Chapter 229: Outcome Lies in the Third Stage

Chapter 229: Victory or Defeat Hinges on the Third Trial

During the lull while watching the video, Huang Zichou, to avoid an awkward silence, found something to say: “When you two enter university in the future, implant dharma bones, or purchase flying swords and magical treasures, you must pay attention to similar matters.”

“Every day before leaving, check if your equipment has enough balance, if the service has been renewed, if the ads have been cleared, if the installment payments have been made...”

Huang Zichou warned as if reciting from memory: “In every university exam each year, there are always students who encounter similar problems on exam day, underperforming due to a moment of negligence, ending with unsatisfactory results, which then affects their university GPA.”

“Consider this an early lesson for you today...”

Zhang Yu thought to himself: “Indeed, it’s a lesson. I’ll remember this for life. Once I enter university, I’ll definitely check repeatedly before every exam.”

Ye Lingxiao, however, mused: “Isn’t it all about enabling auto-renewal and auto-debit? What’s there to check... Oh, right, poor people might have insufficient balance, huh? How miserable for the poor.”

About a minute later, the Sword Grave finally returned to normal and, under the control of Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao, began to move again.

But the uneasy feeling in Zhang Yu’s heart never disappeared, and even the discomfort in his eyes grew worse.

At the same time, with the connection to the Sword Grave, the synchronization rates above Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao’s heads changed again.

Zhang Yu: 90%

Ye Lingxiao: 95%

This synchronization rate represented their overall sync with all the dharma bones on their bodies. Clearly, after connecting to the Sword Grave’s neural signals, both of their sync rates had dropped.

Zhang Yu frowned: “The gap has widened again...”

Meanwhile, in the internal network of the True Gods, Mu Guiyin said: “Aside from their foundations, the biggest difference between them lies in their Dao hearts.”

“Ye Lingxiao’s Dao heart reached level 10 last year, while Zhang Yu’s is only at level 8 now.”

“Although this exam tests the physical body, the Dao heart is the foundation of a cultivator’s entire cultivation, influencing every aspect. How could it not affect the body?”

“The gap in their Dao hearts determines that Zhang Yu has no chance of winning this trial.”

Another True God sighed: “After all, Ye Lingxiao has had a level 10 Dao heart for quite some time, allowing him to perfectly control his body every day. His body’s adaptation to physical changes was cultivated under the blessing of a level 10 Dao heart.”

“Only through such daily adaptation to the body, constantly probing the limits of the flesh in subsequent cultivation, can one quickly adapt when the body undergoes new changes.”

Huang Zichou did not voice his agreement, but inwardly he had to admit that Mu Guiyin was right. Zhang Yu’s Dao heart level was too much of a hindrance, and his cultivation time was too short.

He thought to himself: “Zhang Yu has, after all, practiced for a year less than Ye Lingxiao. It’s already remarkable that his physical body can match Ye Lingxiao’s. A gap in the Dao heart is only natural.”

“In the history of the Foundation Establishment exam’s physical track, it’s always been contestants with a level 10 Dao heart, 100 mana, and level 10 physical strength who compete in raw power and potential.”

“Heh, who would have thought that this year, a kid with a level 8 Dao heart could make it to the final round of the Foundation Establishment exam.”

Even as he pondered, Huang Zichou did not let it affect his role as examiner. With a sweep of his divine power, he brought out the third and final dharma bone for this trial.

It was a spine bone flickering with eerie, blood-red light, yet it resembled a white flood dragon, circling around Huang Zichou in midair like a living creature.

Huang Zichou introduced it: “This is an enterprise-grade dharma bone manufactured by Dragon Soul Workshop, called the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot.”

“As an old manufacturer specializing in dragon-type dharma bones, using various dragon materials for years, the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot crafted by Dragon Soul Workshop is a classic among spine dharma bones.”

“Once implanted, the dragon tendons extending from the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot can greatly enhance a cultivator’s physical performance. At the Foundation Establishment stage, the effect is roughly equivalent to a +1 level in physical strength.”

“Sealed within the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot is a dragon-type Dao technique called Dragon’s Might. Once activated, it can shock the spirit, making it difficult for cultivators with a Dao heart below level 20 within a hundred-meter radius to circulate their heart methods...”

Zhang Yu’s heart tightened at this, and he thought: “Good heavens, a mana-suppression field? No, it’s a heart-method suppression.”

This was the first time Zhang Yu had witnessed the effect of a Dao technique. After all, in high school, the so-called Dao technique classes were just talisman classes; he had never encountered real Dao techniques.

Next, as before, Zhang Yu felt his spine’s neural connection to his brain severed.

The impact of this was naturally far greater than the previous two times, since the spine governs the movement of the entire body. The moment he lost connection to his spine, Zhang Yu collapsed limply on the operating table, feeling as if he were completely paralyzed, his heart tightening inexplicably.

