Chapter 232: Finally, the Foundation Establishment Certificate (2-in-1)
As clouds of terrifying acid mist billowed toward him, the intense corrosion immediately caused wisps of green smoke to rise from Zhang Yu’s skin. The sharp, stinging pain made even him frown.
Zhang Yu could feel that if he allowed this acid mist to continue corroding him, his flesh would be severely damaged, perhaps even endangering his life.
He immediately sent his muscles into a powerful vibration. As every inch of his skin pulsed and resonated, a gale seemed to erupt from his body, blowing the oncoming acid mist away.
But this action of exerting force to counter the mist inevitably caused Zhang Yu to divert a portion of his strength.
On the other side, however, Ye Lingxiao was unable to capitalize on Zhang Yu’s diversion to pull the Dragon-Binding Rope, for he too was vibrating his body, sending out gusts of wind to resist the acid.
Yet Zhang Yu could feel that with the self-healing abilities granted by the Martial Dao Holy Embryo, the damage from the previous high temperatures, high pressure, gravity, and now the acid mist was all gradually recovering.
And… he still had two trump cards he hadn’t used.
With a thunderous roar from Zhang Yu, the ‘Zen’ character on his chest suddenly dissipated, and his body’s potential was furiously unleashed under the stimulation of the toxins.
Veins bulged on Zhang Yu’s forehead, but he was still roaring in his mind, It’s not over!
Next came the overload of the Martial Dao Holy Embryo!
Roar!
The muscles in Zhang Yu’s arms swelled another size, and his entire frame shot up from 2.8 meters to 3.3 meters.
Both the toxin burst from Spring and Autumn Endless Zen and the overload of the Martial Dao Holy Embryo were methods of forcing out the body’s latent potential, allowing it to unleash a power that exceeded its normal limits.
And when Zhang Yu used both methods simultaneously, he felt as if his entire body was on fire.
An endless wellspring of power was squeezed from every fiber of his being. The terrifying force coursed through his muscles, pressing on his bones until they creaked and groaned.
But because of this, Zhang Yu’s physical body was now under an unprecedented strain.
His muscles began to tear, fine fractures appeared in his skeleton, his organs were compressed and deformed, and tiny ruptures occurred in his blood vessels…
Even with the self-healing ability provided by the Martial Dao Holy Embryo, he could not stop the continuous self-destruction happening all over his body.
But to Zhang Yu, none of that mattered right now.
Because long before he arrived here, Zhang Yu already knew one thing.
“Coming here is a damn death match.”
“If you’re not willing to risk your life, why even bother taking the Foundation Establishment exam?”
At this moment, a series of images flashed through Zhang Yu’s mind: the tests, exams, and competitions of the past year…
It was through these experiences that Zhang Yu had come to deeply understand one thing.
In Kunxu, a world under strict control, if you wanted to climb, to stand out, to master stronger Immortal Dao technology, you had to follow the path of advancement laid out by the Ten Great Sects, defeating opponent after opponent in one exam after another.
And in this process, nearly every opponent would use every means possible—self-exploitation, family exploitation, mutual exploitation—to push their performance to the absolute limit.
The Immortal Capital scion before him was no exception.
He would absolutely not let go of the slightest possibility of victory; he would risk everything to defeat him.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Yu could only burn all of his own power to obtain that incomparably precious Foundation Establishment certificate.
“I promised Zhen, and I promised my sister, that we’d attend one of the Ten Greats together.”
“I have to get into the Ten Greats, I have to enter a sect!”
“I have to climb up through Kunxu! To break free from the ritual’s chains! To gain my freedom!”
At this moment, the various techniques he had painstakingly cultivated over the past year surged through Zhang Yu’s mind. The pathways of muscle and power throughout his body became clear in his vision.
Technique, strength, potential… everything he could possibly bring to bear, Zhang Yu threw it all out in one go.
His berserk power and unparalleled resolve all flowed along the channels of his power-circulating techniques, along sinews as tough as steel rebar, and finally, through the Dragon-Binding Rope… hurtling viciously toward Ye Lingxiao.
Thump!
He pivoted and stomped a foot onto the platform, creating a sonic boom. Zhang Yu was now madly dragging the Dragon-Binding Rope toward himself, moving step by step away from the platform’s edge.
