Chapter 172: Zhang Yu's Heartache

According to the orthodox gods' explanation and standards, a so-called ten-star difficulty technique is one that an ordinary high school student in an ordinary high school would need three years to master.

Nine-star difficulty requires two years, eight-star requires one year, and seven-star is about half a year...

Upon hearing this introduction, Dai Xingzhi thought to himself: "At this difficulty level, if I have to master it within two hours, I'm confident I can handle five-star difficulty, but with six-star there's a risk of failure. As for seven-star and above... besides Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao, probably few people present would dare choose it."

After all, in Dai Xingzhi's view, risking failing to learn a martial art and scoring zero on this stage just for a few extra points was simply not worth it.

On the other side.

Zhang Yu, however, paid no attention to the difficulty explanation; he was staring at the rows of techniques floating on the light screen, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curling up.

"Heavenly Demon Parasitic Method, Buzhou Mountain Moving Sutra, Heart Origin Great Seal..."

Although the techniques provided by the orthodox gods in this exam definitely weren't all of Kunxu's Qi Refining stage techniques, it was already dazzling enough for Zhang Yu.

"So many techniques? Can I choose any of them?"

At this moment, Zhang Yu's eyes showed extreme excitement. After all, with his extraordinary potential, the auxiliary Feather Book could easily help him master any technique.

Meanwhile, the orthodox god on the other side continued explaining the rules. Deng Bingding said: "...Naturally, techniques of different difficulty levels have different difficulty coefficients."

"Your final score for this stage will be calculated based on the difficulty coefficient and the time you take to successfully master the technique."

"Alright, you now have 10 minutes to start selecting your techniques."

"Once a technique is chosen, it cannot be changed."

"If you haven't completed your technique selection within ten minutes, it will be considered as giving up, and this stage will be scored as zero."

"As for the weapons, materials, medicines, and other supplies needed to practice each technique, they will be provided on-site and given to you once you have selected your technique."

"Finally, remember not to choose a technique you have already learned, or it will be treated as cheating."

As the rules for this final martial arts exam were gradually explained, the ten-minute countdown began, and the students could now operate the light screens in front of them to select their techniques.

The students present all began swiping their fingers across the light screens in front of them, continuously tapping, their eyes browsing back and forth through one technique after another, expressions of hesitation frequently appearing on their faces.

Zhang Yu, while browsing the list of techniques, thought to himself: "To get a high score, I should choose the most difficult technique."

In the list of techniques, each one had been rated with a star difficulty by the orthodox gods.

Zhang Yu filtered out the highest ten-star difficulty techniques, and saw displayed: Myriad Forests Palm, Blood-Scattering Demon-Slaying Great Art, Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Art, Ten Thousand Swords Without End Art, Hundred Transformations Thousand Illusions Heart Art...

"Ten-star difficulty just means these techniques are the hardest to master, but they aren't necessarily the most powerful, let alone the ones I most need or that are most suitable for me."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu's mind recalled the process of the Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam and the purpose of today's test.

"The Foundation Establishment Qualification Exam consists of three rounds. The round I'm participating in today... is the first round in August."

"Then there's the second round in October, and the third round in January next year."

"For this first round today, as long as my total score in magical power, physique, and martial arts ranks within the top twenty, I won't be eliminated and will qualify for the second round."

Zhang Yu calculated his rankings in the magical power and physique stages and knew that as long as he also ranked in the top twenty in the third stage, he was unlikely to be eliminated.

"So... instead of picking the most difficult technique to get a very high score..."

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "Perhaps I should take this opportunity to study a powerful technique that best suits me, for free."

"First, it won't affect my passing today's exam."

"Second, it will be more beneficial for my future development."

Zhang Yu's gaze swept over the techniques priced at tens or even hundreds of thousands, feeling like drool was about to drip from his mouth.

Although they were all expert-level techniques, there were differences among expert-level ones, which could be seen from the price of each expert-level technique.

Expert-level techniques costing seven or eight hundred thousand, or over a million, were things Zhang Yu normally wouldn't even dare to think about.

