Chapter 215: Chapter 89: He Lifted It! He Lifted It Up

The broadcast from Modu, covering the 10,000-meter run, revealed a true "Divine Walker." As Central Television switched feeds, viewers all across Zhengguo watched in astonishment as a dashing, wheat-colored figure, like a wisp of smoke, lapped the track again and again at a staggering speed!

"Fu Yunsong, an examinee at the Modu Spiritual Testing Center, is running at a shocking speed! Let’s look at her average... fifty-two meters per second!"

"Three minutes in, and Fu is accelerating at the end! She finished the 10,000-meter run in just three minutes and eight seconds! That puts her eight thousand meters ahead of second place!"

"Let’s put that into perspective—a car on the highway generally travels at one hundred to one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. That’s about thirty meters per second... Fu Yunsong’s speed is even faster than a car on the highway, and she can maintain it for over ten kilometers!"

"Fu’s expression is completely relaxed. Let’s zoom in for a closer look."

The camera zoomed in on an athletic girl with a single ponytail and a healthy complexion. She ran with a calm, indifferent expression, but her speed was like flight. In the blink of an eye, she would finish another lap.

But the most terrifying part was that Fu Yunsong wasn’t using some incredible Burst of power. She was just running normally, her feet staying close to the ground. And yet, her speed was comparable to a car on the highway. This proved that she was nowhere near her limit!

Just then, the television station received Fu Yunsong’s data. It displayed her Cultivation level: Awakened Second Stage, Spiritual Energy Affinity 58%, and a Talent listed as ’[REDACTED].’

"It’s hard to imagine how fast Fu will be once her strength improves even further."

"This is the power of Cultivation."

Although Fu Yunsong left the other examinees in the dust, the other more outstanding Transcendents also posted incredible times for the 10,000-meter run, most finishing in around twenty minutes. Nearly every single one of them had shattered the world record by several minutes!

This was a surprise even to the Cultivator students themselves. But it wasn’t illogical. With the support of Spiritual Power, their stamina simply didn’t deplete from running ten kilometers. They could maintain their peak condition indefinitely, running the entire distance at nearly a full sprint.

If the long-distance run was this shocking, the other events were even more so.

In the long jump, Central Television switched to an examinee from Meng State. With a single leap, he covered two hundred and twenty-one meters. It was less of a jump and more like flight. His descent and deceleration were almost nonexistent; he simply carved a long arc through the air, nearly clearing the field and landing in the spectator stands.

The high jump was even more unbelievable. In Shanzhou, an examinee with powerfully built legs leaped so high he cleared the open-air stadium entirely. They had to calculate his altitude two or three times before confirming it at one hundred and twenty-seven meters—higher than a thirty-five-story building. He became a tiny dot in the sky, and his descent was just as slow.

As for the shot put, it wasn’t uncommon for an examinee to accidentally hurl the metal ball clear out of the stadium. It would soar into the stands, shatter the tempered glass, and gouge a huge crater in the ground. This was precisely why spectators had been dismissed. A shot put thrown by a Cultivator was genuinely lethal. Getting hit would mean torn ligaments and broken bones if you were lucky; death would not be a surprise.

With Spiritual Power, even students who had never undergone professional athletic training were posting results that completely shattered previous world records.

It wasn’t just the national audience; even the regional commentators were shocked. Nearly half a year had passed since the initial physical examinations. Many students who had been unremarkable back then were now displaying the initial fruits of half a year of hard Cultivation. Many local school officials had no idea their own students possessed such power.

"This is the power of the Extraordinary."

"And everyone can achieve it through Cultivation."

The hosts on Central Television continued their dutiful broadcast, for this was their mission: "Cultivation is not a waste of time. Even if your Talent isn’t great, as long as you persevere, you are guaranteed to see results."

They weren’t wrong, and their words carried a subtle, persuasive allure.

’Yeah, Cultivation really isn’t a waste of time. Even if my Talent is terrible, what’s wrong with spending a year or two to gain even a tenth of the power Amplification these students have? At the very least, it’s less demanding than hitting the gym.’

’Even a small increase in strength would make life so much easier.’

This was the mindset of the optimists. Watching the broadcast ignited a burning interest in Cultivation within them. In truth, the vast majority of the public had been skeptical. Life was busy, they hadn’t seen any real-world examples, and many assumed they had no Talent and that Cultivation would be useless for them. So even with the government popularizing Cultivation Methods, not everyone had been willing to practice.

