Chapter 28
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Hearing that question, Duan Li remembered how Wang Guozhi's expression became shocked when the latter heard he had practiced 89 stances with 416 combinations in total to the adept level.
Thus, not wanting to become a high profile student, Duan Li decided to ask back first in order to get a benchmark so he could answer something lower than that.
"This.. How about brother Shen Lu told me first how much have you learnt?.. I'm embarassed because I really haven't learn much.. " he said.
Shen Lu was all smiles as Duan Li said those. In his mind, eventhough Duan Li had already begun to breath in spiritual Qi using his pores and he was still stuck at the seven apertures, at least, he still holds the advantage in martial prowess.
Naturally, that would have been the case since he was the senior while Duan Li was just a junior, newly enrolled at that. Thus, no matter how long Duan Li had trained under someone, their means couldn't possibly outstrip the ability of the academy in nurturing talent.
"I have learnt a total of 32 stances with 211 possible combinations! 15 attacking stances, 7 defensive stances and 10 supportive stances! I've mastered roughly twenty percent of them to the adept level, fifty percent to novice and 30 percent still beginner!"
Shen Lu stated all of those as he sat while crossing his arms together and his nose pointing up to the sky.
He was feeling quite proud of himself.
Pu!
Duan Li chocked on his coffee.
"Eh? Are you okay? What happened?" said Shen Lu as he was startled that Duan Li had suddenly chocked on himself just as he was telling on how great he is.
Could it be that my martial prowess was so high that he chocked on himself?
That has to be it!
Hais.. if I had known he would be like this beforehand, I would've tone it down a little bit.
Poor little junior..
Chocked by his own coffee..
However, what he didn't realize was that Duan Li had chocked himself because he was startled that Shen Lu had learnt so.. little!
Was practicing stances that hard?
You just have to follow it properly right?
"T-that's incredible..! I.. perhaps I only learn a few stances and isn't worth a mention.. I'm too embarrased to say it.. so I hope brother Shen Lu could understand.." said Duan Li awkwardly, trying his best to sound demotivated so that She Lu wouldn't pry any further.
"Hais.. that's fine.. I will teach you some if I have the time next time, so don't feel too down.."
Shen Lu felt pity towards Duan Li as he patted on his shoulder, and from the looks of it, he seemed to be quite sincere as well. But hearing that he was going to teach him some moves..
Should he have just told the truth..?
Ahem!
Duan Li cleared his throat as he tried to change the topic.
"By the way, how long would it take to graduate from the academy?"
"Ahh, that actually depends.. the genius and talented people usually graduated after studying for 8 years. While the average students graduate on their twelfth year." he answered as he cupped his chin.
He then explained further that in the academy, there are three types of students. The junior, who are all at the Qi Condensation realm, the Sophomore who are at the Foundation establishment realm and the senior, who are at the core formation realm.
Students would then graduate after reaching the golden core formation realm.
Thus, the title of seniority in the academy isn't according to one's age or how long they have been staying in the academy for, but instead, the student's realm itself.
In fact, it was quite common for some sophomores to be younger in age than their junior students counterpart.
Hearing this, Duan Li's brows creased together. He didn't expect that it would take at least 8 years to graduate. Thus, he checked his memories and it is indeed as so.
However by that time, if according to the original timeline, they would already be facing the end times and doomed to an inevitable end by the sun dragon.
If he remembered it correctly, he had managed to reach the early stage of the immortal ascension realm on the sixth year, and reached the pinnacle stage on the eight year.
Now, with the help from the mysterious pearl, he conjectured that he should be able to reach the immortal ascension realm faster than before.
In addition, with his photographic memories to cut studying time by a whole lot, his speed of amassing knowledge should be at least more than ten times!
Furthermore, with his memories of being able to remember how it feels like to tide through each realm, especially the immortal ascension realm and its agonizing painful procedure, breaking through bottlenecks in the lower realm should be like a breeze to him now.
However, he still felt that him alone being overpowered wouldn't be enough!
The despair he experienced upon the might of the colossal sun dragon was deep, even if there were a thousand of him at the same time, it would still be impossible to beat it.
After all, a single person could only do so much.
Thus, he needed to find ways to boost up everyone's battle prowess as well as derive a counter measure against the sun dragon.
The nine hermit kings or the so called abominations?
He reckoned that in this timeline, he would be able to whack them casually with a flip of his palm.
Especially that Crastesauros, Duan Li's heart seethed with rage everytime he remembered how the empire fell and everyone had died including his mother because of it.
He must make sure to torment that crab for all eternity thoroughly next time.
Crack!
The spoon broke as he got a little bit agitated.
