Lecture

When Gaofeng arrived outside of the Discussion Hall, he noticed that he could hear multiple people whispering about the reason for the disciples to meet at this location, however no one really knew what was going on. Gaofeng sat down amongst the others and silently waited for an announcement. He had already noticed the bearing and clothing of these young men and women and had already concluded what all these people were doing here.

Naturally Gaofeng was well-informed, especially since he had access to the information from Shangsheng spies and informants, and thus he was well aware that these people was likely the heirs to the different kingdoms of the Long Empire. The reason for this gathering of crown princes and princesses, was not only to compete for resources allocated by the Long Empire, but also especially for the Divine Enlightenment fruit.

By Gaofeng's calculations, the fruit on the tree would ripen within the year, and thus it would be granted to the most talented junior of the Holy Temple as to propagate the strength of the new generation for it to more rapidly catch up to that of the elders. However, the kingdoms of the Long Empire had decided to band together to take advantage of the Holy Temple and send in their heirs in a competition to, putting it mildly, steal from the Holy Temple. It could also be considered as sabotaging the future of the next generation of the Holy Temple while strengthening one's own power.

Naturally, the Holy Temple abhorred such means, but as this was set up like a test with the support of the Long Empire, the kingdoms would naturally say that if the strongest disciple of the younger generation amongst the Holy Temple couldn't even beat their heir, then how could the disciple of the Holy Temple even deserve the Divine Enlightenment fruit? Naturally, the Holy Temple couldn't use force or underhanded means, as that would incur the wrath of the thirteen kingdoms of the Long Empire. Thus, the competition had to be completely fair. However, there was one critical variant which neither the thirteen kingdoms nor the Holy Temple had taken into calculation: The presence of Shangsheng Gaofeng.

Gaofeng was also interested in the Divine Enlightenment fruit, so it would be impossible for any of the other contenders to grasp this opportunity. Taking a quick glance around him, Gaofeng noticed that there were only three other young men in the hall, as well as two young women, one of which was that girl who had slept in his embrace last night. When Gaofeng looked over at her, he noticed that she had actually been staring at him, and when he met her gaze she quickly averted her own.

A tinge of red could be spotted spreading on her cheeks and she felt herself heat up a bit when she felt the soul-stirring gaze of those deep eyes that were exactly like staring into the vast greatness of space. Noone else seemed to be aware of this small interaction however, as everybody turned their head to the entrance of the Discussion Hall where a white-haired elder wearing a simple white robe with azure patterns appeared.

Gaofeng instantly knew his identity, the temple-master of the Holy Temple, Abbot Shen Hai. This was the only elder who was permitted to freely wander on the tenth peak, and thus it could only be him. Gaofeng would have recognized him no matter the circumstances, however, as he had closely studied everything there was to know about the Holy Temple and thus of course knew the Temple Master's appearance. Shen Hai walked with firm steps without hurry, and the staff in his right hand moved with him. This was both a tool and a weapon, and was something Shen Hai always bore close to his body due to it being the greatest gift he had received from his late master before he passed away eons ago.

When the Temple Master reached the front of the Discussion Hall, he lightly tapped his staff on the floor tiles, and the room immediately quieted down. Shen Hai spoke without any fluctuations so that it was difficult to read his mood "Welcome, new disciples of the 10th peak of the Holy Temple. I am Abbot Shen Hai, and today I will go over some basics of cultivation. Additionally, I have an announcement to make. At the end of the year, there will be held a fighting competition between all of the disciples of the 10th peak, in which the winner will get the Divine Enlightenment fruit which is due to ripen at that time. Now, let's get to the importance of a strong foundation…"

Han Shen continued talking, but after Gaofeng realized that this subject matter was things he had already been taught from the best available teachers from a young age, especially his father and grandfather, made him instead zone out of the conversation and rather focus on his bodily state. He considered what would be needed to achieve the illusory eleventh stage of the body-strengthening realm.

When Gaofeng utilized his body-cultivation laws to strengthen themselves at this moment, he realized that the barrier to the next level didn't have anything to do with any external factors, but it was instead like a chain was wrapped around his potential inside his own body, and to move to the eleventh layer he had to rip apart this chain.

Ripping apart this chain would signify breaking through his own potential and induce a qualitative change which would lead to a path grander than the grand dao. Gaofeng could understand bits and pieces of this due to the Divine Myriad Changes, however he wasn't able to get a complete picture. He knew that he would be able to fully understand the significance of this transformation once he had firmly stepped into the eleventh realm, however, and thus wasn't too worried about not having a complete grasp of what was to come.

While in deep concentration about his own situation, a simple sentence lifted Gaofeng from his reverie. He heard Shen Hai say "The true path is that of self-improvement. One must always look to defeat one's past and present self and to reforge oneself into a firmer material…" The rest of what Shen Hai was presenting faded away once more as Gaofeng felt something off about Shen Hai's statement. He spoke of the past and the present, but what about the future? Once this thought entered his mind, he couldn't shake it out, and he entered a state of sudden enlightenment.

Gaofeng realized that this lacking piece of the puzzle was that to overcome one's own limits and unlock one's potential, one has to not only be able to defeat one's past and present self, but actually one's future self. When this finally clicked in Gaofeng's mind, the Divine Myriad Changes technique, utilizing some superficial laws of divination, acted as a mechanism which marked this idea to be true, and thus Gaofeng now knew what he had to do to break through his own potential and achieve true power, a power which stemmed from within instead of having to rely on the external.

The lecture finished after a couple of hours, and Shen Hai gave them a light schedule for the coming weeks. They had three classes every week, and the extra time they could spend however they liked. These classes consisted of one theoretical class, which was the one they had just finished in the Discussion Room, one weapon class in the Weapon's Room and finally one cultivation and fighting technique class on the platform in the main courtyard of the temple.

Gaofeng walked back to his room deep in thought, so he missed that a shy young girl was silently walking at his side, shooting him glances from time to time. The other youths, however, didn't miss this, and a low murmur spread among them as they gossiped about the current situation happening in front of their eyes.

One dashing young man, in particular, became quite upset at the sight, and decided to intervene. This young man slowed his previous quick pace and fell back to where Gaofeng and the young girl was. The man then called out with cupped hands "Greetings, brother. My name is Wang Yong. May I ask what are you doing walking around with Zhang Jing'er like you are a couple?" Wang Yong lowered his voice as he added a tone of insistence in his voice "You wouldn't dare act this casually in front of women above your station, right?"

Gaofeng was at once roused from his deep thoughts due to this provocation, but before he could answer, the girl at his side, which he now realized was called Zhang Jing, boldly linked her arm with Gaofeng's arm as if proclaiming that not only didn't she care about what this Wang Yong was spewing in front of them, but that she actually didn't mind at all looking like she was together with this giant of a man beside her.

If they were all mortals, Wang Yong would never have dared walk up to such a large man all by himself, but in the world of cultivation it was qi which reigned supreme, making him confident that even if Gaofeng had some giant's blood in him, it would be a quick fight if Gaofeng decided to stand against him.

However, what Wang Yong hadn't expected, was that when Gaofeng merely shot a simple look his way, he felt like his soul was burning with the heat of a star, and he began choking as he instinctively got out of Gaofeng and Jing's path. After he backed away, he actually fell to his knees and then onto his stomach, clutching at his neck as his face turned blood-red. Even Gaofeng was surprised at this reaction, as he hadn't expected that his move would contain such great might when he utilized his soul, in addition to the searing heat of Shimmer, through his transformed eyes.

From Yong's perspective, however, he felt like the entirety of the universe, heaven, and even the grand dao, was relentlessly casting him aside and suppressing him through searing his very soul utilizing the countless stars within the universe. Yong's friends didn't dare to immediately rush to help him, as they stared at Gaofeng with wide eyes filled with fear. They had also felt his heaven-shaking aura, even though it wasn't directed at them.

The only person who seemed completely unphased by his aura, except for Gaofeng himself, was the Zhang Jing herself. Gaofeng had either purposefully or instinctively shielded her from the effect of his mental attack, and thus she wasn't any wiser to what had really happened to Yong.

Zhang Jing looked up at Gaofeng with questioning eyes as they continued walking, and he simply stated "I used a mental attack to scare him off. He isn't worthy of me even lifting my hand." Zhang Jing's mouth gaped open at this statement, as she thought to herself. 'Mental attacks... how fierce. Hopefully he can teach me someday. I've only heard vague rumors about mental attacks, but now I've actually seen one with my own eyes. What a turn of events.'

Outwardly, though, Zhang Jing was still gaping for a good minute before she said "You are truly very fierce. I never caught your name, could you please tell me?". Gaofeng looked down at her and saw the anticipation and genuine curiosity and warmth in them, and so he couldn't help but treat her slightly better than he thought he should. He answered her by simply giving her his given name, "Gaofeng."

He didn't want to reveal his family name to anyone in the Holy Temple, at least not yet. The reason for this was because he was likely to cause great upheavals and make some drastic decisions, which included "stealing" the opportunity of the thirteen kingdoms of the Long Empire.

Although Gaofeng was far from scared of these small kingdoms, he was worried that if this information spread, the entirety of the Shangsheng family would be considered to have made its move for even greater power, and thus the ideal outcome was to leave the Holy Temple after finishing all of his business here with no one being the wiser about his true identity.