Chapter 18

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Chapter 18: Rising from the Bottom

For an entire year, Yun Ye devoted himself to improving the imaginative method and learning to cultivate.

He slept only six hours a day and spent the rest of his time tackling various challenges, squeezing out every bit of potential.

Yun Ye never imagined that after his Rebirth into the cultivation world, he would have to take the College Entrance Exam at the age of nine!

But there was no choice; if he didn’t strive in this world, he would never get ahead.

During this year, Yun Ye finally perfected the imaginative method to its current peak, achieving about 300% of the original cultivation efficiency, and he also dramatically reduced his practice time to half of what it used to be.

Now, Yun Ye only needed two hours a day to convert all the nutrients from his three meals into "Qi."

To be precise, it should be called life energy.

This life energy was not as mystical as Yun Ye had imagined. Its effects were simply better physical health and increased strength and speed, but it did not surpass that of an ordinary person.

Many people on Earth can easily do things that seem impossible to others, but the reason most do not understand is simply that ordinary people do not dedicate their lives to honing such skills.

For instance, some people can directly squeeze rice into a ball with their hands, pierce glass with flying nails, or slice open a soda can with playing cards; all these feats look impressive and incredible.

The Qi Cultivation Technique is similar. Even though there is a sensation of Qi, there are not many extraordinary feats one can achieve. Even compared to modern individuals, they are not opponents of those who spend their entire lives honing their skills.

But that is not the case now; there is hope for the future.

Yun Ye’s current cultivation efficiency is three times that of the past, causing his speed of cultivation to increase explosively.

His daily meals provide a total equivalent of approximately nine to ten portions of normal food, calculated from the Superior Food he consumes.

In his first year, one meal was D-level Superior Food, resulting in a total of five portions.

In other words, he was originally twice the speed of normal cultivation in his first year, and now with the imaginative method, it had directly surged to six times the efficiency.

Now, one year of his cultivation equals six years of the first year’s cultivation, making it incomparable.

Moreover, this only accounts for the D-level Superior Food; Yun Ye actually consumes an extra portion of C-level Superior Food every day, allowing for more nutrition intake, further increasing his cultivation speed.

So, in just one year, his cultivation level shot from the early foundation phase straight to the initial stage of Minor Achievement.

In the Minor Achievement stage, combined with Tiger Fist, Yun Ye could even strike a deep fist mark into a tree trunk with a single punch. To some extent, he was close to touching the limits of modern individuals.

However, at this level in the cultivation world, it was merely the beginning, far from the limits.

Ten years ago, the armored soldiers could easily knock down the buildings of Xiaoye Village, effortlessly sending individuals flying with a single blow. Their strength was indeed comparable to that of an army, and Yun Ye was still far from that level.

Once he reached the Minor Achievement level, Yun Ye’s cultivation faced more obstacles, and he quickly realized the constraints of his talent.

Although his efficiency was higher than before, his aptitude limited his ability to retain life energy, requiring twice the effort to break through his physical limits and continue expanding the range of Qi.

After some calculations, Yun Ye discovered that he would need at least two to three more years to reach Major Achievement.

This left him feeling somewhat discouraged; if reaching Major Achievement was this difficult, what about achieving perfection?

"It seems I have been too optimistic. With my current aptitude, Major Achievement is the limit; it’s completely impossible to reach perfection. Since that’s the case, I will go directly to the Awakening Hall to report and start attempting to awaken my Spiritual Roots. During the awakening period, I will cultivate the Qi Cultivation Technique to Major Achievement!"

Yun Ye got up and headed straight to the Awakening Hall.

The awakening of Spiritual Roots also comes with accompanying secret techniques that can significantly increase the success rate and make the awakening more controllable.

To learn the awakening secret technique, he must report to the Awakening Hall.

The reporting condition is Minor Achievement, and since he has genuinely reached this level, there is naturally no reason for him to be refused entry.

