Chapter 3: Sports

There wasn't much time for sentiment. Soon after Zhang Yu returned to the classroom, the math teacher, wearing black-rimmed glasses, walked in with a stack of test papers.

"Today, we'll go over the test we took last time."

"Hand out all the papers."

"Look at the mistakes you made. How many times have I told you to come ask me if you don't understand something? I sat in my office for three hours yesterday afternoon, and not a single person came to ask me a question..."

Shortly after the math papers were distributed, the tall and robust physical education teacher entered the classroom and said to the math teacher, "You're ill."

After sending the ailing math teacher away, PE teacher Wang Hai looked at the students and announced, "This class has been changed to a PE class."

"However, don't forget to review your math when you go back. General education courses account for fifty points in the college entrance exam, and a single point difference in the exam can mean falling behind many people."

"Speaking of general education, I should also mention that I've already spoken with your Chinese teacher about the next Chinese class; it will also be a PE class. So, including your regular PE class, I'll be teaching PE all morning today."

Everyone followed PE teacher Wang Hai to the indoor training hall. They saw that the hall was as vast as a public square, filled with all kinds of exercise equipment.

Wang Hai said, "The Qi Cultivation realm, as the first realm of immortal cultivation, emphasizes building a solid foundation. The strength of your foundation laid in your first year of high school will determine how far you can progress in your second and third years..."

As he experienced these familiar scenes, numerous detailed memories flooded into Zhang Yu's mind.

Since its integration by the Ten Great Sects, immortal cultivation has long possessed a systematic division of realms and power levels. It encompasses everything, covering all aspects of immortal cultivation techniques, truly vast and boundless.

The most widely known are the Ten Great Realms of Immortal Cultivation.

The key indicators determining which immortal realm a person can reach are the level of their Dao Heart and their spiritual power.

For high school students, for instance, only by crossing the level 10 threshold for their Dao Heart and exceeding 60 points of spiritual power can they break through from the Qi Cultivation realm to the Foundation Establishment realm.

The current high school PE class, meanwhile, was designed to temper the body and refine the will.

After all, a strong physical body not only increases the efficiency of spiritual power enhancement but also greatly aids the powerful will required for Dao Heart levels, and it boosts combat ability in the Qi Cultivation realm.

If the Dao Heart and spiritual power are the foundations of immortal cultivation, then the physical strength cultivated during PE class is the foundation of the foundation.

Simultaneously, waves of light swept over the bodies of the many students present, displaying their physical strength data on a large screen nearby, ranked from highest to lowest.

1st place: Qian Shen, Physical Strength Level 1.15

2nd place: Bai Zhenzhen, Physical Strength Level 1.13

3rd place: He Dayou, Physical Strength Level 1.12

Zhang Yu only found his score when he saw the 19th position.

19th place: Zhang Yu, Physical Strength Level 0.82

Immortal cultivation techniques in Kunxu have continuously developed, and now various data and indicators are increasingly precise.

For instance, physical strength is not only quantified but also re-measured during every PE class.

This indicator, like the Dao Heart, can reach a maximum of Level 10 in the Qi Cultivation realm.

Although physical strength is not a critical indicator for breaking through immortal realms, it affects a cultivator's efficiency and combat power. It is an important foundation for immortal cultivation, accounting for 150 out of 650 points in the immortal cultivation subjects.

"Has my physical strength dropped to 19th place?"

Zhang Yu looked at his score, recalling how his physical strength improvement had been continuously surpassed by others recently.

At the same time, his classmates around him all took out syringes, injecting various enhancing supplements into their arms.

These supplements, from various brands, not only enhance muscle and bone strength upon injection but also boost exercise efficiency by several to more than ten times. They are essential drugs for first-year high school students.

Here, you could skip a day of exercise, but you couldn't skip a day of injections. Top students often took eight or more injections daily.

Zhang Yu saw Bai Zhenzhen, not far away, take nine injections in one go, targeting her buttocks, arms, and thighs.

However, compared to many of the bulky students around, Bai Zhenzhen appeared much smaller. Zhang Yu remembered this was because their physical training methods differed, resulting in different body shapes.

Meanwhile, PE teacher Wang Hai, seeing Zhang Yu hesitate to inject, frowned and walked over, asking, "Zhang Yu, how many days has it been since you've injected a performance enhancer?"

Zhang Yu didn't dare say he was out of money. He knew that at Songyang High, this was as shameful as having poor grades. He only dared to discuss it with close friends like Bai Zhenzhen.

Furthermore, the fragmented memories in his mind told him that the original body, due to excessive drug use, suffered from heavy internal organ and cardiovascular strain, had fainted multiple times, and was beginning to be life-threatening.

So Zhang Yu vaguely replied, "I want to try training without injections..."

To his surprise, Wang Hai's brows furrowed even deeper upon hearing this, and he spoke with a voice like thunder, "Have you been watching those influencers promoting 'natural body refinement' because they can't endure the pain of injections? That's all a lie. How can you keep up without injections?"

"Look how many ranks you've dropped! If this continues, you'll be kicked out of the demonstration class after the next monthly exam."

