[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-no-money-what-cultivation":3,"chapter-no-money-what-cultivation-no-money-what-cultivation-chapter-7":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","No Money, What Cultivation?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},163356,323,"Chapter 7: The Gap Between People","no-money-what-cultivation-chapter-7",7,"\u003Cp>On the bus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After obtaining the Feather Script, Zhang Yu originally thought his future life would be: \"Feather Script! Let me see where your limits are!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who would have thought it would soon turn into... a ritual: \"Zhang Yu! Let me see where your limits are!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But since things had come to this, the only way Zhang Yu could think of to break the ritual's power was to make himself stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So at this moment, he could only cultivate diligently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With each breath Zhang Yu took, wisps of spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged into his body, gathered in his dantian's qi sea, and were refined bit by bit into mana, solidifying his foundation in the immortal path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, recalling the process of practicing the Thirty-Six Forms for Body Strengthening the night before, Zhang Yu wanted to do the same and see if he could also rapidly level up the Basic Breathing Method.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Feather Script unfurled with a thought, and as Zhang Yu's attention slightly focused on the \"Basic Breathing Method Level 1\" on the page, he immediately began to drag it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But just as he was dragging the \"Basic Breathing Method Level 1\" toward his character portrait, a glimmer of insight flowed out from the Feather Script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You can only focus on improving one skill at a time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Once you switch, you must wait one day before switching again.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu internally named this function of the Feather Script \"Specialization.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, he suddenly understood that a specialized skill could be rapidly improved, but only one skill could be specialized at a time, and after switching, he had to wait a day before switching again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That means if I switch specialization from the Thirty-Six Forms for Body Strengthening to the Basic Breathing Method now, then the Basic Breathing Method can be quickly improved through practice, but the Thirty-Six Forms for Body Strengthening will return to its normal practice efficiency.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Unless after a day, I switch the Thirty-Six Forms for Body Strengthening back...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking about the situation in PE class, Zhang Yu decided not to make the switch for now and continue focusing on improving the Thirty-Six Forms for Body Strengthening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time passed in a flash, and Zhang Yu maintained the Basic Breathing Method until the moment before getting off the bus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the school cafeteria.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhenzhen, carrying her tray, sat down across from Zhang Yu, who looked like a walking corpse. She glanced at him curiously and said calmly, \"Were you up all night with your catheter last night?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu swallowed the large meat bun in his hand in one gulp and grumbled, \"I was diligently training until late at night.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhenzhen's face remained expressionless, but her words were blunt: \"Sigh, you're the only one in the whole school who hasn't had the sterilization surgery. I told you long ago not to save that twenty thousand. Look how much time, energy, and protein you've wasted.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu swallowed another egg in one bite and said with a confident smile, \"Bai Zhenzhen, let me tell you something. My self-discipline and potential right now even shock myself. That top spot in the grade will be mine before long.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhenzhen quickly rolled her eyes upon hearing this, and her delicate little mouth spouted merciless words: \"Yu, it's fine to say such overconfident things in front of me, but if outsiders heard, I'm afraid they'd piss themselves laughing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What you should be aiming for is first in overall grade points, not first in catheter use. Your advantage of not being sterilized won't help there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu shook his head in disbelief, thinking to himself: \"This Ah Zhen, usually acts cold and aloof, but in private, she'll say anything, won't she?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the fact that he was the only student in the entire school who hadn't undergone sterilization surgery, Zhang Yu was no longer so surprised by it. He had gradually gotten used to the madness of this broken world and this broken school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, not being sterilized remained a little secret of his, and among his classmates, he had only told Bai Zhenzhen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But thinking about this, a doubt suddenly surfaced in Zhang Yu's mind: \"Why was I allowed to enroll without having the sterilization surgery?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Zhou Tianyi also sat down with his tray and looked at Zhang Yu with similar curiosity: \"You look really tired. Were you up all night studying?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu shook his head and said, \"Just practiced the Thirty-Six Forms for Body Strengthening for a while. Had some insights.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While eating and chatting, Zhang Yu suddenly noticed something: after Zhou Tianyi arrived, Bai Zhenzhen seemed to talk a lot less, as if she had turned back into that aloof, quiet top student.