Chapter 7: An Fuqing
During dinner, Zhang Xiaolan inquired about Chen Chu's cultivation progress for the day. Even Chen Hu was a bit curious.
Since it was only the first day of study, and he had just learned the basic cultivation arts, Chen Chu gave only a brief response and then ended the conversation.
After dinner, Chen Chu took a shower and returned to his room. He sat on the bed, crossed his legs, and began meditating. As he closed his eyes and focused, an illusory lotus flower slowly emerged in the pitch-black darkness of his mind.
According to that post, the First-Grade Lotus Platform Meditation Art involved a continuous process of purifying and condensing spiritual force during meditation while visualizing this lotus flower. Condensing the scattered and ethereal spiritual force of an ordinary person into a real presence, capable of subtly influencing matter, was the crucial foundation for gathering transcendent energy into the body.
While the post didn’t explain the purpose of transcendent energy or why it was important to gather it into the body, it did mention that the school's teachers would inform them.
The lotus flower had twelve petals, and during the afternoon meditation class, Chen Chu had spent half an hour manifesting roughly half of the first petal. As he continued cultivating now, that petal continued to gradually become whole.
Phew!
After more than half an hour, Chen Chu slowly opened his eyes. His expression showed a bit of fatigue, but there was also satisfaction now that he had completely manifested a petal.
However, the proficiency only increased by 4 points this time, which was 1 point less than in the afternoon. Chen Chu wondered if this was due to the assistance of the meditation diagram during his first cultivation.
It didn’t really matter, though. At this rate, even with a 4-point increase per session, and with two cultivations a day, he estimated that he could break through in around ten more days. On top of that, it turned out that his Spirit attribute had increased by another 0.1 with this cultivation session.
Chen Chu then started to cultivate the Body Refining Art. Even though there was no assistance from the radiance of the Vitality Crystal, with the attributes page available, Chen Chu still keenly felt the faint flow of vitality within his body as he practiced. He used his spiritual force to control the flow of vitality, reinforcing his physique imperceptibly wherever it passed.
The first cycle took thirty-five minutes. When he practiced it again, it only took thirty minutes, and he gained two proficiency points.
However, this time, only the Physique attribute increased by 0.1, which was half of the improvement from when he had first circulated his vitality in the afternoon.
After practicing it twice, Chen Chu couldn't go on. He felt utterly exhausted, with both physical and mental fatigue taking a toll on him.
His physique was still too weak; he couldn't even handle two cycles of vitality circulation. With a sigh, Chen Chu drank some hot water and then lay down on the bed, drifting into a deep sleep.
He was highly motivated when it came to cultivation methods that could bring about transcendent strength. Even if it was a bit slow at the beginning due to his physique, it didn't matter. He had the attributes page to fix proficiency, and he believed that with effort, there would be rewards.
If it weren't for the fact that it consumed a lot of physical and mental energy and required a long recovery afterward, he would have wished to cultivate twenty-four hours a day.
The next day, as soon as Chen Chu walked into the classroom, he saw everyone discussing cultivation matters.
Some were asking each other about how many petals they had visualized during meditation, while others were seeking advice on how to increase their efficiency and endurance while practicing the Body Refining Art. It seemed like everyone found cultivation challenging.
There were also a few girls who, judging from their complaints, seemed ready to give up cultivation. After each session, their bodies ached all over, and they felt exhausted. They even experienced dizziness and nausea after meditation, indicating a lack of inherent talent for cultivation.
Chen Chu took his seat, and Xia Youhui leaned over from the seat in front, asking, "Ah Chu, how's your progress with meditation and the Body Refining Art?"
"Doing okay," Chen Chu replied casually.
Xia Youhui, not giving up, pressed on, "Okay, but how much progress is 'okay'?"
"Guess."
"We're good buddies, and you're making me guess. It's just cultivation progress," Xia Youhui said, feigning a look of deep disappointment.
"You didn't say either, did you? How about you tell me first where you're at in your cultivation?" Chen Chu remained unfazed.
