"Ah, this!"
Gu Yuan stared blankly at the ten Body Tempering Fluids and one Blood Vitality Pill in the box. He had imagined many kinds of resources, but he never expected the Tianyuan City Education Bureau to be so generous, sending Body Tempering Fluids directly to him.
Body Tempering Fluid was the most efficient medicine in the Body Tempering realm. One tube of Body Tempering Fluid could allow someone who had never cultivated to directly reach the fourth level of Body Tempering. Moreover, this method of rapid advancement had no side effects, just like normal cultivation. At most, their control over strength might not be very good.
"Tsk tsk tsk!" Gu Yuan made a sound of admiration and took out a tube of Body Tempering Fluid. The milky white liquid inside emitted a captivating glow. Body Tempering Fluid had more benefits than just these; it could significantly increase physical strength without any negative side effects, making it the preferred choice for some geniuses to break through their Body Tempering limits.
Putting the Body Tempering Fluid back, Gu Yuan pondered. He guessed that this was approved for him by the yet-unseen Education Bureau Director. As far as he knew, Body Tempering Fluid was a strategic resource that only a very small number of geniuses could enjoy. A city would only have a limited amount, except for major cities like the Imperial Capital. This meant he was the ultimate hope for Tianyuan City!
*Hoo!*
Gu Yuan suddenly felt the box in his hand getting hot. These resources were not easy to obtain, but he had confidence in himself. With such a cheat, if he still couldn't perform well, he might as well hit himself to death.
With this thought, Gu Yuan picked up the box and went to his bedroom to begin his path of secluded cultivation.
A day later, Gu Yuan was in the mountain forests outside the city, selling some of the meat from the fierce beasts he had killed and consuming some.
Then, he would return to absorb the Body Tempering Fluid and temper his physique.
Time passed day by day. During this period, Gu Yuan went to school once a week to test his strength.
From 12,756 catties to 15,346 catties, and then to 18,654 catties. Each successive improvement shocked everyone. Li Tianzhi, in a submissive manner, found Gu Yuan to apologize and offered 50,000 yuan as compensation. Gu Yuan forgave him. It wasn't a major conflict to begin with. He also learned from Li Tianzhi the reason he was targeted: it was simply because Chu Ling's attitude towards him was too good, which made Li Tianzhi jealous and led him to target Gu Yuan.
This left Gu Yuan speechless. He didn't expect it to be because of a woman, and a woman with formidable talent at that. He decided he would have to stay away from Chu Ling in the future.
During this time, Wang Qifeng and Lu Feng also paid close attention to Gu Yuan's cultivation. Seeing his strength continuously improving, they couldn't stop smiling. As Gu Yuan's strength spread throughout the entire senior year, the unconvinced geniuses began to cultivate with all their might. The teachers of various high schools magically discovered that their talented students were progressing rapidly, and they were equally delighted.
The day before the martial arts exam.
Gu Yuan slowly finished his cultivation in his bedroom, exhaling a breath of stale air. Beside him were all the used medicine bottles and the like. He had consumed all his resources. Feeling the changes within his body, he murmured, "This should be the true limit, right?"
His current strength had reached an astonishing 19,999 catties. Just one more catty and he would naturally enter the Meridian Opening realm, so much so that he couldn't suppress it.
With a thought, he summoned the Dao Fortune Heavenly Chart.
[Dao Lord]: [Gu Yuan]
[Destiny]: [Unformed]
[Realm]: [Body Tempering Ninth Level (Perfection)]
[Fortunes]: [Ribbed Muscles (Green)], [Spiritual Qi Affinity (Green)], [Natural Death (White), Cautious Bravery (White)], [Dragon's Vigor, Tiger's Might (White)], [Premonition (White)], [Archery (White)]
[Martial Skills]: [Eight Elephants Body Calamity] (First Level), [Blazing Sun Fist] (Minor Accomplishment), [Primordial Pile] (Minor Accomplishment), [Explosive Fist] (Major Accomplishment), [Giant Whale Technique] (Major Accomplishment), [Following the Wind Movement Technique] (Major Accomplishment), [Tiger's Bane Saber Technique] (Minor Accomplishment).