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After breakfast, the three walked along the sports ground toward the classroom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu occasionally opened his palm, watching the Feather Script appear and disappear from it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So no one else can see the Feather Script, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, a bang came from the direction of the teaching building, followed by a series of shouts and cries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of the main entrance of the teaching building, a crowd had gathered, and a corpse with a shattered head lay quietly on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The people around were discussing it, and some had already identified the corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who knew him were gossiping about the deceased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is Lu Chao from Class 3, Grade 12. He used to be in the demonstration class, but his grades kept dropping, right? Was he about to be demoted again?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lu Chao? He was still in the top ten of his grade in sophomore year.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some poverty-discriminators began a blanket attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So what if his sophomore grades were good? A poor man is still a poor man. Look how many poor students stay in the elite class by senior year—poor people just aren't suited for cultivation.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others with severe score-discrimination started their own comments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hmph, jumping from the sixth floor killed him right away. Sure enough, he was a poor student. If it had been a top student from the senior elite class jumping, I figure it would take at least ten floors to kill them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhenzhen, passing by, watched the scene and sighed, \"Another senior jumped?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou said, \"This is the third one this year, right? Looks like the pressure on this year's seniors is intense.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu suddenly asked, \"Was he very poor?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhenzhen glanced at him, whether in admonishment or lament, and said lightly, \"Borrowed quite a bit, probably. Anyone who has to take out loans for school definitely isn't rich.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When students like that enter Songyang High School, their grades are often pretty good at first.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But usually by senior year, they gradually can't keep up with the rich kids in their class, and in the end they can only get into some second- or third-rate universities.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As for the Top Ten—it seems that in Songyang High School, no commoner has gotten in for over ten years now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu was slightly stunned by this. He knew the so-called \"Top Ten\" meant the universities directly under the ten major sects—the ten most elite universities, the dream schools of countless students.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he hadn't known that in Songyang High School, no commoner's child had gotten into the Top Ten in over ten years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought to himself, \"Is it because of insufficient resources, not enough money?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu also recalled some legends about those rich students—it was said that many top-tier tutoring teachers, secret study guides, advanced techniques, lab drugs… all circulated only within the circles of the wealthy and were never revealed to the poor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Staring at the blood splattered on the ground, Zhang Yu murmured in his heart, \"If I hadn't had my potential awakened, I might have ended up on this path too in the future.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the jumping incident sparked a wave of discussion, for students busy with studying and cultivation every day, it was just idle chatter during breaks. Soon no one cared anymore, and the students threw themselves back into their daily immortal-cultivation studies, striving for their future lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though they were only in their teens, everyone already knew a cruel truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Depending on your score, you enter a different university.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Depending on which university you go to, your future sect is decided.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Depending on which sect you join, your entire life is determined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Classmates, no matter how close or distant, will go their separate ways if their scores differ.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time quickly came around to the physical education class that required three consecutive periods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After once again rejecting PE teacher Wang Hai's sales pitch, Zhang Yu couldn't tell if it was his imagination, but he felt that the other's gaze toward him had changed somehow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was really nothing he could do—whether it was the money issue or the health issue, he couldn't possibly take another injection of medicine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>! .\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Zhang Yu could only pretend not to notice and continued his practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Body-Forge Thirty-Six Forms Level 2 (1\u002F20)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Counting the one session before the bus stop, Zhang Yu only needed to practice Body-Forge Thirty-Six Forms nineteen more times to level up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This gave him extra motivation during the following practice, driving his muscles again and again, wringing out every bit of mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And even when he sometimes wanted to slow down and rest, the power of the ritual would remind him and quickly rally him to keep working hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Accompanied by tearing pain throughout his body, breaking his limits again and again, facing life-and-death threats over and over—it was both painful and joyful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After spending more than two class periods, Zhang Yu finally collapsed onto the ground, not wanting to move a muscle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Body-Forge Thirty-Six Forms Level 2 (17\u002F20)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I've hit my limit.