Chapter 49: Limitless Cloud Hand
Zhang Yu looked at his phone, which was displaying an electronic agreement.
The content of the agreement was simple: to grant the top ten finishers of the Magic Power Competition the right to use the Limitless Cloud Hand, on the condition that they not disseminate it, profit from its contents, and so on.
Bai Zhenzhen stood beside Zhang Yu, tilting her head to look at the agreement and complaining, “Talk about stingy. The Immortal Resonance Group is such a huge company, so why are they so cheap with their sponsorship? You have to be in the top ten overall just to get usage rights? Shouldn’t everyone get a copy?”
Zhang Yu shook his head in disagreement. “If everyone got a copy, wouldn’t that be unfair to the students who performed well in the competition?”
“The way I see it, even giving it to ten people is probably too many. I feel like anyone ranked below fourth place didn’t have a very good grasp of the test questions.”
Bai Zhenzhen shot Zhang Yu a sidelong glance.
You have got to be kidding me…
Listen to that. Unfair to the students who performed well? Anyone below fourth place didn’t have a good grasp of the questions? Was he even human? Had Zhang Yu forgotten how he had railed against the injustices of the modern Immortal Dao education system just one month ago? Where had his principles gone?
Bai Zhenzhen looked with disappointment at Zhang Yu’s ugly expression.
Yu-boy! My Yu-boy is dead. The thing standing before me now is just a walking corpse controlled by test scores!
“Haha, Zhen, the prize money is here,” Zhang Yu said, looking at the payment notification on his phone. He felt the corners of his mouth were harder to keep down than an AK-47.
His fourth-place finish in the Magic Power Competition came with a prize of a full twenty thousand in cash, instantly boosting his savings to over sixty-three thousand.
Zhang Yu clapped Bai Zhenzhen on the shoulder and declared with a grand wave of his hand, “Zhen, I’ll treat you to dinner when we get back to school.”
“Attaboy!” Bai Zhenzhen said cheerfully. “I knew you were a good kid at heart, that you’d never forget your roots.”
Before long, students from the various schools began to disperse.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen followed the group from Songyang High School out of the venue’s main gate.
Just then, a dark figure fell from the top of the stadium.
“That’s…” Zhang Yu’s gaze flickered. “Is that a person?”
Did someone fall?
Just as Zhang Yu registered what was happening, people on the scene had already sprung into action.
On any other day, the jumper would have likely hit the ground with a splat.
But at this very moment, the area was crowded with high school students, teachers, coaches, referees, and judges.
A great many of whom belonged to Red Pagoda High School.
As the saying goes, protecting the campus environment is everyone’s responsibility.
The instant the figure fell, several blasts of astral qi shot out, forming a series of cushions that saved the jumper.
Liang Qin, who had closed his eyes and braced for death, did not feel the excruciating pain he expected. Instead, it felt as though he had landed on an incredibly warm, large bed.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself being gently lowered to the ground by a ball of astral qi.
“Why did you save me!”
Liang Qin looked on in agony, feeling not a shred of joy at having been rescued.
While watching the Magic Power Competition just now, he had placed bet after bet, finally losing all his money. His father had even called to ask about the debt collectors… and so, like any degenerate gambler, he had made his choice.
The teacher who saved him showed no joy either, stating flatly, “Jumping from buildings is prohibited on school grounds.”
“I have already reported your situation to the police. A specialist will contact you to discuss the specific compensation…”
Hearing this, a flicker of despair crossed Liang Qin’s eyes, and he quickly tried to defend himself.
“I didn’t mean to jump! I just lost my footing…”
The other man replied coolly, “Lost your footing? So it was an accidental fall from a building? That costs money too.”
Liang Qin was furious, but remembering the man’s display of astral qi, he could only suppress his rage.
When I get the chance, I’ll find another place to jump.
Having calmed down, Liang Qin began to contemplate his next jumping spot. Schools, hospitals, shopping malls, residential complexes… every single one of them would demand compensation.
“In this god-forsaken world, it’s hard to even find a place to jump off a building for free.”
Meanwhile, the students from Songyang High School had nearly left the campus.
It wasn’t just the other students; even Zhang Yu was no longer so shocked by the sight of a jumper. He merely found the person enveloped in the ball of astral qi to be somewhat familiar.
…
Songyang High School.
The cafeteria.
Bai Zhenzhen popped a chicken leg into her mouth, and with a few soft crunches, swallowed it whole, bone and all.
Spread out before her was a large table laden with chicken, duck, fish, and other meats, a meal that had cost Zhang Yu over four hundred.
Even for cultivators of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s current level and physical strength, it was more than enough for a hearty feast.
“Ah, the school’s processed meals always hit the spot. You can smell that just-out-of-the-freezer freshness.”
Bai Zhenzhen took a bite and remarked, “That boxed lunch from Red Pagoda High School tasted off. Who knows how much synthetic food they put in it.”
Although Zhang Yu was also eating with great relish, he possessed a trove of culinary memories from his past life.
“Zhen,” he said, “when I’m rich, I’ll treat you to something even better.”
“You mean the dietary supplement meals on the second floor?”
Zhang Yu understood. To the students of Songyang High School… no, to the vast majority of high school students in all of Songyang City, “better food” meant food that could advance one’s cultivation and improve one’s grades.
As for the pursuit of flavor for its own sake… that was secondary, something most of Songyang City’s high school students didn’t have the luxury to pursue.
For a high school student, taste was a luxury.
