Chapter 3: Physical Education
Without much time to indulge in sentimentality, Zhang Yu had barely returned to the classroom when the math teacher, wearing black-rimmed glasses, walked in with a stack of test papers.
"Today, we'll go over the test paper from last time."
"Pass out the papers."
"I've told you so many times. If you have any questions, come and ask me. Yesterday, I sat in the office for three hours, and not a single one of you came to ask me anything..."
Shortly after the math papers were distributed, the tall and burly physical education teacher arrived in the classroom and said to the math teacher, "You're sick."
After sending away the "sick" math teacher, Teacher Wang Hai, the physical education teacher, looked at the numerous students and said, "This class has been changed to a physical education class."
"However, don't forget to review math on your own. General knowledge courses account for fifty points in the college entrance examination. A single point difference in the college entrance examination can mean a huge gap between you and others."
"Speaking of general knowledge courses, I'd like to inform you that I've already talked to your Chinese teacher, and the next Chinese class has also been changed to a physical education class. With the original physical education class, today's entire morning will be my physical education class."
The students followed Teacher Wang Hai to the indoor practice ground and saw that it was as huge as a square, filled with various kinds of exercise equipment.
Wang Hai said, "The Qi Refinement Realm is the first realm in the immortal dao path. It's crucial to lay a solid foundation. How solid the foundation you build in Grade 10 will determine how high you can reach in Grades 11 and 12..."
As he felt these familiar scenes, many detailed memories surged into Zhang Yu's mind.
After being summarized and integrated by the top ten sects, the immortal dao cultivation methods now had a systematic division of realms and strength levels, covering all aspects of immortal dao techniques, vast and profound.
The most well-known were the ten major realms of the immortal dao.
The key indicators determining which immortal dao realm a person could reach were the Dao Heart level and the internal force level.
For high school students, only when the Dao Heart crosses the 10-level threshold and the internal force exceeds 60 points can one break through from the Qi Refinement Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The current high school physical education class was designed to temper the body and strengthen the will.
After all, a strong body can not only increase the efficiency of internal force improvement but also greatly assist in cultivating the strong will required for the Dao Heart level and enhance the combat ability in the Qi Refinement Realm.
If the Dao Heart and internal force are the foundation of the immortal dao, then the physical strength trained in physical education classes is the foundation of the foundation.
At the same time, waves of light swept across the bodies of the students present, displaying their physical strength data on a large screen nearby, ranked from highest to lowest.
1st place: Qian Shen, physical strength level 1.15
2nd place: Bai Zhenzhen, physical strength level 1.13
3rd place: He Dayou, physical strength level 1.12
...
It wasn't until Zhang Yu reached the 19th place that he found his own score.
19th place: Zhang Yu, physical strength level 0.82
With the continuous development of immortal dao techniques in Kunxu, various data and indicators had become increasingly precise.
For example, physical strength was not only quantified but also retested in every physical education class.
This indicator, like the Dao Heart, could reach a maximum of 10 levels in the Qi Refinement Realm.
Although physical strength was not a key indicator for breaking through immortal dao realms, it was related to the efficiency and combat power of cultivators and was an important foundation of the immortal dao, accounting for 150 points out of the 650 points in immortal dao courses.
"Has my physical strength ranking dropped to 19th?" Zhang Yu thought, looking at his score. He remembered how his progress in physical strength had been surpassed by those around him during this period.
Meanwhile, the students around him took out syringes and injected various enhancing supplements into their arms.
These supplements from different brands, once injected into the body, not only increased the strength of muscles and bones but also enhanced the exercise efficiency by several times to more than ten times, making them essential medications for Grade 10 students.
Here, you could skip a day of exercise, but not a day of injections. Excellent students often had eight or more injections a day.
Zhang Yu saw Bai Zhenzhen not far away injecting a total of nine shots into her buttocks, arms, and thighs in one go.
However, compared to many of the burly guys around her, Bai Zhenzhen looked much smaller. Zhang Yu remembered that this was because their physical training directions were different, resulting in different appearances.
Seeing Zhang Yu still hadn't injected any supplements, Teacher Wang Hai frowned and walked over. "Zhang Yu, how many days has it been since you last injected a functional enhancer?"
Zhang Yu didn't dare say he was out of money. He knew that, just like having poor grades, being short of money was also embarrassing in Songyang High School. He would only dare mention it when talking to close friends like Bai Zhenzhen.
Moreover, the fragmented memories in his head told him that the original body had collapsed several times due to excessive medication, and his life was beginning to be in danger.
So Zhang Yu evasively replied, "I wanted to try not taking the medicine..."
Upon hearing this, Wang Hai frowned even more tightly and thundered, "Did you watch those online influencers who can't stand the bitterness of taking medicine and promote natural body refining? That's all a scam. How can you keep up without taking medicine?
"Look how many places you've dropped. If this continues, you'll be kicked out of the demonstration class in the next monthly exam."
He said with a disappointed look, "Did I tell you to take medicine for me? I won't gain any weight if you do."
