Chapter 125: Great Sun Qi Sea

Zhang Pianpian continued, "By now you should understand that your time is very tight."

"Of course, even if you fail this time, you can try again next year."

According to Zhang Pianpian, this high school Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam starts in mid-June every year and results come out in early January of the following year.

That means for each cohort of high school students, they have two chances in total over the three years.

The first chance is to register at the end of freshman year and obtain the Foundation Establishment Qualification in sophomore year.

The second chance is to register at the end of sophomore year and obtain the Foundation Establishment Qualification in senior year.

In Zhang Yu's mind, the voice of the Evil God rang out: "Although both get the Foundation Establishment Certificate, getting it in sophomore year versus senior year obviously carries different weight. When written into your resume, there will definitely be different treatment at university..."

Even without the Evil God saying it, Zhang Yu could naturally guess that.

"Knowing Kunxu's style, getting the Foundation Establishment Certificate in senior year versus sophomore year—after entering university... it's probably like the gap between a White Dragon person and a Songyang person."

White Dragon people or Songyang people—which would you choose?

If there were a choice, even He Dayou, the school board chairman's son, would probably just slip away to White Dragon.

Faced with an opportunity where one hard push could let him change his identity and become a White Dragon person on the second layer, how could Zhang Yu let it go?

He nodded at Zhang Pianpian: "We'll definitely try both chances. The sooner you get the Foundation Establishment Qualification, the better."

Zhang Pianpian continued, "Good that you understand. Besides that, there's the choice of exam specialization, and some arrangements I need to make for you before I leave..."

Because the Foundation Establishment Certificate exam only has four slots—one each in Dao Heart, Mana, Physical Education, and Martial Arts—Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen naturally had to develop separately.

With the help of her spirit root, Bai Zhenzhen's progress in Mana, Physical Education, and Martial Arts was all quite fast.

But considering that with the true spirit root's support, her talent in martial arts had always been the strongest, she ultimately chose the martial arts track.

Zhang Yu, with the help of his Feather Book and true spirit root, was also confident in Mana, Physical Education, and Martial Arts. But given that Bai Zhenzhen had already chosen martial arts, his remaining options were Mana and Physical Education.

"Naturally, I'll choose Physical Education. After all, during this time preparing for the sports competition, my progress in physical strength has already completely surpassed my mana. If I keep charging forward in physical strength, eventually becoming the strongest in Physical Education among high school students on Kunxu Layer 1... it's not impossible."

After Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen each selected their exam directions, Zhang Pianpian continued, "Your time is tight, the tasks are heavy, and funds are insufficient, so once the prize money and endorsement fees come in, remember you absolutely cannot waste the money."

"For example, don't pay off all your loans at once. Not only should you not pay them off, but if possible, you can even consider borrowing a bit more."

"In the next eight months, spend every single cent on improving your own strength."

"Before I leave, I'll also try to cover for you, buying you more time to grow stronger."

"I'll be waiting for you at Wanfa University."

Early morning.

Songyang High School.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, dragging their tired bodies, slowly walked toward the school gate.

Last night's sports competition had already greatly drained their stamina. After the competition ended, they discussed the Foundation Establishment Qualification with Zhang Pianpian. Even after Zhang Pianpian left, they didn't rest but began planning their cultivation schedule for the coming period.

After all, relying solely on the first-year courses at Songyang High School would definitely not be enough to successfully pass the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam and defeat the other competitors.

They needed a cultivation plan that was more suited to them—more aggressive and more effective.

Things like how to spend money, which techniques to cultivate, what medicines to use, and the expenses related to the exam... all had to be carefully calculated and planned.

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen suddenly stared wide-eyed at the big screen at the school gate.

"Congratulations to Zhang Yu for winning first prize in the Songyang City Sports Competition. With his exceptional talent and outstanding aptitude, Zhang Yu overcame material difficulties. With such unparalleled genius, he will surely achieve even greater results in the future..."

Bai Zhenzhen watched the scrolling essay on the screen, almost entirely filled with praise for Zhang Yu's peerless talent.

After reading it, she was shocked: "And me? Why am I not mentioned?"

She had at least placed fifth in the sports competition—was she not even worthy of a mention?

But Zhang Yu, looking at the scrolling essay on the screen, only felt a mix of anger and chills. He couldn't be happy at all.

If he were a few months younger, he would have loved this kind of article flattering him.

But now, seeing the screen full of words like talent and aptitude... he only felt that his commercial value had been driven down even further.

Does anyone understand? Just because I got first place, they say it's all talent. How much more malice does this world have for geniuses?

"Who the hell wrote that article? Can't they get it taken down?"

Later, Zhang Yu found out the article was arranged by the student council.

He suddenly understood: "Zhou Chechen, that guy, also wants to undermine my commercial value?"

"Is he in cahoots with that Le Jingchen from Ziyun?"

