Chapter 343: Second Mental Cultivation Technique, Exams Begin
Late August.
Zhang Yu sat cross-legged in his dormitory, sensing his current state.
Since arriving at Myriad Laws University City on the Second Layer last June, he had first spent three months laying a solid foundation. Then, after the semester began in September, he had diligently advanced all the way to this moment… finally reaping substantial rewards on his Immortal Dao path.
His dao heart had reached Level 15 (55.1%), and his mental cultivation technique had smoothly attained the Realm of Spirit-Flesh Unity, operating as effortlessly as breathing. He had even unlocked his second mental cultivation technique.
Through ceaseless practice of the breathing technique day and night, his Magic Power had surged to 752.8 units.
Although the rate of increase in his Magic Power Quality had slowed after continuous growth, it still reached 173%.
While his primary focus during the second semester was on the breathing technique, multiple daoist arts services, nourishment from food essence, potent Tiger Wolf Medicine, the constant gravitational refinement from the Nine Hells Mountain-Suppressing Belt, and Zhang Yu’s relentless overtime at construction sites had all contributed to his physical strength reaching Level 15.88.
As his cultivation across various aspects steadily improved, Zhang Yu’s Gang Qi Conduction Rate had now reached 53%, with the maximum transmission distance surpassing 50 meters.
Feeling the surging power within his body, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
He then checked his bank balance.
Despite ongoing monthly expenses for Spirit Stones, medicinal pills, Spirit Realm Flow, daoist arts services, and Spirit Realm Services, Zhang Yu had repeatedly struck it rich.
Later, he had gotten the Spirit-Flesh Union Journey for free, and his work efficiency continued to improve. Occasionally, he would even sell some Magic Power… As a result, his account balance had finally increased rather than dwindled, reaching 46 Spirit Coins.
Looking at the 46 Spirit Coins in his account, Zhang Yu felt an overwhelming sense of fulfillment.
“This feeling of having solidified my Immortal Dao Potential to the extreme… it’s truly wonderful.”
At that moment, the White Ox roared in his mind, hinting at a new transformation on the horizon.
This transformation stemmed from the second mental cultivation technique Zhang Yu had obtained from the Spirit Realm — a black art known as the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body.
As Zhang Yu studied its contents, he realized that this technique perfectly complemented the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art.
When Zhang Yu fully comprehended the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, he understood that this mental cultivation technique demanded combat to the bitter end. Even with grievous wounds and severed limbs, one must sacrifice oneself and fight again, choosing death over surrender a hundred times over.
To achieve this, the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art stimulated the body’s vitality, granting practitioners formidable self-healing abilities. This allowed them to survive near-death experiences in each self-sacrificing battle, preparing them for the next. Without this, their bodies would be ravaged after just a few battles, leaving them unable to fight again.
Yet even with the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art’s support, absolute safety remained elusive. Each life-or-death battle carried the ever-present risk of severe injury or death.
The Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body existed precisely to mitigate this risk.
According to the cultivation art’s description Zhang Yu obtained, this technique directly targeted a Level 80 dao heart. In other words, this cultivation art could progress from Level 1 of the Qi Refining Stage to Level 20 of the Foundation Establishment Stage, Level 30 of the Golden Core Stage, and ultimately, all the way to Level 80.
This marked the first time Zhang Yu had acquired a cultivation art with complete guidance for all subsequent cultivation realms.
Previously, when purchasing cultivation arts, he had typically only obtained versions for the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment Stages at most.
The final realm of this mental cultivation technique was described as follows: every strand of flesh and blood would contain a wisp of consciousness. When combined with the Level 80 Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, it would grant the ability to regenerate from a single drop of blood, achieving immortality. Furthermore, each drop of blood and every hair would be capable of forming an external incarnation, allowing for the creation of countless manifestations.
The core principle embodied by the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body was unwavering resistance — a resolve to fight until every shred of flesh and bone was utterly annihilated, refusing to cease battle.
After Zhang Yu began practicing this cultivation art, he felt that with each level gained in the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body, the speed of his mental processes increased. Now, he had finally reached a qualitative transformation…
“Nine deaths without surrender, self-sacrifice without regret — only then shall the Primordial Spirit return to its fleshly home.”
The mantra of the mental cultivation technique flowed through Zhang Yu’s mind once more, and at that moment, his Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body was propelled to Level 10.
In that instant, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness split in two.
Within his mind, the roaring White Ox tilted its head skyward in a furious bellow. Then, its head split as well, transforming into a double-headed White Ox.
As the double-headed White Ox roared, Zhang Yu realized he could now divide his focus, simultaneously operating two independent streams of consciousness.
This was the Level 10 effect of the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body, allowing Zhang Yu to simultaneously operate two distinct streams of thought.
By continuing to level up the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body, not only would his mental processing speed accelerate, but the number of parallel thought streams he could maintain would also increase exponentially.
Every ten levels would further enhance his capacity for parallel thought, gradually enabling him to divide his consciousness into ten, a hundred, or even more streams — until every fiber of his flesh could be assigned a dedicated stream of thought. When combined with the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, this would allow him to achieve the legendary cultivation realm of rebirth from a drop of blood, immortality, and the creation of countless incarnations.
As Zhang Yu gradually grasped the immense power of this cultivation art, he finally understood why his Elder Sister had considered it at least a pre-military-grade technique, if not military-grade itself.