But now, after witnessing the spectacle of the Spiritual Testing, they finally understood. This was the power of the Extraordinary. This was the power of Cultivation.

Some people, however, felt a sense of dread.

’—If other people cultivate and I don’t, what happens if one of them decides to harm me? I’d be completely helpless!’

’There’s no running away, no escape at all. An ordinary person could never stand up to that kind of physical power!’

And this sense of fear was, in fact, exactly what the Zhengguo Government wanted.

—Whether it inspired hope or fear, love or hate.

The age of Spiritual Qi had arrived. No one could ignore it or deny it. Even those who resented its arrival had to acknowledge it, to face it head-on.

No matter how much one loathed it, it was here to stay. Barring another Severed Communication, this was objective reality.

And that was the entire purpose behind broadcasting the "Spiritual Testing" nationwide.

[Go and cultivate. No matter who you are, what your profession is, or what your background is. If you can, then go and cultivate.]

[Otherwise, can you accept the reality of competing with superhumans like this in the future?]

The event had now moved on to weightlifting. Central Television was focused on an examinee from Yue State. He lifted a custom-made, five-ton iron cauldron, and after his muscles bulged, he let out a great roar and hurled it over ten meters. That was equivalent to lifting a mid-sized car and throwing it more than ten meters away!

Without a doubt, this was true, legendary strength.

"Now, let’s turn our attention to the examinees in the Hongzhou region."

But very quickly, the two hosts received a notice, directing them to switch the feed to Hongzhou.

「Meanwhile, in Hongcheng.」

Guan Wanjing, his body a mass of corded muscle, took a deep breath and gripped the bar. In the next instant, with a great roar, he raised his hands, lifting a ten-ton, super-heavy barbell straight over his head! It had been specially forged from high-density materials and reinforced with a Spirit Talisman.

BOOM! The steel plate beneath his feet could be heard vibrating from the sheer force of his lift! And Guan Wanjing hadn’t even used his Spiritual Power; this was purely from his own physical body, tempered and nourished by Spiritual Qi!

Pure physical strength—ten tons!

This sight momentarily stunned even the Central Television hosts. There was a brief, almost imperceptible pause in their commentary.

But at this moment, Guan Wanjing felt no satisfaction from surpassing his own limit. He looked worriedly to the side, at a figure who stood in a relaxed posture but radiated a serious aura.

’I have high-density muscles too. That monster... his Spiritual Qi is one thing, but there’s no way his pure physical strength is greater than mine, right?’

’If so, then what’s the deal with that twenty-ton barbell over there?’

An entire engineering team could be seen using a crane to move a gargantuan barbell into place, a sight so shocking it drew not only Guan Wanjing’s attention but the eyes of the entire nation.

In an instant, Central Television’s cameras zoomed in on the gargantuan barbell.

’No way...’

Guan Wanjing’s expression twisted. He muttered to himself with a pained look, but the other figure seemed to hear him. He even turned his head and smiled.

A voice even drifted over. "Of course it’s for me."

"Who else could lift it?" As the camera panned, Su Zhou spoke with ease. He casually walked toward the barbell, which was many times larger than he was, looking like a bar with two colossal anchors attached to it.

At this, even the Central Television hosts were so shocked they began to stutter.

"An astonishing scene is unfolding at the Hongcheng Spiritual Testing site. An examinee is approaching a barbell weighing twenty tons... Can you even call that a barbell? Can it actually be lifted?"

"Let’s look at this examinee’s data... Su Zhou. It’s shocking! This student, Su Zhou, his previous results are just as astonishing!"

"A two-minute, two-second 10,000-meter run! That’s over a full minute faster than Fu Yunsong from Modu! And looking at the replay, you can see he wasn’t even going all out. He was deliberately suppressing his speed... Ah, I understand now! His power is so immense that he’s at risk of taking flight. In order to guarantee he stays running on the ground instead of floating through the air, he has to intentionally limit his output!"

"Exactly. And if he went any faster, the winds he’d generate would affect the other examinees. Since the test can’t measure his true limits anyway, this is his only option."

"His long jump broke the four-hundred-meter ceiling... and his high jump exceeded two hundred and seventy-eight meters! These stats are double those of the person in second place! His expression is completely relaxed. It looks like he can fly? If so, the jumping events are meaningless. It’s impossible to test his true ability." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Let’s return to the live feed and see if this student can lift this specially made, twenty-ton barbell..."

Then, the host’s somewhat incoherent voice came through the broadcast.

"He lifted it! He lifted it!"