Chapter 166: Zhang Yu’s Heartache
According to the righteous gods’ explanation and standards, a so-called ten-star difficulty cultivation technique was one that would take an ordinary student from an ordinary high school three years to master.
A nine-star technique would require two years, an eight-star would take one year, a seven-star about half a year…
Hearing this introduction, Dai Xingzhi thought to himself, At this level of difficulty, to master one in two hours, I’d be very confident with a five-star. With a six-star, there’s a possibility of failure. As for seven-star and above… apart from Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao, I doubt many people here would dare to choose one.
After all, in Dai Xingzhi’s view, risking the inability to master a martial art and ending up with 0 points for the round just for a few extra points was simply not worth it.
On the other side.
Zhang Yu, however, paid no mind to the explanation of difficulty; he was staring at the rows of cultivation techniques appearing on the light screen, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably curling up.
Demonic Parasite Art, Mount Buzhou Shifting Scripture, Primeval Heart Grand Seal…
Although the cultivation techniques provided by the righteous gods for this exam were by no means all the Qi Refinement stage techniques in Kunxu, for Zhang Yu, it was already a dazzling array.
So many cultivation techniques? I can choose any of them?
At this moment, an incomparably excited look appeared in Zhang Yu’s eyes. After all, with his super potential, mastering any cultivation technique with the help of the Feather Book was a piece of cake.
Meanwhile, the righteous gods were still explaining the rules.
Deng Bingding said, “…Different levels of difficulty for cultivation techniques naturally have different difficulty coefficients.”
“The final score for this round will be calculated based on the difficulty coefficient and the time you take to successfully master the technique.”
“Alright, you now have 10 minutes to begin selecting your cultivation technique.”
“Once a technique is chosen, it cannot be changed.”
“If you have not finished selecting a technique after ten minutes, you will be considered to have forfeited, and this round will be scored as 0 points.”
“As for the weapons, materials, alchemical enhancers, and other resources needed to practice the various cultivation techniques, they will all be provided on-site and will be given to you after you have selected your technique.”
“Finally, remember not to choose a cultivation technique you have already learned, otherwise it will be treated as cheating.”
As the rules for this final martial arts examination were gradually laid out and the 10-minute timer began, the students could now operate the light screens before them to select their techniques.
The students on the field began swiping their hands across the light screens in front of them. With constant taps of their fingers, their eyes scanned through one cultivation technique after another, their faces showing hesitation from time to time.
As Zhang Yu browsed the list of techniques, he thought, If I want to get a high score, I should choose the most difficult technique.
In the list of techniques, each one had been rated with a star level by the righteous gods according to its difficulty.
Zhang Yu filtered for the highest ten-star difficulty techniques, and the screen displayed: Samsara Myriad Manifestations Palm, Blood-Scattering Demon-Slaying Grand Art, Demonic Disintegration Grand Art, Myriad Sword Everlasting Art, Hundred Transformations Thousand Illusions Heart Art…
A ten-star difficulty rating only represents that these techniques are the hardest to learn, not necessarily that they are the most powerful, let alone the most needed or suitable for me.
Thinking of this, the process of the Foundation Establishment qualification exam and the purpose of today’s examination came to Zhang Yu’s mind again.
The Foundation Establishment qualification exam is divided into three rounds. The one I am participating in today… is the first round in August.
Next, there is the second round in October, and the third round in January of next year.
For today’s first round, as long as my total score in magic power, body, and martial arts is in the top twenty, I won’t be eliminated and will be qualified to enter the second round.
Zhang Yu calculated his rankings in the magic power and body rounds and knew that as long as he also ranked in the top 20 in the third round, it was very unlikely he would be eliminated.
So… compared to choosing the most difficult technique to get a very high score…
Perhaps I should take this opportunity to cultivate the most suitable and powerful technique for me for free.
First, it won’t affect my passing today’s exam.
Second, it will be more beneficial for my future development.
Zhang Yu’s gaze swept over the cultivation techniques, priced at hundreds of thousands or even over a million, and he felt like he was about to drool.
