Chapter 10: Fierce Competition and Level 3 Body Refinement
Casually finding a spot to sit down, Zhang Yu looked at the crowd of people in the square who were also waiting for jobs, and only felt utterly exhausted.
"This crappy place is really hard to get by in. Is there anywhere that isn't so cutthroat?"
Just as he sat down on the ground to rest for a while, a chill surged from his heart.
"Please abide by the ritual agreement, strive to fulfill your wish, don't deliberately slack off or procrastinate, 10."
"Damn it."
Zhang Yu cursed inwardly, but he could only buckle down and get to work under the coercion of the ritual power.
However, considering that his physical condition hadn't fully recovered yet and the upcoming job might also require physical strength, Zhang Yu didn't choose to practice the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques at this moment. Instead, he opted to refine his mana through basic breathing exercises.
As he inhaled and exhaled, strands of spiritual energy from the world around him quickly gathered, gradually converging into his dantian sea of qi, where they were painstakingly refined into a part of his mana.
Time passed slowly as Zhang Yu continued his breathing exercises. An hour went by.
During this hour, there were three batches of people coming to recruit workers. Some were looking for temporary security guards, some needed cultivators to do heavy work on construction sites urgently, and others hired cultivators to sort parcels for courier companies.
Zhang Yu gradually realized that most of the temporary jobs hiring Qi-Condensation cultivators were related to physical labor.
After all, Qi-Condensation cultivators didn't have a qualitative gap with ordinary people in terms of intelligence or knowledge. Instead, each of them had a physical strength that could match a hundred ordinary people. They could shine in various fields such as construction sites, factories, and security, with a productivity far exceeding that of ordinary mortals.
Therefore, many places that needed to increase their workforce urgently would come to hire cultivators.
Although cultivators demanded much higher pay than ordinary people, it was still cost-effective in the end.
After all, if one cultivator could do the work of 30 ordinary people, often only paying more than 10 times the salary was enough.
And the people waiting in the square were like super workaholics who could stick to a 007 work schedule.
Compared to them, Zhang Yu, who still needed to sleep four or five hours a day as a high school freshman, was just an ordinary student who could still sleep soundly like a high school freshman.
So, seeing the scene where a large crowd of people rushed to grab job opportunities every time, Zhang Yu always maintained his breathing state and didn't join the others in competing.
"My physical strength level is 2.15!"
Sophomores had a significant advantage in physical strength over freshmen. When Zhang Yu rushed over, he found that the space in front of the driver was almost completely occupied by big guys, leaving no room for him to squeeze in.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Everyone is scrambling to get beaten up. Do they have any self-respect as high school students?"
The driver glanced at the many students raising their hands and asked, "Are there any from key high schools?"
The number of people raising their hands decreased significantly.
Zhang Yu quickly raised his hand and said, "I'm from Songyang High School!"
The driver then asked, "Does anyone have a practical martial arts level of 3 or above?"
Looking at the remaining three people, the driver asked again, "Will you do it for three hundred per hour?"
A buzz-cut student complained, "Three hundred is too little, right?"
Yet, another student beside him hurriedly said, "I'll do it for three hundred!"
Seeing the other student get into the car and the sedan drive away rapidly, the buzz-cut student cursed, "Three hundred just to be a sparring partner? Who would spend money like that?"
"Three hundred to hire a sparring partner? Cheap bastard! Wait until that kid gets injured. He'll realize that three hundred isn't even enough for medical expenses."
Others followed suit, cursing, "He accepted three hundred? A sucker! Wait until that kid gets hurt from the beating. He'll find out that three hundred isn't enough for medical bills."
As the employer left, the surrounding students dispersed after cursing for a while and went back to their own practices, studying, or waiting.
Zhang Yu could only go back and continue practicing the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques.
At this rate, he felt that he might not find a job today.
More than ten minutes later, someone came by car to recruit high school students again, specifically asking for freshmen.
However, this time, the job was for drug testing. It was said to be for testing a newly developed drug in the laboratory for cultivators at the beginner stage.
Considering his physical condition, Zhang Yu didn't even bother applying. Instead, he continued practicing the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques for the 20th time.
Moments later, accompanied by a crackling sound, Zhang Yu delivered the final punch of the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques and successfully upgraded it to Level 3.
Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques Level 3 (0/30)
At this moment, countless memories of practicing the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques flooded into Zhang Yu's mind as if he had practiced thousands of times again.
These practices not only included pure physical memory but also traces of mana circulating within his body.
"With the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques at Level 3, practicing this technique can activate the circulation of mana within the body, accelerating the repair and enhancement of the flesh."
If the first and second levels of the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques were about constantly damaging the flesh during practice and forcefully extracting mana from within the body to participate in the training,
Then reaching Level 3 of the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques meant that the movements would drive mana to circulate throughout the body, nourishing the flesh while training, greatly enhancing the training effect.
As Zhang Yu started another round of practicing the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques, warm currents flowed through his limbs and bones with each movement, silently increasing his physical strength and gradually transforming him from an ordinary person into a superhuman.
Under the nourishment of the warm currents, the previously sore and aching flesh seemed to become much easier to bear, allowing Zhang Yu to continue practicing more comfortably.
Suddenly, Zhang Yu felt his flesh contract and expand.
Physical Strength Level: 0.84 → 0.85
Glancing at the change in his physical strength on his Feather Book, Zhang Yu felt a surge of joy.
At this moment, even without the coercion of the ritual power, he continued to practice with renewed vigor.
Meanwhile, the recruitment for the drug testing job continued on the other side.
However, not many freshmen were willing to try this kind of job.
Although the recruiter wanted to hire five students, after shouting for a long time, they only managed to recruit two before leaving.
As time passed and night deepened, fewer and fewer employers came to recruit people. Zhang Yu still hadn't found a job opportunity and could only continue practicing the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques.
Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques Level 3 (6/30)
When Zhang Yu practiced the Thirty-Six Body Refinement Techniques for the sixth time, he felt that he couldn't keep waiting like this anymore.
Zhang Yu walked back into the human resources company and saw Old Wang still sitting behind the same desk, seemingly unmoved for the past few hours.
He took out a pack of cigarettes he had bought and handed it to the other party, then asked, "Brother Wang, is there any job I can do?"
Old Wang glanced at the cigarettes Zhang Yu handed over and said indifferently, "Didn't I say? Jobs will come if there are any outside."
Zhang Yu didn't give up and said, "I mean besides the ones outside."
"Surely not all the temporary jobs in Songyang City would drive to this place to recruit people, right? Are there any other options?"
Old Wang was irritated by Zhang Yu's pestering and said impatiently, "You can check for yourself. It's not that I won't let you do it. Are those other temporary jobs easy to handle?"
Zhang Yu looked at the screenshot in the other party's hand, which listed a series of long-term recruitment jobs.
There were jobs that involved signing contracts to participate in long-term drug testing.
Some were to serve as test subjects for long-term research on cultivation techniques.
There were also jobs to work as assistants for exploration teams going deep into the Kunxu Underground.
And there were jobs to cooperate with the police in cracking down on criminals.
Looking at these one by one, either they were too dangerous or both dangerous and impossible for him to do.
"These long-term recruitment jobs that are always understaffed are really all traps."
Suddenly, Zhang Yu noticed one job and asked, "Brother Wang, what's the danger in this participation in cultivation technique testing?"
Old Wang casually replied, "It means you'll be a test subject for new cultivation techniques developed by big companies. They'll record any side effects, injuries, disabilities, and how you die during your cultivation process..."
Zhang Yu swallowed nervously. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he looked at another temporary job and asked, "What about this beginner cultivation technique testing? Ten thousand per time? Why is it only recruiting freshmen?"
Old Wang thought for a moment and then said, "Oh, that's because Xianyun Group developed a new cultivation technique. It has already gone through cultivation tests and has no side effects. It won't kill you."
"But the initial learning process is too difficult. It's easy to get internal injuries if you can't master it. So they've been looking for people to test it."
"Since it's a cultivation technique prepared for cultivators at the beginner stage, they specifically recruited freshmen to test it..."
Saying this, he looked at Zhang Yu, who was listening attentively, and frowned, "You're not thinking of doing this, are you? Last time, a student went and lost control of his mana, got internal injuries, and took two weeks off school and still hasn't recovered."
"This ten thousand isn't easy to earn."
Zhang Yu shrugged helplessly, "I have no choice. I need the money urgently, so I have to give it a try."