Bedroom.
After dinner, Xu Zhou returned to his bedroom, wearing a somewhat peculiar expression.
He noticed that Li Ruoxi seemed a bit strange today, occasionally looking at him with an expression that seemed to carry a trace of... pity?
Why show such an expression for no reason?
This left Xu Zhou a bit puzzled.
He didn't bother thinking about it, so he placed today's food in front of the mutated chicken with shark teeth.
Three large bowls of food, and one bowl was full of lean meat.
Xu Zhou's eyes showed a hint of expectation; he had been preparing for tonight's advancement for several days.
"Eat up," Xu Zhou muttered to himself as he controlled the mutated chicken to start eating.
"Chomp chomp!"
The mutated chicken opened its mouth full of shark teeth and vigorously devoured the food. It was eating happily, with even the split crest on its head standing erect.
Currently, it weighed 34.5 kilograms, which was a full twenty kilograms heavier than ten days ago.
However, its size hadn't changed much compared to ten days ago, still less than a meter tall.
Xu Zhou speculated that this was probably due to changes in the mutated chicken's constitution, resulting in weight gain without much change in size.
Five minutes later.
The mutated chicken had finished all three large bowls of food.
"Gurgle gurgle~"
A grinding sound emanated from its belly, quickly digesting the food and turning it into nutrients for growth.
Xu Zhou was intensely watching the panel, anticipating the mutated chicken's upgrade.
He saw the rank of the mutated shark-toothed chicken on the panel constantly flashing, and after a moment, the panel suddenly turned white.
Rank: Level 0 Stage 2 (0%)
Net Weight: 39.5 kilograms
At the same time, the mutated chicken suddenly began to crow: "Cluck cluck~!"
It seemed to be celebrating its successful promotion to Level 2!
"Buzz!"
Within Xu Zhou's body, an incredibly vast warm current surged forth like a flood, washing over his entire body's meridians.
This was something Xu Zhou had experienced many times before.
But this time, it seemed different.
A clear stream unexpectedly appeared in his mind, refreshingly cool, invigorating his spirit greatly.
"Is this...?" Xu Zhou had a look of doubt on his face.
The clear stream seemed to be nourishing his mind, making his five senses much sharper.
His eyesight became clearer, smell more acute, and hearing underwent a significant change.
He could even hear the sound of breathing coming from Li Ruoxi's room next door while sitting in his own room.
[Qi-Blood +0.5 Cal]
[Spirit +1 Her]
Host: Xu Zhou
Qi-Blood: 74 Cal
Spirit: 2 Her
"The spirit... increased by 1 Hertz?" Xu Zhou looked astonished.
Previously, when the avatar fed back to the main body, only the Qi-Blood would increase, never the spirit.
But this time, his spirit had changed for the first time.
Immediately, Xu Zhou showed a look of delight.
Before, he didn't know what this spirit was for, but now he finally understood.
The higher the spirit, the sharper his five senses and the more focused his attention!
For example, by concentrating his attention now, he could easily hear the movements in Li Ruoxi's room.
These were just the benefits he discovered so far; whether there were other advantages, he didn't yet know.
"This is great, the enhancement this time is even greater than I imagined." Xu Zhou excitedly clenched his fists.
The 0.5 Cal increase in Qi-Blood was already a significant boost, equivalent to half a month's worth of results from others' cultivation.
And the increase in spirit was even more of a pleasant surprise.
With such an improvement, he felt even more confident about the upcoming challenge for the top 100 rankings.
...
The next day, after breakfast, Xu Zhou headed off to school as usual.
Two hundred meters behind Xu Zhou, Li Ruoxi followed step by step, as usual.
But this time, Li Ruoxi did not have her usual cool expression; her slender eyebrows were tightly knitted.
"A beast talent, huh..." Li Ruoxi's thoughts were inexplicable.
Yesterday, she accidentally learned something from the vice principal.
Xu Zhou's S-level talent was a beast talent, transforming into a dragon!
The so-called Undying Dragon Body was completely fabricated; such a talent did not exist in the world.
Upon learning this, Li Ruoxi's feelings were mixed.
Her brother might never catch up to her.
"Awakening a beast talent, one cannot continue cultivating." Li Ruoxi's eyelids drooped slightly.
In her view, Xu Zhou had been deceived by everyone; even his own teachers were deceiving him. If he knew, he probably wouldn't be able to bear the blow.
So, Li Ruoxi didn't tell Xu Zhou.
But she still had her eyebrows furrowed.
Since she knew about it, what about others? If others from the school found out, it might cause an irreparable wave.
