Huo Yuhao from The Peerless Tang Sect is incredibly talented.

"Don't go if you don't laugh!"

"Just another fifteen minutes, just fifteen minutes!"

"You haven't gone into the details of how the gravitational field guides the fire element yet."

A chorus of pleas for him to stay immediately filled the conference room. Several older Soul Masters stared longingly at Huo Buxiao, their eyes filled with the same yearning as an old smoker experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

Qian Duoduo slammed her hand on the table and stood up, her voice so loud it could shake dust off the ceiling: "It's just a class! If you don't laugh, I'll give you a pass; you don't even need to participate in the freshman competition, you're directly admitted to the Soul Guidance Department's inner academy! You stay and continue lecturing!"

All eyes turned to Huo Yuhao. A direct admission to the inner academy—a privilege many outer academy students could only dream of.

However, in the past few days, Huo Yuhao has proven that he has the ability.

Now, as long as Huo Yuhao improves his cultivation, his status as a level nine Soul Master is a certainty.

For no other reason than Huo Yuhao's mathematical analysis of the core soul-guiding array, he already possessed the theoretical knowledge of a ninth-level soul master at such a young age.

Many of those present have received help from Huo Yuhao.

Huo Buxiao simply folded the handkerchief and put it back in his pocket, bowed slightly to Qian Duoduo, and said calmly and earnestly, "Thank you for your kindness, Dean. But I still want to attend classes and grow together with my classmates. Some things can't be learned just by sitting in the inner courtyard."

Qian Duoduo was taken aback and wanted to say something more, but Xian Lin'er reached out and stopped him.

"Alright." Xian Lin'er glanced at him, her voice not loud, but it made Qian Duoduo swallow back the words he was about to say.

"Didn't you understand what he didn't finish saying? It's not that he doesn't want to teach, it's that he doesn't want to be treated like an outcast. You're sending him to the inner academy, but who will he grow with? With those students who are ten years older than him?"

Qian Duoduo opened her mouth, looked at the closed door, raised her hand to rub the back of her head, and suddenly laughed out loud.

"This kid knows exactly what he wants and what he wants to do."

After class in the freshmen classroom.

Xiao Xiao ran over carrying a thick stack of documents. The stack of papers almost covered most of her face, leaving only her bright, sparkling eyes visible.

"Don't laugh! I've compiled all the virtual realm data you mentioned yesterday! I've also brought the training summary you annotated for me last time."

She ran up to Huo Yuhao, slightly out of breath, a faint blush rising on her cheeks from the exertion. The corners of the top page of the document were slightly curled, clearly from being flipped through repeatedly.

Huo Yuhao reached out and took the stack of documents; it was quite heavy. He glanced down and flipped through a couple of pages, his gaze lingering for a moment on several annotations. The handwriting was neat and organized, even using different colors of ink to categorize them—black for excerpts from the original text, red for her questions, and blue for her attempted analysis.

"Thank you for your hard work," he said, then paused and added, "Well done."

Xiao Xiao's eyes curved into crescent moons. Those three words were enough to make her happy for the whole night.

A young girl's joy is always so simple and pure.

"No, not really, I just tidied things up a bit..." she said modestly, but couldn't help tiptoeing slightly, like a cat whose fur had been stroked. "By the way, about the training you mentioned—"

"Feed".

A lukewarm voice came in from behind.

Wang Dong leaned closer to Huo Yuhao, her long, light blue hair gleaming warmly in the sunset.

She first glanced at the stack of documents in Xiao Xiao's arms, which were clearly organized for Huo Yuhao, then looked at Huo Yuhao, and finally shifted her gaze into the distance with a blank expression, pretending to be indifferent.

"You two, what are you lingering here for after class?"

"Don't laugh. Didn't you say you were going to train yesterday? What, aren't you training today?"

Wang Dong emphasized the word "instruct" a little more, as if to stress that he was not expecting anything from the other party, but simply urging them to fulfill their promise.

Huo Yuhao closed his notebook and looked at the two people in front of him. Xiao Xiao looked expectant, while Wang Dong had a reserved expression that said, "I was just asking casually."

"Go east," he said. "Today's training isn't complicated, but we need quiet."

"Running?" Wang Dong's eyebrows immediately furrowed. She had run quite a bit yesterday, and her legs were still slightly sore.

Although she didn't want to admit it, she slept more soundly and peacefully last night than ever before.

"It's not running," Huo Yuhao said.

"What is that?" the two asked almost simultaneously.

Huo Yuhao did not answer directly, but turned and walked towards the east corridor.

Xiao Xiao, clutching the documents, quickly followed, and Wang Dong followed as well. He muttered to himself as they walked, "Such a secretive way of doing things. If this doesn't work, see what I say to you."

Huo Yuhao walked to the center of the open space, took out three low stools from his storage space, and lined them up on the ground, with each stool about two steps apart.

Then he took out a small cloth bag from his bosom, untied it, and inside were three thin incense sticks. This kind of incense, once lit, can block out distracting thoughts and enhance concentration.

