From Eric Clark's perspective, Dormitory 103 was basically a gathering place for losers. As low-level disciples, they had to take on almost all the labor work in the academy, had extremely scarce cultivation resources, and the attention given by the academy was practically negligible.

Most low-level disciples' fates had nothing to do with the immortal path. Their basic way out was to muddle along in the academy for a certain number of years, learn a skill, then go out to find a job related to cultivation, get married, have children, and live out the rest of their lives.

From this angle, this world wasn't all that different from the world on Earth.

Dreams always exist, and they're beautiful, but they always belong to only a few. Most people are busy and exhausted just trying to make a living—life isn't easy...

The Hall of Spirit Talismans where Eric Clark was assigned specialized in talisman crafting. In the cultivation world, talismans were the foundation of immortals, and there was a huge market demand, so the Hall of Spirit Talismans had many disciples. To borrow a saying from the mundane world on Earth, this major was very popular.

Over the past few days, Eric Clark had also seen some novel things. For example, he saw a disciple take out a paper crane from a storage pouch when going out, with runes flickering on it.

The disciple chanted an incantation, and the paper crane grew large in the wind, able to carry people in flight.

Also, on the academy's main avenue, he occasionally saw disciples holding a jade base with a spinning disc on top, runes flashing, and sound coming from within—this was a sound gui.

There were also magical jade talisman screens that allowed cultivators to communicate with each other, even storing real-life projections—these were message guis.

All these various immortal talisman devices were related to spirit talismans. In fact, even things like sound guis and message guis could be made by the Hall of Spirit Talismans at the South Sea Cultivation Academy.

The disciples of the Hall of Spirit Talismans studied the "Compendium of Spirit Talismans," which began with the words: "The way of spirit talismans is profound and vast; to glimpse even a little is to travel the world!"

...

Slowly closing his eyes, Eric Clark's breathing instantly became extremely strange. The "Dragon Breath" technique recorded in the "Longevity Sutra" had already become a conditioned reflex.

He closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.

The cultivation method of the "Longevity Sutra" began to operate slowly.

But Eric Clark's attention was focused on that strange picture in his sea of consciousness.

This picture was the "Pangu Diagram" that Eric Clark had been pondering over even in the final moments of his previous life.

The Pangu Diagram was the treasure of the South Sea Museum, said to have been left by the ancient god Pangu. The structure of the diagram was very simple, composed entirely of two symbols: small circles and small triangles.

But the simple symbols formed an extremely intricate and complex image. Eric Clark first noticed this diagram because every time he looked at it, he could temporarily forget his physical pain, as if he could enter a very mysterious world, with a strange sense of separation between body and consciousness.

In his previous life, tormented by illness, whenever he was in the most pain and despair, he would go to the museum to meditate on this diagram.

He never expected that after coming to this world, the "Pangu Diagram" he had always meditated on would already be deeply imprinted in his mind.

After years of meditating on the "Pangu Diagram," Eric Clark had already grasped some of its secrets.

His consciousness would follow a certain thread in the diagram, and then the diagram would seem to slowly rotate, and he would enter a very wondrous state.

Everything was smooth and familiar.

Eric Clark's body now housed two souls, his breathing followed the "Dragon Breath" method, and the cultivation technique of the "Longevity Sutra" had already begun to operate within him.

Yet his attention was on visualizing the "Pangu Diagram." The circular image slowly rotated, and Eric Clark could clearly feel the spiritual energy around his body gathering into a vortex and beginning to flow into his meridians.

This feeling was mysterious beyond words, truly marvelous.

Eric Clark felt his body gradually becoming lighter, his consciousness freer than ever before.

He sat in the cultivation room, but his consciousness could easily leave his body. Not only could he "see" every table and chair in the room clearly, but even the people passing by on the academy's main avenue outside—if he wished, he could "see" them clearly as well.

It was as if his body no longer existed, and only his consciousness roamed the void. This sensation was not recorded in any of the cultivation classics Eric Clark had recently studied.

It was somewhat similar to the legendary phenomenon of the spirit leaving the body.

But that comfortable, free feeling lacked the weakness, pain, and fragility said to accompany the spirit leaving the body. Instead, every part of him felt soothed and relaxed...

One cultivation session, according to the timekeeping of the Grand World of China, was one shichen (two hours).

But Eric Clark actually meditated for two shichen before he finally came to his senses.

His consciousness quickly returned, his body reappeared, and his limbs felt even more agile and free. He opened his eyes and stood up.

He felt light underfoot, his whole body much lighter than before. Overjoyed, he walked to the window, pushed it open, and gazed into the distance. His vision was sharper, his hearing keener, and his whole body felt as if it had been reborn.

Is this what cultivation is?

The sense of smoothness and ease throughout his body gave Eric Clark a fullness he had never experienced before.

After all, he had spent more than ten years in a wheelchair. Now, just having a healthy body was already a great joy, and the wonders of cultivation brought him a pleasure and happiness he had never known.