Leaving Su Haifeng's office, Zhang Yu walked back toward the classroom.
Next week, he had to break into the top ten in mana across the entire grade to earn the right to represent Songyang High School in the Dharma Competition. The week after that, the monthly exams would begin, and only with sufficiently excellent results could he secure a better contract from the school.
Breaking into the top ten in mana within the coming week filled Zhang Yu with confidence — after all, his Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method had already reached Level 4, and from here on out that level would only climb higher, making his mana gains faster and faster.
But the monthly exams covered more than just mana. They also tested physical fitness, Dao Heart, martial arts, and Dao arts. Having to dramatically boost all four of these in the next two weeks suddenly made Zhang Yu feel the pressure.
And what about the fifth subject — general education?
Never mind that general education was worth only 50 points — in the Elite Class, almost everyone scored near perfect on it, so it simply wasn't where gaps could be opened.
One could say that where the monthly exams two weeks from now would ultimately land was something Zhang Yu himself had little idea about.
"In any case… just grind, then."
Zhang Yu felt himself fired up.
Who said a manual transmission wasn't a transmission?
Feather Book! For the next two weeks, show me where your limits truly are!
So the moment he returned to the classroom, Zhang Yu began drawing in the Spiritual Machine through respiration, driving the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method at full power.
In the blink of an eye, the first class ended.
"Ugh, so tired."
Just as Zhang Yu loosened up a little, wanting to rest, the icy, sinister countdown welled back up, forcing him to keep going.
"Damn it!"
"Stupid ritual… one day I'll kill you!"
Meanwhile, in another corner of the classroom, Zhao Tianxing looked at the message on his phone and breathed a small sigh of relief.
Earlier, the PE teacher Wang Hai had sent him to probe into Zhang Yu's supply channels. When Wang Hai asked for the results today, Zhao Tianxing told him about yesterday's exhibition.
Wang Hai's reply was: Got it. You don't need to follow Zhang Yu for now — just keep up a good relationship with him. Tomorrow after school, come to the training ground, and I'll give you a body-training lesson.
No longer needing to pump Zhang Yu for information let Zhao Tianxing relax considerably.
And the reward of an extra private lesson from Wang Hai made him secretly delighted.
After all, as a top-tier teacher, the quality of Wang Hai's private lessons needed no elaboration — they were expensive, and frequently impossible to book.
As for keeping up his relationship with Zhang Yu…
Zhao Tianxing looked up at Zhang Yu's seat, only to see him breathing in the Spiritual Machine.
"After yesterday, I must have become a clown in his eyes."
Imagining that Zhang Yu was already laughing at his clumsy performance the night before, Zhao Tianxing felt his cheeks burn again.
But weighing the reward of Wang Hai's private lesson, he resolved that the moment the younger man was free after class, he'd go over and chat with him.
As the morning classes came and went, however, Zhao Tianxing found no opportunity to get even a few words in with Zhang Yu.
"Still breathing?"
"Breathing in class."
"Breathing after class."
"He hasn't even gone to the bathroom once… what iron kidneys."
Zhang Yu's frantic effort made even Zhao Tianxing feel anxious just watching.
Finally, when lunch rolled around, Zhao Tianxing had just filled his tray and was about to sit down beside Zhang Yu.
Then he saw the boy shovel his food into his stomach like a ghost and bolt out of the cafeteria.
Bai Zhenzhen cursed inwardly: *So even lunch has to be a grind? Do you not let a person eat in peace?*
Mealtime was the only time at Songyang High School when there were no grades, no birth-monitoring types like Song Haifeng, and no freaks like Wang Hai to intrude.
You could say it was the one rare stretch of the school day when the top students relaxed, napped, and even gossiped.
It was Songyang High School's own mental-SPA time.
Bai Zhenzhen was deeply resentful of Zhang Yu's study-fiend stance of even sacrificing lunch to cultivate.
*Dude, if you grind like this, how are we supposed to eat in peace?*
*What if you grind right past us?*
*Trying to turn it into an exam-prep competition, huh?*
When Zhao Tianxing returned to the classroom and saw the boy already back to breathing in the Spiritual Machine, he sighed to himself — as expected.
For the rest of the afternoon, Zhao Tianxing could find no opening to say a single word to him, because every time he glanced over, Zhang Yu was either seriously paying attention in class or drawing in the Spiritual Machine.
Watching and watching, Zhao Tianxing only grew more and more anxious.
"You're already a disciple of a Golden Core, and you still work this hard? You're not leaving any room for us ordinary students, are you?"
It wasn't until school let out that Zhao Tianxing finally caught up to him, assuming Zhang Yu would head off to look for some temporary work again today.
Instead, the boy said: "A temporary job?"
"Little Zhao, as high schoolers, we should put our studies first. How can we go off to work every day?"
"Don't think that earning 800 an hour makes you impressive — those are all temp jobs, not things you can find every day."
Zhang Yu glanced at his balance of 8,300 and felt the confidence to set aside working for now and focus on cultivation.
So he returned home, downed his Nerve Supplement, and went back to breathing in the Spiritual Machine until the next morning.
