Chapter 74: Like a Monster, the Bottleneck is Gone

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Like a Monster, the Bottleneck is Gone

"Rest assured." Ji Zhixing smiled. "I have a high compatibility with the Willow Tree gene. I heard its voice right after fusing with it. The Basic Self-Healing ability is exactly one of the abilities I want to develop."

"That’s good to hear!" Xiao Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief.

Ji Zhixing smiled. He took out his phone and checked the time, surprised to find that he had been here for several hours. The sky outside had probably turned dark. He put away his phone and looked up at Xiao Mingyue. "I won’t say any more words of thanks. It’s getting late, so I’ll head back first. We’ll enter the secret realm together tomorrow."

"Alright." Xiao Mingyue nodded. "Let’s exchange contact info so it’s easier to reach each other if anything comes up."

The two exchanged contact information.

Ji Zhixing saved her number under the name "Xiao Mingyue" and put his phone away. "I’m leaving now. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Xiao Mingyue walked him to the door of her villa. Ji Zhixing turned around, waved, and headed toward his dorm area.

Standing at the entrance of her villa, Xiao Mingyue watched his retreating figure and shook her head. She wondered, "He could hear the gene’s voice right after fusing with the Willow Tree gene? Was it the same when he fused with the Three-inch Stone Monkey gene before? Plus, he has dual gene apertures. It feels like I’ve encountered a monster."

Ji Zhixing walked through the campus. The streetlights flickered on one by one, casting dim yellow halos on the road. The night breeze blew past, bringing a wave of coolness that dried the sweat on his body.

He thought to himself, "I really owe her a huge favor this time. First the use of the gravity room, and especially that bottle of potion. I need to make money and improve my strength as soon as possible."

He quickened his pace and hurried all the way back to the dormitory building.

Pushing open the door to Dorm 212, he found it still empty; he was the only one there. After freshening up quickly, he took out some dry rations and water from his Gene Furnace and grabbed a casual bite.

"I’m too tired today. I’m not going to cultivate," he thought. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

The next day.

The morning sun spilled into the room through the gaps in the curtains. Ji Zhixing was woken up by his alarm clock. He opened his eyes, feeling energetic and full of life; yesterday’s exhaustion had been completely swept away. He sat up and stretched, feeling that every joint in his body was nimble and free.

After a quick wash, he went to the cafeteria to eat something before returning to his dorm.

"While there’s still time, I should refine another bottle of Source Power Gene Potion," he thought.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he took out a bottle of Source Power Gene Potion, uncorked it, and downed the contents. The potion hit his stomach and transformed into a warm current, which was refined and absorbed by the Gene Furnace. As the refinement continued, Ji Zhixing could clearly feel the genetic source power within his body condensing a bit more.

"Huh?" Suddenly, his heart stirred. He thought, "The bottleneck hindering my breakthrough to the second tier... seems to have disappeared?"

He sensed it carefully and found that it was indeed the case. That previous feeling of being unable to progress an inch, no matter how much potion he refined, had noticeably diminished today.

A wave of joy surged in Ji Zhixing’s heart. "Is it because I developed the Boulder Physique and the Basic Self-Healing ability? My body has grown stronger, and the bottleneck has vanished. It’ll be soon. Barring any accidents, now that the bottleneck is gone, I should break through to become a Tier Two Genetic Cultivator in the next few days."

He opened his eyes and checked the time. It was already nine-thirty.

"Time to go to the sports field," he thought.

He got up, left the dorm, and headed for the field. Yesterday, the school had sent a message to all the freshmen, instructing them to gather on the school’s sports field at ten in the morning by class, in preparation to enter the Blood Beast Secret Realm.

The sports field at Yu City University was massive, large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. At this moment, thousands of freshmen had already gathered there, but the scene did not look chaotic. Almost everyone who arrived would find their designated area and stand in formation with their respective classes.

Ji Zhixing scanned the crowd, searching for the Class Twenty-One sign. Soon, he spotted it near the left side of the field.

He walked over and saw that quite a few people were already standing by the sign. Ren Pingzhi, Zhao Hai, and Feng Yan were all there. They stood in the front row, whispering among themselves.

Seeing Ji Zhixing approach, the three of them wore slightly awkward expressions. Ren Pingzhi opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately just lowered his head, avoiding Ji Zhixing’s gaze. The same went for Zhao Hai and Feng Yan; neither dared to make eye contact with him.

Ji Zhixing glanced at them without a word, paying them no mind. He thought calmly, "Gu Zheng is a genius who fused with a Tier Four gene. They can’t afford to offend him, so playing it safe is the right move. If I were in their shoes, I might have made the same choice."

He looked away and took a spot in the back row of the formation. Then, he scanned the rest of the class and realized that Yu Zhirou, Qi Xingzhou, Huang Yu... as well as a few other students from Yu City Third Middle School who had fused with Tier Two genes, were all unexpectedly in Class Twenty-One.

"So the class assignments aren’t random," Ji Zhixing realized. "Ren Pingzhi and the other students from Yu City Middle School were probably the overflow, which is why they got assigned here."

Yu Zhirou stood on the other side of the formation, murmuring something to Qi Xingzhou. She inadvertently turned her head and spotted Ji Zhixing. Her expression stiffened slightly before she quickly averted her eyes.

Qi Xingzhou also saw him; he furrowed his brows but stayed silent.

