Chapter 6: Freedom

"Damn!"

Bang!

"Damn!"

Bang!

"Damn!"

Bang! Bang!

In the pitch-black concrete room, accompanied by a series of low grunts and thuds, Zhang Yu finally finished the second round of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening, enduring the intense pain surging through his entire body.

He collapsed to the ground with a thud, panting heavily.

Feeling his hands and legs still trembling slightly, Zhang Yu felt that this body had reached its absolute limit—every fiber of his flesh didn’t want to move.

But just then, that piercing chill and the voice in his mind came again.

"Please abide by the ritual agreement, strive to fulfill the wish, and do not deliberately slack off or delay. 10."

"Fuck!" Zhang Yu cursed inwardly. "I've reached my limit!"

"I really can't train anymore!"

"I still have class tomorrow!"

But no matter what he said or how he explained, the countdown did not pause or hesitate.

Seeing the countdown ticking down to the very end, Zhang Yu could only curse again, stumbled back up, and resumed his training.

Under normal circumstances, when exercising alone, most people find it hard to push themselves to their true limits.

Only when there is a master, teacher, coach, or someone supervising and making strict demands can people repeatedly train to their limits.

The same was true for Zhang Yu. If he were by himself, he would probably have done one or two rounds of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening, gotten too tired to move, and just taken a rest.

But the power of the ritual was like a demon coach, watching him every moment, threatening him with death, and forcing him to keep training without any laziness.

Third round...

Fourth round...

Fifth round...

All the way to the tenth round!

Under the repeated threats of the ritual’s power, Zhang Yu actually completed the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening ten times!

During this, his flesh went from tearing agony to stabbing pain, and finally to numbness, until he felt like his hands and feet were about to disappear.

At the same time, every strand of his mana was squeezed out, continuously pouring into the damaged flesh.

After finishing these ten rounds, Zhang Yu felt as if both his flesh and his mana had been wrung dry—like a cloth that had been twisted thousands of times, not a single drop could be squeezed out.

At that moment, Zhang Yu just wanted to lie on the ground, too lazy to move even an inch.

To his relief, the voice that had been urging him relentlessly did not sound again, as if it recognized that he had truly given his all and reached his limit.

During the training just now, Zhang Yu had also gotten a rough idea of the ritual power’s nature.

"This thing is kind of like an artificial idiot—not truly intelligent, just operating according to set rules..."

Zhang Yu had seen similar things in movies, TV shows, and news from Kunxu.

Those powerful artifacts all contained artifact spirits, which were like artificial intelligences, possessing a certain level of intelligence to handle various problems; in fact, some sufficiently powerful artifact spirits had intelligence rivaling that of humans.

Now, having confirmed that the ritual power was no longer forcing him to train, Zhang Yu finally relaxed a bit and could feel the effect of the upgraded Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening.

Yes, right after he completed the tenth round of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening, he could sense that the martial art had been upgraded.

In that instant, his cognition and understanding of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening deepened.

Many subtle points he had previously overlooked or not fully understood flashed into his mind like lightning.

And on the Feather Book, the original 'Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening Level 1 (0/10)' had become 'Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening Level 2 (0/20)'.

"If I just train 20 more times, I can raise the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening to Level 3?"

"If I keep training like this, won't I be able to push the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Tempering to Level 10 soon?"

Zhang Yu knew that at the Qi Refining stage, martial arts and techniques could only be cultivated up to Level 10 at most.

"At that point, even if I don't use acupuncture or take medicine, the effect of my training won't be inferior to Bai Zhenzhen and the others... no, it might even far surpass them."

"If this continues, raising my physical strength to first in the grade might not be impossible."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu felt inspired, and the pain all over his body seemed to lessen.

"Terrifying—my potential is just too terrifying. Once the evil god awakened it, I'm practically shooting up to the heavens."

Carrying beautiful visions of the future, Zhang Yu, having pushed his body to its limit, gradually felt drowsy and unknowingly fell asleep.

He slept straight until five in the morning the next day, when he instinctively woke up, as if waking at five had been his routine countless times before.

But today, his limbs and joints were completely sore, and even opening his eyes took immense effort.

Although Zhang Yu had regained consciousness at this moment, he absolutely did not want to get up—he just wanted to sleep a little longer, even if this was the concrete floor of an unfinished building.

"Five minutes... just five more minutes..."

But just as Zhang Yu was about to laze in bed, a chilling voice sounded from the depths of his heart again. "Please abide by the ritual agreement, diligently fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or procrastinate. Ten."

