Chapter 105

Just like the martial arts competition at White Dragon High School, this sports competition held at Purple Cloud High School was also scheduled for midnight.

However, because Songyang High School had always invested heavily in sports competitions, the school still chartered a bus this time.

At this moment, in the night.

He Dayou, Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, a total of five contestants, along with Wang Hai, the competition team's coach, were riding the bus together toward Purple Cloud High School.

Apart from them, Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing, as friends of Zhang Yu, also got on the bus thanks to Wang Hai's leniency, coming along to watch the competition.

But aside from Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who were full of fighting spirit, the others on the bus… some were breathing and absorbing spiritual energy to cultivate, some were reading, some were browsing short videos on their phones—in short, they had no expectations for this sports competition, feeling like they just needed to go through the motions quickly.

Of course, even when Songyang High School students scrolled through phone videos, they didn't do it randomly.

In the video was a woman over four meters tall, with shoulders broader than a truck, looking like a giant, who was instructing on body forging techniques and promoting body forging potions.

Wang Hai glanced at the video the student was watching, frowned, and said, “Watch fewer of these body forging influencers; it’s all fake, just to trick you into buying medicine.”

The student said with some disbelief, “Teacher Wang, this is a huge influencer with millions of followers. Many people have seen him offline—how could he be fake?”

Wang Hai snorted coldly, “How could someone in the Qi Refining realm possibly reach this height and build just by taking drugs? It’s obvious they’ve had plastic surgery—it’s all fake muscle and dead muscle.”

With the increase in the number of high school students and the development of the body forging industry, many people naturally developed an aesthetic where tall is beautiful and big is good.

Wang Hai knew that under fierce competition, influencers in the body forging track online were becoming more and more extreme in their pursuit of physique.

They even began to abandon true strength for a look that was eye-catching enough, pursuing a deformed aesthetic of four or even five meters tall, instead of the normal two-to-three-meter height.

Wang Hai sighed and said, “A cultivator who truly relies on medicine, training, supplemented by a certain amount of modification surgery, and solidly practices body forging—reaching three meters tall and two meters wide is basically the limit.”

“Those influencers who are four meters tall are all filled with fake muscles and fake bones. If you look closely at the needle holes on their bodies, the needle positions are clearly wrong.”

Shaking his head, Wang Hai sighed, “Companies every year introduce young people to take out loans and then undergo plastic surgery. If they don’t die on the operating table, they become influencers and promote products. A few years later, when the side effects of the surgery kick in, they’re eliminated by new influencers.”

“To make money to treat themselves, these people will say any lie and sell any junk medicine. Don’t watch them anymore in the future.”

Why was Wang Hai so clear about this? Because a classmate of his had also taken this path, and after the side effects of the surgery manifested, he spent all his family’s money and still couldn’t be cured, dying during a livestream. Even Wang Hai himself had been approached by an agency and almost pulled into the body forging influencer world.

But after Wang Hai said all this, he once again felt disheartened.

Because he remembered the breakthroughs in body forging technology at White Dragon, Purple Cloud, and Red Pagoda.

Over these two weeks, Wang Hai had been using his connections to find out exactly what technology the Oasis Group had provided to the three major high schools, and what progress those schools had made because of it.

After all, this kind of generational change in body forging technology would inevitably affect the entire body forging market in Songyang City, and would also have a huge impact on a top coach like Wang Hai.

But whether it was the three major high schools or the companies behind them, they all kept this strictly confidential. Aside from some features clearly displayed in the sophomore sports competition, the true internal information was not something he, a physical education teacher, could uncover.

And thinking about that sophomore sports competition, Wang Hai’s expression grew even more gloomy.

In that competition, he had witnessed firsthand how Songyang High School’s sophomore students were brutally eliminated, how they were pushed out of the rankings by students from the three major high schools with absolute strength.

Even Lan Ling, who the school had carefully cultivated and who had begun transplanting senior students’ muscle fibers early on, was trampled underfoot by the academic elites of the three major high schools.

It made him sigh inwardly that times had changed.

And thinking of this, Wang Hai couldn’t help thinking of one person.

“Zhou Chechen…”

By academic performance, this sophomore vice president of the student council should have participated in this year’s sophomore sports competition.

But Zhou Chechen was absent this time; he didn’t even participate in the sophomore sports competition.

