Chapter 227: The Victory or Defeat in the Third Stage

During the lull while watching the video, Huang Zichou, wanting to avoid an awkward silence, unnecessarily started talking. "Once you two get into university and implant your pháp khí or buy flying swords and magic treasures, you must pay attention to similar issues."

"Before you leave every day, check if your equipment has enough balance, if your services are renewed, if the ads have been cleared, and if your installment payments are up to date..."

Huang Zichou warned them meticulously, "In the various annual university exams, you'll always encounter students who face these kinds of problems on exam day. Due to a moment of carelessness, they perform poorly, achieve unsatisfactory results, and consequently affect their university GPA."

"Consider this a lesson learned in advance today..."

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "It really was a lesson. I'll remember this for a lifetime. Once I'm in university, I'll definitely double-check everything before every exam."

Yet, Ye Lingxiao thought, "Don't most people just enable auto-renewal and auto-deduction? What's there to check... Oh, right, poor people probably run out of balance, don't they? How miserable for the poor."

About a minute later, the Sword Tomb finally returned to normal and, under the control of Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao, began to move again.

However, the disjointed feeling in Zhang Yu's mind never disappeared; in fact, the discomfort from his eyes intensified slightly.

At the same time, with the Sword Tomb's connection, the synchronization rates above Zhang Yu's and Ye Lingxiao's heads changed again.

Zhang Yu 90

Ye Lingxiao 95

This synchronization rate represented their overall synchronization with all the pháp khí implanted in their bodies. Evidently, after connecting to the Sword Tomb's neural signals, both their synchronization rates had decreased.

Zhang Yu frowned. "The gap widened a bit more..."

Meanwhile, within the True God's internal network, Mu Guiyin said, "Aside from their foundations, the biggest difference between them lies in their Dao Hearts."

"Ye Lingxiao's Dao Heart reached Level 10 last year, while Zhang Yu's is only at Level 8 now."

"Although this exam tests the physical body, the Dao Heart is the foundation of a cultivator's entire cultivation. Its influence manifests in all aspects, so how could it not affect the physical body?"

"The gap in their Dao Hearts determines that Zhang Yu has no chance of winning this round."

Another True God sighed, "Ye Lingxiao has, after all, been at Dao Heart Level 10 for a long time. He can perfectly control his physical body every day, and his body's adaptation to physical changes was cultivated under the blessing of a Level 10 Dao Heart."

"Only through such daily and nightly adaptation to the physical body, continuously exploring its limits in subsequent cultivation, can one quickly adapt when the body undergoes new changes."

Huang Zichou did not vocalize his agreement, but he had to admit that Mu Guiyin was right. Zhang Yu's Dao Heart level was too low, and his cultivation time was too short.

He thought to himself, "Zhang Yu has, after all, cultivated for a year less than Ye Lingxiao. It's already impressive that his physical body can match Ye Lingxiao's; a gap in their Dao Hearts is only to be expected."

"Historically, the physical challenge track of the Foundation Establishment exam has always been a competition of physical prowess and potential among candidates with Dao Heart Level 10, Magic Power 100, and Physical Strength Level 10."

"Heh, who would have thought that this year, a kid with only Dao Heart Level 8 could make it to the final round of the Foundation Establishment exam?"

While deep in thought, Huang Zichou continued to preside over the exam. With a sweep of his divine power, he brought out the third and final piece of pháp khí for this round.

It was a spine that shimmered with faint, eerie blood-red light, yet it moved around Huang Zichou in mid-air like a white flood dragon, as if it were a living creature.

Huang Zichou introduced it, "This is an enterprise-grade pháp khí manufactured by Dragon Soul Workshop, named the Flood Dragon Spirit Axis."

"As an old manufacturer specializing in dragon-type pháp khí, constantly using various dragon materials to create them, Dragon Soul Workshop's Flood Dragon Spirit Axis can be considered a classic among spinal pháp khí."

"After the Flood Dragon Spirit Axis is implanted, the dragon tendons extending from it can significantly enhance a cultivator's physical performance, providing an effect roughly equivalent to Level 1 Physical Strength during the Foundation Establishment stage."

"The Flood Dragon Spirit Axis also seals a dragon-type Daoist spell called Dragon's Might. Once activated, it can intimidate spirits, making it difficult for cultivators below Dao Heart Level 20 within a hundred-meter radius to circulate their cultivation techniques..."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu's heart tightened. He thought, "Good heavens, an anti-magic field? No, it's an anti-cultivation technique field."

This was Zhang Yu's first time witnessing the effects of a Daoist spell. After all, during high school, so-called Daoist spell classes were essentially talisman courses, and he hadn't yet encountered true Daoist spells.

Next, just like before, Zhang Yu felt the neural connection between his spine and his brain being severed.

The impact of this was naturally far greater than the previous two times. As the spine controls movement throughout the body, once the connection was lost, Zhang Yu immediately slumped onto the operating table, feeling as though he were completely paralyzed. An inexplicable tightness gripped his heart.

