Chapter 168: Zhang Yu's Agony

According to the Righteous Gods’ explanation and standards, a so-called ten-star difficulty Technique is one that would take an average high schooler three full years to master.

A nine-star Technique takes two years, eight stars takes one year, and seven stars… about six months.

Hearing this, Dai Xingzhi thought to himself, “Given that scale, if I need to master it within two hours, I’m confident I could handle a five-star difficulty. With six stars, there’s a chance of failure. As for seven stars and up… other than Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao, I doubt anyone here would dare choose those.”

In Dai Xingzhi’s eyes, it just wasn’t worth the risk of getting a zero for failing to complete the cultivation, all for the sake of a few extra points.

…

On the other side, Zhang Yu wasn’t paying much attention to the difficulty explanations. He was staring at the list of Techniques appearing on the light screen, a grin tugging at his lips.

“Heaven-Demon Parasitic Technique, Buzhou Mountain-Moving Scripture, Heart Elemental Handprint…”

Even though the Techniques provided by the Righteous Gods for this exam definitely didn’t include every Qi Refinement-level Technique in Kunxu, it was still dazzling enough for Zhang Yu.

“So many Techniques? Can I really choose from all of them?”

Zhang Yu’s eyes were filled with excitement. With his immense potential and the support of the Feathered Tome, mastering any Technique was a breeze.

Meanwhile, the Righteous Gods continued to explain the rules. Deng Bingding spoke:

“…Naturally, Techniques of different difficulty levels carry different scoring coefficients.”

“Your score in this round will be calculated based on both the difficulty coefficient and the time you take to complete the Technique.”

“All right. You now have ten minutes to choose your Technique.”

“Once chosen, your selection cannot be changed.”

“If you don’t complete your selection within ten minutes, it will be considered a forfeit. This round will be scored as zero.”

“As for the weapons, materials, medicines, and other resources needed for each Technique, they’ll be provided on-site after you’ve made your selection.”

“Finally, do not choose a Technique you’ve already learned. Doing so will be treated as cheating.”

With the final rules announced, the ten-minute countdown began. Students began operating the light screens in front of them, browsing through the available Techniques.

All across the room, students swiped and tapped at the holographic menus. Eyes darted between entries, faces flashing with indecision.

Zhang Yu scrolled through the list while thinking, “If I want a high score, I should pick the most difficult Technique.”

Each Technique had been rated by the Righteous Gods with a star-based difficulty level.

Zhang Yu filtered for ten-star difficulty and saw: Myriad Phantasms Palm, Blood-Scattering Demon-Slaying Grand Technique, Heaven-Demon Disintegration Grand Technique, Endless Sword Scripture, and Thousand-Illusion Mind Scripture…

“Ten-star difficulty only means these Techniques are the hardest to master—not necessarily the strongest or the most suitable for me.”

He recalled the structure of the Foundation License exam and the purpose of today’s test.

“There are three rounds to the Foundation License exam. The one I’m taking today is the first round in August.”

“Next will be round two in October, and round three in January.”

“For today’s exam, as long as my total score in Mana, Body, and Martial Arts ranks in the top twenty, I won’t be eliminated—I’ll qualify for the second round.”

Zhang Yu mentally tallied his standings in the Mana and Body rounds. As long as he also placed in the top twenty for the third round, he’d be safe.

“So… instead of choosing the hardest Technique to maximize my score…”

He thought, “Maybe I should use this opportunity to train in a powerful Technique that suits me best—for free.”

“That way, I’ll still pass today’s exam…”

“And it’ll help me much more in the long run.”

His gaze swept across the Techniques with price tags in the hundreds of thousands—even millions. He could practically feel himself drooling.

Even among expert-grade Techniques, there were vast differences in quality. You could see it in their prices.

Those worth seven, eight hundred thousand—or over a million—were Techniques Zhang Yu usually couldn’t even dream of affording.

With that kind of money, he’d sooner buy pills, injections, rent a Spirit Root, or open a portal to the Spiritual Realm…

But now he had the chance to train in one of these incredibly expensive Techniques for free.

With that thought, Zhang Yu made up his mind. “I’ll pick the most suitable—and strongest—Technique for me.”

Suitability was easy to determine.

“Ever since my physical strength broke past level 8, Crimson Marrow Primordial Energy has started to lose effectiveness.”

So he filtered the list to Body Refining Techniques, post–Qi Refinement stage only.

But which one of these was the strongest?

Zhang Yu sorted by price.

“Kunxu is full of traps—scams and exploitative schemes are everywhere.”

“But one thing’s always true: no company here would slap a low price on a Technique they consider powerful.”

“There’s no such thing as good and cheap.”

“In fact, the most expensive Techniques are always the ones with real power.”

The sorted list revealed the top three Body Refining Techniques:

Spring-Autumn Endless Zen – 1.55 million

Titanium Body Refinement Secrets – 1.54 million

Great Heavenly Dragon Divine Force – 1.52 million

Though all three were rated eight-star difficulty—not the maximum—they were exactly what Zhang Yu needed.

