Chapter 5: Feather Book

As the black symbol in his palm shifted, a thick, ink-black book appeared in Zhang Yu’s hand.

“Yu Shu (Feather Book)?”

Looking at the two large characters on the cover, Zhang Yu was slightly stunned.

Then, as his thoughts stirred, the black book in his hand opened on its own, without a breeze, naturally flipping to the first page.

“Is this the table of contents?”

Looking at the contents, aside from the prologue on the first line, everything else was obscured by blurry, illegible text, as if it had been censored or pixelated.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Does this mean there’s only a prologue for now?”

With a flick of his mind, he opened the prologue. Before him appeared a portrait of a person on the left page, and lines of data and information on the right.

“Is this a drawing of me?”

The portrait on the left page was indeed Zhang Yu, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, as if in meditation.

The expression was vivid and lifelike, giving the impression that the person in the painting was still breathing.

In particular, there was a faint radiance flowing within it; Zhang Yu felt that this must represent the flow of mana within his body.

On the right page were lines of data and information

Zhang Yu Dao Heart: Level 1 Mana: 7.7 Physical Strength: Level 0.83 Martial Arts: Body Strengthening 36 Forms Level 1, Freehand Combat Level 1 Daoist Arts: Basic Breathing Technique Level 1, Basic Heart-Refining Technique Level 1

“This is me?”

“Above are the stats for various immortal cultivation qualities. The Dao Heart level here is the same as the school’s assessment; it can’t be calculated to the decimal point.”

“And below are the martial and Daoist arts I’ve currently learned?”

Among the four skills below, in addition to the Body Strengthening 36 Forms used to improve physical strength, there was the Freehand Combat learned in martial arts class for practical combat, the Basic Breathing Technique for refining mana in mana class, and the Basic Heart-Refining Technique for improving the Dao Heart. All of them were at Level 1, just having entered the basics.

Zhang Yu looked at the numbers and thought, “Is this the potential unleashed by the Evil God? Can this book detect my various attributes?”

“But… it shouldn’t just be this, right?”

“According to that Evil God, it unleashed my potential, but what kind of potential is just detection? I can measure these things at school every day.”

“There must be other uses.”

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu decided to test it. He focused his attention on the attribute numbers and shouted in his mind, “Yu Shu! Give me a stat boost!”

Looking at the motionless data on the book, Zhang Yu sighed, thinking the Evil God was useless and hadn’t unleashed his potential at all.

He tried flipping to the next page, only to find the words ‘To Be Continued’ written in large characters.

Recalling the content that hadn’t appeared in the table of contents yet, Zhang Yu speculated, “What does this mean? Can this ability be upgraded? Do the later functions only unlock after an upgrade?”

He had no choice but to flip back to the front, repeatedly focusing his attention on his lines of data and skills to see if he could trigger any effect.

Just as he focused his attention on ‘Body Strengthening 36 Forms Level 1’, he suddenly felt that line of text jump slightly. It was actually dragged, moving back and forth across the page following his intent.

Just as Zhang Yu was dragging ‘Body Strengthening 36 Forms Level 1’ around the page, wondering what the point was, the text suddenly froze when it touched the portrait, and was directly absorbed by the Zhang Yu in the painting.

With this absorption, Zhang Yu felt as if a spring of clear water had poured down onto his crown. An indescribable feeling surged in his heart, making him feel as if he had formed a strange connection with the Zhang Yu in the portrait.

At the same time, the portrait that had been sitting cross-legged suddenly stood up and began to practice the Body Strengthening 36 Forms, one move at a time.

Above the portrait, a small line of text appeared: Body Strengthening 36 Forms Level 1+

Looking at the tiny ‘+’ at the end, Zhang Yu became excited. “It’s here! My potential has really been unleashed!”

He quickly focused his attention on the ‘+’, feeling as if he had pressed it with his own thoughts.

The next moment, the ‘+’ blurred slightly and turned into ‘(0/10)’.

Then, a realization dawned on Zhang Yu: practice the Body Strengthening 36 Forms ten times to complete the martial arts upgrade.

Looking at ‘Body Strengthening 36 Forms Level 1 (0/10)’ on the Yu Shu, Zhang Yu was surprised. “I can upgrade this martial art just by practicing it ten times?”

One had to know that since the start of the school year, Zhang Yu had practiced the Body Strengthening 36 Forms countless times, and he had never felt like he was on the verge of an upgrade.

