"Damn it!"
Bang!
"Damn it!"
Bang!
"Damn it!"
Bang! Bang!
In the dark, cold concrete room, accompanied by low growls and the sound of impact, Zhang Yu finally completed the second round of the Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves, despite the intense pain coursing through his body.
With a thud, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.
Feeling his trembling hands and feet, Zhang Yu knew his body had reached its absolute limit.
Every inch of his flesh and blood screamed for rest.
But just as he thought he could finally relax, that chilling sensation and the voice in his head returned.
"Please adhere to the ritual agreement, strive to fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or delay. 10."
"Damn it!" Zhang Yu cursed inwardly.
"I’ve already reached my limit!"
"I can’t do this anymore!"
"I still have classes tomorrow!"
No matter how much he protested or explained, the countdown continued without pause or hesitation.
As the countdown neared its end, Zhang Yu cursed again and stumbled to his feet, forcing himself to continue practicing.
Normally, when people exercise alone, it’s difficult to push themselves to their true limits.
Only under the supervision and strict demands of a teacher or coach can one repeatedly push themselves to the brink.
For Zhang Yu, it was the same.
If he were alone, he would have probably stopped after one or two rounds of the Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves, too exhausted to continue.
But the power of the ritual was like a demonic coach, constantly watching him, threatening him with death, and forcing him to exercise without a moment’s rest.
Third round...
Fourth round...
Fifth round...
All the way to the tenth round!
Under the relentless threat of the ritual’s power, Zhang Yu completed the Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves ten times!
During this time, the pain in his body went from feeling like his flesh was being torn apart, to being stabbed by needles, and finally to a numbing sensation.
He even felt as if his hands and feet were about to disappear.
At the same time, every ounce of his internal energy was forced out, continuously flowing into his damaged flesh.
After these ten rounds, Zhang Yu felt as if both his body and his internal energy had been completely drained, like a rag that had been wrung out thousands of times, with not a single drop left.
At this moment, Zhang Yu just wanted to lie on the ground and not move a muscle.
To his relief, the voice that had been relentlessly pushing him didn’t return this time, as if it recognized that he had truly given his all and reached his limit.
During the intense training, Zhang Yu had also begun to understand the nature of this ritual power.
"This thing is like a dumb AI. It doesn’t have real intelligence; it just operates based on certain rules..."
He had seen similar things in movies, TV shows, and news reports from Kunxu.
Powerful magical artifacts often contained spirits, which were like artificial intelligences, capable of handling various tasks with a certain level of wisdom.
Some of the more powerful spirits even had intelligence comparable to humans.
Now that he was sure the ritual power wasn’t going to force him to continue training, Zhang Yu finally allowed himself to relax and feel the effects of the upgraded Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves.
Yes, after completing the tenth round, Zhang Yu could feel that the martial art had leveled up.
In that instant, his understanding and comprehension of the Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves deepened.
Many details he hadn’t noticed or fully understood before flashed through his mind like lightning.
On the Yu Book, the original "Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves Level 1 (0/10)" had changed to "Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves Level 2 (0/20)."
"So, I just need to practice 20 more times to reach Level 3?"
"If I keep this up, won’t I be able to push the Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves to Level 10 in no time?"
Zhang Yu knew that in the Qi Refining stage, martial arts and spells could only be trained up to Level 10.
"By then, even without acupuncture or medicine, my training results won’t be inferior to Bai Zhenzhen and the others... No, I might even surpass them."
"If I keep going like this, it’s not impossible for me to become the top in physical strength in my grade."
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu felt a surge of motivation, and the pain in his body seemed to lessen.
"Terrifying. My potential is truly terrifying. Once it’s unleashed by this evil god, I’ll soar to new heights."
With these optimistic thoughts about the future, Zhang Yu, who had pushed his body to its limit, gradually succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.
He woke up instinctively at five in the morning, just as he had countless times before.
But today, his limbs felt weak and sore, and even opening his eyes was a struggle.
Although he was awake, Zhang Yu had no desire to get up.
He just wanted to sleep a little longer, even if it was on the cold concrete floor of an unfinished building.
"Five minutes... just five more minutes..."
But just as he was about to indulge in a little more sleep, that chilling voice echoed in his mind once again.
"Please adhere to the ritual agreement, strive to fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or delay. 10."
