The Yuhao Chronicles - Volume 1 Chapter 34

As Yuhao and Wang Dong arrived back in their room, they only had an hour left before they had to arrive at their afternoon class. Without discussion or hesitation, they both pulled out their respective Tang Sect booklets and began working on the techniques.

Yuhao, unlike Wang Dong who already knew and used the Mysterious Heaven Skill due to her Clear Sky Clan being given these skills by their ancestor, had to practice the foundational skill that all the other Tang Sect techniques are based upon.

The benefits of the skill as stated, include, training internal Qi, allow the person to resist extreme pressure, resist poison and recover from injuries at an increased rate. If the technique is trained to a high enough level, then the user will be able to manifest their internal qi, externally.

Yuhao, following the instructions of the technique, began circulating his spirit power in the ways directed. The routes for this technique, circulated through all areas that his Divine Essence technique already circulated through. The only thing that was different was when and how the energy flowed through the areas. After several full-body cycles, he noticed something very peculiar.

His Divine Essence technique, when he doesn’t actively cultivate with it, passively rotates throughout his body at a quarter of the speed as if he were actively doing so. This means for every four hours of doing other activities such as sparring, eating, learning in class, travelling or blacksmithing, he is effectively earning the equivalent of one hour of intensive cultivation. This might not seem like much, however, with the average cultivation time of sixteen hours a day, this technique results in him cultivating for an effective eighteen.

The peculiar thing that was happening, was that the energy being passively circulated in his body by his Divine Essence technique, began following the process of the Mysterious Heaven Skill. The energy was still being circulated throughout every part of the body that the Tang Sect skill missed, following the Divine Essence Technique. However, the areas that the Mysterious Heaven Skill does circulate and flow in, began copying the new movements directed by Yuhao.

Yuhao was ecstatic at this revelation. He allowed all of his energy to passively circulate, before noticing that the change was permanent. This means that Yuhao will not have to constantly change between cultivation techniques when he wants to use the Tang Sect skills.

As he exited his cultivation, he noticed the time for them to leave to go to their class was upon them. Quickly awakening Wang Dong, they both left their dormitory, towards their classroom.

———————–

In the first year’s class one, all ninety-one students were already seated, ten minutes before the afternoon bell had rung. Moreover, there was an unusual silence amongst the classroom as they did not dare to make a noise lest they anger their teacher upon her arrival.

As Zhou Yi appeared in the doorway, she quickly stated, “Everyone, stand up and gather outside in the plaza.” After saying this she quickly disappeared, prompting the whole classroom to instantly leave the classroom to follow her instructions.

Upon arriving at Shrek Plaza, unlike in the morning, there was a new pile of iron chains messily stacked on the ground.

“Hou Yuhao.” Zhou Yi Called out.

“Yes, Teacher,” Yuhao replied, stepping forward from the group of students.

Zhou Yi spoke up, with all the students listening fervently, “Currently, out of everyone here, you, Huo Yuhao have the highest level of cultivation. Because of this, I hereby declare you class monitor. This doesn’t mean that this position is only yours to keep. Whoever has the strength to beat him, may do so and replace him as the new class monitor. Do you all understand?”

“We understand.” The students replied, their gazes holding no expectations in their eyes. They are all aware that for the vast majority of them, Yuhao was almost twenty spirit ranks above them. He had two spirit rings more than some of them, meaning two more skills to use in combat. While several of the male students were previously adamant on fighting for the position, they held no strong confidence in beating their new monstrous class monitor.

Formalities out of the way, Zhou Yi directed the students gazes back to the iron chains. “These are suits of chainmail specialised in strengthening your physical fitness. Every single one of you will take one. After you’ve put them on, start running around the plaza. You’ll keep running from now until the bell signalling the end of class rings. You can use your spirit power, but you can’t use any spirit skills. Your rank will be based on the number of laps that you’ve completed at the end of class, and the person in last place will be expelled from class one.”

When the students heard that the person in last place would be eliminated, how could they dare to waste any time? They all ran up and grabbed a set of chainmail. The male students were slightly better off, while a majority of the female students turned pale after putting the fifteen-kilogram chainmail on.

As the martial spirit is a manifestation of your spirit or soul, it is heavily influenced by your genetics and gender. This leads to a larger majority of male spirit masters to have physical-based spirits. Given that your spirit helps to improve your physique, males on average have a superior physique, while females, on the contrary, grow to have better control and precision over their spirit power.

Zhou Yi coldly said, “I know that a lot of you want to say that this is unfair because there’s an innate gap between the bodies of men and women. That the physical fitness levels of tool, beast, and battle soul masters are different. However, I want to tell you that I treat everyone equally in my class. Think about it! If you were on the battlefield, would your enemy spare you simply because you’re a girl or a tool master? Start now. Run.”

No matter how much they wanted to curse at Zhou Yi, none of the students dared to speak a word of protest. With Yuhao and Wang Dong in the lead, the collectively ran towards the edge of the field and beginning starting their laps.

