Chapter 93: Zhang Yu's Secret

That night, as he swallowed the Hunyuan Pill, its potent medicinal power once again surged through his limbs and bones. Zhang Yu immediately activated his Crimson Marrow Hunyuan Qi, allowing all his muscles, internal organs, and bones to fully exert themselves, striving to absorb the surging medicinal power. Every time this happened, Zhang Yu could clearly feel that the 30,000 he spent on the medicine hadn't vanished, but had integrated into his body, ultimately becoming a part of his own flesh and blood.

An entire night passed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Yu looked at his Physical Strength level of 2.08 on the Feather Scroll, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

Currently, two weeks had passed since the martial arts competition. There were still two weeks until the confirmation of the top five sports scores, which would determine whether Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen qualified for the sports competition team. Until the start of the sports competition, there were six weeks remaining.

During this period, although Zhang Yu had focused primarily on his physical strength, with the support of his cultivation method and passive breathing techniques, his Dao Heart and mana had naturally improved as well. The Feather Scroll showed Dao Heart Level 3 (93) and Mana 25.5.

"The improvement in my Dao Heart and mana seems to have slowed down slightly, but it's not a big concern for now. I don't need to consider switching to a more powerful cultivation technique yet. For now, I should still focus on physical strength."

"With my current income, not only can I continuously acquire Hunyuan Pills, but if my income increases further in the future, I might even be able to invest more in dietary supplements."

"If I continue to enhance my physical strength with Level 10 Crimson Marrow Hunyuan Qi, then reaching the top five in physical strength in two weeks shouldn't be a problem. It also doesn't seem impossible to reach Level 4.0 or above by the sports competition in six weeks."

Thinking this, Zhang Yu checked his savings. During this time, although he had tutored Song Hailong and also taught supplementary classes at the park, with the arrival of the new month, after deducting 15,000 for loan interest, less than 2,000 for rent and utilities, and expenses for Hunyuan Pills, food, and other costs, Zhang Yu now only had a little over 5,000 yuan left in his account.

"Sigh, still so poor. I hope they arrange more classes for me soon."

With these thoughts briefly flashing through his mind, Zhang Yu quickly headed to school. As soon as he arrived at the school gate, Zhang Yu saw the display of the monthly exam results. On this day of monthly exam results, teachers and students at Songyang High School were full of cheer, joyfully welcoming their new scores.

Remembering the monthly exam from two days ago, Zhang Yu sighed slightly: "What a pity. If the exam had been a few days later, after I had consumed this second Hunyuan Pill and refined my body, my scores should have been a bit higher."

"But it's not a big problem. My sports score should be higher in the next monthly exam."

After a casual glance at the monthly exam rankings, Zhang Yu headed to his classroom. For him, the monthly exam was long since something he only needed to pay slight attention to; competitions were what he truly valued. He clearly remembered what Zhang Pianpian had told him.

Zhang Yu murmured to himself, "If I want to get into the Top 10 universities, I need to win all the remaining competitions in freshman year and become the strongest freshman in Songyang City."

But just before Zhang Yu entered the teaching building, with a loud bang, a figure plummeted from the sky, falling towards the ground.

Zhang Yu instinctively flickered, then reached out, and as a white Formless Cloud Aura surged forth, it carried a gentle force that caught the falling figure, dissipating the downward momentum.

Looking at the person he had just saved, Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback: "You are... Shuang Youpeng?" He remembered this student, who used to be the top scorer in freshman year, now a sophomore, and who had been thoroughly disciplined by the Student Council Vice President Zhou Chechen during a combat class.

"Jumping from a building at school incurs a fine. Good thing I saved you."

"Besides, with your level, you wouldn't die from this height, right? Wouldn't being severely injured and needing treatment be even worse?"

But the next moment, Zhang Yu noticed something was wrong. Although Shuang Youpeng's face hadn't changed much, Zhang Yu found him to be... light, incredibly light. It was as if most of the flesh and blood beneath his clothes had vanished, not at all resembling the robust physique a sophomore should have.

Facing Zhang Yu's confused gaze, Shuang Youpeng said nothing. He neither thanked Zhang Yu for saving him nor blamed him for it. He simply stood up silently and walked towards the teaching building.

Zhang Yu opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. He sensed a deadened numbness from the other person.

Finally, Zhang Yu said, "Are you alright?"

Shuang Youpeng paused and said faintly, "I'm fine. It was just a moment of despair. I still have debts to pay, so I won't jump again. Please don't tell anyone about today; the school will fine me otherwise." After saying this, Shuang Youpeng was silent for a moment, then added, "That sports competition... you'd better give up. It won't end well."

Inside the Class 1, Freshman Year classroom, several students were gathered around He Dayou, congratulating him.

"Dayou, you've made such great progress recently! You actually got first place in the monthly exam this time."

"662 points! With that score, you can visit Bailong High School for free, right?"

"General Knowledge 49, Dao Heart 130, Mana 143, Sports 150, Martial Arts 95, Dao Arts 95... This must be the level of top students from the three major high schools, right?"

He Dayou looked at these fair-weather friends who flocked to whoever had good scores, a hint of disdain flashing in the corner of his mouth.

