“Elder brother! Someone said they went through a breakthrough!”
Li Shen heard someone in the crowd yelled as he sat down cross-legged on the mat, Lihua, and Jun on his left and right.
“Oh?”
Li Shen said as he turned to the standing girl in the crowd.
Smiling, he asked.
"Is that true?”
The girl nodded her head.
She looked timid, either because everyone was looking at her, or because that was her personality. But she still had a hint of delight between her brows which stem from being acknowledged for her breakthrough.
Her age seemed to be around her mid to late teens from her appearance.
She looked like a member that had recently joined. Li Shen recalled the names and faces of those people and he finally match hers.
“Jia, what cultivation realm are you at now?”
Jia shyly responded.
“Elder brother, it’s only a small breakthrough, I was able to condense my Qi Sea and form my first Divine Platform to enter the Foundation Realm.”
“How is that a small breakthrough sister Jia? Among us Outer Disciples that become Inner Disciples, it’s difficult for to become an early Foundation Realm cultivator.”
“Sister Jia that’s right, either by a lack of resources or the difficulty that stems from condensing their fully developed Qi Sea. It's really hard, congratulations!”
A few more disciples spoke up congratulating Jia. Hearing all the goodwill being thrown at her, Jia had a beautiful smile slowly form on her lips.
“Hm, no breakthrough is insignificant, no matter how small the realm. With that, you’re allowed to ask one question, go ahead.”
Jia paused after hearing Li Shen's words, she was taking her time to think about her question.
Soon, a slight blush crept on her face and she open her mouth and said.
“Elder brother, my question is… it's for brother Jun.”
Jun, who was wearing a stoic expression, blinked upon hearing.
“Me?”
He asked while pointing at himself.
Jia nodded.
“Uhh...I’m fine with that.”
Jun turned to look at Li Shen for confirmation since this was technically his seminar.
Li Shen simply shrugged and open his fan to fan himself, chin resting on his palm.
It looked like he was preparing to watch a good show.
Jun turned to Jia and waited for her question.
Jia without stuttering asked.
“Brother Jun, do you have a lover?”
Jun froze upon hearing that, and for a brief second his gaze darted to Lihua instinctively.
Li Shen had a wide grin on his face while the crowd of disciples had their gazes darting from Jia to Jun, coming to an obvious conclusion of her feelings.
Suddenly, a young man in the crowd who loved this type of drama added fuel to the fire.
“Brother Jun! Sister Jia obviously likes you, why don’t you two get together? We'll be the first to congratulate you two!”
That young man then laughed after.
More people followed suit with similar words trying to get in on the fun.
Jia felt embarrassed but she still held her head up to hear a response.
Jun forced a smile.
Again he happened to take a glance at Lihua but turns out she staring at him.
Their gaze met and Lihua lifted an eyebrow at his reaction.
Li Shen chuckled in his heart at that, he was the only one who knew the full situation and he was quite enjoying it.
Quickly turning away from Lihua, Jun said to Jia.
“Uhh... no I don’t.”
He wasn’t quite sure what to do in a situation like this and the crowds' incessant cacophony of chattering wasn’t helping him.
Hearing Jun’s answer, a small smile appeared on Jia’s lips.
However, to Li Shen, that smile was forced while her inner emotion was mostly disappointment.
'Women are so perceptive to these things. Well, Lihua appears to be an exception. She should have asked if he had someone he liked. I wonder how he would have responded given his inability to lie, haha.'
Jia had seen Jun’s first and second glances at Lihua. Given the times he chose to look at her says a lot that didn’t need explaining to her.
Jia nodded before she sat back down, accepting Jun’s answer at face value.
The crowd seeing that the show was over started to boo.
“Looks like brother Jun already has someone in his heart to reject our beautiful sister Jia. But with brother Jun’s looks and outstanding talents, how come you haven’t snatched her yet? Could it be an unrequited love maybe? Haha...”
The same young man said again adding even more fuel to the fire.
Jun coughed a bit and said in a serious mature tone.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Haha, we’re just joking brother Jun.”
“Yeah, that’s right, no need to take our words seriously brother Jun.”
Jun’s eyebrow twitched but his face went back to its stoic expression.
Clap.
“All right, leave my disciple alone, you guys are embarrassing him too much.”