Apart from bathroom breaks and switching his Feather Book's Focus back to the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, every moment of Zhang Yu's time went to respiration.
And so, four days passed in the blink of an eye.
After these four days of hard training, Zhang Yu's Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method had reached Level 6 (45/120).
And over these few days of diligent cultivation, his mana had jumped from 8.3 all the way up to 9.4 — now just two places away from the top ten in the grade.
---
That day, outside the corridor of the first-year building.
Su Haifeng ambled up to the back door of the classroom and peered at the students studying on their own.
As the homeroom teacher of the Elite Class — someone with no classes left who'd nonetheless come out of his way to wander over — he naturally intended to use his icy glare, his merciless mockery, and the authority of a grade director to whip the students' spirits into shape.
And then Su Haifeng discovered that today, the students in the classroom were grinding harder than usual.
Fewer people went to the bathroom.
No one was earnestly breathing in the Spiritual Machine only to slump over half-asleep mid-way.
No one was staring off into space while pretending to study their books, merely to avoid being caught.
The class's zoning-out rate had dropped noticeably.
In fact, Su Haifeng had vaguely sensed this trend starting two days ago.
And through his observation, he'd found that the source of the trend was a student named Zhang Yu.
With Zhang Yu's madman-like respiration, his uninterrupted 0% dropout rate, and this past few days' explosive mana growth… Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, Zhao Tianxing and the others were the first to be provoked.
And next, the grinding spirit erupting from Bai Zhenzhen and company provoked even more students.
Those with 550 were grinding, those with 600 were grinding, those with 650 were grinding — how could you possibly keep resting?
Even the average cafeteria dining time of the Elite Class students, according to the report Su Haifeng read, had dropped by over 20%.
Su Haifeng looked at Zhang Yu, still breathing in the Spiritual Machine, and marveled to himself: *Is it because I wounded his pride earlier?*
*Then maybe I can use that trick more often from now on.*
Before he knew it, he'd already brainstormed the topic of his next teaching-research paper: *On the Exploration of Insulting Students in High School Teaching.*
Giving one more satisfied look at the classroom's learning atmosphere, Su Haifeng nodded and left.
Shortly after Su Haifeng departed, the bell rang for dismissal, and Zhang Yu immediately rose and headed toward the school's meditation rooms.
Because he'd become the student with the lowest zoning-out rate in the whole grade last week, Zhang Yu had not only earned a 500-yuan bonus and a commendation, but also one hour of free rental rights to a Heaven Spiritual Root.
And today was the day the school honored that one-hour Heaven Spiritual Root.
Since Spiritual Root rentals and respiration meditation rooms were both scheduled by the school, and the reward would be forfeited if Zhang Yu missed his slot, he wasted not a moment in hurrying to the Spiritual Root rental office.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Tianxing fell into step behind him. "Are you going to rent a Heaven Spiritual Root?"
Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhao Tianxing continued, "You don't usually rent Heaven Spiritual Roots at the school, do you?"
"Want me to introduce you to the school's Heaven Spiritual Root models?"
Zhang Yu's gaze flickered slightly. The original Zhang Yu, because of pricing, had always rented Spiritual Roots from teaching institutions running discount promotions, so he really wasn't familiar with the school's Heaven Spiritual Root lineup.
After all, with the march of the times — and especially after the sorting and research conducted by the Ten Great Sects — Spiritual Roots were no longer categorized as crudely as in ancient times.
First, in terms of grade, the Ten Great Sects had divided Spiritual Roots into five levels.
Among them were the lowest-grade Human Spiritual Root, the higher Earth Spiritual Root, and the still-higher Heaven Spiritual Root — these three grades could all be bought as long as you had the money.
And any grade above that would be the military-grade Divine Spiritual Root, and the Immortal Spiritual Root reserved exclusively for the Ten Great Sects.
The Divine Spiritual Root could only be used by the military and certain special government departments.
As for the Immortal Spiritual Root, only those who'd entered the Ten Great Sects were granted the right to use it.
And in terms of classification, ancient categories like Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth Spiritual Roots… had long since disappeared in Kunxu.
Because the design and manufacturing industries for Spiritual Roots had grown ever more advanced and prosperous, Spiritual Roots had gradually come to be classified by function — for example, learning-type, combat-type, cultivation-type, and so on.
Zhao Tianxing said, "The most popular Spiritual Roots at our school are definitely the learning-type and the cultivation-type."
"For instance, the Deposit Spiritual Root…"
Zhang Yu was stunned. "A chicken Spiritual Root?"
"It's 'deposit,' as in depositing — the Deposit Spiritual Root can be temporarily lodged inside a person's body, transferring the mana that person refines through the root into yourself. It's the favorite Spiritual Root of many wealthy people," Zhao Tianxing explained.
"And the Muscle-Growth Spiritual Root is also a favorite of many. While breathing in the Spiritual Machine, it refines the machine into a growth type of Spiritual Machine, injecting it straight into your muscles to speed up their growth — 24-hour muscle gain, greatly improving your body-forging results…"