Facing the explosive power of He Dayou, Zhang Yu smiled slightly, already having a clear understanding in his heart.
He thought to himself, "The competition team is indeed impressive. Their progress over these past few days has been remarkable. He Dayou's physical strength is even slightly higher than mine, but..."
Zhang Yu had chosen to compete in strength to test the results of his recent cultivation.
At this moment, as Zhang Yu's muscles tensed with force, his body seemed to twist into a single rope.
His muscles pressed and leveraged against each other, ultimately transforming into a terrifying burst of power that surged from his entire body to his hands.
With the support of the 10th level Red Marrow Primordial Qi and Zhang Yu's control over his muscles, the physical strength he could instantly unleash far surpassed that of opponents with similar physical strength.
With a loud bang, He Dayou felt an irresistible force slam into him, sending him flying and crashing onto the ground.
The familiar sensation of the world spinning, the hard and cold ground, and the pain all over his body.
He Dayou climbed to his feet, somewhat dazed.
This feeling was all too familiar.
Had he been defeated again in an instant?
Just like the last time he faced Zhang Yu, even after his physical strength had greatly increased, he had lost again?
He suddenly looked up, his wide eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at Zhang Yu, still unable to accept what had happened.
"How could his strength be so much greater than mine? Has his physical strength already surpassed mine?"
Not far away, Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing also looked over, their eyes filled with amazement as they watched He Dayou being thrown to the ground.
Qian Shen said, "Has Zhang Yu improved even more than He Dayou?"
Zhao Tianxing thought to himself, "How did he do it? How much has Zhang Yu's physical strength increased in such a short time? Is it even more impressive than the special training program?"
After school that day, He Dayou went to the sports competition team's training ground and told Lan Ling about what had happened.
Lan Ling frowned and said, "His physical strength can't possibly be higher than yours."
"The reason he was able to defeat you is likely because his technique in exerting force is better than yours, while you..."
Lan Ling glanced at him, then casually lifted and shook He Dayou, causing him to feel as if he had lost control over his muscles.
Lan Ling put him down and said calmly, "Your control over your muscles, especially the transplanted ones, is too poor. You haven't been able to unleash your true strength."
"Continue with the next surgeries and training. Once you've transplanted more muscle fibers and can exert more of the transplanted muscles' power, you won't lose to Zhang Yu again."
...
At the same time, after school, Zhang Yu was walking back to his rented room while circulating his Red Marrow Primordial Qi.
But the moment he opened the door, he was slightly stunned by the sight of a tattered cloth doll on his bed.
"Evil God?"
It was a ragged cloth doll, with two button eyes that looked like dark holes, staring intently at Zhang Yu as he opened the door.
It was none other than the Evil God he had made a wish to before.
Just as Zhang Yu was slightly stunned, the doll spoke, "My good servant, kneel before me. This is my wish."
Accompanied by the ritual's voice screaming in his mind, Zhang Yu could only drop to one knee with a thud.
The doll on the bed laughed, "I never expected this, truly never expected it."
"In just two or three months, that random move I made has actually grown into something significant."
"If I hadn't heard that you, a student from Songyang High School, had won first place in the martial arts competition, I probably wouldn't have realized how quickly you've progressed..."
As she spoke, the gloom in her heart dissipated somewhat.
The reason she had returned to find Zhang Yu was partly due to his impressive performance, but also because... she had found herself unable to return.
Thinking back to when she had once stood at the pinnacle of the Evil Gods, having achieved financial and cultivation freedom, only to lose everything due to a failed investment after retirement, forcing her to return to the front lines.
But she hadn't cared much at the time.
If she couldn't stay at the peak, she would just retrace her steps!
With her years of experience in the fraud industry, she had thought it would be a story of a supreme Evil God dominating the city, a max-level character cleaning up the workplace.
Who would have thought that the anti-fraud measures of the major sects would evolve so rapidly, causing even her, a treasure of the Evil God realm, to suffer heavy losses? Coupled with being betrayed, she was now stranded on the first layer of Kunxu, her power at rock bottom, with no way to recover.
"Damn it... if I get caught and deported, it's over... who betrayed me?"
"My power is draining so fast, my intelligence is about to drop again. If this continues... I'll really turn into a stupid toy."
And so, at this moment, she had returned to Zhang Yu, hoping to use this potential stock to rise again.
"To think that a poor guy like him could win first place in the martial arts competition. He must have some incredible potential that I unlocked."
