Chapter 1 2015, June 10th, The First Day of the Holy Trial

The inky black clouds in the gloomy sky swirled like ink drops in water, shifting wildly in the wind. Though it wasn't raining, a stifling, humid pressure blanketed the entire city.

For Hong City, it was just another ordinary summer day.

This year's Holy Trial was unique compared to previous years. Normally, armed patrol officers would be seen everywhere, with ordinary officers setting up barricades to ensure students could reach their examination halls quickly and without issue.

But this year, local troops and armored vehicles were stationed at the entrances of every major city, and groups of three to five Bai Di Guards (White Emperor Guards) appeared and disappeared with unsettling frequency. In some developed cities, armed helicopters even circled in the sky, and who knows if there were snipers on the surrounding high-rise buildings.

Frankly, even the Zhusheng (Sages) didn't have this much fanfare when they traveled around the country giving lectures some time ago. But it was understandable, since this was the first Holy Trial after the spiritual energy revival; no amount of importance placed on it would be too much.

After awakening, Su Zhou quickly prepared all of his exam materials, making sure his admission ticket and student ID were in his pocket.

"The language arts exam is in the morning on the first day, and the math exam is in the afternoon. The physical sciences exam, a combination of physics, chemistry, and biology, is in the morning on the second day, and the comprehensive exam, covering politics, history, and geography, is in the afternoon."

"Language arts is worth 150 points, math is 150, physical sciences is 300, and comprehensive is 150. That's 750 points in total. As for the third day, it's the spiritual energy comprehensive test, but who knows what they'll actually test."

Arriving at the examination school, he could see that many students still had an irrepressible nervousness on their faces. Even those who were expressionless were subtly moving their mouths, as if silently reciting key points.

Some people seemed to be guessing the test questions with an uncanny accuracy, as if they had already seen the paper—a closer look revealed a bookworm wearing glasses with lenses of at least 700 degrees, having already devoured tens of thousands of volumes, and possibly already having replicated this year's college entrance exam in their mind.

The myriad aspects of life.

But Su Zhou was very calm and composed, not nervous at all. This kind of exam was just a formality for him.

Su Zhou stretched his fingers a little and walked towards his examination area. Along the way, in addition to students, he could also see many professional staff members transporting supplies. A simple steel-plate house had already been set up on the school playground for students to stay in overnight.

The Holy Trial inherited the imperial examinations of past dynasties, and the rules were the same. After the first day of exams, students wouldn't return home, but would stay at the school and continue the next day.

However, as Su Zhou was walking, he heard the sound of wind coming from his side. Judging from the sound, someone was approaching him at a jog. This person was of normal build and weight, about 1.73 meters tall, and was gradually slowing down.

"Someone's looking for me?"

He turned his head and found that it wasn't a staff member, but a male student wearing the same school uniform as him.

This person had a simple and honest face, and a樸实气质 (pǔ shí qìzhì – plain and sincere demeanor). His eyes were slightly眯起 (míqǐ – squinted), making one wonder if he had opened them at all. His legs were sturdy, and his muscles were well-proportioned, suggesting he was a track and field athlete.

He seemed to be a student from First High School as well, and looked a bit familiar. Su Zhou was certain that he had interacted with him in the past, but he had forgotten when.

"He should be a sports specialty student."

Thinking this, Su Zhou asked, "What's up, friend?"

The student who had stopped next to Su Zhou opened his mouth. He took a deep breath and said in a very complicated tone, "Su Zhou... you must be serious and do well on the exam."

"Please take this Holy Trial and the spiritual energy test that follows seriously... Good luck."

After saying this, the student seemed to have exhausted most of his strength, as if he was about to turn around and leave. However, Su Zhou, feeling a little baffled by the encouragement, quickly stopped him. "Wait a minute, friend, what do you mean? Although I appreciate your encouragement, you suddenly running over to say something like that, you should give me a reason, right?"

"At least, tell me your name."

*Could I have somehow gained a fan?* Su Zhou thought to himself. *Otherwise, there's no reason for someone to suddenly jump out and talk to me today.*

On the other side, Su Zhou's voice seemed to carry some kind of magical power. The student, who had originally been determined to leave after speaking, actually stopped and turned his head with a complicated expression.

"My name is Ma Jing. So, you really don't recognize me anymore."