"Eh? What got you so worked up?" asked Shen Lu besides him.
As someone from the foundation establisment realm, he could easily see that something had caused Duan Li to suddenly flare up in rage.
Hearing this, Duan Li recomposed himself as he answered "Its nothing.. I just remembered something from the past.."
"..." Shen Lu cupped his chin in contemplation as he threw a side glance towards Duan Li who went to the cafeteria lady to get a new spoon.
He could see Duan Li bowing his head repeatedly as he apologized in embarassment to the angry lady for breaking the spoon.
"Perhaps the emperor that he served in the past before really did got killed by an immortal unjustly.. hais.." said Shen Lu inwardly as he shook his head.
What a man with history!
...
After the breakfast, Duan Li parted ways with Shen Lu as the later would have a lecture soon. Duan Li hadn't yet to register in any class modules as he was currently in a special provisions by the principal.
As of now, he had roughly read 60 percent of the manual book he was holding. In theory, he could already practice the breathing method with just the insights from his memories alone.
However, because he wanted it to be perfect, he chose to finish the whole book before trying to practice it. Going to the outdoor square, Duan Li could see some students playing football on the field while some girls cheered on them by the side.
Scanning his surroundings, Duan Li saw a suitable spot to read under the shades of a tree located on a slightly hilly surface facing the football field.
As he sat down and leaned his back against the tree trunk, a thought came up to his mind.
"If this was the me before.. I would have definitely sleep soundly under the shades of this tree.. whatnot with this cool breeze from the wind.. " he said as he found the place to be quite comfortable.
However, now that he is a changed man, he shook his head with a smile as he opened the book to continue reading the manual from where he previously left off.
...
After roughly an hour, he managed to read and memorized every single sentence, description, details, diagrams and illustrations inside the manual.
Just as he was about to try practicing it, the blue jade slip inside his pocket that was given to him by the principal previously had suddenly glowed a bit before he could hear someone talking from it.
"Hello.. hello boy.. can you hear me?"
This voice seemed to belong to senior teacher Wang Guozhi. Holding the blue jade slip on his right hand, he brought it close to his ear as he replied;
"Hello.. senior teacher Wang Guozhi?" he said.
"Aha boy! Where are you now? I'm currently up in the air above the academy, just tell me where you are and I will arrive in a jiffy!" replied Wang Guozhi.
"Hmm.. I'm currently below the shades of a tree on top of the hill facing right in front of the football field at the square.." answered Duan Li as he lifted his head to look at the sky trying to spot Wang Guozhi.
"Ahh so its around that area I see. Okay, wait for a moment!"
He closed the connection as he bolted down from the sky.
Pshewww!
...
Bam!
Wang Guozhi landed on the ground a little rough, creating a dent on it.
Some girls who were watching the football before noticed the arrival of Wang Guozhi as they hushed up, whispering between each other.
"Hey, isn't that senior teacher Wang Guozhi? What is he doing up there?" said one of the girls curiously.
"It seems that he is meeting that young man.. I can't see his face clearly.."
"I just used my peering skills to magnify my sight, here take a look of his image I transferred into the jade slip!" said another as she handed down a yellow jade slip.
Wongg!
Duan Li's face emerged from the jade slip.
"Ohh? We haven't seen this guy before.. is he a junior?"
"Mmm probably.. but it seems like I saw his face from somewhere this morning.."
"En! Me too.. "
...
"Senior teacher Wang Guozhi!" greeted Duan Li as he bowed.
"Ahahahaha there is no need to be so formal! Let's just sit here shall we?" said Wang Guozhi as they both sat below the shades of the tree.
Noticing the book on the ground besides Duan Li, Wang Guozhi nodded in satisfaction.
"Very good! It seems that you are very diligent in your study! Now tell me, what have you learned so far?" he asked as he crossed his arms, curious about this enigmatic young man in front of him that would eventually become the pillar for the whole Tian continent.
"En! So last night.. " Duan Li began to retell the summary of what he had studied.
Wang Guozhi's face was all smiles before, but as he listened to Duan Li, his expression gradually becoming blank. Next, that blank expression was slowly replaced to that of an excitement!
"So, you are saying that the breathing method would be more efficient if one had already opened the Lingxu acupoints and let the spiritual Qi travel from the Xuanji to the Zhongji acupoints directly instead of circulating it through the Huangshu acupoints?" Wang Guozhi cupped his chin as he contemplated this.
"En!" nodded Duan Li.
What Duan Li had mentioned before was how the breathing method should be changed accordingly to adapt the increase in each level of a stage which was entirely a new outlook to him.
