Chapter 95

That night, as he swallowed the Hunyuan Pill in one gulp, the potent medicinal force once again surged into every part of his limbs and bones.

Zhang Yu immediately activated the Red Marrow Primordial Qi, making his muscles, internal organs, and bones strain with full force, striving to absorb the rolling torrent of medicinal power.

At times like this, Zhang Yu could clearly feel that the 30,000 he had spent on the medicine hadn't vanished—it had merged into his body, ultimately becoming part of his flesh and blood.

In the blink of an eye, a night had passed. Zhang Yu looked at the physical strength level of 2.08 on his Feather Scroll and revealed a faint, relieved smile.

It had been two weeks since the martial arts competition.

There were still two weeks until the confirmation of the top five sports scores—which would determine whether Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were qualified to join the sports competition team.

There were still six weeks until the start of the sports competition.

During this period, although Zhang Yu had focused most of his energy on physical strength, his Dao heart and magical power had naturally improved under the support of his mental cultivation method and passive breathing.

What appeared on the Feather Scroll was Dao Heart Level 3 (93%) and Magical Power 25.5.

"The increase in Dao heart and magical power seems to have slowed down a little, but it's not a big problem for now. I don't need to consider switching to a more powerful cultivation method yet. For now, I'll keep focusing on physical strength."

"With my current income, I can not only keep up a steady supply of Hunyuan Pills, but if my income increases a bit more in the future, I can even afford some extra dietary supplements."

"If I keep improving my physical strength like this with the Level 10 Red Marrow Primordial Qi, then making the top five in physical strength in two weeks should be no problem. And raising it to above 4.0 for the sports competition in six weeks doesn't seem impossible either."

Thinking this, Zhang Yu glanced at his savings.

During this time, although he had tutored Song Hailong again and also taught at the park, with the arrival of a new month, deducting the loan interest of 15,000, rent and utilities of less than 2,000, plus the costs of Hunyuan Pills, meals, and so on, Zhang Yu now only had a little over 5,000 left in his account.

"Sigh, still poor. Hope they can arrange more tutoring sessions for me soon."

With a brief flash of thought in his mind, Zhang Yu hurried to school.

As soon as he arrived at the school gate, Zhang Yu saw the display of this month's exam results.

On this day of the monthly exam results, teachers and students of Songyang High School were all celebrating, joyfully welcoming the new scores.

Remembering the monthly exam two days ago, Zhang Yu sighed lightly: "Too bad. If the exam had been a few days later, after I refined my body with this second Hunyuan Pill, my score would probably have been higher."

"But it's not a big problem. My sports score should be higher in the next monthly exam."

Casually scanning the monthly exam ranking, Zhang Yu walked toward the classroom.

For him, the monthly exam was something he only needed to pay slight attention to; the competition was what he truly valued.

He clearly remembered what Zhang Pianpian had told him.

Zhang Yu murmured to himself: "If I want to get into a top-ten university, I have to win all the remaining competitions in my freshman year and become the strongest freshman in Songyang City."

But just as Zhang Yu was about to step into the teaching building...

With a loud bang, a figure fell from the sky, plummeting toward the ground.

Zhang Yu instinctively dodged, then reached out to catch him. As the white Formless Cloud Barrier surged forth, a gentle force caught the falling figure, dissipating the momentum of the descent.

Looking at the person he had saved, Zhang Yu was slightly stunned: "You're... Shuang Youpeng?"

He still remembered this student—once the top overall scorer in the freshman year, now a sophomore, who had been thoroughly disciplined by the student council vice president Zhou Chechen during a practical combat class.

"Jumping off a building at school costs a fine. Good thing I saved you."

"Besides, given your level, this height probably wouldn't kill you. Wouldn't a serious injury and treatment be even worse?"

But the next moment, Zhang Yu sensed something wrong.

Though Shuang Youpeng's face hadn't changed much, what Zhang Yu felt from him was... lightness, an extreme lightness.

The flesh under his clothes seemed to have shrunk by more than half, nothing like the robust build expected of a sophomore.

Faced with Zhang Yu's puzzled gaze, Shuang Youpeng said nothing—neither thanking him for the rescue nor blaming him for interfering. He just silently stood up and walked toward the teaching building.

Zhang Yu opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.

He sensed a numbness of utter despair from the other person.

Finally, Zhang Yu asked, "Are you okay?"

Shuang Youpeng paused in his steps and said indifferently, "I'm fine. Just had a moment of foolishness. I still have debts to repay; I won't jump again. Please don't tell anyone about today—otherwise, the school will fine me."

After saying this, Shuang Youpeng was silent for a moment before adding, "That sports competition... you'd better give it up. It won't end well."

……

Inside the classroom of Class 1, Grade 10.

Several students were gathered around He Dayou, congratulating him.

"Dayou, you've improved so much lately! You actually got first place in the grade on this monthly exam."

"662 points—with a score like that, you could even get into White Dragon High School for free, right?"

"General Knowledge 49, Dao Heart 130, Magic Power 143, Physical Education 150, Martial Arts 95, Dao Arts 95... That's about the level of the top students from the three big high schools, isn't it?"

He Dayou looked at these extras who always sided with whoever had the best grades, a faint trace of disdain curling at the corner of his mouth.

