Chapter 108: Sensitive

With a rumble from the ground, walls suddenly rose within the arena, dividing the vast space into numerous small rooms.

In Songyang High School's team lounge, Zhang Yu stared in astonishment. "Ziyun High School's stadium can transform? Compared to this, what's the difference between our school's stadium and a sandbox?"

Most Songyang students present frowned at his words, but considering Zhang Yu's recent display of Level 4.95 physical strength, ranking fifth, no one dared to criticize him directly. Even He Dayou, the director's son, pretended not to hear the Songyang critic.

After all, Songyang High School valued scores above all else, and physical strength as high as Zhang Yu's today was considered the pinnacle of respect, capable of making underperforming students tremble with just a glance.

Wang Hai, standing nearby, changed the subject. "Besides the physical strength competition, the next events are agility, speed, and power."

"Agility is worth 75 points, speed is also 75, and power is 150 points. Each round is crucial. Those who are unbalanced won't achieve high rankings, as the physical competition tests a student's comprehensive physical qualities."

"Pay attention, they're about to explain the rules of the competition."

On the large screen, an animated video began playing, demonstrating the assessment process for the upcoming round.

The video showed each contestant standing alone in a small room within the arena.

A three-meter radius halo lit up beneath each contestant's feet.

Naturally, for larger contestants, the halo beneath their feet would be proportionately enlarged.

The video then showed high-speed steel balls constantly shooting out from all four walls of the room, targeting the contestants.

Simultaneously, the halo beneath the contestant's feet would continuously shrink, making it increasingly difficult to dodge the steel balls within the shrinking circle.

The round ended when a contestant was hit by a steel ball. Stepping outside the circle also counted as a loss.

The score for this round was calculated by the duration each contestant managed to stay within the halo. The longer they lasted, the better their performance, with the longest duration securing first place.

Contestants who did not place in the top twenty for this round would be directly eliminated and would not proceed to the next stage.

Wang Hai said, "Did everyone understand? It's very similar to the agility training I usually put you through, just more advanced."

Zhang Yu stroked his chin. "In that case, larger contestants are at a distinct disadvantage in this round. They'll inevitably have to dodge more steel balls simultaneously."

Wang Hai responded, "A larger physique has advantages, allowing them to excel in the later power competition, but it also has disadvantages. For example, in this agility round, they're more easily hit, and they'll also be at a disadvantage in the next speed round."

"After all, the physical competition tests comprehensive physical qualities. Even with some specialization, it won't allow students with severe imbalances to achieve high rankings. Strength, speed, and agility—none can be lacking."

The video then began to introduce further details, such as the prohibition of using magic power during the competition and the requirement to wear magic power detection patches to monitor energy flow.

Zhang Yu nodded slightly, understanding that he would need to temporarily halt the passive qi absorption of his Heaven's Circuit Qi Gathering Method.

Of course, as a physical competition, spiritual roots were also forbidden.

Thus, from the moment she boarded the bus today, Bai Zhenzhen had continuously concealed her spiritual root, not wanting its power to take effect even slightly.

After the detailed rules were displayed, Bai Zhenzhen said, "The competition officially starts in ten minutes. Come on, Yu, let's go to the restroom together so we don't have to hold it during the competition."

The two walked to the restrooms together, observing various high school teams preparing for the competition along the way. The main method of preparation, of course, involved taking various performance-enhancing substances.

They watched ordinary high school students inject unlabeled, unpackaged substances into their acne-covered arms.

They saw White Dragon High School students, confident in their physical prowess, consuming cans of branded potions for the surrounding cameras.

They observed the black monsters from Red Tower High School repeatedly injecting themselves.

And they watched Le Mulan and Lian Tianji from Ziyun High School perform both intracardiac and intracranial injections to boost their all-around abilities.

After seeing all this, Zhang Yu was no longer as surprised as he once was, nor would he ask questions like, "Isn't the physical competition only supposed to test the body? Why aren't drugs banned?"

Now, if anyone were to ask him, he would confidently explain, "Testing various physical abilities, of course, includes the body's drug resistance. That's just how things are in Kunxu."

Upon reaching the restrooms, they each headed to their respective male and female facilities.

Although Zhang Yu had "experienced" many restrooms in his life, including those at Songyang High, Red Tower High, and White Dragon High, among others...

He was still shocked at this moment.

"This bizarre place actually has a side table? And on the side table, there's a box of chopsticks? And a box of spoons?"

Once he saw the side table, Zhang Yu was no longer so surprised to see a dining table nearby.

But when he saw the "No Urinating on the Dining Table" warning sign posted on the table, he fell silent again.

What the hell... are Ziyun High School students' standards really this low?

However, after reading a notice on the wall, he realized his initial understanding was quite different.

Due to too many students breaking down and the school's profits declining last quarter, they had introduced a "Student Support Policy."

This policy not only involved installing dining tables and cabinets in the restrooms to ensure students could eat comfortably and without worry, but also prohibited bullying within the restrooms.

"So that's it, it's to care for struggling students... but it feels even more absurd."

At the entrance to the women's restroom, on the other side.

Bai Zhenzhen was curiously examining several other doors beyond the men's and women's restrooms.

