Chapter 24: Spirit Root

Leaving Su Haifeng's office, Zhang Yu walked back to the classroom.

Next week, he needed to break into the top ten of the grade in mana power to earn the right to represent Songyang High School in the magic competition.

The week after that would be the monthly exams; only with excellent monthly exam results could he get a better contract from the school.

Zhang Yu was fully confident he could break into the top ten in mana power within the next week. After all, his Zhoutian Qi Gathering Technique was already at level 4, and this level would only get higher, with mana improvement becoming ever more rapid.

But the monthly exams tested not only mana but also physical fitness, Dao heart, martial arts, and Dao arts; having to improve all four subjects dramatically in the next two weeks suddenly made Zhang Yu feel immense pressure.

As for the remaining exam in general education?

Not only did general education itself only account for fifty points, but in the demonstration class almost everyone scored near perfect, making it impossible to widen the gap.

It could be said that Zhang Yu didn't really know where he would end up in the monthly exams two weeks later.

"In short... just grind it out."

Zhang Yu felt himself ignite with determination.

Who says a manual boost isn't still a boost?

Yu Shu! Show me your limits in the next two weeks!

So as soon as he returned to the classroom, Zhang Yu began to inhale and exhale spiritual energy, fully activating the Zhoutian Qi Gathering Technique.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the first class to end.

"Sigh, so tired."

The moment Zhang Yu relaxed a little in his heart and wanted to take a break, that chilling, icy countdown rose again, forcing him to keep pushing forward.

"Damn it!"

"Idiotic ritual... one day I'll kill you!"

In another corner of the classroom, Zhao Tianxing glanced at the message on his phone and breathed a sigh of relief.

Previously, the PE teacher Wang Hai had sent him to find out Zhang Yu's source for acquiring goods. Today, when the other party came to ask for the results, Zhao Tianxing told him about yesterday's art exhibition.

Wang Hai's reply was: "Understood. You don't need to keep tailing Zhang Yu for now. Just continue maintaining a good relationship with him. Come to the training ground after school tomorrow; I'll give you a body refinement session."

No longer needing to pry information from Zhang Yu made Zhao Tianxing feel much more at ease.

And the reward of an extra training session from Wang Hai secretly delighted Zhao Tianxing.

After all, as an ace teacher, Wang Hai's private lessons were unquestionably high quality, not only expensive but often hard to secure.

As for maintaining a relationship with Zhang Yu...

Zhao Tianxing looked up at Zhang Yu's seat and saw him still practicing breathing exercises.

"After what happened yesterday, I must have become a clown in his eyes."

Thinking that the other might already be laughing at his poor performance last night, Zhao Tianxing felt his cheeks burn again.

But remembering the reward of Wang Hai's private lesson, he decided that when the other was free after class, he would go chat with Zhang Yu.

However, as the morning classes passed one by one, Zhao Tianxing simply could not find a chance to exchange a few words with Zhang Yu.

"Still breathing exercises?"

"Breathing exercises in class."

"Breathing exercises during breaks."

"Hasn't even been to the bathroom once... what a strong kidney."

The sight of Zhang Yu's hard work even made Zhao Tianxing feel a pang of distress.

After struggling to wait until lunch, Zhao Tianxing had just gotten his food and wanted to sit next to Zhang Yu.

Then he saw the other wolf down his meal in two bites like a ghost and then dash out of the cafeteria like the wind.

Bai Zhenzhen watched and cursed inwardly: "Even lunch has to be a grind? Can't you let people eat in peace?"

Meal time was the only period at Songyang High School not tainted by scores, not supervised by someone like Su Haifeng, and not touched by a freak like Wang Hai.

It could be said to be a rare moment during the school day for the academic elites to relax, take a breather, and even gossip.

It was Songyang High School’s own mental spa time.

Bai Zhenzhen was deeply dissatisfied with Zhang Yu’s study-maniac attitude of even saving his lunch break for cultivation.

“Bro, if you’re this intense, how are we supposed to eat in peace?”

“What if you surpass us in this rat race?”

“Trying to start a study competition, are you?”

And when Zhao Tianxing returned to the classroom, seeing the other already breathing and refining, he thought to himself, “Just as I expected.”

For the entire rest of the afternoon, Zhao Tianxing couldn’t find a single chance to say anything to him, because whenever he turned his head to look, the other was either seriously attending class or breathing and refining spiritual energy.

Watching him like that, Zhao Tianxing grew more and more anxious.

“You’ve already apprenticed to a Golden Core master and you’re still this hardworking—are you leaving no room for ordinary students like us?”

Finally, at the end of school, Zhao Tianxing found an opportunity to catch up to him. He originally thought Zhang Yu would look for a part-time job again today.

But then he heard the other say, “A part-time job?”

“Xiao Zhao, as high school students, we still need to put studying first. How can we go running off to work every day?”

“Don’t think just because you earn 800 an hour you’re something special—those are temporary jobs, not something you can find every day.” Zhang Yu glanced at his remaining balance of 8,300 yuan and gained the confidence to temporarily stop working and focus on cultivation.

So he returned home, took the nerve supplement, and continued breathing and refining until the next morning.

