Chapter 83: Tense Seclusion

Chapter 83: Intense Secluded Cultivation

This was a secluded estate on the outskirts of Portland, its true owner known to very few, yet the estate’s master maintained a deep partnership with the Association of Mind Adepts. Deep within the grounds, an area spanning a hundred acres had, at the association’s behest, been transformed years ago into a training ground—fortified with vast quantities of antimagic stone, rated at level five, equivalent to what would restrain a royal-blooded vampire or an S-class human psychic.

Moreover, the association had specially reinforced the place, tailoring its defenses to counter the unique abilities of mind adepts. The protective systems here could automatically adjust their defensive level according to the intensity of an attack, operating with remarkable intelligence and needing no human oversight. It was a near-perfect environment for those who sought to hone their psychic powers.

Unlike the typical enclosed training chambers that offered only simple, changeable room themes, this place was an authentic slice of the natural world—far more comfortable and immersive. At this moment, Xia Zheng strolled alone across the vast training grounds. Around him, the boundaries were marked by walls laced with antimagic stone, ensuring he need not worry about straying beyond the permitted area.

The grounds were planted with a variety of flowers and grasses. Though training here often led to destruction, the estate’s owner spared no effort, using gene-edited flora to shape a landscape of striking beauty.

“I never imagined the association had such wealthy friends. Joining up was more than worth it,” Xia Zheng mused, retrieving the self-printed ‘Divine Path: Introduction’ manual. He reread the sections about advancements after reaching the next stage, then settled down on a patch of grass beside a towering fir. With a flick of his finger, he conjured a strand of divine sense, instantly transforming it into flame. The temperature around him rapidly climbed, yet he kept it just high enough to evaporate excess moisture from the grass. Then he sat cross-legged, ready to begin.

He gauged the strength of the flame he had just conjured. “Now that my mind’s eye is open, my spiritual power has entirely transformed into divine sense. My skill execution is far faster and more powerful, but the total amount of divine sense is still lacking. Rapidly increasing it seems unrealistic.”

Since opening his mind’s eye, the dark star core that once absorbed spiritual power had vanished completely. Drawing natural energy from the world and refining it into spiritual power was slow, and replenishing divine sense required vast amounts of it. Often, he found himself unable to keep pace with the demands of his advanced skills.

“Will I have to rely solely on vigor pills?” The thought left him troubled. He had only a few hundred pills in reserve, and without a substitute, each one consumed was gone forever. Menghu had warned him that the next batch of vigor fruit would not ripen for thirty years—nowhere near enough for his needs.

Moreover, the pills’ effectiveness was waning. Before unlocking his mind’s eye, a single pill could restore most of his spiritual power; now, at best, it restored half, sometimes only thirty percent. In battle, he might need two or even three at once. The rate of consumption was unsustainable—the stock would never last.

Unable to swiftly expand his reserves of divine sense, hampered by slow recovery and a lack of alternative means to replenish himself, Xia Zheng was frustrated. For now, the only solution was to work on accelerating his recovery while precisely controlling the expenditure of divine sense for every skill.

The introduction to Divine Path featured three skills: ‘Thunder of Divine Sense,’ ‘Eye of Divine Sense,’ and ‘Mental Force.’ The visualization section included a fourth skill, ‘Summon.’ In addition, there was the ‘Water Shield’ from the Watercloud Technique, and ‘Flame Armor’ from the Venomous Flame Art—six skills in total.

He began training each in turn. For Mental Force, he had already mastered ‘Repulsion,’ but was still struggling with ‘Attraction.’

The first skill was Thunder of Divine Sense. Xia Zheng decided to test its power and gauge his own reserves.

He released spiritual energy from his mind. This time, instead of emerging from the vertical eye between his brows (which had vanished after his advancement), the divine sense refracted directly from his own eyes.

Guided by his imagination, the divine sense swiftly condensed into a mass of thunderous energy, then transformed into a red bolt of lightning that struck a fir tree some distance away. The entire casting process took about five seconds.

With a sharp crack, the tree fell, instantly igniting. The thunderfire was far fiercer than ordinary flame, reducing the felled tree to ash in moments.

“Again!” After a ten-minute rest, Xia Zheng continued practicing, striving to streamline the casting process—from five seconds, down to four, then to three.

Thunder of Divine Sense was devastating not only to trees but also to much harder objects, such as stone. After about eleven uses, Xia Zheng felt his reserves of divine sense nearly depleted—he would need to replenish soon.

“So, at my current peak, I can use Thunder of Divine Sense up to eleven times. The fastest casting time is three seconds. No, it should be even faster—this skill shouldn’t be limited to this.” He began meditating to recover, requiring a full hour to restore his reserves.

He resumed training, focusing on shortening the casting time. After ten more uses, his reserves were drained again. Three seconds seemed an insurmountable barrier—impossible to reduce further.

