Freedom

Freedom

"Fuck!"

Bang!

"Fuck!"

Bang!

"Fuck!"

Bang! Bang!

In the pitch-black cement room, amid low shouts and crashing blows, Zhang Yu finally endured the searing pain constantly wracking his body and completed the second round of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms.

With a bang, he collapsed onto the floor, gasping great mouthfuls of air.

Feeling his trembling hands and feet, Zhang Yu felt that this body had truly reached its limit. Every inch of flesh on him refused to move.

Yet even in such a state, that bone-chilling cold and the voice in his mind came again.

"Please abide by the Ritual Agreement. Work hard to fulfill your wish. Do not deliberately slack off or delay. 10."

"Fuck!" Zhang Yu cursed inwardly. "I'm already at my limit!"

"I really can't keep training!"

"I still have class tomorrow!"

But no matter what he said or how he explained himself, the countdown did not pause or hesitate in the slightest.

Seeing the countdown inching toward its end, Zhang Yu could only curse and stagger back to his feet to resume training.

Under normal circumstances, when most people trained alone, it was difficult for them to truly push themselves to their limits.

Only when a Master, teacher, coach... when someone supervised them and held them to strict standards could people repeatedly train themselves to the limit.

The same was true for Zhang Yu. If he had been by himself, he would probably have been too exhausted to move after one or two rounds of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms and simply rested.

But at this moment, the Ritual Power was like a demonic coach, watching him every second and threatening him with death, driving him to continue training without the slightest bit of slacking.

Third round...

Fourth round...

Fifth round...

All the way to the tenth round!

Under the Ritual Power's repeated threats, Zhang Yu practiced the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms a full ten times!

During that time, the flesh throughout his body went from tearing pain, to agonizing needle-prick pain, until it gradually seemed to go numb in the end. He even felt as though his hands and feet were about to disappear.

At the same time, every thread of Magical Power in his body was forced out and continuously poured into that damaged flesh.

After those ten rounds, Zhang Yu felt as if both the flesh of his body and the Magical Power within him had been squeezed dry. Like a rag wrung thousands upon thousands of times, not another drop could be squeezed from it.

At that moment, Zhang Yu only wanted to lie there on the ground, too lazy to move even a finger.

To his relief, the voice that had been urging him on like a death warrant did not sound again this time. It seemed to have decided that he had truly given his all and truly reached his limit.

And during the training just now, Zhang Yu had also gained a rough grasp of the characteristics of this Ritual Power.

"This thing is kind of like an artificial idiot. It doesn't possess real intelligence; it just operates according to certain rules..."

Zhang Yu had seen similar things in Kunxu's films, television shows, and news reports.

Those powerful magical treasures all contained artifact spirits. Like artificial intelligences, these artifact spirits possessed a certain degree of wisdom to handle all kinds of issues. Some sufficiently powerful artifact spirits even possessed intelligence no less than that of humans.

Now that he had confirmed the Ritual Power would not force him to train again, Zhang Yu could finally relax a little and experience the effects of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms after its upgrade.

Yes, after Zhang Yu completed the tenth round of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms, he could feel that this martial art had leveled up.

In that instant, his knowledge and understanding of the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms both deepened.

Many details he had not noticed before, or had not fully understood, flashed into his mind in that instant like bolts of lightning.

And on the Feather Scroll, the original "Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms Level 1 (0/10)" had changed to "Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms Level 2 (0/20)."

"So as long as I practice another twenty rounds, I can raise the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms to Level 3?"

"If I keep training like this, won't I be able to push the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms to Level 10 very soon?"

Zhang Yu knew that in the Qi Refining Realm, martial arts and Daoist techniques could only be cultivated to a maximum of Level 10.

"By then, even if I don't get acupuncture or take medicine, the effects of my training won't be any worse than Bai Zhenzhen's... no, they might far surpass theirs."

"If this keeps up, it may not be impossible for my Physical Strength to become the top in the grade someday."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu felt invigorated. Even the pain throughout his body seemed less severe.

"Terrifying. My potential is simply too terrifying. Once the Evil God has awakened it, I'm practically about to soar into the sky."

With beautiful visions of the future in his mind, Zhang Yu, whose body had been trained to its limit, gradually grew sleepy and drifted off without realizing it.

He slept until five in the morning the next day, then instinctively woke up, just as if he had risen at five countless times before.

But today, all four limbs and every bone in his body were weak and sore. Even opening his eyes took immense effort.

Although Zhang Yu had awakened at this moment, he had no desire to get up at all. He only wanted to sleep a little longer, even if he was lying on the cement floor of an Unfinished Building.

"Five minutes... just five more minutes..."

But just as Zhang Yu wanted to stay in bed, that voice which sent chills down his spine rang out from the depths of his heart again. "Please abide by the Ritual Agreement. Work hard to fulfill your wish. Do not deliberately slack off or delay. 10."

