Chapter 163: First Foundation Exam Round

Under Fuji's guidance, Zhang Yu placed a half-burned candle in the middle of a stool, put a phone behind the candle, and two turned-on flashlights on either side of the phone. Then he picked up an electrical wire and wrapped it around the stool in a circle.

After setting up the ritual, Zhang Yu asked with some skepticism, "Is this ritual really reliable?"

Fuji snorted, "In the entire first layer of Kunxu, no one understands rituals better than I do. What problems could there be?"

"Even if there are problems, they can only be due to quality issues with the ritual materials you prepared."

"Alright, next do as I say and activate the ritual directly!"

Following Fuji's instructions, Zhang Yu paced around the circle formed by the electrical wire, while hearing the mysterious incantation Fuji was chanting.

The next moment, as the half-burned incense candle on the altar turned to ashes, strands of extremely subtle divine power appeared above the ritual.

Fuji shouted in a low voice, "Insect, insect, capture and extract from the shadow, powers of heaven and earth, swiftly as the decree!"

That faint strand of divine power suddenly revealed a hint of eerie aura, and had been temporarily controlled by Fuji.

As Zhang Yu listened to Fuji's voice, he only felt that she seemed to be exhausted.

Clearly this extremely weakened evil god, as she had once said, was in a very poor state, so much so that completing this ritual made her tremble and stutter.

The next instant, this divine power burrowed into Zhang Yu's shadow.

A roar was heard from within the shadow.

Immediately after, a small black insect struggled and crawled out from it.

After the divine power controlled by Fuji and the small black insect had been locked in a stalemate for a long time, she gave a soft shout and strained to yell, "Hmph, scatter!"

The next moment, after another struggle, the small black insect gradually burst apart.

From within the insect's body, countless black runes suddenly exploded, appearing before Zhang Yu like thick plumes of smoke.

Zhang Yu asked, "What is this?"

"This is the Shadow Gu." Fuji said wearily, "The so-called Shadow Gu is essentially a tool condensed from evil divine power."

Fuji took a deep breath, and the runes filling the sky surged into her body, being absorbed completely by her.

Fuji then explained, "The one who activated the ritual wanted to use the Shadow Gu to gather intelligence and transmit information."

"Naturally, they had to leave instructions inside the Shadow Gu."

"These instructions not only include how to gather intelligence, but also naturally include how to transmit it."

"With a detailed analysis, we can find out exactly who is investigating you."

After a moment, Fuji smiled slightly and said, "The analysis is almost done. I now know how the other party transmits their information."

"The next time you step into the Spirit Realm, I can disguise myself as the Shadow Gu to send them some false information, and also figure out exactly who they are."

Another thing that made Fuji happy was that after absorbing the evil divine power contained in this Shadow Gu, she had finally recovered a tiny bit of her strength.

Fuji thought to herself, "This way, the next time I accompany Zhang Yu to take the exam, my safety will be greatly enhanced."

Zhang Yu said, "Are there any unwritten rules among you evil gods? For example, what do you do when you discover each other? Immediately fight to the death? Or sit down and talk?"

Fuji said, "We evil gods are all very reasonable; we distinguish right from wrong."

"Usually, if we encounter someone weaker, we just eat them in one bite."

"If we encounter someone stronger, we turn and flee."

"If we encounter someone of equal strength, after finding their address, we order them a takeout and give a warning."

Zhang Yu curled his lips and said, "Truly reasonable."

Zhang Yu continued, "Then next time we step into the Spirit Realm, don't alert the other party first. While sending some false information, also figure out their strength, location, personnel..."

Fuji said, "Do I need you to tell me that? When you become stronger and the time is ripe, we'll devour this colleague of mine alive."

…

In the basement.

Song Xu slowly took off his Spirit Realm mask and thought to himself, "The Shadow Gu has been successfully planted."

"Next is just waiting for Zhang Yu and the others to log into the Spirit Realm next time."

"When the time comes, we'll know exactly what secrets you're hiding."

"If I can master the secrets you carry, capture the evil god behind you, and reignite your potential..."

A glimmer of anticipation appeared in Song Xu's eyes: "Then I'll have over ninety percent certainty of getting into the Top Ten."

Early August.

In the days that followed, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen continued their frenzied cultivation, making final preparations for the first round of exams in mid-August.

That day, the two entered the livestream room. As endorsers, they promoted Xianyun Group's new body-tempering surgery together with Yu Xinghan.

With a smack, the livestream host grabbed two pieces of muscle and flung them in front of the camera.

"Two pectorals!"

Then several more large pieces of muscle were tossed up.

"Next, eight abdominal muscles!"

"Then the psoas, platysma, trapezius, latissimus dorsi..."

As the pieces of muscle piled up into a small mountain, the host shouted: "All these imitation-beast muscle modifications combined—how much can you get them for in today's livestream?"

"All for 299,000!"

"All of them use Xianyun Group's latest technology. No hospitalization required—I repeat, no hospitalization required. Everyone goes to the clinic to have their muscles cut out, then send them to us. We'll culture them and send them back. After you reinstall them, you'll have potential comparable to competition athletes!"

