Bai Zhenzhen turned to Zhang Yu, surprised. “Are you serious?”

“Yu Zi, don’t make such a quick decision,” she added. “Wanting to get into one of the top ten universities means you’ll be competing against countless people in Songyang City.”

“You’re not just saying this to show off, are you?”

Zhang Yu retorted indignantly, “Are you kidding me? I’m serious, and you think I’m joking?”

Seeing Zhang Yu’s earnest expression, Bai Zhenzhen suddenly smiled. “Alright, I’ll take it that you’re also aiming for a top ten university.”

“They gave you a month to think about it, right?” she asked. “My deadline is also in a month.”

“For the next two weeks, try to focus on improving yourself. Then, at the Farsight Competition, I’ll take you to meet some people.”

“The Farsight Competition?” Zhang Yu’s heart stirred. He remembered that the competition he had registered for was starting this month, in two weeks. “Meet people at the Farsight Competition? Who?”

Bai Zhenzhen replied mysteriously, “People who might be able to help us.”

Damn these riddle-tellers!

Zhang Yu pressed, “Who exactly are they?”

Bai Zhenzhen said, “I’m not sure yet. You’ll find out when the time comes.”

Helpless, Zhang Yu could only dedicate all his energy to self-improvement in the coming days. Whatever the case, the only thing he could truly grasp now was his own strength.

***

During martial arts class, Lei Jun, the teacher, declared, “Daoist techniques are useless. Martial arts are truly powerful.”

“When you confront an opponent directly, masterful martial arts skills are the most reliable thing in your hands. At that moment, there are only two outcomes: either you beat your opponent to death, or you lie down and get beaten to death by them…”

Listening to Lei Jun’s speech, He Dayou secretly rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed by the remarks. Just then, Lei Jun said, “Alright, now everyone, group up for practical combat practice.”

“He Dayou, you’re with Zhang Yu.”

“Huh?” He Dayou was stunned upon hearing this and instinctively looked at Lei Jun, pointing at himself.

Lei Jun snorted coldly. “What are you looking at? You lost so badly in the monthly exam and your scores are terrible. Did you reflect properly afterwards?”

“Now I’m giving you another chance to learn from Zhang Yu. Are you unwilling?”

With the strong reprimand about his poor monthly exam combat scores, even He Dayou, the son of a school board member, couldn’t argue. After all, under the prevailing attitude that underachievers were wrong even for breathing, He Dayou couldn’t defy it in class.

*Damn that martial arts geezer, bullying a top daoist techniques student, huh?*

He silently walked over to Zhang Yu, thinking, *But I might actually be able to win against Zhang Yu now.*

Despite his three consecutive losses to Zhang Yu, He Dayou didn’t intend to dwell on it, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t engaged in self-reflection and analysis. He had watched the recordings of those three battles many times himself, and even specifically showed them to his personal combat instructor. The analysis concluded that Zhang Yu’s Empty-Hand Combat had reached Level 3, making him dangerous if he found an opening. However, Zhang Yu’s weakness was also obvious: from the third practical combat session, it was clear Zhang Yu severely lacked combat experience.

So He Dayou had tried practicing some counter-strategies. For instance, on the ring now, he would no longer attack proactively but focus entirely on defense, waiting for his opponent to become impatient before looking for an opportunity to strike with his Little Heavenly Star Palm…

With a strategy, He Dayou believed that even if he lost, he wouldn’t lose badly, and there was even a possibility of winning.

He Dayou parried several of Zhang Yu’s moves, feeling fine at first. But soon, he felt the opponent’s punches getting heavier and heavier, making his hands ache and his mana churn slightly.

With another punch, Zhang Yu directly broke through He Dayou’s guard, and He Dayou was then kicked away. He fell to the ground with a thud, feeling his mana surging repeatedly, unable to get back up for a moment.

“Zhang Yu’s Empty-Hand Combat power is stronger than last time?”

“Could he have…” He Dayou looked at Zhang Yu in disbelief.

On the other side, Lei Jun flashed and appeared beside Zhang Yu, exclaiming, “Your Empty-Hand Combat is Level 4?”

