"Remember, you ’guide’ it, you don’t ’push’ it. It’s like a sailor riding the currents, not fighting against them. If one day, in your sea of consciousness, you can clearly feel a cold, pure ’droplet’ and make it move according to your will, then you’ll have truly ’learned’ how."
"And when you can guide countless such droplets to converge into a ’stream,’ no matter how faint, you will have officially ’mastered the basics.’"
Just like that, three days flew by. For a Martial Artist immersed in cultivation, three days is but the blink of an eye.
On this day, as Qin Feng sat cross-legged, he felt a sudden jolt deep within his mind. After countless failed attempts, he finally managed to clearly ’touch’ it—a cold, pure droplet that seemed to be condensed from the purest moonlight.
His mind stirred.
The ’droplet’ floated lightly and obediently, following his intent as it traced a graceful arc across his sea of consciousness.
’It worked!’
And at that very moment, a line of faint blue data silently materialized before his eyes.
[Imperial Mental Power Control Basics (Uninitiated)]
[Proficiency: 1/10]
’It worked!’ A wave of understanding washed over Qin Feng.
’This is the right path!’
Once he succeeded the first time, everything else fell into place.
His Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence System began to display its heaven-defying effect.
[Proficiency +1]
[Proficiency +1]
Every successful attempt at guiding and controlling the Spiritual Power Drop transformed into pure experience, which the system recorded, absorbed, and solidified.
His control over that Spiritual Power Drop went from being clumsy and intermittent at first to becoming increasingly smooth and fluid.
「In the blink of an eye, a month slipped by.」
Inside the quiet room, Qin Feng still sat with his eyes closed, but now, an aura completely different from a month ago enveloped him.
It was an intangible, formless, yet undeniably real spiritual fluctuation.
In his sea of consciousness, the initial ’droplet’ was long gone. In its place was a ’stream’—thin, yet incredibly stable—formed from the convergence of thousands upon thousands of droplets.
At a thought from Qin Feng, the ’stream’ of Mental Power, like an obedient little silver snake, darted, coiled, and danced under his conscious control, moving as effortlessly as a limb.
He tried to guide this stream of Mental Power toward the surging Sea of Spiritual Energy within his body.
A peculiar scene unfolded.
The moment the silver stream of Mental Power touched the tumultuous golden Spiritual Energy, there was no rejection at all. Instead, like long-lost lovers reuniting, they instantly and automatically merged.
The golden Spiritual Energy, as if it had found its backbone, spontaneously and with incredible obedience, wrapped around the silver stream. Following its lead, it circulated rapidly through his meridians with unimaginable efficiency and precision.
[Imperial Mental Power Control Basics (Initiate)]
[Proficiency: 1/100]
’Success!’
Qin Feng’s eyes snapped open, and a glint of light, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, flashed and vanished.
He had succeeded. In just one month, he had crossed the first and most difficult threshold for countless Sixth-level Martial Artists!
"This is the ’Mental Power-Spiritual Energy Aggregation Model.’"
Chu Qi, who had been watching over him the whole time, smiled in satisfaction.
"Mental Power and Spiritual Energy are fundamentally forces from the same source, just in different forms. Spiritual Energy will spontaneously entangle and aggregate with Mental Power, combining along the same path. This is an objective law etched into the foundation of the Cosmos, and it holds true in both Subspace and realspace."
"The core principle of what we call the Middle Three Levels Killing Technique—that is, the Fourth-level Killing Technique, Fifth Level Killing Technique, and Level 6 Killing Technique—is based on this law. It’s about using Mental Power as a guide to leverage Spiritual Energy, making it operate faster, more precisely, and more efficiently to unleash greater destructive power."
Chu Qi held up a finger and continued to explain, "The difference lies in the complexity. For example, the Fourth-level Killing Technique you’re about to learn usually has only one or a few fixed Spiritual Energy Flow patterns. A Fifth Level Killing Technique, however, might have more than ten flow patterns, which requires you to achieve ’One Heart, Ten Uses’ in the heat of battle. As for a Level 6 Killing Technique, its flow patterns can number in the hundreds, requiring ’One Heart, One Hundred Uses.’ The most prestigious competition in This Star Zone, the Starry Sky Cup, is a contest of skill in applying Killing Techniques of the sixth level and below."
"As for the Upper Three Levels Killing Technique above the sixth level—that is, the seventh, eighth, and ninth levels—they begin to deviate from this fundamental law and involve the use of higher-dimensional power. The most basic requirement is for your Mental Power intensity to reach 100. That’s a realm you can only touch after becoming a Planet-level Strongman."
Chu Qi clapped Qin Feng on the shoulder, his voice filled with admiration. "Qin Feng, congratulations. You’ve now successfully mastered the basics. To do it in one month... that speed is enough to prove you have an extremely high talent for Mental Power!"
Qin Feng slowly rose to his feet and gave a deep, solemn bow to his two seniors, Liang You and Chu Qi.
"Thank you both for your dedicated guidance this past month."
His gratitude was heartfelt.
For the past month, the two seniors had practically never left his side, holding nothing back as they imparted all their experience and insights.
He would never forget this debt of gratitude.
"Haha, no need to thank us. The Warband pays our salary!"