These are some minor prescriptions recorded in the pharmacopoeia of the Benlai Sect.

Huo Yuhao placed three incense sticks in the ground in front of the three benches and then lit them.

Xiao Xiao put down the documents and curiously squatted down to look at the three incense sticks: "What kind of incense is this? It smells cool."

"It will help calm your mind," Huo Yuhao said. "Each of you take a stool and stand on it."

"Stand on them?" Wang Dong looked at the three low stools. The stool seats were only about two palms wide, and the four legs were thin and long, looking rather unstable. "What would you do standing on them for?"

"Standing meditation," Huo Yuhao said, demonstrating first. He stepped onto the leftmost stool, his feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, hands hanging naturally at his sides, back straight but not overly tense. His entire body stood firmly on the narrow stool, as stable as an old pine tree rooted in a crack in the rock.

"Don't lock your knees; keep your weight on the center of your feet. Pull your spine up and down, imagine a thread gently suspending your head, and slightly tuck your chin. Slow down your breathing, but don't hold your breath."

His voice had changed too. It wasn't his usual flat and simple tone, but a lower, steady voice, as smooth as flowing water without any inflection. Hearing this voice, Xiao Xiao felt her heartbeat slow down a little.

"Standing meditation is a laborious skill," Huo Yuhao turned his head to look at the two people still standing on the ground. "It looks simple, but it only involves one thing—finding the most natural and stable posture for your body. If you learn standing meditation deeply, it will help you understand your own martial spirit and deepen your sensitivity to it."

His gaze lingered on Wang Dong for a fleeting moment. It was so brief that Wang Dong himself didn't even notice.

Wang Dong, I hope you can understand more deeply the power of that subtle, imperfect life, and truly live for yourself.

Wang Dong was completely unaware of all this. She only felt that the boy's gaze was sometimes too heavy, so heavy that it inexplicably made her want to hide, yet she also instinctively wanted to get closer.

"Stand then."

Wang Dong stepped onto the middle bench.

The bench was narrower than she had imagined. The moment she stepped on it, her foot wobbled, and she instinctively spread her arms to find her balance, like a butterfly spreading its wings on a thin branch.

Xiao Xiao couldn't help but chuckle.

"Don't laugh!" Wang Dong was embarrassed and angry. He quickly regained his balance, but the tips of his ears were already red.

"Coming, coming." Xiao Xiao quickly stopped laughing and obediently stepped onto the rightmost stool.

Her sense of balance was better than Wang Dong's. Although she swayed a bit after going up, she quickly regained her footing. As soon as she was steady, she started to sneak a glance to her left—from this angle, the silhouette of Huo Yuhao's profile was outlined by a clear golden line in the setting sun.

"Close your eyes," Huo Yuhao's voice floated through the thin veil, "Don't think about anything. Just feel the small area where your feet touch the bench."

Xiao Xiao obediently closed her eyes. Wang Dong hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes as well.

At first, Wang Dong found this training utterly absurd. Standing on a bench? What kind of training was this?

It's even less reliable than practicing blacksmithing at home.

But she soon discovered that things weren't so simple.

With my eyes closed, my body became exceptionally sensitive to the width of the bench.

The narrow wooden plank under my feet seemed to suddenly narrow by an inch, and my ankle began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.

The muscles in her thighs tensed up, followed by her waist—she realized that she had straightened her back too much without realizing it, to the point of stiffness.

"Wang Dong, loosen your back a bit."

Huo Yuhao's voice rang out, neither too loud nor too soft, like a glass of warm water placed next to her ear.

Huo Yuhao kept his mental detection active, observing Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's stance training.

She subconsciously did as he said, relaxing her waist slightly. The stiffness actually subsided, something inside her seemed to sink down a little, and her feet felt more firmly pressed against the bench.

What's going on? She didn't even move, how did he know?

At the same time, Xiao Xiao's legs began to tremble. A soreness came from the muscles on the front of her calves, and her knees began to move forward involuntarily.

Just as she was about to lean forward, a hand gently pressed down on her shoulder.

The hand didn't exert any force; it simply tapped her shoulder, pushing her forward-leaning center of gravity back to its original position.

"Grip the ground with your toes, and let your mind sink to the soles of your feet."

Huo Yuhao had gotten off the bench without anyone noticing and walked silently to her side. Xiao Xiao felt a cool breeze on his fingertips as his hand left her shoulder.

Her heart skipped a beat.

But she didn't open her eyes. She just bit her lower lip, focusing all her attention on the soles of her feet. Her toes gripped the bench tightly—imagining herself as a sapling that had taken root; the wind could move the leaves, but it couldn't move the roots that were embedded in the soil.

Huo Yuhao took a step back, looking at the two figures frozen in the sunset.

His gaze first fell on Xiao Xiao. Her shoulders were still a little tense, but she had already found her balance. In two more days, she would be the first to stand firmly. Then he looked at Wang Dong.

Wang Dong's body swayed slightly, but he quickly regained his balance.

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly, "That's about right."

We should use the virtual realm to speed things up.