Chapter 86

"So could I also spend some money to have this poor person come and let me touch him... just once?"

But just thinking about touching him, Le Mulang's mind recalled the scenes from the arena, and then a wave of discomfort washed over her. The stopped breathing technique seemed naturally ready to start again, helping her escape this torment.

If originally, even with disgust in her heart, Le Mulang could still chat normally with Zhang Yu, then after experiencing the scenes on the arena, she felt a strong physical aversion to contacting Zhang Yu.

"No, I have to change my mindset and overcome this weakness."

"How can a rich person be afraid of a poor person?"

Thinking this, Le Mulang steeled her resolve and stopped the breathing technique again.

"But I can't start too intensely; I need to take it easy."

"Maybe I could observe their training? No... watching up close is still a bit nauseating; I need to go even lighter."

"Or maybe give up on touching people for now and first buy a few pieces of Zhang Yu's clothes to try?"

Clothes covered in the other person's dander, oil, odor, sweat, and other filth—just imagining it made Le Mulang feel too contaminated.

"No, still too disgusting. I need to go even lighter."

After thinking it over repeatedly, Le Mulang decided to download Zhang Yu's circle of friends photos and start by looking at the poor person's pictures every day.

"Once looking at his photos doesn't disgust me anymore, maybe I can upgrade a bit and try touching his clothes."

On the way back, seeing the 5000 yuan credited, Zhang Yu first bought a set of weighted clothing, since his original had been damaged in the martial competition.

Savings decreased by 2000, becoming less than 13,000.

After receiving the weighted clothing at home, Zhang Yu quickly put it on and returned to the unfinished building to cultivate.

Late that night, as the 24-hour cooldown ended, he was finally able to switch his Feather Script specialization to Crimson Marrow Primal Qi.

On.

This Crimson Marrow Primal Qi had only one move, but that move required the cooperation of all the muscles and tendons throughout the body—every muscle and every major tendon had to stretch or contract simultaneously, placing extremely high demands on the cultivator's physical control.

But for Zhang Yu...

"Hard?"

"The harder, the better; otherwise, how can I show the gap in talent between me and others?"

Zhang Yu stood still on the spot, feet shoulder-width apart, hands naturally hanging down, and then, following the content of the electronic manual, began to move the muscles and tendons throughout his body.

But on the first try, he was nowhere near achieving this. He felt a complete lack of coordination—either missing the leg muscles or forgetting the tendons in his hands.

If it were the original Zhang Yu trying to self-study this Crimson Marrow Primal Qi, he would probably need to train and subdue each part of his body's muscles and tendons individually, eventually completing an integrated whole-body training—taking several months would be normal.

But now, after just one rough practice like that, Zhang Yu felt as if an electric current ran through his entire body. Countless memories and experiences surged into his mind, all about how to control every muscle and tendon.

Crimson Marrow Primal Qi mastered!

At that moment, he felt his control over all his muscles and major tendons reach an unprecedented level.

Inside the unfinished building.

As Zhang Yu exerted force again, a loud bang seemed to come from inside his body—the sound of all muscles and tendons simultaneously tensing and stretching.

In that instant, Zhang Yu's entire body stretched a few inches taller, like a ball being inflated with air, swelling slightly—that air being the force from all his muscles and tendons.

"Too easy. Let's do it again."

Joy welled up in Zhang Yu's heart. He exerted force throughout his body again. With each twitch of his muscles and tendons, his blood and Qi grew hotter and hotter, and a white mist rose from his body in the cold night.

He knew this was the effect of Crimson Marrow Primal Qi—using the whole body's muscles and tendons to drive the blood and Qi, using the blood and Qi to drive the marrow, ultimately strengthening muscles, tendons, and bones, improving physical strength and explosive power.

In a flash, after exerting force ten times in a row, Crimson Marrow Primal Qi was boosted to level 2.

But Zhang Yu also felt a wave of exhaustion throughout his body, as if he had just fought a fierce battle with Song Hailong.

"Body-tempering techniques are definitely more taxing to practice than combat techniques."

"Every time I practice this body-tempering Crimson Marrow Primal Qi, it's like every piece of flesh and blood in my body has unleashed its full power—it really drains my stamina."

Zhang Yu had no choice but to sit down, focusing on cultivating the breathing technique to improve his Dao heart while hurriedly recovering his strength.

After more than half an hour, feeling he had regained some strength, he stood up again and resumed cultivating the Crimson Marrow Primal Qi.

In the blink of an eye, one night passed. Although he had to rest for a while after every dozen or so cycles, Zhang Yu still managed to raise his Crimson Marrow Primal Qi to Level 6 (43/60) in fits and starts.

At that moment, Zhang Yu’s body shuddered, and blood and qi surged within him, as if bursting forth with the sound of rolling waves.

Zhang Yu let out a long breath and felt a wave of weakness all over his body.