Although they were all expert-grade cultivation techniques, there were still differences between them, a point that could be seen from the price of each expert-grade technique.
Expert-grade techniques that cost seven or eight hundred thousand, or even over a million, were something Zhang Yu normally wouldn’t even dare to think about.
After all, with that much money, he would definitely use it to buy pills, get alchemical enhancers, rent spirit veins, and ascend to the Spirit Realm first…
But now, he had the opportunity to cultivate such an expensive technique for free.
At this thought, Zhang Yu made up his mind, “I will choose the technique that is most suitable for me, and also the strongest.”
The most suitable was not hard to find.
It just so happens that after my physical strength broke through to level 8, the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi has gradually become less efficient.
Thinking this, Zhang Yu directly selected body tempering martial arts in the technique type and then selected for the late Qi Refinement stage.
As for which of these body tempering martial arts was the strongest?
Zhang Yu directly clicked to sort by price.
There are many pitfalls in Kunxu, endless methods of deception and ways to fleece people.
But there is one thing that is never wrong: the companies here will never put a low price on a body tempering martial art they consider to be very powerful.
Things like high quality at a low price don’t exist.
Conversely, the most expensive cultivation techniques are bound to have their strengths.
After the sorting was complete, the body tempering martial arts that appeared before Zhang Yu, from highest to lowest price, were the 1.55 million Spring and Autumn Endless Zen, the 1.54 million Titanium Body Tempering Formula, and the 1.52 million Great Heavenly Dragon Force.
Although these three techniques were all eight-star difficulty, not the highest ten-star, for Zhang Yu, these were what he truly needed.
Especially after glancing at the descriptions of these three most expensive techniques, Zhang Yu felt a pang of heartache.
These three cultivation techniques… I have to give up two of them?
He then became extremely hesitant.
Spring and Autumn Endless Zen can strengthen the body while cleansing the muscles and marrow, fortifying the internal organs, truly transforming one’s constitution, enhancing life force, expelling various impurities like pill toxins and drug poisons from the body, and improving the effects of alchemical enhancers…
By cultivating this technique, one can crazily consume medicine and undergo acupuncture. It is a true holy art of body tempering that enhances a cultivator’s potential in the Immortal Dao.
But looking at the Titanium Body Tempering Formula next to it, Zhang Yu felt a similar craving. “A technique desperately created by a steel mill worker who fell into a steel furnace in a struggle for survival.”
It allows one to smelt various alloys into the body, integrating them with flesh, blood, bones, and even internal organs, greatly enhancing the body’s resistance to damage and its physical load-bearing capacity.
Notably, the higher the quality of the alloy used, the higher the body’s strength. The company supposedly guarantees annual updates to the training materials, so even after reaching level 10, one can become stronger year after year.
Zhang Yu scoffed at the story of a worker falling into a steel furnace; it was clearly a gimmick fabricated by the company to build hype for this technique.
Compared to the little story of a worker accidentally falling into a steel furnace, Zhang Yu was more willing to believe that this technique was created in a laboratory after countless test subjects were burned or crushed to death.
But the strength of this technique was undeniable.
Yet Zhang Yu couldn’t help but look at the Great Heavenly Dragon Force next to it.
Refine dragon blood to transform the body into a half-dragon, half-human physique, which can greatly increase muscle strength and physical fortitude, while also enhancing recovery, stamina, vitality, drug resistance, metabolism, digestive ability, and various other capabilities.
If one persists in refining dragon blood daily, there is even the potential for further growth, increased lifespan, and acquiring some draconic abilities.
Hmm… but there are also side effects. One’s personality will be influenced by dragon nature, for example, dragons are inherently lustful. As dragon blood is continuously refined, the cultivator’s aesthetic preferences will change, and their interests will become increasingly broad.
It is best to undergo sterilization surgery after mastering it to continue making progress.
But this minor side effect was nothing in Zhang Yu’s current view.
If he could cultivate this technique for free, he would be willing to undergo a small surgery.
