Zhang Yu had been a little startled when he first saw the complicated circulation diagram.
But once he actually tried his hand at it, he realized — wasn't this way simpler than the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method he ran every day?
Compared to the full-body mana circuit that Zhou Tian Qi Gathering established, this route for converting mana into keen sword qi was simple by comparison.
And Zhang Yu had pushed the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method's circuit all the way to level 10 — he'd run it who knows how many times. Practicing this instead... was basically like a college student from his past life going onto a mental-arithmetic PK platform to wreck little kids.
So when he followed the projected diagram, channeling mana to his right arm and then giving it a small try, he felt a keen aura come bursting out of his fingertips.
That keen aura couldn't even really be called sword qi — it packed little more punch than a hobby knife — but it still got Zhang Yu excited.
"Zhen! Quick, look! I actually did it!"
Bai Zhenzhen: Gross Zhang Yu! Totally sickening!
Teacher Yan immediately looked over as well, surprised. "You've learned this before?"
After seeing Zhang Yu shake his head, she sighed with feeling: "Well, looks like you've got talent for this sort of thing."
Now that she'd detected Zhang Yu's flair for this, Teacher Yan taught with even more dedication.
She walked him through the several basic mana-conversion routes — heating, cooling, electric discharge, and so on — and seeing that Zhang Yu could master them all in a short time, she nodded again and again, praising him without end.
"That's all for today. Go home and practice a lot."
"Tomorrow and the day after, don't forget the same time. I'll give you two more classes."
"Then I'll teach you mana neutralization, and mana invasion."
Watching Zhang Yu's receding back, Teacher Yan thought to herself: *Kid, you'd better stomp all eight of those who skipped my cram sessions flat at the competition.*
As for actually placing in the competition? Making the top ten? To win prize money, to earn bonus points for college interviews...
That, Teacher Yan had never even considered.
If it were a sports competition, Songyang High School would still have a bit of an edge.
Sure, competition was competition — the gaokao was the gaokao — but Songyang High School had at least produced the city's top sports scorer, and had long been a sports-powerhouse school.
But every competition other than sports? Those had basically always been a playground for the Three Great Famous Schools. Their opponents were only ever themselves — even a key high school like Songyang rarely got a piece of the action.
Per Teacher Yan's fondest estimate, Zhang Yu would become the best of Songyang's ten competitors, make those students who'd skipped the cram session deeply regret it, and after the competition they'd come hustling to hand her money begging for tutorials.
On the other end, after leaving the classroom, Zhang Yu found a message on his phone from Zhou Chechen, agreeing to keep honoring the loan contract — keeping up the monthly repayments.
After all, Zhou Chechen had previously bought his seven-hundred-thousand loan debt, becoming Zhang Yu's new creditor for his monthly repayments. Only, to show sincerity, he'd said Zhang Yu didn't need to rush the monthly payments.
Over the past few days, Zhang Yu had brought up the repayment a few times over the phone. Zhou Chechen had declined a few times, but in the end agreed to his request, and said he understood Zhang Yu's reluctance to carry debt.
"Approved, huh?"
Somewhat pained, Zhang Yu paid off this month's 15,000 in loan. Painful as it was, he had no intention of defaulting — of getting himself, as Bai Zhenzhen had put it, caught holding a handle that could be enforced at any moment.
Especially since, once those rich kids learned he wanted to break through the blockade and get into the Top Ten Elite Universities, a defaulted loan would be a glaring opening.
After that 15,000, plus the 3,000 for the cram session, Zhang Yu's savings had dropped to just over 43,000.
*Ugh. This money just doesn't stretch.*
*Hope this competition lets me earn a bit more.*
...
Elsewhere.
Just as Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were leaving the Elite Class classroom and heading to Teacher Yan's cram session, Liang Qin — who'd just come back from the bathroom — frowned as he looked at Zhang Yu's empty seat.
After searching a full floor without finding a trace of Zhang Yu, he cursed inwardly: *He was right there in the classroom just now — where'd he run off to?*
*Is this guy avoiding me on purpose?*
*Isn't he just lucky to have become a Golden Core Disciple? Do you really have to be this smug about it?*
*If it weren't for the Golden Core thing, you wouldn't be much better than me either...*
Carrying a bellyful of resentment out of the stairwell, Liang Qin picked up another call.
Listening to the question on the other end, he said vaguely: "Mm, he's gone home."
"Nothing happened all day."
"This guy's got himself a big attitude since becoming a Golden Core Disciple — guards against his classmates like they were thieves, like he's scared everyone will find out the secret to his score jump."
"I know. I'll keep watching him. Don't forget to pay up."
Hanging up, Liang Qin had a distracted look on his face, until he saw the transfer text message come in on his phone. Then a grinning, happy expression spread across his face.
The reason for all this was simply that, lately, he was especially short on money.
Sure, most people at Songyang High School — students and teachers alike — were short on money.
But Liang Qin was shorter than the ordinary poor man.
Actually, his family circumstances hadn't been bad to begin with. They didn't live in the city center, but they weren't out in the distant suburbs either — they lived in an apartment on the edge of the city ring road.
His mother was a stay-at-home wife, his father a small clerk at a company. They struggled to support his schooling, but at least food and drink were covered.
The shift came one month after he'd enrolled at Songyang High School.