"Damn it!" Zhang Yu's eyes snapped open. He listened carefully as the voice continued, and after repeatedly confirming it was not an illusion, he could only curse under his breath and sit up.

At this moment, Zhang Yu suddenly realized that things might be more serious than he had originally imagined.

"So from now on, anything related to studying, cultivation, college entrance exams, or work—in other words, anything related to studying, cultivation, working, and earning money to satisfy my second wish—I cannot slack off in the slightest?"

"Twenty-four-hour oversight, huh."

Weighed down by exhaustion and fatigue, Zhang Yu hurried back to his rented apartment.

Feeling the layer of oil and sweat all over his body, he quickly paid 323.4 in water bills, took a five-minute shower, and then rushed to the bus stop.

Glancing up at the display screen at the stop, Zhang Yu thought to himself: "The next bus arrives in ten minutes?"

Leaning against a pole, he muttered inwardly: "Take a little rest. At least that damn thing didn't tell me to use this time to practice."

No sooner had Zhang Yu thought this than he regretted it.

Ding!

Because a wave of cold dread surged from his heart, and that nightmare-like voice sounded again.

"Please abide by the ritual agreement, diligently fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or procrastinate. Ten."

"Son of a—" Zhang Yu cursed in his mind: "Is this thing constantly monitoring my thoughts? If I think of a way to work hard and don't do it... it'll kill me?"

And so, amid the countdown, Zhang Yu, despite his exhaustion, began performing the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Tempering under the amazed, confused, admiring, or indifferent gazes of those around him.

Ha!

Thump!

With the delivery of the final punch, Zhang Yu, drenched in sweat, collapsed onto the ground again from exhaustion.

Watching the bus approaching in the distance, he felt immense relief: "Finally here."

And today, Zhang Yu even managed to find a seat on the bus, which lifted his spirits again.

"Finally, I can get some proper rest."

"I'll just doze off a bit. Surely it can't force me to train on the bus, right? Unless it's breathing techniques..."

The moment the thought of respiration techniques crossed his mind, Zhang Yu felt something was off.

"Please abide by the ritual agreement, diligently fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or procrastinate. Ten."

Sure enough, the countdown sounded again, forcing Zhang Yu to practice the basic respiration technique while riding the bus.

Practicing respiration while riding sounded simple and efficient, but even Zhang Yu, in the past, had given up after trying it a few times.

First, the noisy environment on the bus made it hard to concentrate.

Second, and most importantly, Zhang Yu was way too tired from waking up early every day.

Having finally gotten a seat, all he wanted was to doze off for a bit—he simply couldn't muster the energy for respiration.

The few times he had tried, he would often start feeling drowsy and want to sleep after just a short while of breathing exercises.

But now, driven by the force of the ritual, Zhang Yu could only strive to breathe, and in the process of constantly fighting off drowsiness, he worked hard to absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth through each inhalation and exhalation.

At this moment, he also fully understood that things were far more serious than he had previously imagined.

"This isn't just ordinary 24-hour supervision—it's pushing me to the brink of death every single moment."

"As long as this thing is on me, all laziness, slacking off, entertainment, enjoyment, relaxation... will be gone from my life."

"No more weekends, let alone holidays. My life will have no more joy. Every minute and every second will be dedicated to studying, to cultivation, to work... until the Second Wish is fulfilled."

Zhang Yu unconsciously hugged his head: "I will become a complete learning machine, a workhorse, with no leisure time at all, forced to be an overachiever for the rest of my life... until I am completely crushed by this pressure!"

He lamented in his heart: "If it's going to be like this for the rest of my life, then even if I achieve the Immortal Path and live a few hundred more years, what use would it be? The more years I live, the more suffering I endure."

"Heavens!"

The surrounding passengers all looked at Zhang Yu, who was holding his head with a pained expression.

But Zhang Yu could no longer care about that. As the countdown of "Please abide by the ritual agreement..." sounded again, he sat up straight once more, forcefully suppressing the sorrow in his heart, and continued to practice the Basic Breathing Technique.

At the same time, however, a resolute determination gradually welled up in Zhang Yu's heart.

In fact, until this morning, Zhang Yu, who had come to this world, had felt somewhat lost.

Although he thought about getting into a prestigious university, joining a major sect, and achieving success in the Immortal Path through cultivation, it was hard to say how much of that was influenced by the original body's memories—choices made simply by going along with the inertia of life.

Until this moment, Zhang Yu finally had a goal, something he was determined to accomplish no matter how many setbacks he faced.

That was to become strong enough—strong enough to completely remove the ritual force that was forcing him.

What Zhang Yu wanted... was freedom!