As the 10-minute selection time ticked away, Zhang Yu looked at the three cultivation techniques before him, feeling nothing but immense hesitation and difficulty.
I want them all.
Sigh, this is too hard to choose.
Compared to Zhang Yu’s struggle, Ye Lingxiao on the other side appeared very decisive.
As the heir to the perfect bloodline of the Immortal Capital’s Ye clan, Ye Lingxiao possessed a nervous system far more developed than that of an ordinary high school student, giving him terrifying innate control over his muscles, internal organs, and even magic power.
This talent was fully unleashed the moment he entered high school, allowing him to learn any cultivation technique at a glance and master it with ease.
It could be said that since entering high school, the number of cultivation techniques he had practiced had long surpassed the imagination of ordinary students. Even his classmates, teachers, and private coaches had no idea how many techniques he had truly learned.
And at this moment, in Ye Lingxiao’s eyes, many of the techniques listed were ones he had already mastered.
Of the ones he hadn’t learned, he had heard of most and knew their general direction.
However, he would not risk choosing a technique he had already cultivated for this exam.
On one hand, he himself disdained such an act; on the other, every one of his techniques was a legally purchased and licensed one.
As a purely legitimate user, the righteous gods on site could find out what techniques he had practiced with a simple check.
Thus, after Ye Lingxiao filtered for the ten-star difficulty techniques, he casually chose one he hadn’t cultivated and didn’t dislike.
This Myriad Sword Everlasting Art will do.
Yun Jing, on the other hand, was even simpler. Unlike Ye Lingxiao, who had cultivated a large number of techniques, he simply sorted by difficulty from high to low and chose the one at the very top, the Samsara Myriad Manifestations Palm.
Over here, Yu Xinghan thought for a moment.
True Person Starfire already had a plan and arrangement for every cultivation technique he would choose and cultivate during the Qi Refinement stage.
And judging from his rankings in the first two exams, the pressure on his score for this round was not great, so he didn’t need to find the most difficult technique to cultivate.
There’s no need to choose a technique outside of Master’s plan. That would only waste my extra time and energy.
After all, True Person Starfire’s schedule for Yu Xinghan was already very tight, and he had no extra time to practice additional cultivation techniques.
I still have to choose a technique from the plan.
This way, the next time Li Xuelian transfers money to me to buy a cultivation technique…
The thought that he could learn a cultivation technique for free here today, and then get a sum for the technique’s cost from Li Xuelian next time, made Yu Xinghan’s heart leap with joy.
Then of course I have to choose the most expensive one in the plan…
Yu Xinghan’s gaze rested on the seven-star difficulty, 900,000-value Astral Qi Art.
Even for me, mastering the seven-star difficulty Astral Qi Art in two hours would be a challenge.
And…
Looking at the eight large characters in the technique’s description, “To practice this art, one must swing the blade and reverse life,” Yu Xinghan felt a chill.
He had just asked the righteous god examiner. The Astral Qi Art required physical completeness. So if he chose this technique, the on-site examiner would respectfully request the divine power of the Ministry of Health to restore the physical deficiency caused by his sterilization surgery.
So, cultivating the Astral Qi Art means facing the impact on my Dao heart, as well as the mental and physical changes brought about by various hormonal shifts in my body, which is a great hindrance to my own cultivation.
This kind of change that hindered his own cultivation was like a potent poison to Yu Xinghan, who was determined to advance bravely on the path of the Immortal Dao.
No wonder Master arranged for me to practice the Astral Qi Art in my second or even third year of high school.
So practicing this technique requires paying such a heavy price?
Yu Xinghan gritted his teeth and thought, But fortune is found in risk. If I don’t even dare to take a gamble for 900,000, how will I strive to climb the Immortal Dao in the future?
I’ll risk it!
The remaining students, like Dai Xingzhi, Meng Tao, and other high schoolers from the Immortal Capital, mostly chose five or six-star difficulty techniques.
This was to be on the safe side, as once a technique that was too difficult was chosen and not mastered within two hours, it would be counted as zero points.