Chapter 31: Spirit Realm
Spirit Realm.
A spiritual world jointly created by the Ten Great Sects.
As the exam officially began, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness pulled from his flesh and transported to another world.
A light breeze gently stirred his hair, and he felt the hard pressure of a chair beneath him.
When Zhang Yu opened his eyes, he found himself in an ordinary classroom.
The room was filled with dozens of students his age, all from different high schools.
This was the Spirit Realm, a spiritual world separate from reality.
The Spirit Realm could be called a real world, yet it could also be called a false one.
It was called real because every sensation a person experienced here was indistinguishable from the real world.
It was called false because nothing in this world physically existed in reality. It was like a dream or an illusion, where everything seen, smelled, touched, and felt could be artificially controlled.
Zhang Yu knew that his physical body was still on his bed back at Songyang High School; only his consciousness had come to the Spirit Realm.
Like the students around him, he had been randomly selected from the multitude of examinees in Songyang City and placed in this classroom.
He glanced around the classroom’s environment. In any case, Zhang Yu could not spot a single difference between this place and reality.
I’d better not get stuck halfway through this thing. That’s all we need—a city-wide incident of high schoolers trapped in a virtual game.
A place akin to a virtual reality world—this was Zhang Yu’s understanding of the Spirit Realm based on the information he had reviewed.
Except Kunxu had used Immortal Dao technology to achieve this.
Of course, Zhang Yu also understood that his knowledge of the Spirit Realm was far too limited. His interpretation was certainly one-sided, but for now, it was sufficient.
Before them all, a slender man wearing an owl mask stood behind the lectern, looking out at them.
Li Xingyu swept his gaze over the examinees.
In the next moment, from his perspective, each student’s exam number, name, and high school appeared above their head.
Sigh. I hope this finishes quickly so I can clock out.
As a soul cultivator from Mount Mang High School, Li Xingyu, who had no physical body and only a soul, was long accustomed to daily life in the Spirit Realm.
Due to the unique nature of soul cultivators, they were not required to participate in this Dao heart examination and were instead conscripted by the teachers to act as proctors.
The thought of the forty-five hours of work he had left today made him sigh inwardly.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he inspected the students, his gaze fixing on Zhang Yu.
Him?
Li Xingyu still remembered how this security guard had stolen the show at Li Xuelian’s art exhibition that day, triggering the anomalous phenomenon in the Celestial Paragon’s Martial Demonstration Scroll.
From Songyang High School?
This is getting interesting. I should record his exam process. Maybe I can sell it to the principal as some decent research material.
After taking special note, Li Xingyu took a few steps forward. With each step, several identical versions of himself split off, and by his tenth step, a Li Xingyu stood before every single student.
This type of spiritual world cloning was second nature to a soul cultivator like Li Xingyu.
Zhang Yu looked at the owl-masked proctor before him, his mind racing with speculation.
The strength of one’s will was a manifestation of the Dao heart, and determining the Dao heart level was generally done by testing the strength of that will.
Therefore, the Dao heart examination primarily tested one’s willpower, at least at the Qi Refinement stage.
But the methods for testing each person’s willpower were many and varied. To prevent examinees from undergoing targeted training beforehand and causing inaccuracies in the results, the specific content of each Dao heart exam was different.
As far as Zhang Yu knew, the more prestigious the examination, the more resources were invested into the Dao heart test, and the more complex the content experienced by the examinees in the Spirit Realm would be.
After all, only more complex and diverse experiences could more accurately assess the students’ conditions.
This is a monthly exam… Zhang Yu thought to himself. Based on past experience, it shouldn’t be too complicated.
At that moment, Li Xingyu extended a hand toward him. He opened his palm, revealing a device that looked like a mobile phone.
“Take it.”
Simultaneously, all the Li Xingyus spoke in unison, “Today’s Dao heart examination is very simple… Pain.”
“For the next sixty minutes, the controller in your hand can 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 rank will be.”
The Dao heart exam was graded based on ranking, so one’s specific score depended not only on oneself but also on the performance of the other students.
For Songyang City’s monthly Dao heart exam, scores were based on the city-wide high school student rankings.
The real college entrance examination, however, was graded based on the rankings of all examinees on the first layer of Kunxu.
“Furthermore, if the pain level exceeds your tolerance and you fall unconscious, your consciousness will immediately be ejected from the Spirit Realm, and your score will be treated as zero.”
After explaining the content of this exam, Li Xingyu pointed a finger, and a ten-second countdown appeared in the air of the Spirit Realm.
“The timer will start in ten 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…
The only two buttons on the controller represented up and down, allowing one to continuously adjust from Pain Level 0, changing the perceived level of pain at any time.
Just looking at it made Zhang Yu feel like his entire body was already starting to ache.
What devil incarnate came up with this exam question? Is the creator even human?
Don’t tell me this scale includes levels like being burned alive, castration, or death by a thousand cuts…
So this is Songyang City’s version of Saw[^2], is it?
