Cultivating Literature and Martial Arts, Racing Against Time! (Part 2)

Shi Tiexin was still wondering when the English teacher on stage was droning on with the lesson. The clock's hands were nearing the end of class when his ears twitched. Footsteps, few but incredibly frequent, suddenly echoed from the corridor. These footsteps rushed past the window, like ninjas moving through the hallways, exuding a sense of stealth and high speed.

Hearing these footsteps, the students who had already adopted a sprinting posture clearly grew anxious.

"Uh... um... time's almost up..." the English teacher said slowly, his voice drawling as he prepared to say a few more words. Ding-ling-ling, the bell rang, and outside, a tidal wave of rushing sounds instantly erupted.

"I'll just finish this one problem..."

All the students poised to bolt were about to lose their minds. You're not responsible at any other time, so why are you being so serious right now!

"Hm? Don't want to listen anymore? Then..." the English teacher drawled, deliberately stretching out the word "then" for a long time before finally waving his hand, "Class dismissed..."

Whoosh—!

As the words "Class dismissed" were spoken, and with lightning speed, many of the students transformed from stillness to motion, rushing out like mad rabbits, scrambling to be the first.

They accelerated, they accelerated greatly, they quickly reached the highest speed of their lives! They were like beasts freely chasing each other in the natural selection of nature, galloping at full speed for food, for survival, for freedom!

This was a competition where only victory was possible and defeat was not an option, disregarding any objective conditions; winning was winning, and losing was losing. In this race, only being at the front was victory!

And the first step towards victory was to be the first to rush out of the classroom of Class 28.

Fast, everyone was fast, but at this moment, geographical location was extremely important. Look, that kid in the position close to the door, a smile of victory and mockery curved his lips; he was the closest to victory!

But at this moment, someone began to challenge his dominance.

Who was it?

It was Zhou Nan, it was Zhou Nan! Zhou Nan, whose bruised and swollen face had not yet subsided, Zhou Nan, who was as light as a swallow and often climbed over walls to sneak out of school, was at this moment possessed by the spirit of a flying man. With a zip, he darted past!

He was unstoppable, his footwork was flashy, as if he had grown wings under his arms. In a split-second dive, he dodged the obstruction of the guy in front and was the first to rush out of the door, the first to plunge into the surging crowd!

"This footwork is really not bad," Shi Tiexin couldn't help but be surprised by Zhou Nan's agility. No wonder he could find an opportunity to escape yesterday even when beaten by four people; his footwork was indeed flexible.

But how exactly did this guy train such footwork?

Shi Tiexin was puzzled, then felt something, turned his head, and looked out the window beside him. Looking out through the window, Shi Tiexin finally understood how Zhou Nan had trained this nimbleness.

Outside the window was a surging, powerful torrent!

Shi Tiexin didn't understand why these guys were acting this way, and he hadn't had a chance to participate in it for the past two days. But today, he finally witnessed firsthand how spectacular the crowd rushing towards the cafeteria was. They were like countless ravenous dogs pouncing on the only piece of meatbone.

That's right, think about it, think about the dinner queue that could extend to the horizon, think about the cafeteria aunties shaking their ladles again and again. To eat a sufficient lunch on time, you had to yield no ground and race against time!

Outside the window, some passionate shouts seemed to erupt, as if releasing the beast within.

"Woof woof woof woof—!"

Yes, yes, this spirit, this attitude, is so commendable.

This scene happened twice a day, at noon and in the evening. Of course, Shi Tiexin, as a big shot who could exploit others, didn't need to be so anxious. When he arrived at the cafeteria with ease, Zhou Nan had already gathered the "Four Great Sticks" and occupied a prime spot.

"Tch, the class ran late, it hindered my performance!"

Zhou Nan seemed to be still resentful about not getting first place in the whole school—If you really put this ambition into studying, would you still be messing around in the Trash Class?

After eating, Shi Tiexin, as usual, jogged three laps around the sports field.

In fact, if he thought about it from a utilitarian perspective, he had only descended his consciousness here, and his physical body hadn't followed. No matter how well he cultivated his vital energy, he probably couldn't take it with him when he returned. So, instead of cultivating vital energy, it would be better to save time and focus on cultivating Heart Arts.

But Shi Tiexin still jogged three laps, accumulating another three wisps of Primal Vital Energy.

He had his reasons.

Firstly, he couldn't cultivate Heart Arts with high concentration all the time; his vital energy and thought energy levels limited his performance. Since he had to rest and recover his thought energy anyway, using that time to cultivate Strength Arts wasn't bad.

Secondly, the accumulation of Primal Vital Energy also benefited the cultivation of Heart Arts. As his Primal Vital Energy increased, his physical strength would improve, his energy would be more abundant, and the duration and effectiveness of maintaining high concentration would be enhanced. Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the woodcutting.

Thirdly... how could my old Tie's physique be so weak! Strength Arts are the romance of a warrior. Since cultivating Strength Arts here is like street racing, how could I suppress my burning warrior soul!

The Mighty Warrior never stops cultivating Strength Arts.

So, let's train, old Tie!

Interest was indeed the best teacher. This time, when Shi Tiexin practiced the Essence Cultivation Technique, a progress bar actually popped up. By the end of the noon, five stars had appeared, pushing the progress bar from "Excellent" to "Proficient" by five notches. It looked like it was approaching the halfway mark.

This speed wasn't slow!

If he had time now, Shi Tiexin would really want to spend some time practicing the Basic Essence Cultivation Technique to Proficient, or even higher, to see if any magical effects would emerge.

However, for now, he would just practice like this.

Slept soundly through the noon, feeling energetic in the afternoon. Yawning constantly while eating dinner, sleeping soundly in the evening, diligently writing during night study. By the end of the day, the progress was very gratifying. Indeed, cultivating wholeheartedly was a great enjoyment.

Zhou Nan skipped night study, secretly running out to prepare the junior high textbooks Shi Tiexin needed. Junior high textbooks are not like elementary ones; they are numerous and cover many subjects. Zhou Nan said that his small savings couldn't support buying them all. So, he asked Shi Tiexin if he could use his own retained junior high textbooks. His family was in the city, and he could definitely bring them over in one night.

Shi Tiexin asked: "Have they been used?"

If they had been used, the durability of the Auxiliary Cultivation Manual would decrease.

Zhou Nan patted his chest, his face full of pride and self-satisfaction—"Don't worry, I guarantee they are brand new, not a single word written! Let alone reading them, I haven't even written my name on the cover. Where can you find books as new as mine?"

He didn't know what he was so proud of...

Ignoring Zhou Nan, Shi Tiexin was smarter today. As soon as it was time, he strode towards the study room. He couldn't count on the security guards of the Elite Class study room being absent every time, so occupying a seat in a regular study room was the proper way.

By the end of the day, he had completed two full books of "High Difficulty" quality practice problem sets. The progress bar surged with each completed problem. When Shi Tiexin sat down in the study room, the progress bar had just erupted with a strong beam of light.

[Basic Mathematics First Layer cultivation progress has been raised to Proficient]