Chapter 17: Scores and Secrets

"I'm so hungry."

Qian Shen rubbed his stomach, showing no interest in any of the paintings on display at the exhibition, only wanting to find a place to eat a big meal.

After all, he had just finished a body-tempering remedial class and rushed over, so ravenous he felt he could devour an entire cow.

"I'll go look for something tasty to eat."

After greeting the classmates who came with him, Qian Shen began searching around the exhibition.

The students who had come to the painting exhibition with him were not surprised by this.

Diligently studying the immortal path every day and training their bodies hard, the nutrition they needed and the amount they ate were naturally far beyond ordinary people.

For a study fanatic like Qian Shen, who cultivated day and night for twenty-four hours, his daily food intake was even greater. Eating only five meals a day would make his tutor worry that his appetite was poor.

Just then, Qian Shen's eyes suddenly lit up, locking onto the buffet table.

He strode forward quickly, grabbed a plate of prawns, and swallowed them in a few bites, but after eating for a while, he frowned: "This food has so little nutrition?"

As a top student in his first year at Songyang High School, consistently ranked second in the grade, besides his own talent and hard work, the most important factor was, of course, that his family was wealthy.

To enhance the effect of cultivation, especially for body tempering, the food he usually ate was rich in various immortal path elements.

For a score-obsessed person like him, whether something tasted good or not was secondary; what mattered most was whether it could improve his cultivation efficiency.

He could naturally afford the seafood provided at the exhibition buffet on a daily basis, but he had no interest in spending money just to satisfy his taste buds; instead, he considered it a waste of his time and appetite.

What seafood, what grand feasts... if they can't improve your grades, they're nothing but garbage.

So Qian Shen, while surveying the other dishes on the table, called over a waiter, intending to ask if there were any other foods that could serve as nutritional supplements.

"Everything edible is here. Help yourself to whatever you want."

Hearing the waiter's somewhat cold voice, Qian Shen couldn't help but frown, but when he looked up, he saw a familiar face.

Qian Shen glanced at the waiter's uniform on the other person and said in surprise, "You work here?"

"Mm," Bai Zhenzhen said expressionlessly. "Anything else?"

Qian Shen frowned and said, "Are you that short on money?"

"Then you should sign a contract with the student council as soon as possible. Otherwise, continuing to waste time on meaningless jobs like this will only hold back your path of immortality."

"By the time I surpass you, it won't feel meaningful anymore."

Qian Shen's tone was full of emotion, after all, he had always regarded Bai Zhenzhen—the only girl in the same grade who could outscore him overall—as his rival.

In his feeling, Bai Zhenzhen should think the same way.

Over the next three years of high school, the entire grade, even the whole school, would become a battlefield where two geniuses clashed fiercely yet cherished each other's talents.

The two of them would push their limits through repeated competition and ultimately, three years later, both be admitted to top prestigious schools.

But in response to Qian Shen's lament, Bai Zhenzhen merely said flatly, "Are you telling me what to do?"

Before Qian Shen could answer, Bai Zhenzhen continued, "A guy with a total score just over 600 is going to tell me, with 650, how to do things?"

Faced with Bai Zhenzhen's blatant score discrimination, Qian Shen, as a staunch supporter of score-ism, instantly felt his momentum falter. That 50-point gap felt like a mountain crashing down on him.

You have the higher score, so you're right.

At that moment, in Qian Shen's eyes, three glowing numbers—650—seemed to appear above Bai Zhenzhen's head, radiating an overwhelming pressure that left him unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.

Bai Zhenzhen frowned. "Hey, when you're talking to me, why are you staring at the top of my head?"

Qian Shen snorted and turned to leave.

"Just you wait, Bai Zhenzhen. Wasting time like this, it won't be long before I surpass you."

But as soon as he took a few steps, he nearly collided with two security guards.

It was Zhang Yu, who had come to check on the situation, and Zhao Tianxing, whom he had dragged along.

Having just seen that Bai Zhenzhen and Qian Shen seemed to be in some conflict, Zhang Yu, as a security guard, hurried over.

Qian Shen looked at the two of them—though they were in security uniforms, they were still classmates, so he recognized them at once: "550 and 580?"

Hearing this form of address, Zhang Yu was momentarily stunned, then immediately realized that 550 was his total score from last month's exam, and 580 seemed to be Zhao Tianxing's total?

Good grief, with eyes only for scores, can't even remember classmates' names, huh? Another study-obsessed freak.

But actually, Qian Shen didn't just fail to remember names—in fact, for students below 550 points, he couldn't remember either their names or their scores.

After all, to him... below 550? Aren't they just NPCs? Is there any need to remember them?

Take this 550 in front of him—in Qian Shen's eyes, he was already a subhuman.

Based on his observations over this period, the other guy would probably score below 550 on the next monthly exam, so starting next month, there wouldn't even be any need to remember him.

Looking at Zhang Yu and Zhao Tianxing in their security uniforms, Qian Shen shook his head again: "Why are you two working here too?"

Facing a 550 and a 580, the momentum that had just been suppressed by the 650 immediately surged back in Qian Shen. He said arrogantly, "Why aren't you two seizing time to study more and cultivate more, wasting it here instead?"

Zhang Yu: "Aren't you here too?"