He said with a look of disappointment, "Am I making you take injections for my benefit? I won't gain muscle if you take injections."

As he spoke, he pointed casually to a student in the distance: "Look at Qian Shen. He takes 12 injections of Dragon Elephant Compound daily to boost muscle and bone growth, 2 painkiller injections to suppress the tearing pain of rapid body growth, and 2 gluttony-accelerator injections to speed up metabolism and absorption of immortal elements from food, eating 15 pounds a day to gain weight..."

"In just three months, his physical strength has skyrocketed from 0.13 to its current 1.15 level, making him the strongest physique in the first year of high school. That's equivalent to twenty years of your natural body refinement."

Wang Hai then pointed to another student: "Look at Zhao Tianxing, who used to be weaker than you. The day before yesterday, his physical strength also broke through Level 1.00. Now his blood is truly like lead and mercury, his arteries are hardened, and his heart has swollen to three times its normal size..."

After casually pointing out a few students, Wang Hai sighed, "Zhang Yu, I'm telling you all this because your physical strength used to rank in the top ten, your talent is good, and your drug tolerance is exceptional..."

Seeing Wang Hai's earnestness, Zhang Yu felt his concern, but whether due to lack of money or fear of death, he was currently unwilling to take injections.

Just as he was wondering how to explain himself, Wang Hai pulled out a box of injectables from a bag beside him: "They say three parts training, seven parts eating, and the remaining ninety parts depend on how you take your injections."

"This is the Divine Elephant Power performance enhancer, newly launched by the Vajra Sect. As a major sect, its quality is guaranteed; one injection is worth ten."

"To be honest, this stuff was still in the lab. I got it from a good friend. Seeing your talent, I'll sell it to you at an 80% discount. Ten bottles for 8800..."

Watching Wang Hai promote the drugs, Zhang Yu suddenly remembered everything. More than half of the various physical enhancement supplements consumed or injected by students in the class were bought from Wang Hai.

Such a situation was normal at Songyang High. After all, medicine and physical training were inseparable; every PE teacher was not only an excellent body-refinement expert but also a skilled pharmaceutical salesperson, often with multiple drug distribution channels behind them.

But at that moment, Zhang Yu could neither afford the drugs nor could his body handle the injections, so he could only try to brush off the conversation.

Seeing Zhang Yu's repeated excuses, Wang Hai snorted, put the drugs back, and said with a disappointed look, "Then you're on your own."

Watching the PE teacher turn away to instruct and sell to other students, Zhang Yu sighed helplessly, thinking to himself, "This dreadful place, is PE class really this difficult?"

Just then, a young man walked over, leaning towards Zhang Yu to ask, "Did Wang Hai try to sell you something again?"

The student who spoke had a clear, handsome face, looking like the boy next door.

Memories related to the boy also surfaced in Zhang Yu's mind.

"He's... Zhou Tianyi."

Zhou Tianyi was Zhang Yu's lunch and study partner, whom he met on the first day of school.

They had eaten together and studied together for three months, forming a fragile friendship during that time.

However, as the memories emerged, Zhang Yu's first thought was the other boy's grade ranking.

"Ranked 25th in the grade, good enough to eat at my table... Huh? Why am I having this kind of academic discrimination too?"

Zhang Yu felt that as the memories continuously merged, he was also being influenced, growing to value academic rankings in this school more and more.

Now, hearing Zhou Tianyi's question, he nodded and said, "Yeah, he wanted to sell me Divine Elephant Power."

"You didn't buy it again?" Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhou Tianyi hissed, "Aren't you afraid Old Wang will mess with you?"

"Mess with me?" Zhang Yu said, "It's just not buying drugs, it's not that serious, is it?"

Zhou Tianyi shook his head repeatedly, "Sigh, do you want to hear some gossip about Wang Hai?"

"Forget it, I'm not one for gossip."

Zhang Yu turned and walked towards the exercise equipment, intending to familiarize himself with his body and the PE class content.

Zhou Tianyi continued, "A teacher complained that Wang Hai was, um, 'doing something' in the office next door, and the ceiling cracked when he, uh, 'finished.'"

Zhang Yu stopped in his tracks. He wasn't a gossipy person, but such a bizarre rumor... he had to find out what was going on.

Zhou Tianyi explained, "Wang Hai later clarified that he wasn't 'doing that'; the banging sounds were him disciplining disobedient students."

"Later, I asked students from the previous two years and found out that Wang Hai has long had a habit of physically punishing underperforming students."

"Especially if their grades decline and they don't buy his drugs, he'll lead the bullying against them."

"I heard a student was driven to jump from a building a few years ago because of him."

Hearing the words "jump from a building," Zhang Yu's gaze suddenly sharpened: "And Wang Hai was fine after that?"

Zhou Tianyi shrugged, "Wang Hai's teaching record has always been excellent. He's Songyang High's ace PE teacher, having produced three students whose physical strength ranked first in the city during the college entrance exams. Some say he has access to certain experimental drugs from the major sects."

"Even if the school truly wanted to dismiss him, most students and parents wouldn't agree. They rely on Wang Hai to buy drugs and help them improve their physical strength."