"Heh... I thought it was a losing deal, but it turns out I hit the jackpot."
Thinking about how Zhang Yu still owed her a wish, the doll grew even more excited.
But in the next moment, she was slightly stunned.
Zhang Yu, who should have been kneeling after her wish, was slowly standing up?
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Are you crazy? Kneel down quickly, or do you want to die from the ritual's backlash?"
Zhang Yu, however, was silently feeling the changes in the ritual's power within him.
After she had wished for him to kneel, as he dropped to one knee, the chilling sensation from the ritual had dissipated.
But just a few seconds after he knelt, the stupid ritual started screaming again.
Zhang Yu was slightly stunned, then realized, "Is it urging me to cultivate?"
"But the other wish was to kneel?"
"Is there a conflict between the wishes?"
Zhang Yu became curious, "So... in this situation, which wish takes priority?"
He tried standing up, and immediately, a ritual voice urged him to kneel.
Zhang Yu could feel the ritual's power splitting into two streams, one urging him to cultivate, the other urging him to kneel.
"It really is a conflict."
But when he activated his Red Marrow Primordial Qi and entered a cultivation state, all the screaming stopped.
"So, in the end, cultivation takes priority over kneeling. Is it because of the order of the wishes?"
Seeing Zhang Yu standing up, the doll initially thought he had gone mad and was risking his life.
But seeing his calm demeanor, she quickly realized something was wrong.
However, unlike Zhang Yu, who had been accompanied by the ritual day and night for over two months, the doll, though she remembered the two wishes she had given him, hadn't considered how the ritual's power had integrated the plans to get into a good university, join a major sect, work hard to earn money, and buy the antiques in his shopping cart into Zhang Yu's daily life.
Though she hadn't thought of the details and how they conflicted with the 'kneel' wish, upon realizing something was wrong, she immediately made her next wish.
"I command you not to harm me!"
But the moment the doll spoke, a loud boom echoed through the air, and a large hand wrapped in layers of white energy grabbed the doll.
The doll angrily shouted, "I command you! Let me go immediately."
Zhang Yu's hand loosened slightly, but in the next moment, even more intense energy surged forth, squeezing the doll like a training tool.
Feeling the changes in the chilling sensation within him, Zhang Yu thought, "So, when wishes conflict, the key is the order of the wishes?"
"Studying, cultivating, getting into a good university, joining a major sect... the plans triggered by these wishes, due to their order, take priority over subsequent wishes."
"In other words, as long as I maintain a state of cultivation and study, any subsequent wishes that conflict with 'cultivation and study' can be temporarily suppressed..."
At this moment, Zhang Yu was using the tattered doll as a tool to practice his Formless Cloud Energy.
In this state... he found that the ritual wasn't urging him to kneel or to let go of the doll.
Thinking this, Zhang Yu looked at the doll, which was about to speak again, and said calmly, "Shut up."
The Formless Cloud Energy pulsed, gently pressing against the doll's surface, as if it could tear the doll apart at any moment.
At the same time, Zhang Yu's voice continued.
"You just said not to harm... you."
As the Formless Cloud Energy rubbed against the doll, she felt the pressure on her body gradually increasing, as if she were about to be truly harmed or attacked.
"So, if I destroy this doll now, I can harm you, right?"
Feeling Zhang Yu's gaze, filled with killing intent and battle spirit, yet also incredibly calm, the doll's heart sank.
"Damn it... he figured it out so quickly? No, has my intelligence dropped again?"
The doll quickly warned, "Zhang Yu, if you really harm me now, you'll definitely die from the ritual's backlash!"
"You can feel it, right? The ritual's power is already monitoring you."
Zhang Yu didn't speak, but after some experimentation, he found that any intention to harm the doll caused the ritual to scream again.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "The rule of not harming the Evil God seems to take priority over the wishes."
But he knew that showing weakness at this moment was not an option, so he continued to fully activate his Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique, unleashing a desperate fighting spirit.
Sometimes, you have to threaten to tear down the roof to get a window opened.
So Zhang Yu continued, "Then let's just die together. What's the point of living as your servant for the rest of my life?"
Feeling Zhang Yu's fearless spirit under the influence of the 10th level Heavenly Martial Heart Refining Technique, the doll's heart sank again.
In his gaze, she could truly sense a fighting spirit willing to risk everything.
(End of Chapter)