https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-192-The-Saint-Body-Forged-Exam-Leave-Request/13686685/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-194-Good-Students-Should-Be-Drug-Injected/13686687/
Chapter 193: The Second Round of the Foundation Establishment Exam Begins
Zhang Yu stared at the reply, slightly taken aback. "Why does it feel... like she’s afraid I’ll keep talking?"
Fujie chuckled, grinning. "That woman might’ve figured out you and Bai Zhenzhen are taking part in the Foundation Establishment Exam."
"After all, your outings outside the city aren’t exactly hard to track."
"And Yun Ni, being a descendant of the long-standing Inspection Team, knowing the exam schedule isn’t exactly surprising."
Hearing Fujie’s analysis, Zhang Yu’s gaze flickered. A flood of thoughts surged through his mind.
……
The next morning, armed with a letter of approval from the Inspection Team and a personal call from Yun Ni, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen finally received official permission to leave school. They boarded the train bound for Xian Du.
As the train prepared to depart, Si Zhouru called again.
"Hey? What’s the situation now? Should we still follow?"
After a long silence, a voice finally replied, "Come back. No need to follow anymore."
Si Zhouru frowned. "What? You’re saying we should just go back after spending so long tailing these two students? They’re clearly planning something big this time!"
"Why not keep following?"
The voice on the other end was cold. "It’s a direct order from company leadership."
"Leadership’s command—understand it or not, you follow. Return immediately."
Si Zhouru took a deep breath, staring at the slowly moving train. After a long pause, he shook his head and walked away from the station.
On the train, as Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen made several attempts over the next few hours, they confirmed something.
Zhang Yu typed on his phone: They didn’t follow.
Bai Zhenzhen: They didn’t even come? Could they already know about the Foundation Establishment Exam and decided not to dig deeper?
Zhang Yu recalled Yun Ni’s reaction the day before. He replied: I think so too. The sudden withdrawal is too abrupt. The only explanation I can think of is the Foundation Establishment Exam.
Bai Zhenzhen: Too bad. I was hoping to lure them into investigating the exam itself.
When Zhang Yu had seen Yun Ni’s reaction and heard Fujie’s analysis, he suddenly realized—after all this waiting and restraint, they’d finally caught a glimpse of a chance to strike back.
But today, the enemy hadn’t taken the bait.
Zhang Yu: It’s okay. At least we now know one thing for sure.
Zhang Yu: The one targeting us isn’t Zhou Chichen.
Zhang Yu: Because Zhou Chichen probably doesn’t even know about the Foundation Establishment Exam.
Fujie added, "Exactly. Only the upper echelons of the Zhou family would know about something like this."
Zhang Yu: So our real enemy isn’t Zhou Chichen… it’s the Zhou family itself.
……
Meanwhile, at Songyang High School.
Lan Ling stared at Zhou Chichen, bewildered. "How could you possibly approve their leave? Zhang Yu might use this time to train, or even earn money—why give them even a moment’s breathing room?"
"We should’ve held firm, refused their request. Let them go, and give them immediate punishment. Find a reason to expel them!"
Watching Lan Ling’s frustration, Zhou Chichen sighed inwardly. He had no energy to argue.
Instead, his mind kept replaying the process of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s leave approval.
"Inspection Team’s Captain Yun Ni?" Zhou Chichen thought. "So their backing is the Inspection Team?"
"Of course. Zhang Pianpian used to be part of the Inspection Team. After she left, she introduced Zhang Yu to the network—nothing impossible there."
"And Bai Zhenzhen… she’s taken leave with Zhang Yu this time. That means their relationship hasn’t changed, despite what the school’s been showing."
"But now I finally know who’s behind Zhang Yu. What are my uncle and the others planning to do? Surely they won’t keep fighting the Inspection Team?"
……
"Who would’ve thought they could pull strings with the Inspection Team?"
"That Evil God has real nerve."
On the 333rd floor of the Central Tower, Zhou Yang stared at the reports his subordinates had sent, his mind racing. "And timing-wise… it coincides perfectly with the Foundation Establishment Exam?"
"Coincidence… or a deliberate setup?"
Now two choices stood before him.
Follow?
Or don’t?
Zhou Yang chose not to follow.
After all, the worst-case scenario was simply that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would vanish—cutting off the trail entirely.
"If that Evil God really is orchestrating a retreat, it means they’ve grown suspicious. Then chasing after them would be pointless—just catching a single pawn."
But if he followed… what if they were actually participating in the Foundation Establishment Exam?
Could he really let his subordinates dig into something like that? Especially when he didn’t know what they might uncover?
And after seeing the exact timing of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s previous departures from the city, Zhou Yang suddenly broke out in cold sweat.
He shuddered at the thought: If this is a trap… the setup is too early. Four months ago? That’s the registration period for the Foundation Establishment Exam.
