Chapter 298

In the Dao Heart class.

The students of the Foundation Establishment class were all sitting up straight, watching Feng Jiu on the stage.

Only hearing Feng Jiu say calmly, "Will is the most direct manifestation of the Dao Heart. The content of your next exam is very simple: burning by raging fire."

As the students put on the Spirit World masks, their consciousness instantly entered the Spirit World.

Unlike seeing a projection of the Spirit World in reality like with an eye skeleton, at this moment they felt as if their spirit had truly entered the Spirit World.

The next moment, as waves of great fire burned their bodies, many students let out screams.

At the same time, Feng Jiu, as an artifact spirit, had already descended into the examination ground in the Spirit World, her gaze sweeping over the students who had turned into human torches.

The first one she focused on was the class's top student, Ji Yuanshu.

This student, currently the only one in the entire class to have reached Dao Heart level 12, even now with raging fire burning him, remained completely calm, as if what was scorching him was not fire but just a hot breeze.

Ji Yuanshu's gaze was steady, and he thought to himself, "I undergo training like this in the Spirit World for over two hours every day. What is this level of intensity compared to that?"

The artifact spirit Feng Jiu, observing Ji Yuanshu, silently recorded, "Ji Yuanshu, extremely high Dao Heart potential, tentatively selected as a contestant for next year's Spirit World Competition."

Then Feng Jiu turned her gaze to the class's second-ranked student, Gong Shu Jin.

This student, whose Dao Heart was the closest to level 12 in the class, was now frowning slightly but still gritting his teeth and enduring the burning fire.

Gong Shu Jin thought to himself, "After this exam ends, I need to invest more spirit coins in Spirit World training."

"When I get back, I'll get a membership card to push myself."

On the other side, Feng Jiu recorded, "Gong Shu Jin, second in the class in Dao Heart, tentatively selected as a contestant for next year's Spirit World Competition."

After observing a few more, Feng Jiu saw Zhang Yu and recorded, "Zhang Yu, suspected to have a higher mental cultivation level due to earlier Foundation Establishment, with considerable Dao Heart talent. He is still one step short of the Spirit World Competition standard, temporarily listed as an alternate."

In the Mana class.

Li Mingbo watched everyone inputting mana into the detection device in front of them, with his gaze mainly lingering on Ji Yuanshu and Gong Shu Jin.

"From Ji Yuanshu's mana purchase records, he buys large quantities of both high-quality and low-quality mana."

"It seems he uses high-quality mana to infuse his body, improving his mana quality."

"And the low-quality mana is used through the Spirit World network external plug-in to operate mana skeletons."

"His own mana, aside from cultivation, is used for almost nothing... such a luxury."

Although Li Mingbo sighed with emotion, he was more delighted.

After all, the other party's massive mana purchases on the Manabao platform earned him a good commission.

"And Gong Shu Jin is not bad either. I heard he lives in the most luxurious upper dormitory. Every day after returning, he first replaces his mana skeleton specialized for mana cultivation. No wonder his mana cultivation advances by leaps and bounds, only falling behind Ji Yuanshu."

"Hmm, Li Xiao's improvement rate has increased again. It's a pity that students from the first layer often lack staying power."

Li Mingbo's gaze swept over Zhang Yu again, and he thought, "This Zhang Yu too, if he can maintain this performance, breaking into the top 100 of Foundation Establishment in the Civil Engineering Department in a few years shouldn't be a big problem."

"But the hard part is maintaining it."

The top 100 of the Civil Engineering Department includes Foundation Establishment students from all grades in the department. In Li Mingbo's view, for a first-layer student to achieve this, it would only be possible through years of accumulation and reaching a higher grade.

In the examination ground of the Body Refinement class.

Lang Yougong looked at the many students and said, "The body cannot be compared just by looking at numerical values of physical strength."

"After all, the body's tolerance to medicine, your control over the body, as well as reaction, agility, technique... these can only truly manifest in concrete practice."

"The three-month basic course is over. Today is the time to test the results of these three months..."

While Lang Yougong was speaking, Zhang Yu looked around at the nearby students and thought to himself, "As for hiding the data, it's manageable with an anti-detection ritual."

"For the upcoming actual test, how should I perform?"

"I can't have my actual performance far exceed my data, right? That would be too conspicuous."

Thinking this, Zhang Yu's gaze turned to Li Xiao: "This guy seems to be ranked one place below me."

"So I just need to perform a little better than him, right?"

During the strength test, after Li Xiao let out a loud shout and strained to lift the dynamometer, he soon saw Zhang Yu also shout and lift a slightly heavier weight.

During the agility test, when Li Xiao pushed himself to the limit, constantly dodging the increasingly fast spheres and lasting a full minute, he saw Zhang Yu not far away stubbornly outlast him by three seconds.

Before the final speed test, Li Xiao took a package delivered by the courier and thought to himself, "Zhang Yu... he really does see me as his biggest rival too."

He could sense that in the previous two tests, Zhang Yu had been watching him from time to time, and each time after confirming he had surpassed Li Xiao, Zhang Yu himself soon reached his limit.

"Clearly, my threat stimulated him and inspired him to perform better."

"Maybe... to beat me, he even took some risky drugs that harm the body."

"But the same goes for you, Zhang Yu—you've also given me a fierce push."

Swallowing the newly purchased potent medicine, feeling his body gradually heat up and burn, Li Xiao thought to himself, "Even if I have to stop training for a few days, I have to beat you in this next round!"

