Chapter 1 The Beginning

Hongcheng No. 1 High School has over eight hundred students in the third grade, with over seven hundred and eighty passing the heart test, essentially a full pass.

However, not many are truly willing to risk a physical examination to try their luck.

After all, it has been more than four months since the start of the semester, and nearly half a year since the resurgence of spiritual energy. Everyone knows whether they have talent and can attract spiritual energy.

Students who have not reached the Kai Ling (Spirit Opening) stage need to pay a testing fee for the physical examination. Although the testing fee is not high, it still amounts to half a month's salary for many families.

The rich can afford it, throwing money for a sound, just to join the fun, but ordinary people don't have the confidence to waste money.

According to the professors of the Yuzhang Academy, it is estimated that among the eight hundred students, about 30 can cultivate spiritual power and enter the Kai Ling stage before the end of the semester—this is a good result, worthy of praise.

In fact, this kind of talent is better than the cultivators in ancient times who spent the same amount of time to open their spiritual meridians.

After all, this is an era of gradual spiritual resurgence. Everyone is basically accumulating spiritual power from scratch. Unlike the ancient times before the extinction of heaven and earth, everyone was immersed in a high spiritual energy environment from childhood, making it easier for talented people to open their spiritual meridians.

So, if we only calculate according to the standard of 'being able to cultivate', about one hundred of these eight hundred people have the potential to become cultivators in the future—about one in seven or eight people, which is already a lot.

Among these one hundred people, some do have talent, but perhaps they just haven't successfully grasped the knack for various reasons. A physical examination may be able to find a more suitable cultivation method for them.

The number of people worth taking a physical examination is just over a hundred, and only about seventy people are actually willing to participate.

After all, not everyone can be sure that their talent is enough for cultivation. The current situation is still unclear, and there is no news of any government subsidies… The situation is too uncertain, and the test came too quickly. Some people are not prepared, or they don't think they can try.

Instead of going to the classroom, Su Zhou and Shao Qiming showed their student IDs and physical examination certificates and were taken to the auditorium by a teacher.

More than forty students were sitting there at this time, and it seemed that not everyone had arrived yet. Two professors were chatting beside them. Judging from the signs, they were both from Yuzhang Academy. It seemed that the professors from Yuzhang Academy and the teachers from No. 1 High School were responsible for leading the team this time.

On the way, Su Zhou was also talking to Shao Qiming about the spiritual energy recovery education system.

"It is said that starting next year, elementary schools will start teaching certain spiritual energy knowledge, junior high schools will start trying to contact spiritual power and absorb spiritual energy, and high schools will start teaching some cultivation methods."

This was inside information that Shao Qiming had obtained from somewhere. Although it was said to be rumored, the actual accuracy rate should be 95%.

Speaking of this, he shook his head with the air of a scholar and said, "Spiritual power cultivation requires people to have a sound worldview. When children are young, unless they are geniuses with innate maturity, otherwise, no matter how good their spiritual energy affinity is, if they cannot concentrate their minds to control spiritual power, it will only be blind cultivation and harm themselves."

"Indeed, it is very terrible for children to cultivate." Su Zhou also nodded slightly, but what he was thinking about was not whether children could understand cultivation, but a group of super-powered naughty kids wreaking havoc on the world.

Children with superpowers… What kind of horror story is this?

"After all, we are crossing the river by feeling the stones. No one knows what is the best way." Shao Qiming obviously didn't expect Su Zhou's thinking to turn in another direction, but instead sighed to himself.

At this time, in the auditorium, most of the students were chatting or browsing their phones. The teachers did not prohibit it, because communicating with people is also a way to relieve psychological tension.

There were not many topics in the auditorium. Most people were guessing how much their respective spiritual power talent was, who was higher, and who was lower. For a time, it was very lively.

But when Su Zhou and Shao Qiming—mainly Su Zhou—entered the auditorium gate, the whole place gradually became quiet.

For a moment, everyone was even silent.

"Look, the monster who devours spiritual energy is here!" But someone still broke the silence. A student who was quite familiar with Su Zhou and Shao Qiming waved his hand and smiled, signaling the two to sit over. While waving his hand, he said to another boy who was arguing about who had higher talent, "Look at you trash, what's the point of comparing with me? Go compare with Su Zhou if you have the ability!"

"Compare your head!" Suddenly, the other boy was furious: "Is it meaningful to compare this with him!"