Recalling how Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling had specifically warned him during the competition, Zhang Yu grew increasingly suspicious that those two had allied with Ziyun High School or Ziyun Pharmaceuticals. Just then, Zhao Tianxing, who was on the road, saw Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, his eyes brightening as he approached.

Seeing Zhang Yu with his head down in thought, Zhao Tianxing asked curiously, "Ah Yu, what are you thinking about?"

Zhang Yu sighed and said, "I'm thinking about how to prove I'm not a genius, just an ordinary person who can only improve his grades with money."

Zhao Tianxing was slightly taken aback—was Yuzi hinting at him?

Zhang Yu continued, "And then I realized that, for me, proving I'm ordinary is way, way harder than proving I'm a genius."

"My talent is like the sun—you can't cover it up even if you try... Hard, it's just too hard."

Zhao Tianxing couldn't help recalling Zhang Yu from half a year ago, thinking to himself: "Ah Yu, I still prefer the way you were half a year ago."

"You weren't like this back then. Back then, you were just like me—a clown in front of A Zhen, Qian Shen, and He Dayou."

Looking at the completely changed Zhang Yu, Zhao Tianxing had to admit that grades had corrupted the student. Then he suddenly gained a deeper understanding of his own theory about the poor, weak clown.

"Clowns can transform into each other too. Half a year ago, Zhang Yu was a clown in front of He Dayou, but now He Dayou has become the clown standing before Zhang Yu."

In a row...

"This is... the theory of clown relativity."

"In the end, it all comes down to strength in scores and wealth."

Zhao Tianxing thought that if, at the moment Zhang Yu just finished speaking, he could grab Zhang Yu by the neck, pin him to the ground, and say calmly, "Oh? Is it that hard to prove?"

Zhao Tianxing mused inwardly: "If something like that happened, then the clown identity would swap again."

"Sigh, if you want to stand tall and speak loudly at school, you really need strength."

Thinking of this, Zhao Tianxing became more determined than ever to buy the imitation beast muscle modification.

Throughout Songyang High School, there were no small number of students who thought like Zhao Tianxing. Some favored imitation beast muscle, some wanted super metabolism, and a few decided to purchase Hongta's true dragon bloodline...

Zhang Yu and the others entered the classroom, and as soon as he sat down, Zhang Yu continued browsing various cultivation techniques on his phone.

He thought to himself: "Although I plan to go the sports route and keep strengthening my physical body, I must also ensure that my Dao heart and spiritual power don't lag behind."

"Especially the Dao heart and spiritual power—I need to find replacements for the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique and the Universal Breathing Method to ensure that while I train my body every day, my Dao heart and spiritual power also steadily increase."

But on the technique websites, the techniques were vast as an ocean. Even looking through the rankings left Zhang Yu dazzled and somewhat unsure how to choose.

Just then, the evil god disguised as a rosary suddenly said, "Try searching for Great Sun Qi Sea."

Zhang Yu was momentarily stunned but still searched for this breathing technique called Great Sun Qi Sea. He found it was a low-selling expert-level technique, suitable for mid-stage Qi Refining.

The first reason for its low sales was its hefty price—a mere usage right cost a full 120,000.

The second reason for its low sales was that it was extremely difficult to practice.

Particularly, the difficulty of Great Sun Qi Sea was not reflected in how hard it was to understand, how hard to practice, or how high its requirements were.

The difficulty of Great Sun Qi Sea lay in time.

This was a technique that, as long as it received light, could condense the essence of sun and moon, absorb the spiritual energy within the light of heaven and earth, and refine it into spiritual power.

Zhang Yu read the description and thought: "Like the Universal Breathing Method, it can passively breathe. In any environment with light, Great Sun Qi Sea can continuously passively breathe. The stronger the light, the stronger the breathing effect."

"However, this technique emphasizes gradual progress. If the first layer takes one month of light to master, then the second layer requires two months to break through. The third layer doubles again, needing four months to break through. Doubling like this, the later layers take increasingly longer time."

"By the eighth layer, breaking through one more layer requires ten years of effort."

"Breaking through from the ninth to the tenth layer requires more than twenty years."

Seeing this, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. Even if someone bought this technique, they probably used it as a transitional breathing technique, intending to use its light breathing to increase their spiritual power a bit more.

"No wonder so few people buy it."

"But for me, it's just right."

Zhang Yu began to wonder what effect this technique, which took decades to train to the tenth layer, would have now that he had pushed it to the tenth layer.

Suddenly, Zhang Yu thought again of the Evil God who had asked him to search through the Great Sun Qi Sea. He mused that this guy had been sticking close to him twenty-four hours a day and truly knew which technique suited him best.

With that in mind, Zhang Yu asked softly, "It's been so long—I still don't know what to call you."

The Evil God chuckled lightly, and a clear female voice echoed in Zhang Yu's mind: "Just call me Fuji."

"Zhang Yu, I told you long ago—with my help, your climb through Kunxu will be much smoother."