Chapter 11: Chapter 11

“How heavy is that sandbag?” Tang Meng asked while walking towards Cheng Zhiye. At the same time, he tossed him a pack of cigarettes.

Whenever there were any sports meet or physical competition within the school, Tang Meng would be there to start a wager on Cheng Zhiye and the other sports program students. As a result, everybody knew who he was.

After regaining his composure, Cheng Zhiye took a glance at his teacher in charge, Ma Lingfeng, who was busy teaching a Grade 11 class. After making sure that his teacher was well engrossed in his task, Cheng Zhiye then took a cigarette from the pack, lit it up before taking a long and deep puff.

“26kg,” Cheng Zhiye replied.

Being a competitive long-distance runner, maintaining a pair of strong and healthy lungs was vital for Cheng Zhiye’s performance. If his teacher saw him holding a cigarette, he would probably have the daylight beaten out of him.

“You guys started a wager on that bloke?”

Tang Meng’s eyes focused solely on Ling Yun who had just finished his first lap around the track.

“It was just a joke. I didn’t expect Xie Junyan to actually agree to the bet… he even placed $5000 on Ling Yun!” Tang Meng exclaimed while nodding his head.

“You guys are betting on the rounds?” Cheng Zhiye quizzed.

“Yeah,” mumbled Tang Meng before finally turning his attention to Zhiye.

Tang Meng looked at Zhiye and asked, “If you were to carry this same sandbag and run with everything you’ve got, how many rounds do you reckon you would be able to complete?”

Looking at Tang Meng’s serious expression, Cheng Zhiye could only force a smile before replying, “Look at my lanky body, do you think I would even be able to lift this and run?”

Tang Meng seemed to be in a deep thought. He looked at Cheng Zhiye and asked, “If I reduce the weight to 15kg or a weight that you can handle, how many rounds do you think you can run?”

Having understood Tang Meng’s intentions, Cheng Zhiye gave it a thought before looking back at him.

“If that’s the case, I reckon I can pull off at most 3 rounds, no more than that,” Cheng Zhiye replied in a serious tone.

Tang Meng breathed a sigh of relief after he seemed to compare the two of them in his mind. After much thought, he figured that there was no way he would lose. Losing the money was one thing but he just didn’t want Xie Junyan to have the last laugh. To Tang Meng, Xie Junyan was an arrogant and conceited brat that he hated. Therefore, winning him in this bet would be much sweeter than a few thousand dollars.

“Talk to you guys later, I want to see how far this Ling Yun thinks he can run”. Tang Meng exclaimed before finding a suitable seat to observe Ling Yun attentively.

As Ling Yun ran past his area, Tang Meng thought to himself. After staying low for 3 years I didn’t expect you to pull such a wager on me… this should be interesting.

“Amazing! He finished one round!” Someone in the stands shouted.

“Huh…huh…huh…” Ling Yun breathed heavily as he shouldered the sandbag and ran. He was perspiring continuously and his body was drenched from head to toe. His wet clothes stuck to his chubby body as he ran.

As exhausted as he may be, his tempo and speed remained unchanged. He took deep breaths with each step to absorb as much oxygen into his fatigued body as possible. The sandbag hanging on Ling Yun’s right shoulder felt like he was carrying Mount Tai. It seemed to be getting heavier with every step that he took. It was as if he was walking on cotton and his knees were so stiff that he thought he had lead inside.

As Ling Yun continued his run, a mysterious painful soreness could be felt in his muscles, bones and even his blood which further impeded his task.

Despite all these obstacles, the fight in his eyes got brighter. Ling Yun’s expression was that of pure determination and he could feel his will getting stronger with each step. This will of his was no ordinary will. it was one tempered through countless trials during his time in the Cultivation World as he advanced into the Tribulation Stage. This undying will of his was from his dao heart.

Ling Yun also knew that once this painful and sore sensation spread to his whole body, his mind would enter into a zone that would allow him to run non stop.

In addition, by using his will to push this body to its utmost limits, the energy stored in the Shichiyou herb within his body would be absorbed and released into every single meridian, muscle and his blood. That would rejuvenate all the cells in his body, cleanse his body and give him the energy to continue running.

He was exhausted but his smiling expression could not hide his excitement. He put in some effort to straighten his back and he noticed that he was actually able to go faster.

He was actually smiling in the face of such pain.

“What the h*ck? 400 meters down and he’s still getting faster?” Tang Meng shouted in disbelief as he stands up from the stands.

“This bloke is insane!” Cheng Zhiye mumbled to himself as he stood up and looked at Ling Yun. What was supposed to be a total joke of a bet was turning out to be something else entirely.

Cheng Zhiye couldn’t believe his eyes. He was the champion long-distance runner in Qing Shui City. Even for him, he would not have been able to run more than 50 meters with such weight on his body. However, this fat Ling Yun had run over 400 meters and was actually speeding up.