He looked at Su Zhou, his眯眯眼 (mīmī yǎn – squinty eyes) revealing no emotion. His tone was a little low. "I'm a member of the school's long-distance running team. I've been practicing long-distance running since I was a child. I really like long-distance running."

"Three years ago, I was one of the sports specialty students you surpassed in various sports."

As soon as Ma Jing said this, Su Zhou vaguely remembered that when he first entered First High School, he had indeed demonstrated his physical strength during a sports meet or physical education class, winning several first places and seemingly breaking some school records... Although it was a bit early, he hadn't completely forgotten. In his memory, a blurry face gradually became clear. It was indeed Ma Jing.

At that time, he didn't seem to have spent much effort to beat the entire track and field team. After all, they were just high school students; they couldn't compare to Su Zhou, who had the physical fitness of a professional athlete at that time.

"Then... what do you mean by running over to encourage me?" Su Zhou scratched his head. To be honest, he still didn't understand the connection. He figured they shouldn't be that close. Even if it was a case of mutual appreciation between rivals, it shouldn't be like this. "According to what you said, our relationship might not be very good, right?"

Hearing this, Ma Jing was silent for a moment. He actually nodded and slowly replied, "Yeah, that's right. Our relationship isn't good. Ever since you came, the coach and teachers have been single-mindedly trying to recruit you, and we sports specialty students have been ignored instead. Most of our training has been self-directed—many people have even simply given up on this path. The answer is simple: since there's someone who's destined to be unbeatable standing here, what's the point of trying?"

"But I'm still persevering. For three years, I've been persistently training myself, running consistently."

Speaking of this, Ma Jing's simple and honest face became expressionless. He took a deep breath, stretched his muscles, and then smiled. "But I still can't surpass you. Even at my peak, I barely managed to match the record you casually set when you weren't even trying hard back in your first year of high school."

Ma Jing's smile was only fleeting. He continued, "Coaches, teachers, classmates, parents, and even myself all think you're a genius. Su Zhou, you really are a genius. I used to be very, very jealous, but later I realized that jealousy is useless. In competition, anger and jealousy are useless. To win, you need scientific training and talent. Since I don't have that much talent, I can only train consistently."

When Su Zhou heard this, he straightened up slightly. For a moment, his expression became serious as he listened to Ma Jing's story.

At this time, Ma Jing's original somewhat suppressed tone suddenly became lighter. "And then... the spiritual energy revival happened."

"During spiritual energy class, I could vaguely sense the existence of spiritual power, but I couldn't guide it into my body. I wasn't willing to accept this, so I paid to get my talent tested. I have a talent of 18%, which is better than average, meaning I can cultivate. But among those who can cultivate, I'm one of the worst."

Although Ma Jing's expression was relaxed and his tone had become lighter, Su Zhou could see that his fists were clenched.

That feeling of unwillingness had almost materialized, wandering between his eyebrows. Ma Jing suppressed his extremely unwilling tone and calmly said the rest.

"The emergence of transcendence... all traditional sports are meaningless. Cultivators have strong memories and excellent physical fitness. Even people who were originally skinny can become top students and strongmen if they succeed in cultivation. Plus, now that everyone is cultivating, it's almost like the human average has increased. The pursuit of higher, faster, and stronger in sports will definitely be dominated by cultivators in the future."

"No, are there still sports? Can Kai Ling (Spirit Opening) compete with awakening in terms of physical strength? Can awakening compete with transcendence? Will cultivators who can summon wind and rain and walk on water as if it were flat ground still run, jump, swim, or participate in any other sports? If the qinggong (light body skill) in martial arts appeared, wouldn't a distance of thousands or tens of thousands of meters take them almost no time at all?"

"Someone like me, who doesn't have great talent and has worked hard for so many years, has actually been eliminated long ago, and it's not something I can change with my efforts—so at first, I was still very unwilling."

After Ma Jing calmly said these things, his expression relaxed instead. He unclenched his fists and looked at Su Zhou with no other thoughts. Then he sincerely said, "I didn't want to say these things to you, just to pour out negative energy. It sounds pretentious, and it's a waste of time... But for some reason, when you asked, I just wanted to say it. I really wanted to say it."

"Su Zhou, your talent is really powerful, really exaggerated... so, you must respect your talent and develop it to its fullest!"

