Strife

Strife

Inside the venue.

Accompanied by the transport drones, box after box of boxed meals was delivered over.

After the first and second rounds of the Magic Competition ended, it was already time for lunch.

Yet the contestants eating their boxed meals were still discussing the highlights of the previous two matches, occasionally glancing at the score rankings on the big screen.

However, the name that had originally ranked fourth had already vanished. The current top ten were still divided among the Three Great Famous Schools: White Dragon High School, Ziyun High School, and Red Pagoda High School.

This was because, with the first and second rounds now completely over, the top ten displayed on the big screen had changed to the top ten in total score.

Only those who made the top ten in the final overall Magic Competition rankings would receive prize money, earn a true ranking, achieve results recognized by universities, and gain an advantage in university interviews.

And the name that had torn open a gap in the second round and forcibly squeezed into fourth place now vanished like a phantom.

Like a little bird trying to break through the Sky Dome, only to be swatted back down by the great hands formed by the Three Great Famous Schools.

Teacher Yan sighed inwardly. "Zhang Yu's score in the first flying sword competition was ultimately a little too low. It held him back, and his total score couldn't squeeze into the top ten."

But what could be done about that?

The rich simply held an absolute advantage in flying sword control. Teacher Yan couldn't blame Zhang Yu's family for not buying him a magical-power flying sword.

"If there's anyone to blame, it can only be his bad luck. He happened to run into sponsorship from a flying sword manufacturer."

Elsewhere, Zhang Yu looked at the boxed meal in his hands, eating as he complained, "A single boxed meal costs eighty? Why doesn't Red Pagoda High School just rob people outright?"

Just as Zhang Yu was grumbling, someone placed another boxed meal in front of him.

Zhang Yu looked up and saw that Teacher Yan had brought him a boxed meal.

Teacher Yan smiled kindly. "You must be hungry after working so hard all morning. I knew it. Have this one too."

Beside them, Bai Zhenzhen curled her lips inwardly at the sight. Could anyone be hungrier than me? Yu Zi dissolved the Special Magical Power in a minute and a half, while I had to tough it out for more than eight minutes before I was done. It nearly killed me.

Teacher Yan watched Zhang Yu wolf down two meals and grew more satisfied the longer she looked. Such a hearty appetite—one look and you could tell he was a good student.

Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, and He Dayou also had huge appetites? Hah. Why were people with no chance of placing in this Magical Power Competition eating so much? Weren't they just useless rice buckets?

Teacher Yan encouraged him, "You performed very well this morning. Just do your best this afternoon. Don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Although Teacher Yan wished Zhang Yu could bring out four hundred percent of his focus and fight with everything he had, she knew that magical power circulation could not be rushed. One had to keep an even, peaceful mindset, or it might backfire.

Afraid that Zhang Yu, having placed in the second round that morning, would feel too much psychological pressure, she immediately came over to comfort him, hoping he could compete as relaxed as possible.

Teacher Yan could not help calculating Zhang Yu's score in her heart as well.

"Eighty points in the first round, ninety-three in the second. One hundred seventy-three points total."

She looked up at the big screen, her gaze sweeping from the first-place score of 195 down to the tenth-place score of 176.

"As long as Zhang Yu can make up four points in the next round, he'll enter the top ten."

Four points did not sound like much, but Teacher Yan knew that in a competition as difficult and competitive as the Magic Competition, the higher the score, the harder each additional point was to earn.

Especially when thirty top students from the Three Great Famous Schools were all fighting over those ten spots.

Thinking of that four-point gap, Teacher Yan could not help growing slightly nervous. "It all depends on what this final round tests."

Lunch ended quickly, and the final round of the afternoon Magic Competition officially began.

The host stepped onto the stage and announced, "Learn martial arts, learn Dao Arts—come to Immortal Charm. Three hundred laboratories, one hundred cultivation-method masters, focused on immortal education for one hundred years. We thank Immortal Charm Education Group for sponsoring this Magic Competition..."

Xianyun Corporation. Zhang Yu remembered that this company belonged to the Myriad Laws Sect. It was the major corporation where he had taken on trial cultivation-method work and obtained the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method.

He also remembered seeing Xianyun Corporation's Songyang City director at Li Xuelian's art exhibition.

A moment later, a complex Energy Circulation Diagram was handed to every competing student.

This was the content of the final Magic Competition round: follow the routes in the Energy Circulation Diagram and convert one's own magical power into Special Magical Power.

