Chapter 40: The Joyful Heart Art and Magic Power Competition Tutoring
The next morning.
Ever since breaking through to level 10 in the Celestial Cycle Qi-Gathering Method last night, Zhang Yu had purchased and begun practicing the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra…
Constantly forced to study, cultivate, and work by the power of the ritual, Zhang Yu had gradually adapted, and the moment he began the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, he felt an unparalleled affinity for it. His progress was faster and more ferocious than he had ever imagined.
Especially as the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra leveled up again and again, Zhang Yu found himself increasingly able to endure the dryness, tedium, and solitude of practicing a heart art.
Aside from invoking the ritual’s power to compel himself, he barely paused, advancing with valiant diligence on the path of the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra.
At the crack of dawn, Zhang Yu slowly opened his eyes; his Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra had already reached level 7 (15/21).
To have raised this heart art to such a level overnight, Zhang Yu sometimes felt frightened by his own talent.
Beyond that, his Dao heart had also made significant progress. Specifically, he saw new data in the Feather Book: Dao Heart Level 2 (1%).
Could it be that after cultivating the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, my grasp of my Dao heart has become more precise, allowing me to perceive its specific progress?
Zhang Yu shook his head; he still knew too little about the Feather Book.
After getting up, brushing his teeth, and washing his face, Zhang Yu continued to make the most of his time by silently practicing the heart art on his way to school.
At the breakneck pace he was advancing in the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, he felt he could probably push the heart art to level 10 today.
Songyang High School.
During the break between classes.
Zhang Yu, who was practicing his heart art, heard the approaching footsteps and his brow furrowed slightly.
A tall, bald-headed boy walked up to him and asked, “Zhang Yu, sorry to bother you for a moment.”
“Could I borrow your math test from yesterday to take a look?”
After waiting a moment and seeing that Zhang Yu was slow to respond, the boy smiled nonchalantly.
“My apologies, it seems I’ve disturbed you.”
“Carry on with your cultivation, then. I’ll come find you later.”
However, as the boy turned away, a gloomy look flashed in his eyes.
The way Zhang Yu focused on his cultivation, completely ignoring him, made him feel disrespected.
Hmph, as expected of the third-ranked in our year, so arrogant, he thought darkly. A 530-pointer like me probably isn’t even human to him, is he?
Meanwhile, listening to the boy’s departing footsteps, Zhang Yu felt a sense of relief that he was finally gone.
This Liang Qin kid is a bit too familiar, isn’t he?
Liang Qin was the boy who had just asked to borrow his math test.
Ever since Zhang Yu’s monthly exam results were released, classmates had often approached him, trying to probe the secret behind his rapid academic improvement.
But most of them would stop coming after one or two attempts, especially since Zhang Yu spent nearly every break cultivating diligently. The other students saw that he paid them no mind, and as the buzz from the monthly exam faded, fewer and fewer people came around to bother him.
Only this Liang Qin came to find him after almost every single class.
And it wasn’t just during the breaks.
During Martial Arts class, Liang Qin would bring him water.
After PE class, he would bring Zhang Yu a towel.
When they ate in the cafeteria, he would try to save a seat for Zhang Yu.
In conversation, he was always quick to flatter Zhang Yu.
He buzzed around Zhang Yu from time to time, like an attentive little bee.
At first, Zhang Yu had thought he was a decent person.
But after a few days, he found Liang Qin increasingly annoying.
Especially since he always came looking for him during breaks, which interfered with his cultivation.
Moreover, while flattering him, Liang Qin was always trying to subtly dig for the secret to his academic improvement, which Zhang Yu found tiresome.
Thus, for the past two days, Zhang Yu had gradually started ignoring him, hoping he would get the hint and back off.
Although this process seemed to have generated some resentment from the other boy, Zhang Yu had no other choice.
In the blink of an eye, it was nearly time for school to end.
During self-study, Zhang Yu’s body trembled slightly as he felt a stream of sweet nectar surge from the depths of his sea of consciousness, nourishing his entire being and filling him with an incredible sense of ease.
At the same time, a low roar echoed from the visualization diagram in his mind, where the ox Zhang Yu had sketched was now not only vivid and lifelike, but had its horns raised to the sky, letting out a deep bellow as if it had come to life.
Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra: Level 10
The moment this heart art reached level 10, Zhang Yu felt an unparalleled sense of satisfaction and joy.
The very thought that his power would continue to grow steadily, that he would push one cultivation technique after another to level 10, filled Zhang Yu’s heart with eager anticipation and a boundless joy born from that feeling.
Is this the effect of the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra reaching level 10?
As long as you hold anticipation for the future in your heart, you can feel joy and satisfaction even through tedious ascetic training and constant hardship.
Zhang Yu found this heart art more and more interesting the more he practiced. A cultivation technique that allowed one to feel joy during ascetic training—wouldn’t that lessen the pain of cultivation and increase its efficiency? Why did so many people rate it poorly?
Unless… many who practiced this heart art, even after reaching level 10, could no longer feel joy because they had lost all anticipation for the future?
Thinking about the current state of Kunxu’s first level, Zhang Yu shook his head helplessly.
The Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra is a good cultivation technique.
But no matter how good it is, a technique is just a technique. The future ultimately depends on the person.
Just as Zhang Yu was lost in these thoughts, a girl’s voice called out, “Yu-boy?”
Bai Zhenzhen stared at Zhang Yu’s satisfied, blissful expression, her gaze sweeping him from head to toe before she asked suspiciously, “Yu-boy, you didn’t just… finish… in the middle of class, did you?”
Zhang Yu’s eyes snapped open. He looked at Bai Zhenzhen’s disgusted expression and said, exasperated, “I was just marveling at the beauty of cultivation and contemplating the helplessness of the world, and then you, a person of such vulgarity, have to open your mouth and ruin the entire mood.”
Bai Zhenzhen, however, couldn’t be bothered with his talk of beauty and helplessness. She grabbed him and started pulling him out of the classroom.
“Enough of that nonsense. Did you forget we have tutoring for the Magic Power Competition after school today? We already paid 3,000 yuan for it.”
After his magic power level broke into the top ten of his grade last month, Zhang Yu, along with Bai Zhenzhen, was selected for the first-year team to participate in the Magic Power Competition.
But the topics tested in the first-year Magic Power Competition were things neither Zhang Yu nor Bai Zhenzhen had ever learned in school, subjects that went far beyond the standard curriculum.
Therefore, the magic power studies teacher, Ms. Yan, had organized a tutoring session to teach the competition topics.
Inside the classroom.
Aside from Ms. Yan, who wore her hair in a bun and had on black-framed glasses, the only students in attendance were Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.
Ms. Yan explained, “Besides you two, everyone else has a private tutor to help them. They have their own tutoring arrangements, so they won’t be attending.”
Doesn’t this mean we’re the only two poor kids in the top ten for magic power? Zhang Yu thought.
Bai Zhenzhen clenched her fists, thinking, I can’t believe attending this session will lower my campus reputation.
A fierce, competitive light flashed in Ms. Yan’s eyes as she thought, This bunch of rich kids is so disrespectful. They all trust their private tutors over me?
Those private tutors are all smooth talkers who only know how to scam people out of their money. How can they possibly compare to my thirty years of solid teaching experience at a top-tier high school?
Only two out of ten showed up. Isn’t this going to crush my campus reputation?
It’s one thing if they don’t come, but they didn’t even pay the tutoring fee?
If the students from Class 2 or 3 had dared to pull something like this, Ms. Yan would have been on the phone with their parents in an instant, summoning them all to the school to learn the consequences of underestimating a magic power studies teacher.
But when she thought about the parents of these eight students from the model class…
Well, their parents are just so busy with work; a teacher should be more understanding.
She looked at Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen and thought, You two poor kids had better make me proud. Thrash those other eight so thoroughly that they all come crawling to my tutoring sessions from now on.
Though all sorts of thoughts were running through her mind, Ms. Yan’s expression remained placid as she began to speak.
“The topics on the Magic Power Competition exam are completely different from what you normally study. Your total magic power is merely the foundation; the key is control…”
She projected a diagram of energy circulation within the human body and began to explain earnestly, “The magic power currently in your bodies is in its most basic form.”
“By controlling the flow and pathways of your magic power, you can change its form.”
“For example, one advanced application is for martial purposes, such as sword qi or palm strikes…”
“A step beyond that, you can even induce phenomena like heat, cold, or thunder…”
As she spoke, she held out a finger. A sharp fluctuation emanated from its tip, effortlessly slicing through a sheet of paper before her.
A moment later, her fingertip glowed faintly red, and a tiny flame flickered into existence.
“This is the most basic form of magic transformation.”
“Of course, a basic transformation like this relies on fundamentals—on your control over magic power—and its power is extremely limited.”
“The truly valuable next step is to cultivate specialized magic power, which is transformed by various unique and powerful techniques…”
Listening to Ms. Yan’s explanation, Zhang Yu suddenly recalled the chilling palm strike He Dayou had used against him during the practical combat portion of the monthly exam.
He figured that must have been a form of specialized magic power produced by some cultivation technique.
On the teaching platform, Ms. Yan projected an animated diagram of energy circulation and said to the two students, “This is the simplest conversion pathway for sword qi, capable of transforming magic power into a wisp of sharp sword energy.”
“Follow the method I just taught you and see if you can do it.”
Bai Zhenzhen stared at the animated diagram of the circulation pathway for a while before her head started to feel a bit dizzy.
This circulation pathway is too complex!
Then she tried it herself, only to be left speechless.
The magic power spun round and round in her left arm but steadfastly refused to transform into a wisp of sharp energy.
Is this really the simplest conversion pathway for sword qi?
This is competition-level difficulty?
She felt as if she had just learned addition, only for the teacher to present her with a linear equation with two variables and tell her to solve it.
Just then, Zhang Yu’s voice rang in her ears.
“Zhen, come quick and look at this!”
Bai Zhenzhen turned her head to see Zhang Yu lightly tapping his fingertip on his notebook, effortlessly carving out a linear equation with two variables.
Yu-boy, this unfamiliar side of you is sickening.