Chapter 31
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Chapter 31: The Spirit Realm
The Spirit Realm.
A mental world jointly created by the Ten Great Sects.
When the examination officially began, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness being pulled from his physical body and transported to another world.
A gentle breeze rustled through his hair, and he felt the hard surface of a chair beneath him.
When Zhang Yu opened his eyes, he found himself in an ordinary classroom.
Dozens of students, all around his age and from various high schools, were seated inside.
This was the Spirit Realm, a mental world distinct from the Physical World.
The Spirit Realm could be described as both real and false.
It was real because everything one experienced there felt exactly like the Physical World.
Yet it was also false because not everything in this world was physically real. It was like a dream or an illusion. Even the sights, smells, textures, and sensations within the Spirit Realm could be artificially controlled.
Zhang Yu knew his physical body was still lying on his bed at Songyang High School while only his consciousness had entered the Spirit Realm.
Like the other students around him, he had been randomly selected from the many examinees in Songyang City and assigned to this classroom.
After taking a look around the room, Zhang Yu found he could not tell the difference between this place and the Physical World at all.
I hope we don’t get stuck here halfway through the exam, like some mass trapping of high school students in a virtual game, he thought.
His understanding of the Spirit Realm, after learning some basic information, was that it was a place resembling a virtual world. The only difference was that Kunxu had achieved this using immortal cultivation technology.
Of course, Zhang Yu knew he still understood too little about the Spirit Realm. His perception was undoubtedly superficial, but it was sufficient for him at the moment.
Standing behind the lectern at the front, facing all of them, was a gaunt man wearing an owl mask.
Li Xingyu scanned the examinees before him.
In the next instant, their numbers, names, and high schools appeared floating above their heads in his field of vision.
Ugh, I hope this ends soon so I can get off work, he thought wearily.
As a Soul Cultivator at Radiant Mountain High School, Li Xingyu had long grown accustomed to his daily life in the Spirit Realm, having lost his physical body and existing only as a soul.
Due to their unique status, Soul Cultivators were exempt from the Dao Heart Examination. Instead, the teachers had roped them into supervising the exam.
Thinking about the 45 hours of work he had left to complete today, Li Xingyu could not help but sigh inwardly.
Suddenly, while inspecting the candidates, his gaze sharpened and turned towards Zhang Yu.
Is that him?
Li Xingyu still remembered the day of Li Xuelian’s art exhibition when this security guard had stolen the show, triggering the strange phenomena on the Heavenly Being Martial Arts Portrait.
From Songyang High School?
Interesting. I’ll record his exam process. It might make for some valuable research data to sell to the Principal.
After a moment’s observation and a mental note, Li Xingyu took a few steps forward. With each step he took, several identical copies of himself split off. By his time he took the tenth step, a Li Xingyu stood before every candidate in the room.
This Spirit Realm cloning technique was commonplace for Soul Cultivators like Li Xingyu.
Zhang Yu looked at the proctor wearing an owl mask before him and began to speculate.
The strength of one’s will was a reflection of their Dao Heart. To assess a Dao Heart Level, the standard method was to test the strength of one’s will.
Therefore, the Dao Heart Examination primarily tests willpower, at least during the Qi Refining stage.
However, there were many ways to measure each candidate’s willpower. To prevent them from engaging in targeted training beforehand, which could skew the results, the specific content of each Dao Heart Examination was different.
As far as Zhang Yu knew, the higher the level of an exam, the more resources were invested in its Dao Heart Examination, and the more complex the experiences candidates would face in the Spirit Realm.
After all, more complex and diverse experiences were needed to accurately gauge a candidate’s true state.
This is just the Monthly Exam, Zhang Yu thought to himself. Based on past experience, it shouldn’t be too complicated.
At that moment, Li Xingyu reached out to him. His palm was open to reveal a device that resembled a smartphone.
“Take this.”
Simultaneously, all the Li Xingyu spoke in unison. “The content of today’s Dao Heart Examination is simple… Pain.”
“For the next sixty minutes, you can use the controllers in your hands to adjust the level of pain you experience at any time.”
“During these sixty minutes, the higher the pain level and the longer you maintain it, the higher your ranking will be.”
The Dao Heart Examination was scored based on ranking, so a student’s final score depended not only on their own performance but also on the performance of other examinees.
For example, the Dao Heart Monthly Exam in Songyang City was scored based on the rankings of all high school students in the city.
The actual National College Entrance Examination, however, was scored based on the rankings of all examinees across the entire first layer of Kunxu.
“Also, if the pain level exceeds your threshold and causes you to lose consciousness, your consciousness will immediately be ejected from the Spirit Realm, and your score will be treated as zero.”
After explaining the content of the exam, Li Xingyu pointed his finger, and a ten-second countdown appeared in the skies of the Spirit Realm.
“Timing will begin in ten seconds.”
Zhang Yu looked at the smartphone-like controller in his hand. The screen displayed pain levels of 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on.
The controller had only two buttons, up and down. He could use them to continuously adjust the pain level from its starting point of 0, changing what he felt at any moment.
Just looking at it made Zhang Yu feel pain all over his body.
What kind of soulless bastard came up with this exam question?
Don’t tell me these pain levels include things like burning alive, Castration, or Lingchi-level…
[T/N – Lingchi (凌遲), also known as “slow slicing” or “death by a thousand cuts,” was a form of capital punishment and torture used in China, Vietnam, and Korea from roughly 900 until it was banned in 1905.]
