Chapter 195: Lurking, Biding Time

Inside the training ground of Songyang High School.

As Zhou Chechen took a deep breath, the surrounding chill quickly subsided, and his Frosty Sky Freeze Field slowly came to a close.

In front of Zhou Chechen, Lan Ling, whose face was frozen blue and purple, shuddered, then after continuous circulation of qi and blood and the surge of streams of heat, he began to feel slightly better.

But Lan Ling did not mind the frostbite on his body; instead, he said with some satisfaction, "Chief, you’ve finally gotten serious, and you’ve even called on the Zhou family’s power, haven’t you?"

In Lan Ling’s view, the fact that Zhou Chechen could so readily mobilize the Zhou family’s resources to retaliate against Zhang Yu indicated that his status in the Zhou family was far higher than Lan Ling had previously estimated.

Lan Ling continued, "Why not go all out and find a way to expel both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen..."

Seeing Lan Ling’s slightly excited expression, Zhou Chechen thought to himself, "Lan Ling, Lan Ling... if only you were my opponent, how wonderful would that be?"

Of course, he could not agree to Lan Ling’s suggestion; after all, according to Zhou Yang’s instructions, what he needed to do was to put pressure on Zhang Yu bit by bit, making Zhang Yu feel more and more suffocated while not crushing him all at once.

Zhou Chechen mused inwardly, "The tricky part of this operation is stepping on the opponent without crushing them in one kick."

"Right now, the martial arts class is leading him down the dead end of basic techniques."

"Through physical education class, we’re making him gradually indulge in addictive drugs."

"The Dao arts tutoring sessions are squeezing the time he has after school to earn money and cultivate..."

Zhou Chechen could imagine that as Zhang Yu increasingly lacked time for cultivation and earning money, his strength and grades would inevitably decline.

After all, even with the path of immortality, this point is the same as with most skills in the world: if practice time is insufficient, not only can one not maintain the original level, but one may even start to regress.

Muscles and bones throughout the body will deteriorate as exercise decreases, leading to a drop in physical strength.

Mana will gradually decline with reduced breathing exercises, and may even affect one’s control over mana.

The Dao heart, due to insufficient cultivation time, will breed self-doubt and self-examination, gradually losing control.

"Not to mention, if he has no money, he can’t afford medicine."

"If he’s been on medicine long-term and suddenly stops... his cultivation regression will be even more pronounced."

Although Zhou Chechen knew Zhang Yu couldn’t possibly get into the Top 10 universities, even among non-Top-10 universities there were huge differences.

"The 36 upper-tier schools, the 72 lower-tier schools, and that bunch of miscellaneous colleges and junior colleges—there’s no small gap between them."

"How would it feel to watch your own level slip from being able to get into the 36 upper-tier schools to barely making it into a junior college?"

Zhou Chechen couldn’t imagine it, but he guessed it definitely wouldn’t feel good.

After all, he had seen plenty of similar examples—Songyang High School never lacked poor geniuses whose grades regressed due to bullying.

A decline in grades... for students at a key high school, that’s the easiest thing to make them break down.

Shuang Youpeng, who had once been the top freshman in his year, also broke down after watching his own grades keep falling.

In Zhou Chechen’s eyes, Zhang Yu had stronger talent and better grades, but if you set aside the person behind him, dealing with him would just take a few more people and a bit more money than with Shuang Youpeng.

And besides that, as Zhang Yu gradually got used to and became addicted to the Mad Dragon Potion—once that addictive drug stopped being supplied, Zhou Chechen could easily imagine the despair on his face.

"If that still doesn’t work, then bait this guy into gambling, or set up some other pig-butchering scheme..."

"As for Bai Zhenzhen, even if she’s unwilling to sell out Zhang Yu now, as the disparity in treatment between them becomes apparent, friction will inevitably arise..."

Zhou Chechen had seen plenty of examples of poor people being mentally and physically broken, eventually meekly becoming dogs.

Although those poor people might not have had Zhang Yu’s grades, in Zhou Chechen’s view, human nature is the same.

"When Zhang Yu’s grades keep dropping, but he sees that Bai Zhenzhen isn’t being targeted like he is... what will he think?"

"When a poor person is in desperate straits and discovers that even their good friend can no longer be relied upon, that is often another fatal blow."

Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly—with the power of the Zhou family, making such a poor student step by step into the abyss seemed far too easy to him.

His biggest problem right now was worrying about the counterattack from the person behind Zhang Yu, and the backlash he himself might suffer.

After all, according to Zhou Yang, the point was to gradually force Zhang Yu to seek help from someone.

Zhou Chechen thought to himself, "I need to think of a way to protect myself."

Just then, Lan Ling’s call interrupted Zhou Chechen’s contemplation.

"Chief? Chief?"