“Ten times, huh?”

Zhang Yu couldn’t wait to try. He took a step forward, and with a loud bang, his muscles twisted like a giant python, erupting with layers of power.

Although Zhang Yu used equipment when practicing the Body Strengthening 36 Forms at school, that was only to increase the effectiveness of the training.

In fact, as the most basic body-refining martial art, the Body Strengthening 36 Forms could be practiced with or without equipment. Practitioners could even focus on different directions like strength, speed, or agility based on their own tendencies.

For example, the original Zhang Yu had chosen a balanced development of strength and speed, so he hadn’t become bulky.

At this moment, Zhang Yu moved back and forth in the small room. His feet exploded with thumping sounds against the floor, and his muscles gradually heated up after constant expansion and contraction.

But before he could finish a few moves, a barrage of curses came from the surroundings: “Are you sick?! Tearing down the building in the middle of the night?!”

Zhang Yu stopped immediately, thinking helplessly, “The soundproofing in this rental is too poor; I can’t practice martial arts at night.”

Looking at the Yu Shu in his palm, Zhang Yu couldn’t suppress the restlessness in his heart. He just wanted to have a burst of training and practice the Body Strengthening 36 Forms ten times in one go to see the effect.

“Should I change locations?”

“I remember there’s an unfinished building nearby that’s empty…”

…

In the darkness.

Thump, thump, thump. The sounds echoed continuously in the stairwell of the unfinished building.

Accompanied by the flickering neon lights from the distant street, the figure of a young man appeared in the shadows from time to time.

It was Zhang Yu, who had rushed over to practice the Body Strengthening 36 Forms.

His expression was solemn as he practiced the training methods of the Body Strengthening 36 Forms move by move. A moment later, he was drenched in sweat, looking as if he were steaming.

Zhang Yu had already exercised all morning and ended up exhausted on the ground. Without the aid of injections, pills, or dietary supplements, he felt sore all over the moment he started practicing the Body Strengthening 36 Forms. Every movement and every exertion of strength brought pain like tearing muscles.

However, thinking of the changes in the Yu Shu, his spirit was bolstered, and he finally persisted in finishing the Body Strengthening 36 Forms once.

Panting, Zhang Yu couldn’t wait to open his palm, and the Yu Shu appeared again with his intent.

Looking at ‘Body Strengthening 36 Forms Level 1 (1/10)’ on it, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but show a hint of joy on his face.

“Is this my potential?”

“Upgrading the Body Strengthening 36 Forms to Level 2… it really seems possible.”

“I’m going to practice ten times tonight!”

Zhang Yu couldn’t wait to start the second round of the Body Strengthening 36 Forms.

But a moment later, he was so tired that he sat down on the ground, feeling as if his hands and feet no longer belonged to him.

“No, I’ve reached my limit. It looks like I’ll have to try again tomorrow.”

Just as Zhang Yu decided to stop exercising and go home to get a good night’s sleep, a chill suddenly surged from his heart.

At the same time, a voice rang out in his mind.

“Please abide by the ritual agreement and strive to fulfill the wish. Do not intentionally slack off or procrastinate. 10.”

“Please abide by the ritual agreement and strive to fulfill the wish. Do not intentionally slack off or procrastinate. 9.”

“Please abide by the ritual agreement and strive to fulfill the wish. Do not intentionally slack off or procrastinate. 8.”

As the countdown continued, the chill in Zhang Yu’s heart became more and more intense, as if something was about to burst out from within his body and tear his flesh and blood to shreds.

“Ritual… agreement… wish…” He immediately realized, “Is this the power of that ‘God-Inviting Ritual’?”

The words the doll had spoken immediately surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind.

…

“If you choose to refuse to fulfill the wish for me, or intentionally procrastinate or fail during the process, you will suffer the backlash of the ritual, your flesh will explode, and your soul will scatter.”

…

Zhang Yu thought, “So… it’s because I planned to fulfill the second wish by studying hard, getting into a prestigious university, joining a major sect, and making money.”

“So, being lazy in this process is considered intentionally slacking off or procrastinating on fulfilling the wish?”

“If I don’t listen, will I die from the ritual’s backlash?”

Hearing the countdown reach 3 without him noticing, Zhang Yu jumped up in a hurry.

With a scream, he endured the pain of his muscles tearing and began to practice the Body Strengthening 36 Forms.

And the moment he started practicing, the countdown disappeared completely.

(End of chapter)