Chapter 197: Chapter 78: Achieving the Extraordinary

’But I don’t want to be the kind of person who can only depend on others.’

Shao Qiming was a smart man. He knew perfectly well what the optimal choice was. If he were truly just a smart man, he would stand behind Su Zhou. He’d rely on Su Zhou’s power and use his own intelligence to handle the operations for his friend, who couldn’t be bothered with such trivial matters, earning and developing the wealth and influence Su Zhou had no time to build himself.

That would be the ideal partnership for them both. No one would find it strange, and no one would think there was anything wrong with it. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

SWOOSH. The Spiritual Sand swirled upward as the number surpassed 80%. The speed was slowing, but it continued to rise.

The upward surge of Spiritual Sand finally stopped at 85%, with the vast majority of the white sand now gathered in the top half of the hourglass.

"Excellent, just excellent!" Professor Zuo, the team leader, exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. Even the professors and Tutors from the other Academies widened their eyes, praising him aloud. "Another genius with A Class Talent! Hongzhou is truly a land of exceptional people!"

Yet, Shao Qiming’s expression remained placid. He showed no sign of the elation seen on the faces of the other geniuses who had achieved an A Class Talent... Was it the effect of the Ice Heart Pill? It was unclear.

"With this... can I finally see the world from your point of view?" he murmured to himself, slowly lowering his hand.

He was a smart man, but he was also a young man. And Shao Qiming had a competitive heart that refused to be outdone!

’Rely on a friend for everything? Anyone with a shred of self-respect would never tolerate such a thing!’

’I’m no dead weight!’

He returned to the line and met Su Zhou’s gaze. Shao Qiming gave him a silent smile, and Su Zhou smiled and nodded in return before striding forward.

—It was his turn.

In that moment, Su Zhou wasn’t thinking about anything else at all.

He hadn’t noticed the complex turmoil in the mind of his friend, who refused to be left behind.

He paid no mind to the gazes of the many professors and students converging on him.

He paid even less attention to the camera lens in the distance, which was swiveling to get a better angle. Nor did he notice the two powerful beings in a nearby monitoring room who were projecting their Divine Thought toward him.

Just as he would in battle, Su Zhou walked forward with intense focus. The sound of the wind vanished from his ears, and all extraneous light faded away. His Spiritual Vision, operating at full power, transformed the world into a brilliant, colorful kaleidoscope, only to immediately resolve into a state of pure simplicity.

The myriad Spiritual Attributes of thousands of students, the powerful auras of hundreds of supervising professors and patrolling Transcendents—all the dazzling colors of Spiritual Qi began to rapidly fade from his sight.

All that remained was the primordial, azure Spiritual Qi swirling around him, cheering and dancing with joy.

Su Zhou had a premonition. He knew that with a single thought, a mere lift of his hand, he could make it all his own.

So, he raised his hand.

—From dozens of meters away, he raised his hand toward the hourglass.

’Celestial Human Cycle, activate!’

VMMMM— In that instant, it was as if everyone present experienced an auditory hallucination: a deep, faint Dragon’s Roar!

Then, a wind suddenly stirred!

SWOOOOOSH—

The Spiritual Sand in an hourglass with no one standing before it suddenly began to shoot upward—10%, 20%, 30%! Before most people could even register what was happening, the expression on Zhang Fucheng’s face, who had been watching Su Zhou’s every move intently, changed drastically.

"What?!"

He muttered in astonishment. Zhang Fucheng could see it clearly: a massive Spiritual Energy Vortex was forming with Su Zhou at its center and expanding in every direction!

The wind carried a powerful static charge. The hair of everyone caught in its currents stood on end. When their fingers brushed against metal, visible sparks flew. All electromagnetic instruments went haywire, their needles swinging wildly as their data became corrupted!

Su Zhou hadn’t physically approached the Spirit Sand Hourglass, but the massive Spiritual Energy Vortex already had. The vortex’s violent Spiritual Qi churned, pulling the Spiritual Sand upward from a distance!

40%, 50%, 60%!

Su Zhou took another step forward. This time, it wasn’t just his own test; the Spiritual Sand in the hourglasses of every other student currently testing also began to churn and rise abnormally!

"Get back!" a professor who finally grasped the situation shouted. Everyone gasped in shock. They rushed to pull back the students, who were staring in confusion at their hourglasses, wondering why the sand was still rising even after they had disconnected their Spiritual Power. It probably wasn’t dangerous, but who knew what Su Zhou would do next?

And what Su Zhou intended to do was very simple.

For the first time on Earth, after advancing to the rank of Grandmaster and reaching the Awakening Peak Realm in the Divine Wood World, he was going to unleash all of his Spiritual Power!

BOOM!

Instantly, all the dormant metal particles in the ground leaped up, swept into the massive electromagnetic whirlwind and thrown into the air!

70%, 80%, 90%...

100%!

In the spiritual vision of every Transcendent, the center of the camp was engulfed by an enormous, electrified vortex with a radius of over two hundred meters. And at the heart of this vortex of Spiritual Qi and sand was Su Zhou!

In the physical world, a ring of fine, black iron dust rose without any wind, spinning rapidly around Su Zhou. It formed a hazy, iron curtain that obscured his figure from view.

This scene meant that all the Spiritual Qi within a two-hundred-meter radius was now Su Zhou’s personal reserve of Spiritual Power. If anyone else wanted to use it, they would first have to fight him for it!