Chapter 51: Surging Undercurrents
Zhang Yu gazed at the vest, shorts, wrist guards, and ankle weights before him, along with two large canisters sitting nearby.
This was the weighted suit and demonic beast meat powder he had purchased.
The weighted suit was a durable piece of body tempering equipment. It was inexpensive, could be used at any time, allowed one to train hard in secret without being easily discovered by classmates, and even offered the dramatic effect of being cast off in a fight for a classic reveal—truly an indispensable, classic piece of gear on the path of the Immortal Dao.
The suit Zhang Yu purchased weighed a total of 150 kilograms, allowing him to train his physical body during his daily activities.
The demonic beast meat powder, on the other hand, was a nutritional supplement that could better replenish the vital energy he expended and fuel his growth, helping a young man grow taller, faster, and stronger.
The two items cost him more than 4,000 yuan in total, reducing his savings to just over 59,000.
“Sigh, I’m still too poor. I can only afford this poor man’s gear.”
While browsing the shopping website, what Zhang Yu had actually wanted most was an external spiritual root called the Gluttony Spiritual Root.
According to the product description, once that thing was inserted into the body, it would frantically stimulate one’s metabolism and strengthen the body day after day, absorbing every available nutrient to fuel one’s vital energy; in the words of the ad, you could even get stronger by eating shit.
Unfortunately, it was too expensive; one cost forty million.
Spending forty million to experience the feeling of getting stronger even by eating shit was not something the current Zhang Yu could afford.
“Sigh, I’ll just try the school’s Muscle-Growth Spiritual Root during the next free rental.”
As he put on the weighted suit piece by piece, Zhang Yu felt his body grow heavier and heavier. Simple actions like bending over, walking, and raising his hands were now met with layers of resistance, making movement much more difficult.
“Hoo…”
Before he could even take more than a few steps, a furious shout came from downstairs.
“Are you trying to demolish the building in the middle of the night!”
Knowing he was making too much noise with the weighted suit on, Zhang Yu made his way to the abandoned building.
The entire way there, it felt as if he were bound by heavy shackles, and he could feel all sorts of discomfort from every part of his body.
However, after he began circulating the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra and focused on his desire to improve his physical strength day and night, all this discomfort was temporarily suppressed, replaced by a sense of satisfaction from knowing his body was constantly being trained.
“So the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra is effective for this too.”
Zhang Yu’s next goal was to maintain the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra at all times if possible, constantly using the heart art to raise his Dao heart level while simultaneously resisting the discomfort from the weighted suit.
“Training my Dao heart and my physical body, 24 hours a day.”
If he could achieve this, he would be able to further increase the efficiency of his Dao heart level progression and train his physical strength at the same time.
A wry smile appeared on Zhang Yu’s face as he thought about how he had voluntarily taken on such a huge burden without anyone forcing him.
He sighed to himself, “I have no choice. Those rich bastards from the three great schools are more ridiculous than the last.”
“To survive, to get into one of the Ten Greats, to enter a major sect… I have to grind, there’s no other way…”
Arriving at the abandoned building once again, Zhang Yu, still wearing the weighted suit, sat cross-legged on the floor, letting his body rest while striving to maintain the state of his Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, continuously visualizing the image of the old ox plowing the wasteland in his mind.
Theoretically, as long as a cultivator could endure, a heart art could be maintained indefinitely.
It was like listening to an audiobook while playing a game, a manifestation of multitasking.
However, mental weakness, fatigue, and various external stimuli could all interrupt the maintenance of a heart art.
And if one needed to use their brain for complex tasks, such as solving problems on an exam or strategizing in a fight, then the heart art would be even more difficult to maintain.
So, although he had heard from his Dao heart class teacher that a heart art could theoretically be maintained at all times and that a powerful cultivator could maintain it as long as their consciousness remained clear, the old Zhang Yu had never been able to do it.
But ever since Zhang Yu had recently raised his Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra to level 10 and his Dao heart level had reached 2, he felt it had become much easier to maintain the heart art.
If maintaining the heart art before was like constantly solving a series of math problems in his head, he now felt like he was just counting from 1 to 1000—it had become much simpler.
“I should now be able to perform a variety of more complex exercises while maintaining my heart art.”
That was why Zhang Yu was attempting this now. He needed to practice maintaining the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra under more varied conditions.