"Also, we have a tenfold compensation policy for counterfeits. We absolutely will not use any beast tendons to pretend they're imitation-beast tendons."

"If even one piece of muscle is fake, we'll compensate you with ten pieces!"

On the way out of the livestream room, Zhang Yu asked Yu Xinghan curiously: "This imitation-beast muscle technology today seems a bit off?"

Yu Xinghan said: "It's different, right? What do you expect? Under 300,000—how could that be the original technology? It's just a watered-down version of a watered-down version, used to give some people who can't afford the original a taste. It's impossible for everyone to use the best stuff, right?"

Zhang Yu opened his mouth, thought of the 200,000 endorsement fee already in his account, considered his role as endorser, and ended up saying nothing.

Inside the apartment.

Zhang Yu was wiping sweat off the floor.

This was something Zhang Yu had to do after every practice session under Le Mulan's demand that her sweat must never be leaked.

In front of Zhang Yu, Le Mulan said indifferently: "Last month's electricity bill was 80,000 yuan."

Not a single mistake—first release—content inside—take a look.

"What exactly are you two doing in this room? Growing medicinal herbs?"

Zhang Yu was taken aback by the question and said perfunctorily: "Yeah, it's just that some training equipment consumes quite a lot of electricity."

"Don't worry, soon it won't cost this much electricity."

Zhang Yu felt the surging mana inside him. With the aid of spiritual veins and medicine, his mana growth was extremely rapid, already pushing toward 90 units of mana.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "Soon, I shouldn't need to do that light-gathering breathing every day."

The next moment, Zhang Yu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.

Le Mulan noticed Zhang Yu clutching his chest and frowned: "Side effects of the medicine?"

"From what I've observed, without super metabolism... your medication dosage over the past two months has indeed been a bit too intense."

"I suggest you stop for a while."

"Anyway... you don't need to chase the limits like this."

Naturally, Le Mulan was thinking that Zhang Yu wasn't going to compete or take the Top Ten exam in the future, so why cultivate so relentlessly.

Zhang Yu nodded and said slowly: "Don't worry, I know my own body. This doesn't even count as the limit yet."

He thought to himself: "Compared to my body, it's my wallet that's reaching its limit. In a few days... I won't even be able to afford these meds."

Mid-August.

The time had finally arrived at the day before the first round of the Foundation Establishment exam.

On the train heading toward Xiandu City.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were silently breathing and meditating, accumulating their magical power, physical strength, and mental energy.

After this half-month of sprint training, Zhang Yu's strength had once again advanced by leaps and bounds, his magical power reaching 87.75, and his physical strength reaching level 8.06.

His Dao heart had also finally broken through to the sixth level, reaching level 6 (18%).

"In another half-month, it'll be September, and I'll officially be a second-year high school student."

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "But by then, with my current level, I should be able to surpass most freshmen White Dragon people who just entered third year, right?"

Although he had reached the goal he set before, Zhang Yu's face showed little joy, because he knew his target was no longer ordinary White Dragon people, but those super high school students of Xiandu.

Apart from the insane progress in strength, Zhang Yu's wallet had also been on a crazy spending spree, dropping all the way to fifty thousand yuan.

Clearly, in order to pass the upcoming first round of the Foundation Establishment exam, he hadn't given a single thought to making or saving money.

After all, in his view, if he didn't first seize the time to improve his strength and strive to pass the first round of the Foundation Establishment exam, then saving a little money would be meaningless.

"But whether I pass this exam or not, once I'm back, I need to find a way to get some more money."

As the train sped along, the sky city of Xiandu soon reappeared in the line of sight of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

Stepping off the train, looking up at the dark, heavy sky, Bai Zhenzhen said, "Yu, how much money do you have left in your account?"

Zhang Yu said, "Fifty thousand yuan."

Bai Zhenzhen nodded: "I still have forty thousand. Do you know what that means?"

Zhang Yu asked in confusion, "What does it mean?"

Bai Zhenzhen said, "It means we're so broke we can barely afford next month's loan payments."

"And also, we've been using medicine too aggressively lately; the side effects are starting to show."

"Whether it's health or finances, the pressure and risk have reached an unprecedented level."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Under the intense pressure of loans, exams, balances, and drug side effects, with the operation of the Residual Ox Sacrifice Body and Mind Technique, he only felt his blood accelerate and his body grow more and more excited.

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "...But it also means that our immortal cultivation potential has been fully unleashed."

"We are terrifyingly strong now, no longer comparable to how we were two months ago."

"We will definitely pass this first round exam."

Under the enormous risk, the Cold Soul Ice Heart Technique in Bai Zhenzhen's mind was running fiercely, and she likewise felt her muscles, nerves, and brain becoming increasingly active.

Having said that, the two of them each went into separate stalls in the men's and women's restrooms.

As they opened a webpage and clicked the entry button, a large hole appeared beneath their feet, and they both vanished without a trace.