Chapter 12: Valiant and Diligent Progress (Thanks to 'Shuilan' for the Alliance Leader tip)

Chapter 12: Vigorous Progress (Thanks to 'Shui_Lan' for the Alliance Leader tip)

A moment later, Zhang Yu walked out of the Xianyun Group office building looking pale and hunched, appearing quite weak.

However, a few kilometers away from the skyscraper, once he boarded the subway, his complexion gradually began to return to normal.

As he circulated the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, the mana within his body surged forward like a series of rushing streams, connecting through his flesh and blood in the blink of an eye.

The previously uncontrolled and dissipating mana also returned to its proper track along with the surging currents, merging into the complex mana circulation within his body, naturally circulating without pause.

Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method Level 1 (0/20)

Seeing the technique appear on the Feather Book, a smile curled at the corners of Zhang Yu's mouth.

"It really can be mastered."

"If I hadn't mastered this Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, that uncontrolled mana probably would have taken one or two weeks to dissipate."

The reason Zhang Yu dared to accept the trial work was his confidence in the Feather Book.

However, while at the Xianyun Group, he did not expose his ability to master the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

"Although this technique is just a breathing method for beginners, once mastered, it can circulate automatically twenty-four hours a day, night and day."

"Even without active cultivation, it maintains thirty percent of the efficiency of active cultivation. Once mastered... even if I do nothing all day, it's equivalent to others breathing for over seven hours."

"And that's just the effect at Level 1."

"If this technique is truly successfully developed, it will likely immediately become one of the best-selling breathing methods on the market."

Zhang Yu knew that besides the various techniques taught in schools, the techniques of other large companies and major sects were all copyrighted and required purchase, containing immense profits.

It was precisely because this Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method was so powerful—in Zhang Yu's view, an extremely important development project for the Xianyun Group—that he was unwilling to expose his mastery of it to avoid unnecessary complications.

In particular, the difficulty of practicing this technique was so high that, in Zhang Yu's opinion, if a high school student didn't have auxiliary equipment for guidance, they wouldn't just fail to master it; they wouldn't even be able to complete a single full cycle of cultivation.

This made him even more reluctant to reveal his success.

To master the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, Zhang Yu had switched the Feather Book's specialization from the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Forms to this breathing method.

Although this meant the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Forms could not be leveled up quickly for the time being, the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method had entered the fast lane.

"Level 3 of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Forms is enough for now."

"In the coming time, I will focus on raising the level of this Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method."

Aside from the gains from the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, the biggest gain from this trial work was the remuneration from the Xianyun Group.

Ten thousand yuan plus the additional three thousand, totaling 13,000 in compensation.

At this moment, Zhang Yu's savings suddenly jumped to 13,700 yuan.

Unfortunately, as soon as Zhang Yu took out ten thousand to pay off debts across multiple platforms, his savings instantly dropped back to 3,700.

Fortunately, after paying that ten thousand, the frequency of debt collection decreased significantly; they likely wouldn't escalate their methods in the short term.

Then, the countdown ringing in his mind quickly snapped Zhang Yu out of his reverie, making him focus his attention once more to circulate the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

...

In the blink of an eye, a night passed.

At the entrance of Songyang High School, Zhang Yu was walking while observing the changes in the Feather Book.

Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method Level 1 (0/20) → Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method Level 1 (11/20)

Through his original hard practice combined with his diligent use of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, his mana had also increased.

Mana 7.7 → 7.8

"It really is running passively. Before I went to sleep yesterday, I only completed 5 cycles, counting as 5 rounds."

"As a result, when I woke up this morning, it had risen to 8 rounds. On the way to school, through my active circulation, it rose to the 11th round."

Zhang Yu felt secretly pleased at this calculation. Compared to the 13,000 yuan, this Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method was the greatest harvest from yesterday.

He was now determined to push the level of this Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method up first.

Including the Feather Book's specialization, he naturally decided to keep it set on the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

Unfortunately, there were two consecutive physical education classes this morning.

Walking toward the training grounds, Zhang Yu felt a bit of regret in his heart.

"Sigh, I have to practice the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Forms again."

"My current specialization is the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method; I should clearly be practicing this breathing method most."

As soon as Zhang Yu entered the training ground, he saw "little giants" with muscles bulging like marble, injecting themselves needle by needle.

Then, accompanied by bursts of popping sounds, various beast-like roars, and the clashing of equipment, the students in the demonstration class had already begun their heated training.

Just then, a student looked at Wang Hai in shock: "No... that's impossible, my cousin sold this to me..."

Wang Hai shook his head, crushed the syringe in his hand into powder with a *snap*, and tossed it into the trash can.

"Look at how your weight has changed over the last two weeks. Neither your muscles nor your organs show any sign of growth. In two weeks, your physical strength only increased by 0.03. This is the pathetic state of natural body tempering; it's obvious you bought fake medicine."

At this point, he stopped looking at the despondent student and raised his voice: "How many times have I told you? If you buy medicine, you must use official channels. The safest is definitely the supply from the school teachers."

"If you buy fake or expired medicine just to save a little money, you are losing big for small gains, wasting your own time."

After lecturing the student, Wang Hai's gaze swept over Zhang Yu, who was tempering his body in the corner.

Looking at Zhang Yu, the data for his physical strength detection from today flashed through Wang Hai's mind: "Level 0.85? In three days, he increased his physical strength by 0.02?"

"Zhang Yu wasn't even this fast when he was injecting medicine every day before, was he?"