After resting for a while, Zhang Yu stood up in his weighted suit and began to walk back and forth while maintaining his heart art.
He felt as if he had discarded half his brain and lost half his muscle, learning all the movements again from scratch.
The next evening, upon returning to the abandoned building, Zhang Yu tried doing some simple warm-up exercises while maintaining his heart art.
On the third day, as he grew more accustomed to it, Zhang Yu began to practice the Limitless Cloud Hand while wearing the weighted suit and maintaining the heart art.
The level 6 Limitless Cloud Hand felt as if it had been rehearsed thousands upon thousands of times in his mind, and he could execute every movement naturally without much thought.
At this moment, as he maintained the visualization for his heart art in his mind, his physical body, under the pressure of the weighted suit, continuously practiced the forms of the Limitless Cloud Hand.
The magic power within his body, surging with torrential momentum, transformed into wisps of Formless Cloud-Astral Qi as it was repeatedly oscillated.
However, because he had to divide his attention to maintain the heart art, coupled with the weighted suit and magic power consumption, Zhang Yu’s efficiency in practicing the Limitless Cloud Hand had slowed down considerably.
Three full days passed before he finally managed to advance the Limitless Cloud Hand to level 10.
Listen to that—only advanced it to level 10.
Zhang Yu clearly felt this speed was a little too slow.
“Sigh, the Feather Book still isn’t powerful enough. It’s limiting my potential and the fruits of my self-discipline.”
Within the abandoned building, magic power rose from Zhang Yu’s dantian, silently completing seven consecutive oscillations before dispersing into his limbs and meridians, erupting from every inch of his body.
In an instant, Zhang Yu was wreathed in white, cloud-like vapor, giving him the bearing of a transcendent immortal.
“This is the effect of the Limitless Cloud Hand at level 10. The Formless Cloud-Astral Qi is no longer confined to the hands but emerges from every part of the body, truly integrating offense and defense.”
But the magic power consumption had also increased drastically. Zhang Yu felt he couldn’t sustain it for more than a few minutes, so he quickly stopped.
And after these days of ascetic training, Zhang Yu’s various attributes had once again improved.
His magic power, from his day and night breathing exercises, had increased to 16.9.
The constantly worn weighted suit, along with his Limitless Cloud Hand training, had raised his body strength to level 1.28.
His Dao heart, under the near-constant tempering of the level 10 Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, was still the fastest to improve, having already reached Level 2 (65%).
…
One day, not long after Zhang Yu arrived in the classroom, he saw a middle-aged woman with a weary face at a desk, packing up some things.
Just as Zhang Yu was feeling confused, he heard Zhou Tianyi beside him say, “Liang Qin dropped out. That’s his mom, here to pack his things.”
“Huh?” Zhang Yu asked, surprised. “Why?”
Zhou Tianyi lamented, “Apparently he racked up over a million in gambling debts. After his parents found out, they came straight here to process his withdrawal from the school.”
“I heard their family made a scene in the teacher’s office yesterday. Liang Qin kept kneeling and kowtowing, but his parents still insisted on having him withdrawn.”
Zhou Tianyi shook his head and sighed, “His parents did the right thing. Once you get addicted to gambling, you can only live as a mortal for the rest of your life. You’ll never achieve anything on the path of the Immortal Dao.”
“Forget about a first-year high school student; even a true immortal would fall, lose their entire cultivation, go bankrupt, and become a mortal again.”
Zhang Yu was silent for a moment. In terms of borrowing money, this Liang Qin was a bit like his predecessor. He thought that if he hadn’t transmigrated, the original Zhang Yu might very well have met the same end.
Just then, Bai Zhenzhen dragged Zhang Yu out of the classroom and said to him, “I’ve finally heard from those poor sods. They sent over an electronic agreement for you to sign.”
Not long after Zhang Yu signed the electronic agreement, a transfer notification chimed on his phone.
Seeing the 20,000 yuan that had been deposited, both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were invigorated.
“For those skinflints to send twenty thousand in one go, they must really think highly of you.”
“Send 8,000 to my account, I need it for something.”
Zhang Yu didn’t ask why. After sending the 8,000, he simply added a word of caution, “What have you been busy with lately? You disappear as soon as school lets out every day.”
Bai Zhenzhen smiled faintly. “What else? Trying to find a way to get into one of the Ten Greats.”