In the martial arts combat exam of this monthly test, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were assigned to the same group, which allowed He Dayou to finally achieve a score befitting his level. "I finally got the score I deserved in martial arts." As for Dao Arts, it was already his strong suit, and his sports performance had become the best in his grade due to his training with the competition team during this period.

Just then, his phone vibrated. The information He Dayou had asked other students to inquire about had arrived. It was Zhang Yu's current physical strength level.

"That kid Zhang Yu, always skipping physical education class. This monthly exam finally revealed the physical strength he tested yesterday... Level 2.05?"

"He truly is Zhang Pianpian's lackey; he must have been fed a lot of resources to reach this level."

"But... it's far inferior to my Level 2.3 physical strength, and our gap will only widen from now on."

Seeing Zhang Yu's physical strength, He Dayou finally let out a breath, feeling that his efforts and money spent in the competition team had not been in vain.

"Zhang Yu, now you can experience what it's like to try your best and still be unable to catch up to me."

In contrast to He Dayou's excitement, Zhao Tianxing felt incredibly distressed. "Even Yu Zi and A Zhen have been completely surpassed by He Dayou?"

Although he envied He Dayou and the others, Zhao Tianxing ultimately, like Qian Shen, withdrew from the sports competition team, watching another student join the team in their place, whose physical strength rapidly advanced, and whose monthly exam score also surpassed his.

Zhao Tianxing thought to himself, "Qian Shen disdained buying physical strength with money, buying scores with money, that's why he withdrew from the competition team." After Zhao Tianxing also withdrew, he felt that Qian Shen had looked at him in a new, more respectful light.

But he knew his situation was completely different from Qian Shen's, and he lacked Qian Shen's handsomeness and decisiveness. He knew that the reason he chose to withdraw from the competition team was simply due to his own weakness. He lacked the confidence to achieve sufficiently excellent results after his parents spent half a lifetime's savings on him.

"The sponsorship fee to join the competition team would require my parents to sell their house to afford it."

"This is only freshman year of high school; what if more money is needed in the future?"

"With my talent, after spending so much money, can I really earn it back in the future?"

Zhao Tianxing had no confidence at all. He was afraid of wasting his parents' savings, afraid of being heavily indebted yet accomplishing nothing, and ultimately chose to give up.

"I'm such a good-for-nothing. I even told Qian Shen that I didn't want to buy scores like him, when in reality, I wanted it but was simply afraid of failure."

In the cafeteria, Zhao Tianxing put down his tray with a melancholic expression. He then saw Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, as if in a competition, ravenously devouring the synthetic food before them.

"Sigh, Yu Zi and A Zhen are always so optimistic. Even after their rankings were surpassed in this monthly exam, they show no signs of dejection. How I wish I could be like them."

While eating, Bai Zhenzhen glanced at the protein milk in Zhang Yu's hand and thought to herself, "Yu Zi has been eating better and better recently. Did he find money? Or did he sell something he shouldn't have?"

While eating, Zhang Yu looked at the mush in Bai Zhenzhen's tray and thought to himself, "A Zhen also needs to improve her physical strength, so she probably doesn't have enough money recently, right? I wonder if she'd be interested in the dark tutoring world."

The doll hanging on Zhang Yu's chest was also observing Bai Zhenzhen. After a few days of observation, she had drawn a conclusion. So the doll transmitted a message to Zhang Yu: "Hey, Zhang Yu, do you know there's something in this woman's belly?"

"Pfft!" Zhang Yu felt himself choke and couldn't help but spit out what was in his mouth.

He turned around, lowered his voice, and whispered to the doll in a voice only he could hear, "A Zhen is pregnant?"

On the other side, Bai Zhenzhen looked at the mush Zhang Yu had spit into her bowl and was genuinely enraged: "Are you trying to die, Zhang Yu?! Using such a despicable trick to steal food? I'll pee in your bowl!"

The doll said in Zhang Yu's mind, "What I mean is a spiritual root. This woman has a spiritual root in her belly."

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes: "Nonsense, A Zhen leased a spiritual root."

The doll, however, chuckled: "Really? From what I've observed, the spiritual root in this woman's belly should be her own. It's just that this spiritual root is extremely good at hiding. If you weren't with her every day, and if she didn't always openly use that spiritual root in front of you, I wouldn't have noticed it."

Zhang Yu looked at Bai Zhenzhen with some shock and thought to himself, "A Zhen grew a spiritual root in her belly?"

Bai Zhenzhen said angrily, "What are you mumbling about? Go buy me a new lunch right now!"

Zhang Yu was still thinking about the spiritual root, and ran off to buy food for Bai Zhenzhen, student card in hand.

Bai Zhenzhen watched as Zhang Yu's phone, left on the table, vibrated softly. A message had come through.

Lian Tianji: Sell me one of your worn clothes.

Upon seeing this message, Bai Zhenzhen fell silent. She quietly turned off the screen on Zhang Yu's phone.

"No wonder Yu Zi seems to have more money lately."

"So he's already gone this far without me realizing it?"

Yu Zi! Have you gone to such lengths just to earn money and pursue the immortal path?