“Could Zhou Chechen know something?”

Just as Wang Hai was thinking, Zhang Yu, sitting not far away, was also pondering today’s sports competition.

After learning about the breakthroughs in body forging technology at the three major high schools, Zhang Yu naturally asked his sister, Zhang Pianpian, who stood at the pinnacle of all Songyang City high school students as the top senior at White Dragon High School.

At this moment, Zhang Pianpian’s words surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind.

“This time, whether it’s the Oasis Group or the companies and families behind the three major high schools—White Dragon, Purple Cloud, and Red Pagoda—they all place great importance on this freshman sports competition.”

“Why do you think they value the freshman competition, not the other grades?”

“Naturally, because the lower the grade, the more influence body forging technology has on scores compared to the individual student herself, and the more it highlights the differences between body forging technologies.”

“Zhang Yu, this freshman sports competition is not just a contest between students, but also a contest between the immortal techniques carried by the students, and the schools and companies behind those techniques.”

"It's a clash of the major corporations in immortal arts technology, an extension of the corporate battlefield."

"As for their attitude toward other high schools… for the Big Three, it's just about crushing them along the way."

"By demonstrating this process of crushing you, they advertise their advanced body refinement technology."

Zhang Yu at this moment also recalled the question he had asked back then.

Zhang Yu: "Sis, from what you're saying, it sounds like you don't have much faith in me?"

Zhang Pianpian gave a slight smile and said, "Whether I have faith in you or not isn't important. What matters is whether you truly have the strength to defeat your opponents."

At this very moment on the bus, Zhang Yu looked at his Feather Book: "Is this strength enough to defeat them?"

More than a month had passed since the last time he competed for a contest spot at Songyang High School.

Over that month, with the help of the Hunyuan Pill, the True Spirit Root, and the Red Marrow Hunyuan Qi, his strength had broken through repeatedly, and his physical strength had undergone a leap in development.

Dao Heart Level 4 (80%)

Magical Power 43.9

Physical Strength Level 4.95

But looking at his own three basic stats, Zhang Yu still felt dissatisfied, sighing slightly that he was gradually hitting bottlenecks in his Dao Heart, Magical Power, and Physical Strength.

"Sigh, the Circulatory Qi Gathering Method is becoming more and more inadequate. The rate of refining magical power has been slowing down recently. After this physical competition, I absolutely have to start looking for a new breathing technique to cultivate."

Techniques are graded from basic, advanced, expert, military, to immortal sect—the main factor being quality. But no matter how high the quality, a Qi Refining stage technique cannot be useful for the Foundation Establishment stage.

The Circulatory Qi Gathering Method is a technique for the early Qi Refining stage, and Zhang Yu's current level is now approaching that of a second-year high school student, so he needs to consider mid-stage Qi Refining techniques.

Zhang Yu thought further: "Next is the Dao Heart. The Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Art is actually enough to support my continued Dao Heart improvement, but the troublesome part of this technique is… every time I cultivate, I have to train both internally and externally, practicing those nine external arts."

And unfortunately, Zhang Yu had recently been focused on improving his physical strength, cultivating the Red Marrow Hunyuan Qi.

This led to him having no time to cultivate the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Art; he could only keep running the Wild Bull Soul Suppression Heart Art in his mind, causing his Dao Heart improvement to hit a bottleneck.

Because the Wild Bull Soul Suppression Heart Art can only be considered an early Qi Refining stage technique, its upper limit is roughly reaching Level 5 Dao Heart.

"Then I still need to find a technique that can be cultivated continuously in the sea of consciousness to keep improving my Dao Heart."

Finally, there was his physical strength.

Originally, with the assistance of the True Spirit Root and the combination of the Hunyuan Pill and Level 10 Red Marrow Hunyuan Qi, Zhang Yu's physical strength had been skyrocketing continuously, until it gradually approached Level 5.00, at which point it began to slow down.

"The Red Marrow Hunyuan Qi technique is actually still sufficient; the bottleneck should be at higher levels."

=9+書_吧

"The reason it started slowing down recently is probably because over the past two months—especially the last month—my physical strength has been increasing too fast, and my heart's strength hasn't caught up yet."

Because he was cultivating his body purely naturally, with basically no doping, Zhang Yu's internal organs were not growing rapidly, and his heart was not expanding as quickly as those doped-up athletes.

