Chapter 11: The Five Mountains Converging Essence Technique

As murmurs filled the conference room, Yu Guochuan glanced at a message on his phone.

He spoke up, "Lin Zhenfeng is just outside the conference room now. I will invite him in."

Yu Guochuan stood up and led a burly, thick-browed, and large-eyed middle-aged man into the room. It was indeed Lin Zhenfeng.

"Teacher Lin, Director Yu has already told us about your thoughts," someone asked. "Are you really sure about doing this?"

Lin Zhenfeng smiled faintly. "I am well aware that the cultivation of the soul is crucial for every martial artist. The soul-cultivation pod is a precious resource, no matter where it is located. Precisely because of this, I believe that at this moment, Shi Yu needs these resources more than I do."

"I am a teacher. Helping my students within my capabilities is where my value lies!"

The crowd fell silent as they listened to Lin Zhenfeng’s brief but powerful words. In truth, anyone present could speak such eloquent, crowd-pleasing words, but very few were capable of actually putting them into action.

Observing the reaction of the group, Yu Guochuan said slowly, "I believe we all admire Teacher Lin’s approach. If we let Teacher Lin make such a great sacrifice alone, what would the outside world think of us if word got out?"

"I would like to state my position here: I am willing to share the burden with Teacher Lin and give up a portion of my quota. At the same time, everyone must understand that helping Shi Yu is supporting the school’s educational mission. I believe Principal Zhu and Principal Song feel the same way."

Yu Guochuan looked at everyone with a smile. Seeing their Dean of Students adopt such a stance and invoke the names of the two principals, how could the others not understand what was happening? At a time like this, failing to follow suit would appear too tactless and out of touch with the situation.

"I agree with Teacher Yu’s opinion. We cannot let Teacher Lin shoulder this alone."

"Count me in."

"Me too; it’s all for the sake of the school."

Suddenly, the mood in the conference room became impassioned, with everyone patting their chests to show their support. Song Yunwei, seated at the head of the table, watched with his eyes crinkled into crescents, quite satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. Everyone was still a good comrade after all.

Principal Zhu, as the final decision-maker, added one last remark: "All personnel who contribute their quota will receive extra points in the year-end performance assessment."

One cannot allow those who sacrifice to give without receiving any reward; otherwise, in time, there would be no one left willing to contribute.

...

The morning of the day after the meeting, Lin Zhenfeng led Shi Yu to an independent martial arts room within the school’s martial arts center. It spanned over three hundred square meters.

"From today until the college entrance examination ends, this space belongs exclusively to you. You can practice, train, and rest here, and no one will disturb you."

Shi Yu carefully examined the martial arts room. It was much more convenient than going to the Yujing Bay gym, and he would no longer have to compete with others for equipment. Beyond the spacious training area, it was even equipped with a lounge, a shower room, and a reading room. If he had no other obligations, he could practically live here 24 hours a day.

And this martial arts room was just one of many rewards. More importantly, Shi Yu had finally obtained the most vital cultivation technique for a martial artist. His heart was filled with excitement and agitation. With this technique, he had truly embarked on the martial path.

Before the second year of high school, students learned a nationally standardized basic training method, much like calisthenics—everyone practiced the same thing. But with formal cultivation techniques, things began to vary from person to person. The Great Xia education management system provided recommendations for several suitable techniques based on each student’s soul assessment results, and then each school would finalize the most appropriate one based on the student’s actual situation.

Yali High School had prepared the "Five Sacred Mountains Qi Gathering Art," a high-grade sect-level technique, for Shi Yu. Among all sect-level techniques, this one was considered top-tier and was the best choice the school could provide within its autonomous authority. This technique used the Five Sacred Mountains as its foundation and the world’s vital energy as its medium, guiding the martial artist to resonate with the mountains and rivers to gather energy into their own body, thereby elevating their cultivation and breaking through realms.

