Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword

Qi Yuan confirmed repeatedly, making sure that Zhou Heng had no interest in Tai Nianning, before leaving with some relief.

Zhou Heng shook his head. Wasn't this guy quite clever? Why does he seem like an idiot now!

Love truly makes people blind!

Zhou Heng returned to his place and immediately took out the Fire Divine Furnace to start alchemy.

The pill recipe, of course, was also provided by the Fire Divine Furnace. The pills refined were called "Bright King Pills," which can directly form a Divine Aspect, similar to the Seven Stars Pill. However, a single batch only yielded a paltry twelve pills!

Zhou Heng immediately went into seclusion to refine these Bright King Pills, while the Black Donkey and Little Fire don't know what they've been munching on. Those two creatures had already started their seclusion half a day earlier, so the rascal donkey didn't come to fight him for them.

He fully stimulated his spiritual power to refine the medicinal power, but it still took him a full seven days to completely refine these pills.

Thirty-nine Divine Aspects!

Zhou Heng shook his head and smiled. Although he now possessed nearly forty Divine Aspects, he felt no closer to a breakthrough. It seemed as if he was still tens of thousands of miles away.

It's a good thing he's now in the Bright Realm; otherwise, if he was still in the Immortal Realm, how many tens of thousands of years would he need to find enough medicine to reach the Stellar Realm?

However, now all his contribution value was used up, and he must find a way to earn more.

He first went to the Sand Fury Arena, which is essentially a testing ground and martial battle arena for academy disciples to spar in. It also has some special tools to temper martial artists' physical bodies.

Coming here is of course for the contribution value!

Besides completing missions to earn contribution value, another way is to break records, like the limits of strength, speed, reaction time, etc. The Bright Immortal level has its own set of records, and the Star King has the Star King level records, without any confusion between them.

Zhou Heng thought he might give it a try.

After asking for some information, he went to the northwest corner, where there was a stone wall that looked very ordinary but was called the "Wall of Power," specifically for recording those with the strongest strength.

The wall had four columns of names, each column containing ten names. Beside each name, numbers were marked, such as "Three Thousand Yuan," "Nine Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Four Stars." The number gap between columns was large, but the gap between the numbers within the same column was small.

Without much thought, it's clear these four columns represent record holders from the Bright Immortal up to the Star King, Star Sovereign, and Star Emperor levels, with ten names eligible for each level.

That so-called "Three Thousand Yuan" represents a strength value. Zhou Heng's gaze fell to the bottom of the first column, which read "Ma Hongjie, Two Thousand Four Hundred Sixty-Six Yuan."

This meant Zhou Heng at least needed to hit a higher value to make the list. Although it wasn't breaking the record, just making the list could earn contribution value, with the difference being in the amount.

Seeing Zhou Heng standing in front of the Wall of Power, nearby people began to chatter.

"Just look at him, he's obviously a new student!"

"Haha, every year a few freshmen think they're the best and that they can break records with a single punch!"

"Wanna bet how much yuan force this guy can punch out?"

"This guy, at most, is a Forty-Aspects Bright Immortal. I bet he won't exceed six hundred yuan force!"

"You give him too much credit. I bet at most four hundred, no more!"

They didn't bother to lower their voices, so Zhou Heng heard everything clearly.

Six hundred, huh?

Zhou Heng didn't know how much one yuan of force equaled in jin, because once you leap into the Bright Immortal level, a single punch's force is measured in trillions of jin, making jin as a unit too cumbersome, requiring a new unit.

And he certainly didn't know if one yuan force was ten trillion jin, or a hundred trillion jin, or even more.

Why didn't he choose to break speed records, or reaction agility records?

Because he's actually just a Twenty-Nine Aspects Bright Immortal with speed and reaction at those levels, but strength is different. A single punch can be enhanced with cultivation techniques. He possesses the Five Elements Runes, and his battle power is strong enough to dominate the Bright Immortal level, so breaking records isn't that tough?

This was the record he was most confident in breaking, and the only one he could be sure of breaking.

Mock him?

"Uncle! Uncle!" A cute voice rang out, and Jiang Zishuang came hopping over, wearing a snow-white dress, her hair jet-black, with an exquisitely delicate face that would evoke pity from anyone who glanced at her.

Why did this little girl come?

Zhou Heng couldn't help but frown, as she was a little demon in a cute guise!

"Huh, Uncle, what's that expression for? Do you not want to see sweet little Tiantian?" The little girl pouted, "Uncle, you broke your promise. You clearly said you'd come see Tiantian and mom, but no matter how long we waited, you didn't show up. You heartless man!"

Quite an impish little rascal!

"Hey, isn't this the only student recruited by the Heavenly Array Institute this year?"

"She's not simple at all. Her mother Yang Yuhua is a Seat Master of the Heavenly Array Institute, and her grandfather Yang Yong is the Dean of the Heavenly Array Institute and the Deputy Dean of the academy, a position a cut above the typical deputy dean!"

"How does this new student know her?"

