Chapter 32: Mana and P.E

The Spirit Realm.

Li Xingyu, who was standing by, had been observing Zhang Yu's condition.

When he saw Zhang Yu's pain level reach 37, he felt the other person had hit his limit.

"At this rate, he won't be able to hold out."

Glancing at the top of the other's head, from Li Xingyu's perspective, parameters such as heartbeat and breathing were all displayed.

"He's already reached his limit of endurance; the pain level should be lowered."

"At this level, it still falls within the range of a first-level Dao Heart, right? Nothing special about it—how could he possibly comprehend the mysteries of the Heavenly Martial Diagram?"

Just as Li Xingyu was thinking this, he felt a sudden change in the other's aura. The previously twisted expression gradually returned to normal, and even a hint of a savage grin appeared.

"Hm? He held on?"

"The feeling this aura gives... it's like the martial arts on the Heavenly Martial Diagram?"

Li Xingyu looked at Zhang Yu's state with some surprise, watching as the other held on second by second until the sixty minutes were up.

He grew even more astonished in his heart, calculating: "At this level of willpower, his Dao Heart is almost reaching the second level."

"Although he hasn't yet mastered the martial arts on the Heavenly Martial Diagram, it seems that some of the subtleties he comprehended from it can be used to strengthen his will."

"This guy is pretty impressive—this information could probably sell for some money."

Thinking of this, Li Xingyu described Zhang Yu's information in text, then posted it on an intelligence website, setting a price of a thousand yuan.

But after thinking it over, he changed the price from a thousand to ten thousand.

Then he wrote in the title: "Shocking! Extraordinary Martial Arts Genius Discovered at Songyang High School."

…

Taking off the Spirit Realm mask, Zhang Yu stood up shakily. Even though he had now left the Spirit Realm, he still felt an illusion of stinging pain all over his body.

On the bed nearby, a student was about to stand up, but his legs gave way and he sat down on the floor.

On the beds all around, similar scenes were happening repeatedly; clearly, the aftereffects from the Spirit Realm hadn't worn off.

Some students immediately opened their personal medicine bottles, took out a pill, and swallowed it.

Zhang Yu guessed that it was a Dao Heart Buffer.

Although by relying on techniques like the Basic Heart Refining Method or the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Method, combined with thoughts aligned with the techniques, one could gradually raise their Dao Heart level.

But many students still chose to take Dao Heart Buffers.

This medicine could adjust neurotransmitters and brain secretions, improving mood and positivity, and more effectively strengthening willpower, thereby raising the Dao Heart level.

However, Dao Heart Buffers are not without side effects. The higher the quality of this medicine and the stronger its effect, not only is it more expensive, but it also has stronger addictiveness, and the side effects after stopping are more terrifying.

Once taken, it often requires long-term maintenance; otherwise, stopping the medicine will cause the Dao Heart to regress.

The original Zhang Yu had no money to continue the medication, causing his Dao Heart, which had been close to the second level, to gradually begin to regress.

It wasn't until recently, after a series of trials and the enlightenment from the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Method, that Zhang Yu felt he had returned to that level close to a second-level Dao Heart.

And now Zhang Yu no longer intends to touch Dao Heart Buffers.

Compared to taking medicine, he now trusts his own potential and self-discipline more.

But at this moment, there was no more time for everyone to rest.

There was still a second exam in the morning, so all the students had to quickly pull themselves together and rush to the next exam venue.

…

Arriving at the mana exam venue, Zhang Yu saw that many assistant teachers and testing instruments were already prepared.

When it was Zhang Yu's turn, detection patches were stuck on his arms, chest, and lower abdomen. Then, following the teachers' instructions, he began to circulate mana, moving it from the dantian area to the palm.

The mana test at this moment was clearly more precise and accurate than usual, to avoid problems with the monthly exam results.

The patches were used not only to detect the total amount of mana circulating within Zhang Yu's body, but also to test the efficiency of each mana circulation.

This was also to prevent examinees' mana from being simply a quantity bought with money, lacking quality.

Zhang Yu could clearly tell that compared to the torment of the Dao Heart Exam, most students were obviously much less nervous during the Mana Exam.

After all, everyone's mana level had already been decided long before the exam, and had nothing to do with on-the-spot performance.

Either you have mana or you don't; either you can use it or you can't.

Just as Zhang Yu finished his inspection, the assistant teacher in charge of recording data let out a surprised gasp and couldn't help but take a few extra glances at Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu asked, "Teacher, is something the matter?"

The assistant teacher quickly shook her head: "Nothing."

But she muttered to herself, "Such high mana circulation efficiency. He's definitely another filthy rich kid."

Lunchtime.

The cafeteria was filled with students who looked like walking corpses.

Some were still suffering the aftereffects of the Dao Heart Exam, some were worried sick because they hadn't done well on the test, and some were even contemplating suicide...

Bai Zhenzhen sat down with a heavy sigh: "Fucking bastards!"

"The bastard who came up with this Dao Heart Exam questions doesn't even care about his own mother anymore. Is he gonna open an online question review page and then put his phone on vibrate and shove it down his crotch..."