After more than ten seconds, Zhang Yu felt the presence of his spine again, but this time it felt even stranger. The spine couldn't move his body; it merely bent back and forth with his thoughts.

At the same time, Zhang Yu felt as if his consciousness was being drawn into the spine, manipulating the Flood Dragon Spirit Axis, as if transforming into a white dragon soaring through the sky...

The next moment, Zhang Yu suddenly snapped back to reality, thinking to himself how close he came. He seemed to have been affected by the Flood Dragon Spirit Axis, causing him to experience an illusion.

Zhang Yu thought, "This isn't even a true pháp khí implant; merely connecting to the neural signals is like this. It seems that if I'm to implant various pháp khí after Foundation Establishment, the burden will be greater than I imagined."

So, apart from the ocular pháp khí, should I not implant any other pháp khí in the future?

At worst, I could just use magic treasures directly. Why is it necessary to implant pháp khí?

Zhang Yu had once pondered similar questions, and Fu Ji had provided him with an answer.

The answer was actually quite simple: using both magic treasures and implanted pháp khí was simply more powerful than just using magic treasures alone.

Zhang Yu still remembered what Fu Ji had said at the time.

"'Pháp khí were originally developed by those involved in artifact refinement to create a 'dimensional strike' in the magic treasure market and initiate industrial reform."

"In Kunxu, if you want to climb higher, you must be better than others and achieve superior results. When more and more people use pháp khí to enhance their performance and, in turn, increase the power of their magic treasures, if you want to catch up, you'll have no choice but to use pháp khí as well.'"

As Zhang Yu tried to adapt to the Flood Dragon Spirit Axis, Husky Head in the audience seats remarked, "This Flood Dragon Spirit Axis looks pretty good."

Cat Head, who was nearby, frowned upon hearing this and said, "You're interested? Then I advise you not to buy it."

Husky Head asked curiously, "Do you have inside information?"

He knew that people from the finance department had deep foundations and extensive connections, making them well-informed individuals who possessed various types of information.

Cat Head calmly replied, "No inside information is needed. Didn't he make it clear himself? 'Specializing in dragon-type pháp khí' means they're not skilled with other materials. 'Classic among classics' means this Flood Dragon Spirit Axis is already outdated."

"Furthermore, Dragon Soul Workshop previously had a scandal where the dragon materials in their pháp khí amounted to less than 5%, and it was all bone powder."

"For a spinal pháp khí at this price... I'd say most of it uses demonic beast materials. If there's even 3% from dragons, that would be remarkable, and it's probably from farmed hybrid flood dragons."

"After all, what good materials can be used for mass-produced items like this? If you have money, you should definitely go for customized pháp khí."

Listening to Cat Head's critique, Husky Head thought, *Isn't it because I don't have money?*

However, he also lost interest in the Flood Dragon Spirit Axis, sighing, "These pháp khí nowadays always cut corners and engage in false advertising. If you don't research thoroughly before buying, you'll get conned..."

Just then, Zhang Yu's and Ye Lingxiao's synchronization rate data updated again.

Zhang Yu 79

Ye Lingxiao 86

Zhang Yu: "Did I lose?"

Zhang Yu wasn't too surprised by the final outcome of this round. He thought to himself, "It's probably because of my Dao Heart, isn't it?"

Although he lost this round due to his Dao Heart's hindrance, Zhang Yu didn't dwell on it too much. After all, over the past year, he had exhausted every method to improve himself to his absolute limit.

Now, he just wanted to prepare well for the next round, fight with all his might to defeat his opponent, and secure the final Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate.

Meanwhile, within the True God's internal network, Mu Guiyin spoke eloquently, "There are two paths for the advancement of pháp khí. One is to refine different parts of one's own physical body into pháp khí. The stronger the physical body, the more powerful the resulting pháp khí will be, and it will inherently be the most compatible pháp khí."

"However, this path is extremely difficult, and personalized customization of pháp khí is incredibly expensive, costing an astronomical sum for most cultivators."

"Therefore, most people can only choose the second path."

"This means that as one's cultivation improves, they continuously replace external, stronger pháp khí and gradually refine them into a part of themselves to enhance their power."

"However, in this process, if one fails to adapt to newly implanted pháp khí, their cultivation will regress instead of advancing."

"These are still humanoid pháp khí; I hear that the higher levels are already experimenting with alien pháp khí."

A minor god interjected, "That stuff might be formidable in same-level competitions, but after implantation, you lose even your basic humanoid form, and its compatibility with various immortal cultivation techniques is too low. After implantation, one can't cultivate anymore, which is completely putting the cart before the horse."

Mu Guiyin brought the conversation back. "In short, Zhang Yu's physical body is too strong, while his Dao Heart is too weak. He hasn't even fully controlled his original physical body yet, so how can he adapt to new ones?"

"In contrast, looking at Ye Lingxiao's performance, he clearly adapts faster to pháp khí after Foundation Establishment and has a more promising future in the Foundation Establishment stage."

With the end of the second round and Ye Lingxiao's victory, Huang Zichou began to announce the content of the third round of the exam.

The outcome of this round would definitively determine who would obtain the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate.