Translator: CinderTL
The next morning, at the Star City Academy cafeteria, Feng Qi, Lin Ran, and Mu Qing sat at their usual table, eating breakfast after getting their food.
After the events of the previous night, Mu Qing's attitude toward Feng Qi had noticeably softened, her previous hostility gone.
Midway through their meal, Lin Ran suddenly turned to Feng Qi.
"Brother Qi, are you free today?"
"What's up?" Feng Qi asked, looking up curiously with his mouth full.
"I'm teaching Combat Class One later. If you're free, come listen in. You can point out any areas where I need improvement."
Seeing Lin Ran's expectant expression, Feng Qi instinctively asked, "What are you planning to teach? Cultivation arts? Art magic?"
"After preparing my lesson last night, I decided to focus on art magic. My understanding of cultivation arts is too shallow—not even as good as the academy's teachers. I'd rather not embarrass myself."
"If you know your knowledge of cultivation arts is limited while you excel in art magic, why are you still so determined to study cultivation arts?" Feng Qi couldn't help but retort.
"It's my dream, and I believe I can do it!" Lin Ran grinned, his face radiating confidence.
"It's better to specialize than to dabble in many things," Feng Qi said earnestly, trying to dissuade Lin Ran from his world-threatening ambitions. "I don't approve of your approach."
"Brother Qi, are you saying I should focus solely on pursuing my dreams and abandon art magic? Only by dedicating myself wholeheartedly can I succeed?"
"Cough, cough, cough!" Feng Qi choked, caught completely off guard by this interpretation.
Good grief, his comprehension skills are truly something else.
If Lin Ran actually followed through with this, Feng Qi would inevitably bear some responsibility for the future blunders he would commit.
"No, that's not what I meant. I'm saying you should focus on art magic. Since you lack talent in cultivation arts, it's better to give up early. Besides, art magic is equally important. While cultivation techniques form the core of art magic, powerful techniques can compensate for deficiencies in your cultivation technique."
"No way! A true man should bravely pursue his dreams. I'm still young—I won't turn back until I hit a wall!" Lin Ran shook his head firmly, refusing to budge.
Feng Qi: ...
He didn't mind Lin Ran hitting a wall, but the problem was that when Lin Ran hit that wall, he'd drag millions of others along with him. That made the situation utterly hopeless.
"Brother Qi, do you have time after all?"
"Yes, I do. I'll go with you after we finish eating," Feng Qi nodded.
Since he couldn't immediately change Lin Ran's mind, Feng Qi decided to take a gradual approach. He planned to first praise Lin Ran's talent in technique research, then belittle his aptitude for cultivation techniques, hoping the contrast would dissuade him from pursuing cultivation arts.
"Senior sister, do you have class? Come with us," Lin Ran said, turning to Mu Qing, who was still engrossed in her meal.
Hearing this, Mu Qing suddenly stopped eating and slowly raised her head, her cheeks still stuffed with food, giving her a adorably silly expression.
After glancing at Lin Ran's beaming face, she shifted her gaze to Feng Qi.
"Senior sister, do you have class today?" Feng Qi asked curiously.
"No class."
"Then come listen to the lecture with us."
"No way! I never go to class!" As she spoke, a fleeting hint of melancholy flickered in Mu Qing's eyes, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
Feng Qi, ever perceptive, immediately noticed it.
He suddenly understood why Mu Qing had said that.
As an outcast in the eyes of her classmates, she drew attention wherever she went. No one wanted to associate with her, and attending class would inevitably subject her to constant scrutiny and judgmental stares. This was likely why she avoided classes.
Realizing this, Feng Qi didn't press the matter further.
He couldn't change the students' attitudes toward Mu Qing right now, and forcing her to join them would only make her feel more uncomfortable.
"Then let's have lunch together."
As he spoke, Feng Qi picked up his tray and stood up. Lin Ran, who was beside him, immediately followed suit.
Leaving the academy cafeteria, the two headed to Combat Class One.
The students were already waiting, their anticipation palpable. Having heard that Junior Brother Lin Ran would be teaching this session again, they were brimming with excitement.
The previous lesson had been immensely beneficial, so this time, they had all brought notebooks, ready to record every key point Lin Ran covered in real-time.
As they entered the classroom, Lin Ran strode toward the podium while Feng Qi took a seat among the students.
The moment Feng Qi stepped through the door, smiles lit up the students' faces.
Such was the way of this world: exceptional talents were always held in high regard, for they were the pioneers who blazed trails through the thorny path of humanity's struggle against domain creatures.
But then the students noticed something strange: "Junior Brother Lin Ran" was sitting down, while the strikingly handsome boy who had arrived with him walked to the podium.
