Chapter 31: The Spirit World

The Spirit Realm.

A mental world jointly constructed by the Ten Great Sects.

As the examination officially began, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness pulled from his physical body and transported to another world.

A gentle breeze rustled his hair, and he felt the hard sensation of sitting on a chair.

When Zhang Yu opened his eyes, he found himself in an ordinary classroom.

Inside, dozens of students of similar age from various high schools sat, just like him.

This was the Spirit Realm, a mental world distinct from reality.

The Spirit Realm could be described as both a real and a fabricated world.

Real, because everything a person felt here could be indistinguishable from the real world.

Fabricated, because all the materials in this world did not exist in reality. It was like a dream, an illusion, and even everything seen, smelled, touched, and felt could be artificially controlled.

Zhang Yu knew that his physical body remained on the bed in Songyang High School, and only his consciousness had come to the Spirit Realm.

He, like the students around him, had been randomly selected from the numerous students in Songyang City taking the exam and placed in this classroom.

He glanced at the classroom environment; Zhang Yu could not distinguish it from reality at all.

He thought to himself, "I hope I don't get stuck here halfway through the exam, and we end up with all the high school students in the city trapped in a virtual reality game."

A place similar to a virtual online world; this was Zhang Yu's understanding of the Spirit Realm after learning some information about it.

Only Kunxu used Immortal Dao techniques to achieve this.

Of course, Zhang Yu understood that his knowledge of the Spirit Realm was still too limited, and his understanding was definitely one-sided. But for him now, this understanding was sufficient.

Before the students, a gaunt man wearing an owl mask stood behind the podium, looking at them.

Li Xingyu scanned the candidates before him.

In the next moment, from his perspective, each candidate's number, name, and high school appeared above their heads.

"Ah, I hope this finishes quickly so I can get off work early."

As a Soul Cultivator from Mangshan High School, Li Xingyu, having lost his physical body and remaining only as a soul, was long accustomed to daily life in the Spirit Realm.

Because of the special nature of Soul Cultivators, they were exempt from participating in this Dao Heart Examination and were instead tasked by the teachers to supervise the exam.

Thinking about the 45 hours of work he had left today, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Suddenly, while inspecting the candidates, his gaze sharpened, and he looked towards Zhang Yu's direction.

"It's him?"

Li Xingyu remembered that at Li Xuelian's art exhibition that day, this security guard had stolen the show and triggered the strange phenomena on the Celestial Martial Arts Diagram.

"From Songyang High School?"

"This is interesting. I'll record his examination process; maybe I can sell it to the principal as valuable research data."

After paying a little attention, Li Xingyu stepped forward a few paces. With each step, several identical copies of himself split off. By the time he took his tenth step, there was a Li Xingyu standing in front of each candidate.

This kind of Spirit Realm doppelganger technique was commonplace for Soul Cultivators like Li Xingyu.

Zhang Yu looked at the proctor with the owl mask in front of him, and speculations arose in his mind.

The strength of will is the manifestation of Dao Heart. To judge the level of Dao Heart, it is usually done by testing the strength of will.

Therefore, the Dao Heart Examination mainly tests will, at least in the Qi Refining stage.

But there are many ways to test the strength of each person's will. To prevent candidates from conducting targeted training in advance, causing errors in the test, the specific questions of each Dao Heart Examination are different.

According to Zhang Yu's knowledge, generally, the higher the level of the exam, the more resources are invested in the Dao Heart Examination, and the more complex the content of the examination that the candidates experience in the Spirit Realm.

After all, more complex and diverse experiences can more accurately detect the candidates' conditions.

"This is a monthly exam..." Zhang Yu thought, "According to previous experience, it shouldn't be too complicated."

At the same time, Li Xingyu reached out to him, and as he opened his palm, a device that looked like a mobile phone was revealed.

"Take it."

Simultaneously, all the Li Xingyus spoke, "Today's Dao Heart Examination content is very simple... Pain."

"In the next sixty minutes, the controllers in your hands can adjust the level of pain you experience at any time."

"During these sixty minutes, the higher the pain level and the longer it is maintained, the higher your ranking will be."

The Dao Heart Examination is graded according to ranking, so the specific score depends not only on oneself but also on the level of the other candidates.

For example, the Songyang City Dao Heart Monthly Examination is scored according to the ranking of all high school students in the city.

The real College Entrance Examination, on the other hand, is scored according to the ranking of all College Entrance Examination candidates in the entire first layer of Kunxu.

"Also, if the pain level exceeds your tolerance range, causing you to faint, then your consciousness will immediately exit the Spirit Realm, and your score will be 0."

After explaining the content of the exam, Li Xingyu pointed a finger, and a 10-second countdown appeared in the Spirit Realm's mid-air.

"Timing starts after 10 seconds."

Zhang Yu looked at the phone-like controller in his hand, and he could see on the screen that it displayed Pain Level 0, Pain Level 1, Pain Level 2, Pain Level 3...

The only two buttons on the controller represented up and down, which could be adjusted up or down from Pain Level 0, changing the pain level he felt at any time.

Just looking at it, Zhang Yu felt that his whole body was already starting to ache.