Based on Wang Hai's years of teaching experience, such rapid growth in physical strength meant it was impossible for Zhang Yu to be doing "pure natural tempering" without medicine or injections as he claimed; he must have been secretly injecting medicine before class.

"Not only is it not natural tempering, the medicine he's injecting must be very potent to achieve this effect, and the damage to his body is likely quite significant."

As for how Zhang Yu reached the third level of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Forms and performed devilish training under extreme conditions by himself, Wang Hai didn't even consider it as a possibility.

Regardless, at this moment, Zhang Yu was increasingly challenging Wang Hai's classroom authority in his eyes.

Specifically, it contained a question: Where did Zhang Yu buy the medicine?

Would other students see the good results on Zhang Yu and try to find that same route to buy medicine?

If that happened, wouldn't it affect his sales performance?

At the thought of the bloody and violent medicine market, the alarm bells in Wang Hai's head instantly tightened.

"A second-year teacher? A third-year teacher?"

"Or was he guided by an off-campus tutor?"

"Are they trying to sell goods on my turf?"

As for Zhang Yu himself, in Wang Hai's eyes, he was merely a pawn; what he wanted to figure out now was the person behind Zhang Yu.

However, the influence within the class had to be erased.

A moment later, Wang Hai gave a few instructions to a student named Zhao Tianxing.

Then, Zhao Tianxing approached Zhang Yu and said, "Zhang Yu, Teacher Wang asked me to ask you—are you sure you won't be buying medicine moving forward?"

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhao Tianxing scratched his head and said sheepishly, "Uh... the teacher asked me to tell you, so as not to affect the training of others, he wants you to practice alone in the small side room. Is that okay with you?"

After receiving Wang Hai's instruction, Zhao Tianxing understood that Wang Hai intended to further isolate Zhang Yu.

He looked at Zhang Yu with a hint of pity, but his actions showed no hesitation.

As a "good student" and an "obedient student" in Wang Hai's words, Zhao Tianxing had become one of the top ten students in physical strength in the class precisely because he fully accepted Wang Hai's guidance, purchased all the medicines recommended by him, and combined that with his own efforts.

Therefore, he had always been completely submissive to the PE teacher, Wang Hai.

However, worried about Zhang Yu's reaction, he spoke very politely, adding after he finished, "Maybe you should buy some medicine? Teacher Wang's medicine is of extremely high quality; natural tempering really won't work..."

To Zhao Tianxing's surprise, Zhang Yu didn't hesitate at all and directly agreed to go practice outside.

Watching his departing back, Zhao Tianxing scratched his head and thought to himself, "Sigh, classmate Zhang Yu is a bit stubborn. Can't he just apologize to the teacher, admit his mistake, and continue attending class properly? To ruin his future with such an impulse..."

On the other side, Zhang Yu arrived in the small room, gave a chuckle, sat down, and immediately began practicing the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

Strands of spiritual energy flowed into his Dantian Qi Sea, being refined bit by bit by Zhang Yu into mana.

Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method Level 1 (11/20) → Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method Level 1 (16/20)

In the blink of an eye, five cycles were completed, and two PE classes had passed.

But during the subsequent Chinese and Mathematics classes, Zhang Yu remained in the classroom, intently circulating the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

Long periods of inhaling spiritual energy and refining mana were naturally very boring.

The waist, abdomen, and shoulders would ache, the skin would itch, and the mind would feel weary.

Even the old Zhang Yu would often find it hard to resist relaxing after one or two hours of breathing—standing up to walk around, scratching an itch, or rubbing his head.

But the current Zhang Yu, under the compulsion of the Ritual Power and the encouragement of the changing numbers in the Feather Book, forced himself to keep practicing, finally completing the 20th cycle of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method in one breath.

Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method Level 2 (0/40)

Countless experiences of circulating the technique bloomed in Zhang Yu's mind. He could feel the mana circulation within his body becoming more complex, more exquisite, and a bit more surging.

When Zhang Yu stopped, the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method continued to circulate, but at a slightly faster speed than before.

"At Level 1, the passive breathing speed is only thirty percent of the active breathing speed."

"But after reaching Level 2, the passive breathing speed has increased to thirty-five percent of the active speed."

"As for the efficiency after actively circulating the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method, it has also improved significantly, much stronger than my original Level 1 basic breathing method."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly, feeling somewhat satisfied. This was a continuous, day-and-night improvement.

Thus, after lunch, he pressed on and continued to raise the level of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

In the following time, he threw almost all his available time into the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

The study of the Immortal Path in high school was both tedious and arduous, especially since Zhang Yu had no time to relax under the compulsion of the Ritual Power. The only thing that could make his spirit feel slightly better was watching the numbers after the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method grow bit by bit and imagining the long-term benefits brought by the technique's passive effects.

When something is irresistible, one can only enjoy it.

So, during PE class, he practiced the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

During Chinese class, he practiced the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

During his lunch break, he was still practicing the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method.

While waiting for work at the plaza in the evening, he was still practicing the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method—it was just a pity he hadn't found any work in these three days.

As for sleeping at home, needless to say, the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method was still circulating automatically.

In just three short days, the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method was raised to Level 4 (5/80).

His mana also made vigorous progress alongside his efforts, rising from 7.8 to 8.3.

At this moment, the passive breathing speed of the Zhou Tian Qi Gathering Method had reached forty-five percent of the active breathing speed.

(End of Chapter)