Songyang High School.
Before he knew it, four days had passed since Zhang Yu rented the Sea of Qi Spiritual Root.
Today was the day the first-year students of Songyang High would be selected to sign up for the citywide Magic Battle competition.
During Mana class.
As the bell rang for the end of class, Zhang Yu finally paused his breathing technique, opening his eyes to look toward the big screen.
After several more days of hard cultivation, his Mana continued to surge upward, climbing from 9.5 to 10.5. The speed of his progress drew glances from many students in the class.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yu's Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method had advanced all the way from Level 6 to Level 8 (3/160)... but that was a result only he himself knew about. If his classmates or teachers ever found out, it wouldn't just be surprise.
After all, while Zhang Yu's Mana improvement was rapid, there was a precedent for it — plenty of rich people who threw enough money around saw their Mana climb faster than his.
But raising a breathing method to Level 8 in such a short time... at least at Zhang Yu's current level, he knew of no one besides himself who had done it.
Now, looking at the big screen, the year-wide Mana rankings had appeared.
First place, Bai Zhenzhen, 12.1.
Second place, Qian Shen, 11.9.
Zhang Yu continued scanning down and quickly found himself in eighth place.
Eighth place, Zhang Yu, 10.5.
"Eighth place, huh?" Zhang Yu nodded slightly, knowing that signing up for the Magic Battle was no longer a problem.
But soon a chill rose in his heart. Hearing the countdown, he was forced to close his eyes again and hurry back into his breathing.
On the podium, Teacher Yan smoothed her hair, looked at the rankings with satisfaction, and said, "This past week, everyone's wandering-off rate dropped another 8%, and Mana-raising efficiency rose 12% compared to last month. Your teacher is pleased."
Seeing Zhang Yu already back to his breathing again, she nodded approvingly and continued, "Here I'd also like to single out one student for praise — and that's Zhang Yu."
"Not only has he maintained a 0% wandering-off rate for two straight weeks, in the past week he's made a qualitative leap in Mana, climbing from 16th place to 8th. Truly remarkable. Let's give him a round of applause."
Sparse applause sounded. Teacher Yan then announced the matter of the top ten signing up for the Magic Battle.
"The Magic Battle starts next month. The exact competition times and rules, I'll send you as soon as I get them."
"Alright, class dismissed."
"Oh, right — anyone wanting to buy Spirit Coagulation Pills, remember to come to my office. There's a promotion going on lately..."
Bai Zhenzhen, sitting below, seemed to have grown thinner, her cheeks somewhat hollow.
Watching Teacher Yan's beaming demeanor, she thought to herself, *Everyone's been grinding this hard lately, all because of...*
With that thought, she instinctively glanced toward Zhang Yu's seat — only to see he'd already started breathing again.
"Animal! Zhang Yu, you animal! Stop it right now! Quit grinding on me!"
Cursing inwardly, Bai Zhenzhen still couldn't bear to watch her good buddy improve all alone. She closed her eyes in anguish and started breathing too.
Qian Shen, sitting not far from Bai Zhenzhen, had been staring at the two of them. Watching them both seize the free time during breaks and while the teacher spoke to practice their breathing, his heart sank.
As a student of Songyang High's Elite Class, Qian Shen had always believed he'd never fear grinding.
But over the past eight days, grinding along with Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, his thinking had changed.
"They don't even go to the bathroom, don't scratch an itch — I really can't match that level of theirs!"
"Could it be that, compared to them, *I'm* the one who isn't fully evolved?!"
Staring hard at the two still breathing, Qian Shen finally shut his eyes in resignation.
Grind! Just grind, then!
---
In PE class.
The students were either stabbing themselves with needles or forging their bodies. Amidst a cacophony of beast-like roars, even the floor kept staining with the thick odor of sweat.
Bai Zhenzhen wiped the sweat from her face and instinctively glanced at the little dark room in the corner.
Because of the earlier isolation spearheaded by PE teacher Wang Hai, Zhang Yu had recently been spending his PE classes alone in that small room, self-studying.
But this time Zhang Yu wasn't continuing to absorb Spiritual Machine like the past few days. Instead, he'd begun practicing the Body-Forging 36 Forms.
Amidst a series of cracking explosions, Zhang Yu's muscles bulged, bursting with surges of ferocious power as he violently lifted the training equipment in front of him, set it down, then lifted it again, set it down again...
At the same time, the Focus on his Feather Book switched from the Level 8 Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method to the Level 3 Body-Forging 36 Forms.
Zhang Yu did this for a reason.
First, because of his lack of a matching Spiritual Root, Zhang Yu could absorb only a limited amount of Spiritual Machine on his own, so continuing to level up the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method brought diminishing returns.
Second, he'd already secured the Magic Battle qualification, which meant his next goal was the monthly exam nine days away.
"Recently my Mana's already gone up a lot, and even if I don't actively breathe, the passive breathing effect of the Level 8 Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method is still 65% of an active one."
