Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Inside the venue.

As drones delivered boxes of meals, the place buzzed with activity. After the first and second rounds of the Magic Aptitude Competition, it was already noon, and lunchtime had arrived.

Despite the contestants eating their boxed meals, they were still buzzing about the highlights of the previous rounds, occasionally glancing at the leaderboard on the big screen.

However, the name that had previously been fourth was now gone, and the top ten spots were still dominated by Bailong High School, Ziyun High School, and Hongta High School, the three prestigious schools.

This was because the leaderboard now displayed the total scores after the first and second rounds.

Only those who made it into the top ten of the final total score would receive a prize, a real ranking, and a recognized achievement by universities, which could influence their college interviews.

The name that had torn through the ranks to claim fourth place in the second round now seemed like a mere illusion, having vanished without a trace.

It was as if a small bird that had tried to break through the sky had been slapped back by the giant hands of the three prestigious schools.

Teacher Yan sighed, "Zhang Yu’s score in the first round, the Flying Sword competition, was too low. It held him back, preventing his total score from making it into the top ten."

But what could be done?

The rich had an absolute advantage in the Flying Sword competition, and Teacher Yan couldn’t blame Zhang Yu’s family for not buying him a mana-infused flying sword.

"To blame can only be bad luck, running into a sponsored flying sword manufacturer."

On the other side, Zhang Yu looked at his boxed meal, eating it while grumbling, "A single boxed meal for 80 yuan? What is Hongta High School, a gang of robbers?"

Just as Zhang Yu was complaining, someone thrust another boxed meal in front of him. Looking up, he saw Teacher Yan holding it out to him.

Teacher Yan, with a kind smile, said, "You must be hungry after all that effort this morning. Here, take this one too."

Beside them, Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes inwardly, "Am I any less hungry? Yu finished the Specialized Mana test in just one and a half minutes, but I struggled for over eight minutes. It was exhausting."

Teacher Yan watched Zhang Yu eat two meals and felt increasingly satisfied. His hearty appetite was a sign of a good student.

Bai Zhenzhen, Qian Shen, and He Dayou also had big appetites, but what was the point if they had no chance of ranking in the competition? They were just eating machines.

Teacher Yan encouraged him, "You did very well this morning. Just do your best this afternoon and don’t put too much pressure on yourself."

Although she wished Zhang Yu would give it 400 percent, she knew that mana manipulation couldn’t be rushed. He needed to stay calm and composed, or it might backfire.

Worried that Zhang Yu might feel too much pressure after his performance in the second round, she came to comfort him, hoping he would relax and perform well.

Teacher Yan couldn’t help but calculate Zhang Yu’s score in her head.

"80 points for the first round, 93 points for the second round, a total of 173 points."

She looked at the leaderboard, scanning from the first place with 195 points to the tenth place with 176 points.

"Zhang Yu just needs to make up 4 points in the next round to enter the top ten."

Four points might sound small, but Teacher Yan knew that in a high-stakes, highly competitive mana competition, each point became increasingly difficult to earn, especially with 30 top students from the three prestigious schools vying for the top ten spots.

Thinking about the 4-point gap, Teacher Yan couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, "It all depends on what the final round is about."

Lunchtime quickly passed, and the final round of the Magic Aptitude Competition began in the afternoon.

The host stepped up and said, "For Martial Arts and Taoist Arts, come to Xianyun. With 300 laboratories and 100 masters, we have specialized in Xian Dao education for 100 years. Thank you to Xianyun Education Group for sponsoring this Magic Aptitude Competition..."

Xianyun Group, Zhang Yu remembered, was affiliated with the Ten Thousand Laws Sect, the same company where he had participated in the trial work and obtained the Circulating Qi Method.

He also recalled seeing the Xianyun Group’s director from Songyang City at Li Xuelian’s art exhibition.

A moment later, a complex mana circulation diagram was distributed to each contestant.

This was the content of the final round of the Magic Aptitude Competition: following the diagram to convert one’s own mana into specialized mana.