With Zhang Yu’s eruption, Ye Lingxiao felt an irresistibly monstrous force transmit from the other end of the Dragon-Binding Rope, dragging him step by step toward the space beyond the platform’s edge.
In a flash, Ye Lingxiao, who had just moments ago dragged Zhang Yu to the brink, was now pulled to within two or three steps of the edge himself.
And that space beyond the edge now looked like a sheer cliff in Ye Lingxiao’s eyes.
To fall would be like plummeting from the clouds, losing not only the Foundation Establishment certificate but also a vast amount of wealth and the best chance to climb higher.
In a daze, Ye Lingxiao seemed to hear a voice rising from within his heart.
“Little brother, let us brothers fight him together!”
Big brother? Ye Lingxiao murmured internally. So you’ve been with me all along, together with your heart?
“Don’t let our sacrifices be in vain.”
“Don’t let the sacrifices of generation after generation of the Ye clan, of those tens of thousands of kinsmen, be in vain.”
“Little brother, borrow our strength. Carry the Ye clan forward. Charge out of this mud pit of the first layer and rush to the higher levels of Kunxu…”
Unconsciously, Ye Lingxiao had already crushed the second Spirit-Splitting Elixir in his mouth.
As his brain temperature rose rapidly, he felt a wave of dizziness, yet miraculously maintained three separate streams of thought, as if three versions of himself were now operating his body, executing three times the number of techniques he could in his normal state.
Blood flow, internal organs, bones, fascia… every inch of his body was mobilized to 100% capacity, pushing his body’s power output to an unprecedented peak.
This caused the Dragon-Binding Rope, which was being furiously pulled, to suddenly slacken.
But… it still wasn’t enough!
With a sharp crack, the bones in Zhang Yu’s fingers fractured under his own terrifying strength.
And in response, Ye Lingxiao was dragged one step closer to the cliff.
Is it still not enough?
Are… are we still no match for him?
Then we’ll just have to keep fighting.
You representatives from the universities, don’t you love watching the geniuses from below fight with their lives on the line?
Then today, you can watch to your heart’s content.
The next moment, Zhang Yu felt the force coming from the other end of the Dragon-Binding Rope, after surging once, surge yet again, creating a trend that threatened to pull him over.
He still has a trump card like this?
No, wait, that sound is…
Zhang Yu whipped his head around to look at Ye Lingxiao and saw plumes of green smoke rising from the other platform. Amidst sizzling sounds, large clouds of acid mist were continuously corroding Ye Lingxiao’s flesh.
This guy… he’s given up using part of his strength to resist the acid mist to go all out against me?
At the same time, the hazardous environment changed again. Clouds of poison mist rushed forth, engulfing both Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao.
Zhang Yu vibrated his muscles, whipping up a gale that blew the poison mist away.
But Ye Lingxiao still had no intention of wasting any power to blow the mist away.
His eyes were fixed on Zhang Yu, fixed on the Dragon-Binding Rope. At this moment, only a single thought seemed to remain in his mind: he had to win! He had to risk everything he had to seize that Foundation Establishment certificate!
Watching Ye Lingxiao fight so desperately, so recklessly, Zhang Yu suddenly understood the true purpose of this exam.
Those righteous gods, they calculated this from the start. They knew that for us to fight to the very end, the winner would have to be decided in a life-or-death crisis, didn’t they?
Do these high-and-mighty bastards in the audience enjoy watching us risk our lives this much?
Zhang Yu looked at Ye Lingxiao, whose body was gradually becoming a bloody, bruised mess, and thought, Although I still don’t know your name.
From the power coming through this Dragon-Binding Rope, I can already feel your will, I can sense your resolve.
But I will absolutely not admit defeat either.
Besides, when it comes to risking my life… I’m definitely better at it than you!
Zhang Yu also stopped resisting the poison mist, focusing his entire spirit, all his strength, onto the Dragon-Binding Rope.
Boom!
As the power of the two men violently collided on the rope, an intense vibration emanated from its length.
At the same time, the hazardous environment began to change once more.
High temperatures, high pressure, strong acid, toxins…
But now, no matter the threat, no matter the injury, nothing could distract Zhang Yu or Ye Lingxiao in the slightest.
