Inside the arena, drone-carried boxes of lunch boxes were unloaded. With the first and second rounds of the Mana Competition finished, it was the lunch hour — yet contestants kept discussing the last two matches, glancing up at the standings.
The name that had held fourth was gone. The top ten was once again the Three Great Elite Schools' to carve up, because the screen now showed total scores. Only cracking the top ten of the final totals brought prize money, a real ranking recognized by universities — one that counted in a university interview. And the name that had torn open the elite wall in round two had vanished like a mirage, a little bird trying to pierce the heavens, slapped back down by the giant hand the three schools had become.
Teacher Yan sighed. *Zhang Yu's flying-sword round was too low — it dragged his total out of the top ten.* But the rich held an absolute edge in swordsmanship, and she couldn't blame his family for not buying him a mana flying sword. "Only bad luck to blame, running into a flying-sword manufacturer's sponsorship."
Nearby, Zhang Yu eyed his lunch and complained between bites. "Eighty yuan for a box like this? Why doesn't Red Tower just rob people?"
Another box was shoved in front of him. Teacher Yan smiled indulgently. "After a morning like that, I knew you'd be hungry. This one's for you too." Bai Zhenzhen pouted. *Hungrier than me? Yu dissolved his mana in ninety seconds — I toughed out eight whole minutes.*
The more Teacher Yan watched Zhang Yu wolf down two portions, the more satisfied she grew — with an appetite like that, clearly a fine student. As for Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, and He Dayou eating so much without a shot at a placement? Just a bunch of rice buckets. She encouraged him, "You did very well this morning. Just give your best this afternoon — don't pressure yourself." She'd rather he mellow out than overtighten and backfire.
Then she tallied his scores in her head: "Eighty, ninety-three, one-seventy-three total." She scanned the board from 195 down to 176. "Four points, and he's in the top ten." Four sounded like nothing, but in a high-difficulty match where thirty elite students scrapped over ten spots, every point cost blood. *It all depends on what this last round tests.*
Lunch ended fast, and the final round began. The host stepped up: "Learn martial skills, learn Dao arts — come to Celestial Rhythm! Three hundred laboratories, a hundred Dao-art masters, a century of Daoist education! Thank you to the Celestial Rhythm Education Group..."
Celestial Rhythm — Zhang Yu remembered it belonged to the Wanfa Sect, the same company where he'd worked the ability-testing job and earned the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method. He also recalled seeing its Songyang City director at Li Xuelian's painting exhibition.
A complex mana-channeling chart was handed to every contestant: the final round's task was to convert one's mana into special mana along the chart's route. Meanwhile, soul-cultivator cameras swept the arena, judging each competitor's state and recording finish order. As the timer started, students began circulating.
Zhang Yu frowned at the route. "Feels like a special mana meant for fighting." Even with the level-10 Zhou Tian method granting him immense control, this route differed utterly from its internal circulation. If Zhou Tian was an inward strengthening, this was outward combat technique — and one oscillation-refining trick he'd never met. "This match is way past the syllabus." He glanced at the Feather Book; it hadn't changed at all. "Not a technique? Then I'll just force my way through by trying."
At Purple Cloud's position, Lian Tianji watched the composed Yue Mulan: *The grade's sacred top scorer will surely do well. I just mustn't hold us back.* Yue Mulan tilted her head. "I've practiced something like this before... it's the Body-Protecting Vital Qi of a martial-arts technique, isn't it?" She fell into familiar motion, converting mana strand by strand. She remembered the mana oscillation step — more oscillations meant higher-grade vital qi but worse control. "Per this chart, seven oscillations, then follow the route..."
Her brow knit as she heard groans and cries of pain all around — students injured in the last round, their wounds reopening the moment they circulated. "These ordinary-school students can't afford better wound medicine? Even decent painkillers?" Then it hit her: they really couldn't afford expensive medicine. This was the sound of poverty. "It's disturbing my exam." But money could wall off poverty — she clapped on soundproof earmuffs worth tens of thousands, smiled at the quiet, and resumed.
At White Dragon, Song Hailong's mana naturally aligned toward the chart. Years of channeling with a Heaven Spiritual Root installed had made handling mana effortless without it, and he'd drilled similar questions — his speed was several times faster.
Boom. A clump of mana scattered in one violent oscillation, then re-coalesced. "First oscillation, complete! Easy, easy, too easy!" *My parents carry the finest selected genes. I stopped sleeping at five. Sixteen now, eleven years as the Song family's highest-performing, highest-scoring, strongest-immune son — the only one who never offed himself, never hated school, never got depressed! The ace son!* "You worthless trash in this arena — what makes you think you can compete with me!" He'd trample both other schools' elites.
At Red Tower, Xiong Bufan lay sprawled before the chart, eyes shut, fluffy tail trembling at a critical moment. His coach watched: *Bufan's batch was drugged from the womb; by admission his physique was the best. From his arrival his meridians were ten-plus times an ordinary student's — no worry of injury. I've drilled his circulation speed, and he's done Body-Protecting Vital Qi many times. He'll be first to master this.* "Yeah — the principal should naturalize more demon-kin... ah, I mean, plan in more demonic-heritage students. One's not enough; we could add four more. Those pure-human advocates are too conservative — the neighboring city already runs a full demon roster."
Zhang Yu had to admit it: without training or preparation, snatching a placement seemed nearly impossible. Competition wasn't just talent — it was the money, power, and foundation behind you. *Damn it. Is my competition road over? Zhang Yu, will you lose to money?*
Teacher Yan saw his troubled face and sighed. Around her the other Songyang students struggled — sweating, pale, or looking about to burst for the bathroom. Songyang had never matched the elite, and after years of no results, the school had stopped investing; worse results meant less investment — a vicious cycle. The two sides never shared a starting line.
Just then a student raised his hand. "I need the bathroom." Teacher Yan cursed — so he really did have to go. "Then go, quick!"
At the very moment, she heard tendons cracking in unison. She turned: it was Bai Zhenzhen doing boxing. *Has she given up? This is a mana-circulation match; why is she boxing?* Zhang Yu glanced over too and sighed: *Ah, Zhenzhen's gone mad.* Then — wait. Those punches felt oddly familiar, as if they could combine with something. The set ran a simple six moves, and the moment he finished watching, it clicked: this fit with the mana-channeling chart.
As the Boundless Cloud Hand surfaced at Level 0 on the Feather Book, Zhang Yu wanted to scoop Bai Zhenzhen up and spin her around. "Zhenzhen! You're a saint! The great savior saint of Songyang High School!" The chart held the mana-circulation method; her boxing held the external moves — together they formed a complete combat art: the Boundless Cloud Hand, an advanced martial technique. It favored inner practice over outer moves; the six external forms were less moves than six examples of applying mana into Body-Protecting Vital Qi. The competition had taken only its chart as the exam — for ordinary people, having the moves added nothing. But for Zhang Yu, whether it registered on the Feather Book as a complete technique was the difference between heaven and earth.
He had no idea how Bai Zhenzhen had figured out the moves, but he seized the moment, switched the Feather Book's Focus to the Boundless Cloud Hand, and began. Boundless Cloud Hand, Level 0 (0/1, 15.4/5 mana).
One pass! Even riddled with mistakes, even practiced in a complete mess — he could fully master this Boundless Cloud Hand.