After thoroughly enjoying watching that scene play out, Li Shen was ready to get back to the previous atmosphere.
Flipping over his palm, he took out his flute.
Seeing this, everyone settled down quickly, all having anticipation expressions on their faces.
"Remember to clear your minds and get into a meditative state.”
After Li Shen said that, everyone got into comfortable sitting positions before closing their eyes.
Jun and Lihua did the same as well.
Placing the flute below his lips, Li Shen started playing.
His fingers moved and the sound produced, smoothly echoed out to encompass the entire hall.
Unlike what he did in the hall with the Elders, this time he merely used the sound waves of the flute as a medium to perform his Soul Art.
Ripples were seen in the air that washed over everyone.
Li Shen’s fingers lifted and fell creating high and low pitches. The contrast of the two, along with long resonating notes, created a relaxing atmosphere that sent the disciples into a trance.
This Soul Art was something he created from examining the Heavenly Connection Soul Art.
He named it “Resonance Soul Art.”
It was meant to form a connection between the mind, body, and soul. Creating a resonance between all three to help with comprehension, not the comprehension of any laws, but oneself.
Everyone will reach a bottleneck in their cultivation at some point in time, what that bottleneck will be was either of the mind, body, or soul. But the thing is, it might not be obvious as to which it belongs to.
If anyone in here was lucky they could use the time in this state to discover the bottleneck that's hindering their potential and tackle it.
But if they were extremely lucky, emphasis on extremely, Li Shen speculated that this Soul Art might be able to trigger a Dao Realization.
It necessarily doesn’t have to be the definite Dao for them or one suitable, and albeit with a low chance, with the right conditions, it was possible.
After putting them in a trance, Li Shen suddenly released his Divine Will.
It was the first time he did this with his undisguised Divine Will, but since he had already revealed it in his trial, revealing it here wouldn’t be an issue as it’ll soon spread.
As his Divine Will encompassed the hall as well, it seemed to be riding the sound waves being produced by the flute.
Soon, an assortment of colors distinguishing the six natural elements appeared.
The Spiritual Energy in the room could be seen dancing as it floated around the sitting disciples.
Instead of thinning the energy, Li Shen made it purer.
Runes appeared on the walls and open windows to prevent the rich Qi from escaping.
Without intentionally absorbing this rich Spiritual Energy, the disciples followed Li Shen’s instructions and just allowed it to permeate through their bodies naturally while they breathe.
Li Shen had sternly warned against actively absorbing it, since this suddenly mixing with their own impure Qi in their dantians could cause a Qi backlash, or even worse Qi Deviation. Instead, it was better to do it in small doses, letting their bodies be purified by it slowly.
Jun and Lihua were doing the same, meanwhile, the image of Li Shen was spectacular.
The Spiritual Energy of the six elements was clustered around him as he played as if drawn by his presence and the sound of the flute.
Li Shen’s face remain tranquil throughout the process, the only movement from him was his fingers playing the flute.
Several minutes to an hour later was when his fingers stopped and he opened his eyes.
The Spiritual Energy around him and in the room went back to its passive state, fading back into the surroundings.
Li Shen wasn’t playing a specific song perse, but if one told them that they were in the nine heavens listening to heavenly bells chiming, they would have believed it.
Li Shen looked around the room to see that everyone still had their eyes closed, reveling in the remnant sounds.
Li Shen took this time to lookout the window to his left, the runes having faded away.
Placing away his flute, he flipped open his fan slightly but immediately closed it back. He did this a few continuously. It was a new habit he did when he wasn’t thinking about anything in particular.
However, all of a sudden, the tranquil atmosphere that still permeated the room was suddenly smashed to bits by a boorish and loud yell from outside.
“MU FAN YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT!! I LEFT MY SECLUSION ONLY TO HEAR YOU JOINED THE SWORD PAVILION?!! BULLSHIT IF I’LL LET MY TIME BE WASTED GROOMING YOU AS MY SUCCESSOR!!!”
Everyone in the room was knocked out of their trance, the voice echoing ceaselessly in their ears.
They could have sworn this person’s voice was heard by the entire Academy. They sounded like the human version of a mad bull that saw red.
Meanwhile, Li Shen's brows furrowed and he flipped his fan shut before he stood up to go outside.
**
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