Sports

Sports

There was no time for much reflection. Not long after Zhang Yu returned to the classroom, the math teacher in black-rimmed glasses came in carrying a stack of test papers.

"Today, we'll go over the test from last time."

"Hand out the papers."

"Look over where you went wrong. How many times have I told you? If there's something you don't understand, come ask me. Yesterday afternoon, I sat in the office for three hours, and not one of you came to ask me a question..."

Not long after the math papers had been handed out, the tall, powerfully built Sports Teacher entered the classroom and looked at the math teacher. "You're sick."

After sending the sick math teacher away, Sports Teacher Wang Hai looked at the students and said, "This class is now Physical Education Class."

"But don't forget to review math on your own. General Knowledge Class is worth fifty points on the Gaokao too. In the Gaokao, being one point behind means being behind a whole lot of people."

"Speaking of General Knowledge Class, let me tell you something else. I've already spoken to your Language Class teacher about the next class. It's being changed to Physical Education Class too. Including the original Physical Education Class, the entire morning is mine."

The group followed Sports Teacher Wang Hai to the indoor Training Field and saw that it was as enormous as a plaza, packed with all manner of exercise equipment.

Wang Hai said, "As the first realm of Immortal Dao, the Qi Refining Realm is all about laying a solid foundation. How firm a foundation you build in your first year of high school will determine how high you can climb in your second and third years..."

As he took in these familiar scenes, countless details from his memories surged into Zhang Yu's mind.

Since the Ten Great Sects had organized and consolidated Immortal Dao cultivation, it had long since developed systematic divisions of realms and power. It encompassed everything, covering every aspect of Immortal Dao Technique, vast as the sea and boundless as the sky.

The best known were the ten great realms of Immortal Dao.

The key indicators determining which Immortal Dao Realm a person could reach were Dao Heart Level and Magical Power.

For High School Students, only by crossing the Level 10 threshold in Dao Heart and surpassing 60 points of Magical Power could they break through from the Qi Refining Realm into the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The high school Physical Education Class before them, meanwhile, existed to temper the Physical Body and forge the will.

After all, a powerful Physical Body could both increase the efficiency of Magical Power growth and greatly aid the powerful will required for Dao Heart Level. It could also strengthen one's combat ability in the Qi Refining Realm.

If Dao Heart and Magical Power were the foundation of Immortal Dao, then the Physical Strength developed in Physical Education Class was the foundation beneath the foundation.

At the same time, waves of light swept across the bodies of the students present, displaying their Physical Strength data on a large screen some distance away, ranked from highest to lowest.

Rank 1: Qian Shen. Physical Strength: Level 1.15.

Rank 2: Bai Zhenzhen. Physical Strength: Level 1.13.

Rank 3: He Dayou. Physical Strength: Level 1.12.

Zhang Yu did not find his own score until he reached nineteenth place.

Rank 19: Zhang Yu. Physical Strength: Level 0.82.

Immortal Dao Technique in Kunxu had developed continuously, and all kinds of data and indicators had become ever more precise.

Physical Strength, for instance, had not only been quantified; it was retested during every Physical Education Class.

Like Dao Heart, this indicator could reach no higher than Level 10 in the Qi Refining Realm.

Although Physical Strength was not a key indicator for breaking through Immortal Dao Realms, it affected a cultivator's efficiency and combat power. It was an important foundation of Immortal Dao and accounted for 150 points out of the 650 points in Immortal Dao subjects.

"My Physical Strength has fallen to nineteenth?"

Looking at his score, Zhang Yu recalled how, over this period, the rate at which his Physical Strength improved had been steadily overtaken by those around him.

Meanwhile, the surrounding students pulled out syringes and jabbed them into their arms, injecting all kinds of enhancement supplements into their bodies.

Once these supplements of various brands entered the body, they not only strengthened muscles, tendons, and bones, but also increased training efficiency by several times or even more than tenfold. They were essential drugs for first-year high school students.

Here, you could go a day without training, but you could not go a day without getting injected. Outstanding top students often took more than eight injections a day.

Zhang Yu saw Bai Zhenzhen some distance away inject herself with nine shots in one go, divided among her buttocks, arms, and thighs.