Maybe it was the crushing academic pressure. Maybe it was the rankings slipping lower and lower. Maybe it was the suffocating weight of one academic star after another. Or the rich students showing off their wealth, deliberately or not, and the extreme harshness of the teachers...
Liang Qin couldn't say why, but he — who'd been an ace student all the way from elementary through junior high — suddenly started zoning out in high school classes.
Mid-breathing, he'd crack his eyes open and scroll his phone for a bit.
In body tempering, he always felt weak all over, listless.
When studying talismans, he'd find himself blanking out.
He... seemed to have started to hate studying.
And what happened when you hated studying at Songyang High School?
Just thinking about it made him feel suffocated, which only made things worse.
Just then, a sophomore he'd gotten to know by chance introduced a way for him to relax and vent the pressure.
"This platform," the other boy said. "Go give it a try."
Liang Qin hesitated. "This is... betting mana?"
The other boy shrugged with an unconcerned smile. "Small bets relieve the boredom. If you win, great — take a few days off to relax. If you lose, think of it as pressure to work even harder on your studies."
The boy clapped Liang Qin on the shoulder, urging: "When I first entered first year, I wasn't adjusting either. I just came here to play a bit and unwind."
"Don't be so scared. Geniuses like us who got into high school don't have willpower like ordinary people."
"Long as you keep yourself in check, don't get addicted, a little release is harmless — even beneficial — and you can net some extra mana on the side..."
Thinking of his own discipline over the years, Liang Qin finally couldn't resist giving it a try.
This was a platform where you could top up and place bets, gambling to win mana.
When you won, you could deposit Spiritual Roots to collect mana others had cultivated.
When you lost, either you deposited Spiritual Roots to help others cultivate mana, or you paid off the debt with money.
The first bet, Liang Qin lost.
The second bet, he lost again.
Just as he was thinking his money would all drain away this way, that this platform was clearly unreliable — on the third bet he won a sliver of 0.3 mana.
Even to this day, he still remembered the surge of excitement in that moment.
Still remembered the thrill of withdrawing, of drawing 0.3 mana out of the Deposit Spiritual Root the platform sent over.
That sudden skyrocketing pleasure of mana swelling — he'd never forget it for the rest of his life.
In the days that followed, he'd drop a little bet on the platform every so often.
At first, it really was like senior had said.
When he won, the mana he gained would let Liang Qin shed the pressure of a mana class for several days, easing him up considerably.
When he lost, he'd work twice as hard to cultivate it back, filling him with more drive.
*Right. As long as I can keep control of myself, this platform is harmless, even beneficial...*
That's what Liang Qin had thought when he was two months into the school year.
But now, four months in...
Regret! Regret! Regret!
Every time he remembered secretly swiping his parents' bank cards, remembered the mountain of debt he'd piled up, Liang Qin would jolt awake from sleep again and again, staring at his room's door in terror, as if fearing that at any moment someone would burst in to take his dantian, his organs, his flesh...
But at this moment, at the school gate, looking at the fresh 500 yuan he'd received, Liang Qin felt the itch in his hands again.
A moment later, watching the freshly-gained 500 melt away again, Liang Qin pounded his chest and stamped his feet, sinking back into regret.
"It's fine, it's fine."
He reassured himself. "Tomorrow I'll keep tailing Zhang Yu and there's more money in it."
"Next time I win 300, I'll stop on the spot."
"As long as I use sheer willpower to control my greed, I can chip away at the debt bit by bit..."
Running through his patch-up plan in his head, Liang Qin headed home.
...
In the office at Songyang High School.
Su Haifeng looked at the man before him hanging up the phone, and said: "So it was you who sent Liang Qin."
"But that student's turned into a hopeless gambling degenerate. His word can't be trusted."
The man opposite gave a faint smile. "He's just keeping a slight eye on Zhang Yu for me. It was always a throwaway play — making use of waste. I never expected him to actually dig anything up."
Su Haifeng shook his head. "Zhang Yu's already talked with the student council. He'll probably be signing the contract before long. You're still not going to let it go?"
The other man said coldly: "Zhang Yu is someone I sent in. Though things have developed a little beyond what I expected, I won't let go of him that easily."
"Don't worry. I've already gotten word that Zhang Yu and the student council will sign after next month's exam."
"I'll find the time to get everything settled."
...
In the days that followed, Zhang Yu happily cultivated the Wild Bull Soul-Suppressing Heart Art every day, feeling his Dao Heart level rise bit by bit — full, satisfying progress.
Aside from that, he still spent every day on classes and study.
And he practiced the techniques he'd learned from Teacher Yan from time to time, as preparation for the mana competition.
In a flash, more than ten days had passed, and at last came the day the mana competition began.
Over those ten-odd days, relying on the fierce progress of his level-10 Wild Bull Soul-Suppressing Heart Art, Zhang Yu's Dao Heart level had climbed to level 2 (42%).
He felt that around the next monthly exam, he should have a chance to push his Dao Heart level to 3.
His mana, too, grew steadily on the daily breathing of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, now reaching a level of 15.4.
Zhang Yu's surging mana once again roused the other students' surprise. But when they found that his physical body had barely changed at all, they merely sighed at how he'd thrown his whole heart into spiritual-machine breathing and mana refining — guessing he must be training all-out to prepare for the mana competition.
That day, at the gate of Songyang High School, Teacher Yan was leading Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, He Dayou, and the rest onto a tour bus, headed for the first-year mana competition venue in Songyang City.