Meanwhile, the cameras monitoring the soul cultivators covered the entire venue, ready to assess each contestant’s progress and record the order of completion.

As the countdown began, some students started following the diagram to circulate their mana.

Zhang Yu frowned at the diagram.

"This thing… it seems to be a specialized mana for combat."

Although the 10th-level Circulating Qi Method gave Zhang Yu exceptional control over his mana, the route in this diagram was vastly different from the Circulating Qi Method’s internal circulation.

If the Circulating Qi Method was an internal cycle for self-improvement, then this diagram’s route was an external application for combat.

He could sense that, in terms of complexity, this route was not as intricate as the Circulating Qi Method. However, both the route and the techniques it contained were entirely different from what Zhang Yu was familiar with.

Especially the oscillation refinement technique, which he had never encountered before.

"This Magic Aptitude Competition is really pushing the boundaries."

And to make matters worse…

Zhang Yu glanced at the Technique Codex, which showed no changes.

"Is it not a technique?"

"Then I’ll just have to try it out."

Zhang Yu gathered his dantian mana and began to carefully follow the diagram.

Meanwhile, at Ziyun High School’s area.

Lian Tianji looked at Le Muran, who seemed confident, and thought, "The sacred top student will undoubtedly achieve a remarkable score. My job is to not hold back and help our school’s total score."

Le Muran studied the diagram, tilting her head, "This looks familiar. Let me think… Is this the Martial Arts technique, Bodyguarding Mana Current?"

She circulated her mana and began converting it into the specialized mana as described in the diagram, effortlessly.

Bodyguarding Mana Current, derived from mana, was considered a specialized mana of the Martial Arts category in the Xian Dao system established by the Ten Great Sects.

Le Muran remembered that to convert Mana into Bodyguarding Mana Current, the Mana needed to undergo a process called Mana Oscillation. The more powerful the Bodyguarding Mana Current, the more oscillations it required.

"Each Mana Oscillation improves the quality of the transformed energy, but it also makes it harder to control."

"According to the diagram, it should require seven Mana Oscillations, followed by the circulation along the specified path..."

Suddenly, her brow furrowed slightly.

She heard various groans and cries of pain coming from nearby, which disturbed her.

These were students from the previous competition who had been injured while neutralizing their Mana. Their injuries had not fully healed, and starting their cultivation caused them pain.

"Can't these ordinary high school students afford better healing medicines?"

"Even if they can't afford good healing medicines, can't they at least buy decent pain relievers?"

Le Muran suddenly realized that these poor students from ordinary high schools might truly be unable to afford expensive pain relievers.

This was the sound of poverty.

"It's affecting my exam."

But Le Muran knew that money could silence the sound of poverty.

She reached out and put on a pair of soundproof earplugs worth several thousand, feeling the environment finally become quiet. A smile crept onto her lips as she continued her Mana conversion.

...

At Bailong High School, Song Hailong stared at the cultivation diagram in his hand, and his Mana began to flow naturally, as if moving in sync with his thoughts, gradually aligning with the instructions in the diagram.

Years of practicing Mana circulation with the Heavenly Spirit Root had made him adept at controlling his Mana without the root. The current problem was something he had practiced many times, making his movements more fluid and faster.

Boom!

A clump of Mana in his dantian dispersed in a violent oscillation, then Song Hailong slowly condensed it back together.

"First Mana Oscillation, complete!"

"Easy! Easy! Too easy!"

My parents have the best genes, chosen after rigorous selection.

I haven't slept since I was five.

At eighteen, I have the best performance, the highest scores, and the strongest physique among my peers in the Song family. I am the only one who has never attempted suicide, never suffered from academic burnout, and never experienced depression. I am the ace son of the Song family!

"These wretches in the competition, what makes you think you can compete with me!"

At that moment, he was fully focused, with no distractions, determined to master the technique in the diagram as quickly as possible and crush the top students from the other prestigious schools.