Pointing at a student in the distance, he continued, "Look at Qian Shen. He takes 12 injections of Dragon Elephant Preparation daily to grow muscles and bones, 2 injections of painkillers to relieve the pain of his body tearing and growing, and 2 injections of Tao Te Li to speed up metabolism and the absorption of immortal dao elements in food. He eats fifteen catties a day to gain weight..."
"In just three months, his physical strength has skyrocketed from 0.13 to the current 1.15 level, becoming the strongest in Grade 10, equivalent to twenty years of your natural body refining."
As Wang Hai spoke, Zhang Yu recalled how Qian Shen had transformed from a skinny guy less than 1.7 meters tall three months ago into a little giant over two meters tall and weighing over 300 catties.
Wang Hai then pointed at another student and said, "And look at Zhao Tianxing, who used to be inferior to you. The day before yesterday, his physical strength also broke through 1.00 level. Now his blood is like lead and mercury, his arteries are arteriosclerotic, and his heart has tripled in size..."
After casually pointing at several students, Wang Hai sighed, "Zhang Yu, I'm telling you all this because I saw that your physical strength used to rank among the top ten, and you have good talent and strong drug tolerance."
Seeing Wang Hai's earnestness, Zhang Yu also felt his concern. However, neither his lack of money nor his fear of death made him willing to take the medicine now.
Just as he was thinking about how to explain to Wang Hai, he saw Wang Hai take out a box of medicine from a bag beside him. "As the saying goes, three parts training, seven parts diet, and ninety parts depend on how you inject medicine."
"This is the Divine Elephant Power functional enhancer newly launched by the Vajra Sect. With the guarantee of quality from a major sect, one injection is equivalent to ten."
"To be honest with you, this stuff was originally still in the laboratory. I got it from a good buddy and am selling it to you at a discount because I see you have good talent. Ten bottles for 8,800..."
Seeing Wang Hai promoting the medicine to him, Zhang Yu now fully remembered that more than half of the body-strengthening supplements the students in the class took were bought from Wang Hai.
Such situations were normal in Songyang High School. After all, medicine and physical training went hand in hand. Every physical education teacher was not only an excellent body-refining expert but also an excellent medicine salesman, often having multiple pharmaceutical channels behind them.
But at this moment, Zhang Yu couldn't afford these medicines, and his body couldn't bear the load of the medicine. He could only think of ways to stall.
Seeing Zhang Yu stalling and constantly making excuses, Wang Hai snorted coldly, put the medicine back, and said disappointedly, "Then take care of yourself."
Watching the physical education teacher turn around, start guiding and promoting to other students, Zhang Yu sighed helplessly and thought to himself, "This lousy place. Is it this hard to have a physical education class?"
Just then, a young boy walked over and asked beside Zhang Yu, "Did Wang Hai try to sell you something again?"
The student speaking looked handsome and clean-cut, like a next-door neighbor boy.
Zhang Yu's mind also surfaced memories related to this person.
"He's... Zhou Tianyi."
Zhou Tianyi was Zhang Yu's dining and study partner on the first day of school.
The two had eaten together for three months and studied together for three months, forming a fragile friendship during this process.
However, as the memories surfaced, the first thing that came to Zhang Yu's mind was Zhou Tianyi's grade ranking.
"Grade ranking 25. Qualified to sit at the same table with me for meals... Huh? Why do I also have this kind of grade discrimination?"
Zhang Yu felt that as his memories continued to integrate, he seemed to be increasingly influenced and becoming more and more focused on the grade rankings in this school.
Hearing Zhou Tianyi's question, he nodded and said, "Yeah, he wanted to sell Divine Elephant Power to me."
"You didn't buy it again?" Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Zhou Tianyi clicked his tongue and said, "Aren't you afraid that Old Wang will mess with you?"
"Mess with me?" Zhang Yu said, "It's just that I didn't buy the medicine. It shouldn't be that serious."
Zhou Tianyi shook his head repeatedly and said, "Sigh, do you want to hear a gossip about Wang Hai?"
"Forget it. I'm not into gossip."
Zhang Yu turned and walked towards the exercise equipment beside him, planning to familiarize himself with his body and the content of the physical education course.
Zhou Tianyi continued, "A teacher complained that Wang Hai was having sex in the office next door and shattered the ceiling when he ejaculated."
Zhang Yu stopped in his tracks. He wasn't a gossip person, but such a ridiculous piece of gossip... he had to see what was going on.
Zhou Tianyi said, "Later, Wang Hai explained that he didn't do it and that the banging sound was him disciplining disobedient students."
"Later, I asked students from the previous two grades and found out that Wang Hai had long had a habit of corporal punishing underachieving students."
"Especially those whose grades dropped and didn't buy his medicine would be bullied by him."
"I heard that a few years ago, a student even jumped off a building because of him."
Hearing the words "jumped off a building," Zhang Yu's eyes suddenly focused. "Wang Hai got away with this?"
Zhou Tianyi said indifferently, "Wang Hai's teaching results have always been excellent. He's the ace physical education teacher in Songyang High School and has taught three students whose physical strength ranked first in the city during the college entrance examination. Some people say he has channels to some drugs still in the laboratory of major sects."
"Even if the school really doesn't want to keep him, most students and parents wouldn't agree. They all rely on Wang Hai to sell medicine to help them improve their physical strength."