In the martial arts combat practical exam this month, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had been placed in the same group, which finally allowed He Dayou to achieve a score matching his true level. "Martial Arts—I've finally taken back the points I deserve."

As for Dao Arts, that had always been his strong suit, and Physical Education, after training with the competition team recently, had made him the strongest in the grade.

Just then, his phone vibrated—the information he had asked another student to find out had arrived.

It was Zhang Yu's current physical strength level.

"Zhang Yu, that kid, never shows up for PE class. This monthly exam finally let me see his physical strength measured in yesterday's test... Level 2.05, huh?"

"No wonder he's become Zhang Pianpian's dog—he must have been fed quite a bit to reach that level."

"But... compared to my physical strength at Level 2.3, he's far behind, and from now on the gap between us will only keep growing."

Seeing Zhang Yu's physical strength level, He Dayou finally let out a breath, feeling that the effort and money he had put into the competition team recently had not been wasted.

"Zhang Yu, from now on you'll really experience what it feels like to go all out and still not be able to catch up to me."

Compared to He Dayou's excitement, Zhao Tianxing felt utterly miserable.

"Have even Yu and Zhen been completely surpassed by He Dayou?"

!

Although he was somewhat envious of He Dayou and the others, Zhao Tianxing had ultimately quit the sports competition team just like Qian Shen, watched helplessly as another student was added to the team, and then saw that student's physical strength skyrocket, surpassing him in this month's exam.

Zhao Tianxing thought to himself: "Qian Shen quit the competition team because he looked down on buying physical strength with money and buying points with money."

And after Zhao Tianxing himself quit the team, he could feel that Qian Shen had started to think more highly of him.

But he knew his situation was completely different from Qian Shen's, and he simply didn't have Qian Shen's coolness and decisiveness.

He knew that the reason he chose to leave the competition team was simply his own weakness.

He didn't have the confidence that after his parents spent half their lifetime savings on him, he could achieve good enough results.

"The sponsorship fee to join the competition team would require my mom and dad to sell the house to scrape together."

"And this is only Grade 10—if it costs even more in the future, what would we do?"

"With my talent, after spending all that money, can I really earn it back in the future?"

Zhao Tianxing had absolutely no confidence; he was afraid of wasting his parents' savings, afraid of being deep in debt and achieving nothing, so in the end he chose to give up.

"I'm such a loser. I even told Qian Shen I didn't want to buy points like him, but the truth is I both want it and am afraid of failure."

……

In the cafeteria, Zhao Tianxing set down his tray with a gloomy expression.

He saw Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, as if in a competition, voraciously devouring the synthetic food in front of them.

"Sigh, Yu and Zhen are always so optimistic. They didn't get even a little frustrated after their rankings were overtaken in this month's exam. I wish I could be like them."

Bai Zhenzhen, while eating, glanced at the protein milk in Zhang Yu's hand and thought to herself: "Yu has been eating better and better lately. Did he find money? Or did he sell something he shouldn't have?"

Zhang Yu, while eating, looked at the paste on Bai Zhenzhen's tray and thought to himself: "Zhen has also been trying to raise her physical strength. She's probably short on money recently, right? I wonder if she's interested in the dark tutoring world."

The doll hanging around Zhang Yu's chest was also observing Bai Zhenzhen, and after several days of observation, she had reached a conclusion.

So the doll transmitted a message to Zhang Yu: "Hey, Zhang Yu, do you know there's something inside that woman's belly?"

"Pfft!"

Zhang Yu felt like he had choked and couldn't help spitting out the food in his mouth.

He turned around, lowered his voice, and said to the doll in a tone only he could hear: "Is A-Zhen pregnant?"

On the other side, Bai Zhenzhen looked at the paste Zhang Yu had spat into her bowl, and she was genuinely furious: "Are you trying to die, Zhang Yu? Using such a despicable trick to steal food? I'm going to pee in your bowl!"

The doll said in Zhang Yu's mind: "What I'm talking about is the Spiritual Root. There's a Spiritual Root in this woman's belly."

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes: "Nonsense, A-Zhen leased a Spiritual Root."

But the doll chuckled and said: "Really? From my observation, the Spiritual Root in this woman's belly should be her own."

"It's just that this Spiritual Root is extremely good at hiding. If it weren't for you being with her every day, and her always using that Spiritual Root openly in front of you, I wouldn't have noticed it either."

Zhang Yu looked at Bai Zhenzhen with some shock and thought to himself: "Did A-Zhen grow a Spiritual Root in her belly?"

Bai Zhenzhen said angrily: "What are you mumbling about? Hurry up and buy me a new lunch!"

Zhang Yu's mind was still on the Spiritual Root matter, so he took his student card and ran off to buy food for Bai Zhenzhen.

Bai Zhenzhen saw Zhang Yu's phone on the table vibrate lightly—a message had arrived.

Liantianji: Sell me one of the clothes you've worn.

When she saw this message, Bai Zhenzhen fell silent. She quietly turned off the screen of Zhang Yu's phone.

"No wonder I felt like Yu Zi has had money lately."

"So, without me noticing, he's already gotten this far?"

"A-Yu! To earn money and pursue the immortal path, have you already gone this far?"