Chapter 81
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Chapter 81: Competition Spots
Songyang High School.
Inside a classroom.
School life remained as tranquil as ever, and the students’ enthusiasm for learning was as high as usual.
The Chinese language teacher explained the text from the podium with barely any presence. Below, some students were practicing martial arts, some were meditating, some were taking pills, and some were even sparring as part of their practical combat training.
This was the typical atmosphere in a Key High School classroom.
First-year students had initially restrained themselves, still clinging to their middle school habits. Now, half a year into the school year, they had all revealed their true identities as top prodigies on the Immortal Path.
The teacher did not mind. After all, whether it was martial arts, meditation, or sparring, and whether it was taking pills, consuming stimulants, or injecting medicines, all were forms of Immortal Path cultivation. These were far more important than her measly Chinese class, as long as the students did not try to hit her.
As far as she knew, General Education teachers at Songyang High School still held some status. For instance, her classmate who went to teach at Bailong High School was often used as a cautionary tale by the school leaders. They would tell students, “If you fail to get into a good university through the National College Entrance Examination, you’ll end up just as useless as a high school Chinese teacher.”
The Chinese teacher sighed inwardly, thinking, If it were not for the requirements from the Sect and the city government, the Key High School would have probably cut the General Education Class time down to nothing by now.
Just then, the sound of a cell phone rang out from the classroom below.
She finally could not resist the urge to say something. She wanted to remind the student, Students, please set your phone to vibrate during Chinese class so you do not disturb your classmates’ self-study.
But when she looked up, she realized the phone’s owner was none other than Zhang Yu.
Though she was merely a General Education Class teacher, she was well aware of this campus celebrity’s formidable reputation.
First-Year Academic Demon, Songyang Traitor, Impure Root, Freeloader…. She had heard all the various nicknames for Zhang Yu.
She had heard that he had won first place in the Martial Arts Competition just last night and that no one had dared to reprimand him for being two minutes late to school that day.
Considering he had a sugar mama from Bailong as his backer and was someone who could defy even the Student Council, how could a mere General Education teacher like her dare to bother him about his phone ringing?
So, the Chinese teacher quickly lowered her head and pretended she had not heard a thing.
Zhang Yu, who had been cultivating his Mental Cultivation Technique to strengthen his Dao Heart, picked up his phone and saw that the prize money from the Martial Arts Competition had already been deposited into his account.
“Though the prize money was a bit low, it arrived quickly.”
Although 50,000 yuan had been deposited, after repaying Zhang Pianpian 40,000 yuan and settling his debts for meals borrowed from Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing, Zhang Yu was left with less than 10,000 yuan.
Zhang Yu knew that Bai Zhenzhen’s fourth-place prize was 10,000 yuan, so her account balance was probably about the same as his.
But when he considered that the next month would start in two weeks, meaning he would have to pay loan interest, rent, and utilities, he felt a wave of frustration.
Right, I also need to buy a new weighted suit. And if I’m going to focus on body refining for the next two months, my daily food expenses will probably go up too…
The more Zhang Yu thought about it, the more expenses he realized he had.
“At least I’ll have some income from Song Hailong.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, Bai Zhenzhen also received a notification that her prize money had been deposited.
Along with it, she received a message from Zhang Pianpian.
【You do not use your Spirit Root often enough, so you are not very skilled with it, are you? Otherwise, you should have been able to go further in the Martial Arts Competition.】
【From now on, just rent a Spirit Root every day. You can say I invested in you so you could afford it.】
【An evolutionary-type Spirit Root only gets stronger the more you use it.】
When Bai Zhenzhen saw the message from Zhang Pianpian, she was initially startled, then it quickly dawned on her. She figured out I have a Spirit Root?
She wants to provide cover for me to use it?
Bai Zhenzhen was well aware of her Spirit Root’s condition. Every day after returning home, she would secretly use it for her cultivation.
However, because she was constantly worried about someone discovering she possessed this “precious treasure,” she never dared to use the Spirit Root to aid her cultivation at school, where she was always in the public eye.
After all, if this matter got out, she would be annoyed to death by offers for bank mortgages, pitches from casinos, and schemes from fraudsters, to say nothing of the plots the wealthy might hatch.
So when Zhang Pianpian saw right through her, Bai Zhenzhen’s first reaction was an instinctive panic. It was a deep-seated fear she had carried since childhood, like the dread of being discovered after having been constipated for ten years.
[Note: The original text uses a pun. The word for “constipation” (便秘, biànmì) sounds similar to the word for “secret” (秘密, mìmì). The humor comes from comparing the deep-seated fear of a secret being exposed to the embarrassing discovery of a long-term, private physical ailment.]
But then she remembered how Zhang Pianpian had taken care of her recently, the sibling relationship between Zhang Pianpian and Yu Zi, how calmly she had revealed her own status as a fake wealthy heiress, and her astonishing 699 test score. Gradually, Bai Zhenzhen calmed down.
Zhang Pianpian is probably trustworthy.
Then she had another thought. If she could use Zhang Pianpian’s name as a reason for renting a Spirit Root daily, she could openly use it to cultivate at school every day.
That way, I could cultivate with the Spirit Root for at least ten more hours each day.
I won’t be so stifled in the next competition.
Recalling the Martial Arts Competition, although Bai Zhenzhen had placed fourth, she still felt a lingering frustration, like having an act of showing off being cut short.
Because her overall stats were inferior to those of her opponents from the Three Schools, and because the numbers in her bank account could not match theirs, she had to fight with many reservations and ultimately had to concede defeat.
But now that she could cultivate more with the Spirit Root, she immediately felt a surge of confidence that she could catch up to those top students from the elite schools.
Yu Zi stole all the limelight in this competition, but next time, it will be my turn.