At the same time, the Soul Cultivators' cameras were already scanning the entire venue, constantly judging each contestant's condition and making it easier to record the order in which they completed the assessment.

As the timer officially began, students had already started circulating their magical power according to the routes on the Energy Circulation Diagram.

Zhang Yu frowned slightly as he looked at the routes on the diagram.

"This thing... seems to be a kind of Special Magical Power used for combat."

The Level 10 Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method gave Zhang Yu extremely powerful control over magical power.

But the routes on this Energy Circulation Diagram were vastly different from the magical power circulation of the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method.

If the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method was a method of inward circulation that improved oneself,

then the circulation routes on this diagram were a method of applying magical power outwardly for battle.

He could tell that in terms of complexity, this circulation route was inferior to the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method.

But whether it was the circulation route itself or the techniques contained within it, everything differed greatly from the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Method Zhang Yu knew so well.

In particular, there was a technique of oscillatory refinement that he had never encountered before.

"This Magic Competition has gone way too far beyond the curriculum."

And yet...

Zhang Yu looked at the Feather Scroll floating beside him and found that it had not changed in the slightest.

"Isn't it a cultivation method?"

"Then I can only force myself to practice it and see."

Zhang Yu drew up the magical power in his dantian and began carefully circulating it according to the Energy Circulation Diagram.

At the same time.

At Ziyun High School's section.

Lian Tianji looked at Le Mulan in the distance. Seeing her confident expression, he thought, The sacred first place in the grade will surely achieve outstanding results. All I need to do is avoid dragging her down and hold up our school's total score...

Le Mulan looked at the Energy Circulation Diagram before her and suddenly tilted her head. "I think I've done a similar question before."

"Let me think... this is the Body Protecting Qi from a Martial Dao cultivation method, right?"

She circulated the magical power within her body and, sure enough, began converting strands of magical power into the Special Magical Power shown in the Energy Circulation Diagram with practiced ease.

Body Protecting Qi was converted from magical power. Within the immortal cultivation system established by the Ten Great Sects, it was considered a type of Martial Dao Special Magical Power.

Le Mulan remembered that converting magical power into Body Protecting Qi required the step of magical power oscillation, and the stronger the quality of the Body Protecting Qi, the more oscillations it required.

"Each magical power oscillation makes the qi formed from magical power higher in quality, but also harder to control."

"According to the instructions in this diagram, it should require seven magical power oscillations, then circulation along the route..."

Suddenly, her brows furrowed slightly.

Listening to the muffled groans and cries of pain coming from nearby, she felt irritated by the noise. Some students had been injured while dissolving magical power in the previous round, and their injuries had not yet healed. The moment they began circulating their power, they aggravated those injuries.

"Can't these students from ordinary high schools take better healing medicine?"

"Even if they can't afford better healing medicine, can't they at least afford painkillers of decent quality?"

Then Le Mulan suddenly realized that these poor people from ordinary high schools might truly be unable to afford expensive painkillers.

This was the sound of poverty.

"It's affecting my test."

But Le Mulan knew that the power of money could shut out the sound of poverty.

She reached out and grabbed a pair of soundproof earmuffs worth tens of thousands, placing them over her ears. Feeling the environment finally become quiet, a faint smile appeared on her lips as she continued converting magical power.

At White Dragon High School, Song Hailong stared at the Energy Circulation Diagram in his hands while the magical power throughout his body had already begun circulating naturally, moving with his thoughts as though by instinct and gradually approaching the diagram's instructions.

His long-term practice of magical power circulation while wearing the Heavenly Spiritual Root made controlling magical power after removing it feel as natural as moving his own limbs.

The newest novel was first released on Six Nine Book Bar!

He had also practiced many similar problems to the one before him, making his movements more practiced and his speed several points faster.

Boom!

A mass of magical power within his dantian suddenly scattered under violent oscillation, then Song Hailong slowly gathered it back together.

"First magical power oscillation, complete!"

"Easy! Easy! Easy! Too easy!"

My parents had the finest genes selected from thousands upon thousands of choices.

I had stopped sleeping when I was five.

Now I was eighteen. Every year since then, I had the best performance, the highest scores, and the strongest physique among my Song Family peers! I was also the only one among them who had never committed suicide, never become sick of school, and never suffered depression! I was the Song Family's ace son!

"You trash in this arena, what gives you the right to fight me!"

At that moment, he was wholly focused, without the slightest Distracting Thought or lapse in concentration. He only wanted to master the method in the diagram as quickly as possible and trample the top students from the other two Great Famous Schools beneath his feet.