“Perhaps back when this cultivation art was created, it was indeed a military-grade technique?”
“But as military-grade cultivation arts have grown increasingly formidable over time, this technique may have gradually been relegated to the pre-military-grade category? Just like the Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force?”
Of course, Zhang Yu was still far from achieving the mythical realms of rebirth from a drop of blood and countless incarnations. In his current assessment, the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body’s greatest value lay not in its physical enhancements, but in its unparalleled control over Gang Qi.
Two Formless Warriors materialized behind Zhang Yu with a crackling explosion, then collided violently.
The two humanoid Gang Qi figures clashed, their fists and feet colliding under Zhang Yu’s dual mental control, creating the illusion of a genuine, fierce battle between two distinct individuals.
Zhang Yu silently assessed, “With the Level 10 Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body boosting my abilities and granting me dual consciousness… at full power, I can now perfectly control about nine Formless Warriors.”
“However, my Magic Power consumption per unit of time has undoubtedly increased accordingly.”
Just then, Yu Xinghan’s voice called out from nearby: “Zhang Yu, let’s go. It’s time for the examination.”
Yu Xinghan clenched his fist, his face brimming with fighting spirit as he declared, “After so much grueling training, the moment has finally arrived for us to make a name for ourselves.”
As the pair hurried toward the examination field, they encountered many other students rushing to the same destination.
It was the end of the academic year, and students were taking examinations en masse. Zhang Pianpian and Le Mulan had already left their dormitories early to begin their tests.
Upon arriving at the examination field, Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan found many students already waiting there, their faces etched with nervousness, anticipation, or excitement.
The first dao heart examination officially began.
Deep within the Spirit Realm, Feng Jiu’s artifact spirit observed the students in the Spirit Realm Examination Hall.
Images of individual students flickered before her, and she meticulously recorded their every detail.
For this dao heart examination, each student’s challenge was randomly assigned, supplemented by publicly available data. Though the challenges varied, meticulously calibrated scoring rules ensured the most accurate evaluation of each student’s dao heart performance.
In one screen, Li Xiao wandered the streets like a living corpse.
His examination topic was death.
He had suddenly discovered that his data in the Spirit Realm Network had been mistakenly flagged as deceased. Consequently, he was declared dead across all systems.
His Spirit Realm Network connection was severed, and his Bionic Eye displayed only a grayscale cityscape. His bank accounts were frozen, rendering him unable to access even a single Spirit Coin. He was denied access to the Primordial Magnetic Channel.
All his titles, rankings, and affiliations had vanished, making him appear like a phantom in the eyes of others. Even when he was injured in a collision, his deceased status prevented him from receiving any compensation or medical care.
Like a lost soul wandering through this grayscale urban forest, he endured profound mental torment.
The artifact spirit recorded Li Xiao’s evaluation:
Emotional autonomy: 76 points. Internal stability: 72 points. Sense of internal abundance: 71 points.
“Lacks resilience in solitary cultivation and is highly dependent on social validation…”
After grading Li Xiao, the artifact spirit turned its attention to another student.
Ying Xin was facing a situation… called bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy, considered by countless Kunxu People to be the beginning of death and the dissipation of one’s Dao, was seen by many as more terrifying than Qi Deviation or fiend energy infection.
Yet Ying Xin confronted this crisis with remarkable composure.
“It’s time to unleash the family legacy of the Sixth-Generation Earthmovers!”
“Come forth! Father! Grandfather! Great-Grandfather! Great-Great-Grandfather! Founding Ancestor!”
With a sweeping palm strike powered by her Level 20 Excavation Palm, Ying Xin tore open a vast swathe of earth. Six coffins rose with a thunderous rumble.
Immediately above each coffin, a number materialized — the price of the corpse within. Ascending from father to Founding Ancestor, the numbers grew exponentially, radiating an increasingly terrifying aura of oppressive power.
“Six generations of ancestral legacy! Aid me in mending the heavens and reversing my fortunes!”
Observing Ying Xin’s unwavering resolve, the artifact spirit recorded: “High degree of familial socialization. Cultivated exceptional psychological resilience. Further validation of the theory that greater wealth correlates with enhanced emotional container capacity.”
“Money truly is humanity’s most crucial metric. I still can’t understand why wealth isn’t a factor in university rankings.”
Meanwhile, a flood of student data poured before the artifact spirit.
Yu Xinghan was currently facing a broken engagement.
The upper-class heiress, whose family assets exceeded ten thousand Spirit Coins, had delivered the annulment document to his doorstep.
Faced with the humiliation from the wealthy, the mockery from relatives, the ridicule from classmates, and the heiress’s veiled threats… layer upon layer of psychological pressure crashed down on him.
“Yu Xinghan, if you have any backbone, just accept it. Then we can still be friends.”
“Backbone?” Fury surged within Yu Xinghan. He had never felt so wronged.
This unjust humiliation drove him to tear up the annulment document and shout at her, “I refuse to break off the engagement!”
“Even if he becomes the greater, and I the lesser! I’m determined to be your husband, and no one can stop me! Unless you go bankrupt today!”
Watching this scene unfold, the artifact spirit shook its head and recorded, “This exam question is outdated. The question bank needs updating. Backbone and dignity hardly cause any psychological pressure these days… Hmm, let’s give him a different challenge.”