CHAPTER 534: CHAPTER 445 DIVINE POWER, LONG TIME NO SEE! (6200)_2

"What you see is actually the reflection of your own images here."

"Oh oh, mhm mhm! I get it!" Mirel said affirmatively, "So you’re a mirror then!"

A mirror?

Xu had previously obtained Li Zheng’s memories and knew the meaning of ’mirror’. Xu nodded, "It’s a very fascinating metaphor, though to be accurate, I’m a mirror that can only reflect yourselves."

"Then what do you do?" Mirel asked.

"I suppose I’m the master of this Dark Realm." Xu replied.

"What is the Dark Realm then?" Mirel continued to ask.

"The Dark Realm is..." Xu explained the theory of ’illusion and reality’ to Mirel.

"Then..." Mirel kept asking.

"..."

These two fit perfectly well together — one with a strong curiosity and the other with an excessive desire to express themselves, like two peas in a pod.

As they conversed, asking and answering each other’s questions, they quickly became engrossed in the discussion, leaving Li Zheng ignored on the side.

Li Zheng, next to them, almost imagined the two were Earth girls, as they easily bonded over that phrase "Hey, your bag looks great, where did you buy it?" instantly leading to endless conversations like close friends.

Their topics extended from "What is the Dark Realm?" to Xu’s glorious past.

Seeing Xu about to dive into an endless recount of countless years of his ’life’, Li Zheng hurriedly interrupted.

"Ahem! I mean... let’s discuss the important matters first, like the methods to train spiritual power in the Dark Realm."

This sudden topic shift disrupted Xu’s enthusiasm, and he replied quickly, slightly annoyed, "Actually, during the time you’ve been away, I’ve developed a training method more suited for you all."

With that said, he pointed to a void not far away, "Go, walk to the edge you can reach, then push hard against the obstacle that appears before you."

"That simple?" Li Zheng felt that this training method was too perfunctory and doubted its credibility.

"That simple!" Xu waved his hand and said, "I’ll tell you how to condense the nodal points once you’re ready."

Watching Xu turn to Mirel to explain what ’nodal points’ are, Li Zheng sighed and tried to lift his hand to rub his forehead.

When his hand passed through his head, he realized he couldn’t even perform habitual gestures here.

Sigh!

He sighed again and silently walked in a direction.

About twenty steps away, Li Zheng hit an invisible ’barrier’.

Following Xu’s method, he stretched out his arms to push against it.

The ’barrier’ was intangible and non-material, and Li Zheng couldn’t feel anything in his current state, but his consciousness knew that there was a ’barrier’ obstructing his path.

So although his hands appeared to press against the ’barrier’, from an outsider’s perspective, he seemed like an actor practicing mime, pushing hard against an imaginary glass.

"Does this really work?"

Li Zheng pushed for a long time, feeling no effect, turned his head to question Xu.

Finding Xu and Mirel nearby, also ’pushing the wall’ in the same manner.

Alright, it might really work.

Having no choice, Li Zheng had to adjust his mood and continue pushing hard.

This type of training, fighting against the air, initially gave Li Zheng an inexplicable sense of shame.

But later, as time passed, Li Zheng psychologically got used to it.

Performing the actions became natural and more skilled.

Since entering the Matrix, Li Zheng’s patience had been honed, allowing him to carry on with this boring and tedious ’wall pushing’ practice unconsciously.

Unaware of how much time had passed, Li Zheng suddenly turned his head and realized Xu was standing silently by his side.

"What the...!" Li Zheng was startled, "Weren’t you with Mirel? Why come over here? Sneaking around almost scared me to death!"

Xu blinked innocently, "I saw you were focused, so I didn’t disturb. As for Mirel, her spiritual power is weaker than yours, she couldn’t persist any longer and disappeared from the Dark Realm just now."

"Disappeared?" Li Zheng glanced at the direction where Mirel had been training, not seeing the little Enchanting Demon.

Xu explained, "This training method is direct and crude; the principle is continually applying pressure to your spiritual power to stimulate its growth.

If I give you an easier example to understand, it’s equivalent to how you usually work out your body, using the same method to stimulate the spiritual body."

Li Zheng contemplated, and said speechlessly, "So you’re making me do half-day planks?"

"You could say that." Xu blinked, "I originally wanted to research several pieces of equipment to assist with training, but you know the special properties of the Dark Realm, there are technical challenges that haven’t been overcome.

Otherwise, with the assistance of equipment, perhaps your training progress would be faster."

Supportive equipment?

Li Zheng’s mind flashed back to the equipment he’d seen in gyms before, "How much faster could it progress?"

Xu estimated roughly, "At least double the current training effect!"

Just double?

Thinking of his progressless training earlier, Li Zheng ridiculed, "Then why bother researching that stuff? A waste of effort!"

Xu wasn’t annoyed, instead, he nodded seriously and agreed, "Indeed, double is a bit low; I’ll take another look, try to improve this data further."