After placing his prepared notes on the desk, the boy beamed at the students below and announced:
"Hello everyone, I'm Lin Ran. I'll be teaching you all today."
Whoosh!
The students instinctively turned to Feng Qi, their eyes filled with confusion.
At that moment, Lin Ran continued, "I know you all have many questions. I won't go into the specifics, but to summarize, Senior Feng Qi—the one sitting in the right corner of the classroom—was the one who taught you last time. I am the real Lin Ran."
"While my abilities can't compare to Senior Feng Qi's, I've achieved some modest success in art magic. I'll now share some of my research findings in this field."
With that, Lin Ran flipped open his lesson plan to the first page.
The students remained stunned. Though they now understood they had mistaken Feng Qi for Lin Ran, their gazes toward him were still filled with curiosity.
If he's not Lin Ran, then who is he? Why have we never heard of him before?
But soon, their attention was completely captivated by Lin Ran's lecture.
"As we all know, casting a technique requires mobilizing spiritual energy within the body, tracing its trajectory externally, and then transforming that energy to unleash its power. But I've always found this process far too cumbersome—the mobilization, the tracing, the sheer complexity. So I began to wonder: could we drastically simplify the steps for casting techniques? To that end, I've developed a prototype for simplified technique casting, which I call Handseal Flow..."
Initially complaining, Lin Ran's explanation gradually became more technical, culminating in a revolutionary concept for technique casting:
Handseal Flow!
Upon hearing this, the students were stunned, inwardly dismissing Lin Ran's claims as pure fantasy and utter nonsense.
Feng Qi, however, reacted differently. When Lin Ran mentioned "Handseal Flow," he immediately recalled the information he had seen in the database.
The evaluation report had highlighted Lin Ran's creation of the "Handseal Flow" as his most significant achievement.
He hadn't expected Lin Ran to have already developed a rudimentary framework for the Handseal Flow at this stage.
As Lin Ran elaborated on the details of the Handseal Flow, the class erupted in uproar.
Even Feng Qi was astonished by the depth of Lin Ran's explanation.
Lin Ran proposed a radical simplification of technique casting, essentially using handseals to rapidly construct the necessary spiritual energy pathways.
During the lecture, Lin Ran revealed that he had currently developed twelve distinct handseals, each capable of being combined with others. Each handseal represented a specific trajectory of spiritual energy movement. For example:
Zi (子): Thumbs overlapped, left thumb on top (spiritual energy flows from the Gate of Darkness to the Energy Center).
Chou (丑): Right hand horizontal, left hand vertical (from Celestial Pivot to Water Divide).
Yin (寅): Both thumbs extended straight (from Cloud Gate to Central Treasury).
Mao (卯): Right hand gently clenched into a fist, except for the extended pinky finger (from Celestial Pool to Sun and Moon).
Chen (辰): Thumbs overlapped, index fingers of both hands pointing downward (from Origin Pass to Hidden Bone).
Si (巳): Fingers interlocked (from Hundred Convergences to Celestial Pillar).
Wu (午): Elbows extended outward, index fingers of both hands touching to form a triangle (from Spirit Court to Clear Bright).
Wei (未): Thumbs extended upward and overlapped, left thumb on top (from Wind Pool to Chest Center).
Shen (申): Pinky fingers parallel to thumbs (from Pigeon Tail to Spirit Gate).
You (酉): Index and middle fingers of both hands drawn together to form a triangle in front of the chest (from Qi Sea to Origin Pass).
Xu (戌): Right fist placed in the palm of the left hand (from Curved Bone through Liver Gate and back to Curved Bone).
Hai (亥): Tips of both hands clasped together, palms facing downward and extended straight (from Life Gate to Coccygeal Gate).
These twelve handseal techniques are essentially twelve distinct pathways for spiritual energy circulation. With just a single gesture, the body's spiritual energy rapidly flows along these predetermined routes.
The different hand seals could be combined, and the process required no conscious activation, significantly improving the efficiency of spellcasting.
Lin Ran's concepts and explanations left the students dumbfounded, their initial disdain completely transforming into admiration.
"He really pulled it off," Feng Qi murmured, a smile spreading across his face as he watched Lin Ran continue his impassioned lecture.
Lin Ran's achievements in art magic research were etched in history, impossible to conceal.
If he hadn't abandoned his art magic studies for cultivation technique research several years after joining the Tiger Soul Research Institute, his accomplishments in art magic would have been even more dazzling.
He might even have become a historical figure on par with Wang Jinsheng.
Now, Feng Qi's mission was to steer Lin Ran back to art magic research, urging him to abandon his unrealistic ambitions.
"I'll crush your dreams."
(End of the Chapter)
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