On the bus.

After acquiring the Feather Book, Zhang Yu had initially imagined his future life would be: “Feather Book! Let me see your limits!” Who knew it would quickly transform into… “Ritual: Zhang Yu! Let me see your limits!”

But as things stood, the only way Zhang Yu could think of to break free from the ritual’s power was to make himself stronger. So, he could only diligently cultivate at this moment. With each breath, tendrils of spiritual energy from the world flowed into his body, gathering in his Dantian and Sea of Qi, gradually refining into magic power, solidifying his foundation for immortal cultivation.

However, recalling the process of practicing the Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms last night, Zhang Yu wanted to do the same and see if he could quickly level up his Basic Breathing Technique. With a thought, the Feather Book unfolded. Zhang Yu then focused his attention slightly on ‘Basic Breathing Technique Level 1’ on the page and immediately dragged it.

But as he dragged ‘Basic Breathing Technique Level 1’ towards his character portrait, a flash of insight emerged from the Feather Book.

“You can only focus on improving one skill at a time.”
“Once you switch, you must wait one day before switching again.”
Zhang Yu mentally named this Feather Book function “Specialization.”

At that moment, he instantly understood that a specialized skill could be rapidly improved, but he could only specialize in one skill at a time, and after switching, he had to wait a full day before changing again.

“This means if I switch my specialization from Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms to Basic Breathing Technique now, the Basic Breathing Technique will improve rapidly through practice, but the Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms will return to their normal training efficiency.”
“Unless, after a day, I switch the Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms back…”

Remembering what happened during physical education class, Zhang Yu decided not to switch for now and to continue prioritizing the improvement of the Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms. Time passed quickly, and Zhang Yu maintained his Basic Breathing Technique practice until the moment he got off the bus.

Inside the school cafeteria.

Bai Zhenzhen, carrying her tray, sat down opposite Zhang Yu, who looked like a zombie. She glanced at him curiously and said indifferently, “Pulled an all-nighter ‘guiding’?”

Zhang Yu swallowed a large meat bun in one bite and grumbled, “I was diligently training until late last night.”

Bai Zhenzhen’s face was expressionless, but her words were unreserved: “Sigh, you’re the only one in the whole school who hasn’t had the sterilization surgery. I’ve always told you not to save those twenty thousand yuan. Look how much time, energy, and protein you’ve wasted?”

Zhang Yu swallowed an egg in another bite and smiled confidently, “Bai Zhenzhen, let me tell you something: my current self-discipline and potential even astound me. It won’t be long before I snatch your top spot in the grade.”

Bai Zhenzhen, upon hearing this, quickly rolled her eyes, her delicate lips uttering merciless words: “Yu Zi, saying such overconfident things in front of me is fine, but if outsiders heard it, I’m afraid they’d laugh so hard they’d wet themselves.”
“You’re competing for first place in the overall grade, not first place in the grade at ‘guiding.’ Your unsterilized advantage is useless.”

Zhang Yu shook his head, speechless, thinking, “This Zhen, she usually pretends to be cold, but privately she dares to say anything, huh?”

Speaking of him being the only student in the entire school who hadn’t undergone sterilization, Zhang Yu was no longer surprised; he had gradually gotten used to the madness of this broken world and broken school. However, the fact that he hadn’t been sterilized was still his little secret; among his classmates, Zhang Yu had only told Bai Zhenzhen. But at this moment, thinking about this, a doubt suddenly arose in Zhang Yu’s mind: “Why was I able to enroll without undergoing sterilization surgery?”

Just then, Zhou Tianyi also sat down with his tray, looking curiously at Zhang Yu: “You look really tired. Did you study all night yesterday?”

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, “I practiced the Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms for a while and had some insights.” While eating and chatting, Zhang Yu suddenly noticed something: it seemed that after Zhou Tianyi arrived, Bai Zhenzhen spoke much less, as if she had reverted to her cold, quiet top student persona.

