While the battered inhabitants of this miserable house were being laid out on their beds, Liu Qiang shared the information I was interested in.

The training camp had four meditation halls. Any student could enter, but at the entrance, their aura was checked with a special jade, which indicated whether the person had already visited one of the halls that day. Attendance at the halls was strictly monitored, with supervisors required to report how many people entered. Each student was assigned a specific meditation spot, and all spots were occupied around the clock.

Near the meditation halls were three lecture halls. Lectures were held for just four hours a day, with each hall assigned to a single lecturer who taught the fundamentals of cultivation.

In addition, students received one Weak Qi Pill each week. These pills contained concentrated Qi, aiding breakthroughs to the next level of Qi Condensation. These pills served as the camp's unofficial currency, used for bribes and often extorted by the strong from the weak. The next distribution was scheduled for two days later.

Another interesting place was the Alchemists' Yard. It was for those inclined toward alchemy. Although students were not entrusted with anything valuable, they could attend lectures on medicinal plants and try to grow some rare herbs in a communal garden.

That concluded the list of notable places. The camp was surrounded by a high fence that primarily protected the students, as the surrounding wilderness was teeming with vicious beasts eager to taste the tender flesh of cultivators. There was also a place ominously called the ravine. Essentially, it was a sheer cliff where those deemed unworthy of becoming cultivators were thrown. At the bottom lived the most ferocious beasts in the area, attracted by the corpses tossed down.

In short, I found myself in an "interesting" place where simply surviving was a challenge, let alone progressing in cultivation. The camp's setup was deliberately designed to weed out the "unworthy," leaving only those capable of forging their path to greatness over the bodies of others. A typical spider jar—only the strongest and most ruthless spider would escape.

After learning all I needed for now, I went to sleep in a tree. It wasn’t raining, and the climate was warm, making sleeping under the open sky quite comfortable. Thanks to my Qi-enhanced body, any minor discomforts vanished entirely.

The next day in the morning, after a quick breakfast, I decided to check out the local lecturers' wisdom. Lectures were starting in all three halls simultaneously.

At the first hall, I found a trio of burly boys blocking the entrance. The average age of the crowd ranged from 12 to almost 15, and this trio seemed about my age.

"Where do you think you’re going? Entry to the esteemed Sva Mi’s lecture costs one Weak Qi Pill" - one of the `guards` said, stopping me.

"Does he know about this?" - I asked.

"Of course, he does! You think we just decided to collect fees on our own?"

"Actually, yes, that’s exactly what I think" - I replied.

"Teacher, this student refuses to pay the entrance fee!" - one of the guards shouted into the hall.

"I’m so sick of these paupers" - came a voice, followed by the appearance of a young man in a richly adorned robe. - "A week of my lectures costs one Weak Qi Pill. If you don’t have one, you’re not even worthy of seeing me."

"Seems like we have a mutual opinion of each other" - I said, turning and heading to the next hall. The teacher scoffed smugly but didn’t pursue me.

The second hall was packed to the brim, with students practically sitting on each other’s heads. Even outside, students crowded near the doors, eager to hear the "heavenly wisdom of the ancestors." Using my physical strength, I forced my way to the entrance and stopped to listen.

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For the first five minutes, I couldn’t make heads or tails of what the lecturer was saying. By the tenth minute, I realized the "lecture" was nothing more than grand tales glorifying the boundless might and majesty of cultivators. In other words, just stories to make the listeners feel great about themselves.

Disillusioned, I moved on to the third hall.

This one had only a couple of dozen students, their faces a battlefield between deadly boredom and an overwhelming desire to sleep. The lecturer here was a young man about my age. He was attempting to explain some cultivation technique but was so unclear and confusing that even I struggled to glean anything useful from his mumbling.

I decided to stay in this class for a while, hoping to extract at least some valuable information. About half an hour later, one student lost the battle against sleep and began snoring loudly.

"How dare you sleep during my lecture?!" the "teacher" bellowed, hurling a technique at the student. It sent him flying across the hall, crashing against the wall.

"If you’re not interested in what I’m saying, you can get out!" the teacher snapped.

Half the class stood up and left, making their opinion on the quality of his teaching abundantly clear. Looking at the remaining dozen students with a sour expression, the young man muttered under his breath:

"What am I doing wrong?"

I overheard him and decided to offer some advice, which was also in my own interest.

"Maybe you should start reading a book?" I suggested loudly. "You mentioned that the Eight Twists of the Great Serpent technique is described in Master Chin Gach Gook’s book."

"Do you think you're the smartest one here?" - the lecturer snapped at me. - "The teacher instructed me to give lectures, explaining the techniques in my own words."

"Then you could use an approach where you comment on the original text."

"What kind of approach?" - the local 'teaching genius' asked, puzzled. Judging by his words, it seemed he had been appointed as a teacher as a form of punishment—punishing not only him but also his students.

"You read a chapter of the book out loud and then explain what the author really meant, adding your personal experience. After that, you have a Q&A session where you answer students' questions and point out their mistakes. The next day, you briefly recap the previous lecture's content and address any questions that arose during practice before moving on to the next chapter."

The teaching system I proposed was revolutionary by local standards. Primarily because it gave the students at least some hope of hearing useful information. And if the teacher wasn’t a complete idiot, they might actually gain a lot from this approach.

"Hmm... let's give it a try."

"Could you start with the first chapter of some book?" - I suggested. - "Everyone here is a beginner, so it would be helpful to start with the basics."

"Fine" - Now-enthusiastic teacher nodded graciously. - "I, Sam Su Sam, will teach you the great cultivation technique of the Eight Twists of the Great Serpent. Listen well to my wisdom."

Strangely enough, what followed wasn’t such a bad lecture. Having a concrete subject to discuss, Sam Su Sam not only read from the book but also explained it in his own words so clearly that even the children of uneducated peasants could understand. When I began asking leading questions, nuances of cultivation surfaced—details that any competent teacher should be explaining.

The technique of the Eight Twists of the Great Serpent allowed for accelerated absorption of Qi into the Qi Thread. As I had mentioned before, to absorb Qi, you need to create a circular flow. This technique described how to create not just a 'circle,' but a true 'coil,' a spiral flowing through the channel. I had used a similar approach myself when seeking to increase energy absorption speed. However, some specific methods of enhancing the efficiency of this mechanism were new even to me.

By the time the lecture ended, the hall was packed with a crowd of people listening with rapt attention. Everyone who entered stayed, and some even brought their friends. Sam Su Sam witnessed firsthand the effectiveness of the new approach and promised to continue with the next chapter the following day.

When I left the hall, the sun was already past its zenith, but there were still about four hours until dinner. As I was pondering what to do next, a small twelve-year-old boy appeared before me, emanating the energy of the fourth level of Qi Condensation.

"Hey, you! How dare you question the teacher? Only the strongest students have the right to speak to him."

"Get lost, idiot" - I replied and walked away, deciding to meditate on a tree for a while.

"What did you say? I'll kill you!"

With a wild scream, the brat charged at me, aiming to strike my back. But at the last moment, I dodged and grabbed his arm. The blow was surprisingly strong, as the kid was using body enhancement. However, despite his strength, he was still light, so I easily yanked him forward, twisted his arm, and then broke it by pressing my knee against the elbow. I followed this with a crippling 'folding' motion, bending his arm against the joint all the way to the shoulder. The boy screamed like a stuck pig and tried to break free, only injuring his arm further.

"What’s going on here?" - A guard immediately appeared, pushing through the crowd.