Chapter 10

Just as Hu Gao had let out a sigh of relief, he was once again made nervous by a mysterious voice. He searched the room thoroughly, confirming that there was no one else besides himself. This was truly a disheartening discovery!

"Don't bother looking, I'm inside your body!"

"Oh, I can guess. Let me try to figure out who you are. Hmm, the pitiful soul of Qinggao, cowering in some corner after being possessed by my soul? Or perhaps the true form of the guardian deity, whose soul was damaged after descending into this foreign world?"

Hu Gao's mind began to race, a mix of emotions swirling within him—excitement, tension, shock, and even a hint of anticipation. But he knew he couldn't show any weakness; he had to take control of the conversation.

"Guess again!" The voice remained calm, showing no significant fluctuation, as if nothing could move him.

Oh, then there's only one possibility left. Hu Gao touched the mysterious jade pendant between his collarbones, raised his left hand, and made a triumphant gesture like Conan, "The truth is only one, you are the spirit of the jade pendant!"

"Ha ha!"

Hu Gao scratched his head, surprised that he had guessed wrong again. However, from the tone of the voice, it didn't seem to belong to someone from this foreign world. It seemed he had fallen into a fixed mindset. Could this person be from the same place as him?

"Are you from Huaxia?"

"Truly a scholar, not too dumb. Well, consider yourself lucky to have met me, Old Liu. No more small talk. The reason you couldn't sense the energy of heaven and earth earlier is that your soul has not yet fully merged with the soul imprint of the previous owner of this body. Once your souls are fully merged, you can start cultivating normally."

"Soul merging?" Hu Gao clearly didn't understand what this meant.

"Idiot, do you think it's that easy to possess someone's body? Although I helped you erase his soul consciousness, you still need to merge with his soul imprint. Only then can you fully become a person of this world and use its laws. Got it?"

Hu Gao asked, "Do you know any way to speed up the soul merging process?"

"If I were at my peak, I could make your souls merge with just a thought. But in the space-time wormhole, my soul dissipated too much, and now I have less than half of my original strength. I'm afraid I can't help you merge your souls in a short time."

The voice in his body spoke with a hint of helplessness. The journey through the space-time wormhole had been extremely dangerous, and it was a miracle he had survived. He had lost a significant portion of his soul power and could only recover it slowly over time.

"Even you can't do it?"

Hu Gao laughed bitterly, realizing he would have to wait a month or two.

"There is no direct way to make your souls merge, but I can teach you a meditation technique I created. If you learn it, you can focus your mental energy on your own. I believe it will take no more than three to five days for your souls to fully merge."

Hu Gao's face lit up, and he couldn't help but ask, "Can you teach me now?"

"Humans are indeed easily blinded by desire, leading to a drop in IQ. Why would I bother talking to you if I weren't going to teach you? Fine, I'll directly engrave the technique in your mind. See you next time, and I hope you don't disappoint me!"

After a rapid series of words, the voice disappeared completely from Hu Gao's mind.

Damn, Hu Gao was left speechless, feeling a bit too eager just now. After all, he was a newcomer to this foreign world, lacking experience. He would have to be more careful in the future.

However, the person's ability to engrave thoughts in his mind was truly impressive, a sign of a master. This technique was similar to the movie "Inception," where a new memory appeared in his mind, clear and vivid like the formulas he had memorized.

But after reading the meditation technique, Hu Gao almost spat out a mouthful of blood. This old countryman from Huaxia had indeed created a unique meditation method—teaching him how to sleep.

Meditation, which means to extinguish, is about pausing your thoughts and stopping your mental activity, thus entering a deep sleep state to improve sleep quality. With practice, you can even develop a sense of awareness, remaining aware of the outside world even in deep sleep.

As your meditation skills improve, you can enter a state of constant meditation, falling asleep instantly with a single thought while still being fully aware of your surroundings, hearing every rustle of the grass and leaves.

However, this requires a high level of soul strength. The higher the soul merging, the easier it is to meditate. The direct benefit of meditation is to enhance mental energy, or soul power.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Hu Gao closed his eyes, gathered his thoughts, and blocked out all distractions, gradually entering the mysterious and profound space.

He didn't know how long it had been, but he felt himself in an empty place, surrounded by nothing, with no sounds or scents. He floated like a cloud, free and easy.

Just as he was enjoying the tranquility, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the sky. As the saying goes, "fast as lightning," Hu Gao had no time to react and was struck directly, waking him up instantly. His scalp tingled as if he had really been hit by lightning.

"Is Hu Gao there?" A rapid knocking came from the door, and a weak, feminine voice asked.

What's going on? Hu Gao opened his eyes, feeling dazed. It seemed even the meditation technique from his countryman wasn't that simple. Being startled awake could be quite dangerous, and he would have to be more careful in the future.

"Who is it?" Hu Gao walked to the door, his face annoyed, and asked, pressing his ear to the door. Ningcheng was not a peaceful place, and even a woman couldn't be taken lightly. Caution was always the best policy.

"Um, I... I'm Qinglian."

Qinglian? The woman's voice was a bit stammering. Judging from her surname, could she have had some connection to Qinggao?

"I was meditating. What's the matter?" Hu Gao didn't rush to open the door.

"Oh, I, I came to bring, bring food to Big Brother."

Hmm, it seems I'm not a nobody after all. Just what I was thinking, and I'm really hungry.

Hu Gao opened the door and saw a little girl, much shorter than him, wearing a pure white, bohemian-style dress, holding a small basket, and standing at the door with her head down, looking shy.