"There's nothing to hide," Xia Youhui modestly replied. "My talent is quite ordinary. I've only visualized up to the third petal during meditation, and I can barely do two cycles of the Body Refining Art in half an hour. I only practiced six times last night, and I felt so tired that I went straight to sleep."
...Chen Chu suddenly didn't feel like talking to this guy anymore.
Doing two cycles of the Body Refining Art in half an hour, equivalent to fifteen minutes per session, allowed him to cultivate six times in one go. On top of that, his meditation was twice as fast as Chen Chu’s.
Curious, Xia Youhui asked, "Ah Chu, what about you?"
"Much worse than you. I've only visualized the first petal during meditation, and I can circulate vitality for one rotation in thirty minutes," Chen Chu admitted. Considering Xia Youhui’s progress, there didn’t seem to be a point in hiding anything.
Xia Youhui, however, was slightly taken aback. "Wait a minute, Ah Chu, I remember yesterday it took you almost an hour to barely complete one rotation, right?"
"I guess I was a bit more unfamiliar with the process during the first cultivation. I became more proficient during the second session in the evening," Chen Chu casually replied.
"...Is that so?" Xia Youhui nodded thoughtfully.
The morning academic classes passed in the blink of an eye. At noon, Chen Chu carried his cafeteria meal over to a corner. Before he could start eating, Xia Youhui excitedly came over.
"Ah Chu, the rankings for the entire freshman class are out! Guess what rank our class monitor, Lin Xue, got?"
"This has rankings too?" Chen Chu was a bit puzzled. He had heard about rankings for university campus beauties and such, but he didn't expect there would be rankings for new students in high school, especially those who were just starting to cultivate.
"Ah Chu, don't underestimate this ranking." Xia Youhui shook his head. "In our school, there are over 1800 new students this year, and everyone is cultivating the Foundational Arts. Those who can stand out are all geniuses.
"And the ranking only records the top one hundred, so anyone who makes it onto the list is no ordinary person," he added. "An Fuqing from Class One has already visualized eleven petals during meditation, and she can circulate vitality for seven cycles within half an hour. She's currently ranked first. I feel like in less than two days, she'll be the first to successfully build a foundation."
"...Well, I'm a waste." Chen Chu didn't know what to say upon hearing about such exaggerated progress. He could barely complete one cycle in half an hour, while the other person could do seven in the same time and had even reached the point of manifesting eleven petals with the Lotus Platform Meditation Art.
The gap was so vast that Chen Chu couldn't even muster jealousy at this point.
Seeing Chen Chu silent, Xia Youhui thought he might be disheartened and quickly comforted him. "Ah Chu, don't be discouraged. This is just the foundational stage. The speed of cultivating the Foundational Arts doesn't mean they have a high affinity with true martial arts.
"Even if we’re ten days or half a month slower in building our foundation this time, as long as we have a high affinity with the arts we cultivate, we can catch up quickly."
"True martial arts also have affinity?" Chen Chu was somewhat surprised.
Xia Youhui cleared his throat. " Cough ... I'm not very familiar with this either. My older brother mentioned it to me before. Anyway, you’re not going to guess what rank Lin Xue is!" Xia Youhui burst into laughter before Chen Chu could even respond. "Lin Xue is only 67th, 67th! That's hilarious."
"That woman was so arrogant yesterday. I thought her talent was extraordinary, but turns out she's only 67th. Hahaha... Ah Chu, you know, I laughed for a long time when I saw that ranking."
Cough!
Chen Chu glanced at the girl who was walking past and suddenly stopped behind Xia Youhui, especially noting the increasingly cold expression on her face. He skillfully changed the topic.
"Xia Youhui, how do you know all this? Isn't cultivation progress something only the individuals themselves would know? And who's responsible for ranking them?" he asked, probing for more information.
"You don't know?" Xia Youhui was surprised. "Students report their progress, and that information gets compiled into a list, which is posted on the school’s official website. Anyone who pays attention to the website would know this. It’s not accurate, and it changes every day, but it still reflects our innate talent. A lot of the teachers are paying attention to this."
Xia Youhui suddenly shrank his neck in. "Strange, why do I feel a bit cold..."