"Damn it!" Zhang Yu’s eyes snapped open.
After listening carefully and confirming that this wasn’t a hallucination, he cursed and sat up.
At this moment, Zhang Yu suddenly realized that things might be more serious than he had initially thought.
"From now on, anything related to studying, training, getting into university, or work—basically anything related to fulfilling the second wish—I can’t slack off even a little?"
"24-hour supervision, huh?"
With his body still exhausted, Zhang Yu hurried back to his rented room.
Feeling the grease and sweat on his body, he quickly paid the 323.4 water bill and took a five-minute shower before rushing to the bus stop.
Glancing at the display on the platform, Zhang Yu thought, "The next bus is coming in ten minutes?"
Leaning against a pole, he muttered to himself, "I’ll rest for a bit. At least that damn thing isn’t forcing me to train right now."
But as soon as he thought that, he regretted it.
Because that chilling sensation rose in his heart again, and the nightmare-like voice returned.
"Please adhere to the ritual agreement, strive to fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or delay. 10."
"Damn it!" Zhang Yu cursed inwardly.
"Is this thing monitoring my thoughts? If I think of a way to work hard but don’t do it... it’s going to kill me?"
And so, under the countdown, Zhang Yu, despite his exhaustion, began practicing the Body Strengthening Thirty-Six Moves, drawing curious, confused, and even admiring glances from the people around him.
Ha!
Bang!
With the final punch, Zhang Yu, now drenched in sweat, collapsed to the ground once more.
Seeing the bus approaching in the distance, he felt a wave of relief.
"Finally, it’s here."
To his surprise, he even managed to find a seat on the bus today, which lifted his spirits a little.
"Finally, I can rest a bit."
"I’ll just close my eyes for a moment. Surely it won’t force me to train on the bus... unless it’s breathing exercises..."
As soon as the thought of breathing exercises crossed his mind, Zhang Yu felt a sense of dread.
"Please adhere to the ritual agreement, strive to fulfill your wish, and do not intentionally slack off or delay. 10."
Sure enough, the countdown began again, forcing Zhang Yu to practice basic breathing exercises while riding the bus.
Doing breathing exercises on the bus might sound simple and efficient, but even Zhang Yu had given up after trying it a few times in the past.
First, the environment on the bus was too noisy, making it hard to concentrate.
Second, and more importantly, Zhang Yu was just too tired from waking up early every day.
With a rare seat available, all he wanted was to close his eyes for a moment, not to focus on breathing exercises.
The few times he had tried it, he would often start to drift off to sleep after a short while.
But now, under the pressure of the ritual’s power, Zhang Yu had no choice but to force himself to practice the breathing exercises, fighting against his drowsiness as he tried to absorb the spiritual energy of the world with each breath.
At this moment, he fully understood that things were far more serious than he had initially thought.
"This isn’t just ordinary 24-hour supervision. This is pushing me to the brink of death every single moment."
"As long as this thing is with me, all laziness, slacking off, entertainment, enjoyment, and relaxation... will be gone."
"No more weekends, no more holidays. My life will have no joy. Every second will be devoted to studying, training, and working... until the second wish is fulfilled."
Zhang Yu unconsciously hugged his head.
"I’ll become a complete study machine, a workhorse, with no free time at all. I’ll be a workaholic for life... until this pressure completely destroys me!"
He lamented inwardly, "If my whole life is like this, what’s the point of achieving immortality and living for hundreds of years? Living longer just means suffering longer."
"Heavens!"
The passengers around him glanced at Zhang Yu, who was clutching his head in pain.
But Zhang Yu couldn’t care less about them.
As the countdown of "Please adhere to the ritual agreement..." began again, he straightened up, suppressing his sorrow, and continued practicing the basic breathing exercises.
However, at the same time, a sense of determination began to grow in Zhang Yu’s heart.
In fact, up until this morning, Zhang Yu had been somewhat lost since arriving in this world.
Although he had thought about getting into a prestigious university, joining a major sect, and achieving success in cultivating immortality, it was hard to say how much of that was influenced by the memories of his original body and how much was just him going with the flow of life.
But now, Zhang Yu finally had a goal, something he was determined to achieve no matter the obstacles.
He wanted to become strong enough to completely remove this ritual power that was forcing him to work.
Zhang Yu wanted... freedom!
(End of Chapter)