Startled awake in a daze, William Carter broke out in a cold sweat. He carefully checked his body, but found nothing wrong, which finally put him somewhat at ease.

For several years, he had been practicing the basic body-strengthening technique, and the simple circulation route had almost become instinctive. Moreover, William Carter's cultivation speed was much faster than others, which meant the flow of true essence in his body was far greater than that of ordinary people. His Ren and Du meridians seemed to have been widened by his true essence into a highway, allowing the energy to flow without the slightest stagnation.

This also led to William Carter hardly needing to consciously control the direction of the true essence during practice. The foundation had already been laid, and his meridians had long since adapted. The factors that required William Carter to concentrate during practice had basically disappeared, which was why he would often become absent-minded during habitual practice.

In this respect, William Carter truly deserved the title of genius. He spent at most only a third of the time others needed to lay his foundation, yet achieved even better results than most.

Although William Carter always tried to stay focused, the physical comfort brought by cultivation made him let his guard down very easily. He couldn't persist for long before his mind would wander.

This made William Carter very cautious. Correspondingly, his parents also noticed that William Carter seemed much more restrained in his cultivation during the holidays. Every day when they came home, they would see him waiting. The family could enjoy a reunion dinner together every evening. William Carter no longer showed any signs of confusion or worry on his face.

Soon, William Carter discovered that the warmer the atmosphere at home and the happier everyone was, the more relaxed he felt during practice. He realized that mood could also affect results—another new insight for William Carter.

However, that state of confusion during practice still occurred frequently. The first few times, William Carter was very panicked and would carefully check himself each time, but always found nothing wrong. As it happened more often, William Carter stopped worrying about it. Apart from still cautiously checking his body, he no longer felt that initial panic.

After a month, William Carter had completely gotten used to this frequent state of confusion during practice. To be honest, it caused no harm; in fact, it made him feel comfortable and allowed him to rest more thoroughly. After thinking it over, he realized there was no reason to panic, and couldn't help but laugh at his own nervousness from a month ago.

In another week, school would start. William Carter had tried to contact his close classmates several times, but was always told they were practicing. William Carter wasn't in a hurry and continued his own cultivation at a steady pace. After all, it was just basic training, so there was nothing to worry about.

Waking from that confused state, William Carter opened his eyes and habitually checked the time. It seemed to be only one o'clock at night. The lighting in the room was soft, not harsh on the eyes during practice. He got up and took a sip of the clear water he had prepared on the table, but suddenly his body jolted and he quickly turned to check the time.

Sure enough, it was just after one o'clock, but William Carter broke out in a cold sweat. He clearly remembered that before he started practicing, he had checked the time—it was a little after eleven. Now it was after one, which meant this session had lasted almost two hours.

At William Carter's speed, two hours was enough for the true essence to circulate through his meridians more than a dozen times. But here's the problem: nine cycles is the limit for the basic body-strengthening technique. William Carter could complete nine cycles in less than an hour. This time, however, it took two hours. What did that mean?

He hurriedly checked his body again, but found nothing unusual, which made William Carter feel a bit more at ease. He had checked his body many times before, so there shouldn't be any unexpected results.

He tried running through the body-strengthening technique once. In just a few minutes, one cycle was completed smoothly. The true essence slowly returned to his dantian—everything was normal.

By now, William Carter seemed to have gotten used to strange things happening to his body. Although a bit shocked, he didn't feel particularly afraid, especially after confirming there was nothing wrong, which made him even more relaxed.

It's easy to understand that geniuses might have some differences from ordinary people. William Carter comforted himself with this thought, and while feeling reassured, couldn't help but start pondering.

If his cultivation speed hadn't changed, that meant that in the two hours of continuous practice just now, the true essence had circulated at least a dozen times in his body, exceeding the nine-cycle limit.

Chapter 6: Sparring and Competition (Part 1)

What happens if the basic body-strengthening technique exceeds nine cycles? There is no answer to this question. William Carter had searched the internet carefully before, but had never found any precedent. There were, however, many accounts of people trying various methods to break through, but all had failed.

This time, William Carter was wide awake and began his exploration with great interest. The best way would be to achieve this effect while fully conscious, rather than in a muddled state. However, it seemed that every time he tried again, he would automatically wake up after nine cycles.

It seemed that was just a coincidence, and it could only happen in that so-called confused state. Fortunately, it had no effect on his body. After a night of fruitless attempts, William Carter gave up on this pointless effort.