The Spirit Realm.

A spiritual world cooperatively created by the Ten Great Sects.

As the examination officially began, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness being pulled from his physical body and transported to another world.

A gentle breeze rustled his hair, and he felt the hard sensation of sitting on a chair.

When Zhang Yu opened his eyes, he saw an ordinary classroom before him.

Inside, dozens of students, roughly his age and from various high schools, were seated.

This was the Spirit Realm, a spiritual world distinct from the real world.

The Spirit Realm could be considered both real and illusory.

It was real because everything one experienced there felt indistinguishable from the real world.

It was illusory because nothing in it physically existed; it was like a dream or an illusion. Everything seen, smelled, touched, and felt within this world could even be artificially controlled.

Zhang Yu knew that his physical body was still on his bed at Songyang High School; only his consciousness had entered the Spirit Realm.

Like the other students around him, he had been randomly selected for this classroom from among the many test-takers in Songyang City.

Glancing at the classroom environment, Zhang Yu couldn’t discern any difference between it and reality.

He thought to himself, “I hope we don’t get stuck here halfway through the exam, like a city-wide high school student virtual reality game entrapment.”

A place resembling a virtual online world—this was Zhang Yu’s understanding of the Spirit Realm after learning some information about it.

However, Kunxu achieved this using immortal cultivation techniques.

Of course, Zhang Yu also understood that his knowledge of the Spirit Realm was limited and his understanding was certainly one-sided, but for now, it was sufficient.

In front of everyone, a thin man wearing an owl mask stood behind the podium, looking at them.

Li Xingyu scanned the examinees before him.

The next moment, from his perspective, each examinee’s ID number, name, and high school appeared above their heads.

“Ugh, I hope this finishes quickly so I can get off work early,” he sighed.

As a soul cultivator student from Mangshan High School, who had no physical body and only a soul, Li Xingyu was long accustomed to daily life in the Spirit Realm.

Due to the unique nature of soul cultivators, they were exempt from participating in this Dao Heart examination. Instead, their teachers had enlisted them to proctor it.

Thinking of his remaining 45 hours of work for the day, he couldn’t help but sigh.

Suddenly, as he was scrutinizing the examinees, his gaze sharpened, focusing on Zhang Yu.

“Is that him?”

Li Xingyu remembered that at Li Xuelian’s art exhibition that day, it was this very security guard who had garnered significant attention by triggering unusual phenomena on the Celestial Martial Arts Diagram.

“From Songyang High School?”

“Interesting. I should record his progress in this exam. It might make for some valuable research data to sell to the principal.”

After a moment of consideration, Li Xingyu took a few steps forward. With each step, several identical copies of himself split off. By his tenth step, a Li Xingyu stood before every examinee in the room.

This Spirit Realm cloning technique was commonplace for soul cultivators like Li Xingyu.

Zhang Yu looked at the owl-masked proctor in front of him, a guess forming in his mind.

The strength of one’s will was a manifestation of the Dao Heart, and determining one’s Dao Heart level typically involved testing the strength of their will.

Therefore, the Dao Heart examination primarily tested one’s will, at least during the Qi Refining stage.

However, there were various methods to test the strength of individual wills. To prevent examinees from undergoing targeted training beforehand and thus causing testing inaccuracies, the specific questions for each Dao Heart examination varied.

According to Zhang Yu’s knowledge, examinations of higher specifications typically invested more resources into the Dao Heart test, resulting in more complex content for examinees in the Spirit Realm.

After all, more complex and diverse experiences were needed to accurately assess the examinees’ conditions.

“This is a monthly exam…” Zhang Yu thought, “Based on previous experience, it shouldn’t be too complicated.”

At the same time, Li Xingyu extended his hand, palm open, revealing something resembling a mobile phone.

“Take this.”

Simultaneously, all the Li Xingyu copies spoke, “Today’s Dao Heart examination content is very simple… pain.”

“For the next sixty minutes, the controller in your hand can be used to adjust the level of pain you experience at any time.”

“During these sixty minutes, the higher the pain level and the longer you maintain it, the higher your ranking will be.”

Dao Heart examinations were scored based on ranking, so the specific score depended not only on one’s own performance but also on the level of other examinees.

For instance, Songyang City’s Dao Heart monthly exam was graded according to the ranking of all high school students in the city.

The actual college entrance examination, however, was scored based on the ranking of all college entrance examinees on the first layer of Kunxu.

“Furthermore, if the pain level exceeds your tolerance and causes you to faint, your consciousness will immediately exit the Spirit Realm, and your score will be zero.”

After explaining the examination content, Li Xingyu pointed his finger, and a 10-second countdown appeared in the air of the Spirit Realm.

“Timing begins in 10 seconds.”

Zhang Yu looked at the phone-like controller in his hand and saw the screen displaying Pain Level 0, Pain Level 1, Pain Level 2, Pain Level 3, and so on.

The only two buttons on the controller represented “up” and “down,” allowing him to continuously adjust the pain level from 0 upwards or downwards, changing the intensity of the pain he felt at any time.

Just looking at it, Zhang Yu already felt pain spreading throughout his body.

“Which bastard came up with this exam question? Are they out of their minds?” he muttered.