After all, with that much money, he would definitely spend it first on pills, medicines, renting spirit veins, or entering the spirit realm...

But now, he had the chance to study such an expensive technique for free.

Thinking this, Zhang Yu made up his mind: "I'll pick the technique that best suits me and is also the strongest."

Finding the most suitable one wasn't difficult.

"It just so happens that after my physique strength broke through to level 8 and above, the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi began to lose efficiency."

Thinking this, Zhang Yu directly selected Body-Tempering Martial Arts from the list of cultivation techniques, and then chose the later stage of Qi Refining.

As for which of these Body-Tempering Martial Arts was the strongest?

Zhang Yu directly clicked to sort by price.

"The Kunxu Realm is full of pitfalls—endless tricks to deceive people and methods to harvest them like leeks."

"But there's one thing that's absolutely certain: the companies here would never price a Body-Tempering Martial Art they consider truly powerful... at a low cost."

"Things like high quality and low price simply don't exist."

"On the contrary, the most expensive techniques are bound to have something formidable about them."

Once the sorting was complete, the Body-Tempering Martial Arts displayed before Zhang Yu, from highest to lowest price, were: the Spring-Autumn Boundless Zen at 1.55 million, the Titan Gold Body-Tempering Essence at 1.54 million, and the Great Heavenly Dragon Divine Power at 1.52 million.

Although these three techniques were all of eight-star difficulty, not the highest ten-star difficulty, for Zhang Yu they were precisely what he truly needed.

Especially after scanning the introductions of these three most expensive techniques, Zhang Yu felt a pang of heartache.

"These three techniques... do I have to give up two of them?"

Then he fell into deep hesitation.

"The Spring-Autumn Boundless Zen can strengthen the body while also refining tendons and cleansing marrow, fortifying internal organs, truly transforming one's constitution, enhancing vital life force, expelling various impurities like dan poison and medicine toxins, and improving the effectiveness of drug use..."

"Cultivating this technique allows one to go wild with taking medicines and injections. It's a true holy scripture for body tempering, enhancing the cultivator's potential on the immortal path." But looking at the Titan Gold Body-Tempering Essence beside it, Zhang Yu also grew eager: "A technique created by a steel factory worker who fell into a smelting furnace and fought desperately to survive."

"It can melt various alloys into the body, fusing them with flesh, blood, bones, and even internal organs, greatly enhancing the body's ability to withstand blows and its load-bearing capacity."

"In particular, the higher the quality of the alloy used, the stronger the body becomes. It's said the company guarantees an annual update of the cultivation materials, so even after reaching level 10, you can grow stronger year after year."

Zhang Yu scoffed at the story of a worker falling into a smelting furnace—it was clearly a gimmick fabricated by the company to hype up this technique.

Rather than some small tale of a worker accidentally falling into a furnace, Zhang Yu was more inclined to believe this technique was created after countless test subjects were burned or crushed to death in a laboratory.

But there was no doubt about this technique's power.

Yet Zhang Yu couldn't help but look at the Great Heavenly Dragon Divine Power beside it.

"Refining dragon blood, forging the body into a half-dragon, half-human form, greatly enhancing muscle strength and physical toughness while also improving recovery, vitality, stamina, drug resistance, metabolism, digestion, and various other abilities."

"If you persist in refining dragon blood daily, there is even potential for continued growth, increased lifespan, and gaining some draconic abilities."

"Hmm... but there are side effects too—your personality will be influenced by draconic nature. For example, dragons are inherently lustful, and as dragon blood is continuously refined, the cultivator's aesthetic sense will change accordingly, with tastes becoming increasingly broad."

Not a single word or line of content is allowed to be seen!

"Best to undergo a sterilization surgery after mastering it, then continue advancing."

But in Zhang Yu's eyes now, this minor side effect was nothing.

If he could practice this technique for free, he would even be willing to undergo a small surgery.

As the ten-minute deadline for selecting a technique kept ticking away, Zhang Yu stared at the three techniques before him, feeling nothing but immense hesitation and difficulty.

