Chapter 53: Heavenly Martial Heart Refining

The moment Zhang Yu finished practicing the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra, countless scenes of his cultivation flashed through his mind, each one a comprehension of the nine martial arts, a feeling of their intent, a pondering of their essence.

In the next instant, nine different intents simultaneously surged within his mind.

The killing intent of shattering armies, the unyielding will of facing death, the indomitable spirit of charging forward... These intents, as if forged a thousand times, finally converged into a single figure.

This was the Martial Dao Intent, forged in the sea of consciousness, after Zhang Yu completed the first level of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra.

The silhouette resembled Zhang Yu, but its face was blurred, radiating an aura of defying heaven and earth.

"Heavenly Martial Intent..."

With a thought from Zhang Yu, the Heavenly Martial Intent within his sea of consciousness stirred, and under his guidance, practiced the nine martial arts of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra, move by move.

As the Heavenly Martial Intent activated, a surge of unprecedented momentum erupted from Zhang Yu's body.

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt as if he had become a god of war, defying heaven and earth, crushing everything before him with sheer violence.

Bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes, and his Qi and mana began to accelerate slightly.

Zhang Yu could feel his physical state adjusting towards a direction increasingly suited for battle.

"Haa..."

He exhaled, temporarily halting the circulation of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra, and thought to himself, "This Heavenly Martial Intent is so berserk? The matching mindset should be that of a battle maniac, right?"

"That Xinghuo Zhenren... an old geezer kicked out from a major sect, actually created such a Martial Dao mental cultivation method?"

"Damn... was he kicked out for beating up his superiors or something?"

The feeling it gave Zhang Yu was like discovering that an oily middle-aged man fired from the company was secretly a battle-crazed maniac?

"That shouldn't be the case, logically speaking."

After all, in Kunxu City, fighting and killing bystanders costs money, destroying buildings costs even more, the greater the destruction, the easier it is to lose money.

So, fight in the uninhabited wilderness? In Zhang Yu's memory, he didn't know of any land not owned by corporations, at least not around Songyang City.

If a strong cultivator wanted to fight frequently, defeating an opponent required paying to prevent the constables from arriving, and failing to defeat an opponent required paying even more to have the constables arrive faster. Healing injuries costs money, and even without injuries, one had to buy insurance just in case. And if one had insurance, wouldn't various magical artifacts and bone charms also need annual insurance...?

"The better you are at fighting, the more money you spend, the poorer you become, and the less you can fight."

"So, the better you are at fighting, the less you can fight."

"Xinghuo Zhenren was probably kicked out because the old geezer was too combative."

Zhang Yu sighed, "The path to immortality isn't just about fighting."

But dwelling on it now was pointless. Next, Zhang Yu continued to cultivate this technique, intending to push the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra to level 2.

The cultivation of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra required synchronizing the external body and the internal Heavenly Martial Intent, jointly executing the nine martial arts of the Sutra.

Simply circulating the technique within the sea of consciousness using the Martial Dao Intent would only activate the effects of the technique.

As the Heavenly Martial Intent acted again, Zhang Yu deeply felt the effects of this mental cultivation method.

Only one mental cultivation method could be circulated at any given time.

So at this moment, Zhang Yu did not have the effects of the Wild Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Sutra, only the effects of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra.

Originally, without the Wild Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Sutra, Zhang Yu's ability to endure hardship should have severely declined.

But under the state of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra, at this moment, he only felt his fighting spirit soaring, fearing nothing, and nothing could make him retreat.

Whether it was a powerful enemy or any hardship, he'd just smash it with a punch!

Even the hardship of cultivation was suppressed by this fighting spirit, allowing Zhang Yu to feel equally motivated even without the Wild Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Sutra.

"So invigorating! So passionate!"

Feeling the slightly accelerated Qi and blood throughout his body, Zhang Yu felt that the Heavenly Martial Intent not only had an enhancement effect on battle, but could also promote his cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, more than two hours passed, and Zhang Yu, hot and bothered, with surging Qi and blood, had practiced this martial art a full ten times.

Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra Level 1 (0/10) → Level 2 (0/20)

In an instant, Zhang Yu felt his thoughts traverse day after day, deeply immersed in the intent of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra with each cultivation.

At the same time, the figure formed by the Heavenly Martial Intent in the sea of consciousness became clearer, its face faintly revealing a bit of Zhang Yu's outline.

In the blink of an eye, a night passed, and Zhang Yu, with intermittent rest, finally pushed the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra to Level 3 (12/30).

Then, he received a call from Wang Hai, learning that he had failed to be selected for the school's sports competition team due to the student council's interference.

"A deliberate show of force?" Zhang Yu thought to himself, "If I refuse to sign again this time, will they use even more methods to deal with me?"

Soon after, he received another invitation from the student council to discuss the contract.

…

Songyang High School.

Noon.

Student Council Office.

With a cold snort, the temperature in the entire office seemed to drop sharply, causing the burly Lan Ling to shiver uncontrollably.

