Listening to Zhang Pianpian's explanation, Zhang Yu asked another question.
"Why is it that if I take the assessment, A-Zhen can also be protected?"
Zhang Pianpian propped her chin with one hand and said indifferently, "I can act as your recommender and recommend you to take the Divine Assistant assessment. Once you become a Divine Assistant, you can bring along one intern of your own."
Zhang Yu understood.
It was like outsourcing an intern as a temporary worker.
Zhang Pianpian continued, "After becoming an external member of the Eight Divine Departments, I'll take you to Songyang High School to negotiate with the student council and back you up."
"For the next half year or so, as long as I stay in Songyang City and don’t leave for university, they probably won’t cause trouble for the two of you."
Go to Songyang High School to negotiate? Back us up? What’s your status? What’s your score? How much money do you have? Can you really back us up?
As if sensing Zhang Yu’s doubts and concerns, Zhang Pianpian didn’t say much, only adding lightly, "I’m currently the top senior at Bailong High School and the strongest high school student in Songyang City."
The strongest high school student in Songyang City!
If it were the Zhang Yu from his past life hearing these words, he would have just thought, "Oh, not bad, pretty impressive."
But now, hearing Zhang Pianpian’s words, he felt like the sister before him was radiating a blinding light.
Anyone who had attended high school in Songyang City knew the weight of those words.
It was a title earned only after countless soul-selling, self-destructive cultivation sessions, shedding buckets of blood and tears, and stepping over the corpses of countless high school students.
So Zhang Yu asked again, "What exactly does the Divine Assistant job entail?"
"Job?" Zhang Pianpian tilted her head.
"You don’t really need to do anything specific. Once you have this status, you just need to collect your monthly salary on time."
Zhang Yu understood again.
Wasn’t this just freeloading? Had such good fortune finally come his way?
Zhang Yu quickly asked, "Then what exactly is the assessment about?"
Zhang Pianpian shook her head.
"The specific content of the exam is randomly generated. I don’t know either."
"But based on my understanding of Divine Assistants, the higher your Dao Heart and willpower, the better."
"Dao Heart and willpower?" Zhang Yu nodded slightly.
"Is the exam held in the Spirit Realm?"
"Correct."
Zhang Pianpian stood up and walked toward the door.
"The exam is in the Spirit Realm."
"I’ll send you the online registration link for the assessment later."
"If you register today, you should be able to take the exam tomorrow."
"Remember to take a day off from school tomorrow."
"Also, I’ll send someone to lend you a Spirit Realm mask for the exam."
With that, Zhang Pianpian had already reached the door.
"Lastly, remember not to reveal our sibling relationship to anyone. If anyone asks, just say I admire your talent."
Watching Zhang Pianpian’s retreating figure, Zhang Yu thought for a moment, then sent a message to Su Haifeng to ask for a day off.
Without waiting for a reply, he put down his phone and began thinking about what preparations he needed to make.
"Dao Heart? Willpower? And the exam is in the Spirit Realm?"
Zhang Yu decided to trust Zhang Pianpian’s words and began pondering based on her guidance.
"To improve Dao Heart and willpower, the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique is definitely the most useful."
"I’ll push this technique harder tonight."
However, considering the importance of this matter, which concerned both his and Bai Zhenzhen’s future, Zhang Yu decided to go all out and push the technique even further tonight.
He picked up his phone and contacted Wang Hai.
"Teacher Wang, I’d like to buy some medicine."
Wang Hai was overjoyed, almost unable to hold back his laughter.
Finally! Finally, this body-refining genius and Golden Core disciple in his class was willing to buy medicine from him!
At this moment, Wang Hai felt a deep sense of relief, as if he had seen a wayward student finally return to the right path.
He thought for a moment and asked, "What kind of medicine do you need?"
Zhang Yu replied, "Medicine that will allow me to train all night without needing to rest."
"The side effects and damage to my body must be as minimal as possible."
"The quality must be good, and the price isn’t an issue."
"I only need it for tonight, so don’t prescribe too much."
Zhang Yu thought to himself that although his original body had overdosed on medicine before, he had been recuperating for a long time, and his physical strength had greatly improved.
For tomorrow’s assessment, taking a round of medicine shouldn’t be a big problem.
On the other hand, Wang Hai, as both a medicine user and seller, knew his products inside and out.
Although he felt a bit regretful that Zhang Yu only needed the medicine for one night, it made him even more eager to show Zhang Yu the benefits of using medicine, hoping he would buy more in the future.
"Wait a moment…"
Wang Hai immediately put his mind to work, considering Zhang Yu’s physical strength, and finally came up with a list that included painkillers, focus enhancers, stimulants, and stamina injections.
He sent the list to Zhang Yu and added, "All top-quality products, with the minimal side effects you requested. If you want them, I’ll give you a 10% discount."
Looking at the total price of 5,800, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly.
"Good medicine really isn’t cheap. Good thing I only need it for one night."
