Chapter 18: The Third Residual Seal

As time passed, more and more students gathered on the sports field.

Standing quietly behind the crowd as the class inspector, Cheng Han casually glanced to his right, his gaze swiftly sweeping across dozens of student figures.

Third Year Class Five.

These people had gone to the botanical garden yesterday.

At the same time, Cheng Han’s mind became highly focused, and a strange glimmer flickered within his eyes.

In just a brief moment, his Mental Energy decreased by 0.1 points.

Cheng Han let out a breath and slowly closed his eyes.

Within his mind, the silhouettes of all forty-nine students from Class Five emerged one after another. Most details were crystal clear, as though carved directly into his memory.

The corners of Cheng Han’s lips curled upward.

“Not bad. Using ‘Imprinting’ to memorize targets is far more efficient.”

So-called “Imprinting” was an advanced meditation technique.

During one meditation class, Qiu Yuan had once said that only those who had officially condensed a Source Perception Seal could master the technique.

Last night, Cheng Han had suddenly gotten the idea to try it himself, and astonishingly, he succeeded on the first attempt.

He believed the credit belonged to his two residual seals.

Residual seals were higher-level existences than Source Perception Seals. Since two residual seals already resided within his Sea of Consciousness, he had broken through a certain limitation, making Imprinting naturally easy for him.

In little more than ten seconds, Cheng Han had “imprinted” the hundreds of students from all seven classes into his mind.

Satisfied, he thought:

“Next, I just need to pick out the boys who fit the characteristics, then use the Omniscient Eye to deduce which one is the real mastermind.”

Before long, all the students had assembled, and the Grand Exercise Assembly officially began.

Boom! Boom!

Two giant drums were struck, producing deep, thunderous sounds.

Every student immediately felt their spirits rise, their concentration becoming far sharper.

At that instant, Cheng Han sensed the two residual seals in his Sea of Consciousness twitch slightly.

He immediately became surprised.

Clearly, the drumbeats were unusual.

Or rather, the drums themselves were no ordinary objects.

Previously, Cheng Han had assumed that drumming was merely ceremonial, naturally drawing students’ attention.

But now, it seemed the drums definitely possessed some kind of supernatural power. Their sound stimulated the students’ mental state, making them more focused.

Boom! Boom!

The drums sounded again.

Feeling the subtle reaction of his residual seals, Cheng Han decisively murmured inwardly:

“Analyze the drumbeats.”

The strength of supernatural power was directly tied to Mental Energy, and since the drumbeats could sharpen concentration, they were obviously beneficial to Mental Energy.

Since he had encountered such an opportunity, how could he let it slip by?

A familiar cool sensation spread across the top of his head.

His Mental Energy began dropping rapidly.

Boom!

A phantom drumbeat echoed inside Cheng Han’s mind.

The cool sensation on his scalp rapidly spread outward, seeping through his skin, penetrating his skull, and reaching the deepest parts of his brain.

Half a breath later, he felt as though his head had been submerged in icy water. His thoughts became incomparably clear, utterly free of distraction.

Then, Cheng Han “saw” a strand of deep violet light.

It rapidly grew, transforming into a strange shape before releasing a faint violet glow, resembling a purple sphere of light.

A notification flashed through his mind:

“Analyzed the ‘Spirit Firmament Residual Seal.’ Proficiency +9. Current proficiency: 87/1000. Mental Energy: 5.8/14.5.”

Cheng Han’s heart filled with joy.

A third residual seal!

The upper limit of his Mental Energy had increased by a massive 0.7 points!

This was the greatest improvement he had ever experienced!

Furthermore, Cheng Han vaguely felt an indescribable sense of fullness.

Not physical fullness.

Rather, his soul itself felt slightly overstuffed.

A realization arose within him.

At his current level, his Sea of Consciousness could contain at most three residual seals. Any more would exceed the limit his spirit could bear.

Only after his personal strength underwent another leap would he be capable of condensing additional residual seals.