“Don’t tell me these pain levels include ‘burning alive,’ ‘limb snapping,’ or ‘death by a thousand cuts’…”

“Is this Songyang City’s very own little Saw movie?”

What Zhang Yu hated most was enduring hardship, and what he hated even more was being forced to endure it.

Yet, ever since he arrived in Kunxu and embarked on this path of immortal cultivation, he had been constantly enduring hardships, filling his mouth with them, bite after bite.

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt utterly sick, and his inner resistance reached its limit.

Noticing this, Zhang Yu’s gaze sharpened, and he mused, “But then again, as a high school cultivation student, studying, cultivating, and taking exams are my duties. Enduring more hardship now means I can earn more money later.”

“I love studying, I love exams!”

After cheering himself up, Zhang Yu felt a little more invigorated, and the pain controller before him seemed slightly less offensive.

What was will? What was thought? What was the Dao Heart?

The Dao Heart class teacher had taught extensively: throughout history, people had worshipped gods, demons, or even other people… establishing various belief systems. Through these different beliefs, combined with cultivation methods, one could elevate their Dao Heart and strengthen their will.

In Zhang Yu’s understanding, will was the ability to endure hardship. The stronger one’s willpower, the more hardship they could bear.

And thought, in elevating will, was the mindset of telling oneself that enduring hardship now would bring benefits later, thereby enabling one to endure more.

At this moment, Zhang Yu was using small thoughts to comfort and encourage himself, hoping it would help him achieve a better score later.

Zhang Yu had many such small thoughts, as did everyone.

However, Zhang Yu had not yet developed a systematic ideology that could be consistently maintained in the long term, something even the school’s Dao Heart class hadn’t managed to impart to him.

Such an ideology was something each student had to ultimately establish by combining their textbooks, personal experiences, and cultivation techniques.

The strength of will demonstrated by a cultivator could be used to score their Dao Heart level.

The thoughts within a cultivator’s mind, when combined with cultivation methods, could elevate their Dao Heart level and further strengthen their will.

Thought as the core, will as the manifestation, and cultivation methods as the means—the combination of these three formed a cultivator’s complete Dao Heart.

The next moment, as the countdown in the air reached zero,

the many students present began operating their controllers. Some let out screams, others’ faces contorted, and some gasped sharply.

When Zhang Yu adjusted the pain level to 1, he felt as if a steel needle was piercing his palm.

He quickly activated the Level 1 Basic Mind-Refining Method taught in the Dao Heart class, striving to stabilize his mind.

Emptiness, void, selflessness… The Basic Mind-Refining Method was a cultivation technique that helped one stabilize emotions, remain calm, and gradually enter a meditative state.

Through prolonged practice, one’s Dao Heart level would steadily rise, and their willpower would grow stronger.

This Level 1 Basic Mind-Refining Method was a technique Zhang Yu’s original self had learned before he came to this world.

However, because he had always been busy increasing his magical power, physical strength, and improving his Heaven-Circulating Qi Gathering Method, Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms, and Combat Techniques, he hadn’t yet had the chance to improve this mind-refining method.

Now, as Zhang Yu activated the Basic Mind-Refining Method, he felt his heart gradually calm down, and his tolerance for pain seemed to increase significantly.

He immediately raised the pain level to 2.

Zhang Yu felt as if his other hand was also being pierced by a steel needle.

Still, he could endure it.

So Zhang Yu increased the pain level one by one. When it reached level 37, he felt as if 37 steel needles had pierced his hands and feet.

At this moment, Zhang Yu’s face was contorted in agony. No matter how hard he tried to operate the Basic Mind-Refining Method, he couldn’t find any peace.

“Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!”

Quieting the mind, focusing concentration, silently enduring, silently persevering, like water dripping through stone… The Basic Mind-Refining Method needed to be combined with such a philosophical system to maximize its effectiveness.

This was also the norm for elevating one’s Dao Heart: only when one’s own thoughts matched the cultivation method would the Dao Heart improvement be most effective.

However, “calming the mind, focusing concentration, silently enduring, silently persevering, like water dripping through stone”—this entire philosophy simply didn’t align with Zhang Yu’s personality.

At this moment, all he wanted was to immediately, right now, kill the person who designed this Dao Heart examination.

Just as Zhang Yu felt he was reaching his limit, the contents of the Heavenly Martial Mind-Refining Art suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Fists, palms, legs, spears, blades, swords…

One figure after another abruptly appeared in his mind, carrying the murderous intent to shatter legions, the unyielding fighting spirit to face death nine times without regret, and the courage to advance relentlessly… These were the things that truly resonated with him.

Although Zhang Yu’s insufficient Dao Heart level prevented him from truly mastering the Heavenly Martial Mind-Refining Art,

simply recalling the concepts within this martial art at this moment instantly filled Zhang Yu with a surge of momentum.

He felt like a small soldier following a peerless general; seeing the general’s majestic posture before him, his heart swelled with courage and his spirits were lifted.

At this moment, the piercing pain of steel needles throughout his body became less unbearable.

A sinister grin spread across his lips: “Once I climb up the ranks, I’ll definitely make the bastard who set this exam beg for mercy on their knees.”