Zhang Yu, who already had Level 5 Empty-Hand Combat, gave an awkward smile. “Yeah, I just broke through yesterday.” Originally, Zhang Yu hadn’t planned to reveal his improved Empty-Hand Combat and was deliberately suppressing its power when fighting He Dayou. But ultimately, lacking combat experience, when He Dayou switched to full defense, Zhang Yu’s continuous fierce attacks accidentally led him to lose control of his Empty-Hand Combat power, pushing his physical strength and mana circulation to Level 4.

Lei Jun, however, laughed heartily upon hearing this. “It seems you have quite a talent for martial arts.”

“How about it? Would you like to participate in next month’s Songyang City Martial Arts Combat Competition?”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up. “Is there a prize?”

Lei Jun replied, “Of course. The city champion gets 50,000, and also the right to use expert-level martial arts techniques.”

*The Farsight Competition I registered for had prize money, and now this Martial Arts Combat Competition also has prize money…* Zhang Yu thought. He suddenly realized that if he could win more competitions and prize money, he might have enough funds for daily expenses and even accelerate his cultivation, even without student union funding.

Seeing Zhang Yu’s interest, Lei Jun continued, “I’ve told you all along that martial arts are very useful. As long as you’re good in combat, you won’t have trouble earning money.”

“Then I’ll sign you up. I’ll take you and Bai Zhenzhen there when the time comes.”

After Lei Jun left, Zhang Yu looked at He Dayou, who was still lying on the ground, and asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, what could be wrong with me?” He Dayou quickly stood up, gave Zhang Yu a deep look, and suddenly said, “I heard the student union called you in yesterday?”

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, He Dayou slowly calmed the anger in his heart. *No need to be mad at him. It’s all school assets, and it won’t affect my college entrance exam.*

Rubbing his chest, he comforted himself, *Being strong or weak in first-year practical combat doesn’t matter much. Once I lay a good foundation and start cultivating expert-level techniques, I’ll soon be able to crush Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and the rest.*

***

On the other side of the training ground, Bai Zhenzhen impatiently said, “Are you done watching? Let’s continue.”

Qian Shen’s gaze shifted from Zhang Yu. Facing Bai Zhenzhen, he felt a wave of pressure wash over him. If his opponent were a half-human with 550 points, he was confident he could crush them. But facing a prodigy with 651 points, Qian Shen felt as if his every move was seen through. The moment he started fighting Bai Zhenzhen, he felt constrained and his combat power drastically dropped.

*My points are so much lower than hers, how can I be her match? Old Huang is really something; he should have arranged for Zhang Yu, who’s only 6 points lower than me, to fight me.*

Zhang Yu glanced at He Dayou, Qian Shen, and the other rich students. He suddenly wondered what these seemingly friendly rich students would become once they knew he and Bai Zhenzhen wanted to get into the top ten universities. Would they also team up to deal with him and Ah Zhen?

Watching Qian Shen being completely suppressed by Bai Zhenzhen at that moment, Zhang Yu mused, *Speaking of which, Qian Shen’s strict adherence to scores, as if unaware that poor people have no way of getting into the top ten universities, could it be an act?*

Zhang Yu didn’t think so. Qian Shen’s purity seemed too genuine to be faked. So it couldn’t be a scenario like, “Let the young master focus on his studies; don’t let him know about the dirty business of society,” could it?

Zhang Yu shook his head, unable to be certain.

***

In the Daoist Arts class, the teacher looked at He Dayou with appreciation. “This Health and Spring Charm is well-written. It seems your understanding of the Great God of Health and Spring’s talismans is truly profound.”

He Dayou said humbly, “Teacher, you flatter me. I still have much to improve.”

The teacher waved his hand. “Excessive humility is pride.”

“To reach this level in your first year, He Dayou, I don’t think you even need to attend the school’s first-year courses anymore.”

“It’s fine if you don’t come to this class anymore. I’ll mark you as full attendance.”

He Dayou felt the envious gazes of his classmates around him and went through another round of humility and refusal.

The teacher suddenly turned and said, “Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, you two also need to work harder.”

“Being so biased in your studies isn’t good.”

“If you have time, come to me for extra lessons. I’ll give you both a twenty percent discount…”

Both Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu could only lower their heads and endure the scolding. However, their hearts remained calm. The cost-effectiveness of extra lessons for talismans was too low; they still intended to spend their money on more worthwhile things first.