Su Zhou and Shao Qiming sat down. The boy who had greeted them earlier was called Xu Ming. He had a baby face. He was not very familiar with Su Zhou at first, but he had a good relationship with Shao Qiming. Both of them were ranked among the top students in the grade and had participated in the Mathematical Olympiad competition. They had been teammates for a period of time.

However, after Xu Ming found out that Su Zhou also played Azure Rainbow Fantasy, their relationship became better—boys make friends, either by fighting or by playing games.

After Su Zhou sat down, he looked at the slightly cold auditorium and was quite dissatisfied: "What's going on? Shouldn't you despise me at this time, think I'm trash, and then I'll become a dark horse!"

"And then wait for you to say thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river?" Hearing this, someone immediately complained: "It's almost the same if you started pretending more than ten years ago."

"Want to pretend to be a badass now? Too late!"

As a result, the auditorium was filled with a lively atmosphere.

After Su Zhou diverted the topic, the atmosphere gradually returned to active, and not long after, everyone arrived, a total of seventy-one people.

If all schools had roughly the same number, the total number of physical examinations in Hongcheng this time might exceed 2,800, or even break the 3,000 mark.

After everyone was gathered, they set off.

The one leading the team this time was the old professor from Yuzhang Academy who had taught everyone the spiritual energy class some time ago.

His surname was Zuo, and he seemed to have a part-time job in the government. After communicating with the officers leading the team at the school gate for a while, the seventy-one students were divided into three batches and boarded the three armored buses at the gate.

"The army is escorting, and the buses are specially made armored vehicles… Why is it so strict?"

Su Zhou was communicating with Shao Qiming at this time, but before Shao Qiming could reply, Professor Zuo heard his doubts and replied with a smile: "It's very simple. Instead of regretting after something happens, punishing relevant personnel, and shirk responsibility, it's better to work harder at the beginning to ensure that there are no other problems from beginning to end—although the world is still very peaceful, there are already many guys who are ready to make trouble."

Seeming to think highly of Su Zhou, Professor Zuo shook his head and whispered, "Of course, these days have been particularly strict, mainly because a very serious cultivator case occurred in the neighboring Xiangzhou, and many people died. And the transcendent who committed the crime has not yet been found, and the whole country is on alert, so naturally it has become strict."

"I see." Su Zhou, the transcendent who committed the crime, nodded slightly, pretending to be enlightened.

So it's because of me… Thinking about it carefully, I'm a little embarrassed.

The engine roared, the armored vehicle opened the way, and the armored transport bus passed through the road and went north all the way, gradually leaving the city.

The road was very peaceful, and there were no accidents. The teachers and professors leading the team did not specifically ask for silence, but perhaps because of nervousness or apprehension, the people who had been chatting enthusiastically in the auditorium did not speak, and most of them were silently looking at their phones.

The car was unusually quiet, and only the sound of the wind whistling past the windows could be heard, and the scenery along the way flew backward.

Su Zhou also wanted to look at his phone, but soon, he noticed that there were transcendents everywhere along the way.

From the school gate to outside the city, there were official transcendents hiding and squatting along the way, or driving civilian vehicles and following in front or behind.

I have to say, the safety precautions are indeed first-class, and the scale is indeed large.

Before long, everyone came to a camp on the edge of Meiling, which should be a camp converted from a military camp.

The camp was surrounded by smooth and special bricks and stones, and the huge LED screen at the door was displaying the words "Hongcheng Spiritual Energy Constitution Testing Camp" and "Welcome" "Keep a normal mind" and other sentences.

Two tall and majestic black towers, like high-voltage power towers, stood on both sides of the camp gate, and obvious spiritual light could be seen flashing on them, spreading along the strange patterns on the towers.

Vaguely, it could also be seen that there were two almost identical towers on the other side of the camp in the distance.

The four towers were located at four points, surrounding the entire camp.

Not to mention the rather cyberpunk-style camp decoration, both Su Zhou and Shao Qiming, all the students who had opened their spiritual meridians, were slightly surprised, because they realized that the concentration of spiritual energy around them had suddenly increased a lot!

"This is a spirit gathering tower, used to increase the concentration of spiritual energy on a large scale."

As if sensing Su Zhou's doubts, Yala, who had shrunk in size and was hiding in Su Zhou's ear, explained softly: "But it seems that the structure of your world's spirit gathering tower is more peculiar. It is actually high-precision rune processing, repeated engraving, replacing most of the effect of spiritual materials—this is one of the pre-technologies for the leapfrog development of spiritual civilization."

