Chapter 81: Competition Slots
Songyang High School.
Inside the classroom.
School life remained as tranquil as ever, and the students’ enthusiasm for learning was as high as usual.
The language teacher explained the text from the podium with a complete lack of presence, while below, students were practicing forms, meditating, taking alchemical enhancers, and some had even started fighting… that was combat training.
This was the typical classroom atmosphere in an key high school.
First-year students, still bound by their middle school habits, would hold back a bit right after school started, but now, half a year in, everyone had revealed their true colors as Immortal Dao aces.
The language teacher didn’t mind any of it; after all, whether it was practicing forms, meditating, or fighting, taking, popping, or injecting alchemical enhancers, or any other form of Immortal Dao cultivation, it was all far more important than her trivial language class, as long as the students didn’t come after her.
As far as she knew, general education teachers at Songyang High School already held good status. Her classmate who had gone to teach at White Dragon High School was often used by the school leadership as an example to lecture students: if you don’t get into a good university after the college entrance exams, you’ll end up as useless as your high school language teacher.
Thinking of this, the language teacher sighed inwardly.
Alas, if it weren’t for the sects and the municipal government’s requirements, the key high schools would probably have cut general education class time down to nothing.
Just then, the language teacher heard a student’s phone ring.
She was finally losing her patience and wanted to speak up: Student, please put your phone on vibrate during language class so you don’t disturb the other students’ self-study.
But when the language teacher looked up, she saw that the phone belonged to none other than Zhang Yu.
Although she was just a teacher of a mere general education course, she was well acquainted with this campus celebrity’s reputation.
Grade One Study Demon, Songyang School Traitor, the Impure, Moocher… she had heard all of Zhang Yu’s various nicknames.
She heard he had even taken first place in the martial arts competition last night, and no one dared to say a word when he was two minutes late for school today.
Considering he was someone with a rich benefactor from White Dragon High School who could stand up to the Student Council, how could a mere general education teacher like her dare to tell him to put his phone on vibrate.
So, the language teacher quickly lowered her head and pretended she hadn’t heard a thing.
Zhang Yu had been cultivating his heart art to improve his Dao heart when he picked up his phone and saw that the prize money from the martial arts competition had arrived.
The money’s a bit low, but at least it arrived quickly.
Although 50,000 had been deposited, after paying back the 40,000 to Zhang Pianpian and repaying the meal money he had borrowed from Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing, Zhang Yu’s account was once again left with less than 10,000.
Zhang Yu knew that Bai Zhenzhen’s fourth-place prize was 10,000, so the number in her account was probably about the same as his right now.
But when Zhang Yu thought about how the next month was only two weeks away, and he would have to pay loan interest, plus rent and utilities, he felt a wave of annoyance.
Right, I also need to buy a new weighted suit, and if I focus on body tempering for the next two months, my daily food expenses are probably going to increase…
The more Zhang Yu thought, the more expenses he realized he had.
Good thing there’s that income from Song Hailong.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, Bai Zhenzhen also received the notification that her prize money had arrived.
In addition, she also received a message from Zhang Pianpian.
Zhang Pianpian: You don’t use your spiritual root often enough, so you’re not very skilled with it, are you? Otherwise, you should have been able to go further in the martial arts competition.
Zhang Pianpian: From now on, just rent a spiritual root every day. Just say I’m investing in you and paying for it.
Zhang Pianpian: An evolutionary spiritual root only gets stronger the more you use it.
Seeing Zhang Pianpian’s messages, Bai Zhenzhen was first startled, then immediately realized.
She saw that I have a spiritual root? She wants to give me cover to use my spiritual root?
Bai Zhenzhen was very aware of her spiritual root’s condition; she would secretly use it to cultivate every day after returning home.
But because she was constantly worried about someone discovering she possessed such a ‘great treasure,’ she never dared to use this spiritual root to aid her cultivation every day in a public place like school.
After all, if something like this became known, just the various banks offering mortgages, casino marketers, and scammers would be enough to drive her crazy, to say nothing of what the wealthy might think.
So, after being exposed so directly by Zhang Pianpian, Bai Zhenzhen’s first feeling was one of instinctual panic, a fear that had accumulated in the deepest part of her heart since childhood, like having a shameful secret she’d hidden for a decade suddenly exposed.
However, thinking of Zhang Pianpian’s care during this time, of Yu-boy’s sibling relationship with her, of how she had frankly revealed her own status as a fake rich girl, and of her score of 699, Bai Zhenzhen gradually calmed down.
I should trust Zhang Pianpian.
Then it occurred to her… if she could use Zhang Pianpian’s name as an excuse to rent a spiritual root every day, she could then openly use her own spiritual root to cultivate at school every day.
If I do that, my cultivation time using the spiritual root could increase by at least ten hours a day.
I won’t be so constrained in the next competition.
Recalling the martial arts competition, although Bai Zhenzhen had taken fourth place, she constantly felt a sense of frustration, the uncomfortable feeling of being cut off in the middle of a grand display.
Because her various stats were inferior to her opponents from the three great high schools, and because the numbers in her bank account were smaller than her opponents’, she was always forced to be more hesitant in her actions, and in the end, she even had to concede.
And now, with the ability to use her spiritual root more for cultivation, she immediately felt a renewed confidence that she could catch up to those top students from the famous schools.
Yu-boy stole the show in this competition, but next time, it’ll be my turn.
Although it’s nice to have my son take first place, it would be even more satisfying to crush him underfoot and take the championship myself.
During PE class.
The smells of sweat and alchemical enhancers mingled, creating an aroma unique to the Immortal Dao of Songyang.