Meanwhile, at Red Pagoda High School, Xiong Bufan lay sprawled before the Energy Circulation Diagram. His eyes were tightly shut, and his furry tail twitched as though he had reached a critical juncture in circulating his power.

Watching this, the competition coach thought, When Bufan's batch was still at the Breeding Base, they started taking drugs in the womb. Before he even entered high school, his physique was already the best among them.

When the school brought him over from the Protected Area's Breeding Base, the toughness of his meridians was already more than ten times that of ordinary students. No matter how wildly he circulated his power, there was no need to worry about injury.

Since he enrolled, I've had him constantly train his magical power circulation speed.

He has also practiced Body Protecting Qi many times already.

This time, he will definitely be the first to master this Energy Circulation Diagram.

Mm, the Principal really should naturalize more demons... No, that's wrong... he should plan for more Demon Descendant students.

How could one possibly be enough? I think adding another four to the Competition Team would be no problem. Those leaders who insist on all-human teams are still too conservative. I heard the neighboring city already has an all-demon... all-Demon Descendant lineup.

Zhang Yu had to admit that without relevant training or prior preparation, winning a placing in this round seemed almost impossible.

Competition was not merely a contest of talent and aptitude. It was also a contest of the wealth, influence, and foundation behind each competitor.

Damn it!

Was my competition journey ending here?

Zhang Yu! Were you about to lose to money?

Not far away, Teacher Yan watched Zhang Yu's troubled expression and sighed inwardly as well.

Then she swept her gaze over the other Songyang High School students nearby. Seeing them drenched in sweat, pale-faced, or looking as though they were desperately trying not to shit themselves, Teacher Yan helplessly shook her head.

Songyang High School's students were already inferior to the top students of the Three Great Famous Schools. After repeatedly failing to achieve results in the Magic Competition, the school had simply stopped investing in this area.

Without the school's investment, their Magic Competition results became worse and worse. Naturally, the school became even less willing to invest. It was a vicious cycle.

Teacher Yan understood that without the school's full support and without relevant teaching and practice, the two sides had never stood on the same starting line.

Just then, a student suddenly raised his hand. "I need to use the restroom."

Teacher Yan cursed inwardly. So you really did need to shit.

"Go quickly!"

At that moment, Teacher Yan suddenly heard the sound of sinews and bones ringing together beside her.

She turned and saw Bai Zhenzhen punching.

Had she already given up on herself? This was a magical power circulation competition. Why was she punching?

Zhang Yu was also drawn over by the sound of her punches. After one glance, he sighed inwardly. Sigh, A-Zhen has been driven mad.

Hm?

Suddenly, Zhang Yu felt that Bai Zhenzhen's punches seemed strangely familiar, as if they could be combined with something.

This martial art was very simple, repeating only six moves. After watching it once, he suddenly realized.

This martial art seemed able to work together with the Energy Circulation Diagram?

Looking at the Limitless Cloud Hand Level 0 that had appeared on the Feather Scroll, Zhang Yu wanted nothing more than to pick Bai Zhenzhen up and spin her in a circle.

"A-Zhen!"

"You're a saint!"

"You're Songyang High School's savior saint!"

The diagram contained a method for circulating magical power, while Bai Zhenzhen's movements were external martial art techniques.

Combined, they formed a complete combat martial art—Limitless Cloud Hand.

This was an Advanced Level Martial Dao cultivation method.

However, this cultivation method emphasized internal cultivation and deemphasized external techniques. Its key lay in the application of magical power, in how magical power was converted into Body Protecting Qi. The six external martial art techniques were less moves than six examples of application.

This time, the Magic Competition had taken the Energy Circulation Diagram from it and used it alone as an examination question.

For ordinary people, whether they had the external martial art techniques or not did not affect their learning of the method for converting magical power into Body Protecting Qi.

But for Zhang Yu, whether it was a complete cultivation method, whether it could be entered into the Feather Scroll... that was the difference between heaven and earth.

Zhang Yu did not know how Bai Zhenzhen had comprehended the external martial art techniques. All he could do now was seize the time, immediately switch the Feather Scroll's Specialization to Limitless Cloud Hand, and begin practicing.

Limitless Cloud Hand Level 0 (0/1, 15.4/5 magical power)

One time!

As long as he practiced it once! Even if it was riddled with mistakes, even if he performed it in complete chaos, he could completely master this Limitless Cloud Hand!

(End of chapter)