Chapter 126: Concentration and Meditation

After dinner, Lu Yu did not immediately head to the Warehouse to practice martial arts as usual, but instead went straight back to his room.

He gently picked up the bottle containing the Blood Qi Pills, tilted it, and four Low-grade Blood Qi Pills rolled out one by one from the mouth of the bottle, landing in his palm.

Looking at these pills, Lu Yu took a deep breath, then placed them into his mouth one by one, tilted his head back slightly, and swallowed them slowly.

The pills slid down his throat like a warm, thin stream, quietly merging into his body.

Not long after, he saw the Potential Points on his panel climb rapidly, suddenly increasing to 1852 points. And the Experience Value required to strengthen his body again was only 200 points.

Lu Yu's gaze fell involuntarily onto his Mental Attribute.

He frowned slightly, thoughts flying through his mind. After a brief moment of reflection, a flash of determination crossed his eyes. No longer hesitating in the slightest, he decisively clicked the plus sign behind the Mental Attribute.

In an instant, 200 Potential Points vanished like flowing water.

At the same time, a scorching and powerful warm current erupted from his heart like a surging tide, rapidly spreading to every corner of his body.

This strange and intense sensation was far more shocking than the feeling brought about by the improvement of his Baji Fist earlier.

Aside from the obvious changes in his body, Lu Yu also noticed a slight swelling sensation coming from his brain, as if something were quietly growing inside.

A moment later, all the changes gradually disappeared without a trace, like a receding tide.

Lu Yu reached out to rub his head; the strange feeling from just a moment ago lingered in his heart, yet he found it difficult to put into words exactly what was so strange about it.

He looked at his Mental Attribute again; the value had reached 22.67 points, which meant he had reached the threshold to practice the 【Moon Observation Method】.

"Could that strange feeling just now be the effect brought about by the increase in Mental Attribute? Could it be that an ability has awakened?" Lu Yu widened his eyes, his heart filled with curiosity and anticipation.

According to the information he understood, the Mental Power of an Awakened is usually above 20 points.

Now that he had reached this value, was it possible that he could also unlock an ability?

"Fire? Ice? Strengthening? Gravity? Light?" He silently muttered various possible abilities in his heart.

Time passed second by second—one minute, two minutes, three minutes... He silently recited every ability name he could think of, yet nothing happened; everything around him remained as usual.

"Alright then." Lu Yu shrugged helplessly; perhaps he had thought of the matter of awakening an ability too simply.

Perhaps he had not successfully awakened an ability? But it was also possible that he had already awakened, only, like Qin Hai, he had not yet triggered the relevant conditions, so he had not noticed it?

"It's probably the latter case." Lu Yu pondered to himself; after all, a person must always have dreams—what if one day the dream comes true?

Sigh, so be it.

Compared to the somewhat elusive and ethereal abilities, the tangible 【Moon Observation Method】 practice before him was more reliable and practical.

Thus, he decided to invest Experience Value directly into the 【Moon Observation Method】. Ji Bingyu had mentioned before that her sister spent several years before she could cultivate the Moon Observation Method to Great Success.

Moreover, those who can cultivate the 【Sun Observation Method】 are basically top-tier Awakened who hold down large cities.

As for those who can cultivate the 【Universe Observation Method】, there are only a handful of top-tier Awakened standing at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

After Lu Yu invested one point of Experience Value into the 【Moon Observation Method】, he stared nervously at the proficiency; he saw it struggle to jump up by one point, then two points, and then it stagnated.

"Two percent?" Lu Yu couldn't help but exclaim; did it really require a full fifty points of Experience Value just for the 【Moon Observation Method】 Entry? No wonder Ji Bingyu had never been able to achieve Entry.

He glanced at his remaining Experience Value, which was about 350 points left. If he was lucky, perhaps he could raise the 【Moon Observation Method】 by about two levels?

With this thought, he decisively invested another forty-nine points of Experience Value.

In an instant, an intense swelling sensation surged into his head, as if countless things were rapidly gathering in his mind, and also as if a babbling stream were flowing slowly through his brain.

Immediately following, countless memories that had long been forgotten or blurred surged out from the depths of his mind like a tide.

Lu Yu opened his mouth wide in astonishment; these memories were actually the bits and pieces from before he transmigrated. Those past events he once thought he would never be able to recall were now incomparably clear, as if he were experiencing them in person.

Accompanying the continuous emergence of memories, his perception of his own brain became increasingly clear; he could even minutely perceive every part of his brain.

