The next morning.

Since last night, after breaking through the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method to Level 10, Zhang Yu had purchased and started practicing the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art.

Constantly compelled by the ritual’s power to study, cultivate, and work, Zhang Yu had gradually adapted. As soon as he began practicing the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art, he felt an incredible synergy, making progress faster and more intensely than he had imagined. Especially as the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art continuously leveled up, Zhang Yu found himself increasingly able to endure the monotony, tedium, and solitude of cultivation. Aside from invoking the ritual’s power to push himself, he barely paused, making aggressive progress on his cultivation journey with the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art.

As dawn broke, Zhang Yu slowly opened his eyes. His Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art had already reached Level 7 (15/21). Elevating this cultivation method to such a level overnight, Zhang Yu sometimes felt a sense of awe at his own talent. In addition, his Dao Heart had also made significant progress. Zhang Yu particularly noticed new data on his Feather Scroll: Dao Heart Level 2 (1).

“Could it be that after practicing the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art, my grasp of the Dao Heart has become more accurate, allowing me to perceive its specific progress?” Zhang Yu shook his head, realizing he still knew too little about the Feather Scroll.

After getting up, brushing his teeth, and washing his face, Zhang Yu continued to silently practice the cultivation method, making the most of his time on the way to school. Given the rapid progress he was making with the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art, he felt he should be able to push this cultivation method to Level 10 today.

Songyang High School.

During class break.

Zhang Yu, who was cultivating, slightly furrowed his brow upon hearing approaching footsteps. A tall, bald-headed boy walked up to him and asked, “Zhang Yu, sorry to disturb you. Could I borrow your math test paper from yesterday?”

After a moment of waiting, seeing Zhang Yu’s prolonged silence, the boy smiled indifferently. “My apologies, it seems I’ve disturbed you. You can continue your practice. I’ll come find you later.”

However, as the boy turned away, a hint of gloom flickered in his eyes. Zhang Yu’s focused cultivation and complete disregard for him made the boy feel disrespected. He mused darkly to himself, “Hmph, as expected of the third-ranked student in the grade, truly arrogant. Someone like me, who scores in the 530s, probably isn’t even considered human to him, right?”

On the other side, hearing the retreating footsteps, Zhang Yu felt a sense of relief that the boy had finally left.

“Isn’t Liang Qin a bit too familiar?”

Liang Qin was the boy who had just asked Zhang Yu to borrow the math test paper. Ever since Zhang Yu’s monthly exam results were released, classmates often approached him, trying to uncover the secret to his rapid improvement. However, most people would only try once or twice before giving up. Especially since Zhang Yu diligently cultivated during almost every break, other students, seeing that he didn’t interact, and with the fading buzz around the monthly exam results, gradually stopped bothering him.

Only Liang Qin, however, came to find him almost every time class ended. And not just during class breaks. During martial arts class, Liang Qin would bring him water. After physical education class, he would bring Zhang Yu a towel to wipe his sweat. At the cafeteria, he would try to save a seat for Zhang Yu in advance. In conversations, he always made a habit of praising Zhang Yu. He was like a diligent little bee, constantly buzzing around Zhang Yu.

Initially, Zhang Yu thought he was a decent person. But after a few days, he found Liang Qin increasingly annoying. Especially since he kept coming to find him during breaks, it was disrupting his cultivation. Moreover, while praising him, Liang Qin always subtly tried to pry for his secrets to improving grades, which Zhang Yu found rather uninteresting.

So, in the past two days, Zhang Yu had gradually started ignoring him, hoping the boy would understand the hint and back off. Although this seemed to have caused some resentment from the other party, Zhang Yu felt he had no other choice.

Time quickly passed, approaching school dismissal.

During self-study class, Zhang Yu’s body trembled slightly, and he felt as if a stream of sweet dew emerged from the depths of his spiritual consciousness, nourishing his entire body and filling him with immense exhilaration. At the same time, a faint roar echoed from the mental image in his mind. The old ox Zhang Yu had envisioned not only appeared vividly lifelike but also lifted its horns skyward, emitting a low growl, as if it had come to life.

Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art Level 10

As this cultivation method reached Level 10, Zhang Yu felt an overwhelming sense of contentment and joy. Just the thought of his strength steadily increasing, and of pushing one cultivation technique after another to Level 10, filled Zhang Yu with immense anticipation, and from this anticipation, a continuous surge of joy welled up.

“Is this the effect of reaching Level 10 in the Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art?”

“As long as there’s anticipation for the future in one’s heart, even grueling and endless hardship can bring joy and contentment.”

Zhang Yu felt this cultivation method became more interesting the more he practiced it. A technique that allowed one to find joy in arduous training—wouldn’t this reduce the pain of cultivation and improve efficiency? So why did so many people give it bad reviews? Unless, for many who practiced this technique, even reaching Level 10 didn’t bring joy because they had lost all anticipation for the future in their lives?