Looking at Zhang Yu, he warned, "If you keep not buying medicine and your grades don't improve, you might also get messed with by him."
Seeing Zhang Yu frown, Zhou Tianyi asked curiously, "I'm saying... You used to inject quite a lot of needles too. Why did you suddenly stop buying? Aren't you out of money? Do you need me to lend you some?"
Feeling the sincerity in the other person's eyes, Zhang Yu smiled helplessly and said, "No need."
"Really no need?" Zhou Tianyi asked, "How about you use mine today?"
Naturally, Zhang Yu shook his head repeatedly. He was really afraid that if he injected a few more needles, he'd drop dead on the spot.
According to the memories in his mind, there were plenty of people in this world who had suffered severe injuries, disabilities, or even death due to excessive drug loads. Even in Songyang High School, there were people seriously injured every year due to excessive medication.
Yet, students seeking physical strength through medication still flocked to it.
The original body had already shown signs of being unable to bear the load since last week.
Thinking about how the original body not only owed a huge debt of 700,000 yuan but also left him such a body, Zhang Yu sighed again in his heart.
While the two were whispering, a cold glance suddenly swept over them. They heard Wang Hai shout, "Don't talk nonsense during physical education class."
Zhang Yu and Zhou Tianyi immediately stopped talking and started their exercises.
Zhang Yu walked in front of a large iron ball. With a tremor in his muscles, he exerted himself forcefully and then picked up the 100-kilogram iron ball.
Immediately afterward, as his muscles contracted and expanded, the large iron ball seemed like a toy as he moved it around his body.
As the iron ball flew up and down, spinning, Zhang Yu also felt his blood surging, and various parts of his body gradually warming up.
"This is warm-up..."
The whole process seemed instinctively engraved in his flesh and blood. Zhang Yu completed the warm-up training almost without thinking.
In the subsequent training, his control over this body became deeper and deeper, and relevant memories kept emerging from his mind.
"The body refining in the Qi Refinement stage mainly focuses on tempering muscles and bones. Through repeated practice to break through the limits and ultimately improve the physical strength level."
"The specific method... For example, the most widely spread method among high school students is called the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques."
The Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques were cultivation techniques created specifically for high school teaching by the top ten sects. Thirty-six movements combined with different equipment could comprehensively develop the body and effectively improve physical strength.
Under the immortal dao framework summarized by the top ten sects, all martial arts and Taoist techniques were divided into levels from 1 to 100.
For example, most students in Songyang High School could successfully enter the beginner level after learning for a week or two and practice the basic martial art of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques to level 1.
And if one could continue to improve the level, the training effect of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques would become stronger and more incredible.
However, this was obviously not easy. In Zhang Yu's memory, only Bai Zhenzhen had improved the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques to level 2 in the three months since school started.
It was precisely because of this that Bai Zhenzhen could maintain the second-highest physical strength in the grade with nine injections a day, closely following Qian Shen, who injected sixteen needles a day.
"The level of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques is related to the efficiency of physical strength improvement. But the key to determining actual strength and physical education class grades is still the physical strength itself."
"Speaking of which, my physical strength is only 0.82 level, yet I can easily swing hundreds of pounds. And in the Qi Refinement Realm, the highest physical strength level can reach 10, and after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, it can go up to 20... The gap between people is too big."
At first, Zhang Yu just wanted to casually practice and get familiar with the content of the physical education class and his own body.
But as he practiced the movements of the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques one by one, he became more and more serious and meticulous. It was as if there was an instinct within him urging and encouraging him to keep training persistently.
His muscles were constantly tearing, and his bones were constantly being impacted. After repeated practices, his body, after repeated ravages, finally emitted a warm current, silently repairing the damage in his flesh.
This was the internal force in Zhang Yu's body. Just like in the past few months of physical education classes, the body was ravaged under heavy pressure and then continuously repaired and became stronger under the action of internal force.
Hoo!
In the blink of an eye, two hours passed. Zhang Yu let out a deep breath, feeling sore all over his body, as if his flesh and blood were about to disintegrate.
"No wonder people inject painkillers..."
He looked up at Bai Zhenzhen, who was still sweating profusely in the distance, and the other students who were also crazy about training. A sense of urgency instinctively rose from his heart, seemingly urging him to continue to push his body to the limit.
"If I trained like this in my previous world, I'd probably have died long ago."
"It's only with the support of various immortal dao drugs and internal force here that I can keep going and become stronger."
Feeling the pain from all over his body and the instinct that still yearned to train and become stronger, Zhang Yu couldn't help but sigh at how deeply rooted Zhang Yu's original obsession was.
However, as the training continued, this instinct buried deep within human nature seemed to be fading.
The future path ultimately had to be chosen by Zhang Yu himself at this moment.
When the morning physical education class finally ended, Zhang Yu was already lying exhausted on the ground, surrounded by a group of students who were still full of energy and crazy about training.
Zhang Yu sighed that this was the difference between using medicine and not using it.
Suddenly, he glanced at the black patch on his palm and found that less than a quarter of it remained unfilled.