Physical Body Strength

The hardware store manager's words were somewhat exaggerated.

Dexi Company was affiliated with Tiangang Manufacturing Group. Tiangang was the nation's largest producer of magical implements, and the drill bits it produced could be called top-tier in strength.

This red impact drill was considered a mid-range model.

At full power, with maximum output, it could indeed unleash drilling force approaching Level 30—the equivalent of the power of a cultivator near the Core Formation realm.

What the manager had not made clear was that operating at full power required an astronomical number of Spirit Stones...

Still, Jiang Ran was already very satisfied.

Even with only one Spirit Stone inserted and running at minimum power, this impact drill could bore through any mineral below Level 10!

"Vermilion Dense Iron" was a Qi Assimilation spiritual material of the Taixu Realm. By Pingjiang's ore standards, it was equivalent to Level 18.

To refine a mineral of that grade, or even forge it into a magical implement, naturally required the support of at least Foundation Establishment Late Stage strength.

But if one only wanted to mine the raw ore and dig it out of the soil, the requirements were not so high.

The soil around Vermilion Dense Iron veins had long been contaminated by spiritual iron, its fundamental nature already altered, but its hardness and strength were still not particularly high.

The miners recruited by the Hundred-Yue Immortal Sect were all ordinary people.

Qi-Consuming Initiation was an enormous threshold. Without entering the Dao, one was ultimately still a mortal.

From Jiang Ran's observations during this time, Qi Cultivation practitioners—even the burly men at Qi Cultivation completion—were indeed powerful, but they were absolutely no stronger than the subject teachers at a high school.

In other words, the Qi Cultivation realm was at most comparable to Qi Refining cultivators.

"This is the power of science!" Jiang Ran said excitedly as he walked out of the department store.

Without other means, he would not have been able to out-dig those Qi Cultivation completion men whose arms were thicker than thighs even if it killed him.

But now, the situation was completely different.

With an impact drill in hand, mining was as easy as drinking water!

Jiang Ran had prepared thoroughly. Aside from the impact drill, he had also purchased a batch of mining tools.

For example, military shovels, military spades, tow ropes, and specially made helmets with lamps.

These days, miners' gear and equipment had become a hobby for quite a few people. The tools available to civilians were not professional enough, but they were already more than sufficient for Jiang Ran.

Although Director Ji had approved his leave, allowing him to skip class for the time being.

The cooldown before he could cross over again still had several days left, and Jiang Ran had no intention of wasting them.

He still had to attend school classes and listen to what needed listening to.

The immortal Dao was vast, and knowledge of cultivation was as deep as an abyss and as wide as a sea.

The school's teachers were all Foundation Establishment cultivators, and each of them could bring something new.

Jiang Ran felt that he had changed. Even three days before the college entrance examination in his previous life, he had never studied this diligently.

After all, the sources of motivation were different, and his attitude toward learning and the results it produced were completely different as well.

Cultivation was truly for his own sake. Every scrap of knowledge he learned was of profound help to his cultivation.

Though the cultivation systems and inheritances of the Tianlu and Great Ruins realms were not entirely the same.

In many principles, however, they seemed to share much in common.

As he threw himself wholeheartedly into studying, Jiang Ran could sense that not only had he progressed in cultivating the True Origin Formula, but his Qi-Nourishing Cultivation Method had also improved without him noticing.

His days were far too fulfilling: martial arts practice in PE, spells in spell class, ancient language class... watching ancient-language adult films.

When he returned home at night, Jiang Ran would take Qi Refining Powder to cultivate.

For now, he could not speed up his progress in the Qi-Nourishing Cultivation Method.

There was no helping it. His vital essence was excessively abundant, and the second stage, "Essence Nourishment," still needed time before it could naturally produce its source essence.

Pingjiang No. 1 High School, Cafeteria No. 3.

"Jiang Ran, where have you been these past few days? How come I haven't seen you at all?"

Tao Dapeng was still the one who cared more about his good brother.

