Signing Up for the Magic Competition and the Monthly Exam Arrives

Signing Up for the Magic Competition and the Monthly Exam Arrives

Songyang High School.

In the blink of an eye, four days had passed since Zhang Yu rented the Qi Sea Spiritual Root.

Today was the day Songyang High School selected first-year students to register for the citywide Magic Competition.

Magical Power Class.

As the dismissal bell rang, Zhang Yu finally stopped his breath circulation, opened his eyes, and looked toward the large screen.

After several more days of hard cultivation, his magical power had continued its rapid rise, surging from 9.5 to 10.5. The speed of his progress made many classmates turn their heads.

Zhang Yu's Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method had also climbed all the way from level 6 to level 8 (3/160). However, he was the only one who knew about that achievement. If his classmates and teachers found out, they would likely feel far more than mere surprise.

After all, although Zhang Yu's magical power had risen astonishingly quickly, there were precedents for it. As long as wealthy people threw enough money at it, their magical power could rise even faster than his.

But raising a Breathing Technique to level 8 in such a short time... at least at Zhang Yu's current level, he did not know anyone else capable of doing that.

As he looked at the large screen, the magical power rankings for the entire grade had appeared.

First place, Bai Zhenzhen, 12.1.

Second place, Qian Shen, 11.9.

Zhang Yu continued scanning downward and soon found himself in eighth place.

Eighth place, Zhang Yu, 10.5.

"Eighth place?" Zhang Yu nodded slightly. He knew there would be no problem registering for the Magic Competition now.

But soon, that chill rose in his heart again. Listening to the countdown, Zhang Yu had no choice but to close his eyes once more and seize the time to begin breath circulation.

At the podium, Teacher Yan brushed back her hair and glanced at the rankings with satisfaction. "Over the past week, everyone's Distraction Rate has dropped another 8%, and magical power improvement efficiency is 12% higher than last month. I'm very pleased."

Seeing Zhang Yu already seize the time to resume breath circulation, she nodded approvingly and continued, "I also want to specifically commend one student here, and that is Zhang Yu."

"Not only has he maintained a 0% Distraction Rate for two consecutive weeks, but over the past week, his magical power has undergone a qualitative leap. He rushed from sixteenth place to eighth place. That's truly remarkable. Everyone, give him a round of applause."

Scattered applause rose up, and Teacher Yan then announced that the top ten students would participate in the Magic Competition.

"The Magic Competition begins next month. Once I receive the specific competition dates and rules, I'll send them to all of you."

"Alright, class dismissed."

"Oh, right. Students who want to buy Spirit Gathering Pills, remember to come find me in the office. There's a promotion going on lately..."

Bai Zhenzhen, seated below, seemed to have lost some weight. Even her cheeks had become slightly sunken.

Watching Teacher Yan beam with delight, she thought to herself, Everyone has been grinding this hard lately, and isn't it all because...

At that thought, she instinctively looked toward Zhang Yu's seat again, only to find that he had already begun breath circulation once more.

You beast! Zhang Yu, you damn beast! Stop right now! Stop fucking grinding!

After cursing furiously in her heart, Bai Zhenzhen ultimately could not bear to watch her good brother improve all by himself. She painfully closed her eyes and began breath circulation as well.

Qian Shen, seated not far from Bai Zhenzhen, had been watching both her and Zhang Yu. Seeing them seize the break between classes and even Teacher Yan's speaking time to practice breath circulation one after another, his heart sank.

As a student in Songyang High School's Demonstration Class, Qian Shen had always believed that he had never feared competition from childhood to adulthood.

But after eight days of grinding against Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, his thinking had changed.

"They barely even go to the bathroom, and they won't even scratch an itch. I really can't reach their level!"

"Compared to them, am I the one who hasn't evolved completely?!"

Staring fixedly at the two still practicing breath circulation, Qian Shen finally closed his eyes unwillingly.

Grind! Fucking grind through it!

Physical education class.

The many students either got injections or tempered their bodies. Amid beastlike roars, even the floor was constantly soaked with the thick smell of sweat.

Bai Zhenzhen wiped the sweat from her head and instinctively glanced at the little dark room in the corner.

Because Sports Teacher Wang Hai had previously led everyone in isolating him, Zhang Yu had recently been cultivating alone in that small room during physical education class.

But at this moment, Zhang Yu was no longer circulating Spiritual Energy like he had over the past few days. Instead, he had begun practicing the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms.

Amid a series of crackling explosions, the muscles on Zhang Yu's body bulged as savage bursts of strength erupted from him. He fiercely lifted the exercise equipment before him, lowered it, then lifted it again, lowered it again...

At the same time, the Specialization on the Feather Scroll had been switched from the level 8 Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method to the Level 3 Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms.

Naturally, Zhang Yu had his reasons for doing this.

First, because he lacked a matching Spirit Root, the Spiritual Energy he could gather himself was too limited. The effects of further upgrading the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method were becoming weaker and weaker.

Second, he had already obtained qualification for the Magic Competition. His next target was the Monthly Exam nine days away.

"My magical power has already improved a great deal recently, and even if I don't actively circulate my breath, the level 8 Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method's Passive Breathing Technique is still sixty-five percent as effective as active breath circulation."