As a senior teacher who had vast experience in the path of being a cultivator, he naturally knew the method to adjust one's breathing method to compensate the change advancing through the stages.
Just that, the things he had learnt before was changes for every stages only. For example, his breathing method should be changed slightly when he advanced from the early stage to the middle stage.
Yet, Duan Li had thought of a way to change this breathing method not for every stage in a realm, but for every LEVEL in the realm.
What does this mean?
It means that the breathing method could be changed ten times for every realm!
Furthermore, this change isn't just a small change at that.
Imagine, for every change in breathing method on every stage in a realm, which would be a total of four changes from early to middle to late to pinnacle stage, had already increased the rate of absorption of spiritual Qi by 15 percent for each change.
However now, according to Duan Li, every change in every level would increase the absorption of spiritual Qi by 10 percent!
As a result, if the previous four changes amounted to a total of 60 percent increase in a single realm by the time one reached the pinnacle stage, this time, the total would be 100 percent increase!
A whopping increase of 40 percent more efficiency than the traditional method is an extremely large gap!
To make an analogy, if by 60 percent increase you could flood a village under a dam in ten minutes, then, with a 40 percent more increase, you could flood the village within 6 minutes!
The time needed to recuperate one's spiritual Qi would be vastly shorter using this method!
How incredible!
What a genius!
"Y-you.. how did you learn about this?" asked Wang Guozhi as he gulped his saliva, feeling really impressed with Duan Li.
He had only told the other party yesterday to skim through the books casually. Yet, not only that it seemed for him to have read every single pages, he had also made some modifications to the breathing method!
"Umm.. because its within my memories of the original timeline.. " replied Duan Li slowly.
In actuality, even his future self on that timeline had only 60 percent increase efficiency for every realm in absorbing spiritual Qi. But because he was already at the immortal ascension realm, the rate at which he absorbed spiritual Qi was just heaven-defying.
For those that were still in the nascent soul realm, they wouldn't be able to notice that it was actually nothing special at all and was just because of the difference in between realm.
Thus, remembering that Duan Li was a true immortal that he himself had witnessed. The earth-shattering battle prowess his future self held in that state, is extremely domineering! Therefore, he chose to immediately trust what Duan Li had told him.
Not wasting time any further, Wang Guozhi sat down cross-legged on the ground as he drove his spiritual Qi according to what Duan Li had just said while shutting his eyes to concentrate.
Right now, he was at the fourth level of the nascent soul realm, which is at the beginning of the middle-stage and had already increased his spiritual Qi absorption by 15 percent after advancing from the early stage.
Kacha!
Kacha!
Kacha!
Very quickly, the aura of Wang Guozhi rose to its peak as a series of acupoints were rammed simultaneously inside his body.
BOOM!
His aura reached the pinnacle as he felt his spiritual Qi flow inside his body becoming more fluid by about 10 percent!
Its true!
He opened his eyes as it shone with extreme excitement!
Unable to contain himself, he jumped up and shook Duan Li's body repeatedly.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Boy! You are a true genius!"
Duan Li's face turned red as it was the first time that he got complimented by another in such a happy state.
He smiled as he clenched his fist.
"I will help everyone to become stronger.. sun dragon.. just you wait!"
...
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Hearing that question, Duan Li remembered how Wang Guozhi's expression became shocked when the latter heard he had practiced 89 stances with 416 combinations in total to the adept level.
Thus, not wanting to become a high profile student, Duan Li decided to ask back first in order to get a benchmark so he could answer something lower than that.
"This.. How about brother Shen Lu told me first how much have you learnt?.. I'm embarassed because I really haven't learn much.. " he said.
Shen Lu was all smiles as Duan Li said those. In his mind, eventhough Duan Li had already begun to breath in spiritual Qi using his pores and he was still stuck at the seven apertures, at least, he still holds the advantage in martial prowess.
Naturally, that would have been the case since he was the senior while Duan Li was just a junior, newly enrolled at that. Thus, no matter how long Duan Li had trained under someone, their means couldn't possibly outstrip the ability of the academy in nurturing talent.
"I have learnt a total of 32 stances with 211 possible combinations! 15 attacking stances, 7 defensive stances and 10 supportive stances! I've mastered roughly twenty percent of them to the adept level, fifty percent to novice and 30 percent still beginner!"
Shen Lu stated all of those as he sat while crossing his arms together and his nose pointing up to the sky.
He was feeling quite proud of himself.
Pu!
Duan Li chocked on his coffee.
"Eh? Are you okay? What happened?" said Shen Lu as he was startled that Duan Li had suddenly chocked on himself just as he was telling on how great he is.