"Fuck!" Zhang Yu abruptly opened his eyes wide. Listening carefully as the voice continued, and repeatedly confirming it was not an illusion, he could only sit up while grumbling curses.

At that moment, Zhang Yu suddenly realized that things might be more serious than he had originally imagined.

"From now on, as long as something is related to studying, cultivation, getting into university, or working—in other words, anything related to studying, cultivation, working, and earning money to fulfill my second wish... I can't show even the slightest bit of slackness?"

"A twenty-four-hour overseer, huh?"

Dragging his exhausted and weary body, Zhang Yu could only hurry back to his rental room.

Feeling the grease and sweat all over his body, he hurriedly paid the 323.4 water bill, took a five-minute shower, and then rushed toward the bus stop.

Glancing up at the display screen at the station, Zhang Yu thought, "The next bus will arrive in ten minutes?"

Leaning against a pole, he thought to himself, "I'll rest for a while. At least that piece of crap won't tell me to use this time to train."

The moment Zhang Yu thought that, he regretted it.

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Because a chill rose from within him, and that nightmare-like voice sounded again.

"Please abide by the Ritual Agreement. Work hard to fulfill your wish. Do not deliberately slack off or delay. 10."

"I..." Zhang Yu cursed inwardly. "Is this thing monitoring the thoughts in my head the whole time? As long as I think of a way to work hard but don't do it... it'll kill me?"

So, amid one countdown after another, Zhang Yu could only endure his exhaustion and begin practicing the Body Tempering Thirty-Six Forms beneath the gazes of passersby—some surprised, some confused, some admiring, and some indifferent.

Hah!

Bang!

With his final punch thrown, Zhang Yu, drenched in sweat, once again collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.

Watching the bus draw nearer and nearer in the distance, he felt incomparably relieved. "It's finally here."

And Zhang Yu actually found a seat on today's bus, which filled him with another burst of delight.

"Finally, I can get some proper rest."

"I'll close my eyes for a bit. It can't force me to train on the bus, can it? Unless it's Breath Circulation..."

The instant the words Breath Circulation crossed his mind, Zhang Yu felt that something was wrong.

"Please abide by the Ritual Agreement. Work hard to fulfill your wish. Do not deliberately slack off or delay. 10."

Sure enough, the countdown began again, forcing Zhang Yu to circulate the Basic Breathing Technique while riding the bus.

Circulating his breath while riding the bus sounded simple and efficient, but even the old Zhang Yu had given up after trying it a few times.

First, the environment on the bus was too noisy, making it difficult to focus.

Second, and more importantly, Zhang Yu, who woke early every day, was simply too tired.

Having finally gotten a seat, all he wanted was to take a short nap. He simply could not muster the focus for Breath Circulation.

The few times he had tried, he would often grow drowsy and want to sleep after circulating his breath for a while.

But under the Ritual Power's coercion, Zhang Yu could only work hard at Breath Circulation. As he constantly fought off sleepiness, he strove to absorb the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth with every inhalation and exhalation.

At this point, he thoroughly understood that things were far more serious than he had thought.

"This isn't an ordinary twenty-four-hour overseer. This is forcing me toward death every moment."

"As long as this thing remains on me, all slacking off, loafing around, entertainment, enjoyment, and relaxation... will be gone from my life."

"There will be no more weekends, and holidays won't exist either. There will be no more joy in my life. Every minute and every second will be devoted to studying, cultivation, and work... until I fulfill my second wish."

Without realizing it, Zhang Yu clutched his head. "I'll become a complete study machine, a work beast of burden, with no free time whatsoever. I'll have to be a grind king for my entire life... until this pressure crushes me completely!"

He lamented inwardly, "If it's going to be like this for the rest of my life, then even if I succeed in the immortal path, what would be the point of living a few hundred extra years? Every extra year I live would just mean another year of suffering."

"Heavens!"

The surrounding passengers all looked toward Zhang Yu, who was clutching his head with an anguished expression.

But Zhang Yu no longer had the energy to care. As the countdown of "Please abide by the Ritual Agreement..." sounded once more, he straightened up again, forcibly suppressed the grief in his heart, and continued circulating the Basic Breathing Technique.

Yet at the same time, a resolve gradually rose in Zhang Yu's heart.

In truth, until this morning, Zhang Yu had been somewhat lost ever since coming to this world.

Though he thought of getting into a prestigious university, joining a great Sect, and achieving success in cultivating the immortal path, it was hard to say how much of that was influenced by the original body's memories, and how much was simply a choice made by following the inertia of life.

Until this moment, Zhang Yu finally had a goal—something he had resolved to accomplish no matter how many twists and turns lay ahead.

That was to become strong enough, strong enough to completely remove this Ritual Power that was forcing him onward.

Zhang Yu wanted... freedom!

(End of Chapter)