Huang Yu, standing behind the two, looked as if he wanted to greet Ji Zhixing, but after glancing at the surrounding classmates, he swallowed his words.

Ji Zhixing merely glanced at them before looking away, unbothered. He thought, "These people were at least considered classmates back in Yu City Third Middle School. Now, they’re all pretending not to know me. But it doesn’t matter; we were never on the same path to begin with."

Just then, his phone suddenly buzzed. He pulled it out and saw a message from Huang Yu.

"Zhixing, bro, don’t blame me for not talking to you. I really don’t dare. By the way, how exactly did you offend Gu Zheng? Could it really be like what Zhao Gang said?"

Ji Zhixing looked up at Huang Yu. Huang Yu was staring straight ahead without squinting, his phone already tucked back into his pocket, wearing a deadly serious expression on his face.

Ji Zhixing shook his head, looking down to reply, "Kid, don’t ask about things you shouldn’t be asking about."

After sending it, he put his phone away and ignored it.

More and more people gathered on the sports field. As it neared ten o’clock, the field was packed with freshmen, a dense sea of people stretching as far as the eye could see.

Ji Zhixing raised his head, looking toward the high platform at the front of the field. Many teachers were already standing on the platform. He spotted Yang Man Ni. Wearing a light blue business suit, she stood amidst the crowd, conversing in low tones with the teacher next to her.

CLANG!

At exactly ten o’clock, a bell chimed.

On the platform, an elderly man stepped forward and stood before the microphone. The old man had graying hair and a stern face. Just standing there, he exuded an imposing aura of natural authority.

"I am Luo Hongtao, the principal of Yu City University."

His voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly across the entire field, ensuring everyone heard it perfectly.

"Yu City University does not have an opening ceremony.

"Our motto is singular: improve your strength, improve your strength, and improve your strength some more!

"On their second day of enrollment, everyone is arranged to enter the Blood Beast Secret Realm."

He paused, sweeping his gaze across the entire venue.

"Now, I will open the passage to the Blood Beast Secret Realm.

"Once the Spatial Passage is open, all of you will enter the secret realm in order, by class."

With that, he flipped his right hand, producing a disc the size of a dinner plate. The disc was entirely silver-white, its surface carved with complex runic patterns that faintly shimmered with flowing light. Luo Hongtao rested the disc on his palm. Genetic source power surged within his body, pouring into the disc.

HUM!

The disc suddenly lit up, bursting with a blinding silver-white light that cascaded down in front of the assembled freshmen.

A moment later, a massive Spatial Passage appeared. The passage was dozens of meters in diameter, its edges radiating a silver-white glow. Through it, one could faintly glimpse a blood-red world.

"Class One, step forward!" a teacher shouted loudly.

The freshmen of Class One immediately sprang into action. Under the teacher’s command, they quickly marched toward the Spatial Passage. As they stepped up to the passage and strode forward, they were sucked inside, disappearing into the blood-red world.

"Class Two!"

"Class Three!"

Class by class, they entered the secret realm in succession. Ji Zhixing stood in place, watching the line ahead gradually shorten.

"Class Twenty-One!"

Finally, it was their turn. Ji Zhixing didn’t hesitate. Following his class’s formation, he walked swiftly to the Spatial Passage. He glanced up at the massive passage, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.

His vision blurred as the world spun dizzily.

The next moment, his feet landed on solid ground. He was already standing on blood-red soil.

"Is this the Blood Beast Secret Realm?" Ji Zhixing raised his head to survey his surroundings.

They had emerged in a vast clearing. The ground was dark red, looking as though it had been drenched in blood. Surrounding the clearing were rolling hills, covered in dark red vegetation that gave off an eerie, oppressive vibe. A phantom-like blood sun hung in the sky. It emanated a dark crimson glow, bathing the entire world in a bloody hue.

"No wonder it’s called the Blood Beast Secret Realm. Everything is blood-red," he thought, pulling his gaze back to look around at the other students.

The freshmen who had entered with him were already forming teams.

"Li Jiahao, hurry over! We’re getting ready to head out!"

"Coming, coming!"

Shouts echoed everywhere. Freshmen gathered in groups of three or five, discussing their next moves. Most teams consisted of four to five people, similar to the setups they had used during their high school trials.

Ji Zhixing saw that Ren Pingzhi, Zhao Hai, and Feng Yan had pulled in two other freshmen, forming a five-person squad and heading off into the distance. Yu Zhirou, Qi Xingzhou, Huang Yu, and the other students from Yu City Third Middle School had also formed teams based on their original high school lineups.

Ji Zhixing remained standing where he was, unmoving.

Some freshmen noticed him and began murmuring among themselves.

"Is that Ji Zhixing, the only self-recommended student in our year?"

"That’s him."

"It’s a shame. I originally wanted to see what he’s capable of, but I heard he offended Gu Zheng. Everyone in his dorm moved out, and no one dares to team up with him."

"There’s nothing to be done about it. That guy is a student from the genius class, after all."

In the distance, Yu Zhirou, Qi Xingzhou, and the others also shot a glance at Ji Zhixing.

Yu Zhirou watched Ji Zhixing standing all alone in the clearing. Her previously sour mood, which had been caused by him, eased slightly. She thought, "He even dared to offend Gu Zheng. He doesn’t know the meaning of death! After offending Gu Zheng, he won’t even be able to form a team here at Yu City University."

Shaking her head, she withdrew her gaze and ignored him.