Could it be that my martial prowess was so high that he chocked on himself?
That has to be it!
Hais.. if I had known he would be like this beforehand, I would've tone it down a little bit.
Poor little junior..
Chocked by his own coffee..
However, what he didn't realize was that Duan Li had chocked himself because he was startled that Shen Lu had learnt so.. little!
Was practicing stances that hard?
You just have to follow it properly right?
"T-that's incredible..! I.. perhaps I only learn a few stances and isn't worth a mention.. I'm too embarrased to say it.. so I hope brother Shen Lu could understand.." said Duan Li awkwardly, trying his best to sound demotivated so that She Lu wouldn't pry any further.
"Hais.. that's fine.. I will teach you some if I have the time next time, so don't feel too down.."
Shen Lu felt pity towards Duan Li as he patted on his shoulder, and from the looks of it, he seemed to be quite sincere as well. But hearing that he was going to teach him some moves..
Should he have just told the truth..?
Ahem!
Duan Li cleared his throat as he tried to change the topic.
"By the way, how long would it take to graduate from the academy?"
"Ahh, that actually depends.. the genius and talented people usually graduated after studying for 8 years. While the average students graduate on their twelfth year." he answered as he cupped his chin.
He then explained further that in the academy, there are three types of students. The junior, who are all at the Qi Condensation realm, the Sophomore who are at the Foundation establishment realm and the senior, who are at the core formation realm.
Students would then graduate after reaching the golden core formation realm.
Thus, the title of seniority in the academy isn't according to one's age or how long they have been staying in the academy for, but instead, the student's realm itself.
In fact, it was quite common for some sophomores to be younger in age than their junior students counterpart.
Hearing this, Duan Li's brows creased together. He didn't expect that it would take at least 8 years to graduate. Thus, he checked his memories and it is indeed as so.
However by that time, if according to the original timeline, they would already be facing the end times and doomed to an inevitable end by the sun dragon.
If he remembered it correctly, he had managed to reach the early stage of the immortal ascension realm on the sixth year, and reached the pinnacle stage on the eight year.
Now, with the help from the mysterious pearl, he conjectured that he should be able to reach the immortal ascension realm faster than before.
In addition, with his photographic memories to cut studying time by a whole lot, his speed of amassing knowledge should be at least more than ten times!
Furthermore, with his memories of being able to remember how it feels like to tide through each realm, especially the immortal ascension realm and its agonizing painful procedure, breaking through bottlenecks in the lower realm should be like a breeze to him now.
However, he still felt that him alone being overpowered wouldn't be enough!
The despair he experienced upon the might of the colossal sun dragon was deep, even if there were a thousand of him at the same time, it would still be impossible to beat it.
After all, a single person could only do so much.
Thus, he needed to find ways to boost up everyone's battle prowess as well as derive a counter measure against the sun dragon.
The nine hermit kings or the so called abominations?
He reckoned that in this timeline, he would be able to whack them casually with a flip of his palm.
Especially that Crastesauros, Duan Li's heart seethed with rage everytime he remembered how the empire fell and everyone had died including his mother because of it.
He must make sure to torment that crab for all eternity thoroughly next time.
Crack!
The spoon broke as he got a little bit agitated.
"Eh? What got you so worked up?" asked Shen Lu besides him.
As someone from the foundation establisment realm, he could easily see that something had caused Duan Li to suddenly flare up in rage.
Hearing this, Duan Li recomposed himself as he answered "Its nothing.. I just remembered something from the past.."
"..." Shen Lu cupped his chin in contemplation as he threw a side glance towards Duan Li who went to the cafeteria lady to get a new spoon.
He could see Duan Li bowing his head repeatedly as he apologized in embarassment to the angry lady for breaking the spoon.
"Perhaps the emperor that he served in the past before really did got killed by an immortal unjustly.. hais.." said Shen Lu inwardly as he shook his head.
What a man with history!
...
After the breakfast, Duan Li parted ways with Shen Lu as the later would have a lecture soon. Duan Li hadn't yet to register in any class modules as he was currently in a special provisions by the principal.
As of now, he had roughly read 60 percent of the manual book he was holding. In theory, he could already practice the breathing method with just the insights from his memories alone.
However, because he wanted it to be perfect, he chose to finish the whole book before trying to practice it. Going to the outdoor square, Duan Li could see some students playing football on the field while some girls cheered on them by the side.
Scanning his surroundings, Duan Li saw a suitable spot to read under the shades of a tree located on a slightly hilly surface facing the football field.
As he sat down and leaned his back against the tree trunk, a thought came up to his mind.