Yet compared with many of the hulking students around her, Bai Zhenzhen looked much smaller. Zhang Yu remembered that this was because their body-training directions differed, so the physiques they developed were different as well.

When Sports Teacher Wang Hai saw that Zhang Yu had yet to make any move to inject himself, he frowned and walked over. "Zhang Yu, how many days has it been since you last took a functional enhancer?"

Zhang Yu did not dare say that he was out of money. He knew that at Songyang High School, it was just as humiliating as having poor grades. Only when speaking with a friend like Bai Zhenzhen, who knew him inside and out, would he dare admit it.

Moreover, the fragmented memories in his mind told him that the original owner had gone too hard on the injections. His internal organs and cardiovascular system were under crushing strain; he had fainted several times already, and his life was beginning to be in danger.

Thus Zhang Yu brushed it off. "I want to try not taking drugs..."

Who would have thought that Wang Hai's brow would knit even tighter at those words? His voice boomed like thunder. "Did you go and watch those internet celebrities preaching Natural Body Refinement again because they can't bear the hardship of taking drugs? It's all a scam. How are you supposed to keep up without drugs?"

"Look how many places you've dropped! Keep this up, and you'll be kicked out of the Demonstration Class after the next Monthly Exam."

With an expression of bitter disappointment, he said, "Do you think I'm making you take drugs to benefit me? You taking drugs won't make me grow any muscle."

As he spoke, he casually pointed at a student in the distance. "Look at Qian Shen. Twelve shots of Dragon Elephant Formulation a day to grow muscle and bone, two shots of painkillers to suppress the agony of his Physical Body tearing itself apart as it grows, and two shots of Gluttony Benefit to speed up metabolism and absorb the Immortal Dao Elements in food. He stuffs himself with fifteen jin of food a day to put on weight..."

"In just three months, his Physical Strength shot up from 0.13 to Level 1.15. He became the strongest Physical Body in the first year, equal to twenty years of your Natural Body Refinement."

As Wang Hai spoke, Zhang Yu recalled how Qian Shen had transformed in three months from a scrawny weakling under 1.7 meters tall into a little Giant over two meters tall and more than three hundred jin in weight.

Wang Hai pointed at another student. "Now look at Zhao Tianxing, who used to be worse than you. The day before yesterday, his Physical Strength broke through Level 1.00 too. Now his blood is truly like lead and mercury, his arteries hardened like rubber, and his heart has swollen to three times its original size..."

After casually pointing out a whole circle of students, Wang Hai sighed. "Zhang Yu, I'm only saying so much because you used to rank in the top ten in Physical Strength. Your talent isn't bad, and your Drug Resistance is exceptional..."

Seeing Wang Hai's earnest, well-meaning expression, Zhang Yu could feel the man's concern. But whether because he had no money or because he feared death, he had no desire to get injected now.

Just as he was thinking about how to explain himself, Wang Hai pulled a box of medicine from a bag beside him. "Three parts training, seven parts eating, and the remaining ninety parts all depend on how you inject yourself."

"This is the latest Divine Elephant Strength Enhancer released by the Vajra Sect. The quality of a major Sect is guaranteed. One shot is worth ten."

"To be honest, this stuff was still in the laboratory. I got it from a good brother of mine. Since you've got decent talent, I'll sell it to you at twenty percent off. Ten bottles for 8,800."

Watching Wang Hai hawk medicine to him, Zhang Yu now completely recalled that more than half of the various Physical Body enhancement supplements eaten and injected by the students in the class were bought from Wang Hai.

Such a situation was normal at Songyang High School. After all, medicine and the body were inseparable. Every Sports Teacher was both an outstanding Body Tempering expert and an outstanding drug salesman, often with multiple pharmaceutical channels behind them.

But Zhang Yu could neither afford these things nor bear their burden physically. He could only think of a way to brush the matter aside.

Seeing Zhang Yu hem and haw, endlessly making excuses, Wang Hai snorted and put the medicine away. With a look of bitter disappointment, he said, "Then take care of yourself."