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The power of the ritual did not push him further, apparently agreeing that he had reached his limit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Zhang Yu felt no discouragement at all—raising a basic martial art from Level 1 to Level 3 in just two days was something the old Zhang Yu wouldn't have dared to dream of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If I hadn't done extra practice last night, I probably could have trained through all three PE periods, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But with this damn ritual forcing me to seize every single minute and second to train, I'm afraid that from now on, practicing extra at night and being so exhausted during PE class that I can only rest and not train... that will become the norm.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu felt like this was exactly like someone in his previous life who crammed and studied frantically at night, then slept through class during the day—obviously not a healthy routine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's all this stupid ritual's fault—it can't tell the difference between time and place.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Zhang Yu, lying on the ground, suddenly felt a shadow fall over his body, as if a mountain were blocking the sun above him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Hai looked down at Zhang Yu on the ground and said coldly, \"It's PE class. What are you doing?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu quickly replied, \"Teacher, I practiced extra last night, and now I can't really keep going.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sensing Wang Hai's displeasure, Zhang Yu added an explanation: \"My Body-Forge Thirty-Six Forms broke through last night—I've already reached level 2.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason for this explanation was that Zhang Yu knew that in this grade-only school, most teachers wouldn't make things difficult for students with good grades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought that if Wang Hai knew he had made great progress, he probably wouldn't make things hard for him either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was something Zhang Yu had started thinking about ever since he vaguely noticed the change in Wang Hai's attitude toward him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Zhang Yu was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are many kinds of teachers in this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, most of the main subject teachers at Songyang High School liked students with good grades, liked students who were easy to teach and gave them a sense of achievement, and were more tolerant of mistakes made by good students.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were also teachers who poured more energy into poor-performing students, focusing on improving their grades, because poor students were easier to improve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there were many elective subject teachers who didn't care how well students learned—they just showed up for class and left on time, and if they wasted even one extra second on work, they'd consider it a loss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was still another kind of teacher who, more than grades, sometimes cared more about whether students were obedient and whether they challenged his authority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In such a teacher's classroom, he was the absolute authority, not tolerating any defiance from students—even if you just used a method he hadn't taught to study, he would mock you subtly, call you out as an example, and belittle you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And clearly, Wang Hai, who liked selling medicine and physically punishing students, was that kind of teacher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The PE class at Songyang High School was his little kingdom, and the students were his channel for selling medicine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, Zhang Yu's persistent refusal to buy medicine had already provoked his displeasure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After just seeing Zhang Yu lying down to \"slack off,\" he became even more dissatisfied and wanted to take the opportunity to teach him a lesson, set him as an example, make the students feel ashamed of this person who didn't use needles in class, and not follow Zhang Yu's example of natural body refinement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his reprimand was choked off by Zhang Yu's words: \"My Body-Forge Thirty-Six Forms broke through last night.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Wang Hai's eyes, this was already a challenge to his authority in PE class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is reaching level 2 in Body-Forge Thirty-Six Forms such a big deal?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Hai pointed at Bai Zhenzhen and said, \"Look at her—after reaching level 2, did she stop using needles? Did she slack off in class?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yu said helplessly, \"Teacher, that's not what I meant...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Hai said coldly, \"Zhang Yu, I've seen plenty of students like you—relying on a bit of talent to ignore the teacher's guidance and disregard the school's teaching.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You need to understand that the reason you broke through is because for the past three months, you've been seriously attending class and using needles—it was with my guidance that you built a solid foundation.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As for your self-study or extra lessons outside, those can at most be considered desserts.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Only the lessons at school are the most important main course.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I'll report your problem to your homeroom teacher. You'd better behave yourself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",2419,"2026-05-29T04:54:22.303Z","2026-06-01T04:29:11.989Z",1,"deepseek-v4-flash","4ff6aa2ca66bd9756c8a890b216e4530f782625612fd5920eae56727ac8d5987","no-money-what-cultivation-chapter-8","no-money-what-cultivation-chapter-6",711,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fno-money-what-cultivation-cover.jpg"]