At the start, Ling Yun used small steps and his pace was so slow that it could hardly be considered as jogging. He took more than 20 minutes for him to complete his first round.

However, despite his body facing such pain and soreness from overworking, he was starting to get used to the weight. With his new tempo, it was as if the weight had become a part of his own body.

The reason behind all this was that Ling Yun possessed something no one else had. Even though he could no longer use spiritual energy or any movement skills, he still possessed his overwhelmingly strong soul.

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He had attained this soul through enduring tough times. It had been tempered by the pandemonium he experienced during the heavenly tribulation in order to reach the Tribulation Stage.

“This bit of fatigue is nothing to be afraid of,” Ling Yun laughed to himself.

While gritting his teeth and holding on to the sandbag tighter than before, Ling Yun braced himself. He widened his steps and he started running much faster as he began the second round.

It was at this moment that all the audience including Tang Meng and Cheng Zhiye realized that Ling Yun had not been using his full strength from the start.

“Come on, you can do it! Don’t give up!” a person shouted.

A minute later, an earth-shattering roar followed. Almost all the audience joined in and cheered for Ling Yun. This made the desire within Ling Yun burn even stronger than before and gave him the energy to go even faster.

In the classroom of Grade 12 Class 6.

Cao Shanshan could hear the deafening roar of cheers coming from the stands even in class. She did not know what was going on but she was certain that it was due to the fact that Ling Yun was still running. Cao Shanshan’s lips puckered up to form a slight smile almost like that of Mona Lisa’s. In her three years of studies, this was the first time that she was distracted in class.

In the classroom of Grade 12 Class 1.

During this time, Ning Lingyu was no longer listening to the lesson. She was having a hard time holding herself back from running out of the class to go and cheer for her big brother.

When the witty Zhuang Meina heard the deafening cheers, she immediately knew that Ling Yun had already finished his first round. It was obvious since before Meina entered the class, Ling Yun had already finished half a round. More than 7 minutes had passed and the eruption of cheers clearly proved that Ling Yun was still running.

Zhuang Meina was now gnashing her teeth with anger; so much that her face was distorted and ugly. On the other hand, Xie Junyan was listening in class attentively. When he heard the cheers, he just smiled slightly which showed his satisfaction of making the correct judgment in this bet.

7 minutes passed.

Under the earth-rocking cheers and support of the audiences, Ling Yun finished the second round like a bolt of lightning as he proceeded on to the third round.

He only took about 13 minutes for the second round.

Even though Ling Yun was feeling giddy and he couldn’t think properly, he continued to push his body forward like a machine.

“By finishing this round in the same tempo, this painful soreness will definitely permeate through my entire body!” Ling Yun screamed to himself as he pushed his body forward.

The pain that Ling Yun was experiencing was one that would only occur when a person pushed himself or herself to the absolute limit. This pain would induce sleepiness in the person as the body would attempt to shut itself down.

However, Ling Yun was actually trying to use this pain to his advantage! By using his incredibly strong will and soul, Ling Yun was trying to convert this pain into a driving force for movement.

To train one’s body, one must strengthen the heart.

Without a strong heart, how would one master the flow of energy?

“It’s already the third round and he’s not even slowing down! Where is he getting all the energy from?” Tang Meng exclaimed in exasperation as his eyes followed Ling Yun closely. As for the already dumbfounded Cheng Zhiye, he stood at the same spot motionlessly and repeatedly mouthed the word, “Impossible”.

7 more minutes passed.

Ling Yun was already three quarters done with the third lap. With each breath and each step, he was moving closer to the audience stand. Everyone watched intently as he ran, it was almost as if they were running with him.

As planned, the painful sensation had spread throughout Ling Yun’s entire body and he was keeping his eyes open with just his will. However, he knew that he had not reached his true limits. In order to reach that limit, he decided to use everything that he had left to speed up even more.

“He is going even faster!”

“He’s so strong! Even though he seems to be at his limit…” the girls in the field exclaimed with an anguished tone as they watched on.

“Come on! Let’s go closer and cheer him on!” One of the girls shouted as she ran towards Ling Yun.

Sometimes, all it takes is one incident to change people’s perspectives.

In the whole of Qing Shui High, who didn’t know about Ling Yun? Who had not ridiculed Ling Yun before?

However, at this very moment, everyone’s perspective of Ling Yun was changing drastically from this single incident.

This included the students taking sports classes, the sports program athletes, Cheng Zhiye, Tang Meng, the sports teachers and even Ma Tian Feng!

“This kid…” the tall and muscular sports teacher, Ma Tian Feng, mumbled under his breath in disbelief as he watched Ling Yun. If he had seen Ling Yun’s running when he was Grade 11, he swore he would have pulled Ling Yun into the track team by hook or by crook.

Just as Ling Yun ran pass Tang Meng, the image of Cao Shanshan’s expression when she made the bet floated into Tang Meng’s head.

“Maybe she was right… if he doesn’t faint, he might really go beyond the fifth round.” Tang Meng said softly.