Chapter 166: Strongest High Schooler

Just then, Dai Xingzhi heard Ye Lingxiao beside him say, "In the last Dao Heart Test, your valuation was actually unknown?"

Dai Xingzhi was slightly startled, then followed the direction of the speaker and saw Zhang Yu behind him—the number on him was 55.

Hearing Ye Lingxiao's question, Zhang Yu was silent for a moment, unsure how to explain.

Dai Xingzhi beside him said, "Unknown valuation? Could it be that you never gave up until the very end, and even burst the illusion realm... so they gave you an unknown valuation?"

Zhang Yu said helplessly, "Mm... something like that."

Hearing this, Ye Lingxiao's gaze sharpened, and a hint of seriousness appeared in his eyes as he looked at Zhang Yu.

Ye Lingxiao thought to himself, "This guy actually managed to burst the illusion realm alive?"

"How strong is his will? How wealthy is he? Could he be even richer than Yun Jing, even richer than me?"

On the other side, Dai Xingzhi's mind was also racing: "What background does he have? Is he the descendant of some company director? Or the heir of some local clan?"

At the same time, more and more people noticed Zhang Yu's number 55, realizing that this out-of-town student was the first place in the last Dao Heart Test.

And because of the special nature of this Dao Heart Test, they realized that this first-place student must be worth a fortune, possessing astonishing wealth.

And since wealth is the most direct manifestation of immortal path potential, the wealthy number 55 must also be powerful, definitely a strong candidate for the Foundation Establishment qualification.

Ye Lingxiao looked at Zhang Yu and thought to himself, "Seeing how he picked up the red envelope talisman and what he said, I thought he was poor."

"I never expected him to be hiding his strength... Could it be that because he's rich enough, he dares to randomly pick up red envelopes off the ground?"

"He even seemed concerned about what poor people should do if they pick up a red envelope talisman... Is he the kind of rich person who hasn't seen much of the world?"

As he pondered, Ye Lingxiao turned around, looking at Zhang Yu with increasing seriousness: "I look forward to competing with you later."

At that moment, the mysterious and unfathomably wealthy Zhang Yu had become one of Ye Lingxiao's main future rivals in his eyes.

Dai Xingzhi and the other students, watching the two standing face to face, felt as if they were seeing two behemoths swallowing billions of wealth crashing violently into each other.

Bai Zhenzhen witnessed this scene, and as she looked at Zhang Yu, her heart tightened secretly: "Yu Zi! You're putting on such a big act now. Once the real competition starts and your true colors show, you'll become the kind of clown Old Zhao talks about!"

Bai Zhenzhen was confident that she and Zhang Yu had improved a lot in these two months, definitely reaching the level of senior year.

But she also knew that even with such progress, there was still a gap between them and those top Immortal Capital masters.

For the first round of exams, Bai Zhenzhen only sought to pass.

As for catching up to and even surpassing the top Immortal Capital masters, that should be the goal for the next few months, during the second and third rounds.

Zhang Yu knew this all too well, but once his number was posted as first in the Dao Heart Test, he realized he couldn't explain it.

He couldn't exactly say that it was because of the ceremony's influence that he lasted until the end in the illusion realm.

Nor could he say that he was actually a pauper, still figuring out how to pay next month's loan interest.

So, facing Ye Lingxiao's glare and feeling the curious, probing, or hostile gazes from the other contestants all around, Zhang Yu felt as if he was being watched by a pack of hungry wolves, but he could only tough it out.

"Damn it, wasn't I supposed to be underestimated or even ignored by the Immortal Capital masters, then gradually catch up to them and finally seize the Foundation Establishment certificate? Why are they all staring at me from the start?"

"I knew rankings were a bad idea! Why expose the contestants' privacy like this?"

Thinking about how he was about to compete head-on with these people, Zhang Yu felt like the clown position Zhao mentioned was calling out to him.

"Is there any way I can avoid losing face too much later?"

"Forget it, if I have to lose some face, there's no helping it. It's not like I'm strong enough yet."

Not far away, Yu Xinghan had just arrived and witnessed this astonishing scene.

"This Zhang Yu kid..." Yu Xinghan looked at Zhang Yu, both curious and surprised: "How did he manage it?"

Thinking about how the other person, being a poor man, could hold out until an unknown valuation in that illusion realm, he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

He even felt an impulse to ask Zhang Yu directly, but he knew the other party would never answer such a secret.

A moment later, as all the contestants arrived one by one, Deng Bingding, as the chief examiner, began announcing the exam procedures.

In short, following the reform spirit of the Foundation Establishment exam, this round would test the students' mana, physical fitness, and martial arts in sequence, aside from the Dao heart.

As for why the Dao heart wasn't tested, it was said that all unqualified candidates had already been eliminated in the previous round, so no further test was needed.

Of course, Xiaoshen Huang Zichou, standing to the side, knew that this was done to save the budget from above.

After all, compared to the other three paths, the Dao Heart test involves the spiritual realm environment, so it costs the most both in terms of money and resources consumed.

Finally, Deng Bingding said, "...This round of testing will only keep the top twenty contestants by total score; all contestants ranked after twenty will be eliminated. To encourage the students, each of the top twenty will be rewarded with one expert-level cultivation method..."