With that, he looked at Zhang Yu and warned, "If you keep refusing to buy drugs and your grades don't improve, he'll probably target you too."

Seeing Zhang Yu's furrowed brow, Zhou Tianyi asked curiously, "Hey... you used to take a lot of injections yourself. Why did you suddenly stop buying them? Don't tell me you're out of money? Do you want me to lend you some?"

Feeling the sincerity in the other's eyes, Zhang Yu smiled helplessly, "No need."

"Really no need?" Zhou Tianyi pressed, "Or how about you use mine today?"

Zhang Yu, of course, shook his head repeatedly. He genuinely feared that a few more injections might instantly kill him.

According to the memories in his mind, there was no shortage of people in this world who were severely injured, disabled, or even died from excessive drug loads. Even at Songyang High, there were gravely injured students every year due to overly potent drug use.

Yet, despite this, students continued to flock to drug use in pursuit of physical strength.

The original body had already shown signs of being overwhelmed since last week.

Remembering that the original body had not only accumulated a huge debt of 700,000 but also left him with such a physique, Zhang Yu sighed mournfully once more.

As the two whispered, a cold gaze suddenly swept over them. Wang Hai's voice boomed, "Don't whisper during PE class."

Zhang Yu and Zhou Tianyi immediately stopped talking and began their exercises.

Zhang Yu approached a large iron ball. His muscles tensed, and with a sudden burst of strength, he lifted the 100-kilogram iron ball.

Then, as his muscles contracted and expanded with exertion, the large iron ball was moved to various positions around his body as if it were a toy.

With the iron ball flying up, down, and rotating, Zhang Yu felt his qi and blood surge, and various parts of his body gradually warmed up.

"This is a warm-up..."

The entire process seemed instinctively etched into his flesh and blood; Zhang Yu completed the warm-up training almost without thinking.

During the subsequent training, his mastery over this body deepened, and related memories continuously surfaced in his mind.

"Body refinement in the Qi Cultivation stage primarily involves tempering muscles and bones, breaking through limits with repeated practice, and ultimately increasing the physical strength level."

"As for specific methods... for high school students, the most widely known method is the cultivation technique called the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening."

The Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening is a body-refinement technique specifically created by the Ten Great Sects for high school education. Its thirty-six movements, combined with various equipment, can comprehensively develop the physical body and effectively enhance physical strength.

Under the immortal cultivation framework summarized by the Ten Great Sects, all martial arts and Daoist techniques are categorized into levels from 1 to 100.

For instance, most students at Songyang High could successfully begin and practice fundamental martial arts like the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening to Level 1 after just one or two weeks of study.

If one could continue to raise the level, the training effects of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening would become increasingly powerful and incredible.

However, this was clearly not easy. In Zhang Yu's memory, only Bai Zhenzhen had managed to raise the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening to Level 2 in the three months since school started.

This was precisely why Bai Zhenzhen could maintain her physical strength ranking as second in the entire grade with just 9 injections a day, closely trailing Qian Shen, who took 16 injections daily.

"The level of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening affects the efficiency of physical strength improvement, but the key factor determining actual strength and PE class performance is still physical strength itself."

"Speaking of which, with my physical strength at Level 0.82, I can casually swing hundreds of pounds around. And in the Qi Cultivation realm, physical strength can reach a maximum of Level 10, and after Foundation Establishment, it can go up to Level 20... The disparity between people here is immense."

Zhang Yu initially just wanted to casually train, familiarizing himself with the PE class content and his own body.

But as he continued practicing the sets of the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening, he became increasingly serious and meticulous, as if an instinct within his body was urging him on, encouraging him to persevere in his training.

His muscles were repeatedly torn, and bones repeatedly impacted. With each successive practice, his body underwent repeated torment, until finally, a warm current surged forth, silently beginning to repair the damage within his flesh and blood.

This was Zhang Yu's spiritual power, and just like during the past few months of PE class, his body was ravaged under heavy pressure, then continuously repaired and strengthened by the effects of his spiritual power.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Yu let out a deep breath, feeling sore all over, as if his flesh and blood were about to disintegrate.

"No wonder they need painkillers..."

He looked up at Bai Zhenzhen, still sweating profusely in the distance, and at other classmates on the other side who were also training intensely. A sense of urgency instinctively welled up within him, seemingly urging him to push his body further.

"If I trained this intensely in my original world, I probably would have died from it by now, right?"

"It's only here, with various drugs supported by immortal cultivation techniques and spiritual power... that I can endure this and become stronger."

Feeling the pain emanating from all over his body at that moment, and the instinct that still craved training and becoming stronger, Zhang Yu couldn't help but marvel at the depth of the original Zhang Yu's obsession.

However, as the training continued, this instinct, deeply embedded within the body, seemed to be gradually fading.

Ultimately, the path ahead would have to be chosen by the current Zhang Yu himself.

When the morning PE class finally ended, Zhang Yu was sprawled out on the floor, exhausted, while around him stood a group of classmates who were still full of energy and continuing their intense training.

Zhang Yu mused that this must be the difference between using drugs and not using them.

Suddenly, he caught sight of the dark patch on his palm and noticed that less than a quarter of the area had yet to be filled with black.