And after reading their descriptions, Zhang Yu felt a deep pang of pain.

“I actually have to give up two of these?”

He hesitated fiercely.

Spring-Autumn Endless Zen: “Refines the body while reshaping tendons and washing marrow. Strengthens internal organs, reshapes constitution, expels pill and toxin residues from the body, and boosts pill effectiveness…”

“With this, I could take pills like crazy. It’s a true Body Refining Holy Technique—one that enhances one’s potential for the Immortal Path.”

But Titanium Body Refinement Secrets was equally tempting:

“A steel mill worker, after falling into a molten furnace, created this Technique in a desperate struggle to survive.”

“Allows fusion of various alloys into the body, integrating with flesh, bones, even internal organs. Greatly enhances impact resistance and physical durability.”

“The higher the quality of alloy used, the stronger the body becomes. The company even guarantees annual material upgrades—even at level 10, you’ll keep getting stronger.”

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes at the dramatic steelworker tale. Clearly marketing fluff.

More likely, it was created in a lab—probably after who knows how many people were incinerated or crushed.

But the Technique’s strength was undeniable.

Then there was the Great Heavenly Dragon Divine Force.

“Refines dragon blood into a half-dragon physique. Dramatically increases muscular power, physical strength, as well as recovery, stamina, resilience to medicine, metabolism, digestion…”

“If you keep refining dragon blood daily, you may even extend lifespan, gain latent potential, and develop certain draconic abilities.”

“Though… side effects include personality shifts due to dragon traits. Like how ‘dragon nature is lustful’—your aesthetic tastes may change, becoming more… expansive.”

“Best paired with sterilization surgery for optimal results.”

That little side effect didn’t even faze Zhang Yu anymore.

If he could cultivate such a powerful Technique for free, a minor surgery was a small price to pay.

As the ten-minute selection window ticked down, Zhang Yu stared at the three Techniques, overwhelmed with indecision.

“I want them all…”

“Ugh, this is torture.”

…

By contrast, Ye Lingxiao was quick and decisive.

As an heir of the Ye Clan of Xiandu and bearer of a perfect bloodline, Ye Lingxiao possessed a highly developed nervous system, giving him precise control over muscles, organs, even Mana.

Ever since entering high school, this talent had exploded—he could learn any Technique with just a glance.

In fact, the number of Techniques he’d cultivated had long surpassed what most students could even imagine. His classmates, teachers, even his private instructors had no idea how many he’d mastered.

At this point, many of the Techniques on the list were ones he’d already learned.

The rest he at least recognized—he knew their general nature.

But he wouldn’t risk choosing one he’d already trained in.

Partly because he had no interest in cheating. Partly because every Technique he practiced was a fully licensed, premium version.

As a faithful user of official licenses, the Righteous Gods could easily verify which Techniques he’d bought.

So Ye Lingxiao filtered for ten-star difficulty, then casually picked one he hadn’t tried and didn’t mind.

“Let’s go with Endless Sword Scripture.”

…

Yun Jing kept things even simpler. Unlike Ye Lingxiao, he hadn’t cultivated a wide range of Techniques.

He sorted the list by difficulty and picked the top one—Myriad Phantasms Palm.

Yu Xinghan took a little more time.

Every Technique he learned during Qi Refinement was already planned out by Xinghuo Zhenren.

Based on his previous results, he wasn’t under much pressure for this round. No need to go for the hardest option.

“No need to deviate from Master’s plan—it’d only waste my energy.”

After all, Xinghuo Zhenren’s schedule left Yu Xinghan almost no free time for extra training.

“Better stick to what’s already in the plan.”

“And if Li Xuelian wires me money for new Techniques later…”

Thinking of getting a free Technique today, and charging Li Xuelian later anyway, made him giddy.

“So of course I should pick the priciest one on the list.”

His eyes landed on Heavenly Firmament Qi Technique—seven-star difficulty, priced at 900,000.

“Even for me, two hours probably isn’t enough to master this.”

“And…”

The Technique’s description featured the line: “To master this, one must reverse life with a blade.”

Yu Xinghan shuddered.

He’d already asked the Righteous Gods—Heavenly Firmament Qi Technique required bodily integrity. So if he chose it, the examiners would call on the Ministry of Health Deity to reverse the effects of his sterilization surgery.

“So cultivating this Technique means facing Dao Heart disturbances, hormone shifts, and all kinds of changes that would disrupt my cultivation.”

To someone like Yu Xinghan—dead set on pursuing the Immortal Path with single-minded intensity—this was poison.

“No wonder Master scheduled this for my second or even third year of high school.”

“So the price of this Technique… is that high?”

He gritted his teeth. “But if I don’t have the courage to go all in for 900,000 now, how can I expect to climb the Immortal Path later?”

“I’m doing it!”

…

Most of the other students—like Dai Xingzhi and Meng Tao from Immortal Cloud High—chose five- or six-star difficulty Techniques.

It was the safer option. If the Technique was too hard and they failed to master it within two hours, they’d score zero.