Chapter 41: Practicing Tao Means Not Being Distracted by External Factors
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When he opened the door, Zhou Bai saw a red-haired girl in a black track suit standing at his door. She was less than 1.4 meters tall and stared at him with an upset expression.

“You’re…Shirley?” Zhou Bai remembered who she was.

The girl, who looked to be only 14 or 15, was one of the students in the entering class whose Primordial Spirit Value reached 99. She ranked tenth in the entrance exam.

Although she ranked tenth, Shirley was too young, so from another perspective, she might have a greater gift for practicing Tao than the rest of them.

Shirley said to Zhou Bai, “Teacher Lu told me to come to get you to class…”

Zhou Bai gave it some thought, then slammed the door shut.

Shirley pounded the door furiously. “Zhou Bai! Get out! Did you hear me?

“If you don’t come out, I’m going to abort the child!”

Zhou Bai stuffed tissues into his ears, then lay down on the bed to continue sleeping. He heard others discussing him outside, and he reminded himself, Inner demons, they’re all inner demons! Don’t try to disrupt my practice.

Shirley pounded on the door for another ten minutes, but at least didn’t break the school’s dorm door. Seeing class was about to start, Shirley kicked the door a few times and yelled at Zhou Bai before she left.

“B*stard!”

“Idiot!”

“I’m so angry!”

Hearing her leave, Zhou Bai let out a sigh of relief, then fell into a deep slumber.

He slept until dusk, when a starving Elsa leaped on him and licked him awake.

“Zhou…Bai…

“I’m…hungry…”

“All right, all right. I’ll get you food right now.”

Zhou Bai glanced at this auxiliary practice system.

Degree of Taoification: 0%

Primordial Spirit Value: 99

Divine Map: Deva Nine Disasters

Laziness: 850

“Not bad. Looks like I can light up the third star point by tomorrow.”

Zhou Bai headed to the cafeteria to eat and bring food for Elsa, but Shirley intercepted him on the way there.

“Zhou Bai! Why aren’t you going to class?” Shirley pointed at him and said, “Do you know what your place at this school represents? Do you know how many people are silently making sacrifices out there so that we can have the time and resources to practice? And yet look at what you’re doing.”

Zhou Bai could only pretend like she didn’t exist. After all, she was trying to persuade him to go to class out of good intentions. He could only silently eat and silently go back to his room.

Seeing Zhou Bai ignore her, Shirley yelled angrily, “Zhou Bai! You big b*stard!!”

After he returned to his room, he continued to self-study. Zhou Bai read through the basic textbook materials on his desk, writing and drawing in his notebook now and then, taking notes.

Since he was already bearing the blame anyway, Zhou Bai held his breath too. Aside from gaining Laziness points every day, he would also need a solid foundation and to bridge all the gaps in his Tao practice knowledge.

“The understanding of differentiation of five elements in Spark…is an abstract concept, rather than actual matter such as water and fire…”

He self-studied for another night.

The next day, seeing the break of dawn illuminated by the artificial light, Zhou Bai exhaled and got into bed.

“The Laziness I get during the day should be enough to light the next star point.”

So he slept until that night. When Zhou Bai opened his eyes, he read the auxiliary practice system board with anticipation. Laziness had reached 1,360.

“Great!”

Zhou Bai’s eyes lit up, immediately focusing his consciousness on the Taiyi Disc, injecting 1,200 points of Laziness into the third star point.

Fragmentary-Skin: Changes nature of skin and flesh, increases surface ability to withstand attacks.

Method of Practice: (Zhou Bai skipped over this)

Laziness (0/1,200)

As he injected Laziness, Zhou Bai felt an incredible itch, as if countless ants and bugs were crawling under his skin, biting him endlessly.

Just as Zhou Bai was about to scratch himself, the skin on his body quickly split open, bled, withered, and fell off.

Like a giant snake shedding its skin, the skin on Zhou Bai’s body turned into layers of arid cuticles, dropping to the floor.

Very soon, all the skin on his body had been replaced. It had a faint black glow that gave off an inhuman aura.

But as time passed, this aura went away.

Zhou Bai took a deep breath, slowly standing up. He looked at his skin and pressed it with force. It seemed to be more durable.

Next, he tried punching his own chest and felt like his body was being protected by an invisible armor. His skin itself was also as tough as rhino skin, more resilient than before.

When Zhou Bai punched himself with 50% force, he could barely feel any pain. Only after he punched with 70% force did he feel like the invisible barrier was broken, but the rest of the punch was blocked by his skin as well.

Then he punched with 90% force. That finally broke through his own barrier and slightly damaged his chest muscles and bones.

This level of defensive power…Zhou Bai thought to himself. Cold weapons that normal people use are probably no longer of concern.

By now, Zhou Bai had gone through three stages of enhancement with Fragmentary, Fragmentary-Foundation, and Fragmentary-Skin. His physical abilities would be that of a little superhero on earth. If he were born in ancient China, he would be a peerless general mightier than 10,000 men.

If you counted his 99 points of primordial spirit power too, then normal guns might also be useless against him.

“Although my physique has been continuously enhanced, my primordial spirit power is still stronger in terms of combat capacity. But if I enhance my physique, then at least I won’t get easily injured in battle.”

Zhou Bai was happy about the enhancements of his body, so he looked at the next star point.

Fragmentary-Bone: Transform the bone marrow, enhance quality of bones, strengthen physical power.

Method of Practice: (Zhou Bai skipped over this)

Laziness (0/1,600)

Seeing the 1,600-point Laziness requirement, Zhou Bai let out a sigh of relief. At least it didn’t multiply. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have nearly enough.

In the following few days, Zhou Bai continued his routine of cutting class during the day and self-studying during the night. Shirley, who tried to convince him to go to class, slowly lost hope in him and stopped coming. Zhou Bai immersed himself in his practice.

***

“Teacher! Zhou Bai is completely beyond salvation!” Shirley stood in a courtyard. Lu Chongyang was controlling clouds of steam on the side, watering the herbs in the courtyard with them.

Shirley shouted, “I asked the residential adviser. This guy stays in his room all day, and he goes out to eat at midnight every day. He never comes out during the day. His schedule must be totally inverted, and he’s just wasting his life away!”

When he heard this, Lu Chongyang frowned. He couldn’t understand why Zhou Bai was skipping class at all, given his gift and comprehension capacity. Could he be dealing with some sort of problem?

Shirley continued. “And skipping class every day is affecting the other students too! Many of the students in our class are unhappy with him and think he’s wasting resources and his place at school!”