Watching the Sports Teacher turn away to instruct and sell to the other students, Zhang Yu sighed helplessly. Was Physical Education Class really this hard to attend in this damned place?

Just then, a young man walked over, leaned close to Zhang Yu, and asked, "Wang Hai tried to sell you something again?"

The student who spoke had delicate features and looked like the boy next door.

Memories related to him also surfaced in Zhang Yu's mind.

"He is... Zhou Tianyi."

Zhou Tianyi had been Zhang Yu's lunch and study partner since the first day of school.

They had eaten together for three months, studied together for three months, and built a fragile friendship in the process.

But as the memories emerged, the first thing Zhang Yu thought of was the other boy's year ranking. Ranked twenty-fifth in the year. Good enough to eat at the same table as me... Hm? Since when did I have this kind of grade discrimination too?

Zhang Yu felt that as the memories continued to merge, he too seemed to be constantly influenced, placing more and more importance on the school's rankings.

Hearing Zhou Tianyi's question, he nodded. "Yeah. He wanted to sell me Divine Elephant Strength Enhancer."

"You didn't buy it again?" Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhou Tianyi hissed. "Kid, aren't you afraid Old Wang will mess with you?"

"Mess with me?" Zhang Yu said. "I just didn't buy medicine. It can't be that serious, can it?"

Zhou Tianyi shook his head again and again. "Sigh, do you want to hear some gossip about Wang Hai?"

"Forget it. I'm not a gossiping person."

Zhang Yu turned and walked toward the training equipment nearby, intending to familiarize himself with his Physical Body and the contents of Physical Education Class.

Zhou Tianyi continued, "A teacher complained that Wang Hai jerked off in the office next door, and when he came, the impact cracked the ceiling."

Zhang Yu stopped in his tracks. He was not a gossiping person, but gossip this rotten... he had to see what exactly was going on.

Zhou Tianyi said, "Wang Hai later explained that he hadn't done it. The banging sounds were him disciplining disobedient students."

"Later, I asked students from the two previous years. Turns out Wang Hai had long had a habit of physically punishing underachievers."

"Especially students whose grades slipped and who still refused to buy his medicine. He'd personally lead others in bullying them."

"I heard that a few years ago, he even drove a student into mental illness."

Hearing that, Zhang Yu's gaze abruptly sharpened. "And Wang Hai got away with all that?"

Zhou Tianyi said indifferently, "Wang Hai's teaching results have always been excellent. He's Songyang High School's Ace Physical Education Teacher. He's taught three students whose Physical Strength ranked first in the entire city during the Gaokao. Some say he has channels for drugs from major Sects that are still in the laboratory."

"Even if the school really wanted to get rid of him, most students and parents wouldn't agree. They all rely on Wang Hai to buy medicine and help them improve their Physical Strength."

As he spoke, he looked at Zhang Yu and warned him, "If you keep refusing to buy drugs and your grades don't improve, he'll probably mess with you too."

Seeing Zhang Yu frown, Zhou Tianyi asked curiously, "Say... you used to take plenty of injections too. Why did you suddenly stop buying them? Don't tell me you're out of money? Want me to lend you some?"

Feeling the sincerity in the other boy's eyes, Zhang Yu could only smile helplessly. "No need."

"Really no need?" Zhou Tianyi asked. "How about taking mine today first?"

Zhang Yu naturally shook his head again and again. He was genuinely afraid that a few more injections would make him drop dead on the spot.

According to the memories in his mind, there was no shortage of people in this world who had been severely injured, disabled, or even killed by excessive Drug Load. Even Songyang High School had people seriously injured every year from using drugs too aggressively.

Yet even so, students who pursued Physical Strength through drugs still came in an endless stream.

The original owner had already begun showing signs of being unable to bear the strain since last week.

Thinking that the original owner had not only left him with a massive debt of seven hundred thousand, but also this Physical Body, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly once more.

While the two whispered to each other, an icy gaze suddenly swept over them. Wang Hai barked, "Don't whisper among yourselves during Physical Education Class."

Zhang Yu and Zhou Tianyi immediately stopped talking and began training separately.

Zhang Yu walked over to a large iron ball. His muscles and tendons shuddered all over, and with a fierce exertion of strength, he lifted the hundred-kilogram iron ball.