After breakfast, the three walked along the sports field towards the classrooms. Zhang Yu occasionally opened his palm, watching the Feather Book appear and disappear from his palm.

“So, can no one else see the Feather Book?”

Just then, a bang came from the direction of the teaching building, followed by a continuous flurry of shouts and screams. A crowd had gathered in front of the main entrance of the teaching building, where a body with a shattered head lay silently on the ground. People around were buzzing with discussion; some had already identified the body.

Familiar voices gossiped about the deceased.
“That’s Lu Chao from Senior Class 3(3). He used to be in the model class, but his grades kept dropping, and it seems he was about to be demoted again, right?”
“Lu Chao, he was still in the top ten of the grade in his second year.”
Someone discriminating against the poor launched a sweeping attack.
“What if his grades were good in the second year? Poor people are just poor people. You see how few poor people remain in the model classes by senior year. The poor aren’t suited for immortal cultivation.”
Others, severely biased by scores, began their commentary.
“Hmph, he died jumping from the sixth floor. What a bad student. If it were a top student from a Senior model class, I bet they’d need to jump from at least the tenth floor to die.”

Bai Zhenzhen, passing by and seeing the scene, sighed, “Another senior jumped?”
Zhou Tianyi said, “This must be the third one this year. It seems the pressure on this year’s senior class is immense.”

Zhang Yu, however, suddenly asked, “Was he very poor?”

Bai Zhenzhen glanced at him, her tone indifferent, unsure if it was a warning or a sigh: “He must have borrowed a lot. Anyone who needs loans just to study definitely isn’t rich.”
“Students like him often start well after entering Songyang High School.”
“But usually, by senior year, they gradually can’t keep up with the rich kids in their class and often end up only getting into second or third-rate universities.”
“As for the Top Ten, it seems no commoner has gotten in from Songyang High School for over ten years, right?”

Zhang Yu was slightly stunned by this. He knew that the “Top Ten” referred to the ten universities directly affiliated with the Ten Great Sects, the ten most prestigious universities, dream schools for countless students. But what he didn’t know was that no commoner student from Songyang High School had entered the Top Ten for over a decade. He thought to himself, “Is it because of insufficient resources and lack of money?”

Zhang Yu also recalled some rumors about the wealthy students: it was said that many ace tutors, secret study guides, high-level cultivation techniques, laboratory medicines… circulated only within the circles of the rich and were never revealed to the poor. Looking at the blood splattered on the ground, Zhang Yu thought, “If my potential hadn’t been activated, I might also have ended up on this path in the future.”

Although the suicide sparked a wave of discussion, for students busy with daily study and cultivation, it was merely casual talk during breaks. Soon, no one cared about it anymore. Students continued to immerse themselves in their daily immortal cultivation studies, striving for their future lives. Although they were only teenagers, everyone already knew a cruel truth.

Different scores led to different universities.
Different universities determined future sects.
Different sects determined one’s entire life.
Regardless of how good or bad relationships were, classmates with different academic performances would eventually go their separate ways.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the three consecutive physical education classes again.

After once again refusing PE teacher Wang Hai’s sales pitch, Zhang Yu wondered if it was his imagination, but he felt that the way Wang Hai looked at him had subtly changed. But he really had no choice; whether it was a matter of money or health, he couldn’t take those injections anymore.

So, Zhang Yu could only pretend not to notice and continued his practice.

Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms Level 2 (1/20)

Counting the practice session before the bus stop, Zhang Yu now only needed to practice the Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms 19 more times to level up. This made him especially motivated during the subsequent training, repeatedly activating every muscle and draining every inch of his magic power. Even when he sometimes wanted to slow down or rest, the ritual’s power would quickly remind him, prompting him to perk up and continue diligently practicing. Accompanied by tearing pain throughout his body, repeatedly breaking through limits, and facing life-or-death threats, it was a painful yet joyful experience.