"If this was the me before.. I would have definitely sleep soundly under the shades of this tree.. whatnot with this cool breeze from the wind.. " he said as he found the place to be quite comfortable.
However, now that he is a changed man, he shook his head with a smile as he opened the book to continue reading the manual from where he previously left off.
...
After roughly an hour, he managed to read and memorized every single sentence, description, details, diagrams and illustrations inside the manual.
Just as he was about to try practicing it, the blue jade slip inside his pocket that was given to him by the principal previously had suddenly glowed a bit before he could hear someone talking from it.
"Hello.. hello boy.. can you hear me?"
This voice seemed to belong to senior teacher Wang Guozhi. Holding the blue jade slip on his right hand, he brought it close to his ear as he replied;
"Hello.. senior teacher Wang Guozhi?" he said.
"Aha boy! Where are you now? I'm currently up in the air above the academy, just tell me where you are and I will arrive in a jiffy!" replied Wang Guozhi.
"Hmm.. I'm currently below the shades of a tree on top of the hill facing right in front of the football field at the square.." answered Duan Li as he lifted his head to look at the sky trying to spot Wang Guozhi.
"Ahh so its around that area I see. Okay, wait for a moment!"
He closed the connection as he bolted down from the sky.
Pshewww!
...
Bam!
Wang Guozhi landed on the ground a little rough, creating a dent on it.
Some girls who were watching the football before noticed the arrival of Wang Guozhi as they hushed up, whispering between each other.
"Hey, isn't that senior teacher Wang Guozhi? What is he doing up there?" said one of the girls curiously.
"It seems that he is meeting that young man.. I can't see his face clearly.."
"I just used my peering skills to magnify my sight, here take a look of his image I transferred into the jade slip!" said another as she handed down a yellow jade slip.
Wongg!
Duan Li's face emerged from the jade slip.
"Ohh? We haven't seen this guy before.. is he a junior?"
"Mmm probably.. but it seems like I saw his face from somewhere this morning.."
"En! Me too.. "
...
"Senior teacher Wang Guozhi!" greeted Duan Li as he bowed.
"Ahahahaha there is no need to be so formal! Let's just sit here shall we?" said Wang Guozhi as they both sat below the shades of the tree.
Noticing the book on the ground besides Duan Li, Wang Guozhi nodded in satisfaction.
"Very good! It seems that you are very diligent in your study! Now tell me, what have you learned so far?" he asked as he crossed his arms, curious about this enigmatic young man in front of him that would eventually become the pillar for the whole Tian continent.
"En! So last night.. " Duan Li began to retell the summary of what he had studied.
Wang Guozhi's face was all smiles before, but as he listened to Duan Li, his expression gradually becoming blank. Next, that blank expression was slowly replaced to that of an excitement!
"So, you are saying that the breathing method would be more efficient if one had already opened the Lingxu acupoints and let the spiritual Qi travel from the Xuanji to the Zhongji acupoints directly instead of circulating it through the Huangshu acupoints?" Wang Guozhi cupped his chin as he contemplated this.
"En!" nodded Duan Li.
What Duan Li had mentioned before was how the breathing method should be changed accordingly to adapt the increase in each level of a stage which was entirely a new outlook to him.
As a senior teacher who had vast experience in the path of being a cultivator, he naturally knew the method to adjust one's breathing method to compensate the change advancing through the stages.
Just that, the things he had learnt before was changes for every stages only. For example, his breathing method should be changed slightly when he advanced from the early stage to the middle stage.
Yet, Duan Li had thought of a way to change this breathing method not for every stage in a realm, but for every LEVEL in the realm.
What does this mean?
It means that the breathing method could be changed ten times for every realm!
Furthermore, this change isn't just a small change at that.
Imagine, for every change in breathing method on every stage in a realm, which would be a total of four changes from early to middle to late to pinnacle stage, had already increased the rate of absorption of spiritual Qi by 15 percent for each change.
However now, according to Duan Li, every change in every level would increase the absorption of spiritual Qi by 10 percent!
As a result, if the previous four changes amounted to a total of 60 percent increase in a single realm by the time one reached the pinnacle stage, this time, the total would be 100 percent increase!
A whopping increase of 40 percent more efficiency than the traditional method is an extremely large gap!
To make an analogy, if by 60 percent increase you could flood a village under a dam in ten minutes, then, with a 40 percent more increase, you could flood the village within 6 minutes!
The time needed to recuperate one's spiritual Qi would be vastly shorter using this method!
How incredible!
What a genius!
"Y-you.. how did you learn about this?" asked Wang Guozhi as he gulped his saliva, feeling really impressed with Duan Li.