"I was a little sleepy, so I slept at home for a few days." Jiang Ran finished his last bite of food and revealed a satisfied expression.

It had to be said, Pingjiang's food was still better. Even the braised pork in No. 1 High School's cafeteria could utterly crush every dish on Black Dragon Mountain.

"A little sleepy, so you slept at home?" Tao Dapeng nearly sprayed out a mouthful of food.

Was that even human speech? Why could he not understand it?

"You're a senior about to take the college entrance exam, and you slept at home for several days?"

"Didn't the homeroom teacher give you trouble?"

"No."

"Then... what about Ji Old Devil? Ji Old Devil didn't care either?"

In the minds of most Pingjiang No. 1 High School students, grade director Ji Linchun was elusive as a ghost, always witnessing students' disciplinary violations from dark corners. He was practically the incarnation of an envoy from hell, and thus earned the nickname "Ji Old Devil."

"Teacher Ji? Teacher Ji is a very nice person." Jiang Ran shrugged.

"Impossible. Ji Old Devil hates students being late or leaving early most of all. You haven't come to school for days; there's no way he'd let you off easily." Tao Dapeng lowered his voice.

"Jiang Ran, listen to me. Before the teachers come looking for you, take the initiative and go to the office to admit your mistake. Maybe then you can still..."

Jiang Ran chuckled and interrupted him. "Dapeng, I'm full. I'm heading home to sleep and settle my food. What about you?"

"I..."

"Jiang Ran, stop messing with me. There's PE this afternoon. If you skip class, Teacher Wang will kill you!"

"If you're not leaving, forget it. We'll eat together again sometime."

Under Tao Dapeng's stunned gaze, Jiang Ran walked over to the security booth at the entrance.

Then the two security guards escorted him all the way out, and he smoothly passed through the school gates.

"Are my eyes broken..." Tao Dapeng's jaw nearly hit the floor.

As a "bad student" with grades near the bottom just like Jiang Ran, he had fantasized countless times about being able to walk openly out of the school gates during class after graduation.

And now, his good brother Jiang Ran had actually done it...

This was too outrageous!

It was not until the next day that Tao Dapeng learned Jiang Ran had received a handwritten "death-exemption leave slip" from Director Ji Linchun.

Envy surged into his heart. This time, he did not pay, and finally got Jiang Ran to treat him to chicken stew!

The final PE class of the week.

Teacher Wang Changming brought equipment out of the storage room and conducted physical assessments for the students.

The assessment was simple, divided into two categories: physical body strength and martial arts proficiency.

"Zhao Xiaohong, physical fitness Level 1.82, martial arts 90 points."

"Pan Yunye, physical fitness Level 1.61, martial arts 90 points."

Teacher Wang sat in the shade, calmly reading out the scores one by one.

Physical fitness, also known as physical body strength, was divided into one hundred levels. Qi Refining cultivators generally did not exceed Level 10.

In the early stages of cultivation, tempering the physical body was easier than raising one's cultivation level.

Someone at Qi Refinement Level One could also possibly temper their physical body to Level 2 strength.

Of course, the higher one's cultivation, the greater the benefits their physical body received. That was an indisputable fact.

"Cheng Qian, physical fitness Level 2.73, martial arts 95 points."

Cheng Qian, the Class Three monitor, was a "seed candidate" who had broken through to Qi Refinement Level Two early on. Her physical body strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, already extremely close to Level 3!

"Cheng Qian has done well," Teacher Wang praised.

"This is related to her long-term use of Kehua No. 7 Potion. After class, everyone can come to me and purchase more..."

Very soon, it was Jiang Ran's turn.

The instrument scanned his entire body, and a flash of light vanished in an instant.

Jiang Ran had been prepared for this and remained expressionless.

Almost no one paid attention to this bottom-ranking "poor student" in the class. After all, a poor student could at most temper their physical body to a little above Level 1, utterly incapable of comparing with everyone else.

"What..."

To everyone's surprise, Teacher Wang suddenly stood up.