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Chapter 141: Chapter 129 Unlocking Skill Meditation
Sandwood incense is lit, a wisp of blue smoke curling up, lingering in the Meditation Hall.
The beams of light shining down from the dome become even hazier as they filter through the smoke.
A sense of serene detachment from the world arises spontaneously.
"Human brains have a limited capacity to receive information; when you block one sense, others become more sensitive."
"Once you cast away all distracting thoughts, you’ll be able to perceive information that we usually overlook."
"The first step in meditative practice requires learning to control and endure."
"First, follow me and take deep breaths, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale..."
"Now close your eyes, sit quietly there, slowly amplify your remaining senses, and pay attention to the surroundings..."
More than fifty students dressed in loose white clothes sit around the instructor, meditating with eyes closed.
Each person’s state of mind seems to gradually become tranquil, their expressions more relaxed.
Fang Cheng also listens carefully to the instructor’s guidance, meticulously following each step.
"Meditation" is something he is already quite familiar with.
Especially in this harmonious atmosphere, even without activating his Concentration Skill or using the breathing counting method, by simply adjusting his state of mind, he smoothly enters the Meditation State.
Fang Cheng closes his eyes and silently feels as his breathing rhythm gradually becomes slow and lengthened.
This time, he doesn’t deliberately avoid the various negative influences from the outside world.
Instead, according to the instructor’s words, he tries to face those sensory interferences with a calm and accepting heart and observes the environment more carefully.
He hears the deep or short breaths of fellow students beside him, the rustling of the curtains as the wind blows, the swaying of branches outside, the footsteps and voices of people passing by...
Then his nostrils flare slightly, distinguishing the various scents wafting through the room.
The sandwood incense, pure and lingering.
The fragrance of flowers, rich and sweet.
As well as the crowd’s emanating, pungent scent of sweat and body odor...
He can even feel the air moving, like the wind or waves, in gusts, causing his hairs to flutter.
In this state, even the most obtuse sense of touch becomes extremely sensitive.
"Now, your mind no longer entertains those distracting thoughts, because your consciousness is busy experiencing the present..."
The instructor’s voice, celestial and ethereal, resonates beside his ear.
"After this, you can continue to ’subtract’, step by step closing off the other four senses, enhancing the remaining sensory abilities."
"If any strangeness occurs during this process, do not resist; learn to accept, adapt, understand, until your consciousness completely merges with the environment..."
At this moment, Fang Cheng’s mind is filled with noise, yet his spirit is exceptionally peaceful and serene.
Having reached this stage in meditative practice, it’s as if it has become an instinct emanating from the body.
As brief thoughts flicker, his sense of hearing naturally fades away.
Then, in the pitch-black recesses of his mind, a bright scene faintly emerges.
The warm sunlight spreading in, the white curtains fluttering with the wind, the narcissus petals in the vase unfurling.
The interior and exterior seem to blend into one, creating a dreamlike interplay of light and shadow.
And his sense of smell also starts to ’touch’ the sunlight, the curtains, and the petals in place of his hands.
At this moment, Fang Cheng suddenly grasps the essence of the instructor’s teaching on the five senses.
Sight is not only seeing, hearing is not only listening, and smell is not just smelling.
They are all parts of consciousness, fundamentally indistinguishable, all differentiated from the same source.
That is "perception", also known as the sixth sense in the unknown.
Fang Cheng’s heart is as tranquil as a still ancient well, yet it seems to ripple like a lake surface, sending concentric circles outward.
While perception is being ’subtracted’, it is, in fact, also being ’added’.
At this point, sight, taste, and hearing have already returned to their source.
Fang Cheng decides to continue cutting off the fourth sense "smell," allowing the ultimate remaining "touch" to amplify as much as possible.
In a trance, the flow of air around him began to accelerate like the tides and waves surging constantly.
Fang Cheng suddenly experienced an immensely comfortable feeling, as though he had returned to the womb.
Stars twinkled above the dome, their faint light sprinkling down, gently enveloping him and slowly lifting him into the air.
Then, Fang Cheng tried stretching his arms, joyously swimming through the void like a fish.
And so, gradually, even the fifth sense—touch—began to fade away.
As if sinking into an endless blue, reveling in eternal tranquility.
A desire... to comfortably fall into sleep there and then.
At this moment, a vaguely familiar sensation suddenly assailed him.
Fang Cheng heard a series of extremely strange and deep syllables.
No.
To be precise, it was more like a message naturally emitted by some consciousness.
As if a mother related by blood was calling out to her offspring through the vastness.
Such peculiarity, as though he was lost in a dream, but also bringing an extraordinary clarity, he could feel both the passage and cessation of time, the unpredictability of the four seasons, in an incessant cycle.
Fang Cheng raised his eyes to gaze into the infinite depths of the azure, and faintly saw an extremely distant and colossal phantom.
It seemed... that if he responded, he would instantly gain some great wisdom beyond the mundane world, or some shocking power.
Fang Cheng’s heart stirred, he opened his mouth, but was unable to produce any sound.
Then he extended his limbs, swimming towards it, yet could not find the correct direction at all.
As he struggled in his attempts, a jolt passed through his heart, and he abruptly remembered something.
His self-awareness awoke anew, followed by a silent decree:
"Heart of Steel, activate!"
As the skill’s effects unfolded like a barrier, the azure he had seen in his mind vanished in a flash, like an illusion fading away.
And with it, his severed senses returned to his body, with all sorts of sounds, smells, and tactile sensations flooding back rapidly like a tide.
Everything swiftly returned to normal.
"What exactly did I see?"
Fang Cheng opened his eyes, his heart still pounding as he recalled the sensation that had nearly led his consciousness astray and out of control.
Meanwhile, Instructor Chen sitting amidst the crowd seemed to sense something.
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over many students who showed no signs of entering Meditation and his expression slightly disappointed.
Yet, when he looked towards a few other people, he nodded slightly.
For those immersed in the Meditation State, the class seemed to have lasted only a brief few minutes, but in reality, three hours had passed.
Outside, the setting sun cast its glow, the light inside the room was soft and yellow, and even the stars on the dome seemed a bit dimmer.
"Alright, today is just the first lesson, the main purpose is to give you all a preliminary understanding of what meditation is." n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
Instructor Chen clapped his hands, signaling that everyone could end their meditation practice.
Then he encouraged them in a gentle tone:
"As for those who haven’t found the feeling, don’t lose heart. If you reach Complete Silence on your first meditation, that would definitely be the mark of a one-in-ten-thousand genius."
"Moreover, during the morning and evening classes in the coming days, you can all come to the Meditation Hall to review the basics. It will help you deepen your understanding of meditation..."
Hearing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief, feeling their legs so numb they could barely stand.
However, the expressions on everyone’s faces were all of a peaceful nature, as if they had all experienced different wonderful things during this meditation class.
Even Pan Wendi had a reminiscent look on his face, as if his chatterbox ailment had been cured.
Fang Cheng looked around, composed his thoughts, and suddenly noticed his panel softly flickering with light.
With a thought, two prompt messages immediately appeared before his eyes.
[In your meditation practice, you had the fortune of contacting a higher-dimensional consciousness, successfully unlocking a deeper self-awareness, gaining an initial understanding of it]
[Skill Unlocked: Meditation lv0 (0/100)]
It turned out that during Meditation, he had unwittingly unlocked a Skill.