One of them was labeled "Le Mulan's Private Use."

"A private restroom for the top-ranked student?"

Bai Zhenzhen wanted to try entering but found the door had no handle; it seemed to open automatically after identity verification.

A hint of envy flashed in Bai Zhenzhen's eyes. "Songyang High School is so lame. They should really learn from Ziyun. How great would it be to build private restrooms for the top three students?"

A few moments later, the two returned to the side of the arena.

Before officially entering the arena, Bai Zhenzhen took a nootropic to enhance her focus during the upcoming competition.

Zhang Yu also took a stimulant to boost his speed of action in the arena.

Although he followed a natural body refinement path, Zhang Yu wouldn't stubbornly refuse medication if it could improve his score by a few points in the competition.

They then both drank several nerve fillers to prevent drowsiness during the late-night competition.

Soon, all contestants entered the arena. After attaching magic power detection patches to their bodies, they were assigned to individual small rooms.

As the halos on the ground suddenly illuminated, Zhang Yu's nerves immediately tensed.

The next moment, accompanied by a whistling sound, steel balls shot out at high speed from the surrounding walls.

"Good... much slower than A-Zhen's Body-Shattering Sword Qi."

Under the influence of the stimulant, Zhang Yu's muscles were fully excited, and his body reacted incredibly swiftly. He constantly moved and dodged the incoming steel balls.

"With the circle this large, I don't need 'Full Concentration' yet."

The "Full Concentration" state was a Level 10 effect of the Heaven Martial Heart Refinement Art, which focused Zhang Yu's concentration to an unprecedented degree, even creating the illusion of time slowing down when observing the world.

However, "Full Concentration" had a flaw: it could not be maintained for long.

Initially, when Zhang Yu first mastered it, he could only sustain it for one minute.

Now, with the improvement of his Dao Heart and the increasing power of his martial arts will, he had extended the duration to ninety seconds.

"But in my normal state, since I can still hold on, I'll wait until the circle shrinks a bit more, and dodging becomes increasingly difficult, before using 'Full Concentration'..."

In the audience stands.

Gang Shan, a popular blogger, observed the arena and commented, "As the circle continuously shrinks in this round, the difficulty will increase sharply, testing not only physical reaction and speed but also the brain's sustained concentration..."

Just then, contestants began to be eliminated from the arena.

A high-speed steel ball hit an ordinary high school student's leg with a thud, causing the student to stumble.

As the student's movement paused, more steel balls shot towards him.

The student's mind was already in a panic, and his physical condition and mental reactions were completely unable to keep up with the continuously incoming high-speed steel balls.

"Is this competition so much harder than our usual school training?"

The next moment, as steel balls pelted him, the student collapsed, spitting blood.

After being eliminated, he looked enviously and somewhat jealously at the students still competing on the large screen.

"Are these students from the key high schools and the Big Three all monsters? How can they still be dodging now?"

Similar scenes unfolded in various corners of the arena, with a large number of ordinary high school contestants not only being eliminated but also sustaining injuries.

Gang Shan showed his audience the eliminated ordinary high school contestants, then turned his attention to the Ziyun High School contestants who were calmly dodging the steel balls.

Inside the circle, Lian Tianji moved subtly, his senses sharp, constantly dodging the incoming steel balls.

Le Mulan, not far away, appeared even more relaxed, walking casually within the circle as the blurs of high-speed steel balls passed narrowly by her, as if dancing around her.

Gang Shan exclaimed, "The gap between the two sides is too vast! Almost all the ordinary high school students have been eliminated, while the Big Three are still far from their limits."

Le Jingchen watched the eliminated ordinary students and felt only foolishness.

Spending thousands of yuan a month just to learn cultivation?

Le Jingchen couldn't understand why these poor people tried so hard to cultivate. In his view, whether these poor people cultivated or not, their lives wouldn't change much; forcefully cultivating was just asking for trouble.

However, Le Jingchen naturally wouldn't voice such thoughts, or else how would Ziyun Pharmaceuticals earn so much money? How would their family acquire so many resources?

Thus, in the live broadcast, Le Jingchen said, "Actually, the gap isn't that large. I believe ordinary high schools also have exceptionally talented students. The reason they show such a significant disparity in performance compared to the Big Three high schools is often simply due to a lack of information."

Before the competition began, the Big Three high schools had kept their breakthroughs in body refinement techniques secret and were testing each other.

Now that the competition had started, Le Jingchen knew there was no longer any need for continued secrecy.

He continued, "For instance, there's Ziyun High School's Super Metabolism Surgery, and slightly less advanced, White Dragon High School's Demon Muscle Mimicry Surgery. If ordinary high school students knew about these techniques and underwent these surgeries, they might not necessarily lack the opportunity to compete with Le Mulan and Song Hailong."

As he spoke, Le Jingchen pointed in the direction of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, saying, "Gang Shan, look, these two Songyang High School students, after undergoing new body refinement techniques, haven't they now caught up to the level of the Big Three high schools?"

Since he had realized that Songyang High School intended to make a spectacular debut in this physical competition, Le Jingchen didn't mind using them in return to promote the new body refinement techniques.