After spending more than two class periods, Zhang Yu finally collapsed completely onto the ground, not wanting to move an inch.

Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms Level 2 (17/20)

“I’ve reached my limit.”
The ritual’s power didn’t continue to push him, apparently agreeing that he had reached his limit.

But Zhang Yu felt no discouragement; leveling up a basic martial art from Level 1 to Level 3 in just two days was something the old Zhang Yu couldn’t even have imagined.
“If I hadn’t done extra practice last night, I probably could have trained through all three PE classes, right?”
“But with this damn ritual forcing me to seize every single moment to train, it’s likely that in the future, if I do extra practice at night, I’ll be so tired during PE class that I’ll only be able to rest instead of train… that might become the norm.”

Zhang Yu felt this was like his previous life, where some people frantically crammed and self-studied at night, then slept through classes during the day—clearly not a healthy routine.

“It’s all this idiotic ritual’s fault; it can’t tell time or place.”

Just then, Zhang Yu, lying on the ground, suddenly felt his body covered by a shadow, as if a mountain stood over his head. Wang Hai looked down at Zhang Yu on the ground and said coldly, “It’s PE class time. What are you doing?”

Zhang Yu quickly replied, “Teacher, I did extra practice last night, and now I’m a bit too exhausted to train anymore.” Sensing Wang Hai’s displeasure, Zhang Yu added an explanation: “My Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms broke through last night and reached Level 2.” The reason for this explanation was that Zhang Yu knew that in this grade-obsessed school, most teachers wouldn’t make things difficult for high-achieving students. He thought if Wang Hai knew he had made significant progress, he wouldn’t make things difficult for him. This was something Zhang Yu had started thinking about after subtly noticing a change in Wang Hai’s attitude toward him.

But Zhang Yu was wrong.

There were many types of teachers in this world. For example, most main subject teachers at Songyang High School liked high-achieving students, preferring those who were easy to teach and provided a sense of accomplishment, and were more tolerant of mistakes made by good students. Some teachers devoted more energy to low-achieving students, focusing on improving their grades because they were easier to improve. And many elective teachers didn’t care how students performed; they simply taught when scheduled and left when their shift ended, considering any extra second spent on work a loss.

But there was another type of teacher who, more than student grades, sometimes cared more about whether students were obedient and if they challenged his authority. In such a teacher’s class, he was the absolute authority, accepting no student defiance. Even if you simply used a learning method he hadn’t taught, he would openly mock and secretly criticize you, singling you out as an example for public denigration. And clearly, Wang Hai, who liked to sell medicine and physically punish students, was this type of teacher. PE class at Songyang High School was his little kingdom, and students were his channels for dumping potions. Zhang Yu’s consistent refusal to buy his potions had already caused his dissatisfaction.

After seeing Zhang Yu lying down and ‘slacking off,’ he became even more displeased and wanted to use the opportunity to lecture him, setting an example to make students ashamed of someone who didn’t take injections in class, and to discourage them from natural body refinement like Zhang Yu’s. But his intended lecture was cut short by Zhang Yu’s casual remark, “My Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms broke through last night.” In Wang Hai’s view, this already challenged his authority in PE class.

“So, reaching Level 2 of Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms is impressive, is it?” Wang Hai pointed at Bai Zhenzhen and said, “Look at her. Does she stop taking injections after reaching Level 2? Does she slack off in class?”

Zhang Yu said helplessly, “Teacher, that’s not what I meant…”

Wang Hai said coldly, “Zhang Yu, I’ve seen too many students like you, relying on a bit of talent and then disregarding teacher’s guidance and the school’s curriculum.”
“You need to understand that your breakthrough is due to diligently attending classes and taking injections over the past three months, building a solid foundation with my guidance.”
“As for your self-study or tutoring outside of school, those are, at best, just desserts.”
“Only the school’s classes are the most important main course.”
“I’ll report your issues to your homeroom teacher. You’d best conduct yourself properly.”