...

At Hongta High School, Xiong Bufan was lying in front of the cultivation diagram, his eyes closed, his fluffy tail twitching, indicating that he was at a crucial moment in his cultivation.

The competition coach watched this scene and thought, "Bufan and his batch in the breeding center were given drugs from the womb. By the time they entered high school, his body was the strongest among them."

"When the school brought him from the breeding center, his meridians were already ten times stronger than those of ordinary students, so he could practice cultivation without fear of injury."

"Since he started school, I've had him focus on increasing his Mana circulation speed."

"He has already practiced Bodyguarding Mana Current many times."

"He will definitely be the first to master this cultivation technique."

"Indeed, the principal should bring in more Yō hybrids... I mean, Yō hybrids."

"One is not enough. I think adding four more to the competition team would be fine. The leaders who insist on a pure human team are too conservative. I hear that the neighboring city already has a pure Yō hybrid team."

...

Zhang Yu had to admit that without the necessary training and preparation, it seemed almost impossible to achieve a high rank in this stage of the competition.

The competition was not just a test of talent and ability but also a test of financial resources, influence, and heritage.

Damn!

Is this the end of my competition journey?

Zhang Yu, are you going to be defeated by money?

...

Not far away, Teacher Yan watched Zhang Yu's troubled expression and sighed inwardly.

She glanced around at the other Songyang High School students, seeing some sweating profusely, others pale, and some looking like they were about to have a bowel movement. Teacher Yan shook her head in frustration.

Songyang High School's students were already inferior to those from the top three prestigious schools. After failing to achieve good results in the Magic Aptitude Competition, the school had stopped investing in this area.

Without the school's investment, their performance in the competition continued to decline, leading to even less investment. It was a vicious cycle.

Teacher Yan understood that without the school's full support and the lack of specialized training, the students were already at a disadvantage.

At that moment, a student raised his hand. "I need to use the restroom."

Teacher Yan inwardly sighed. So you really need to go.

"Go quickly!"

Just then, she heard the sound of bones and muscles moving nearby. She turned to see Bai Zhenzhen practicing a martial arts routine.

Had she given up? This was a cultivation competition, not a martial arts contest. Why was she practicing boxing?

Zhang Yu was also drawn to the sound of the boxing. He looked over and sighed inwardly, "Ah, Ah Zhen has been driven mad."

Hmm?

Suddenly, Zhang Yu felt that Bai Zhenzhen's boxing routine seemed strangely familiar, as if it could be combined with something else.

The martial arts routine was simple, consisting of only six moves, and he quickly recognized it.

This martial arts routine seemed to complement the cultivation diagram!

Looking at the Technique Codex, which displayed Infinite Cloud Hands at level 0, Zhang Yu felt like hugging Bai Zhenzhen and spinning her around.

"Ah Zhen!"

"You are a saint!"

"A savior for Songyang High School!"

The cultivation diagram described the method for circulating Mana, while Bai Zhenzhen's boxing routine demonstrated external martial techniques.

When combined, they formed a complete martial arts system—Infinite Cloud Hands.

This was an Advanced-grade martial arts technique.

However, the technique emphasized internal cultivation and the application of Mana, with the six external moves serving more as examples of how to use the technique.

The Magic Aptitude Competition had separated the cultivation diagram from the complete technique for this exam.

For most people, the presence or absence of the external moves would not affect their ability to learn the method of converting Mana into Bodyguarding Mana Current.

But for Zhang Yu, whether it was a complete technique and whether it could be recorded in the Technique Codex made a world of difference.

Zhang Yu didn't know how Bai Zhenzhen had figured out the external moves, but he knew he had to seize the opportunity. He immediately switched his Technique Codex specialization to Infinite Cloud Hands and began practicing.

Infinite Cloud Hands Level 0 (0/1, 15.4/5 Mana)

One round!

Just one round! Even if it was full of mistakes, even if it was a mess, he could master Infinite Cloud Hands completely!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end