking at them one by one!

Just like that, Fang Cheng tried his best to maintain the state, unaware of how much time had passed.

Suddenly, a dazzling light flashed before his eyes.

The prompt information generated by the panel instantly pulled him out of the state of entering tranquility.

[Congratulations, through unremitting efforts, your skill has reached the Great Master level]

[Focus Lv2 (0 / 500)]

[Obtained enhancement reward, skill special effect "Heartsteel"]

In the darkness, Fang Cheng opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

At this moment, fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, with an effect no less than undergoing a high-intensity physical workout.

"Finally, before mental overdraft, I successfully completed the upgrade task!"

Fang Cheng wore a gratified look, rubbing the space between his eyebrows and his temples to alleviate the swelling feeling in his head.

Moreover, this time using the Breath-counting Method to practice skills also gave him a firsthand experience of the correct method regarding Meditation cultivation.

After a brief rest, Fang Cheng carefully looked at the content of the upgraded skill special effect.

[Heartsteel: When using the Focus Skill, willpower is increased by 200%, while mental consumption will also be increased by 100%]

The function introduction looked very simple, and it was precisely what he needed most.

Fang Cheng's spirit suddenly lifted, and he immediately tried to verify the effect.

As the Focus Skill was activated once again,

he felt as if an invisible iron barrier had been erected around his body, completely isolating all the fragmentary and noisy sounds rushing in like waves.

The roaring sound of cars driving outside the window brushed past his ears like a breeze and quickly disappeared.

The piercing crying sound of the child next door also became incomparably soft, unable to affect him in the least.

The entire world finally completely quieted down.

Even those complicated and messy thoughts and ideas in his mind were all cleared out.

Only one thought was retained—stability, and one emotion—calmness.

"Very nice..."

Feeling the specific effect of the skill, Fang Cheng muttered to himself.

Now he had not only recovered to his most ideal state in the past, but had also been further amplified on this basis.

He believed that in the future, as the Mental Energy attribute increased, there would be even more extraordinary and significant effects.

Verification successful, Fang Cheng glanced at the alarm clock time; it was already past 11 o'clock.

He immediately lay down, covered himself with the quilt, and prepared to rest.

However, after lying on the bed for a while and tossing and turning for a long time, he suddenly sat up again.

Unable to sleep, he turned his head to look at the messenger bag placed aside.

Then he took out a business card from the bag, his eyes shining brightly as he stared at the words on it:

"Truth and Meditation Fellowship".