"My magical power score on this Monthly Exam won't be bad. If I keep pouring major effort into it... the cost-effectiveness for raising my score is a little too low."

Zhang Yu calculated inwardly, "Then if I want to raise my Monthly Exam score next, I'll have to look at Dao Heart, physical education, Martial Arts, and Dao Arts."

"As for Dao Heart... although I haven't mastered the Heavenly Martial Heart Refinement Art, I've already comprehended all its mysteries. I should be able to get a good score on the Dao Heart Exam with it. As for Martial Arts, besides the twenty theory points, the remaining eighty points all depend on actual combat. I'd need to hire someone to feed me moves and spar with me, so improvement won't come that quickly."

"Dao Arts will be even harder. It's impossible to improve much in a short time."

After considering it from every angle, Zhang Yu still felt it would be better to spend the next nine days improving the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms and his Physical Strength.

Especially because, while practicing the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms, he had discovered an additional benefit brought by the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method.

As he exerted force throughout his body, his muscles continuously contracted and expanded with every effort. The magical power circulation within him still kept running, transforming thread after thread of Spiritual Energy into magical power as it flowed.

During this process, as the magical power circulation flowed through strained tendons and torn muscles, magical power began nourishing the places damaged by training, replenishing flesh and blood, accelerating recovery, and enhancing the effects of training.

Originally, once the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms reached Level 3, it could mobilize magical power to achieve a similar effect.

But now, under the operation of the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method, an even more complex and delicate magical power circulation continuously covered every part of Zhang Yu's body, greatly increasing his recovery speed and body-tempering results.

He felt that if he could originally practice the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms only twenty or thirty times in a day, then with the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method's assistance, he could practice it at least fifty or sixty times daily.

Thus, Zhang Yu planned to start grinding the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms from now on.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Zhang Yu suddenly felt a trace of emotion.

"I seem to be getting more and more used to grinding."

"Ugh, this damned Kunxu really turns people into ghosts."

But after practicing the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms fifteen times in a row, Zhang Yu discovered that he had been wrong.

Covered in sweat, he lay on the floor. The floor soaked through with perspiration seemed to bear the faint outline of a human figure.

Even if Sports Teacher Wang Hai saw this scene of diligent training, he would surely say, "You've worked hard. Take a rest."

But the one supervising Zhang Yu now was not a person. It would only issue... a Ritual: keep practicing.

"Please abide by the Ritual Agreement, work hard to fulfill your wish, and do not deliberately slack off or stall. 10."

Zhang Yu wailed, "Moron! I'm already at my limit."

Misery!

This body-tempering drudgery was far more painful than breath circulation.

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt as though his lungs were pumping like bellows, while every inch of flesh on his body sent out tearing, aching pain.

"I was too young. I actually thought I had already adapted to this damned world."

Listening to the unceasing countdown beside his ear, Zhang Yu still lay on the ground like a dead fish. Only when the countdown was about to reach its final moment did he suddenly leap up, endure the soreness and exhaustion filling his body, and continue training in the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms.

Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms Level 3 (22/30)

After barely enduring another round, Zhang Yu collapsed onto his own sweat again. As he listened to the countdown filled with icy menace, he could feel Ritual Power acting as though it wanted to tear his body into powder.

"Is this a world humans can adapt to?"

"Fuck... before I'm forced to jump off a building, I have to break this damned Ritual!"

That afternoon, Zhang Yu did something unusual. Under the astonished gazes of Bai Zhenzhen and Zhou Tianyi, he spent over a hundred yuan in one go and ordered a huge bucket of food.

If magical power growth could not be separated from absorbing more Spiritual Energy,

then improving body-tempering results could not be separated from eating more, more nutritious food.

"I'm going to eat ten jin!"

When Bai Zhenzhen saw the amount Zhang Yu had ordered for lunch today, she knew just how brutally he had trained during physical education class.

"Does he think he has ground enough magical power for now, so he's going to start grinding Physical Strength instead?"

When exactly had this guy started working so desperately?

Could it be the extra competitive drive from not being neutered?

Watching Zhang Yu shove an entire chicken leg into his mouth, crunch the chicken bones into powder within a few bites, and swallow them, Bai Zhenzhen unconsciously sped up her own eating.

Zhou Tianyi said helplessly, "Eat slower. Nobody grades how fast you eat."

Not far away, Su Haifeng was also eating in the cafeteria. Watching some students eat at a snail's pace, he thought to himself, The lunch break is still too long.

"I've always said the school should install more surveillance cameras in the cafeteria. Anyone who takes more than ten minutes to eat should be publicly criticized and fined on top of that."

With that thought, he drafted a proposal, intending to send it to the Principal and offer this valuable suggestion for cafeteria reform.

Over the following days, besides his regular classes, Zhang Yu practiced the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms whenever he had time. When he reached his limit and could no longer temper his body, he would be forced to circulate Spiritual Energy instead.

Tormented day after day like this, the time finally came for the Monthly Exam nine days later.

Thanks to "Wind Dance, Wild Song" for the ten-thousand reward.

(End of chapter)