"With my Mana score this monthly exam already in the bag, sinking heavy effort into it again... isn't cost-effective for raising my score."
Zhang Yu calculated in his mind: *Next, to raise my monthly exam score, I'd need to look at Dao Heart, physical education, martial arts, and Dao arts.*
*For Dao Heart... even though I haven't mastered the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Art, I've fully grasped its mysteries. I should do fine using it in the Dao Heart exam.*
*For martial arts, apart from the 20 theoretical points, the remaining 80 all hinge on real combat, and that requires hiring people to feed me moves and spar with me — the improvement isn't fast.*
*Dao arts are even harder. No way to improve them in the short term.*
Weighing it all, Zhang Yu felt that over the next nine days it was better to put his effort into raising the Body-Forging 36 Forms and his Physical Strength.
Especially since, while practicing the Body-Forging 36 Forms, he'd even discovered an extra benefit brought by the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.
As he drove his strength through his body, his muscles continuously contracting and expanding with each exertion, the Mana circulation inside him kept running, turning strands of Spiritual Machine into Mana as it flowed.
And in that process, as the Mana circulation passed through the worn tendons and torn muscles, the Mana began to nourish the parts worn down by training, replenishing his flesh and blood, accelerating repair, and enhancing the effect of his training.
Normally, only after reaching the third level did the Body-Forging 36 Forms enable a similar effect on its own.
But now, under the operation of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, a more complex and delicate Mana circulation continuously covered Zhang Yu's entire body, greatly boosting his recovery and forging effects.
If normally he could only practice the Body-Forging 36 Forms twenty or thirty times in a whole day, then with the aid of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, he could now manage at least fifty or sixty reps a day.
So for the coming time, Zhang Yu planned to start grinding the Body-Forging 36 Forms.
With these thoughts flashing through his head, a hint of melancholy welled up in Zhang Yu's heart.
"I'm getting more and more used to grinding."
"Heh. This rotten Kunxu really does turn men into ghosts."
But after fifteen consecutive reps of the Body-Forging 36 Forms, Zhang Yu realized he'd been wrong.
He collapsed onto the floor, drenched in sweat, the soaked ground seeming to show the faint outline of a human figure.
Even PE teacher Wang Hai, if he'd seen this earnest, toiling sight, would certainly have said: hard work, take a break.
But the one supervising Zhang Yu now wasn't a person — only the Ritual could occur: still keep training.
"Please abide by the Ritual Contract, strive to complete your wish, do not deliberately slack or procrastinate. Ten."
Zhang Yu groaned: "Idiot! I'm at my limit."
Bitterness!
This body-forging ox-and-grind work was far more painful than breathing.
Zhang Yu now felt his lungs wheezing like a bellows, every inch of flesh across his entire body pulsing with tearing soreness.
"I was too young. I thought I'd already adapted to this broken world."
Listening to the endless countdown in his ear, Zhang Yu still lay on the floor like a dead fish, until the countdown was about to reach its final moment — then he suddenly leapt up, enduring the soreness and exhaustion, and continued the Body-Forging 36 Forms.
Body-Forging 36 Forms — Level 3 (22/30)
Having barely finished another round, Zhang Yu collapsed onto his own sweat again, listening to that icy countdown while feeling the ritual's force, as if it were about to tear his body into shreds.
"Is this a world human beings can adapt to?"
"Dammit... before I'm driven to jump off a building, I have to break this rotten Ritual!"
And that noon, against his usual habit, Zhang Yu — amid the surprised gazes of Bai Zhenzhen and Zhou Tianyi — spent over a hundred yuan in one go and ordered a huge tub of food.
If the growth of Mana depended on absorbing more Spiritual Machine, then improving body-forging effects depended on eating more and more nutritiously.
"I'm going to eat ten jin of food!"
And seeing Zhang Yu's lunch portion, Bai Zhenzhen knew exactly how savagely he'd trained in PE that day.
"Figured you'd maxed out Mana for now and needed to start grinding Physical Strength next?"
When exactly had this guy started trying so hard?
Could it be that extra competitive drive from not being sterilized?
Watching Zhang Yu shove a whole chicken leg into his mouth, bite the bones to powder, and swallow, Bai Zhenzhen unconsciously sped up her own eating.
Zhou Tianyi said helplessly, "Eat slower, you two. Nobody's scoring you on your eating speed."
Not far off, also eating in the cafeteria, Su Haifeng looked at some students taking their time and thought to himself, *The lunch break is still too long.*
*I keep saying the school should add more security cameras in the cafeteria. Anyone who spends more than 10 minutes eating should be publicly criticized, plus fined.*
With that thought, he drafted a proposal plan, intending to send it to the principal offering this precious cafeteria-reform suggestion.
In the days that followed, apart from his regular classes, Zhang Yu practiced the Body-Forging 36 Forms whenever he had time. When he hit his limit and could no longer forge his body, he was forced to absorb Spiritual Machine.
Tormented day after day like this, time finally arrived at the monthly exam, nine days later.