As he meditated, Xia Zheng pondered the nature of the skill. Thunder of Divine Sense required divine energy to leave the mind’s sea and then condense thunder elements, resulting in a dual-natured lightning.

“What if I stored thunder element energy inside myself in advance?” The idea was daring. If he could skip the step of condensing thunder elements after releasing divine sense, the casting time might shrink further.

Ordinary mind adepts couldn’t store thunder element energy within themselves, unless their spiritual power was inherently attuned to the element.

Yet Xia Zheng’s power was unique—his imagination enabled him to transform energy as needed. If he became intimately familiar with thunder elements, he could directly convert some of his divine sense into thunder energy.

An hour passed. Xia Zheng put his theory into practice. He split off a strand of divine sense from his mind’s sea, then, using imagination, transformed it—stripping it down and converting it into a mass of thunder element energy, which he gathered in a corner of his mind’s sea.

When he next cast Thunder of Divine Sense, a dozen strands of divine sense left the mind’s sea, met by the stored thunder element, fusing instantly. The moment the energy refracted from his eyes, it was already fully formed.

With a thunderous explosion, a stone struck by the divine thunder shattered and burned—stone, normally impervious to flame, was ignited by this power. Such was the might of Thunder of Divine Sense.

This time, the casting process was reduced to 1.5 seconds. With more practice, he might go even faster. But this method consumed divine sense at a greater rate—where once he could cast the skill ten to twelve times, now only five or six were possible before depletion.

He continued experimenting, practicing relentlessly. Although recovery was slow, time was on his side.

By dawn, the first golden rays of sunlight illuminated Xia Zheng’s bloodshot eyes, and at last, a faint smile touched his lips.

All around him, the land was scorched and pitted, blackened craters left by repeated lightning strikes, ash heaped high upon the earth.

“Thunder of Divine Sense!” With a subtle blink, two red bolts shot from his eyes, converging into one. Thunder roared, and a fir tree fell, consumed to ash in a flash of searing flame.

“One second…” Xia Zheng nodded in satisfaction. Reducing the casting time from five seconds to one would leave most opponents utterly unprepared—a tremendous advantage in battle.

After a sleepless day and night, exhaustion finally caught up with him. Less than thirty hours remained before the qualification round.

Returning to the guest quarters prepared for him within the estate, he ate a simple meal, bathed, and then collapsed into bed. His snores shook the walls. He set his alarm for three hours; there was no time to lose. For now, he had only mastered Thunder of Divine Sense.

During these days of all-out preparation for the tournament, Xia Zheng put every distraction aside. Others understood the importance of this contest for him, especially since he was determined to defeat his enemy from the Hoffman family. All avoided disturbing him—even Nalan Sheng had to endure the torment of longing from close by.

Three hours later, Xia Zheng awoke promptly, washed up, and enjoyed a hearty lunch before heading back to the training grounds. The association had already arranged with the estate’s owner to compensate for any damage, at a price ordinary psychics could never hope to afford.

He made his way to a fresh training area, as the one he had devastated yesterday was under repair. With a hundred acres at his disposal, there was room to spare.

Having mastered Thunder of Divine Sense, he moved on to the second skill—Eye of Divine Sense. This was much simpler; as long as he followed standard procedures and maintained a supply of divine sense, it would function.

He directed his divine sense through his meridians to his eyes, and the skin around them instantly wrinkled, his eyes themselves glowing a fearsome crimson.

Through the Eye of Divine Sense, all the defensive mechanisms and illusions in the training ground were laid bare. Illusion-based protections were easily pierced. Without a live opponent, he could not yet judge its battlefield utility, but the results were promising.

After over an hour of testing, he estimated that maintaining the Eye for an hour consumed about a tenth of his total divine sense—not excessive, and quite practical.

Next, he skipped further Mental Force training and turned to Water Shield and Flame Armor. Making full use of his unique spiritual power, he set up a series of traps and mechanisms, then tested their defensive capabilities. Both were impressive, though Water Shield was stronger for pure defense, while Flame Armor excelled in counterattacks.

He calculated that each use of Water Shield consumed one-twentieth of his divine sense; Flame Armor, about one-nineteenth. Both were practical and economical compared to Thunder of Divine Sense.

With Thunder, Eye, Water Shield, and Flame Armor all mastered, he finally turned to Mental Force. By now, dusk was falling.

“Looks like another all-nighter ahead, but at least the qualifiers don’t start until noon tomorrow. I’ll have time to rest.” Rising from meditation, he reviewed the essentials of Mental Force.

“I’ve got Repulsion down, but Attraction is another matter.” Limbering up, he projected his divine sense at a patch of air twenty meters away.

Bang!

With a thunderous crash, Xia Zheng’s body shot forward, colliding midair with the invisible force...