Chapter 215: Zhang Yu's Rapid Progress and Gold Medal Trial Class

Chapter 215: Zhang Yu’s Rapid Progress and the Golden Trial Lesson

Staring at the poster, Zhang Yu said with a hint of skepticism, “So this is the hottest market?”

On the other end, Black Crow had already sent another message: The silver economy—elderly tutoring classes—is currently the most profitable market in the underground tutoring world.

Black Crow: Since the techniques you showed before were more suited to students and construction sites, they didn’t quite fit this market, so you probably haven’t had much exposure to it.

Black Crow: I’m not sure about your current situation, but since you asked, I’ll tell you about this most lucrative market—the one where our Dark Study Gang is fiercely competing with the Golden Lesson Gang.

Black Crow: The theoretical lifespan limit for the Qi Refining stage is 150 years, so there’s a huge number of elderly people in the Songyang City tutoring market.

Black Crow: These old folks have some savings, and to avoid being phased out of the market, they need to keep cultivating, constantly learning new versions and updated techniques, just to keep up with the times and hold onto their jobs.

Black Crow: That’s why the elderly tutoring market has always been in high demand and extremely profitable.

Black Crow: But the requirements are also very high. After all, those who live to old age and still work are all veteran peak Qi Refining cultivators. What they need for tutoring isn’t basic techniques, but many high-difficulty ones.

Black Crow: Besides the new-version techniques required for work, there are also longevity techniques, techniques to metabolize drug toxins after years of pill consumption, and techniques to repair hidden internal injuries—all of them are huge hits.

Black Crow: After all, only by ensuring good health and overcoming the damage from years of pill abuse and overtime can they stay competitive in the workplace.

Reading the messages from Black Crow, Zhang Yu gained a basic understanding of what was most profitable in the underground tutoring world right now.

He thought to himself, “That makes sense. As the number of college students, junior college students, and high school graduates increases year by year, the number of elderly Qi Refining cultivators is bound to grow too. These old folks have more savings than the young, and the techniques they need to learn are more expensive. It really is a huge market.”

Zhang Yu immediately asked again: Is there a market for the Spring and Autumn Boundless Zen?

Black Crow: The Spring and Autumn Boundless Zen from Immortal Rhyme Group? Haha, of course there’s a market. Teacher Ma, do you know this top-tier technique?

Behind the Dark Study Gang was the Deep Sea Education Group, which, as a rival of Immortal Rhyme Group, had always loved cracking and pirating their techniques.

And the Spring and Autumn Boundless Zen, as a top-tier expert-level body-forging technique with the added effect of enhancing metabolism and eliminating drug and pill toxins, made Black Crow perk up like a cat catching a whiff of fish the moment Zhang Yu, under his alias Ma Yunteng, mentioned it.

Black Crow: In three days, the gang will arrange trial lessons for several candidate golden teachers. If you’re interested, Teacher Ma, I can set it up for you.

Zhang Yu and Black Crow agreed on the trial lesson three days later. Meanwhile, Bai Zhenzhen frowned and said, “I don’t think I have any techniques suitable for teaching the elderly.”

Fuji said, “A Zhen, you have a true spiritual root and thunderous true essence filling your dantian and sea of qi. The path to strength that suits you best is ultimately combat.”

“And right now, the gang war between the Dark Study Gang and the Golden Lesson Gang is perfect for you. Not only will it let you earn money, but it will also hone your practical combat skills, preparing you for the Foundation Establishment exam three months from now.”

“In my opinion, from now on, Zhang Yu will go teach as a golden teacher, and you should join the gang battles. While honing your strength, you’ll also earn money. This arrangement suits you both best.”

Zhang Yu frowned and asked, “Gang battles… aren’t they dangerous?”

Fuji replied, “Nonsense. How could real combat be without danger? But compared to battles involving true military-grade power, compared to corporate wars, compared to your future fights with the cultists behind the Zhou family, the intensity of gang battles is actually quite low.”

“If you don’t even dare to take this level of combat risk, what are you thinking about climbing higher?”

Bai Zhenzhen nodded beside him, a glint of determination flashing in her eyes. “Fuji is right.”

“This path really suits me.”

“Yu Zi, don’t worry. With the true spiritual root aiding me and my speed, even if I run into someone I can’t beat, can’t I just run?”

Zhang Yu gave Bai Zhenzhen a long look, knowing this was the path she had chosen for herself, her decision, her resolve to pass the Foundation Establishment exam. As her close friend, he could only respect that decision.

So Bai Zhenzhen also logged into the Kun Shen World, added Black Crow as a friend, and under her original alias Le Mulan, signed up for the Dark Study Gang’s gang battles.

Black Crow: Teacher Le, you’ve come at just the right time. The gang is in need of an expert like you. There’s an operation in four days—would you like to join?

After finalizing the arrangements with Black Crow, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen threw themselves wholeheartedly into their respective training, preparing for the upcoming lessons and battles.

…

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

During these three days, with the blessing of the High School Saint Physique, Zhang Yu first cultivated the Resentment and Evil Art to Level 10, forging a full set of bronze corpse skin.

Once this technique reached Level 10, whenever he exerted force, a bronze sheen would spread beneath his skin, as if he were clad in a layer of armor.

He tried cutting the skin on the back of his hand with a small knife and found that it took more than 30% of his strength to leave even a faint scratch.

