"Zero Heart?!? What is that?"
"Principal, do you know about the Cultivation of the Heart?"
"Cultivation of the Heart? No, I never heard of it."
"Well, it's different than our standard cultivation, where we focus on qi and strengthen ourselves through it. The Cultivation of the Heart cultivates, as stated in the name, the Heart. Not exactly the heart in our body, it's more like cultivating our mind. The Cultivation of the Heart boosts many aspects of a cultivator, like their concentration, their willpower, their mental strength and so on. But unfortunately, there aren't any cultivation technique for the Cultivation of the Heart. The cultivators in our world have to figure it out themselves. The Zero Heart is the first realm in the Cultivation of the Heart. As a kid, I read many ancient letters and books and became obsessed with the Cultivation of the Heart. I wanted to achieve the Zero Heart Realm, but I just didn't know how. The Zero Heart Realm enables the cultivator to empty his Heart out. Meaning, ignoring one's worries and fears and completely concentrate on the current task. I've also heard of people completely ignoring pain and so on. As the Zero Heart Realm is the first realm in the Cultivation of the Heart, it has many flaws and dangers. For example, the cultivator completely ignores the world around him, making it possible for others to sneak up on him and assassinate him. Also, it needs complete silence and one cannot move while being in the Zero Heart. The first realm of the Cultivation of the Heart is only meant for concentrated tasks, as cultivating, comprehending Martial Skills and so on. On higher realms one can also use his Cultivation of the Heart in fights, making one a dangerous foe to fight against. I've heard that those higher realms also enable another power source for the cultivator, like the qi, making it possible to fight with their Heart, but I don't know much about that."
"So, the boy cultivated his Heart?"
"Yeah, that's what I think. But Zayn is so young and only in the Body Refinement Realm. I myself wasn't able to achieve that realm, because of my limited knowledge about it. Zayn do you know anything about your achievement?"
"Nope! Never heard of the Cultivation of the Heart! But it really fits my situation, I was always told that I completely ignore everything around me when I start to concentrate." He scratched his head and laughed it off. On earth, he was always scolded for not paying attention when he needed to or when he ignored the things around him, but here those two were fascinated by the idea of the Zero Heart. It was true that he could learn many things far easier than any other, with his ignoring the world around him, but on earth, he was scolded for being like that. In school they wanted him to focus on what the teacher was teaching and not on what he wanted to learn himself, even though he already learned the things the teacher taught.
"You always sound so proud for your ignorance! But there is a high chance that you achieved the Zero Heart Realm, without any knowledge of it."
"Can't we confirm that Teacher Bolt? I am sure we could find out about it if we would study him while he cultivates."
"Yes, that sounds like a plan. I think we can easily confirm it through analyzing him cultivate. What's more, I think we could also learn how to achieve the Zero Heart Realm. With our high mental strength and concentration and so on, we should fit the requirement to enter it, only the method is missing."
"Wait… Do you mean we could achieve it only through watching him cultivate?"
"That's exactly what I said."
Vown and the principal eyes began to shine. The looked over to Zayn as if an animal watched over his prey. The Zero Heart Realm would ease up their cultivation and make it easier for them to comprehend Martial Skills and so on, benefitting them completely.
"Hold up! You want me to cultivate again? I was already cultivating for 8 hours! Isn't that too much?"
"Don't worry Zayn, with your Zero Heart you can easily cultivate for days without a break. It wasn't possible for Body Refinement Realm, because of their concentration and the pain they received, but you can easily bypass it."
"I don't know it sounds dangerous…"
"Zayn, don't you trust your teacher?" Vown gave a mischievous smile. He really wanted to achieve the Zero Heart, it was an obsession from his child's day, but he would not put his student in danger for that.
"Ah! I know, how we can fix this. Principal, you see, Zayn is really helping us out by letting us study him cultivating, but Zayn doesn't benefit from that, he is just selflessly doing that for us. Isn't that a role model for all the students inside the academy, an honorable feat? Shouldn't we reward this kind of behavior? Actually, I've heard from Zayn that he doesn't have any new Martial Skills to learn…"
Vown looked over at Zayn and nodded at him. Zayn directly understood what Vown meant with his gesture and a mischievous smile appeared on Zayn's face.
"You don't have to do that principal! I only want to help you, I don't need something in return. I was only concerned about the dangers of it, you don't need to worry about that. I will always help my elders if I have the chance."
"No, boy, Teacher Bolt has a valid point. Even though you won't put yourself in danger, you still use up your time to help us. This is something only the honorable could do. So, I want to express my and Teacher Bolts thanks. Look, on the shelves here are many books and scrolls, they are from my personal collection and are really mystic and ancient. I cannot understand many of them, but you shouldn't have any problems with it. You can choose any one of them you like. Maybe you'll pick up a treasure."
"Many thanks, principal! You didn't have to do that." While Zayn told that he walked shamelessly around the office and picked up a random book. He looked over to Vown and smiled at him mischievously.
'Wait did those two just- Well whatever… If I can achieve the Zero Heart through that it was worth it.' Seeing the exchange between Vown and Zayn, the principal understood that he was played. But he did not care that much about it. Zero Heart was something not many in the world achieved and his personal collection were only old scrolls and books, which were far too complicated to understand.
"All right, boy. Sit on my chair. My office doesn't have a special formation around it to absorb qi, but my daily presence in the room affected the qi around it, coupled with the natural qi, from my cut off nature office, it should be at least on par with the best room in the cultivation quarters. You should feel lucky, no student in the academy is allowed to cultivate in my office, even the teachers aren't allowed to do that."
Zayn then sat down on the principal's chair and started cultivating. Vown and the principal stood in front of him and watched over him.
The qi in the office was always present, not like in the cultivation quarters room 001. In the room 001 he had to start cultivating and absorb qi to trigger more qi and purer qi to come, but in this room, it was already present. He immediately absorbed the qi into his body and refined it, using the guidance of the Infinite Star Arts. After a few minutes, he entered into his concentrated state.
Meanwhile, Vown and the principal were closely observing him. After Zayn entered his concentrated state, both of them got excited. They observed every little change to Zayn's body. After hours of observing, both of them also fell into a concentrated state.
.
Zayn slowly woke up and was surrounded by darkness. He was slowly falling down, like a leaf, but he could not see where he was falling to or where he was. His environment was complete darkness with a few shining spots far away, resembling stars. After a while of falling, Zayn landed on a huge pillar-like platform. The platform was shining. On the floor of this huge platform was a picture of Zayn himself painted, but it did not seem complete, as only a small part of the platform was painted with the picture and many spots were started but not completed.
On the platform, Zayn looked around, but he was still surrounded by darkness. The lights in the distance were still shining bright, giving Zayn a mesmerizing view.
"Welcome boy, or should I say Zayn!"
An ancient and mystic sounding voice surrounded the whole area Zayn was in and left him in a daze.
"I can understand why you are shocked, but you don't need to worry. I can explain everything for you."
"Wh- Who are you?" Zayn shouted around him, as he did not know where the voice was coming from. This space and the voice left Zayn in fear, but it also gave him a familiar feeling. This left him with enough courage to talk to the unknown voice.
"Who I am? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I am the Infinite Star!"