After all the expenses on food, transportation, Heavenly Spirit Root supplements, and the new month’s 15,000 loan, 1,500 rent, and a few hundred for utilities, Zhang Yu’s savings had dropped to around 45,000.
Now, subtracting 5,800, he was left with just over 39,000.
"Ah, I’m so poor."
Zhang Yu transferred the money to Wang Hai and waited for the delivery.
Given the efficiency of Songyang City’s couriers, he should receive the package within an hour.
At that moment, he received a message from Zhang Pianpian with the link to the assessment application.
"Songyang City Inspection Department Divine Assistant Recruitment Registration…"
The Inspection Department was one of the Eight Divine Departments.
Zhang Yu saw that the recruitment requirements, job responsibilities, and benefits were listed.
He met all the recruitment requirements.
The job description mentioned things like patrol inspections and maintaining public order, but it was all very vague.
Zhang Yu had no idea what the job actually entailed.
As for the benefits…
"18 hours of work per week, with a monthly salary of 1,000?"
That was less than 14 per hour.
Did this job really require an exam? Zhang Yu sighed in relief, glad that he was the one freeloading.
Based on his understanding of Kunxu, the status of a job could be entirely judged by its hourly wage.
A job with an hourly wage of less than 14… Could it really shield him in front of the student council? The hourly wage alone exuded a sense of poverty and insignificance.
Afraid that Zhang Pianpian had sent him the wrong link, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but send her a message, expressing his doubts.
Zhang Pianpian simply replied, "No matter how low the status, it’s still under the Eight Divine Departments. And whether a status is useful depends on who’s using it."
"The monthly salary is a bit low, but there are some hidden benefits not listed in the recruitment notice."
"For example, after joining, you’ll get a free talisman book for work."
"And once you become a Divine Assistant, you’ll get discounts if you study talismans."
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up.
With these additional benefits, the job was indeed quite special.
So he submitted his application on the website and wrote Zhang Pianpian’s name in the recommender section.
A moment later, Zhang Yu received a notification to attend the assessment at 9 a.m. the next day.
After completing all this, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but feel a sense of感慨.
The channels, jobs, statuses, and information Zhang Pianpian had shared with him today were all things he had been completely unaware of in the past.
This made him recall the memories of his original self, Zhang Yu, who had almost blindly attended the high school interview, only to realize that not only were there huge gaps in wealth, talent, and ability, but also in information and intelligence.
He hadn’t even known the right direction to work toward.
Gathering his thoughts, Zhang Yu began meditating and practicing the Desolate Bull Soul-Calming Technique while waiting for the delivery.
Since the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique required both physical movement and mental cultivation, he mainly practiced the Desolate Bull Soul-Calming Technique in his rented room.
In the blink of an eye, over forty minutes passed, and both the Spirit Realm mask sent by Zhang Pianpian and the medicine package from Wang Hai arrived.
Zhang Yu grabbed the bag of medicine and wanted to rush to the abandoned building to train.
But after considering the value of the Spirit Realm mask, he decided to bring it along.
Arriving at the abandoned building, Zhang Yu took the painkillers, focus enhancers, and stimulants Wang Hai had prepared for him, then injected a stamina booster into his arm.
A moment later, Zhang Yu felt his entire body heating up, his blood and energy surging like molten lava.
He felt as if he had endless stamina and strength.
Boom!
With a punch, he began frantically practicing the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique.
Originally, it took him 14 minutes to complete one set of the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique.
But now, under the influence of the medicine, Zhang Yu’s movements left afterimages, and he completed nine sets in just six minutes.
Throughout the process, he felt no muscle soreness or breathlessness.
The entire training session left Zhang Yu with one thought:
This is too intense! Wang Hai’s medicine is really too intense! This 5,800 was well spent!
Teacher Wang! Taking medicine is really better than natural body refining!
For one hour, Zhang Yu trained like a madman.
Two hours later, he was still going.
Five hours later, he still hadn’t stopped.
He trained relentlessly all night, until 7 a.m., when he suddenly felt completely drained and could no longer continue.
He collapsed to the ground, feeling as if his heart was about to leap out of his chest, and his internal organs ached dully.
It took over ten minutes for him to gradually recover.
"The medicine’s effects have worn off."
Recalling the pain he had just experienced, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "This stuff is too strong. My internal organs aren’t fully healed yet. I really can’t take too much of this medicine."
But the results of his night of疯狂 cultivation were substantial.
Not only had his physical strength increased from 1.33 to 1.35, but his Dao Heart had also risen to level 3 (5%).
Most importantly, the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique had advanced to level 6 (3/60).
Now, when Zhang Yu activated his Heavenly Martial Intent, he felt all fear and hesitation leave him.
No matter how difficult the path ahead, he was determined to forge ahead and carve out a path with his own hands.
After breakfast, he returned to his rented room and rested until 8:50 a.m.
Zhang Yu put on the Spirit Realm mask, activated the Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique, and connected to the assessment website.
When the clock struck 9, Zhang Yu felt a flash of light in the darkness, and he was transported to another world.
(End of Chapter)