On the speed test track, Li Xiao shot forward like a bolt of lightning, accompanied by the crack of air, charging ahead wildly... staying right behind Zhang Yu.

His heart pounded like a drum, faster and faster, while his limbs pumped furiously, propelling him forward.

But as Li Xiao kept speeding up, Zhang Yu also accelerated, so no matter how hard Li Xiao tried, he could never overtake the other.

Staring at Zhang Yu's back ahead, Li Xiao felt like he was looking at the gate of a construction site—one step away, yet always just a little short.

"Damn it... why! Is it really that hard for me to get into the site?"

Controlling his speed all the way, Zhang Yu stayed ahead of Li Xiao until the finish line and thought, "This should be fine, right?"

Sensing Li Xiao's resentful gaze, Zhang Yu thought, "I only beat you by one place—no need to be that mad, right?"

But the next moment, as the test scores appeared, Zhang Yu thought, "Huh? I'm fifth in the physical test?"

Zhang Yu frowned at Li Xiao and thought, "This guy... has he been hiding his real strength too? I shouldn't have chosen to suppress him."

"Still, my previous physical performance wasn't bad. Showing a little 'exceptional performance' this time should be reasonable, right?"

Lang Yougong looked at Zhang Yu and smiled. "Keep up the good work. If you train at this pace, you should be able to compete in the Civil Engineering competition next year."

On the other side, a few higher-ups had been watching the rivalry between Li Xiao and Zhang Yu.

Someone sighed, "They're silently competing, aren't they? It's good that they can spur each other on."

Another exclaimed, "Their physical test rankings are that high?"

Ying Xin laughed. "If Li Xiao wants to maintain this score, his money might not be enough. Let's see which of these two first-floor dwellers runs out of cash first."

"After all, first-floor people aren't used to university life—they spend recklessly, improve quickly at first, then plummet later... we've seen plenty of cases like that."

Ying Xin had long since realized that Li Xiao had been borrowing money just to keep up with their training, and she always felt like she was waiting for a joke, anticipating the moment when a first-floor person couldn't pay their debts.

Now, seeing Li Xiao walk over looking somewhat dazed, Ying Xin greeted him with a smile. "Old Li, after the exam, let's go rent a training room and practice."

Li Xiao nodded stiffly, forcing a faint smile. "Okay."

…

During the specialized course exams.

Subjects like Engineering Array Drafting, Martial Arts Kinetics, and Construction Techniques included both written tests and skill exams.

Techniques like Excavation Palm, Crane Claw, Racing Leg, and Elevator Movement—Zhang Yu had already learned them all, and had even trained them to level 10.

However, specialized civil engineering techniques such as Concrete Qi, Lifting Force, and Mountain-Carrying Sprint, Zhang Yu simply hadn't had time to practice diligently. He had only managed to get a basic grasp during class exercises.

After all, most of his time and energy were devoted to the techniques related to the Earth and Wood Sacred Body.

But over three months, the teachers hadn't expected the students to master these specialized techniques to any significant degree, so Zhang Yu's performance didn't stand out much.

Gongshu Jin watched Zhang Yu's performance and thought to himself, "This friend of mine really doesn't have much talent in martial arts. But in terms of basic stats, even though his growth rate can't keep up with mine, it's still pretty good."

"He must have poured a lot of resources into it."

…

That evening, all the exam results were calculated.

6th place, Zhang Yu, total score: 688.

7th place, Li Xiao, composite score 682.

Looking at the final rankings after these three months, Li Xiao felt a trace of bewilderment.

Just when he thought the construction site opportunity had been taken by Zhang Yu, a call from Tu Lishan made him come back to life.

"Li Xiao, not every student can enter the construction site right at the start of the semester. This time, the only opportunity was one I specifically fought for outstanding students."

"Sigh, I know you've been working hard this past while, and I truly appreciate you."

"Your grades are a bit lower than Zhang Yu's, but I have faith in you. The moment I first saw you, I knew you were a construction site man."

"How about this: you give me twenty percent of the money you earn each month at the construction site, and I'll pull some strings to make sure you get in."

……

Inside the dorm.

Zhang Yu showed off his 6th place ranking and asked Zhang Pianpian, "Sis, I underperformed. Would being 6th this time be a bit too flashy?"

Zhang Pianpian said helplessly, "A little, but it's still okay. How did you underperform on this exam?"

Zhang Yu said helplessly, "Sigh, I was unlucky and picked the wrong reference target."

"That Li Xiao I chose probably hid his true strength all along."

"He might have chosen me as his reference target, just wanting to follow behind me."

"But I chose him as my reference target, wanting to run ahead of him."

"In the end, one was chasing and the other running, and without realizing it, we both pushed our rankings up a bit."

Zhang Yu sighed, "As expected, the Top Ten is full of hidden talents. I'm not the only one with exceptional natural ability."

Zhang Pianpian nodded slightly upon hearing this: "Since that's the case, there's nothing we can do. Fortunately, sixth place isn't too eye-catching. For now, just maintain this ranking and don't easily make big jumps again."

Just then, with the dorm door opening, Yu Xinghan walked in, wearing a proud expression and carrying the rank of 11th in the class.

Yu Xinghan asked, "Zhang Yu, did Teacher Tu tell you about the construction site?"

Zhang Yu nodded: "He told me to report in a few days."

Yu Xinghan: "Then did he mention the matter of paying money?"