Someone recognized Jiang Zishuang, immediately drawing the crowd's attention. The Heavenly Array Institute and the Heavenly Medicine Institute, the people from these two institutes can't be compared with ordinary martial artists. They're prized treasures within the academy, and even after leaving, they inevitably become VIPs of major powers!

"Yang Yuhua is quite the beauty, ranking alongside Tai Nianning from the Heavenly Medicine Institute and Geng Xinnuo from our Heavenly Martial Institute as the three beauties of the academy!"

"Hehe, not only is she pretty, but she's also a widow!"

"Shh, keep your voice down. If word gets out, you might lose your life! Do you know how many people are pursuing Hua Yuhua? Each one is influential enough to crush you a hundred times over!"

Zhou Heng's gaze swept over. If these people were to speak vulgar or disgusting words, he would surely settle the score with them in the future!

"Uncle, where's the little puppy?" This little girl was looking around, having clearly found new interest, as she showed far more curiosity for Little Fire than for Zhou Heng himself.

"It's lying at home!" Zhou Heng focused on the stone wall, as spiritual power surged within him. Thirty-nine Divine Aspects began to circulate, unleashing terrifying strength, and with a fierce punch, he struck out.

Bang!

A shimmering light flashed across the stone wall, yet it remained unmoved! This was expected, as it could withstand even the power of a Star Emperor, so how could Zhou Heng's thirty-nine Divine Aspects power possibly damage it?

The wall became as transparent as a mirror, revealing a set of digits: one hundred seventy-nine!

Just that little bit?

Zhou Heng first furrowed his brow but then immediately relaxed.

Leaving a record on this stone wall meant passing through countless eliminations by the academy over the years. Each person on the list possessed at least eighty Divine Aspects and used cultivation techniques to amplify their power to achieve these numbers.

He only had thirty-nine Divine Aspects and wasn't using any cultivation techniques. Even if his Divine Aspects were more refined than others', they wouldn't be much stronger than a regular Twenty-Nine Aspect Bright Immortal.

One hundred seventy-nine Yuan Force was a realistic figure, anything higher would be unreasonable.

"Hahaha, turns out he's an overconfident fool, not even reaching two hundred Yuan Force. He's truly overestimated!"

"Hmph, with just this strength, he dares to show off!"

"Oh, I know this guy. I think he was the second place in this year's freshman assessment! Yes, it's him—I've seen his portrait, his name's Zhou Heng!"

"What, a newcomer at second place with this level?"

"What's going on, is this year's batch of freshmen so poor in quality that even with this level one can claim second place?"

"Am I born at the wrong time? If I entered the academy a few years later, wouldn't I have gotten second, or even first?"

As word of Zhou Heng's identity spread, the crowd was astonished. Such strength claiming second? Surely he had a good father, resorting to cheating to win second place!

Truly shameful!

Martial Artists admire prowess, and the most contemptible act is deceit. When the crowd looked at Zhou Heng again, it was not only with ridicule but also with disdain and scorn.

"Kid, pay attention. Let me show you how it's done!" A big burly man came forward, appearing to be in his thirties, with muscular knots all over his body. He approached the Wall of Power, and as a dark aura flickered across him, his right fist became even bigger than his head. Bang, he punched the wall.

As the light surged, a number appeared: six hundred eighty-eight!

He possessed sixty-seven Divine Aspects but had reached his limit, either breaking through or remaining stagnant.

"Pah!" He pointed at the number on the wall, then spat scornfully on the ground with a face full of disdain.

"Uncle, he's disrespecting you!" Jiang Zishuang playfully jumped up, "Uncle, you can tolerate this? If it were me, I certainly couldn't!"

"Stop stirring things up!" Zhou Heng pushed the little girl aside and then focused his gaze on the stone wall, tightening his right fist.

"Still not convinced?" The burly man sneered, "No matter how many hits you make, nothing will change!"

Zhou Heng clenched his fist without striking, then turned to the man, smiling, "What if my score surpasses yours?"

"Haha, if you can surpass me, I, Lei Jingtian, will kowtow to you three times!" The burly man said confidently.

In reality, he was a Fifty-Seven Aspect Bright Immortal. His earlier punch was his full might, utilizing the Three-Star Technique too, which is the highest available to disciples of the Bright Immortal Courtyard.

How could Zhou Heng possibly exceed him?

"Don't speak too soon!" Zhou Heng said calmly, suddenly striking out with a punch. Amidst the shimmering light, a new number appeared: two hundred fifty-four.

Bang!

Without waiting for anyone to speak, he struck again, with the new number jumping: three hundred twenty-seven.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four hundred twenty-three! Five hundred nine! Six hundred sixty-six!

Upon the sixth punch, the number was nearly matching Lei Jingtian's six hundred eighty-eight.

By this point, everyone believed that Zhou Heng's seventh punch would certainly break into the seven hundred range, given how easily he was punching!

But isn't this guy supposed to have less than fifty Divine Aspects? How can he unleash such formidable strength?

Everyone was both shocked and puzzled. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)