Era of Mist

After lunch, Shi Tiexin walked across the athletic field, a mix of indignation and annoyance churning in his heart. The accumulation of his primal vital energy had restored some of his spirits, but his mood was still low.

Thinking back on the math test he had just taken, Shi Tiexin was overcome with a torrent of emotions.

Such a difficult supplementary secret record—even better than *Extreme Practice* or *Little Genius*—was truly worthy of being called a Top-Grade Secret Record. In just under three hours, it had consumed a significant amount of his mental energy. He believed that in terms of supplementary secret records for the first level of Basic Mathematics, this one had to be the pinnacle.

Its gradient of difficulty, volume of questions, and overall challenge felt perfectly suited to him. The problems on the final page, in particular, had forced him to run his mind at full speed. He felt like he was engaged in a long-distance duel with the test’s creator—a worthy adversary found at last. The challenge made Shi Tiexin’s blood run hot.

It was the exhilarating satisfaction of using every ounce of his ability, the cool and refreshing release of unleashing his full potential.

Two hours and fifty minutes. Shi Tiexin wrote down the final answer with confidence. He believed he had been flawless from start to finish. He had perfectly conquered this Top-Grade Secret Record!

’What a wonderful feeling!’

But after he put down his pen, he waited. One second, two seconds. One minute, two minutes. Nothing. The thing he was waiting for didn’t appear. Even in such an extreme test, even with such a Top-Grade Secret Record, the expected breakthrough still hadn’t come.

No stars.

Not a single one.

His progress was still at ninety-nine. That final point, that last tick mark, was like an insurmountable chasm stretching out before him.

In an instant, immense disappointment and despair washed over him. It was as if all his effort had been in vain, all his persistence an illusion. The boundless passion ignited in his clash with the test creator had just been smashed to smithereens against this final, impassable wall.

HSSS... HAAA...

Shi Tiexin walked on the athletic field, trying to regulate his mood. After a good while, he had calmed down somewhat. He made a decision. ’It’s time to give up on math and start focusing on other subjects.’

’There’s no point looking for other supplementary secret records. I have to face reality. If even this Top-Grade Secret Record can’t get me past that final point, then any more struggling is just a waste of time. After all, I probably won’t find a better supplementary secret record than this one. Even if I could, it would only be marginally better.’

’Since this one couldn’t help me break through that final point, there’s no use looking for other methods. If I wasn’t pressed for time, I might be able to wear it down bit by bit, like water dripping through stone. Just persevere, and persevere some more. But time is tight right now. I have a strange feeling that I won’t be here for more than a few days.’

’In that case, I can’t afford to willfully waste any more of this precious cultivation time on mathematics.’

SLAP, SLAP. Shi Tiexin patted his own cheeks, forcing himself to rally his spirits.

’Starting today, I’ll switch to cultivating other subjects. The Elementary Township Test only covers the first level of four subjects and the second level of two subjects; it won’t go beyond that. So, I need to bring four subjects to the Profound level as quickly as possible, and push the progress meter as far as I can for each. Even among those at the Profound level, a higher progress meter means a higher standard of mastery.’

’As for Basic Rhetoric, I’ll put in a massive effort to push forward as much as possible. I don’t know if I can break through the perfect chasm in Basic Rhetoric, but I have to get as close to the limit as I can. If I really can’t achieve perfection, then I’ll immediately start cultivating the second levels of Basic Mathematics and Basic Rhetoric after I leave this world.’

’With the limits of the first level as my foundation, the cultivation speed for the second level shouldn’t be slow.’

’It’s just a shame I won’t be able to see that perfect foundation. If I miss this chance, I might miss it for a lifetime...’

With a sigh, Shi Tiexin finally gathered his emotions and began to immerse himself in cultivating Basic Rhetoric. His classmates had gone off to fool around, play, or head home. Even at a prestigious school like Fengming First Middle School, youngsters of this age couldn’t completely suppress their restless hearts.

It was all about finding a balance between work and rest. The endurance and tolerance of most teenagers simply weren’t built for continuous, non-stop studying.

But Shi Tiexin? How could he possibly rest?

The entire campus was deserted.

Shi Tiexin picked up a few books and walked through the campus. Loneliness and solitude surrounded him in the empty school grounds. His eyes swept across the landscape, and he suddenly spotted a good place to go. He walked to the athletic field and looked up at the viewing platform on the eastern side. He started up the steps, ascending quickly.

Standing at the very front of the viewing platform, he looked out over Fengming First Middle School. It wasn’t the highest point in the school—in fact, it was only about the height of a second story, not quite a third, and there were plenty of higher places. Yet for some reason, standing here and looking down on the athletic field gave him a clear, lofty feeling, as if he were standing alone above the world, gazing down upon all of creation.

At that moment, Shi Tiexin suddenly lost the desire to study single characters or learn pronunciation. He looked at the books in his hand and set aside the basic pronunciation cards. Glancing through them, he found a book titled *A Collection of Miscellaneous Ancient Texts*. Without looking at its properties or caring about its content, Shi Tiexin flipped it open to a random page and began to read aloud, without any real focus.

"For a gentleman, though there are formations in battle, courage is the foundation. For mourning, though there are rites, grief is the foundation. For a scholar, though there is learning, conduct is the foundation."

Shi Tiexin’s reading voice was naturally sonorous. Boosted by his primal vital energy, his vocal cords didn’t tire easily, allowing him to read aloud continuously. The viewing platform, with its wide-open space and covered ceiling, formed a natural amphitheater that amplified his voice.

The campus was vast and empty. For every line Shi Tiexin read, an echo returned. He read another, and it too came back, the sounds layering one upon another like mountain ranges, dense and unceasing like ocean waves.

At first, Shi Tiexin was just reading mindlessly, but as he continued, he was suddenly struck by how masterfully the article was written. He couldn’t say exactly what was so good about it. With his current level of Rhetoric cultivation, he couldn’t even clearly explain what the text was about.

But for some reason, the more he read, the more he felt it, and the more power it seemed to hold. It was as if some upright and incorruptible belief within the text was reaching through the words, across the vastness of time, to resonate with Shi Tiexin’s own innate character.

"Let not the words of slander and wickedness enter your ears; let not the sounds of censure and opposition leave your mouth. Harbor not the thought of harming another’s child; though there be those who malign you, they will have no ground on which to stand."

Reading this passage, Shi Tiexin abruptly fell silent. He wasn’t distracted; on the contrary, he was deep in thought, involuntarily beginning to grasp the meaning behind the words. He suddenly felt that, beyond his cultivation of Mind-Arts, he had learned something new. It was something formless and intangible, something not taught at the Orphanage or the Star Worker School. It didn’t seem to have a significant impact on his personal cultivation either.

But Shi Tiexin suddenly felt that his heart had truly been filled with *something*.

And so, after a moment of silence, he began to read aloud once more. The more he read, the more excited he became; the more he read, the more engrossed he became. His voice grew louder and louder, until it was deafening and soul-shaking.

"A weak will cannot attain wisdom; untrustworthy words lead to fruitless deeds!"

CRASH. The torrent of verses came to a sudden halt.

Shi Tiexin, his spirit revitalized, was ready to set out once more.