Then, as the muscles throughout his body contracted, swelled, and exerted force, the large iron ball was moved around every part of his body as though it were a toy.

As the iron ball flew up and down and spun around, Zhang Yu felt his blood and qi surge through his body, while every part of him gradually heated up.

"This is the warm-up..."

The entire process seemed engraved into his flesh and blood as instinct. Zhang Yu barely needed to think before completing the warm-up training.

During the training that followed, his control over this Physical Body grew deeper and deeper, while related memories continued to emerge from his mind.

"Body Tempering during the Qi Refining Stage is mainly about tempering muscles, tendons, and bones, breaking through the limits through repeated practice and ultimately increasing one's Physical Strength level."

"As for the specific methods... among High School Students, the most widespread method is a cultivation technique known as the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms."

The Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms was a Body Refinement Cultivation Method created by the Ten Great Sects specifically for high school instruction. Its thirty-six movements, combined with different equipment, could comprehensively develop the Physical Body and effectively improve Physical Strength.

Under the Immortal Dao framework summarized by the Ten Great Sects, all Martial Arts and Dao Arts were classified from Level 1 to Level 100.

Most students at Songyang High School could successfully get started after one or two weeks of study, raising basic martial arts such as the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms to Level 1.

If they could continue raising its level, the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms would become ever more effective, increasingly incredible.

But that was clearly not easy. In Zhang Yu's memories, only Bai Zhenzhen had raised the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms to Level 2 during the three months since school began.

It was precisely because of this that Bai Zhenzhen could maintain second place in the year in Physical Strength with nine injections a day, closely chasing after Qian Shen, who took sixteen shots a day.

"The level of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms affects the efficiency of Physical Strength improvement, but what truly determines the magnitude of one's strength and the key results in Physical Education Class is still Physical Strength itself."

"Speaking of which, my Physical Strength is Level 0.82, yet I can casually fling around things weighing several hundred jin. Physical Strength can reach Level 10 at most in the Qi Refining Realm, and Level 20 at most after Foundation Establishment... The gap between people here is simply too great."

At first, Zhang Yu had only wanted to train casually and familiarize himself with the contents of Physical Education Class and his own body.

But as he practiced set after set of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms, he grew more and more serious, more and more meticulous. It was as though an instinct inside his body kept urging him on, encouraging him, making him persevere in training.

His muscles were torn again and again, his bones battered without end. Through one repetition after another, his Physical Body suffered repeated devastation until, at last, a warm current surged forth from within, silently repairing the damage in his flesh and blood.

This was the Magical Power inside Zhang Yu's body. Just like during Physical Education Class over the past few months, his Physical Body was ravaged under heavy pressure, then constantly repaired by Magical Power, becoming stronger each time.

Huff!

In the blink of an eye, two hours had passed. Zhang Yu exhaled deeply, feeling pain all over his body, as though every scrap of flesh and blood was about to come apart.

"No wonder they take painkillers..."

He raised his head and looked at Bai Zhenzhen in the distance, still drenched in sweat, then at the other classmates who were also training like mad. A sense of urgency instinctively surged from within him, seeming to urge him to continue squeezing his body dry.

"If people trained this crazily in the original world, they'd probably have worked themselves to death long ago, right?"

"Only with drugs supported by all kinds of Immortal Dao Technique here, along with Magical Power... could they endure it and grow stronger and stronger."

Feeling the pain radiating from every corner of his body, along with the instinct still yearning to train and grow stronger, Zhang Yu could not help marveling at how deep the original Zhang Yu's obsession had been.

Yet as the training continued, this instinct buried deep within the human body seemed to be fading more and more.

The road ahead would ultimately be one Zhang Yu had to choose for himself.

When the morning's Physical Education Class finally ended, Zhang Yu was already sprawled on the ground, exhausted. Around him stood a group of classmates who were still bouncing with energy and training frantically.

Zhang Yu sighed. This was probably the difference between using drugs and not using them.

Suddenly, he caught sight of the black patch on his palm and discovered that less than a quarter of the area not yet filled by black remained.