"Could that strange feeling from before really have been brought about by the increase in Mental Power?" Lu Yu's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly looked at the Skill bar.

It showed: 【Moon Observation Method: Initial Glimpse, Traits: Concentration Level 1, Meditation Level 1】

【Concentration: Each level increased, Mental Power increases by onefold】

【Meditation: Active Skill, after activation, enter a meditative state, recovering 10% per hour; each level increased, recovery speed per hour increases by 10%; while in a meditative state, one cannot move】

"Mental Power increases by onefold?" Lu Yu thought he had misread it, confirmed it twice, and then looked carefully at his Mental Attribute.

That was correct; the Mental Attribute had changed from 22.67 points to 45.34 points, truly doubling in its entirety.

"This..." Lu Yu couldn't help but be stunned; this was only just the beginning.

If he were to raise the 【Moon Observation Method】 to the Small Success realm, wouldn't his Mental Power double again?

If he were to cultivate it to the Consummation realm, wouldn't his original 20 points of Mental Power be able to reach 640 points?

And this was only an Entry-level Contemplation Method; if it were replaced with the 【Sun Observation Method】, wouldn't the increase in Mental Power be even more astonishing?

Lu Yu seemed to understand a little why those Awakened could grow so rapidly.

Although every Awakened's level of control over their own ability varies, there is no doubt that if one wants to make an ability exert more powerful might, the higher the Mental Power, the better.

"This is also not bad." Lu Yu pondered to himself; although he was not yet an Awakened and had no ability, having a high Mental Attribute also had many benefits.

Just like the Eight Directions Extreme Distance skill of the Baji Fist, it requires continuous consumption of Mental Power after activation, but it can increase Strength and Agility attributes by onefold.

If he were to face an Awakened in the future, by relying on his higher Mental Power, he would also have a few more chances of winning.

His gaze fell subconsciously on the Meditation trait; this trait was relatively easy to understand, somewhat similar to the Blood Circulation skill that recovers physical strength, only the requirements for the conditions were higher, but the recovery speed was indeed quite fast.

Level 1 Meditation requires ten hours to recover Mental Power to one hundred percent, which is slightly slower than the recovery speed of normal sleep.

But if Meditation were raised to Level 2, it would only take five hours to recover to full value. If it reached Level 5 Meditation, it could finish recovering in two hours, which is much faster than the recovery speed of sleep.

"I wonder if I am one of the few Martial Artists who study the cultivation of Mental Power." This thought suddenly popped into Lu Yu's mind, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Holding the mentality of giving it a try, he tried hard to imagine a crescent moon in his mind.

Instantly, he felt it was vastly different from before. In the past, when his Mental Power was weaker, imagining things in his mind was often just a vague, general impression, ethereal and void.

But at this moment, that crescent moon was vivid and lifelike, as if a lively, moving picture were clearly presented in his mind.

Immediately after, he tried to contemplate a waning moon and a first-quarter moon; when he contemplated the first-quarter moon, he suddenly felt slightly fatigued.

"It seems that contemplating things in the mind requires the consumption of Mental Power." Lu Yu realized suddenly, and the more complex the contemplated object, and the longer it is maintained, the more Mental Power is consumed.

"There is still quite a bit of Experience Value left; for the sake of caution, I'll raise it by another level." He invested one more point of Experience Value, and the proficiency of the 【Moon Observation Method】 rose by one percent accordingly.

"One hundred points." Lu Yu nodded knowingly, then invested another 99 Experience Value.

In an instant, the Mental Power in his mind surged violently once more, like a dam bursting.

【Moon Observation Method: Minor Accomplishment, Traits: Concentration Level 2, Meditation Level 2, Conservation Level 1】

【Conservation: For every level increased, your Mental Power consumption is reduced by five percent】

"A trait that reduces Mental Power consumption?"

A smile appeared on Lu Yu's face; this could also be considered an indirect increase to his Spirit stat.

Although the margin wasn't large, only five percent per level, even reaching the Consummation Realm would only save twenty-five percent—less than thirty percent—but it was better than nothing.

"Let's stop the upgrades here for now. The remaining Experience Value must be saved for upgrading other martial arts, and it looks like this Experience Value isn't enough anyway."

Lu Yu looked at the attribute panel again:

Realm: Flesh Refining Mid-stage

Level: 10

Constitution: 158.95

Strength: 162

Agility: 108.58

Spirit: 90.68

Potential Point: 1652

Experience Value: 158

"Huh?" Lu Yu noticed at a glance that a plus sign had actually appeared behind his Realm. This meant his attribute values had reached the threshold for a breakthrough.

