Chapter 91: Dark Learning Gang, Trial Class
Inside the unfinished building.
Zhang Yu stood silently in the vast, empty hall, his mind repeatedly replaying the effects of the Excavator Palm after it reached level 10.
With a single palm strike, my control over the bucket force has deepened. The area I can shovel has doubled, hasn’t it?
Zhang Yu struck out with his palm again. The bucket force whistled through the air as it slowly blasted forward.
Although this Excavator Palm can unleash tremendous power, its wind-up is too long, and its movements are too slow and clumsy. It’s truly unsuitable for combat.
If I’m not on a construction site, it’s not very useful.
He shook his head with a sense of helplessness. He knew these blue-collar techniques would do nothing to help his college entrance exam scores.
It doesn’t matter. Sharpening my axe won’t slow down the woodcutting.
As long as it helps me earn more money, wasting some time to cultivate these martial arts is acceptable.
But since he had already cultivated the Excavator Palm to level 10 today, Zhang Yu naturally wouldn’t continue practicing it.
And because the Feather Book was still on cooldown, he resumed his practice of the level 10 Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi, striving to increase his physical strength.
In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.
During these five days, Zhang Yu had not only mastered Excavator Palm and Sports Car Legs to level 10, but he had also purchased and cultivated Crane Claw and Elevator Leap to level 10 as well.
Factoring in his expenses for food, transportation, and other costs over the five days, Zhang Yu’s savings had steadily declined. Fortunately, he had taught Song Hailong twice more, which allowed him to keep his savings just above 15,000.
At this moment, after asking Zhang Pianpian for another concealment talisman and altering his physical form with Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi, Zhang Yu set off for his trial lesson.
Unlike the last time, when he had to run the final stretch, this time Zhang Yu used the Sports Car Legs technique for his journey.
Magic power roared within his body, emitting a low hum like a car engine.
Infused with magic power, his feet moved at an incredible speed, his entire body dissolving into a series of afterimages as he sped away.
Compared to Excavator Palm and Crane Claw, Sports Car Legs and Elevator Leap are far more useful.
He recalled how a level 10 Excavator Palm could shovel twice the amount of material and a level 10 Crane Claw could lift heavy objects with both hands simultaneously… and Zhang Yu felt a sense of speechlessness.
Just like Excavator Palm, it has a long wind-up and slow movements. It’s not suited for combat, just another laborer’s art designed for work.
In comparison, the cost-effectiveness of Sports Car Legs and Elevator Leap was much higher.
As a common technique among couriers, Sports Car Legs channeled magic power into the legs to accelerate movement, allowing one to run like the wind. Without the need for a car or an electric scooter, it enabled couriers to navigate the city quickly and arrive at their destinations on time.
Elevator Leap, meanwhile, used magic power to constrict the muscles, allowing the body to explode with the force of a coiled spring, generating incredible jumping power. This meant that when couriers faced buildings without elevators, they didn’t have to despair. They could simply leap up to the target floor, arriving with the package in hand.
Speaking of which, this is the first time I’ve ever cultivated a movement technique. This stuff really makes daily life much more convenient.
Thinking of the level 10 effects of these two techniques, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but smile slightly, marveling at their practicality.
A level 10 Sports Car Legs could protect the soles of his shoes with magic power, reducing wear and tear and lowering the frequency of needing replacements.
A level 10 Elevator Leap could even convert a vertical high jump into a horizontal long jump, which had helped countless couriers leap over red lights and traffic jams to deliver their goods on time.
At that moment, magic power surged from Zhang Yu’s dantian, infusing his legs and waist. With a sudden contraction of his muscles, he leaped into the air, clearing a distance of over twenty meters to soar over the red light ahead.
With Sports Car Legs and Elevator Leap, I can probably reach my tutoring sessions in about thirty to forty minutes.
And as my magic power grows more abundant and my physical strength increases, my speed and jumping distance will become even greater. I’ll be even faster then…
The doll hanging from Zhang Yu’s neck witnessed this, her mind still reeling with disbelief.
Wait… the doll thought to herself. Even if these four martial arts are simple, he raised all of them to level 10 in such a short amount of time?
Is this boy’s potential really something I stimulated?
In that case, I’d fucking love to do it to myself. How in the world did he achieve this?
Over these five days, apart from cultivating these four new martial arts, Zhang Yu had spent most of his time diligently practicing the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi.
Unfortunately, without the boost from the Crimson Marrow Primordial Pill and with his focus divided, his physical strength had only risen to level 1.98 after five days.
I really want a Crimson Marrow Primordial Pill. Cultivating without an alchemical enhancer feels like I’m practicing at a loss.
He arrived once again at the small building within the park.
The middle-aged man who had received Zhang Yu before was already waiting. Seeing him, he smiled.
“You’ve arrived.”
“Come to think of it, I still don’t know how I should address you, sir.”
Zhang Yu replied casually, “Just call me Ma Yunteng. And you? How should I address you?”
The man replied, “You can call me Black Crow. Now, please follow me. The other teachers are already waiting for you.”
Zhang Yu followed him through a hidden door and into an underground tutoring base. He saw that there were guards stationed almost every five steps, with posts every ten. Security seemed to be everywhere.
However, one could tell from the various tattoos on the guards—phrases like ‘Class Every Day,’ ‘Secret Study,’ and ‘Everyone Tutors’—that they were all members of the Dark Learning Gang.