Is this Songyang City’s own little version of Saw movie or what?
Zhang Yu hated suffering more than anything. The only thing he hated more was being forced to suffer.
Yet ever since he arrived in Kunxu and embarked on the Path to Immortality, he had been forced to endure endless hardship, swallowing it down by the mouthful.
At this moment, Zhang Yu felt utterly disgusted. His internal resistance was reaching its breaking point.
Realizing this, Zhang Yu’s gaze sharpened as he thought to himself, But then again, as a high school cultivation student, studying, cultivating, and taking exams are my duty. Enduring a little hardship now means I can earn more money later.
I love studying! I love exams!
After giving himself a pep talk, Zhang Yu felt slightly more invigorated. Even the pain controller in front of him seemed a little less menacing.
What is willpower? What is thought? What is a Dao Heart?
The Dao Heart Class Teacher had lectured extensively on these concepts. Throughout history, some had worshipped deities, demons, and others humans. Each had established different ideologies, which, when combined with Mental Cultivation Techniques, could elevate their Dao Heart and strengthen their willpower.
In Zhang Yu’s understanding, willpower was the ability to endure hardship. The stronger one’s willpower, the more suffering they could endure.
And thought, in this context, was the mental framework of convincing oneself that enduring hardship now would bring future benefits, thus enabling one to endure even more suffering.
At this moment, Zhang Yu was using these small thoughts to comfort and encourage himself, hoping to improve his performance on the upcoming exam.
Zhang Yu had plenty of these little thoughts, just like everyone else.
But Zhang Yu had yet to develop a truly enduring, systematic ideology, one that even the school’s Dao Heart Class had failed to teach him.
That kind of ideology could only be established when each student personally integrated their teaching materials, life experiences, and Cultivation Art.
The strength of an cultivator’s willpower could be used to assess their Dao Heart Level.
Their thoughts, when combined with a Mental Cultivation Technique, could further enhance their Dao Heart Level and strengthen their willpower.
Thoughts form the core, willpower is its manifestation, and the Mental Cultivation Technique serves as the technique. Only this combination represents a complete Dao Heart for an Immortal Cultivator.
The next moment, as the countdown in the air reached zero, the numerous students present began operating their controllers. Some let out screams, some contorted their faces in agony, while others sucked in a sharp breath.
When Zhang Yu adjusted the pain level to 1, he felt as if a steel needle had pierced his palm.
He immediately activated the Level 1 Basic Heart Refining Method taught in Dao Heart Class, striving to stabilize his mind.
Emptiness, nothingness, selflessness. The Basic Heart Refining Method was designed to calm emotions, maintain composure, and gradually guide practitioners into a meditative state.
Through prolonged practice, the Dao Heart Level would rise steadily, and willpower would grow stronger with it.
This Level 1 Basic Heart Refining Method was the very technique the original Zhang Yu had learned before this Zhang Yu transmigrated to this world.
But because Zhang Yu had been so busy improving his Magic Power and Physical Strength, along with practicing the Cosmic Orbit Energy Gathering Method, the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening, and Freehand Combat, he had not found the time to improve this particular Mental Cultivation Technique.
Now, as he activated the Basic Heart Refining Method, he felt his mind gradually calm. His tolerance for pain seemed to increase significantly.
He immediately raised the pain level to 2.
Hiss!
Zhang Yu felt as if his other hand had also been pierced by steel needles.
Still, he could endure it.
He continued to increase the pain level one step at a time. When it reached 37, he felt as if thirty-seven steel needles had pierced through both his hands and feet.
His face twisted in agony. No matter how hard he tried to circulate the Basic Heart Refining Method, he could not find a shred of peace.
Calm your mind! Steady your Qi! Calm your mind! Steady your Qi!
To quiet one’s heart and focus one’s spirit, to endure in silence and persevere steadfastly, to be the water drop that wears away stone. This was the mindset that had to be paired with the Basic Heart Refining Method to achieve its full potential.
This was the normal path to improving one’s Dao Heart. Only when one’s thoughts and the Mental Cultivation Technique aligned would the Dao Heart’s improvement be most effective.
But the entire philosophy of staying calm, clearing the mind, enduring silently, and persevering patiently like water wears through stone… was fundamentally at odds with Zhang Yu’s temperament.
At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to kill the person who had set this Dao Heart Examination. Right now! Immediately!
Just as Zhang Yu felt he was reaching his limit, the contents of the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique suddenly flashed through his mind.
Fists, palms, legs, spears, sabers, swords…
One figure after another surged into his consciousness, each radiating the killing intent to crush ten thousand armies, the unyielding resolve of facing death without regret, and the indomitable spirit of charging forward without hesitation. These were the qualities that truly resonated with his heart.
Though his Dao Heart Level was insufficient to fully master the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique, simply recalling the will within this martial art instantly ignited a surge of spirit in him.
He felt like a mere soldier following a peerless general, his courage and spirit renewed by witnessing the general’s awe-inspiring presence.
In that moment, the excruciating pain of steel needles piercing his flesh became far more bearable.
A cruel smile curled at the corners of his lips. Once I climb to the top, I’ll make that son of a bitch who set this challenge beg for mercy on his knees.