He curiously clicked on it, and it displayed:

【Breakthrough Threshold: Any one of the Constitution or Strength attributes reaching 150 points, threshold reached】

【Average of the three attributes of Constitution and Strength exceeds 130, breakthrough success rate reaches 100%, current breakthrough success rate 100%】

【Breakthrough?】

Lu Yu wasn't too surprised by this; from Wang Shu's usual accounts, he guessed the threshold for a Martial Artist to break through from late-stage Flesh Refining to Force Entry was around 200 points.

So, the threshold to break through from mid-stage Flesh Refining to late-stage Flesh Refining should be 150 points.

"No rush, it'll still be in time to break through tomorrow morning before setting off."

After pondering for a moment, Lu Yu walked out of the house. He followed the familiar small path and, without realizing it, arrived in front of a house.

He raised his hand to knock lightly on the door, then gave a light cough and said, "Ji Bingyu, are you asleep?"

"Lu Yu?" A surprised voice came from inside, followed by footsteps approaching from afar. The door slowly opened, revealing Ji Bingyu's slightly astonished figure.

"Sorry to bother you so late," Lu Yu said with a smile.

"It's fine, I haven't slept yet." A faint blush appeared on Ji Bingyu's face as she turned sideways to make room.

Lu Yu nodded and stepped into the house.

"I'll pour you a bowl of water." Ji Bingyu seemed a bit nervous.

"No need to be so polite." Lu Yu was caught between laughter and tears, then said, "Do you still remember the Moon Observation Method you taught me last time?"

"Ah? The Moon Observation Method?" Ji Bingyu was slightly stunned, then nodded. Immediately after, as if she had suddenly thought of something, her eyes widened, and she said in surprise, "You reached Entry?"

Lu Yu smiled and said modestly, "I was lucky; I reached Entry all at once."

Ji Bingyu opened her mouth in surprise, unable to speak for a moment.

Of course, she wouldn't suspect that Lu Yu was lying to her, but how much time had passed since she told Lu Yu about the Moon Observation Method? It had only been a day or two, and he had actually reached Entry?

"Didn't I say back then that if you told me the method, I might be able to help you? So I came over now because I wanted to tell you about my insights during the cultivation process. If you have any questions during this process, just feel free to ask," Lu Yu said earnestly.

Although he had only cultivated the 【Moon Observation Method】 to the Small Success realm, it was perfectly fine for him to guide Ji Bingyu, who hadn't reached Entry yet.

"Re, really?" A glimmer of joy flashed in Ji Bingyu's eyes, but soon her gaze dimmed again, and she said somewhat dejectedly, "But I'm a bit slow; I'm afraid it'll be hard for me to learn."

"Don't belittle yourself so much. Maybe you just hit a dead end in one area; what if you try a different approach?" Lu Yu encouraged.

"Mm!" Hearing Lu Yu say this, Ji Bingyu immediately felt her confidence increase quite a bit.

Next, Lu Yu narrated while Ji Bingyu took notes earnestly with a pen.

During this time, Ji Bingyu asked a few questions from time to time, and Lu Yu answered them all very patiently one by one.

However, it could be seen from Ji Bingyu's expression that she didn't seem to fully understand the meaning behind it.

Consequently, Lu Yu explained it several more times without getting tired of it.

After about half an hour or so, Lu Yu stood up to leave.

"Let's stop here for now. If you encounter any problems during your cultivation, you can come to my house at any time, or find me at the Warehouse," Lu Yu said to Ji Bingyu with a smile.

"Mm-hmm!" Ji Bingyu gripped the paper and pen in her hand tightly, her eyes slightly reddened with emotion.

"Lu Yu, thank you for teaching me so patiently."

"It's nothing, this is what I should do." Lu Yu waved at her and turned to walk toward the direction of the Warehouse.

He also planned to share this 【Moon Observation Method】 with Wang Shu and Qin Hai.

As for the source, he would just say he accidentally bought it at a street stall two days ago, and then remind them to be sure to keep it confidential.

"Lu Yu, thank you." Ji Bingyu watched quietly as Lu Yu's back gradually disappeared at the end of the alley, her eyes moistening again.

Immediately after, she lowered her head to look at the notes in her hand; perhaps her hope of rescuing her sister was entrusted to these words.