A year ago, Zhou Xian reported to the Awakening Hall through a teacher’s recommendation, taking a shortcut. He entered the hall in the later stage of foundation, allowing him to familiarize himself with the awakening secret technique a month in advance.

Yun Ye, lacking a teacher’s recommendation, could only go after reaching Minor Achievement.

…

The Awakening Hall occupied a huge area deeper within the school.

Basically, it was filled with wealthy individuals and geniuses.

Most of them were students who had reached the Fourth Exam or higher, accumulating many years of effort to finally enter the Awakening Hall at Minor Achievement. Of course, there were also some who entered the hall after the Second or Third Exam, but remained as "old students" who had not awakened their Spiritual Roots even after reaching the Fifth Exam.

Awakening the Spiritual Roots wasn’t guaranteed just because one reached Minor Achievement; it only provided a chance for awakening.

In reality, the deeper one’s cultivation, the higher the possibility of awakening.

If one reached Major Achievement, the chances of awakening were nearly 100%, and there would be no need for the awakening secret technique at all.

After entering the Awakening Hall, Yun Ye quickly found the reporting area, where a young man with a bright smile was in charge of the records. Upon seeing Yun Ye, his eyes lit up, immediately realizing that Yun Ye was only ten years old.

Achieving Minor Achievement at such a young age indeed offered a significant chance for awakening the Spiritual Roots!

He said kindly, "Junior Brother, are you here to register? I’m the recorder, Wang Ye. If I confirm that you have indeed reached Minor Achievement, I will fill in your information, and you can go right in."

“How do you confirm?” Yun Ye wrote.

"Um… We just need to clap hands," Wang Ye replied.

He didn’t expect that this new student had a throat issue, which was a huge disadvantage. High communication costs made learning challenging, setting him back compared to others.

Moreover, the Qi Cultivation Technique and awakening techniques were only of ordinary difficulty; Spiritual Laws were truly complex. A slight mistake could even endanger life, and someone who couldn’t communicate normally had a bleak future ahead.

Yun Ye raised his hand, signaling Wang Ye to clap.

He was already used to it and didn’t care about others’ stares. For others, it was a significant flaw, but for him, it allowed for calmer thinking and reduced the chances of making mistakes.

“Clap!”

As their hands met, Yun Ye felt a jolt throughout his body, and the life energy generated by his Qi suddenly flowed.

This surprised Yun Ye; after so many years of cultivation, he had never been able to control this life energy. All this time, it had only passively warmed his body and improved his physical qualities.

He had always thought that the so-called "Qi" merely made him aware of his life energy and couldn’t be used actively.

Meeting Wang Ye today clearly shattered that misconception.

Just because he couldn’t use it didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.

"You have indeed reached Minor Achievement, Junior Brother. After you fill in your information here, you can go inside."

Wang Ye withdrew his hand and pushed the notebook toward Yun Ye.

Name.

Age.

Realm.

Place of origin.

After filling in these simple details, Wang Ye took a glance and directly let Yun Ye in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…"

The Awakening Hall was bustling with people. Not long after entering, Yun Ye saw numerous students sparring, their voices rising in an uproar.

From the First Exam to the Fifth Exam, the later stages placed increasing emphasis on elective classes. Only those who had reached at least Minor Achievement could enter the Qi Hall. Continuing to enhance their specialization was too difficult, so it was far more effective to train their combat skills.

"Entering the Awakening Hall doesn’t mean much; awakening the Spiritual Roots is the true goal…"

If Yun Ye remembered correctly, while the Second Exam had only two or three hundred students, this year, there were already twenty-seven students who had reached Minor Achievement.

The numbers were only higher for the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Exams, never lower.

It was hardly surprising that over a hundred people occupied the entire Awakening Hall.

Although he had devised the imaginative method and gained a small advantage, it didn’t mean much in the Awakening Hall, leaving no room for arrogance.

However, regardless of everything, he had finally risen from the bottom and entered a higher level, which greatly encouraged him.