The afternoon sun shone brightly on the school field, its warm rays making everyone feel lazy and comfortable.
Alex wasn't the only one lying on the field; there were many others gathered in small groups.
Suddenly, as if attracted by something, they turned their gazes towards him.
Immediately after, Alex felt the sunlight above his head being blocked by a shadow.
"What's the matter? Ignoring me again!" It was a girl's playful voice.
Alex was a bit confused, "Don't you have anything else to do? You've come to me three times in one day."
"Who's coming to you?" Lina denied, then sat down beside him.
"I just came out to soak up some sun and happened to see you."
Alex didn't understand, "Then why don't you seize the time to cultivate? I've heard of the early bird catching the worm, but never heard of the early bird needing to sunbathe..."
His words were quickly interrupted by the girl.
"Wait a minute, who are you calling an early bird?!" Lina stared at Alex, "I'll say it again, I'm a genius!"
She snorted, "The main reason is that even if I wanted to cultivate, I can't. Otherwise, I should be on Shady Mountain right now."
Alex turned his head, "Why can't you cultivate?"
"I'm lacking the most crucial entry-level technique."
Lina put her hands on the grass, looked up at the sky, and mumbled, "I came to Shadehaven City a year ago, and my family had arranged for me to join Shady Mountain. But later, I found out that everyone's cultivation levels had appeared out of nowhere, and no one knew the specific method of drawing Qi into the body."
She said with a smile, "But don't worry, I heard that the authorities have led those top sects to research a suitable method for us to draw Qi into our bodies."
"They say that after we finish the college entrance examination and select the seedlings with the qualifications for cultivation, they will uniformly teach us."
"At that time, everyone will also enter the official cultivator joint university."
Lina looked at Alex and saw his dazed expression, as if he had never seen such a thing before. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"What, do you find it magical? Did you learn something new?"
Alex nodded and praised, "You guys are quite keeping up with the times."
"Of course."
Lina seemed to have been holding back for a long time, and now that she finally found someone to confide in, she had a lot to talk about.
"They also said that to maintain fairness, they want everyone to start from the same starting line."
Alex shook his head, "That's not realistic."
The girl snorted, "Of course it's not realistic. Just talking about myself, although I don't have the corresponding method to step into Qi Refining, the breathing techniques taught by my master are the key to laying a good foundation."
"When we enter the school, people like me will definitely be able to pull ahead of others by a large margin."
Lina sighed, "It's a pity that the sect has an order not to spread it to outsiders."
Hearing this, Alex smiled.
The girl's sigh was obviously because of this reason, and she couldn't teach him the technique.
But if they were really talking about breathing techniques, he knew dozens of the most top-notch ones, so how could he care about these?
Thinking of something, he curiously asked, "Then how do they determine if someone has the talent for cultivation? By looking with the naked eye?"
"How is that possible?"
Lina said, "Shady Mountain has several spirit stones passed down. I heard that as long as you hold them in your hand, you can sense a person's talent. Although it's not very accurate, it's good enough."
After hearing this, Alex had some understanding.
This was equivalent to Earth still being in the most primitive stage of cultivation, and a series of methods for cultivating disciples were very low-level.
Just taking the method of using spirit stones to test talent, in the Ninth World, that was a method used by ancient cultivators.
Holding the spirit stone in your hand, if the spirit stone emitted a faint light, it meant you had a spirit root and could cultivate.
The brighter the light emitted by the spirit stone, the better the talent.
But by the time Alex cultivated, there were already special techniques to examine one's foundation and bones. Just a casual glance was enough to know one's talent.
For example, with Lina in front of him, Alex could tell at a glance the endpoint she could reach in cultivation.
Her talent was quite good and she should be able to reach the Golden Core stage.
It's just that due to the scarcity of spiritual energy on Earth, a discount had to be applied.
But these were not absolute either.
A person's foundation and spirit root could often be changed through various means.
"You seem very confident in me. What if I don't have the talent?" Alex asked.
Lina waved her hand, the corners of her mouth curling up.
"I told you, you have no idea what it means to save me. Even if you really don't have the talent, I can still let you in through the back door."
"As long as your thinking doesn't go downhill, there are always more solutions than difficulties."
In the sunlight, the girl's smile was a bit dazzling.
Alex quietly looked at her for a while, then shifted his gaze away.
"Do you want to practice Qi Refining?"
Faced with this somewhat inexplicable question, Lina gave him a sideways glance.
"Are you talking nonsense? I'm just waiting for the Qi Refining technique to come out."
"Do you want it?"
"I want..."
Lina subconsciously wanted to answer, but then forcibly stopped herself. She turned her head and stared at Alex without blinking.
Then, she pouted, "Is it fun to tease me? The authorities and those top sect leaders have been researching for so long, don't tell me you have a method for drawing Qi into the body?"
"With all due respect, you only learned about the existence of cultivation in this world half a day ago, right?"
Lina's tone was meant to be mocking, but when she saw that Alex still had a calm expression, she suddenly became a bit unsettled.
"You don't really have one, do you?"
Lina was a bit anxious. She didn't think Alex really had any proper techniques, but she thought of a possibility.
She had heard from her senior sister that although the method of drawing Qi into the body had not been officially researched yet, there were always some people who took a different path and went astray.
For example, those evil cultivators who stirred up trouble, some of them had methods they had scavenged from the antique market, and some had dug them up from who knows where.
But without exception, these methods of drawing Qi into the body mostly required devouring flesh and blood as a price, and were extremely evil.
At the beginning, it only required eating ordinary poultry, but the further one cultivated, the more flesh and blood was needed.
From one or two, to a whole group.
Then to real human flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of cultivators.
The method of breaking through was also so simple and crude.
Cannibalism of one's own kind, extremely evil.
But this was destined not to be the righteous path and would not have a good end.
In the end, either they would become neither human nor ghost, or they would be unable to control the vast and chaotic spiritual power in their bodies and self-destruct.
Lina was now afraid that Alex had gotten this kind of method from somewhere and mistakenly thought it was a good thing.
Alex saw her concern and laughed, "Want to give it a try? Pure and natural, pollution-free."
Lina was stunned, "Pure and natural, pollution-free...?"
It was the first time she had heard a technique described this way.
Alex nodded, "Want to try?"
Lina thought for a moment and gritted her teeth. At worst, if she discovered something was wrong, she just wouldn't practice it. Either way, there wouldn't be any loss. She would first listen to what kind of method he was talking about.
"Let's give it a try then."
She slightly raised her chin and met a pair of eyes with distinct black and white.
"What do you want me to do?"
Alex was still lying there without moving. He stretched lazily, "Just meditate normally."
Lina was puzzled, but still did as she was told.
She sat cross-legged on the grass of the field and began to meditate.
Her posture looked a bit strange to others, but no one was nosy enough to come and ask.
One minute...
Ten minutes...
Until an hour later, the class bell rang.
Lina slowly opened her eyes, but where was the shadow of that boy in front of her?
Her heart sank, and she subtly examined the changes in her body.
Well, it couldn't be said that there was no change at all. There was simply no change at all.
"Alex!"
Lina gritted her teeth, and the hand hanging by her side clenched tightly into a small fist.