Amidst the astonishment of numerous students and the observing deities, Zhang Yu abruptly ceased the circulation of his mana.

Originally, the students present were all sprinting with their full power, and except for the top two, the data of each student were very close.

Thus… with Zhang Yu’s sudden pause, the bar graph representing him was swiftly overtaken, plunging towards the very last position in the blink of an eye.

Witnessing his ranking plummet step by step, the fighting spirit in Zhang Yu’s eyes intensified, and the crippled ox he envisioned in his mind let out a heavenward roar, its broken horn radiating a faint chilling light.

“Come on, let’s turn adversity into opportunity!”

Under the self-imposed pressure from Zhang Yu, the enhancement effect of the Crippled Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Sutra, facing pressure and desperate situations, was amplified continuously.

Zhang Yu felt the mana throughout his body surge to life, akin to oil poured on a raging fire, emitting an unprecedented vitality.

His mind raced at lightning speed, beginning to meticulously control the flow of mana throughout his body.

“My mana control is strong, but I’ve always lacked training in mana burst power.”

“If I want to achieve a breakthrough in this exam, I must fully unleash the advantages of my control.”

With this thought, a flash of inspiration ignited in Zhang Yu’s mind, leading him to the Dragon Elephant Mountain Shattering Palm, a universal martial art he had spent 200,000 spirit stones on.

Just like the previous Back-Carrying Dragon Mountain-Flipping Hand, such pure physical martial arts were termed universal because they could accept the amplification of any mana, unleashing formidable power.

“The Dragon Elephant Mountain Shattering Palm should be my most explosive martial skill. If I were to propel this martial art with mana…”

With a resounding bang, the mana within Zhang Yu’s body crashed violently onto the detection patch in his palm.

At the same moment, he felt a sharp pain in his meridians.

“My meridians are still not strong enough…”

“If that’s the case, I’ll envelop my meridians with the Formless Cloud Qi, treating it as a new conduit…”

“And then use the Dragon Elephant Mountain Shattering Palm to blast all the damn mana out!”

Strands of Formless Cloud Qi rose from Zhang Yu’s dantian, instantly transforming into layers of subcutaneous qi, enveloping his meridians, constructing a channel from his dantian to his palm.

In the next instant, a rumble erupted within Zhang Yu’s body, and the explosive mana surged along the channel, erupting forth in an incredibly brutal manner.

The pressure of being in a desperate situation, the amplification of the Crippled Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Sutra, the Formless Cloud Qi transforming into a track, mana being released through the Dragon Elephant Mountain Shattering Palm – each strike violently shook the Formless Cloud Qi within Zhang Yu’s body.

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt as if he had become a cannon, using the Formless Cloud Qi as the barrel, the Dragon Elephant Mountain Shattering Palm as the gunpowder, and mana as the bullet, firing shot after shot within his own body.

But with such operations, as Zhang Yu so brutally and fiercely propelled the mana, his ranking instantly began to accelerate, dashing forward with incredible force.

30th place!

28th place!

21st place!

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Yu had not only returned to 21st place but was still accelerating towards 20th place!

Simultaneously, the student currently in 20th place was a student named Li Tongyun.

Upon seeing the bar graph representing number 55 on the light screen constantly chasing after her, Li Tongyun felt immense pressure.

“Damn it… Why?”

“Why am I being forced into this position?”

Recalling her past achievements as one of the top five students in Xianyun High School, only to see her results decline over the past six months, falling to this level…

A strong sense of unwillingness arose in Li Tongyun’s heart.

Half a year ago, her father had lost in a corporate struggle, becoming a scapegoat and ultimately being kicked out of the company.

With severance pay delayed, the family faced pressure from various loans, bills, and cultivation expenses.

At the time, her parents’ savings were only enough to cover one month’s expenses.

To maintain her status among friends, classmates, and teachers, Li Tongyun dared not reveal this, continuously borrowing money and putting on a brave face to maintain her wealthy persona.

As the saying goes, when the bank account is empty, the loan account is full.

And as of today, Li Tongyun’s bank account was already 1.5 million in debt.

Even so, her cultivation level had fallen behind her classmates because of a lack of financial support.

After all, on the path of high school cultivation where everyone was rapidly advancing, slowing down even slightly meant being left far behind.

“I can’t lose…”

If that were all, though the contrast was great, though she was gradually being abandoned by her original circle of friends, at least she could still get into a university and find a good job in the future.

But Li Tongyun knew things weren’t that simple because she couldn’t afford to lose now.

When her family’s income was at its highest, when her grades reached the top five in Xianyun High School, when she was at her most successful and proud, considering entering the top ten schools as inevitable…

She and her father’s company had signed a high-stakes agreement.

“I must obtain the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate, or else… I will become company property.”

Watching number 55 getting closer and closer, Li Tongyun felt as if the other person was a bottomless abyss representing endless despair, chasing her relentlessly, wanting to devour her completely.

“I can’t lose!”

With an angry roar in her heart, Li Tongyun unleashed twelve-tenths of her mana, accompanied by a wave of meridian-tearing pain, blasting the mana out.