Considering the current situation on Kunxu Layer One, Zhang Yu shook his head helplessly.

“The Desolate Ox Soul Suppressing Art is a good cultivation method.”

“But no matter how good a method is, it’s just a method. Ultimately, the future depends on the person.”

Just as Zhang Yu was lost in thought, a female voice called out, “Yu-zi?”

Bai Zhenzhen looked at Zhang Yu’s satisfied, joyful face, her gaze sweeping him from head to toe before she said with a suspicious expression, “Yu-zi, did you just… *spill over* in the classroom?”

Zhang Yu snapped his eyes open, looking at Bai Zhenzhen’s disgusted expression, and said exasperatedly, “Ugh, I was just lamenting the beauty of cultivation and comprehending the helplessness of the world, but your vulgar remark completely ruined the atmosphere.”

Bai Zhenzhen, however, couldn’t care less about Zhang Yu’s talk of beauty or helplessness. She grabbed him and walked out of the classroom. “Stop rambling! Did you forget we have to attend the magic competition tutoring after school today? We already paid 3,000 yuan!”

After Zhang Yu’s magical power entered the top ten in his grade last month, he and Bai Zhenzhen were both selected for the freshman team participating in the Magic Power Competition. However, the content for the freshman Magic Power Competition was entirely new to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, far exceeding anything taught in class. So, Teacher Yan, their magic power instructor, organized tutoring sessions to teach them the competition topics.

Inside the classroom.

Aside from Teacher Yan, who had her hair in a bun and wore black-rimmed glasses, only Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were present. Teacher Yan explained, “Besides you two, everyone else has private tutors helping them, and their own tutoring schedules, so they won’t be attending this session.”

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Doesn’t this mean that out of the top ten in magical power in our grade, only the two of us are poor?”

Bai Zhenzhen clenched her fists, thinking, “I didn’t expect this kind of tutoring would actually lower my school reputation if I attended.”

A fiery determination flashed in Teacher Yan’s eyes as she thought, “These rich kids are so disrespectful! They all trust their private tutors instead of me? Those private tutors are all glib-tongued, only knowing how to fleece money. How can they compare to my 30 years of solid teaching experience at a key high school? Only two out of ten showed up. Doesn’t this significantly lower my reputation at school? And they didn’t even pay the tutoring fee?”

If students from Class 2 or Class 3 dared to do this, Teacher Yan would definitely call their parents and summon them all to school, making them understand the consequences of underestimating a magic power teacher. But then she thought about the parents of the eight students in the demonstration class… Heh, their parents are so busy with work; as teachers, we ought to be more understanding.

She looked at Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen and thought, “You two poor kids had better bring me some honor. Surpass those eight other brats decisively, so they’ll all come dutifully to my tutoring sessions from now on.”

With various thoughts swirling in her mind, Teacher Yan outwardly remained calm and slowly began, “The magic competition tests something completely different from what you usually learn. Total magic power is just the foundation; the key is control over your magic power…”

She projected a diagram of energy circulation within the human body and began to explain diligently, “The magic power currently in your bodies is in its most basic form. By controlling the flow and path of your magic power, you can change its form. For example, one advanced direction is for martial arts applications like sword qi or palm force… Further still, it can trigger phenomena such as heating, cooling, or generating electricity…”

As she explained, she extended a finger, and a sharp ripple appeared at its tip, easily cutting through a sheet of paper in front of her. A moment later, her fingertip glowed faintly red, reflecting a tiny flame. “These are the most basic forms of magic power transformation. Of course, basic form changes rely on fundamental skills and and control over magic power, and their power is extremely limited. True advancement, with practical value, lies in the specialized magic power generated by various extraordinary techniques and ultimate skills…”

Listening to Teacher Yan’s explanation, Zhang Yu suddenly recalled the chilling palm force He Dayou had unleashed during their combat in the monthly exam. He guessed that must have been a specialized magic power formed by some cultivation technique.

On the podium, Teacher Yan projected an animated diagram of energy circulation and said to the two students, “This is the simplest sword qi conversion route, capable of transforming magic power into a trace of sharp sword qi. Try to do it yourselves, following what I just taught you.”

Bai Zhenzhen looked at the animated diagram of energy circulation for a while and soon felt a little dizzy. “This energy circulation route is too complex!” Then she tried it herself, feeling utterly speechless. Her magic power swirled around in her left arm but consistently failed to transform into even a hint of sharp energy. Was this really the simplest sword qi conversion route? Was this the competition difficulty? She felt like she had just learned addition, and then the teacher handed her a linear equation in two variables and told her to solve it.

Just then, Zhang Yu’s voice called out in Bai Zhenzhen’s ear. “Ah Zhen, come look!”

Bai Zhenzhen turned her head and saw Zhang Yu lightly tap his fingertip on his notebook, directly cutting a linear equation in two variables out of it.

“Yu-zi, that unfamiliar look on your face disgusts me.”