"I want all of them."

"Sigh, this is way too hard to choose."

Compared to Zhang Yu's struggle, Ye Lingxiao on the other side was very decisive.

As the heir of the perfect bloodline of the Ye Clan from the Immortal Capital, Ye Lingxiao possessed a nervous system far surpassing that of an ordinary high school student, with terrifying innate control over muscles, internal organs, and even magical power.

This talent had been fully unleashed once he entered high school, allowing him to grasp any technique at a glance and master it with ease.

It could be said that since entering high school, the number of techniques he had cultivated had long surpassed ordinary students' imagination—even his classmates, teachers, and personal trainers had no idea how many techniques he had actually learned.

And now in Ye Lingxiao's eyes, many of the techniques in this list were ones he had already learned.

As for the ones he hadn't learned, he had mostly heard of them and knew roughly what direction they took.

However, he would not risk selecting a technique he had already cultivated for this exam.

On one hand, he disdained such behavior; on the other hand, every single technique he practiced was a legitimate version for which he had purchased usage rights.

As a pure legitimate user, whatever techniques he had cultivated, the righteous gods present on site could check immediately.

So Ye Lingxiao filtered for techniques with a cultivation difficulty of ten stars, then casually picked one he hadn't trained in before and didn't dislike.

Ye Lingxiao thought to himself, "Let it be this Ten Thousand Swords Without End Art."

On the other side, Yun Jing was even simpler. Unlike Ye Lingxiao, who had cultivated a large number of techniques, he directly sorted them from highest to lowest difficulty and chose the All-Encompassing Myriad Phenomena Palm, which was at the top.

Yu Xinghan, on the other hand, pondered for a moment.

Regarding the cultivation and selection of each technique during the Qi Refining stage, Starfire True Person had already made plans and arrangements for him.

And judging by his rankings from the previous two exams, he wasn't under much pressure for this one either, so there was no need to seek out the most difficult technique to cultivate.

"No need to choose a technique outside of Master's plan—that would only waste my extra time and energy."

After all, Starfire True Person's schedule for Yu Xinghan was already very tight, and he simply didn't have any extra time to train in additional techniques.

"I have to pick the technique from the plan."

"That way, next time Li Xuelian transfers me money to buy a technique..."

Thinking that he could learn a technique here for free today, and then squeeze a technique fee out of Li Xuelian next time, Yu Xinghan felt a surge of delight.

"Of course, then I'll choose the most expensive one in the plan..."

Yu Xinghan's gaze settled on the Celestial Alignment Qigong, which was rated at seven-star difficulty and valued at 900,000.

"Even for me, cultivating the seven-star difficulty Celestial Alignment Qigong in two hours would be tough."

"And..."

Looking at the eight big characters in the technique description—"To practice this art, turn the blade against life itself"—Yu Xinghan felt a chill of revulsion.

He had just asked the Righteous Spirit Examiner, and the Celestial Alignment Qigong required the body to be whole. So if he chose this technique, the on-site examiner would respectfully request the divine power of the Health Department God to restore the bodily imperfection caused by his sterilization surgery.

"So cultivating Celestial Alignment Qigong means facing disruptions to the Dao Heart and physical and mental changes brought by various hormonal shifts—all greatly harmful to one's own cultivation."

Such harmful changes to one's cultivation were like poison for Yu Xinghan, who was determined to forge ahead boldly on the path of immortality.

"No wonder Master arranged for me to cultivate Celestial Alignment Qigong only in my sophomore or even junior year of high school."

"So cultivating this technique actually requires paying such a heavy price?"

Yu Xinghan gritted his teeth and thought, "But fortune lies amidst danger. If I don't dare to take a risk for 900,000, how can I strive upward on the immortal path in the future?"

"I'll go for it!"

The remaining students, such as Dai Xingzhi, Meng Tao, and other Xiandu high schoolers, mostly chose techniques of five- or six-star difficulty.

This was all for the sake of caution—after all, if the chosen technique was too difficult and they failed to master it within two hours, it would be counted as zero points directly.