Which bastard came up with this exam question? Is the person who made this set of questions brain-dead?

Don't tell me there are levels like "Inferno," "Genital Severance," and "Lingchi" among these pain levels...

Are we Songyang City's version of Saw?

The thing Zhang Yu hated most was suffering, and what he hated even more than suffering was someone forcing him to suffer.

But ever since he came to Kunxu and embarked on the path of cultivation, he had been suffering non-stop, swallowing mouthful after mouthful.

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt disgusted, and the resistance in his heart had reached an extreme.

Noticing this, Zhang Yu's eyes narrowed, and he thought to himself, "But then again, as a high school cultivation student, studying, cultivating, and taking exams are my duties. If I suffer more now, I can earn more money in the future."

"I love studying! I love taking exams!"

After cheering himself up, Zhang Yu felt a little more energetic, and the pain controller in front of him seemed a little more pleasing to the eye.

What is will? What is thought? What is Dao Heart?

The Dao Heart teacher taught a lot, from ancient times to the present, some people worship gods, some worship demons, some worship people... establishing various different thoughts, and using different thoughts in conjunction with mental cultivation techniques to improve Dao Heart and improve will.

In Zhang Yu's understanding, will is the ability to endure hardship. The stronger the willpower, the more hardship one can endure.

Thought improves will, which is the way of thinking that tells oneself that there are benefits to suffering this time, so that one can endure even more suffering.

At this moment, Zhang Yu was using some small thoughts to comfort and encourage himself, hoping to improve his results later.

Zhang Yu had many such small thoughts, and everyone had many.

But Zhang Yu did not yet possess truly lasting and systematic thoughts, nor had the school's Dao Heart class been able to teach him.

That required each student to combine teaching materials, personal experience, and their own cultivation techniques... to finally establish.

The strength of will displayed by cultivators can be used to grade Dao Heart.

The thoughts in a cultivator's heart can be combined with mental cultivation techniques to improve the level of Dao Heart, further enhancing will.

Thought is the core, will is the manifestation, and mental cultivation technique is the method. The combination of these three is a cultivator's complete Dao Heart.

In the next moment, as the countdown in mid-air reached zero.

The many students present began to operate the controllers, some screaming, some contorting their faces, some gasping for air...

When Zhang Yu adjusted the pain level to 1, he felt like a steel needle had been inserted into his palm.

He quickly activated the Level 1 Basic Heart Refining Method taught in Dao Heart class, trying to stabilize his spirit.

Emptiness, nothingness, selflessness... The Basic Heart Refining Method is a mental cultivation technique that stabilizes emotions, maintains calmness, and gradually enters a state of meditation.

Through long-term practice, the level of Dao Heart will rise, and willpower will become stronger and stronger.

This Level 1 Basic Heart Refining Method was the mental cultivation technique that the original Zhang Yu had learned before Zhang Yu came to this world.

But because all his time had been spent on improving his mana, physical strength, the Celestial Qi Gathering Method, the Thirty-Six Styles of Body Enhancement, and freestyle combat, he had not had time to improve this mental cultivation technique.

At this moment, when Zhang Yu activated the Basic Heart Refining Method, he felt his heart gradually calm down, and his tolerance for pain seemed to be much stronger.

He immediately increased the pain level to 2.

Hiss!

Zhang Yu felt as if another steel needle had pierced through his other hand.

But he could still endure it.

So Zhang Yu increased the pain level one level at a time. When the pain level reached 37, he felt that 37 steel needles had pierced through his hands and feet.

At this moment, Zhang Yu's face was twisted, and no matter how hard he tried to operate the Basic Heart Refining Method, he could not feel the slightest bit of calmness.

"Keep calm! Keep calm! Keep calm!"

Focus the mind, silently endure, silently persevere, and let water drip through stone... The Basic Heart Refining Method must be combined with such a system of thought to maximize its effectiveness.

This is also the norm for improving Dao Heart. Only when one's own thoughts and mental cultivation technique match can the effect of improving Dao Heart be the best.

But what keep calm, focus the mind, silently endure, silently persevere, and let water drip through stone... this set simply did not match Zhang Yu's personality.

At this moment, he just wanted to immediately! Immediately! Kill the person who came up with this Dao Heart Examination.

Just as Zhang Yu felt he had reached his limit, the content of the Celestial Martial Heart Refining Art suddenly flooded his mind.

Fist, palm, leg, spear, saber, sword...

One figure after another suddenly appeared in his mind, with the killing intent to break through ten thousand troops, the fighting spirit to never regret dying, and the spirit to go forward without hesitation... These were in line with his heart.

Although Zhang Yu had not truly mastered the Celestial Martial Heart Refining Art due to insufficient Dao Heart level.

But at this moment, simply recalling the intent in this martial art suddenly stirred up a burst of momentum in Zhang Yu's heart.

He was like a small soldier following behind an unparalleled martial general. Seeing the majestic posture of the martial general in front of him, he mustered courage and boosted his spirit.

At this moment, the pain of those steel needles piercing through his body was not so unbearable.

A sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "After I climb up, I must beat the person who came up with these questions to his knees begging for mercy."