Lan Ling looked at Zhou Chechen and said, "President, did you hear me? Just find an opportunity to fire them directly." Although he had quickly thought through the matter again in his mind, Zhou Chechen knew there was no way to explain this to Lan Ling—especially since Zhou Yang had demanded that Zhou Chechen, in his own name, force Zhang Yu to go seek help from others. How could he discuss this with an outsider?

So after thinking it over, Zhou Chechen finally said with a sigh, "Rather than firing him and letting him go out to freely work and earn money, I think it's better to keep him at school and slowly toy with him."

Lan Ling's eyes lit up at this, and he smiled, saying, "Indeed, the president knows how to have fun. Then we'll slowly torment him."

Looking at Lan Ling, who took it at face value and was now eager to get started, Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly: "If only all the senior high students in Songyang City... were like you, then I could steadily get into the top ten universities."

…

At the same time, at the entrance of Songyang High School.

Zhang Yu, who had been doing exam papers for a full four hours, frowned as he continuously pondered the current situation.

When he saw Bai Zhenzhen, he noticed her pick up her phone and send him a message.

Bai Zhenzhen: Be careful, someone is watching us.

Zhang Yu's frown immediately deepened, and after activating the power of the detection ritual, he indeed sensed the presence of cameras.

Not a single letter or content is off!

Zhang Yu sent a reply: Try to shake them off.

The next moment, both of them accelerated, shooting forward like lightning, leaving a series of whistling sounds in the air as they sped away.

But soon they realized that no matter how fast they went, how sharply they turned, or how they changed direction, they couldn't shake off the pursuer hiding in the shadows.

Even after darting into the subway and exiting again shortly after, they could still detect the camera tracking.

Bai Zhenzhen took out her phone and sent a message: They're strong. The person following us is completely above our level.

Bai Zhenzhen described how she had sought out Zhou Chechen and been repelled by a security guard named Zhou Hao, then sent another message: The one following us now is likely also an expert who, like Zhou Hao, has been at the peak of Qi Refining for many years.

Bai Zhenzhen: Probably specialized in stealth photography, tailing, and surveillance.

Zhang Yu understood that if they were continuously tracked, it meant they wouldn't be able to earn money in the black tutoring world or use the spirit vein for cultivation at An'an's place in the protected area.

Just as Zhang Yu was thinking of countermeasures, Fuji spoke in both their minds: "Bear with it for now."

Bai Zhenzhen sent a message: Zhou Chechen is gradually squeezing our cultivation and earning time. Are we just going to sit back and wait for death?

Fuji looked at Zhang Yu's phone screen, reading Bai Zhenzhen's message, and continued: "When we dealt with Huoshan and Song Xu, we succeeded because we had an information gap—we knew things they didn't."

"But this time, Zhou Chechen and the Zhou family behind him can continuously monitor you, investigate you, and constantly gather information about you. The more you act, the more information you expose."

"And you know far too little about Zhou Chechen and the Zhou family—you don't even know Zhou Chechen's ultimate goal..."

"Besides that, the resources and power they possess are beyond what you can match."

"Based on my life experience, in such a situation, blindly acting or retaliating usually leads to bad outcomes."

Fuji sighed and said, "So... bear with it for now. In life, there are often opponents you cannot resist at a given stage. That's when you learn to lie low."

"The more critical the time, the more you need calm. During the process of endurance, focus on your own growth, silently look for weaknesses, and wait for the opportunity to strike back."

"And looking at the current situation, you do have the conditions to endure."

"After all, the methods they've used so far haven't actually dealt you a real blow. In some ways, they can even be turned to your advantage."

"Your own abilities, potential, and the ritual power I've given you—these form the information gap you have against them. Only by leveraging this information gap can you persist in your struggle against them until you find the chance to win."

…

So in the following days, Zhang Yu seemed to return to the life of an ordinary top high school student—shuttling between school and his apartment, living a simple two-point routine of going to school and coming home.

In general knowledge classes, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen seized the time to circulate their heart methods, refining spiritual energy bit by bit, gradually enhancing their Dao heart and magical power.

…

In physical education class, under the watchful eye of Teacher Lin Hui, Zhang Yu injected the delivered Crazy Dragon Formula into his body in one go. Feeling the fierce medicinal force surging through him, he began cultivating the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi.

On the other side, Bai Zhenzhen's body flickered with electric light. After injecting the Dragon-Elephant Formula, she used the medicinal power, lightning-based magical power, and her true spirit root to furiously advance her Thunder Strike True Body.

In particular, the thunder-based magical power gained from activating her potential made her cultivation of the Thunder Strike True Body remarkably effective, and with the help of her true spirit root, she progressed by leaps and bounds every day.

Additionally, occasionally ducking into the restroom to take a few sips from a power bank made her body-tempering progress even more rapid.

Fortunately, when she had been cultivating the Thunder Strike True Body originally, electric light had already appeared. Now, even with the added enhancement of thunder-based magical power, it didn't draw too much attention.