But in the next moment, the temperature returned to normal, as if everything just now was an illusion.

But Lan Ling understood that it was not an illusion. Zhou Chechen's mood had just turned sour.

Because just minutes before, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had once again rejected the student council's signing invitation, citing the reason that the top three prestigious universities could offer higher prices.

Lan Ling slowly put down the dumbbells in his hand, looked at the vice president Zhou Chechen on the sofa, and asked, "President, what should we do?"

Zhou Chechen murmured, "Have I not given them enough face?"

"Have I not offered them the best conditions I can offer?"

"I just don't understand, how can they refuse such a win-win situation for both them and the school?"

Lan Ling said, "Perhaps the fourth-place ranking in the Mana Competition has given Zhang Yu some undue ambition, leading Bai Zhenzhen to want to raise the price as well."

Zhou Chechen sighed, "Does he think that if we don't let them go, the top three prestigious universities can really sign them? And they still want to raise the price... don't they think about whether they're worth that price?"

"These poor ghosts, if you're too harsh on them, they'll resent you in their hearts and won't work hard."

"If you give them a little face, they'll easily take an inch after giving them a foot, thinking about things they shouldn't, and ultimately making things very difficult."

Saying that, he waved his hand helplessly, "Do whatever you want regarding the specifics."

"In short, within seven days, I want to see the signed contracts of both of them."

…

Classroom of the First Year Demonstration Class.

Zhang Yu was maintaining the mental cultivation method of the Wild Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Sutra while continuing to study.

Since cultivating the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra, Zhang Yu began to alternate between the two mental cultivation methods.

When cultivating this Martial Dao technique, while circulating the external martial arts moves, he naturally maintained the state of the Heavenly Martial Tempering Heart Sutra.

At other times when he couldn't cultivate this Martial Dao technique, such as during rest or in class, he maintained the state of the Wild Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Sutra.

In this process, Zhang Yu felt a kind of ideological conflict, which in turn affected the efficiency of the two mental cultivation methods.

"One wants to fight, fight, fight, to crush everything. The other wants to be hardworking and accumulate silently."

"Switching between these two... sigh."

He couldn't help but scratch his head, and from the ideological conflict between these two mental cultivation methods, he thought of the signing choices before him.

"Thoughts can still be chosen, but in reality, there doesn't seem to be a fight, fight, fight option..."

Just then, his phone vibrated.

Zhang Yu discovered it was a message from the mana class teacher, Teacher Yan.

"Zhang Yu, did you offend the student council? The money for tutoring is being refunded to you, and you can't participate in the upcoming mana competition for now."

"Quickly think of a way to repair your relationship with the student council."

Seeing this message, Zhang Yu's gaze sharpened, knowing that this was the student council applying pressure again.

Suddenly, Bai Zhenzhen's voice sounded beside him, "I was kicked out by Old Yan, were you also kicked out of the mana competition team?"

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Bai Zhenzhen said angrily, "These student council bastards are probably going to keep messing with us."

"Can you still hold on?"

Zhang Yu nodded, "I can hold on, but when will this holding on end?"

Bai Zhenzhen said, "Hold on until our strength is strong enough, hold on until we master the methods to get into top universities."

"And in this process, the pressure from the student council will inevitably increase."

"That's how these rich people are, once their interests are affected... no, even if it just makes them earn less money, they will immediately tear off their usual hypocritical masks and start using all means to deal with you."

Bai Zhenzhen held her head, and said with a bitter face, "We will be constantly suppressed, constantly isolated."

"They may seize the opportunity in practical combat classes to let teachers or upperclassmen beat us up, use the opportunity in Dao Heart classes to torture us in the spirit world, bribe teachers to give us low grades, erase our various benefits and opportunities..."

"Those lackeys under them will also jump out one by one and use some despicable tricks, such as smearing glue on chairs, pouring cold water in the toilets, stealing homework and other petty things."

"In short, they will use all available means to mess with us."

Her eyes seemed to already see an incomparably dark high school experience.

"We will gradually become hated by everyone in the school, fall to the bottom of the food chain, be repeatedly humiliated by those rich people, and gradually become someone that no one wants to eat with."

She grabbed her head violently, "Ugh, damn it."

"This situation will not improve in the slightest, but will instead intensify until graduation from high school, getting into university... or we kneel and surrender, and sign a contract of indenture with them."

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes, "How do you know so much?"

Bai Zhenzhen: "A long time ago, a senior told me before she committed suicide."

Saying that, she turned to look at Zhang Yu, "If you can't hold on, you can sign a contract earlier while you can still sell for a good price."

Zhang Yu curled his lips, "I won't sign."

"I want to take the Top Ten Universities Examination, I won't sign even if you beat me to death."

Looking at Zhang Yu's determined appearance, Bai Zhenzhen smiled, "Then let's hold on together."

"But don't worry, sitting still and waiting for death is not my style."

"I'm about to find that boss of the Poor Ghost Alliance, I must find a way to get into university without signing a contract from him."