The thing Zhang Yu hated most was suffering, and what he hated even more than suffering was someone forcing his head down to suffer.
Yet, ever since he had arrived in Kunxu and embarked on this path of immortal cultivation, he had been constantly suffering, eating mouthful after mouthful of it.
At this moment, Zhang Yu felt utterly disgusted, the resistance in his heart reaching its limit.
Noticing this, Zhang Yu’s gaze sharpened, and he thought inwardly, But then again, as a high school cultivation student, studying, cultivating, and taking exams are my bounden duty. The more hardship I endure now, the more money I can earn later.
“I love studying, I love exams!”
After giving himself a pep talk, Zhang Yu felt a little more invigorated, and the pain controller before him seemed slightly more agreeable.
What is willpower? What is thought? What is a Dao heart?
The Dao heart course teacher had lectured at length, explaining how from ancient times to the present, people had worshiped gods, demons, and men… establishing all sorts of different ideologies, using different thoughts in coordination with heart arts to elevate the Dao heart and strengthen the will.
In Zhang Yu’s understanding, willpower was simply the ability to endure hardship; the stronger the willpower, the more hardship one could endure.
And thought enhancing willpower was a mindset that convinced you there was a benefit to this suffering, enabling you to endure even more.
At this moment, Zhang Yu was using these little thoughts to console and encourage himself, hoping to improve his performance in a little while.
Zhang Yu had many such minor thoughts, as did everyone.
But a truly sustainable, systemic ideology was something Zhang Yu did not yet possess, and it was something the school’s Dao heart course had failed to teach him.
That was something each student had to establish for themselves, by combining the curriculum with their own experiences and cultivation techniques.
The strength of will a cultivator displayed could be used to grade their Dao heart level.
The ideology within a cultivator’s mind could coordinate with a heart art to raise the Dao heart level, further strengthening their will.
Thought as the core, will as the manifestation, and heart art as the method—the combination of these three was a cultivator’s complete Dao heart.
The next moment, as the countdown in the air reached zero.
The students present began to operate their controllers, and one after another, some let out blood-curdling screams, some’s faces twisted in agony, and some gasped in cold air…
When Zhang Yu adjusted the pain level to 1, he felt as if a steel needle had pierced his palm.
He hurriedly activated the level 1 Basic Heart Tempering Art taught in his Dao heart course, striving to stabilize his spirit.
Emptiness, nothingness, selflessness… the Basic Heart Tempering Art was a heart art that calmed one’s emotions, maintained composure, and gradually guided one into a meditative state.
Through long-term practice, one’s Dao heart level would rise, and their willpower would grow stronger.
This level 1 Basic Heart Tempering Art was something the original Zhang Yu had learned before he came to this world.
But because he had always been busy improving his magic power, physical strength, and advancing his Celestial Cycle Qi-Gathering Method, Thirty-Six Body-Strengthening Forms, and Freehand Combat, he had never gotten around to improving this heart art.
Now, as Zhang Yu activated the Basic Heart Tempering Art, he felt a calm gradually settle over his mind, and his tolerance for pain seemed to increase significantly.
He immediately raised the pain level to 2.
Hiss!
Zhang Yu felt as if his other hand had also been pierced by a steel needle.
But it was still bearable.
So Zhang Yu increased the pain level by level, and when it reached 37, he felt as if thirty-seven steel needles had been driven through his hands and feet.
At this point, Zhang Yu’s face was contorted, and no matter how hard he tried to circulate the Basic Heart Tempering Art, he could not feel the slightest bit of peace.
Calm your heart and quiet your qi! Calm your heart and quiet your qi! Calm your heart and quiet your qi!
Quiet the mind, focus the spirit, endure in silence, persevere with patience, constant dripping wears away the stone… the Basic Heart Tempering Art had to be paired with such an ideological system to maximize its effectiveness.
This was the standard way to improve the Dao heart; only when one’s own ideology matched the heart art would the effect be optimal.
But this whole set of calming the heart, quieting the spirit, silent endurance, patient perseverance, and dripping water wearing away stone was fundamentally at odds with Zhang Yu’s personality.
At this moment, all he wanted was to find the sadist who wrote this exam and beat them into a groveling apology.
Just as Zhang Yu felt he was reaching his limit, the contents of the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art suddenly flooded his mind.
Fist, palm, leg, spear, saber, sword…
One after another, figures emerged in his mind, carrying the killing intent to break an army of ten thousand, the unyielding will to fight through nine deaths, and the indomitable spirit to press ever forward… this was what resonated with his heart.
Although Zhang Yu’s Dao heart level was insufficient to truly master the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art.
Just recalling the intent within this martial art was enough to cause a surge of power to rise in Zhang Yu’s heart.
He was like a common soldier trailing a peerless general; the sight of his commander’s heroic bearing was enough to fill his own heart with courage and rally his spirit.
At this moment, the piercing pain of the steel needles all over his body no longer seemed so unbearable.
A savage grin spread across his lips.
When I climb to the top, I’ll make the devil incarnate who designed this test kneel and beg for mercy.