"Fortunately, with the help of the True Spirit Root, it should be soon…"

Zhang Yu could feel his heart growing stronger and more powerful day by day, and it seemed it would soon be able to support another breakthrough in his physical strength.

"Thinking like this, after this sports competition, I need to hurry and buy a new breathing technique and a new heart technique."

"Speaking of which, the championship prize for this sports competition has been raised several times, eventually becoming a full 300,000. As long as I get that 300,000…"

Thinking about the 300,000 prize money, Zhang Yu felt a slight thrill.

But looking at this 300,000 prize money also showed how high the specifications of this sports competition were, and how much the major corporations valued it. Just as Zhang Pianpian had said, the competition would inevitably be unprecedentedly fierce, making Zhang Yu feel a bit of pressure.

In fact, only a little over eight months had passed since the start of the first year of high school, and Zhang Yu's basic stats were already close to the second-year average at Songyang High School—a truly rapid advancement. It was only competing against those freaks from the Big Three that put pressure on him.

Not far away, He Dayou looked doubtfully at the fully motivated Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

He didn't understand why, under the current circumstances, these two still looked so confident.

Although, because the two had been skipping class every day, since the last monthly exam he hadn't been able to learn how much they had improved.

But no matter how much an individual improved in such a short time… how could it possibly compare to the breakthroughs in body refinement technology behind the Big Three?

Just then, the bus they were on stopped at the entrance of Ziyun High School.

Unlike the modern skyscraper of White Dragon High School, Ziyun High School from the outside had a feeling of small bridges over flowing water, pavilions and towers, all ancient and elegant.

Especially under the illumination of various golden and white lights, it appeared even more ethereal, like the immortal realm.

The entire Ziyun High School covered a large area, yet there were no tall buildings in sight.

However, being able to occupy such a large space in the city and build the campus like a park was enough to make one deeply understand the immense financial strength behind Ziyun High School.

Shortly after Zhang Yu and the others entered Ziyun High School, they were led into a visitor passage.

Along with the reception teacher's introduction, the passage ahead began spraying disinfectant.

The reception teacher looked at everyone and said apologetically, "Sorry, this is Ziyun High School's rule. All off-campus personnel must undergo disinfection to remove filth upon entering."

Damn it... Are they treating us like some kind of dirty thing? Zhang Yu was speechless. At this moment, he also deeply understood that it wasn't just Le Mulan who had a cleanliness obsession at Ziyun High School; this crappy school had it too, right?

This crappy school was just as unreliable as Bailong High School.

So Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen stepped forward together and looked seriously at the other party.

Zhang Yu pointed at himself and then at the other Songyang people, saying, "I scored above 660 on my monthly exam, and I'm first in the martial arts competition and fourth in the magic competition. I'm different from them."

"With my level, I could even get into Bailong High School for free. I don't need disinfection, right?"

Bai Zhenzhen's eyes flickered, and she nodded, saying, "Right, is there a VIP channel suitable for those of us scoring above 660?"

The reception teacher said apologetically, "I'm sorry, the school rules are like this. All outsiders must be disinfected, and there is no distinction based on scores."

Damn it, it's even more unreliable than Bailong High School.

For an instant, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had already ranked Ziyun High School at the bottom of their three-high-school rankings.

Then Bai Zhenzhen suddenly pointed at the people walking on another passage and said, "Why don't they need disinfection?"

Everyone immediately looked over and saw a team of 'monsters' wearing Bailong High School uniforms walking through a side passage, with no disinfection measures along the way.

The reception teacher from Ziyun High School laughed upon hearing this, with an expression that seemed to say, 'Do I even need to explain that?'

"How can that be the same?" The reception teacher shook his head. "After all, they are from Bailong High School. As a partner school of Ziyun High School, they are not considered off-campus personnel."

Wang Hai said, "Alright, alright. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since we're here, let's follow Ziyun High School's rules. Don't delay the competition time."

As a veteran coach who had led teams countless times to compete in the three high schools, Wang Hai could be said to be experienced.

In particular, he was also very experienced in being insulted by the three high schools, and it no longer stirred much emotion in his heart.

However, in previous years, Wang Hai could still count on his students to win some face in sports competitions, grab a ranking, and salvage their dignity.

"But this year, there's no hope."

He sighed and stepped into the disinfection passage first.