On the fourth night, the trainees followed their team leaders into a building.
"303... this is the place," Zhao Jingzhong said before pushing the door open and turning to the trainees. "Don't touch anything inside or cause any damage... you'll bear the consequences."
By now, the members of Squad Eight had a pretty good understanding of Zhao Jingzhong's character.
Though he was from the military, whether it was due to Xie Qiansi's earlier defiance or his inherent nature, Zhao Jingzhong always spoke calmly and didn't like to emphasize particulars.
He would say what needed to be said, but he'd gloss over the consequences—listening was up to the trainees. Describing him as perfunctory or as shirking his duties wasn't too far off the mark.
On the morning of the third day, when they went to the third sports field for training, Zhao Jingzhong nonchalantly mentioned not to use the equipment with red star markings, without explaining why. Then, one of the trainees used it once and instantly felt drained by the equipment. They were left too weak to do anything until they could eat and drink Spiritual Liquid to recover their strength at noon.
As it turned out, that equipment was designed for Cultivators who had achieved the first turn. Using it would consume active spiritual energy. Furthermore, a healthy, gradual exhaustion of spiritual energy could slightly increase one's total Spiritual Energy Quantity. However, for trainees like them, still in the formation stage, using it would inevitably lead to them being drained dry.
Therefore, everyone treated Zhao Jingzhong's words with extreme caution, daring not to take them lightly. Once inside, they saw what seemed to be a classroom with a blackboard, a podium, and three rows of long tables. Each table had a hexagonal plate upon which floated a nearly transparent cubic crystal.
Squad Eight consisted of ten people, and there were precisely thirty cubic crystals in the room. They stood behind the tables, cautiously observing the crystal that instilled an inexplicable thrill in them.
"Magnetic levitation?" someone asked.
"If you must put it that way, it should be spiritual energy levitation," Zhao Jingzhong responded indifferently. "Let me ask first, is there anyone here who hasn't activated their Qi Cyclone yet?"
No one spoke.
"Good, because in this lesson, only those with an activated Qi Cyclone will benefit."
"Today, you will learn the most basic Spiritual Energy Technique."
Spiritual Energy Technique!
Everyone became excited—they were finally about to grasp the powers of a Transcendent!
If Transcendents were compared to firearms, then the Cultivation of the Qi Cyclone was akin to accumulating ammunition, while Spiritual Energy Techniques were the firearm itself! The power of a Transcendent, of course, didn't lie in how much ammo they had, but in how much force the ejected ammunition could yield!
Zhao Jingzhong attached two large diagrams to the blackboard with magnets. Upon looking, everyone saw that each diagram depicted two small figures interacting, and the two diagrams were respectively labeled: 'Clothing' and 'Lock.'
"The Spiritual Energy Techniques you will learn are Clothing and Lock. Clothing consumes the active spiritual energy of your internal cyclone to shroud yourself in an invisible layer for defense against external harm," Zhao Jingzhong explained.
"You encountered someone undergoing Awakening at noon, didn't you? That Awakener's awakening technique was quite good, allowing transformation and control over Fiery Power. But as long as you employ Clothing, you can completely negate damage from Fiery Flame."
"While swimming, casting Clothing pushes the water away, providing yourself with air."
"During external force testing, Cultivators can use Clothing to withstand the impact of a truck traveling at 60 km/h without being knocked away. Of course, this assumes your Spiritual Energy Quantity can keep up. As for attacks by ordinary people, that's naturally not a problem."
Zhao Jingzhong pointed at the diagram where one figure was attacking another clad in invisible armor. "Knives, fists, chainsaws... as long as the spiritual energy maintains Clothing, it can generally block them. However, bullets can penetrate Clothing's defense, so remember, if you come across someone with a gun, you'd better run."
"Also, Clothing has another excellent application, for example..."
Zhao Jingzhong took down the diagram of Clothing. He then extended a finger and swiped it sharply across the diagram! SWISH! The diagram tore, revealing a neat fissure, split in half by his finger. However, the cut looked as if it had been precisely severed by a knife, not at all as if it had been torn by a finger.
"With further research, you can condense the spiritual energy of Clothing to an extremely sharp edge, achieving a sword-like effect. Of course, it's difficult and quite unnecessary," Zhao Jingzhong said. "If you truly fight for your country, you will naturally be taught combat-oriented Spiritual Energy Techniques. However, Clothing is the starting point for most Spiritual Energy Techniques, and using it frequently is beneficial."
Ren Suo was very certain that Zhao Jingzhong had definitely gone easy on them when they sparred previously. If Zhao Jingzhong had used this move during their spar, Ren Suo, even with Physical Enhancement and Combat Basics, wouldn't have been able to touch a single hair on Zhao Jingzhong!
"This is Clothing." Zhao Jingzhong showed them his right arm. "Although called an invisible armor, if you look closely enough, some subtleties can be seen—look closely..."
In the trainees' view, Zhao Jingzhong's palm appeared somewhat misty—like the air distortion caused by heat emission.
"After using Clothing, an invisible Spiritual Energy Film forms around the body. This film filters gases, causing a slight displacement with the surrounding air. This displacement is why Cultivators remain unharmed by any attack. With practice and strengthening, this film can be deployed at will, appearing only on the parts of the body where you need it. However, this is naturally very difficult, but the spiritual energy consumption will be much lower."
"Currently, the damage that Clothing can't resist includes supersonic kinetic impacts like gunfire, light attacks, poisonous gas attacks, and sonic attacks. Hmm, if you jump from a building, depending on the circumstances, you should be unharmed if it's within 30 meters. Anything higher than that, and it's a matter of personal fortune."
Zhao Jingzhong pointed to the other diagram. "In addition to Clothing, you must also learn Lock."
In the diagram, figure A was grabbing figure B's right hand and pressing down on the back of figure B's head.
"Spiritual energy is invisible, and so are Qi Cyclones, but it is possible to attack a Qi Cyclone with spiritual energy," Zhao Jingzhong pointed out. "Lock is a masterful technique against ordinary people, directly suppressing their bodies with spiritual energy. When Lock is initiated, the Cultivator can only focus on suppressing the target and can do nothing else. Meanwhile, the target will be rendered completely immobile as key points on their body are locked by spiritual energy."
"If faced with an Awakener, Lock is still effective, and can even restrict the target's flow of spiritual energy. Of course, this assumes the target doesn't use their spiritual energy to counteract your spiritual energy attack. In other words, Clothing can perfectly counter Lock. But if you encounter an Awakener who also cultivates, using Lock can essentially strip them of their Combat Power."