Zhou Yi as the group was running, quickly left and returned holding a new suit of chain mail in her hands. This suit was a fair bit bulkier than what the students were currently wearing. As she dropped it on the ground, the students running past her could hear the solid thud that came with it.

“Huo Yuhao, come over here please.” Zhou Yi stated, her voice carrying across the whole Plaza to Yuhao, who was currently running on directly the opposite side of the field.

Hearing his teacher, he quickly sped up, leaving Wang Dong and the others behind and stopped in front of her.

“Take that off,” Zhou Yi stated, indicating to the chain mail he was currently wearing on his torso, “and put this on. You have a vastly superior physique compared to the rest of your classmates and your current chainmail is doing absolutely nothing for you.”

Yuhao nodded before swapping out his chainmail, frowning heavily as he felt the weight set in. The last one was only fifteen kilograms; however, this new set was at least sixty kilograms by itself. On Earth this would have been impossible, however with the much more durable and heavy metals that exist on the Douluo Planet, chainmail sets and armours can easily reach over one hundred kilograms in weight.

Satisfied with the face Yuhao was making, as it meant he was not going to have an easy ride during this afternoon, she told him to get back to running.

As Yuhao began running, he found that his speed had dropped just enough for him to be barely running faster than Wang Dong. Given that the students had run two laps in the time it took him to change chainmail suits, it will take a momentous effort to catch up to his roommate again.

By the time he had completed his tenth lap, he had only managed to catch up by a whole lap, which in and of itself, definitively surprised the leading group as they could hear the thuds that Yuhao’s sixty-kilogram heavier body gave out.

Following the fifteenth lap, the running speed of the students in front had already started to slow down as the effects of the chainmail started to become more obvious. He had managed to catch up to and pass, the stragglers of the group, which included several of the people who overestimated themselves and attempted to keep up with Wang Dong’s pace.

By the twentieth lap, Yuhao had caught up again to Wang Dong’s group. By this point, several students had already collapsed off to the side of the track in utter exhaustion. From the first student who collapsed, many others followed suit.

When over two hours had passed, over half of the students had collapsed to the ground. From the beginning to the end, Zhou Yi had stood there with an expressionless face. She hadn’t urged them to continue either. With the students trying not to be lapped by Yuhao who was carrying a weight four times that of theirs, they had tired themselves out way too quickly.

Yuhao, while all of this was going on, looked quite fresh and energised. While he had a visible amount of sweat on his face and head, his speed had remained unchanged.

After breaking through into the third and final hour of continuous running, with the afternoon bell expected to ring in the next forty or so minutes, all but Yuhao had collapsed on the floor.

His steps were still firm, and he was still maintaining his current pace. However, unlike an hour ago, sweat was entirely drenching his face causing him to constantly wipe it away with his sleeve and he was taking heavy breaths as he went.

He unlike, the original Yuhao, had his cultivation technique that already provided passive cultivation benefits. As he was running, he could feel his muscles getting strained and the lactic acid building in his lower legs. Regardless, he kept running, pushing his willpower and body as far as he could, trusting in his cultivation technique to disperse the lactic acid and gradually repair the muscle strains.

As all of the students witnessed their class monitor’s determination, they couldn’t help but feel motivated to replicate his feats. Slowly, starting off with Wang Dong, the students began pulling themselves back onto their feet and continuing running.

At this moment, Yuhao couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of dj vu as he remembered the times when he used to run around the military base with his squad, back on Earth.

Zhou Yi was moved. Of all the time she’d been teaching, it was extremely rare that she’d be moved by the performances of her students. This was no longer a simple exercise that could temper their bodies but was simultaneously tempering their minds. The results of this class were far, far greater than what she had imagined.

“Ding ring ring…..”

The bell that signalled the end of the class finally rang.

Every single one of the running students instantly collapsed, in the exact spot that they were previously standing. As some of the nearby classes left their classrooms, they gave the exhausted and sprawled-out student’s strange looks, only to instantly show an understanding expression when they noticed that Zhou Yi was their teacher. Under the gazes of the students from other classes, several of collapsed students blushed intensely in embarrassment at their current position.

Zhou Yi slowly took a deep breath, then beckoned towards the distance. A white-clothed male arrived as if he was floating on air. He arrived by Zhou Yi’s side with what seemed to be a few light steps. After nodding towards her, he turned towards the students.

His dazzling soul rings appeared below his feet, one by one. There were two yellow ones, two purple ones, and three black ones, signifying his status as a Spirit Sage.

He raised his hands, and a gentle, green leaf began to grow from his palms. The leaf grew wildly, and in the blink of an eye, turned into an enormous tree that was extremely tall. This tree was one of the pinnacle, plant-type martial spirits on the planet, called the Tree of Life. It was renowned for its capability to treat wounds, remove fatigue and enhance the strength of multiple Spirit Masters simultaneously.

His seventh spirit ring flashed brightly as it began to revolve around him. Following the flash of the spirit ring, a cool breeze began to blow past the students, which was followed by dark green leaves flying out from the enormous canopy of the tree. Exactly ninety-one leaves landed lightly on the bodies of the students from class one, nourishing their bodies and allowing them to recover somewhat from their exhaustion.