The clang of equipment and the groans of human bodies sounded continuously—the sounds of students struggling valiantly on the Immortal Path.
But some people cast glances toward Bai Zhenzhen not far away, sensing the spiritual energy surging in the air, their minds filled with different thoughts.
Some were envious, “To rent a spiritual root for Bai Zhenzhen to use every day, that Zhang Pianpian is too good to her, isn’t she?”
Some thought of a plan:, “I can love White Dragon High too! I want to be Zhang Pianpian’s dog!”
And others let their imaginations run wild, “Bai Zhenzhen became Zhang Pianpian’s dog and gets to rent a spiritual root every day. If I become Bai Zhenzhen’s dog, I wonder if she’d let me borrow the spiritual root for an hour a day?”
On the other side, Zhang Yu was not training his body intensely like the students around him, but had gone into a small side room to study the Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand he had newly acquired yesterday.
After all, since he had switched the Feather Book’s specialization to this grappling technique yesterday, the 24-hour cooldown had not yet passed, so the only thing he could rapidly improve right now was this practical combat skill.
I’ll practice this for now. After the cooldown ends tonight, I’ll switch back to Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi.
Zhang Yu’s hands moved in a flurry of afterimages as he began to practice the Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand.
Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand Lvl. 2 (4/20)
This martial art, powered purely by physical violence, had a total of eighteen moves. Although the number of moves wasn’t small, each one was extremely short, all of them methods for breaking tendons and fracturing bones, throwing an opponent to the ground, or trapping them in a submission hold in an instant.
The art of grappling emphasized speed and ferocity. On average, each move took less than a second to execute, and in a flash, Zhang Yu had completed the entire set of Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand.
Recalling the several martial arts he had cultivated before, Zhang Yu felt a sense of understanding.
“The moves in martial arts are often required to be simple and fast, which is why practicing a full set is so quick.”
Zhang Yu understood that if it weren’t for this, he wouldn’t have been able to learn and even surpass Song Hailong’s Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand on the tournament stage.
A few minutes later, Zhang Yu felt a jolt in his mind as countless experiences with the Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand emerged, and the martial art had been upgraded from Level 2 to Level 3.
If I keep cultivating at this speed, I should be able to raise the Dragonback Mountain Toppler Hand to Level 10 today.
While Zhang Yu was diligently cultivating his martial arts in the small room, the PE teacher, Wang Hai, called Qian Shen, He Dayou, Zhao Tianxing, and two other students aside.
“The school plans to select a group of promising first-year students to join the sports competition team for training.”
“Are the five of you willing to go?”
Before anyone else could react, Qian Shen asked directly, “Just the five of us? Aren’t Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen going?”
Wang Hai said, “The school leadership feels that those two need to settle down a bit more.”
Qian Shen was perplexed, “Their monthly exam scores are first and second in the grade, and they need to settle down? But we get selected?”
Wang Hai certainly couldn’t say that it was all because of the Student Council, so he could only offer another reason.
“Because they’re too poor.”
Seeing the five students slightly stunned, Wang Hai continued, “They can’t even afford the competition team’s tutoring and nutrition fees. How can they join the team?”
Not only did the other four find this perfectly reasonable, but now even Qian Shen was at a loss for words.
Especially when he remembered how Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had to borrow money from him for dinner, he understood that their financial situation must be dire.
After recruiting the five students into the sports competition team, Wang Hai went to find Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.
“Your applications for the sports competition have been rejected again.”
Wang Hai looked at the two with some regret, “You should know what this is about.”
Wang Hai had previously thought Zhang Yu was a Golden Core disciple, but after Zhang Pianpian came to Songyang High School to back him up and clashed with the Student Council, he became a little less certain.
But regardless of whose disciple he was, Wang Hai could sense that Zhang Yu’s aptitude was extraordinary and that he had the potential to compete for a top spot in the sports competition.
He thought to himself, What a pity. The Student Council isn’t giving them a chance at all.
Hearing Wang Hai’s words, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen of course understood, knowing that this was certainly the Student Council’s doing.
Wang Hai continued, “But you’re not completely out of chances. If, in one month, your PE scores can remain in the top five of the grade, you can represent the school in the sports competition.”
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen exchanged a strange glance, confusion rising in their hearts.
As if understanding their confusion, Wang Hai continued, “The school has selected five first-year students to join the sports competition team.”
“In one month, if you can keep your PE scores in the top five while competing against them, you can represent the school in the sports competition.”
Now Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen understood. It was obvious the Student Council believed that after these five students joined the competition team and received training, their physical scores would completely surpass their own.
Seeing the fighting spirit burning in Zhang Yu’s and Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes, Wang Hai sighed inwardly.
As Songyang High School’s ace PE teacher, he knew the competition team’s training methods all too well.
This so-called opportunity to compare after a month is just an excuse from the Student Council, a way to legitimately squeeze Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen out of the competition so that even Zhang Pianpian can’t say anything.
Based on Zhang Yu’s and Bai Zhenzhen’s rate of progress, raising their physical strength to 2.1 or even 2.2 in a month would be their absolute limit.
But the competition team, with their special training program, can raise He Dayou and the others’ physical strength to over 3.0 in just one month.
This has nothing to do with talent; it’s purely a massive gap in Immortal Dao technology. If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were to join the special training program, their improvement in a month would probably be even greater…
It was because he knew all this so clearly that Wang Hai understood… the moment Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen failed to be selected for the special training program, they had already lost any chance of catching up to the competition team members in physical strength, let alone any chance of participating in the sports competition.
(Chapter End)