“I’m exhausted.”

“Starving!”

…

Songyang High School.

Cafeteria. Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were wolfing down synthetic food.

As for their former disdain, now they could only say that it was actually delicious.

After all, current synthetic food was no longer as terrible as the old kind; it was cheap, convenient, and nutritious. It was simply perfect for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who had now begun to focus on body refinement.

But compared to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who were eating with great relish, the Qianshen and Zhao Tianxing sitting across from them looked gloomy, their meals losing all flavor.

It was only because, after school yesterday, they had attended supplementary training for the sports competition team. After signing various confidentiality agreements, they finally learned what the Special Training Program really was.

Right now, every time Zhao Tianxing recalled what he had learned yesterday, he felt a sense of suffocation.

The so-called Special Training Program involved upperclassmen providing muscle fibers, which were then transplanted into lowerclassmen using Songyang High School’s advanced immortal cultivation technology, fusing with their original muscle fibers.

With the support of this immortal technology, the fusion not only immediately enhanced physical strength, but the fused muscles could also continue to be cultivated, further improving physical strength over time.

In other words… Muscle fibers were transplanted from second-year students onto Zhao Tianxing and the others, merging with their original muscle fibers so that they could gradually acquire part of the second-year seniors’ powerful physique, which had been trained for an extra year.

Put another way… first-years could buy the flesh of poor second-years, and second-years could buy the flesh of poor third-years.

That was the Special Training Program—a plan that Zhao Tianxing found extremely brutal and violent.

!

Especially when he saw the price list yesterday, he felt even more horrified.

The names of various second-year students were listed, paired with the values and prices for different body parts like trapezius, deltoid, supraspinatus, biceps brachii, etc., all arranged in rows, looking just like a restaurant menu.

In particular, Zhao Tianxing even saw Shuang Youpeng, the former grade-topper, listed there.

All of this made Zhao Tianxing feel like his mental state was collapsing.

He still remembered the conversation between him, Qianshen, and Lan Ling.

Lan Ling, the top athlete in the second year, was also a member of the sports competition team and one of the executors of the Special Training Program.

In contrast, Wang Hai was merely responsible for the daily training of the competition team and had no say in the Special Training Program; he only earned the title of ace PE teacher thanks to the team’s achievements.

…

Zhao Tianxing: “If we buy their flesh, what happens to them?”

Lan Ling said calmly: “Don’t worry, they’ll keep their roots. They can eat, train, and grow it back.”

Zhao Tianxing’s breath quickened: “So it’s just growing flesh, cutting it off, growing it again, cutting it off again… aren’t they like cattle or sheep?”

Lan Ling smiled: “People are still worth much more than cattle and sheep. They make a profit at these prices.”

“It’s not about the price,” Qianshen couldn’t help but say. “Buying flesh directly like this—isn’t that just buying physical strength with money? Is it the same as buying sports scores?”

Lan Ling said matter-of-factly: “Well, you could say it’s buying scores with money.”

Qianshen questioned: “How can you buy scores with money?”

Lan Ling said calmly: “Of course you can buy scores with money.”

“Otherwise, where do you think your cultivation came from? The medicines you inject, the techniques you practice, the knowledge you learn… where do they come from?”

“Bought with money.”

“And why do you think it’s you standing here instead of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who performed better than you?”

“Simply because you have more money than them—because your parents can afford the sponsorship fees.”

"Spending money allows you to get better grades; it lets you buy points."

"Sponsorship fee?" Zhao Tianxing was slightly stunned. Thinking about his parents' recent actions of selling the house, he suddenly understood something.

But Qian Shen still looked as if he couldn't accept it.

He Dayou, standing nearby, persuaded, "Alright, Qian Shen, this world is like this; money is the most important thing. If you're worried about others knowing you bought flesh, rest assured, everyone signed a confidentiality agreement under the witness of the righteous gods. No one will tell."

As the son of a school board member who had long known about this, He Dayou smiled and said to Lan Ling, "Senior, I've finished selecting. After signing the contract later, can we start the transplant surgery today?"

To officially begin the special training plan and start muscle transplantation, one naturally had to sign a contract first, which naturally included the school and student council's right to decide on the signatory's future university and major choices.

He Dayou was certainly not worried about this.

As the son of a school board member, he naturally had no restrictions on applying to universities or majors.

However...

He subconsciously glanced at Zhao Tianxing beside him, knowing that if the other wanted to join the competition team and accept the special training plan, he would definitely be restricted in university quotas.

Only because the other's family wasn't wealthy enough; they had barely scraped together the sponsorship fee.

He Dayou thought to himself, "A small household, still far from the true wealthy circles of Songyang City."

Lan Ling, standing nearby, heard He Dayou's question and nodded, saying, "Next, a small portion of the transplant will be done every day. You will feel the strength of your body increasing violently at every moment."