“Since these skinflints value us so much, we have to make them help lighten our load.”
Speaking of which, she seemed to remember something and offered a reminder, “After next week’s monthly exam, Zhou Chechen will probably try to persuade us to sign again.”
“If we refuse the student council again this time, they will definitely apply even more pressure.”
“Especially you, kid. Since you took fourth place in the Magic Power Competition, they’ll definitely try to force you to sign. Can you handle it?”
Zhang Yu wasn’t sure himself, but seeing the concern in Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes, he laughed and said, “Of course I can handle it. Just make sure you don’t give up halfway.”
Zhang Yu thought about the pressure from the ritual, thinking to himself that he would either be killed by the ritual or get into the Ten Greats; there was simply no other choice.
Just as he was thinking this, that all-too-familiar chill rose up within his body again. Zhang Yu knew it was urging him to hurry back and focus on his studies and cultivation.
“Sigh, let’s not talk about it. My own strength is what matters most. I’m heading back to cultivate.”
Bai Zhenzhen placed a hand on his shoulder and reminded him, “Remember, when you refuse, you can shift the blame onto Purple Cloud High School and White Dragon High School. Say they’re trying to recruit you, and keep negotiating with the student council to stall for time.”
“You have to remember, you absolutely cannot let them find out that you’re aiming for the Ten Greats.”
Watching Zhang Yu’s rapidly retreating back, Bai Zhenzhen also seemed to sense his urgency.
“Yu-boy has been working harder and harder lately.”
“He must be anxious too.”
“But it’s fine, I’m about to find that guy…”
“I really am something else. Even though Yu-boy was a tiny bit better than me in the Magic Power Competition, when it comes to getting into the Ten Greats, he’ll still need me to watch his back.”
…
In a quiet chamber.
Having rented a Muscle-Growth Spiritual Root, Zhang Yu could feel that every time he performed his breathing exercises, as the spiritual energy was drawn into the spiritual root, the root would in turn release wisps of an even more vibrant spiritual energy.
This was the growth-type spiritual energy produced by the Muscle-Growth Spiritual Root.
As this growth-type spiritual energy was naturally absorbed by his body, he felt as if his flesh and blood all over were squirming on their own, beginning to devour all available nutrients at an accelerated rate.
With the continuous effect of the Muscle-Growth Spiritual Root and the constant infusion of growth-type spiritual energy, this state would last for six to twelve hours, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of Zhang Yu’s physical strength training.
Wei Xin’s voice came through the broadcast: “Student Zhang, would you like to extend your time?”
Zhang Yu slowly exhaled, thought for a moment, and said, “Add one hour.”
…
In the training hall.
The martial arts teacher, Lei Jun, was giving Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen extra lessons for next month’s martial arts competition.
Amidst a series of rumbles and cracking sounds, two figures could be seen colliding back and forth, tearing at each other like a pair of giant beasts.
Zhang Yu’s Limitless Cloud Hand blasted out with surging martial astral qi.
But Bai Zhenzhen formed a sword with her fingers, striking out in a blur of sword-like motions, piercing the weakest and most critical points of the astral qi and instantly dissipating the incoming blast.
From the side, Lei Jun shouted, “Zhang Yu, the greatest strength of the Limitless Cloud Hand is its adaptability! Guide the flow of power, don’t always try to overwhelm people with brute force!”
It wasn’t that Zhang Yu wanted to rely solely on brute force; it was that Bai Zhenzhen’s combat experience was far superior to his. If he didn’t subconsciously rely on his martial astral qi for a frontal assault, he was almost constantly being suppressed by her.
“How is this girl, Zhen, so good at fighting?”
Although Zhang Yu wasn’t using his full strength, he was still using a level 1 Limitless Cloud Hand, yet he was still being completely suppressed by Bai Zhenzhen relying on just a few basic martial arts, making him strongly suspect that she was cheating.
Is she using fucking wallhacks or an aimbot? Or is she reading my inputs? How can she always hit my openings? How can she always see through my moves?
…
The days passed like this, with Zhang Yu constantly studying, cultivating, and attending extra lessons.
In the blink of an eye, another week had gone by.
The day of the monthly exam at Songyang High School had arrived once again.
And his classmates, the teachers, the student council… and all sorts of people, both known and unknown to Zhang Yu, were gradually turning their gazes toward him and Bai Zhenzhen.