After reading the summary, Shi Yu asked curiously, "Teacher Lin, does practicing this technique require going into the mountains?"

Lin Zhenfeng laughed. "Of course not. You can practice anywhere in the school."

"The reason the school chose this technique for you is that during your soul assessment, the image that appeared was a massive mountain; the two are quite compatible."

Shi Yu nodded silently. Before he had first used the soul-cultivation pod and entered the "Journey to the West" world, what had indeed appeared was a towering mountain, which then suddenly magnified to occupy his entire field of vision. By the time he came to his senses, he was already in the world of the "Journey to the West."

Lin Zhenfeng continued to explain, "What the summary means is that if you find a suitable mountainous environment for practice, your progress will be faster and the effects better. For example, if you could practice in an environment with mountains of the caliber of the Five Sacred Mountains, the efficacy of this technique would be no less than that of a low-grade Profound-level technique!"

Hearing this, Shi Yu’s eyes widened immediately. *It’s that powerful?!*

He stood stunned for a few seconds, finally understanding the true weight of the technique in his hands. The school had indeed put a lot of thought into this. Furthermore, Teacher Yu had told him earlier that Teacher Lin had made great efforts so that he could continue to use the soul-cultivation pod.

Starting next week, Shi Yu would have one opportunity to use the soul-cultivation pod per week, for one hour each time. Half an hour of this came from Teacher Lin’s own quota, while the remaining time was shared and split among the other teachers in the school.

Shi Yu was deeply moved. Teacher Lin doing this would certainly affect his own martial progress. Consequently, he quietly used the previously obtained "Balance Ruler" to observe Teacher Lin’s martial realm. For the current Shi Yu, the "Balance Ruler" could only help him measure martial artists in the Mortal Domain—the realms of Essence Gathering, Foundation Building, and Aperture Opening. Anything higher would have to wait until he stepped into the Transcendental Domain to measure the specific values.

After a few breaths, Teacher Lin’s information appeared on the golden scroll in his mind:

[Lin Zhenfeng, 37 years old]
[Aperture Opening Realm, Progress: 18 apertures]
[Height: 1.81 meters]
[Weight: 80 kilograms]
[Measurements: 114, 76, 113]

Shi Yu looked at the data and felt a bit embarrassed. *Is this ruler normal?* Measuring his realm was one thing, but what was the deal with weight and body measurements?

He focused his attention on Teacher Lin’s realm data. Shi Yu was fairly knowledgeable about the basics of martial realms, as this information had been taught in the "Introduction to Martial Arts" course during his freshman year. In the martial path, after Essence Gathering comes Foundation Building, and after Foundation Building comes Aperture Opening.

The human body has a total of 108 spiritual apertures, divided into 36 Heavenly and 72 Earthly apertures. Theoretically, after opening 12 spiritual apertures to complete a small cycle, one could choose to break through to the Outer Astral Realm—becoming a martial artist of the Transcendental Domain! However, the probability of such a breakthrough succeeding was low, and even if one managed it by luck, their strength would be quite weak. More importantly, they would lose the potential for further advancement, which was known as a "low-position Outer Astral."

Therefore, most martial artists chose to continue opening apertures. Every 12 apertures opened was called a "round." Someone like Lin Zhenfeng was currently pushing toward the second round based on the first. Most would wait until all 24 apertures were opened before choosing to break through.

The soul was the key factor in breaking through from the Aperture Opening Realm of the Mortal Domain to the Outer Astral Realm of the Transcendental Domain. Lin Zhenfeng was no longer young; if he could not step into the Transcendental Domain before the age of 40, his future prospects would be very slim.

"Teacher Lin, thank you!" Shi Yu expressed his gratitude sincerely. At this moment, he could not help Teacher Lin with anything; he could only practice diligently and make a stunning impression in next year’s college entrance examination to ensure Teacher Lin’s efforts were not in vain.

Once he reached university, he would surely find a way to repay his teacher and help him break through from the Mortal to the Transcendental realm!