The "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening," as the name suggests, aims to exercise and enhance mental strength through pain and hardship.
It seeks to allow trainees to experience pain, recognize pain, and endure more trials without causing permanent physical harm.
It involves not only sensory stimulation but also the tempering of senses and spirit.
Each person's physical and mental endurance varies.
Therefore, anyone wishing to undergo the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening" training must submit an application in advance, and upon approval, will receive equipment resources, medical resources, a tailored plan, and guidance.
The side effect of the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening" is...
it may lead to mental breakdown for the trainees.
Moreover, the failure rate is very high.
Before rebirth, even though there were people applying to undergo the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening" training every week, which kept the failure rate fluctuating, Ma Ran remembers a number.
A dropout rate of 93.52%!
In other words, out of a hundred people who were mentally prepared to attempt the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening," at least ninety-three, under the most scientific and correct guidance, would choose to quit due to the unbearable pain, giving up halfway.
Apart from voluntarily quitting, even following the rules strictly, there is still a 1% "breakdown rate."
Those who do not quit voluntarily but suffer a mental breakdown midway due to personal conditions.
Wan Haihao, the senior who tried to get closer to Ma Ran, is one of the breakdown cases from the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening."
The training difficulty is very high, and the benefits are naturally significant.
Everyone who can persist to the end of the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening" is a steely, indomitable elite warrior.
Ma Ran is indeed one of them!
Having completed the training once, he won't need to go through it again in this lifetime.
In his previous life, Ma Ran fought to the last moment without giving up, demonstrating incredible tenacity in spiritual will, ranking him among the top within the Earth human race.
This is also one of the benefits left over from before his rebirth.
"..."
Ma Ran did not immediately reveal the specific details of the "Doctrine of Suffering and Hardening" to President Huang Weiguo.
Firstly, in everyone's eyes, he is just a newbie Extraordinary One who has just started Inner Qi cultivation; even if his progress is a bit quick, he doesn't have much knowledge.
Secondly, Ma Ran's widely recognized identity now is merely as a "super genius in cultivating Black Rock Stele Martial Arts," not enough to influence decisions.
Most importantly...
Ma Ran can use his ability to create a more accessible, resource-efficient, and effective secret technique for spiritual power tempering.
According to current plans, to better handle catastrophes, the priority for modifying and optimizing the Inner Qi System is slightly higher than creating spiritual secret techniques.
...
Thus, members of the Grass Hut Academy studied Black Rock Inscription in the morning and took moral education courses in the afternoon.
The evening time was theirs to allocate freely.
Whether they wished to cultivate Inner Qi or just play games and watch dramas was up to them.
The Grass Hut Academy had no compulsory measures.
Previous university-level or graduated members remained relatively calm.
For many who were previously high school students, this place felt like heaven!
No need to get up at five in the morning to wash up and run exercises, no late-night self-study till eleven, no endless test papers...
Just analyzing the positions of their acupoints, indulging in food and drink, and concentrating on cultivating Inner Qi daily.
Simply ecstatic!
Studying and doing test papers yielded little sense of accomplishment for these genius youths, almost no sense of fulfillment, purely to meet parental expectations and get into a good college.
Now, staying at the Grass Hut Academy in Ancient Longzhong, although exhausting every day, brought immense feelings of achievement!
The Inner Qi cultivation system is very clearly defined, not like the vague realms in fantasy stories; simply filling a certain number of acupoints with Inner Qi guarantees advancing to the next stage.
The sensation of improving and getting stronger every day, quantifiable, is a thousand times more exhilarating than playing online games!
No!
Ten thousand times!
No matter how well-made online games are, they cannot actually strengthen players even by 1%, but Inner Qi cultivation can grant them greater strength, faster speed, stronger endurance, and reportedly, cultivating Inner Qi could eliminate many diseases, prolonging life.
How can that compare?
It's incomparable!
However...
Not everyone's cultivation experience is so favorable.
Those with both top-notch brain power and a good physique are extremely rare.
Among the first batch of Grass Hut Academy members, thirty-one had too weak a physical constitution and needed extensive time to recuperate and replenish body deficits.
A sickly person practicing Inner Qi only gets weaker.
Hence, they must patiently recuperate their bodies bit by bit.
These unfortunate members, with inadequate stomach capacities and digestive abilities, had their high-nutrition food absorbed by greedy body cells before even converting to Inner Qi.
They deduced the acupoint positions not slowly, mostly meeting President Huang's expectations.
But...
For three whole days!
These thirty-one members hadn't cultivated even a thread of Inner Qi, let alone filled two acupoints to officially reach the First Rank of Inner Qi.
On the fourth morning.
Ma Ran opened the door and found a crowd of members at his dorm entrance.
Glancing over, exactly thirty-one people.
"Good morning, Ma Ran!"
"Morning, Ma Ran!"
Members eagerly greeted him, calling out his name.
This scene resembled a certain kind of informal cult indoctrination brainwashing scenario.
Wan Haihao's gaze locked on Ma Ran's face, subconsciously recalling a strange term—cult leader.
Shaking his head to clear the chaotic thoughts, Wan Haihao awkwardly spoke, "Everyone has quite a few issues with Inner Qi cultivation and wants to seek your guidance."
"We initially planned to disturb you after dinner tonight, but seeing how things are, none of us can sleep well without cultivating our Inner Qi."
"At first light, everyone hurried over."
This statement half-truthfully expressed the situation.
The reality was...
This group was originally discussing the acupoint deduction issue in a newly created WeChat group, comparing who found more acupoints.
Pecking like chickens, the atmosphere was harmonious.
Suddenly, Dong Huaiming, who had been inactive, interrupted, disrupting everyone's peace with one sentence: "If you can't cultivate Inner Qi, why not ask Brother Ran?"
This sentence, like a morning bell, awakened the muddled members.
Indeed...
Why not ask Ma Ran?
Simply because he seemed distant, and they were too proud to reach out?
Isn't that self-deceit?
Several consecutive mornings, Ma Ran had not been to the Black Rock Stele.
During the afternoon moral courses, everyone could feel the growing edge in Ma Ran's aura, the increasing pressure he exuded!
The truth is singular—Ma Ran didn't lie!
He truly calculated 512 acupoints in just one hour!
In these days, practicing alone in the dorm, he widened the gap with everyone!
Except for Ma Ran, who led by miles, other members cultivating Inner Qi progressed similarly.
Someone tagged Su Qiangwei, who, like Ma Ran, wasn't very active and seemed to have notifications muted.
"@Qiangqiang, having cultivated Inner Qi as well, do you have any experiences to share?"
The response incited the group's anger, making them eager to drag her out for a thrashing.
"People really can't cultivate Inner Qi?"
"Isn't brain power all you need?"
These two sentences kept the group up all night.
Around four or five in the morning, before dawn, they bundled up in thick down uniforms and one by one arrived at Ma Ran's door, standing silently like zombies in the cold wind.