Aside from going to the bathroom and switching the specialization of his Feather Code back to the Circadian Qi Absorption Method, Zhang Yu devoted all his time to breathing and refining.

Thus, four days passed in the blink of an eye.

After these four days of hard cultivation, Zhang Yu’s Circadian Qi Absorption Method reached level 6 (45/120).

And his magical power, after these days of diligent practice, jumped from 8.3 all the way to 9.4, leaving him only two ranks short of the top ten in his grade.

…

Outside the first-year hallway that day.

Su Haifeng strolled lazily to the back door of the classroom, looking at the students who were studying on their own.

As the homeroom teacher of the demonstration class, having no classes left but deliberately coming over to idle around, he naturally intended to use his icy stare, merciless mockery, and authority as grade director to thoroughly boost the students’ mental states.

!

Then Su Haifeng noticed that today the students in the classroom were more intense than usual.

Fewer people were going to the bathroom.

More were seriously breathing and refining; fewer started nodding off while doing it.

Those who were actually spacing out but pretended to stare at their books just to avoid being caught by him were gone.

The class’s distraction rate had also dropped significantly.

In fact, starting a couple of days ago, Su Haifeng had faintly noticed this trend.

And through his observations, he discovered that the source of this trend was the student named Zhang Yu.

As Zhang Yu breathed and refined like a madman, with a continuous 0% distraction rate and a surge in magical power over these days… Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, Zhao Tianxing, and others were the first to be stimulated.

Then the intense energy burst out by Bai Zhenzhen and the others stimulated even more people.

Those with 550 points were competing, those with 600 were competing, those with 650 were also competing—how could you still rest?

Even the average cafeteria dining time for demonstration class students each day, Su Haifeng saw from the report, had decreased by more than 20%.

Su Haifeng looked at Zhang Yu, who was still breathing and refining, and sighed inwardly, “Is it because I hurt his pride earlier?”

“Maybe I can use this trick more often in the future.”

Before he knew it, he had already thought up the topic for his next teaching research paper: “An Exploration of Insulting Students in High School Teaching.”

Once again satisfied with the learning atmosphere in the classroom, Su Haifeng nodded and left.

Shortly after Su Haifeng left, as the bell rang for dismissal, Zhang Yu immediately stood up and headed for the school’s quiet room.

Because he had become the student with the lowest distraction rate in the entire grade last week, Zhang Yu not only received a 500-yuan bonus and was publicly praised, but also earned one hour of free access to the Heavenly Spirit Root.

Today is the day the school exchanges for this 1-hour Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Because the renting of Spiritual Roots and the meditation rooms were both scheduled by the school, if Zhang Yu missed it, his reward would be voided, so he wasted no time and hurried to the Spiritual Root rental office.

Zhao Tianxing seized the opportunity, followed behind Zhang Yu, and said, "Are you going to rent a Heavenly Spiritual Root?"

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhao Tianxing continued, "It seems you haven't often rented a Heavenly Spiritual Root at the school before, right?"

"Do you want me to introduce you to the models of Heavenly Spiritual Roots our school has?"

Zhang Yu's eyes flickered—the original Zhang Yu, due to pricing, had always rented Spiritual Roots from various teaching institutions that offered promotions, so he wasn't really familiar with the Heavenly Spiritual Root models at the school.

After all, with the development of the era, especially after the sorting and research by the Ten Great Sects, Spiritual Roots were no longer as crudely categorized as in ancient times.

First, in terms of rank, Spiritual Roots were divided into five levels by the Ten Great Sects.

These included the lowest level, Mortal Spiritual Root; the advanced level, Earthly Spiritual Root; and the even higher level, Heavenly Spiritual Root. These three levels of Spiritual Roots could all be purchased as long as one had money.

Going further up, there were the military-grade Divine Spiritual Root and the Ascendant Spiritual Root exclusively provided by the Ten Great Sects.

The Divine Spiritual Root could only be used by the military and some special government departments.

As for the Ascendant Spiritual Root, one needed to be accepted into the Ten Great Sects to have permission to use it.

And in terms of classification, things like the ancient Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth Spiritual Roots... these classifications no longer existed in Kunxu.

Because the design and manufacturing industries for Spiritual Roots had become increasingly advanced and prosperous, Spiritual Roots were gradually categorized by different functions, such as learning-type, combat-type, cultivation-type, and so on.

He heard Zhao say, "The most popular Spiritual Roots in our high school are definitely the learning-type and cultivation-type."

"For example, the Ji Spiritual Root..."

Zhang Yu was greatly startled: "Chicken Spiritual Root?"

Zhao said, "It's the 'deposit' Ji. The Ji Spiritual Root can be temporarily stored in a person's body, converting the magical power refined by that person through the Spiritual Root and transferring it to oneself. It's a favorite among many wealthy people."

"And there's the Muscle-Growth Spiritual Root, also a favorite for many. When breathing and meditating, it can refine the spiritual energy into a kind of growth spiritual energy, directly injecting it into the muscles, accelerating muscle growth, 24-hour muscle gain, greatly enhancing the body-forging effect..."

Thank you to 'Delicious Fish Tofu' for the ten-thousand reward.