Not the searing of their bodies and the burning of their organs under the high heat.
Not the rupture of their cavities and the damage to their bodies from the high pressure.
Not the mangling of their flesh and the severe burns inside and out.
Nor the poisoning of their bodies, the toxins spreading with every increasingly violent exertion…
At this moment, none of it mattered in their eyes.
They had wagered their lives, gambled all the strength they could muster.
Their eyes saw only each other, saw only that one single thought.
Win!
Use every last fucking ounce of strength, the strongest will, and drag the other guy over!
With a sharp snap, the bone in Ye Lingxiao’s right leg, after suffering continuous damage, finally broke completely, forcing him to his knees.
On the other side, Zhang Yu, relying on his powerful self-healing ability, still maintained his structural integrity, though he looked just as bloodied and mangled.
Ye Lingxiao’s broken bone was the weight that tipped the scales, making it impossible for him to halt the Dragon-Binding Rope’s movement any longer.
Am I going to lose?
Watching himself being dragged step by step toward the cliff edge that was like a bottomless abyss, a flicker of despair flashed in Ye Lingxiao’s heart.
Is this the end?
The heavy burden of his family, the final wishes of his dead siblings, the endless exams, scores, and awards, the first-place finishes time and time again…
All of it, which had once felt like layer upon layer of shackles, like strands of a spider’s web binding him tightly, constricting his life and making him feel increasingly tired and weary.
But he later came to understand that even without all that, he would still want to climb the Immortal Dao. His family had given him a heavy burden, but it had also given him opportunities and support far beyond that of ordinary people.
“I want future generations of the Ye family to no longer have to make such sacrifices, to no longer have to pay the price of tens of thousands of lives just to reach the starting line that some people are born standing on.”
“I want to move the Ye family to the second layer, to obtain second-layer residency, to become a second-layer family.”
Ye Lingxiao knew with perfect clarity that the burden of his family and the wishes of his siblings had never been his shackles.
They were like his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, accompanying him at every moment, silently pushing him from behind, delivering him to where he stood today.
And at this very moment, Ye Lingxiao felt as if they had just given him another push.
Meanwhile, with a series of whooshing sounds, on the other platform, Zhang Yu, having inhaled a large amount of poison mist, had now triggered a second burst of his Spring and Autumn Endless Zen.
The first burst had come from the toxins accumulated after consuming a large quantity of alchemical enhancers.
This second burst came after he inhaled the poison mist from the hazardous environment and discovered that the ‘Zen’ character on his chest had accumulated a significant amount of new toxins.
Even though Ye Lingxiao was on his knees, Zhang Yu had no intention of relaxing until the final moment of victory.
Because based on his life experience and the combat experience Bai Zhenzhen had taught him, the more critical the battle, the more careful one had to be of the opponent’s final counterattack.
At this moment, the second burst of Spring and Autumn Endless Zen caused clouds of blood mist to erupt from Zhang Yu’s body. Every cell in his body seemed to be groaning, wailing, and letting out a dying roar.
But under these increasingly perilous conditions with no path of retreat, as he circulated the Crippled Ox Self-Sacrifice Art, Zhang Yu felt a surge of excitement. Even the pain from his injuries seemed to be suppressed, and his Dao heart was even strengthened.
With a furious roar, Zhang Yu bellowed, “That Foundation Establishment certificate is mine!”
On the other side, Ye Lingxiao crushed the final Spirit-Splitting Elixir in his mouth.
The laboratory head’s warning echoed in his mind: “Absolutely no more than three pills in one day.”
“Otherwise, your brain won’t be able to handle it. Not even with your Perfect Bloodline.”
Counting the one he took during the first stage’s Divine Spiritual Root assessment, this was the fourth Spirit-Splitting Elixir Ye Lingxiao had taken in a single day.
Feeling the alchemical power surging through his body and rushing toward his brain, Ye Lingxiao suddenly found his thoughts becoming crystal clear, as if something had awakened in his mind.
I can do it…
I can handle four.
At this moment, Ye Lingxiao felt as if there were four of him working together inside his body, like a project team where each member could handle a different bodily function, competing with each other, with performance reviews…
Meanwhile, under Zhang Yu’s ferocious exertion, the Dragon-Binding Rope transformed into a true great dragon, writhing violently in Ye Lingxiao’s grasp.