As for why to activate spiritual energy, the answer is actually not difficult to guess. It should be to temporarily increase the concentration of spiritual energy to the level when the spiritual energy recovery stabilizes in the future. After all, many people cannot sense spiritual energy, in fact, it may be just a little bit of a hurdle, so they did not activate the talent in their bodies. Their talent may not be bad, but it has not been activated.

And a high concentration of spiritual energy environment may be able to activate these people's talents.

The car stopped, and the team from No. 1 High School entered the camp. The soldiers guarding the gate checked again according to the school and student ID card, and then let them pass one by one.

Su Zhou could also feel that there were professional transcendents guarding inside and outside the camp, and the ones stationed outside and inside the camp were several squadrons of armed patrolmen and the army.

Even, in the mountains further away, Su Zhou could feel some huge existences like exoskeleton armor… According to the military parade information some time ago, that should be one of the Zheng Guo's new elite armored forces, the 'Five Emperors Guards'.

The exoskeleton armor guards named after the five emperors of the five directions are equipped with armor engraved with spiritual patterns and the most advanced technological weapons. They are the perfect fusion of transcendence and modern technology. Even an ordinary soldier can instantly become a small superman as long as he learns how to use it.

After all, according to ancient standards, the effect brought by such a set of spiritual energy-level exoskeleton armor can at least抵过十几件单独的灵器的组合 (be equivalent to the combination of a dozen individual magical artifacts), which makes people have to sigh, as expected, the times have changed.

Inside the camp, there are rows of accommodations similar to motels, presenting a long strip, and forty-two accommodations surround the large field in the middle along the edge of the camp, where many people are already busy, transporting many equipment.

That is probably where the physical examination will be located.

The team from No. 1 High School did not arrive early, and most of the teams had already arrived.

Not far from the camp of No. 1 High School, there was also an acquaintance that Su Zhou knew—Professor Zhang Fucheng's Zhengyi Academy Affiliated High School team was also here.

After seeing Su Zhou, after the two looked at each other, Professor Zhang smiled kindly as a greeting, but for some reason, his heart moved, and he actually felt some instinctive intimacy with the other party, and his body full of lightning magic seemed to be ready to move.

"Huh, what's going on?"

This couldn't help but surprise him slightly. Zhang Fucheng didn't think about Su Zhou at first, but subconsciously examined himself, but there was no result: "Strange, strange, I should have stabilized my cultivation… Well, it should be because I've been a little tired from working hard recently."

"After this test is over, go back to the academy for a period of meditation."

Behind Professor Zhang, there were two students, one male and one female, following. Zhang Fucheng seemed to be explaining something to them.

Su Zhou glanced at it and couldn't help but let out a soft "huh," which made Shao Qiming beside him look in the same direction, but he didn't find anything.

He thought to himself, "These two are actually both in the Awakening stage?"

"Well, it's not surprising. Zhengyi Academy is a large academy with a transcendent inheritance. These two are probably direct descendants. They have excellent innate talent, and they have been taught by their families since childhood, with a deep accumulation of heritage. After the spiritual energy recovery, they have advanced smoothly."

At this moment, the two students also looked at Su Zhou. The male had a round face with a mole under his right eyebrow, and he looked kind. The female had shoulder-length hair, a delicate and refined appearance, but her eyes were quite aggressive, and her gaze swept across like a sword, as if she was examining others.

They were actually quite curious and wanted to know how talented this 'genius' that their uncle had always praised was.

As a result, they were a little disappointed at first glance, because Su Zhou did not have any particularly conspicuous features except for his good looks.

Generally speaking, people with special talents in terms of the physical body will be more robust than their peers, or have other strange features, such as higher muscle density than ordinary people, and their bones and blood have special characteristics.

As for the soul, an example is the female student. She did not deliberately scan others with that kind of scrutinizing gaze, but she was born with a strong soul, and she had also cultivated the family's 'Lingming Three-Foot Sword', a heart-sword technique. But she has not cultivated to the point where she can control it freely, so occasionally her soul power bursts out, making her appear aggressive.

There is no need to mention the spiritual energy talent. Every word, every action, and every move may cause the transformation of spiritual power, and there will be strange phenomena around the body.

But Su Zhou looked ordinary on the surface. He had a normal figure, not strong suppression, and even more restrained spiritual energy… Except for his appearance, he was quite ordinary.

Could it be that high looks are also considered a superpower?