After two full minutes of non-repetitive cursing, he only stopped to take a bite of his food when Zhou Tianyi walked over. Zhang Yu had no doubt that curses just like this were echoing through every high school in Songyang City at that very moment.

As soon as Zhou Tianyi sat down, he couldn't help but say, "Have you guys heard? Students jumped off buildings at several high schools."

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's eyes sharpened, and they both immediately looked at Zhou Tianyi.

Zhou Tianyi continued, "Because the rules for this Dao Heart Exam were too harsh."

"For example, some students wanted to get a high score during the exam, accidentally turned the pain level up past their limit, passed out, and were immediately kicked out of the Spirit World, scoring zero on the test."

He shook his head with a sigh: "Some of them couldn't take it after waking up and just jumped."

"Zero." Bai Zhenzhen muttered gloomily to himself: "That's the ultimate humiliation in high school. From then on, you completely lose your right to survive at school."

"If it were me, I'd jump too, and squash that bastard who set the questions."

Zhang Yu asked, "In that case, the person who set the questions must be in trouble, right? If one of the jumpers was a rich kid, wouldn't their parents go crazy taking revenge on the question-setter?"

Zhou Tianyi looked at Zhang Yu as if he were an idiot: "How could that be?"

!。

Zhang Yu: "Are you saying even the rich kids' parents can't get revenge? Does the question-setter have really strong backing?"

Zhou Tianyi shook his head: "I mean, how could a rich kid possibly die jumping off a school building?"

"Every single one of them pays the security fee."

"The moment they jump, the whole school alarm goes off, and the security guards or teachers save them immediately."

"Even if they actually hit the ground, the emergency rescue team will definitely revive them."

He said matter-of-factly: "Even if a rich kid wants to die, they'd have to find another way. Jumping off a school building won't kill them."

Watching Zhou talk with such authority, Zhang Yu had to admit that in this crappy Kunxu, things might really be like that.

After eating, Zhang Yu took advantage of the end of the mastery cooldown to switch his Feather Tome's focus to the Heaven Cycle Qi Gathering Art, and also practiced his breathing a few times.

Heaven Cycle Qi Gathering Art Lv8 (3/160) → (6/160)

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the last exam of the afternoon.

The Physical Education Exam.

In the enormous training ground, Wang Hai was sitting on the judges' panel.

During the upcoming exam, he and several other first-year PE teachers would be grading all the first-year examinees.

He lowered his head and scanned the exam roster, his gaze gradually stopping on Zhang Yu's name.

Zhang Yu, who in his impression had originally been a model student who trained hard every day, took his medicine on time, and showed up for his acupuncture treatments without fail.

He had a serious attitude and good drug tolerance, and last month he had already become Wang Hai's observation target.

If he could persevere a little longer, he wouldn't mind grooming the guy into the second Zhao Tianxing, making him another star student after he achieved good exam results in the future.

But starting this month, for some reason, that student began repeatedly challenging his authority in class, even trumpeting the heterodox slogan of "natural body refinement."

At first, he suspected the kid had found another supply channel, and someone behind him wanted to compete for the market of Songyang High School's top-grade freshman demonstration class.

But after Zhao Tianxing's observations and reports, he gradually ruled out this possibility.

Then he heard the rumor spreading everywhere that Zhang Yu had been accepted as a disciple by a Jindan True Man.

Although Wang Hai was one of Songyang High School's ace PE teachers, he still wasn't qualified to interact with someone at the level of a Jindan True Man.

He couldn't verify whether Zhang Yu had truly been taken as a disciple by a Jindan True Man.

Just as Wang Hai was pondering these matters, ten students walked up to the platform ahead.

The students exposed every muscle on their bodies, their skin covered with various detection patches.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Then, with bestial cries, the muscles of the ten students suddenly swelled, and each bulging vein and muscle erupted with astonishing power.

The data from the detection patches flashed rapidly on the screens in front of the PE teachers, informing them of the power just unleashed by every piece of flesh on each examinee.

This was different from the usual rough full-body physical strength test; instead, it precisely measured the physical strength of each body part as the examinees exerted force.

At the same time, Wang Hai and the others quickly scanned the examinees, scoring them on the spot based on the shape of their muscles, body structure, state of exertion, and the just-obtained data.

Physical strength was not the only scoring criterion in the monthly PE exam.

The dimensions, size, and structure of every muscle and sinew throughout the body were very important.

Which structure was better for exerting force? Which muscles were more useful in actual combat? Which were "live" muscles and which were "dead"? All required evaluation by experienced judges combined with data.

After all, even when physical strength was comparable, differences in body structure and size could lead to huge disparities in physical power, speed, and even combat performance.

Wang Hai was already very experienced with this. As a top PE teacher, he had seen countless 200-jin and 300-jin lumps of pale flesh over the past few decades, and even 500-jin beasts many times.

After a quick scan, he recorded his score, but his mind again drifted to the matter of Zhang Yu.

"Let's see your score then."

"If your score has dropped significantly after being isolated for three weeks, it proves you definitely can't be a Jindan disciple."

"And when that happens..."

At this thought, a cold glint flashed in Wang Hai's eyes.

Everyone who affected his supply should be expelled.