What struck Zhang Yu as odd was the number ‘0’ displayed above each gang member’s head. He wondered what it could possibly mean.
Suddenly, a guard with ‘-122’ floating over his head ran past, the number continuously changing from -122 to -123, and then to -124.
Finally, Zhang Yu couldn’t hold back his curiosity.
“What do the numbers on their heads mean?”
Hearing the question, Black Crow smiled brightly.
“This is a post-monitoring system developed in cooperation with the righteous gods after the gang underwent corporatization. If you’re away from your post for longer than the allotted time, your pay gets deducted. He’s been docked so much… perhaps he has an upset stomach?”
Zhang Yu’s lip twitched. “Isn’t that a bit too strict?”
Black Crow smiled faintly. “These days, anyone with a bit of ambition is drowning in debt, aren’t they? A small pay deduction from work is just a trial all young people must endure.”
Zhang Yu gave an awkward laugh. “Heh, being in this gang really is just like working a regular job.”
Black Crow’s eyes lit up. “Thank you for the compliment. The boss has always been committed to the formalization and corporatization of the Dark Learning Gang. Our future goal is to become a new corporation and expand into the city proper.”
He sighed and added, “After all, if not for the inability to find a good job, how many people would willingly join a gang? Once you’ve joined a gang, your resume is permanently stained. You’ll never have a chance to get into a major corporation again.”
Good grief… so I get it now, Zhang Yu thought. Gangs are for people who can’t find jobs? This place is a support group for the unemployed, isn’t it?
Black Crow gestured ahead. “The tutoring classrooms are up ahead. Restrooms are to the left and right. Further down the stairs, there are training halls, shower rooms, a cafeteria…”
Just as Black Crow was introducing the facilities, a noisy argument erupted from a nearby classroom entrance.
Zhang Yu turned to look and his eyes first fell upon a poster. It read: Enroll in the White Dragon Teaching Class and enjoy the academic life of the number one high school all night long. By day, you may be an ordinary student at an ordinary school, but at night, you can become a White Dragon and feel the thrill of your grades soaring.
Below the poster, a student was complaining, “The teacher is so gentle that underachievers don’t even have to kneel! What kind of White Dragon class is this? I paid money specifically to experience the teaching quality of a prestigious school! What you’re doing here is no different from what I experience at my regular high school during the day…”
Zhang Yu was shocked.
There are people who pay money to experience the academic life of White Dragon High School?
But in the next moment, he found his own shock laughable.
Isn’t it obvious? With my understanding of the obsessed students and parents in Songyang City… if you could pay to experience White Dragon High School’s teaching style, even if it’s just an advertising gimmick, there would definitely be people lining up to hand over their money.
Meanwhile, in another classroom.
Several teachers were chatting while wreathed in smoke.
An old man with white hair and a tattoo on his arm that read ‘A Class a Day’ took a deep drag, then exhaled a cloud of smoke from a Dao heart buffer.
The Dao heart buffer, an important drug for enhancing one’s Dao heart, was widely circulated throughout Kunxu due to its highly addictive properties and was often processed into cigarettes, alcohol, beverages, and other forms for consumption.
The old man took a few more puffs before speaking.
“What’s this new teacher like? I heard he might be from a key high school.”
Across from him, a middle-aged woman with a scar on her face said coldly, “What kind of academic prodigies do the key high schools accept? Those students are already rich and smart. A teacher who’s used to teaching students like that—does he know how to teach slackers? Has he ever even encountered a failure who scores below 450?”
“Given the grades of most of our students, if you threw them into a key high school… they’d be considered school traitors. Can he even teach them properly?”
Another man, over three meters tall, was practicing his martial arts with rigid precision. His exaggerated muscles were covered in pinpricks, the tell-tale sign of a body tempering expert.
The towering man snorted. “A teacher from a key high school wants to teach Excavator Palm and Sports Car Legs? Has he ever worked on a construction site? Has he ever delivered takeout? Does he even have the ability to teach them? I mixed concrete on a construction site for eleven years, and you, Che Nu, have eight years of experience delivering food. Is it possible he knows these two martial arts better than we do?”
The old man, however, didn’t share their strong opinions. He smiled. “He is, after all, a master who managed to cultivate Limitless Cloud Hand to level 10. Let’s watch him first before we say anything more.”
A moment later, Black Crow entered with Zhang Yu and introduced him to the group.
“This is Ma Yunteng, Teacher Ma, who is here for the trial lesson today.”
Black Crow pointed to the old man. “This is Cai Tou, who has taught Limitless Cloud Hand.”
“This is Che Nu, level 10 in Sports Car Legs.”
“And this is Da Chan, level 10 in Excavator Palm.”
Zhang Yu understood immediately. The three of them were using nicknames, just like him. They were clearly hiding their identities, and it was possible that even their current appearances weren’t their real ones.
Zhang Yu nodded slightly. “I leave myself in your hands.”
The three-meter-tall Da Chan curled his lip. “Everyone’s time is precious. Let’s just get on with the class.”
Zhang Yu couldn’t agree more. He immediately activated the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi. In an instant, his entire body was shrouded in a swirling mist, giving him the appearance of an immortal.
“Then let me begin by speaking on the Limitless Cloud Hand.”