But no matter how hard she tried, how desperately she fought, even to the point of bleeding from all seven orifices, she could only watch helplessly as Zhang Yu stepped over her number, pushing her down to 21st place.

Reaching 20th place, Zhang Yu breathed a sigh of relief: “Finally made it.”

As the pressure lessened, Zhang Yu also slowed down the output of mana.

After all, his current brutal methods couldn’t be harmless to his body. While retaining his position in the top 20, he also needed to ensure his body’s health.

But soon Zhang Yu discovered that 21st place was still chasing him.

As the other person got closer and closer, the pressure increased, and Zhang Yu had to increase his mana output again, trying to shake the other person off.

Even with the protection of the Formless Cloud Qi, such brutal mana blasts still gradually injured his body.

“Damn it, is this guy that persistent?”

Zhang Yu rubbed his aching stomach, looking at the 21st place chasing him… remembering that the other person’s number was 36.

Li Tongyun, bleeding from all seven orifices and feeling meridian-tearing pain throughout her body, was also staring intently at number 55 on the light screen.

Each time she approached the other person, number 55 would always accelerate again, shaking her off.

But after shaking her off, the other person would slow down slightly, as if waiting for her to catch up again.

Li Tongyun felt unwilling: “Number 55, is that super-rich out-of-towner?”

“Is he deliberately teasing me? Deliberately playing with me?”

She seemed to be able to see the other person looking at her with a mischievous smile, watching her struggle repeatedly but always failing to catch up.

At the same time, Dai Xingzhi had also been observing number 55’s performance.

When he saw number 55 proactively stop the circulation of mana, jumping to the very last place in one breath, he felt utterly perplexed.

When he saw number 55 accelerate all the way back to 20th place, he thought the other person was about to attack the top three.

But when he saw number 55 stop at 20th place, he felt confused again.

Until he watched number 55 stay at 20th place, watching number 36 chase up again and again, only to be shaken off again and again…

A glimmer of understanding flashed in Dai Xingzhi’s eyes: “He… he’s playing around, isn’t he?”

Seeing the other person steadily maintaining the 20th place ranking until the end of this round of exams, Dai Xingzhi felt increasingly certain of this.

“Deliberately stuck at 20th place, not surpassing the person above, but controlling it so that no one can surpass him.”

“He’s actually controlling his ranking in the Foundation Establishment Exam?”

“This is something only someone with absolute confidence in themselves can do.”

Dai Xingzhi looked in Zhang Yu’s direction, muttering to himself: “Just how rich is this guy…”

And Dai Xingzhi wasn’t the only one on the scene with similar thoughts.

Yun Jing, who ultimately took second place, glanced at Zhang Yu after staring at Ye Lingxiao for a long time: “Hmph, hiding in the back playing such tricks. Is he flaunting his control or deliberately hiding his strength?”

After taking first place, Ye Lingxiao’s face revealed a trace of helplessness as he thought to himself: “I couldn’t help but grab first place after being slightly provoked.”

“Sure enough, I’m still a bit too impulsive.”

He looked in Zhang Yu’s direction, musing: “But this guy actually has the mindset to play around on the examination ground.”

At this moment, Zhang Yu had also become more unfathomable in Ye Lingxiao’s eyes.

Especially in this round, Zhang Yu was inevitably hiding his strength in Ye Lingxiao’s view.

An opponent whose depths were unknown made him feel more threatened.

“This guy might be more dangerous than Yun Jing.”

With that, Ye Lingxiao greeted Zhang Yu: “You played well.”

“Huh?” Hearing the other person’s greeting, Zhang Yu’s eyes were dazed: “What the hell does ‘played well’ mean?”

“Is this kid provoking me?”

“Seeing me struggling desperately in 20th place, so he came over to mock me?”

This feeling, how should he put it… Zhang Yu decided that he would never praise Zhao Tianxing for punching well in class again.

“Damn it, these words actually sound so uncomfortable, so sarcastic.”

Bai Zhenzhen comforted him: “Yu-zi, being looked down upon also has its advantages. That way, when you surpass them in the future, you’ll be even more in the spotlight.”

“Surpassing these rich people, that’s our privilege as poor people! These top-tier cultivation kids haven’t had this experience since they were born!”

Obviously, in Bai Zhenzhen’s view, Ye Lingxiao’s words and actions just now were full of provocation, mockery, disdain, and looking down on them.

But Zhang Yu didn’t feel comforted at all by Bai Zhenzhen’s consolation.

“Damn it, there are still two rounds left in this exam. Is that guy going to continue to be sarcastic to me?”

“Wasn’t it just criticizing him for throwing around red envelopes? Does he need to hold such a grudge?”

With the end of the mana examination, the next thing that awaited the many students was the physical examination.

Deng Bingding said: “A person’s body refinement level can be reflected in every aspect.”

“And one thing that everyone cannot live without every day and cannot fake is…”

“Appetite.”

“The stronger the person, the more they eat. The more a person eats, the stronger they are. Appetite is one of the indicators of a person’s body refinement strength, testing a person’s overall metabolism, digestion, and gastrointestinal motility.”

“Today’s second exam is the Battle of Gluttony!”