"So they really are going to take the exam?"
"And they’ve made it to the second round?"
"If that’s true, then Zhang Yu’s hidden strength is far greater than I thought."
"What in the world is that Evil God planning? Daring to target the Foundation Establishment Exam?"
Zhou Yang couldn’t make sense of it. Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen—how could they possibly stand a chance against Xian Du’s elite prodigies?
In his eyes, entering the Foundation Establishment Exam was nothing but wasted time and effort. They’d likely end up having their Dao Hearts shattered by Xian Du’s cultivators.
Not to mention Zhang Yu had been under Zhou Chichen’s relentless pressure lately…
"Knowing they’d be eliminated—why even go?"
"Is it for intelligence?"
Though he couldn’t fathom the Evil God’s motive, Zhou Yang grew increasingly intrigued by the mysterious figure behind Zhang Yu.
"Whoever dares challenge the Foundation Establishment Exam must be of high rank."
"And now, I’m hidden in the shadows, while they remain completely unaware of me—yet I’m gathering more and more intelligence."
"There’s a chance."
"If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen return, I’ll seize this thread and swallow the Evil God’s essence whole."
"But I must not touch the Foundation Establishment Exam. I have to be careful—no matter what. Not until after the exam ends."
As he pondered, his phone buzzed.
He opened it, watching the monitor feed—where countless coils, antique relics, and chains formed a ritual seal, holding fast a hard drive that suddenly began to tremble violently.
Zhou Yang narrowed his eyes. He tapped his phone, and on screen, thick copper wires surged forward like serpents, wrapping around the hard drive and pinning it down once more.
"Old fool. Still not ready to die?"
The entity sealed within the hard drive was the Zhou family’s ancestral Evil God.
As the most exceptional descendant in ten generations, Zhou Yang had learned the truth behind the Evil God’s existence—had seen his ancestors worshiping it.
And so he’d asked himself: Why worship this thing?
We’re not supposed to be slaves to a demon. We should be cultivating it—like raising a beast, not being devoured by one.
Through relentless cultivation, endless study, and careful scheming, he had finally subdued the Evil God and turned it into his own Ritual battery.
But the cost had been immense.
He glanced at his missing lower half, then snapped his fingers. "Change clothes. I’m going out."
A wardrobe beside him swung open. Alongside suits and shirts, dozens of intact lower bodies—complete with pants and shoes—hung in neat rows.
He picked one at random, slipped it on, and felt the familiar sensation of flesh reconnecting with bone. But then he frowned.
"These legs… are they too short?"
He swapped to another, nodded in satisfaction. "Better."
The first one he’d rejected dissolved into a pool of blood, which he dumped straight into the drain.
Still, he glanced at the faint discoloration creeping up his new calf. "Hmph. Shouldn’t be a problem after a day."
He stared at the name Purple Gold Merit Lord on his screen, musing: Who in Songyang City has authority over the Inspection Team?
Since subduing the Evil God, Zhou Yang had lost his lower body. And no matter what new flesh he wore, it would rot and decay within days.
But that wasn’t a problem for someone with Kunxu’s wealth.
After all, Kunxu lacked nothing—especially not people willing to sell their legs for money, then trade them for artificial limbs.
But neither prosthetics nor real human legs were truly useful to him. To Zhou Yang, they were like clothes—replaceable, disposable. They couldn’t withstand his cultivation techniques, nor aid his progress.
So he’d collected many compatible backup bodies, storing them across different locations, cultivating them in secret, ready to be used when needed.
And then—unexpectedly—his thoughts turned to Zhang Yu.
My lower half… actually went to take the Foundation Establishment Exam?
……
As Zhou Yang plotted in the shadows, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had already returned to the underground exam hall beneath Xian Du City.
But this time, Zhang Yu didn’t meet up with Bai Zhenzhen.
From the second round of the Foundation Establishment Exam onward, the test split into four tracks: Dao Heart, Martial Energy, Physical Education, and Martial Arts. One candidate would be awarded the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate in each track.
"A Zhen’s in the Martial Arts Exam, then?" Zhang Yu glanced at the four other contestants—recognizing the top-tier Xian Du prodigy Ye Lingshao, and, unexpectedly, Yu Xinghan, a familiar face.
But seeing Yu Xinghan’s gaunt appearance, Zhang Yu muttered under his breath: You damn kid… did you stay up all night working again before the exam?
Then he felt Ye Lingshao’s gaze lock onto him—sharp, intense, brimming with battle lust.
Ye Lingshao: "Are you going to give it your all this round?"
Zhang Yu thought, The me of today is leagues above the me from two months ago.
Their eyes met in the air, sparks flying between them—warfare etched into every glance.
(End of Chapter)
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