He had only told the other party yesterday to skim through the books casually. Yet, not only that it seemed for him to have read every single pages, he had also made some modifications to the breathing method!
"Umm.. because its within my memories of the original timeline.. " replied Duan Li slowly.
In actuality, even his future self on that timeline had only 60 percent increase efficiency for every realm in absorbing spiritual Qi. But because he was already at the immortal ascension realm, the rate at which he absorbed spiritual Qi was just heaven-defying.
For those that were still in the nascent soul realm, they wouldn't be able to notice that it was actually nothing special at all and was just because of the difference in between realm.
Thus, remembering that Duan Li was a true immortal that he himself had witnessed. The earth-shattering battle prowess his future self held in that state, is extremely domineering! Therefore, he chose to immediately trust what Duan Li had told him.
Not wasting time any further, Wang Guozhi sat down cross-legged on the ground as he drove his spiritual Qi according to what Duan Li had just said while shutting his eyes to concentrate.
Right now, he was at the fourth level of the nascent soul realm, which is at the beginning of the middle-stage and had already increased his spiritual Qi absorption by 15 percent after advancing from the early stage.
Kacha!
Kacha!
Kacha!
Very quickly, the aura of Wang Guozhi rose to its peak as a series of acupoints were rammed simultaneously inside his body.
BOOM!
His aura reached the pinnacle as he felt his spiritual Qi flow inside his body becoming more fluid by about 10 percent!
Its true!
He opened his eyes as it shone with extreme excitement!
Unable to contain himself, he jumped up and shook Duan Li's body repeatedly.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Boy! You are a true genius!"
Duan Li's face turned red as it was the first time that he got complimented by another in such a happy state.
He smiled as he clenched his fist.
"I will help everyone to become stronger.. sun dragon.. just you wait!"
...
Hearing that question, Duan Li remembered how Wang Guozhi's expression became shocked when the latter heard he had practiced 89 stances with 416 combinations in total to the adept level. Thus, not wanting to become a high profile student, Duan Li decided to ask back first in order to get a benchmark so he could answer something lower than that. "This.. How about brother Shen Lu told me first how much have you learnt?.. I'm embarassed because I really haven't learn much.. " he said. Shen Lu was all smiles as Duan Li said those. In his mind, eventhough Duan Li had already begun to breath in spiritual Qi using his pores and he was still stuck at the seven apertures, at least, he still holds the advantage in martial prowess. Naturally, that would have been the case since he was the senior while Duan Li was just a junior, newly enrolled at that. Thus, no matter how long Duan Li had trained under someone, their means couldn't possibly outstrip the ability of the academy in nurturing talent. "I have learnt a total of 32 stances with 211 possible combinations! 15 attacking stances, 7 defensive stances and 10 supportive stances! I've mastered roughly twenty percent of them to the adept level, fifty percent to novice and 30 percent still beginner!" Shen Lu stated all of those as he sat while crossing his arms together and his nose pointing up to the sky. He was feeling quite proud of himself. Pu! Duan Li chocked on his coffee. "Eh? Are you okay? What happened?" said Shen Lu as he was startled that Duan Li had suddenly chocked on himself just as he was telling on how great he is. Could it be that my martial prowess was so high that he chocked on himself? That has to be it! Hais.. if I had known he would be like this beforehand, I would've tone it down a little bit. Poor little junior.. Chocked by his own coffee.. However, what he didn't realize was that Duan Li had chocked himself because he was startled that Shen Lu had learnt so.. little! Was practicing stances that hard? You just have to follow it properly right? "T-that's incredible..! I.. perhaps I only learn a few stances and isn't worth a mention.. I'm too embarrased to say it.. so I hope brother Shen Lu could understand.." said Duan Li awkwardly, trying his best to sound demotivated so that She Lu wouldn't pry any further. "Hais.. that's fine.. I will teach you some if I have the time next time, so don't feel too down.." Shen Lu felt pity towards Duan Li as he patted on his shoulder, and from the looks of it, he seemed to be quite sincere as well. But hearing that he was going to teach him some moves.. Should he have just told the truth..? Ahem! Duan Li cleared his throat as he tried to change the topic. "By the way, how long would it take to graduate from the academy?" "Ahh, that actually depends.. the genius and talented people usually graduated after studying for 8 years. While the average students graduate on their twelfth year." he answered as he cupped his chin. He then explained further that in the academy, there are three types of students. The junior, who are all at the Qi Condensation realm, the Sophomore who are at the Foundation establishment realm and the senior, who are at the core formation realm. Students would then graduate after reaching the golden core formation realm. Thus, the title of seniority in the academy isn't according to one's age or how long they have been staying in the academy for, but instead, the student's