Qian Shen chuckled confidently, "I specially set aside my tutoring time today to come and comprehend the peerless martial arts in the Celestial Human Martial Diagram." Zhang Yu: "Yeah, we're also here to comprehend the Celestial Human Martial Diagram."

"And on top of that, we get paid 800 per hour."

"Earning money while comprehending divine techniques—isn't that a much better deal?"

"Huh?" Qian Shen was slightly stunned, looking at Zhang Yu with some surprise, thinking to himself: "What a 550 says actually has some logic?"

He looked at Zhang Yu and said, "550, I'll remember you."

"My name is Zhang Yu!" Zhang Yu couldn't help looking at his own head again: "Why are you always staring at the top of my head?"

But Qian Shen quickly recovered: "No, you two think you can comprehend the Celestial Human Martial Diagram?"

Zhao Tianxing felt more and more eyes staring at them, and Qian Shen's contemptuous gaze made his cheeks flush slightly. He quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, no, I didn't intend to comprehend the Celestial Human Martial Diagram."

But Qian Shen couldn't be bothered to listen to Zhao Tianxing's explanation. He just shook his head and sighed: "The Celestial Human Martial Diagram was personally drawn by a Golden Core expert. The peerless martial arts it contains are specifically used to select true geniuses. Even I don't have absolute confidence in mastering it, let alone you two."

With that, Qian Shen lost interest in looking at the 550 and 580 any longer, turned around, and left.

Watching Qian Shen's departing back, Zhao Tianxing's face turned even more bitter.

Damn!

Not only was he caught working as a security guard, but Zhang Yu's careless talk also made the other person mistakenly think he came to comprehend the Celestial Human Martial Diagram.

Zhao Tianxing's heart was full of bitterness, as if he could already see himself being mocked by all the classmates in the class.

He thought to himself: "This is such a huge loss of face."

Zhang Yu beside him, however, didn't have as many thoughts running through his head as Zhao Tianxing. He looked at Bai Zhenzhen and asked, "You okay? Not on good terms with Qian Shen?"

Bai Zhenzhen curled her lips casually: "What could happen to me? Most of the time, he's the one humiliating himself."

Then she looked at Zhang Yu with a somewhat peculiar expression: "You're actually planning to comprehend the Celestial Human Martial Diagram too?"

Watching Zhang Yu nod confidently, Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself: "Yuzi is getting more and more possessed by his massive debt. With his level... he actually wants to comprehend martial arts left by a Golden Core True Person?"

Zhao Tianxing, who only wanted to get out of there quickly, tugged at Zhang Yu's clothes to leave, but found that the latter was exchanging winks and glances with Bai Zhenzhen.

Then he saw Bai Zhenzhen secretly slip a portion of seafood into Zhang Yu's arms.

Zhang Yu: "Old Zhao, want to try a bite?"

Zhao Tianxing urged: "The captain said we can't eat the buffet."

As he spoke, he quickly used his body to block Zhang Yu, afraid that someone might see this.

Zhang Yu said casually: "Isn't it just right that Zhen is working here too? We're just taking advantage of the company's perks."

Just as Zhang Yu was tasting the prawns on his plate, a voice came from behind Zhao Tianxing.

"What are you two doing?"

The voice startled Zhao Tianxing. When he turned around and saw that the speaker was classmate Zhou Tianyi, he breathed a sigh of relief instead.

Unconsciously, Zhao Tianxing seemed to have gradually gotten used to wearing the security uniform in front of his classmates.

Zhang Yu looked at Zhou Tianyi in surprise: "Old Zhou, you came too?"

Zhou Tianyi smiled: "Yeah, I came with Qian Shen and the others."

Zhang Yu: "Really? How come I didn't see you just now?"

Zhou Tianyi said, "Heh, how did you come here?"

The two chatted about their respective situations, while Zhao Tianxing beside them urged Zhang Yu to continue patrolling.

Zhou Tianyi suddenly said with a mysterious expression, "There's some gossip about a Golden Core True Person. Are you interested in hearing it?"

Seeing Zhang Yu showing curiosity, Zhao said, "The team leader has been urging in the group, asking where we are..."

Zhang Yu nodded. "Forget it, work is important. Let's hear it another time."

Just as the two turned to leave, they heard Zhou Tianyi say, "Xinghuo True Person had half his cultivation taken away after resigning, so he plans to retreat to the first layer."

"Huh?"

Zhang Yu and Zhao Tianxing immediately turned around, waiting for Zhou Tianyi to continue speaking.

Bai Zhenzhen aside, though not looking over, was also pricking up her ears to listen.

Zhou Tianyi smiled and continued, "A Golden Core True Person can live up to 400 years at most. Xinghuo True Person was already 350 last year, and was 'optimized' by the Ten Thousand Methods Sect."

"When he resigned, half of his cultivation was reclaimed. Unable to support the expenses up there, he wants to retreat to the Kunxu First Layer to focus on raising descendants and teaching disciples."

Zhang Yu was once again shocked by this damn world: "Wait... they take away half your cultivation when you resign?"

Zhou Tianyi said matter-of-factly, "The sect cultivated him, gave him the opportunity and resources to form a core. Isn't it normal to hand over half your cultivation when leaving?"

Just as the three were listening to Zhou Tianyi's news about Xinghuo True Person, the crowd in the distance suddenly stirred.

A guest whispered, "It's Ms. Li coming. The Heaven-Man Martial Arts Diagram is about to be unveiled."