A dozen seconds later, Zhang Yu felt the presence of his spine again, but this time it felt even stranger. The spine could not move his body; it merely bent back and forth according to his will.

At the same time, Zhang Yu felt as if his consciousness was being drawn into the spine, manipulating the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot, as if transforming into a white dragon soaring through the sky...

The next moment, Zhang Yu snapped back to reality, thinking to himself how close it had been. He had just been influenced by the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot, experiencing an illusion. He mused: “This isn’t even a real implantation of a dharma bone; just connecting to the neural signal is already like this. It seems that after Foundation Establishment, implanting various dharma bones will impose a burden far greater than I imagined.”

Then, aside from the eye dharma bone, should he avoid implanting other dharma bones in the future?

Why not just use magical treasures directly? Why must he implant dharma bones?

Zhang Yu had once had similar doubts, and Fuji had answered him back then.

The answer was simple: using both magical treasures and implanted dharma bones was simply more powerful than using only magical treasures.

Zhang Yu still remembered what Fuji had said.

“Dharma bones were originally created by those artificers to deliver a dimensionality-reducing strike in the magical treasure market, sparking an industrial revolution.”

“To climb higher in Kunxu, you have to be better than others, achieve better results. When more and more people use dharma bones to enhance their performance and thereby increase the power of their magical treasures, if you want to catch up, you’ll have to use dharma bones whether you like it or not.”

As Zhang Yu struggled to adapt to the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot, the Husky Head in the audience said: “This Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot looks pretty good.”

The Cat Head beside him frowned and said: “Interested? Then I advise you not to buy it.”

The Husky Head asked curiously: “Do you have inside information?”

He knew that people from the finance department all had deep foundations and wide connections, always well-informed and in possession of all kinds of information.

The Cat Head said flatly: “No inside information needed. Didn’t he make it clear himself? Specializing in dragon-type dharma bones means they’re not good with other materials. A classic work means this Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot is already outdated.”

“Also, Dragon Soul Workshop had a scandal before. The dragon materials in their dharma bones didn’t exceed 5%, and it was all bone powder.”

“For a spine dharma bone at this price... I’d say most of it is made from beast materials. If the dragon part accounts for 3%, that’s already impressive, and it’s probably from farmed hybrid flood dragons.”

“After all, what good materials can you expect from such mass-produced items? If you have money, you should go for customized dharma bones.”

Listening to the Cat Head’s critique, the Husky Head thought to himself: But I don’t have the money, do I?

Still, he lost interest in the Flood Dragon Spiritual Pivot and sighed: “These dharma bones nowadays always cut corners and make false claims. If you don’t research them thoroughly before buying, you’ll be cheated...”

Just then, the synchronization rate data for Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao updated again.

Zhang Yu: 79%

Ye Lingxiao: 86%

Zhang Yu: “Lost?”

He was not too surprised by the final result of this trial. He thought to himself: “Probably because of the Dao heart?”

Though he lost this trial due to the Dao heart’s hindrance, Zhang Yu did not dwell on it. After all, over the past year, he had used every means to reach the limits of his own improvement.

For now, he only wanted to prepare well for the next trial, fight with all his might to defeat his opponent, and secure the final Foundation Establishment qualification certificate.

Meanwhile, in the internal network of the True Gods, Mu Guiyin spoke eloquently: “There are two paths for the advancement of dharma bones. One is to refine different parts of one’s own body into dharma bones. The stronger the body, the stronger the refined dharma bones, and they are inherently the most compatible.”

“But this path is too difficult. Personalized customization of dharma bones is exorbitantly expensive, a sky-high price for most cultivators.”

“Thus, most people can only choose the second path.”

“That is, as cultivation improves, by continuously replacing external, stronger dharma bones and slowly refining them into part of oneself, one enhances one’s strength.”

“And in this process, if one cannot adapt to the newly implanted dharma bones, one’s cultivation will regress instead of advancing.”

“This is still with humanoid dharma bones. I hear that higher levels are already experimenting with non-humanoid dharma bones.”

A minor god interjected: “Those are quite powerful in same-level competitions, but after implantation, you lose even the basic human form, and their compatibility with various immortal cultivation techniques is too low. Once implanted, you can no longer cultivate—it’s completely putting the cart before the horse.”

Mu Guiyin brought the topic back: “In any case, Zhang Yu’s physical body is too strong, but his Dao heart is too weak. He hasn’t even fully controlled his original body, so how can he adapt to a new one?”

“On the other hand, looking at Ye Lingxiao’s performance, it’s clear that after Foundation Establishment, he will adapt to dharma bones much faster and have a brighter future in the Foundation Establishment stage.”

And with the conclusion of the second trial and Ye Lingxiao's victory, Huang Zichou began to announce the content of the third trial.

The outcome of this trial would ultimately decide who would claim the Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate.

(End of this chapter)