Cheng Han lightly touched the purple sphere with his consciousness, and a stream of information flashed through his mind:

“Spirit Firmament Residual Seal. Completion level: 2.38%.”

Judging by the numbers, the development potential of this new residual seal was lower than the True Flame Residual Seal, but vastly greater than the Spirit Taming Residual Seal.

He also came to understand the abilities of the Spirit Firmament Residual Seal.

First, it slowly nourished the soul. Since the soul was closely connected to Mental Energy, this residual seal could increase the upper limit of Mental Energy.

This was undoubtedly its most delightful effect.

The sudden increase of 0.7 Mental Energy points had happened precisely because of this.

Second, the residual seal could improve the recovery speed of Mental Energy. At its current level, the increase was around twenty percent.

Third, it could heighten concentration, thereby greatly improving cultivation efficiency.

Beyond these functions, the Spirit Firmament Residual Seal possessed many other interesting minor abilities.

In short, it was tremendously useful.

At that moment, a firm and powerful voice rang out from the podium.

“Students, next I will demonstrate the ‘Nine Origin Body Strengthening Form.’ Please watch carefully.”

The speaker was a burly middle-aged man named Yan Dongting, one of the school’s vice principals and a retired Black Armor Army warrior.

The so-called “Nine Origin Body Strengthening Form” was a set of techniques used to strengthen the body.

Under the gaze of thousands of students, Yan Dongting assumed a starting posture and shouted:

“Hah!”

Cheng Han blinked.

To ordinary people, the vice principal had merely shouted once. But Cheng Han now possessed a certain understanding of supernatural power, and he immediately judged that the shout carried a soul-shaking effect.

Cheng Han inwardly praised him.

“As expected of a warrior. Even a casual shout contains hidden profundity.”

On the podium, Yan Dongting spread his arms wide, bent his legs into a horse stance, leaned backward, twisted his waist, and assumed an extremely strange stretching posture.

At the same time, he explained:

“First Form: Hidden Horse Form.”

The Nine Origin Body Strengthening Form contained a total of thirteen stances.

To ordinary people, every single form was physically demanding, and the later the stance, the greater the difficulty and the harder it was to master.

Not a single student in the entire school could perform a perfect complete set.

Qiu Yuan had once said that beginning from the seventh form onward, ninety percent of students would perform the movements incorrectly. They might look similar externally, but in truth differed completely.

Cheng Han decisively used Imprinting, firmly engraving the stance into his mind.

Previously, he had viewed it the same way everyone else did—as merely a body-strengthening exercise.

But today, he saw something different within it.

Three minutes later, the demonstration ended.

Yan Dongting gave the customary instruction:

“This session of the Grand Exercise Assembly—practice seriously. Do not be careless or lazy.”

After speaking, he turned and left decisively.

Cheng Han thoughtfully mused:

“The Nine Origin Body Strengthening Form seems capable of drawing in Source Energy to gradually temper the body. This is an incredibly remarkable technique and definitely worth studying carefully.

“If my guess is correct, combining it with a specialized Mystic Seal—namely the Body Tempering Seal that only warriors can condense—would likely improve the results tremendously.

“The school regularly holds Grand Exercise Assemblies, and retired warriors publicly demonstrate the Nine Origin Body Strengthening Form. The authorities truly spare no effort in nurturing talent.”

He secretly decided that in the future, besides accumulating skill proficiency and analyzing his three residual seals, he should also devote time to diligently practicing the Nine Origin Body Strengthening Form.

On the podium, another teacher issued the command:

“Everyone, begin practicing.”

All the students moved in unison.

Cheng Han swung his arms and raised his legs, forming a perfect Hidden Horse stance.

Using the corner of his eye, he observed the other students and discovered that many performed the movements halfheartedly, clearly just going through the motions.

He could not help sighing inwardly.

What a bunch of people who fail to recognize treasure.

(End of Chapter)