"I lost, I can't win. It's my own problem, I don't have enough talent. No matter how hard I try, it's half the result with twice the effort. But if someone with great talent wastes their great talent..."

Ma Jing smiled calmly. He had really figured it out completely. "Yeah, seeing a genius fail and fall into the dust might give the losers a temporary sense of satisfaction, but seeing a genius not work hard and squander their talent is what really breaks the hearts of the losers."

"I was indeed very jealous of you at first. And just now, when I realized that you didn't even remember my name, it made the gloom in my heart brew even more. But a few seconds ago, I suddenly realized: if I'm just a stepping stone for this era, then why can't I be?"

"I go long-distance running because I love long-distance running, I love the feeling of surpassing myself. Even if my efforts are useless, even if I can't win the championship, I'll still do what I like—if I can't defeat others, I can defeat myself."

Looking at Su Zhou, Ma Jing's simple and honest face, those squinting eyes, actually opened slightly, revealing bright eyes behind them. He whispered, "But I only hope that the person who beat me isn't surpassed by someone else because they didn't work hard... because I will never admit defeat in terms of effort."

After speaking, Ma Jing turned around and left. Today was the Holy Trial, and he didn't want to waste Su Zhou's time. If Su Zhou hadn't asked, he would have left long ago.

At this time, Su Zhou blinked.

He had never paid attention to these extremely complex emotions that others had towards him before... After all, it wasn't hatred, nor was it blatant jealousy. Conversely, even if it was hatred and jealousy, so what? People are always hated when they are alive.

But Ma Jing's words, his blessing, were so heavy.

"Don't worry." Su Zhou said calmly to Ma Jing's back, "You'll soon see me standing in the first place in the country, and even the world."

"And who says effort is useless? As long as you can cultivate to the point of transcendence and condense spiritual energy organs, even if you only had a few percent of talent originally, you can gradually turn yourself into a genius... Although that step is very difficult and arduous, what I'm saying might just be poisonous chicken soup. Your efforts might still be fruitless, after all, the possibility of achieving transcendence is too small—but it's not impossible."

"Keep going, Ma Jing. Although I didn't remember your name at first, now I do, right? And no one is anyone's stepping stone, unless they willingly become one."

Ma Jing's departing figure paused slightly, then nodded silently. Su Zhou also smiled and continued walking towards the examination hall.

Ma Jing was just an unknown, ordinary student who had experienced the greatest era change in a thousand years, known as the spiritual energy revival.

But the spiritual energy revival is an era of change, and also an era of miracles.

As long as one doesn't make a judgment on themselves, there will always be opportunities.

Walking on the road to the examination hall, Su Zhou felt inexplicably lighthearted. Ma Jing's encouragement not only freed him, but also truly inspired Su Zhou.

"With great power comes great responsibility; I used to think it was just a matter of course."

"But now that I think about it, if talent and strength are wasted, it's not just oneself who suffers—how selfish would someone have to be to think that this power and talent are mine, and I can use them however I want? Not to mention parents, friends, and people who bless me like this, isn't it a sin to let them down?"

"Even if it's just for showing off, I can't waste it—and showing off always needs cheering onlookers."

Su Zhou, having been motivated, had completely discarded his previous overly relaxed state and was facing this exam with the same seriousness he would have in battle.

June 10th, 2015. The math exam in the morning.

There were no difficulties. After eating the Wisdom Fruit, Su Zhou's memory and thinking speed couldn't be considered genius, but monstrous. He worked smoothly all the way, not even feeling any difficulties or traps. After finishing the paper, there was no doubt that he could get a full 150 points.

And judging from the performance of the surrounding students, many people were also doing very well. The spiritual energy revival and the nationwide cultivation brought about the all-around evolution of mankind. Even students who haven't yet opened their spirits have at least been nourished by spiritual energy and are more sharp-eared and clear-eyed than before.

This year's paper might be difficult, but for the current collective of humanity, it might be a bit simple.

In the afternoon, the language arts exam was held. Similarly, everything was normal, with nothing too unexpected.

The key word for the Hong City Holy Trial composition was 'change,' requiring students to write a composition about the biggest change they had encountered in the past few years.

And in this era, what change could be bigger than the spiritual energy revival? Su Zhou thought of his conversation with Ma Jing not long ago, smiled slightly, and wrote him into the composition.

The first day of the Holy Trial ended just like that.