realm itself. In fact, it was quite common for some sophomores to be younger in age than their junior students counterpart. Hearing this, Duan Li's brows creased together. He didn't expect that it would take at least 8 years to graduate. Thus, he checked his memories and it is indeed as so. However by that time, if according to the original timeline, they would already be facing the end times and doomed to an inevitable end by the sun dragon. If he remembered it correctly, he had managed to reach the early stage of the immortal ascension realm on the sixth year, and reached the pinnacle stage on the eight year. Now, with the help from the mysterious pearl, he conjectured that he should be able to reach the immortal ascension realm faster than before. In addition, with his photographic memories to cut studying time by a whole lot, his speed of amassing knowledge should be at least more than ten times! Furthermore, with his memories of being able to remember how it feels like to tide through each realm, especially the immortal ascension realm and its agonizing painful procedure, breaking through bottlenecks in the lower realm should be like a breeze to him now. However, he still felt that him alone being overpowered wouldn't be enough! The despair he experienced upon the might of the colossal sun dragon was deep, even if there were a thousand of him at the same time, it would still be impossible to beat it. After all, a single person could only do so much. Thus, he needed to find ways to boost up everyone's battle prowess as well as derive a counter measure against the sun dragon. The nine hermit kings or the so called abominations? He reckoned that in this timeline, he would be able to whack them casually with a flip of his palm. Especially that Crastesauros, Duan Li's heart seethed with rage everytime he remembered how the empire fell and everyone had died including his mother because of it. He must make sure to torment that crab for all eternity thoroughly next time. Crack! The spoon broke as he got a little bit agitated. "Eh? What got you so worked up?" asked Shen Lu besides him. As someone from the foundation establisment realm, he could easily see that something had caused Duan Li to suddenly flare up in rage. Hearing this, Duan Li recomposed himself as he answered "Its nothing.. I just remembered something from the past.." "..." Shen Lu cupped his chin in contemplation as he threw a side glance towards Duan Li who went to the cafeteria lady to get a new spoon. He could see Duan Li bowing his head repeatedly as he apologized in embarassment to the angry lady for breaking the spoon. "Perhaps the emperor that he served in the past before really did got killed by an immortal unjustly.. hais.." said Shen Lu inwardly as he shook his head. What a man with history! ... After the breakfast, Duan Li parted ways with Shen Lu as the later would have a lecture soon. Duan Li hadn't yet to register in any class modules as he was currently in a special provisions by the principal. As of now, he had roughly read 60 percent of the manual book he was holding. In theory, he could already practice the breathing method with just the insights from his memories alone. However, because he wanted it to be perfect, he chose to finish the whole book before trying to practice it. Going to the outdoor square, Duan Li could see some students playing football on the field while some girls cheered on them by the side. Scanning his surroundings, Duan Li saw a suitable spot to read under the shades of a tree located on a slightly hilly surface facing the football field. As he sat down and leaned his back against the tree trunk, a thought came up to his mind. "If this was the me before.. I would have definitely sleep soundly under the shades of this tree.. whatnot with this cool breeze from the wind.. " he said as he found the place to be quite comfortable. However, now that he is a changed man, he shook his head with a smile as he opened the book to continue reading the manual from where he previously left off. ... After roughly an hour, he managed to read and memorized every single sentence, description, details, diagrams and illustrations inside the manual. Just as he was about to try practicing it, the blue jade slip inside his pocket that was given to him by the principal previously had suddenly glowed a bit before he could hear someone talking from it. "Hello.. hello boy.. can you hear me?" This voice seemed to belong to senior teacher Wang Guozhi. Holding the blue jade slip on his right hand, he brought it close to his ear as he replied; "Hello.. senior teacher Wang Guozhi?" he said. "Aha boy! Where are you now? I'm currently up in the air above the academy, just tell me where you are and I will arrive in a jiffy!" replied Wang Guozhi. "Hmm.. I'm currently below the shades of a tree on top of the hill facing right in front of the football field at the square.." answered Duan Li as he lifted his head to look at the sky trying to spot Wang Guozhi. "Ahh so its around that area I see. Okay, wait for a moment!" He closed the connection as he bolted down from the sky. Pshewww! ... Bam! Wang Guozhi landed on the ground a little rough, creating a dent on it. Some girls who were watching the football before noticed the arrival of Wang Guozhi as they hushed up, whispering between each other. "Hey, isn't that senior teacher Wang Guozhi? What is he doing up there?" said one of the girls curiously. "It seems that he is meeting that young man.. I can't see his face clearly.." "I just used my