It felt as if he were cutting not his own skin, but a thick, hard stratum corneum.

Clearly, after training in the Resentment and Evil Art, Zhang Yu’s skin had gained far greater toughness and defensive power than before.

And after pushing this technique to Level 10, he felt a lingering sense of incompleteness.

Fuji commented from the side, “This Resentment and Evil Art should have a follow-up version.”

“But what you bought was only the Qi Refining version’s usage rights.”

“If you want to continue cultivating this technique after Foundation Establishment and push it to Level 20, you’ll need to buy the Foundation Establishment version’s usage rights.” Zhang Yu wasn’t particularly interested in that, since Fuji didn’t know he was cultivating so many techniques to form a Martial Dao Saint Embryo, and he hadn’t yet thought much about what techniques he’d use in the Foundation Establishment stage.

Over these three days, besides tempering his skin with the Resentment and Evil Art, Zhang Yu also borrowed Bai Zhenzhen’s Mystic Thunder Electric Acupuncture Needle Set to help him cultivate the expert-level technique Thunderclap Marrow Cleansing Sutra, which he had obtained from Songyang High School.

This Thunderclap Marrow Cleansing Sutra used electric shocks to aid bone marrow production and accelerate bone reconstruction—a top-tier body-forging technique that increased bone density.

And the Mystic Thunder Electric Acupuncture Needle Set from Songyang High School was practically acquired specifically to complement this technique.

Zhang Yu’s body was now covered with 999 silver needles, bolts of lightning coursing through his marrow, reshaping his bones according to the Thunderclap Marrow Cleansing Sutra.

As he pushed the technique from Level 1 to Level 9, all the bones in his body except his skull had been completely renewed, gleaming with a frosty silver sheen beneath his skin.

And now, as he finally pushed the Thunderclap Marrow Cleansing Sutra to Level 10, his skull seemed to undergo a thousandfold tempering in an instant, turning frosty silver as well.

With his entire skeleton renewed, bone density and strength surged dramatically. Zhang Yu’s weight also increased with the bone mass, reaching over 300 kilograms despite little change in his physique.

The Level 10 effect of the Thunderclap Marrow Cleansing Sutra allowed him to slowly repair bone damage by circulating the technique.

Patting his chest, Zhang Yu felt that the skin tempered by the Resentment and Evil Art, combined with the ribs forged by the Thunderclap Marrow Cleansing Sutra, formed a double layer of armor protecting his internal organs.

His physical strength had finally crossed the last threshold, reaching the Qi Refining limit of Level 10 physical strength.

“Although my physical strength only increased by about 0.06 levels,”

“these two protective techniques have made me far stronger than before.”

“Indeed, after reaching the limits of Dao heart, true essence, and physical strength in the Qi Refining stage, cultivating more techniques is the best way to boost combat power.”

Glancing at A Zhen, who was still training nearby, Zhang Yu said to the Mystic Thunder Electric Acupuncture Needle Set, “Artifact spirit, stop training mode.”

A voice came from the needle box: “Stopping training mode. Entering standby, awaiting user commands.”

The 999 silver needles, crackling with electric arcs, shot out from Zhang Yu’s body and all returned to the needle box.

Cracking his neck, listening to the popping sounds from his new bones, Zhang Yu smiled slightly. “A Zhen, keep training. I’m off to the trial lesson.”

Bai Zhenzhen waved her hand and said, “Good luck. Make some money.”

…

The meeting place Zhang Yu had agreed upon with Black Crow was inside an abandoned underground transit station.

Having altered his appearance, Zhang Yu had just arrived at the station when he saw a young girl standing before Black Crow, discussing something.

Zhang Yu had no intention of eavesdropping, so he turned to wait off to the side.

But the girl said angrily, “Teacher! Every time my grandpa starts a lesson, he secretly watches porn! Every single lesson, he secretly watches porn! Whenever I open his phone, it’s full of porn—there’s no room left for the textbooks!”

The girl’s words made Zhang Yu stop in his tracks.

She continued, “Because he doesn’t pay attention in class, his technique progress is falling behind. His work performance has been declining for months!”

“My grandpa has never been self-disciplined. My dad told me that back when he was working, he didn’t want to work overtime. By the time he was fifty, he’d never been promoted, and he couldn’t even afford the tutoring fees for my dad and me.”

“So I’m begging you, please help keep an eye on him, make sure he keeps up with the techniques, so he can earn a bit more money.”

"We won't waste this money; we're saving it all for you. From now on, we'll come to your house for tutoring."

Black Crow said helplessly, "Our teachers here are very busy; they generally aren't responsible for classroom discipline."

After the two sides argued for a long time, class finally ended in the nearby classroom, and the girl had to go pick up her grandfather from school.

Only then did Black Crow breathe a sigh of relief. He looked at Zhang Yu standing nearby, smiled, and said, "Teacher Ma, you've arrived."

Zhang Yu asked curiously, "That person just now..."

Black Crow explained casually, "Oh, that's a student who has been on long-term medication and whose intelligence declined in old age. His family has poor education and low income; they all hope this intellectually disabled student can continue to earn money, so they sent him here."

Black Crow continued, "Just a reminder: today's trial lessons are real classes, and you'll be dealing with real elderly clients."

"May I ask which course you plan to teach?"

Zhang Yu said calmly, "The Endless Zen of Spring and Autumn."

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(End of this chapter)