This was not only Xu Zhou's personal matter but also concerned the reputation of the entire school. If something went wrong, it would lead to a massive storm.
Thinking of this, a subtle change appeared on Li Ruoxi's usually cool face.
...
Xu Zhou was walking down the road, a path he had walked many times, but today he noticed something was odd.
Someone was tailing him.
In the past, Xu Zhou would have never noticed, but now, with his exceptionally keen senses, he realized someone was following him, matching his pace.
As he turned a corner, Xu Zhou glanced back.
The next second, his heart jumped.
"Sister?"
Xu Zhou turned back, his face weird—was Li Ruoxi following him?
But how was that possible? Li Ruoxi was normally so aloof; how could she do something like this?
"Maybe it's just a coincidence." Xu Zhou thought to himself.
He didn't think much about it; after all, he and Li Ruoxi were heading the same way, so meeting by chance was normal.
...
Xu Zhou was still on his way to school.
But over at school, a stir was arising.
First-year Class 1's classroom.
A boy with a buzz cut, dressed in a cyber-styled outfit, was whispering to a group of classmates.
"Big news, guess what I heard from my brother?"
"The S-level talent from Class 8 is one that's extremely hard to increase Qi-Blood!"
"Apparently, this talent requires an immense amount of resources for cultivation, but the Qi-Blood increase is incredibly slow."
"In fact, his cultivation speed is even slower than ours with C-level talents!"
After the boy with the buzz cut finished speaking, the surrounding classmates gasped.
"Brother Hao, are you serious?"
"But didn't Teacher Cao Yong say that guy's talent is unmatched at the same rank?"
The buzz-cut boy, Huang Hao, said solemnly, "It's true that his talent is unmatched at the same rank, but his cultivation speed is indeed very slow! Even if he's unmatched, what use is it if he can't grow?"
"If you don't believe me, you can search for the 'Transformation Dragon' talent. It's indeed an S-level talent, but it's a beast talent, completely unsuitable for humans!"
Hearing this, everyone took out their phones to search.
Soon after, the classmates exclaimed.
"It's actually true!"
"A beast talent? It means a human can't cultivate this talent? Isn't it a useless talent?"
"Brother Hao, are you sure? Teacher Cao Yong clearly said it was the Undying Dragon Body?"
Quickly, someone raised a doubt, questioning how Teacher Cao Yong could have spoken falsely in front of the whole school.
Huang Hao said seriously, "Why would I lie? I'm in the top 100 rankings for first-years; I swear on my name that this is all true!"
"Moreover, these words were told to me by my brother."
"My brother is ranked in the top ten among the third-year top 100 rankings, and he heard this secret from his teacher—how could it be false?"
"As for why Teacher Cao Yong said that, it's probably to save the school's face. The Undying Dragon Body might just be a non-existent talent!"
As his words fell, everyone was shaken.
Was the Undying Dragon Body really false, according to this?
Had Class 8's homeroom teacher Cao Yong told a colossal lie before everyone?
A classmate couldn't help but say, "Oh my, Teacher Cao was too bold, deceiving so many people!"
Huang Hao's face changed; that kind of talk couldn't be spread!
He quickly lowered his voice, "I'm only telling you guys this; don't spread it around!"
"We know! Our lips are sealed!"
"Yeah, yeah, rest assured Brother Hao, we won't spread it."
The classmates all promised.
Seeing this, Huang Hao felt relieved. He was only daring enough to say this in Class 1; if it reached the ears of Class 8's teacher, he would be in deep trouble.
However, what Huang Hao didn't expect was that the news quickly spread around.
...
"Did you hear? Xu Zhou from Class 8 has a very slow cultivation speed!"
"Breaking news, the Undying Dragon Body is false!"
"Teacher Cao Yong fabricated the Undying Dragon Body to save the school's face; actually, the person from Class 8 awakened the Transformation Dragon, a beast talent that couldn't be cultivated."
"The news is guaranteed true, from a student in Class 1 whose brother is in the top ten of the third-year top 100 rankings and knows many secret matters."
"Have you heard? Cao Yong has deceived everyone..."
"Did you hear? Cao Yong is hiding the truth; the Undying Dragon Body is a useless body that can't be cultivated!"
"..."
At this moment, rumors flew everywhere.
One spread to ten, ten spread to a hundred; soon, the entire campus was buzzing with it.
And as the news spread, the story changed.
From slow cultivation to impossible cultivation.
From Teacher Cao Yong saving face to deceiving everyone.
In no time, Linjiang First High School was swirling with rumors.
And naturally, Xu Zhou knew nothing about this.
At eight o'clock sharp, he stepped into the campus.