***

Inside the quiet room, the administrator Wei Xin’s voice came through. “Student Zhang Yu, time is almost up. Would you like to add an hour?”

Zhang Yu, who once again achieved the lowest distraction rate this week, hesitated for a moment before saying, “Add an hour.” Thinking about the Farsight Competition getting closer, Zhang Yu decided to moderately increase his mana cultivation speed. He took a deep breath, feeling the Qi Sea Spiritual Root in his dantian vibrate. Spiritual energy surged in from all directions, thread by thread, refined into mana.

An hour later, watching Zhang Yu’s retreating figure, Wei Xin sighed, “As expected of a Core Formation Disciple; the improvement in his cultivation efficiency is so fast.”

“If only he’d sign up for a Platinum membership someday.”

***

After school, on the school rooftop, loud thudding and clanging sounds filled the air. Two figures collided at high speed, generating gusts of wind and crackling sounds like thunder. It was Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen engaging in practical combat training.

Compared to sparring in combat class, their private training allowed them to go all out without worrying about revealing their trump cards, which greatly enhanced their practical combat experience. As their fists and feet exchanged blows, Zhang Yu’s Empty-Hand Combat had greater power, but his physical strength was slightly weaker than Bai Zhenzhen’s. Although Bai Zhenzhen’s Empty-Hand Combat level was not as high as Zhang Yu’s, she also knew a basic high school sword technique, which she occasionally interspersed with sword-finger strikes, forcing the less experienced Zhang Yu into a frantic defense.

“Yu Zi, don’t look at my hands. You need to look at my hips and shoulders to predict my movements.”

“Don’t always try to judge based on your familiarity with Empty-Hand Combat…”

***

At the stationery store near the school gate, the owner pointed to this year’s first-year academic rankings. “Zhang Yu, who ranked third in the first year and improved by 70 points in one month, bought tranquilizers, painkillers, fillers, muscle supplements from my store…”

Saying this, he pulled out a bag of medicine bottles and recommended them to the Songyang students in front of him. “Zhang Yu’s original cultivation package, now 10% off.”

Zhang Yu, who had come to resupply, stood at the entrance, watching the adult behind the counter, who was constantly talking to make money, and once again felt the ugliness of the adult world.

After the students left, Zhang Yu walked up and said, “How’s it going? I told you last time I’m a campus celebrity, and my endorsement works wonders.”

“Shouldn’t you raise my fee?”

The owner said discontentedly, “I haven’t even broken even on the batch of nerve fillers I gave you for free.” He pointed towards the gift bag. “Look, I only sold one today.”

*You’re selling common goods here, and they’re not cheaper than online, so where else would people buy them?* Zhang Yu thought.

The owner added, “And about the body tempering medicine, many students are saying you temper your body naturally, without injections.”

Zhang Yu quickly changed the subject. “It’s because I’m not taking enough of your medicine at school. Give me two more bottles of nerve fillers. I’ll take them every day at school, then the promotional effect will be better.”

***

Studying, attending classes, cultivating, performing breathing exercises, practical combat… For five days, Zhang Yu poured all his energy into cultivation.

One evening, as he was performing cultivation breathing on his bed, a smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of his mouth. After completing his final cultivation cycle, his Heavenly Circulation Qi Gathering Method finally reached Level 10. In an instant, the mana circulation within Zhang Yu’s body surged powerfully, like an endless river, causing him to seemingly hear a whistling illusionary sound in his ears.

After a long while, as the turmoil of the mana circulation gradually subsided, Zhang Yu felt his passive cultivation become more potent and agile.

“After Heavenly Circulation Qi Gathering Method reached Level 10, passive cultivation is now 100% as efficient as active cultivation.”

Zhang Yu’s smile widened. This meant that even if he no longer actively cultivated, it would be as if he was constantly operating the Heavenly Circulation Qi Gathering Method to absorb spiritual energy, and his mana would be improving constantly.

And through this period of diligent cultivation, his mana had also greatly increased, reaching 13.3, making him second in his entire grade. Thinking of this, Zhang Yu’s face took on a strange expression. *My potential is astonishing, and I’m incredibly disciplined, so this rate of progress isn’t strange.*

*But why does Ah Zhen’s progress also feel like it’s getting faster and faster recently?*

*Has she also unlocked something?*