Ye Lingxiao’s mind raced, thinking of how to suppress this ‘great dragon,’ how to resist Zhang Yu’s savage power, but in the next instant, his arm also snapped from the contest of strength.
At this moment, although Ye Lingxiao had made a breakthrough in his mind and spirit, his physical body was already on the verge of collapse, with no room left to perform.
At the same time, the side effects of the fourth Spirit-Splitting Elixir began to manifest. Ye Lingxiao felt a sharp pain in his brain, as if his head were being torn apart and then stabbed with iron spikes.
The next moment, Ye Lingxiao could no longer contend with Zhang Yu.
Dragged by that ferocious power, Ye Lingxiao felt his sublimated spirit, like a colorful dream, ultimately succumb to the cold reality of gravity as it was brutally yanked into the abyss.
Boom!
Under the infusion of Zhang Yu’s incomparably violent power, the Dragon-Binding Rope was flung into the sky with a thunderous roar.
Ye Lingxiao, clutching the rope tightly, was also flung into the sky.
His gaze swept downward, and he could still seem to make out the powerful figure standing amidst a cloud of blood mist on the platform.
Great clouds of white steam billowed out from the figure’s exertions, combining with the blood mist constantly erupting from Zhang Yu’s body to make him look like a war god wreathed in blood and fire.
Ye Lingxiao sighed in his heart, This guy… how can he possess such a tyrannical physical body?
Zhang Yu gripped the Dragon-Binding Rope with both hands, swinging Ye Lingxiao and the rope together before flinging them away.
Swoosh!
With Zhang Yu’s mighty throw, Ye Lingxiao and the Dragon-Binding Rope shot toward the audience stands like a long, streaking comet.
The many spectators watching this scene all showed a hint of surprise, none of them having expected that Zhang Yu would gain such a crushing advantage at the end of the round, even sending Ye Lingxiao flying.
Watching Ye Lingxiao hurtling toward them, the crowd in the spectator stands had various expressions and different thoughts.
At the same time, as ripples of divine power pulsed through the air, Ye Lingxiao, who had been on the verge of crashing into the stands, slowly came to a halt in mid-air.
Zhang Yu looked at Huang Zichou, who had appeared before him, and asked earnestly, “Did I win?”
“The Foundation Establishment certificate… is it mine?”
Huang Zichou waved his hand, casting a series of talismans. He first used the divine power of the Ministry of Health to stabilize Zhang Yu’s injuries before slowly announcing, “The winner of the third stage is Zhang Yu!”
“The overall points winner of the third round of the Foundation Establishment exam is Zhang Yu!”
“I declare that the final winner of this exam’s body tempering arts track—Zhang Yu—will be awarded a Foundation Establishment certificate by the Heavenly Court and granted the qualification for Foundation Establishment!”
After hearing Huang Zichou’s words, Zhang Yu felt as if all the strength was being drained from his body, and he collapsed into a pool of his own blood.
Finally…
Day after day, night after night of sleepless struggle, one life-threatening battle after another, after paying nearly every price he could possibly pay, on top of the millions in bank debt, and finally betting his own life, Zhang Yu had at last set half a foot through the doors of the Ten Greats.
Looking back on the road he had traveled, Zhang Yu only felt how difficult it was. To climb in Kunxu… was truly so, so difficult.
At this thought, he suddenly let out a long, piercing cry, as if to vent all the accumulated frustration and resentment in his heart.
Huang Zichou watched Zhang Yu howl at the sky without concern. He had seen all sorts of reactions from those who obtained a Foundation Establishment certificate; there had been heart attacks, strokes, and even those who went mad from demonic corruption on the spot. Zhang Yu’s reaction was relatively normal.
Meanwhile, Ye Lingxiao had already fallen into a coma due to the side effects of the drugs and his grievous injuries.
In the audience, Laughing-Crying Emoji said, “Mother, it seems this Ye family you mentioned isn’t all that impressive. Their strongest successor lost.”
Watching the unconscious Ye Lingxiao being casually suspended in mid-air by divine power, Smiling Emoji from the stands frowned, feeling that Ye Lingxiao now looked like a dead dog on the side of the road, an unpleasant sight no matter how she looked at it.