Zhang Yu didn’t explain, simply saying, “You’ll know when I’m rich.”
As he spoke, he recalled the events of the competition.
“Zhen,” he asked curiously, “that set of fist techniques you used in the last match, how did you figure it out?”
Bai Zhenzhen answered casually, “Couldn’t you see the six stances in the energy circulation diagram?”
“There were stances?” Zhang Yu asked, startled.
“Of course,” Bai Zhenzhen said after a moment’s thought. “Wasn’t it obvious at a glance?”
Is she using a cheat? Zhang Yu looked at Zhen, still unable to comprehend how she could have seen it at a glance. It seemed that even students ranked below 100th place had their hidden strengths.
After she spoke, however, Bai Zhenzhen’s face filled with frustration.
“I was pushed into a corner, so I had no choice but to see if I could use external martial stances to support the magic power circulation method.”
“But it still didn’t work.”
Thinking of the constant setbacks she had faced during the Magic Power Competition, Bai Zhenzhen made a firm resolution to diligently work on her magic power control.
She looked up at Zhang Yu, recalling his spectacular performance on the competition grounds, and suddenly felt even worse.
“I’m starting remedial classes tomorrow!”
I, Bai Zhenzhen, will not be outdone by anyone!
Bai Zhenzhen asked, “Are you going to Teacher Yan’s remedial class?”
Before they had parted ways earlier, Teacher Yan had approached Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, informing them that she would use their competition results to apply for school funding to set up a Magic Power Competition remedial class, and she encouraged them to sign up.
Zhang Yu nodded. “Of course I’m going.”
Although he had achieved an excellent fourth-place finish, the competition had also made Zhang Yu aware of his own limitations.
If he hadn’t comprehended the Limitless Cloud Hand from Bai Zhenzhen at the last critical moment, he likely wouldn’t have even made it into the top ten of the overall rankings.
He wanted to become stronger in his mastery of magic power so that in future competitions, he would no longer have to rely on luck to win.
Moreover, with the school providing funding, Teacher Yan’s class might come with benefits like flying swords and cultivation techniques, which filled Zhang Yu with anticipation.
Seeing Zhang Yu nod, the corners of Bai Zhenzhen’s mouth turned up.
“Alright then. We’ll go to Old Yan for remedial classes together.”
…
After returning home, Zhang Yu did not cultivate the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra to enhance his Dao heart as he usually did.
After all, his Feather Book specialization was now switched to the Limitless Cloud Hand martial art.
So he decided to take this opportunity and continue to raise the level of his Limitless Cloud Hand.
He figured that since the Limitless Cloud Hand only had six moves, it might level up even faster than Freehand Combat; perhaps he could even reach level ten in a single night.
Thus, Zhang Yu returned once more to the abandoned, unfinished building.
Coming here felt like returning home, as he had spent night after night practicing his martial arts in this place.
It was quiet, there was no fear of disturbing anyone, and he could train without restraint.
If he hadn’t already paid his rent, and if the abandoned building had internet, electricity, and water, he would have considered moving a bed over and living in this wonderful, free place.
He walked into a large, bare, dust-gray hall.
With a mere thought, streams of magic power rose from his dantian, passed through seven layers of oscillation, and transformed into clouds of mist that gushed from his palms.
Because he had already reached Level 1 in the Limitless Cloud Hand, the speed and quality with which he converted magic power into martial astral qi now far surpassed that of any contestant from the competition.
Feeling the mist enveloping his hands, Zhang Yu thought to himself, Formless Cloud-Astral Qi?
After signing the electronic agreement, Zhang Yu had gained the right to use the Limitless Cloud Hand, along with a digital manual.
The true name of this martial astral qi was written within the manual.
Formless Cloud-Astral Qi, shaped like a white cloud, could be either hard or soft. It excelled at redirecting force and using an opponent’s strength against them, making it a versatile martial astral qi for both offense and defense.
Next, Zhang Yu began to practice the six external stances of the Limitless Cloud Hand.
He threw a punch forward, and the white Formless Cloud-Astral Qi carried a surging power, like a great siege hammer, letting out a whistling sound as it moved.
This was one of the fierce and powerful moves of the Limitless Cloud Hand, designed for breaking through enemy defenses head-on.
Then, Zhang Yu shifted his hands, and the white Formless Cloud-Astral Qi swirled around his body in layers of mist, imbued with a soft, yielding elasticity.
This was a defensive move from the Limitless Cloud Hand. The elastic Formless Cloud-Astral Qi could not only deflect the force of an opponent’s attack but could even rebound a portion of it.
In just a few moments, Zhang Yu had completed a full practice of the six stances of the Limitless Cloud Hand, and then he immediately started over.
The Limitless Cloud Hand had remarkably few stances, a mere six, and it took Zhang Yu only a little over ten minutes to practice them ten times.
Limitless Cloud Hand Level 1 (0/10) → Level 2 (0/20)
As the Limitless Cloud Hand advanced to Level 2, Zhang Yu felt as if he had experienced countless practice sessions in an instant. Whether it was the process of refining magic power into Formless Cloud-Astral Qi, his control over the qi itself, or even the application of the six external stances, everything improved dramatically in a flash.
Zhang Yu looked down at his hands.
Previously, when the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi had enveloped his hands, wisps of white, smoke-like qi would drift upward like signal smoke rising to the heavens; this was how it had appeared during the competition.
But now, with the Limitless Cloud Hand at Level 2, far fewer wisps of qi drifted upward, a clear sign of his increased control over this astral qi.