Zhang Yu's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this: "An expert-level cultivation method per person? That generous?"

Zhang Yu still remembered that the bonus Deng Bingding had approved for him last time was actually an interest-free loan.

But upon second thought, he mused, "Behind the Eight Rightful Gods are the Heavenly Court and the Ten Great Sects."

"For us, an expert-level cultivation method costs tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands."

"But for them, it's probably just a matter of authorization." "After all, they just need to approve our usage rights and then send us the content of the method..."

Soon, the mana test officially began.

All the students present lined up in the hall in order of their numbers.

Then, several examiners distributed a set of testing equipment and a box of spirit roots to everyone present.

Dai Xingzhi thought to himself, "This mana test assesses control, burst output, and recovery of mana."

He picked up a detection patch and thought, "I need to output as much mana into it as possible within 30 minutes."

"The faster and more mana I output within 30 minutes, the higher the score."

"This requires both explosive power and precise control of mana, as well as the ability to breathe in spiritual energy to recover mana while outputting it."

Dai Xingzhi knew that such a long burst of mana output, according to the high school syllabus, should be an immortal cultivation course taught in the third year of high school.

But since this was a high school student foundation establishment exam, it naturally wouldn't be limited to a mere syllabus.

No error, no mistake, no miss, no slip—content within, look for yourself!

Dai Xingzhi then opened the small box containing the external spirit root.

Inside, a ring was constantly emitting wisps of spiritual energy, breathing like a living thing.

Dai Xingzhi thought to himself, "External spirit root, boundless sea of Qi."

"A mid-range brand external spirit root?"

Dai Xingzhi recalled what the examiner had just said, knowing that using a unified spirit root like this was one of the reforms of this foundation establishment exam.

Dai Xingzhi disagreed with this. Wealth was inherently one aspect of immortal cultivation potential; it was only natural that the rich had more advantages. Why use a unified spirit root at all?

Just then, Deng Bingding reminded them, "Before putting on the external spirit root, everyone remember to turn off the spirit root inside your own body, otherwise the consequences are on you."

Just as Dai Xingzhi was about to put on the external spirit root, Boundless Sea of Qi, he suddenly heard a male voice.

"How do you use this external spirit root?"

Dai Xingzhi turned his head and saw that it was contestant number 55 who had spoken.

"They're actually issuing spirit roots uniformly?" Zhang Yu thought to himself. "But they don't even give an instruction manual for this external spirit root. How the hell am I supposed to know how to use it?"

"And if I ask like this, those rich kids around me will probably all guess that I'm not actually that wealthy, right?"

"It'll also serve as a bit of groundwork for myself..."

On the other side, Bai Zhenzhen heard this and thought to herself, "Well done, Yu Zi. Since you asked, I don't have to."

"And you're starting to build a way out for yourself, slowly revealing the fact that you're not actually that rich. That way, even if your results aren't as good as everyone expects, you'll lose a bit less face."

Dai Xingzhi heard this and thought to himself, "He's never even used the Boundless Sea of Qi?"

Thinking about the other's unknown estimated score on the Dao Heart test, Dai Xingzhi thought, "Is it because the Boundless Sea of Qi is too low-end for him?"

"Damn it. For me, this is already a spirit root for normal cultivation, but this guy usually doesn't even deign to use it? What kind of spirit root does he usually use?"

Dai Xingzhi thought to himself, "Damn rich bastard. Good thing we're using a unified spirit root for this exam!"

On the other side, the strongest high school student, Yun Jing, flashed a glance at Zhang Yu and thought to himself, "This out-of-towner... is he showing off here? Saying he's never used the Boundless Sea of Qi?"

Yun Jing snorted inwardly and also spoke up, "I don't usually use this kind of spirit root either. Could the examiner please teach me how to use it?"

"So this spirit root isn't commonly used even by rich people?" Zhang Yu thought to himself. "Tsk, troublesome... why do I feel like even more eyes are on me now."

Following the method introduced by the examiners, he injected mana, enlarged the ring, and slipped it over his hand. Zhang Yu immediately felt the external spirit root pulsing in sync with his breathing, as if it had become part of his body. Spiritual energy surged toward him from all directions.

Next, he put on the detection equipment and gripped the test patch tightly.

As the countdown of 3, 2, 1 sounded, all the competitors simultaneously channeled their mana into the test patches.

Boom!

A deafening rumble seemed to echo through the air as everyone's mana circulated.

At the same time, on the light screen at the front of the hall, each contestant's mana output data lit up.

It was a row of bar graphs, with each contestant's number displayed below their bar and the mana output value shown above.

Now, as everyone furiously poured out mana, each bar grew continuously, rearranging itself according to the amount of mana output.

However, two bars shot up so fiercely that they immediately seized first and second place. Their exaggerated growth made the other contestants' bars appear to shrink in comparison.

These two bars belonged to Contestant No. 11, Yun Jing, and Contestant No. 23, Ye Lingxiao.

The two contestants' mana values skyrocketed, and their bars, like two giant dragons, tangled back and forth for the top two positions, chasing each other relentlessly.

Meanwhile, Dai Xingzhi glanced at the bar of Contestant No. 55. "Huh? Why is it ranked so low?"