Although it’s nice for my son to win first place, nothing would be more satisfying than crushing him underfoot and claiming the championship myself.
***
During Physical Education class.
The smell of sweat mixed with the aroma of medicine, forming a distinctive scent unique to the Songyang’s Immortal Path.
The clanging of equipment and the grunts of students echoed incessantly. These were the sounds of them striving relentlessly on the path of cultivation.
Yet some students glanced toward Bai Zhenzhen not far away, sensing the surging spiritual energy in the air as various thoughts swirled in their minds.
Some were filled with envy.
Renting a Spirit Root for her every day? Zhang Pianpian is way too good to her!
Others began to scheme. I can love Bailong too. I want to be Zhang Pianpian’s dog.
Still others indulged in wild fantasies. Bai Zhenzhen became Zhang Pianpian’s dog and gets a Spirit Root rented for her daily. If I become Bai Zhenzhen’s dog, I wonder if she could lend me the Spirit Root for an hour each day?
Meanwhile, Zhang Yu was not furiously training his physique like his classmates. Instead, he had retreated to a small side room to study the Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand, a new martial art he had acquired the previous day.
After all, the 24 hour cooldown had not yet passed since he switched the Feather Book’s specialization to this grappling technique yesterday. For now, his only option for rapid improvement lay in this practical martial art.
I’ll practice this for now. Once the cooldown ends tonight, I’ll switch it to the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi.
Zhang Yu’s hands blurred into afterimages as he began to practice the Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand.
Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand Level 2 (4/20)
This martial art, driven purely by physical force, consisted of eighteen moves. Though the number of moves was not small, each one was concise and designed to instantly sever tendons, break bones, topple opponents, and immobilize them with grappling holds and locks.
Grappling techniques inherently demand speed and ferocity. Each move took less than a second to execute, so in the blink of an eye, Zhang Yu had completed a full set of the Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand.
Recalling the other practical martial arts he had previously cultivated, Zhang Yu mused, Practical martial arts techniques are always required to be simple and swift. That’s why I can complete a full set so quickly.
Zhang Yu understood that if not for this, he could never have learned and even surpassed Song Hailong’s Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand in the arena.
A few minutes later, a tremor shook Zhang Yu’s mind as countless experiences with the Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand surfaced within it. The martial art had advanced from Level 2 to Level 3.
At this rate, I should be able to raise the Dragon-Back Mountain-Toppling Hand to Level 10 today.
While Zhang Yu was diligently cultivating his martial arts in the small room, Physical Education Teacher Wang Hai called Qian Shen, He Dayou, Zhao Tianxing, and two other students to the side.
“The school plans to select a group of promising students from the first-year to join the Sports Competition Team for training.”
“Are the five of you willing to go?”
Before anyone else could react, Qian Shen asked directly, “Just the five of us? Aren’t Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen going?”
Wang Hai replied, “The school leaders feel those two need more time to develop.”
Qian Shen asked in confusion, “Their monthly exam scores were first and second in our year. Do they need to develop? And we’re the ones who get selected?”
Wang Hai certainly could not say it was all because of the Student Council, so he could only offer another reason.
“Because they’re too poor.”
Seeing the five students look slightly stunned, Wang Hai continued, “They can’t even afford the tutoring and nutrition supplements for the Competition Team. How could they possibly participate?”
Not only did the other four find this perfectly reasonable, but now even Qian Shen was left speechless.
He especially recalled how Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had previously needed to borrow money from him just to buy dinner, so he understood that their financial situation must be terrible.
After recruiting the five students into the Sports Competition Team, Wang Hai called Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen over.
“Your applications for the Sports Competition Team have been rejected again.”
Wang Hai looked at the two of them with some regret. “You should both understand the specific reason why.”
Wang Hai had initially assumed Zhang Yu was a Golden Core expert’s disciple. But after Zhang Pianpian came to Songyang High School to back Zhang Yu up and clashed with the Student Council, he was no longer so sure.
Regardless of whose disciple he was, Wang Hai could sense Zhang Yu’s extraordinary talent and recognized his potential to compete for top rankings in sports competitions.
He thought to himself, It’s a pity. The Student Council won’t give them a chance.
Hearing Wang Hai’s words, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen naturally understood. They knew the Student Council must be deliberately obstructing them.
Wang Hai continued, “However, you’re not entirely without a chance. If your Physical Education scores can remain in the top five of your grade one month from now, you can represent the school in sports competitions.”
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen exchanged a puzzled glance as doubt welled up within them.
As if sensing their confusion, Wang Hai went on to explain, “The school has selected five first-year students to join the Sports Competition Team.”
“If, a month from now, you can maintain your Physical Education scores in the top five while competing against them, you will be able to represent the school in the sports competitions.”
Now Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen understood. The Student Council clearly believed that after these five students joined the Competition Team and received training, their Physical Education scores would completely surpass their own.
Watching the fierce determination burn in Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes, Wang Hai, however, sighed inwardly.
As Songyang High School’s ace Physical Education teacher, he knew all too well the training methods of the Competition Team.
The so-called chance to compare progress after a month is just an excuse from the Student Council. It’s a way to justifiably squeeze Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen out of the competition so that Zhang Pianpian will have nothing to say.
Given their current rate of improvement, it would be pushing it for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen to reach a Physical Strength of 2.1 or even 2.2 in a month.
But with the special training program, Competition Team members like He Dayou and the others can boost their Physical Strength to over 3.0 in just one month.
This isn’t about talent. It’s purely a massive gap in immortal cultivation technology. If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were part of the special training program, their improvement in a month would likely be even greater…
Because he understood all this so clearly, Wang Hai knew that the moment Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen failed to be selected for the special training program, they had already lost any real chance of catching up to the Competition Team members in Physical Strength. They had even less of a chance to participate in the Physical Education competition.