peering skills to magnify my sight, here take a look of his image I transferred into the jade slip!" said another as she handed down a yellow jade slip. Wongg! Duan Li's face emerged from the jade slip. "Ohh? We haven't seen this guy before.. is he a junior?" "Mmm probably.. but it seems like I saw his face from somewhere this morning.." "En! Me too.. " ... "Senior teacher Wang Guozhi!" greeted Duan Li as he bowed. "Ahahahaha there is no need to be so formal! Let's just sit here shall we?" said Wang Guozhi as they both sat below the shades of the tree. Noticing the book on the ground besides Duan Li, Wang Guozhi nodded in satisfaction. "Very good! It seems that you are very diligent in your study! Now tell me, what have you learned so far?" he asked as he crossed his arms, curious about this enigmatic young man in front of him that would eventually become the pillar for the whole Tian continent. "En! So last night.. " Duan Li began to retell the summary of what he had studied. Wang Guozhi's face was all smiles before, but as he listened to Duan Li, his expression gradually becoming blank. Next, that blank expression was slowly replaced to that of an excitement! "So, you are saying that the breathing method would be more efficient if one had already opened the Lingxu acupoints and let the spiritual Qi travel from the Xuanji to the Zhongji acupoints directly instead of circulating it through the Huangshu acupoints?" Wang Guozhi cupped his chin as he contemplated this. "En!" nodded Duan Li. What Duan Li had mentioned before was how the breathing method should be changed accordingly to adapt the increase in each level of a stage which was entirely a new outlook to him. As a senior teacher who had vast experience in the path of being a cultivator, he naturally knew the method to adjust one's breathing method to compensate the change advancing through the stages. Just that, the things he had learnt before was changes for every stages only. For example, his breathing method should be changed slightly when he advanced from the early stage to the middle stage. Yet, Duan Li had thought of a way to change this breathing method not for every stage in a realm, but for every LEVEL in the realm. What does this mean? It means that the breathing method could be changed ten times for every realm! Furthermore, this change isn't just a small change at that. Imagine, for every change in breathing method on every stage in a realm, which would be a total of four changes from early to middle to late to pinnacle stage, had already increased the rate of absorption of spiritual Qi by 15 percent for each change. However now, according to Duan Li, every change in every level would increase the absorption of spiritual Qi by 10 percent! As a result, if the previous four changes amounted to a total of 60 percent increase in a single realm by the time one reached the pinnacle stage, this time, the total would be 100 percent increase! A whopping increase of 40 percent more efficiency than the traditional method is an extremely large gap! To make an analogy, if by 60 percent increase you could flood a village under a dam in ten minutes, then, with a 40 percent more increase, you could flood the village within 6 minutes! The time needed to recuperate one's spiritual Qi would be vastly shorter using this method! How incredible! What a genius! "Y-you.. how did you learn about this?" asked Wang Guozhi as he gulped his saliva, feeling really impressed with Duan Li. He had only told the other party yesterday to skim through the books casually. Yet, not only that it seemed for him to have read every single pages, he had also made some modifications to the breathing method! "Umm.. because its within my memories of the original timeline.. " replied Duan Li slowly. In actuality, even his future self on that timeline had only 60 percent increase efficiency for every realm in absorbing spiritual Qi. But because he was already at the immortal ascension realm, the rate at which he absorbed spiritual Qi was just heaven-defying. For those that were still in the nascent soul realm, they wouldn't be able to notice that it was actually nothing special at all and was just because of the difference in between realm. Thus, remembering that Duan Li was a true immortal that he himself had witnessed. The earth-shattering battle prowess his future self held in that state, is extremely domineering! Therefore, he chose to immediately trust what Duan Li had told him. Not wasting time any further, Wang Guozhi sat down cross-legged on the ground as he drove his spiritual Qi according to what Duan Li had just said while shutting his eyes to concentrate. Right now, he was at the fourth level of the nascent soul realm, which is at the beginning of the middle-stage and had already increased his spiritual Qi absorption by 15 percent after advancing from the early stage. Kacha! Kacha! Kacha! Very quickly, the aura of Wang Guozhi rose to its peak as a series of acupoints were rammed simultaneously inside his body. BOOM! His aura reached the pinnacle as he felt his spiritual Qi flow inside his body becoming more fluid by about 10 percent! Its true! He opened his eyes as it shone with extreme excitement! Unable to contain himself, he jumped up and shook Duan Li's body repeatedly. "HAHAHAHAHA! Boy! You are a true genius!" Duan Li's face turned red as it was the first time that he got complimented by another in such a happy state. He smiled as he clenched his fist. "I will help everyone to become stronger.. sun dragon.. just you wait!" ...