Smiling Emoji said coolly, “If you don’t want to use this person, then don’t. But the Ye family is very useful on the first layer; you cannot give them up.”
Laughing-Crying Emoji said, “Actually, this Ye Lingxiao is already quite formidable, probably better than most high school students from the second and third layers, right? He just had bad luck and ran into an even stronger opponent.”
“I’ll still use him.”
“It’s just that compared to him…” He looked toward Zhang Yu with great interest. “I’m more interested in this Zhang Yu.”
Smiling Emoji frowned. “You want to sign him as a full-time employee?”
Laughing-Crying Emoji replied, “Why not? As long as they can satisfy me, whether it’s him, that Bai Zhenzhen, or even this Ye Lingxiao, I can make them all full-time employees.”
Smiling Emoji shook her head and sighed. “A dog shouldn’t be fed too well. Alas… you’ll understand sooner or later.”
Laughing-Crying Emoji was unconvinced and had already decided to contact the Oasis Corporation on the first layer to send representatives directly to Songyang City to throw money at them.
At the same time, many other university representatives in the audience had also fixed their gazes on Zhang Yu.
After all, although Ye Lingxiao was excellent, he now seemed lackluster in comparison to Zhang Yu, especially considering Zhang Yu was a year younger. This had many university admissions representatives already rubbing their hands together, determined to recruit Zhang Yu into their schools.
The cat-headed representative from Myriad Laws University looked at this scene and said to the husky-headed one beside him, “Looks like the price you were planning to offer won’t be enough.”
The husky-headed representative frowned. “It’s one thing for us Ten Greats to compete for people.”
He glanced toward a certain direction in the stands and snorted coldly. “I can understand why the 36 upper-tier colleges and 72 lower-tier colleges would get ideas.”
“But a damn vocational college wants to recruit this kind of talent?”
“Are they even worthy?”
“If Zhang Yu went to a vocational college, what’s the difference between that and having a prison record? He could forget about graduate school for the rest of his life, and he’d never achieve the Golden Core.”
The cat-headed representative reminded him, “If you want to snatch him up, you’d better move fast. That Zhang Yu is dirt poor and hasn’t seen much of the world. If he’s too shortsighted, he might get tricked by some vocational college pretending to be a real university.”
“After the Foundation Establishment certificates are awarded, the examinees’ information will probably no longer be confidential. You’d best be quick.”
The husky-headed representative’s heart sank. What the other said was true; things like that had happened before.
He thought to himself, I really should get in touch with this Zhang Yu quickly through our first-layer corporation’s representatives.
But before leaving, he seemed to remember something and confirmed, “Are you sure your finance department isn’t recruiting any of these students?”
The cat-headed representative said flatly, “Their aptitude is indeed not bad. They’d be fine for security or civil engineering. But to enter the doors of finance? Perhaps after they establish a firm foothold up here and their descendants struggle for a few generations, their grandchildren might have a tiny little chance.”
In another part of the audience, a teacher from a vocational college was already on a call with his principal, stating with ironclad certainty, “Principal, as long as we get this student and put all our resources into cultivating him to the Golden Core, who will dare say that a vocational college can’t produce a Golden Core cultivator? Our school’s rating will definitely have a chance to rise!”
Just as the figures in the audience were dwindling, logging out one by one.
The injuries on Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had been completely healed.
They were now gathered with all the other contestants, about to receive their Foundation Establishment certificates.
Seeing Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Yu hurried over and asked, “Zhen, did you make it?”
Bai Zhenzhen laughed and nodded. “I made it, Yu-boy! What about you?”
“I made it too!” Zhang Yu laughed heartily and pulled Bai Zhenzhen into a hug. “Zhen! We can go to university together!”
Hearing his words, a great weight lifted from Bai Zhenzhen’s heart. She had been genuinely worried that Zhang Yu wouldn’t pass.
She hugged him back tightly, unable to stop laughing as well. “Have you decided which of the Ten Greats to choose? Should we start planning for our master’s and doctoral degrees?”
Nearby, Yun Jing watched the two of them hugging and spinning in circles, and his already gloomy expression turned even fouler.