This was a new function Gu Yuan had discovered, which could display the martial skills he had learned and indicate their mastery level.
These were Gu Yuan's cultivation achievements over the past half a month. Apart from a few more difficult martial skills, all others had reached major accomplishment.
Glancing at the time, there were still eight hours until the martial arts exam began. Gu Yuan decided to sleep. After washing up, he went straight to bed.
This kind of thing was happening all over Tianxia Nation, with countless people preparing for the martial arts exam. However, some darkness was quietly creeping in.
The next day, at seven o'clock in the morning, large buses were parked in front of Qingli High School, with many parents gathered around to see their children off for the martial arts exam.
Gu Yuan, in his school uniform, slowly walked to his class's formation.
Everyone greeted Gu Yuan, and he responded with a smile.
After waiting for a while, Gu Yuan saw Wang Qifeng leading a large group of school teachers out of the school.
Everyone assembled. Wang Qifeng, as usual, gave a pre-departure speech to boost morale and offer some encouraging words. Then, with a command, students from each class began to board the buses one after another and headed towards the martial arts exam location amidst the honking of horns.
Gu Yuan sat in the last row on the left side, by the window, in the bus for Senior Year Class 5. Looking at the parents waving incessantly by the roadside, his thoughts drifted. Were they alright?
Chu Ling, who was sitting next to Gu Yuan, turned to look at him as he fell into a reverie. She couldn't help but ask, "Gu Yuan, are you okay?"
Hearing someone call him, Gu Yuan snapped back to reality from his memories. He turned his head and saw that Chu Ling was sitting next to him at some point.
Chu Ling looked at Gu Yuan's handsome face, her pretty cheeks blushing slightly. Her voice was soft as she asked again, "Gu Yuan, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine," Gu Yuan shook his head. The bus had already entered the main road and was accelerating.
This time, they would take a bus to the Martial Artist Association to take a large teleportation array to the provincial capital of Zhongzhou Prefecture, Zhongzhou City, for the martial arts exam.
The martial arts exam was a major event every year. All examinees from each prefecture would travel to the provincial capital via teleportation arrays to participate in the exam, which would then determine their overall ranking within the prefecture.
Gu Yuan didn't pay attention to Chu Ling during the journey. After a few words with her, he began to close his eyes and rest, sensing the Qianxiang within his body absorbing celestial energy and refining his physique.
Seeing that Gu Yuan clearly didn't want to talk to her, Chu Ling could only follow suit and close her eyes to rest.
Ten minutes later, the bus arrived at the Martial Artist Association, with buses continuously arriving from all directions.
"Everyone line up and get off the bus quietly," Li Qing shouted from inside the bus, then opened the door and maintained order. The students on the bus disembarked in an orderly manner and lined up in the areas designated for their respective high schools.
Gu Yuan followed the group to the area for Senior Year Class 5 and quietly waited for the teleportation. Ten minutes later, all the senior high school students from Tianyuan City participating in the martial arts exam had gathered.
*Buzz!*
A buzzing sound echoed throughout the entire square, and a white beam of light rose from the Martial Artist Association building, shooting straight into the sky.
Everyone looked up at the beam of light, knowing it was the power of the teleportation array. Gu Yuan looked up in awe at the beam. Although the original owner of his body had seen such scenes, for Gu Yuan, it was merely a memory. This was his first time witnessing the power of such an array.
A pillar of light descended and landed on the plaza in front, slowly forming a white vortex, which was the large teleportation gate.
Strong individuals appeared before the teleportation gate, their spiritual energy surging as they continuously injected spiritual energy into it to stabilize the gate.
Five minutes later, the teleportation gate was completely stabilized, and the principals of various high schools began to organize the students to enter.
The boarding process was very fast. Soon, it was Gu Yuan's class's turn. Gu Yuan looked at the teleportation gate just inches away and took a deep breath before stepping forward!
Martial arts exam, here I come!!!