Tan Wenbin, who practiced with them, was so envious of their progress that he could almost drool. His companions were improving at a visible rate, but he only managed to improve his physical fitness.
Every night, the three would practice moves, starting with Tan Wenbin choosing one, and then the chosen one would quickly take him down, followed by the remaining two sparring.
The only thing that gave Tan Wenbin so confidence was when Xiao Yuan taught them three how to travel through the Underworld, he progressed the fastest.
Although Xiao Yuan forbade completing the last step of Underworld travel, Tan had mastered the preceding steps, while Run Sheng and Yin ng learned it much slower.
Despite this, Tan Wenbin noticed sothing was amiss—that he’d often experience sleep paralysis during nights or during class naps.
After telling Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan said it was a side effect, and following sleep paralysis, Underworld practice must be paused for several days.
This side effect was sothing that Li Zhiyuan could not resolve, or rather, it was unsolvable as it was part of the nature of Underworld travel.
However, during the teaching process, Li Zhiyuan discovered that people with more active and sensitive minds learned Underworld travel more easily.
Every so often, Tan Wenbin would get his customized set of exercises from Li Zhiyuan and deliver another set to the school.
The "Chasing the Distance Secret Scroll" now had pretty good sales in Nantong and has sold beyond our city.
There was a substantial share of profits every month.
Tan Wenbin had already prepared a new plan for Li Zhiyuan.
Starting next sester, instead of producing exercise sets based on different knowledge points, they would produce whole exam papers.
As the final sester of the senior year was crucial, teachers and students had finished reviewing previous knowledge, creating a great demand for complete papers.
The papers could vary in difficulty: basic, simulation, and advanced.
The basic improved confidence, the simulation reflected the typical difficulty of the college entrance examination, and the advanced was specifically made to be challenging.
Tan Wenbin initially thought of suggesting to Li Zhiyuan about inflating the content in the papers, like creating a few high-quality questions while the rest could be easy, allowing teachers to choose which questions for the students to solve.
This would have reduced the burden of creating questions and boosted sales.
However, after pondering, Tan Wenbin discarded this idea. They were still building their reputation, and they could not afford to tarnish the brand—it wasn’t just about earning this year’s share.
Once the brand was well-established, they could potentially sell the "Chasing the Distance Secret Scroll" brand, which would be the real payoff.
Tan Wenbin, who both studied and practiced, was busy all the ti, and his food intake continued to increase; however, he didn’t gain weight but actually lost so.
"Brother Xiao Yuan, finals are coming up. Are you going to participate?"
"Yeah, I’ll be taking them."
"Then shall I go with you tomorrow morning?"
"No need, I’ll go in the afternoon."
"But the exams for Chinese and Math are in the morning."
"I’ll take them all together when I arrive."
That night it began to snow, and the next day before dawn, Tan Wenbin rode his bicycle through the wind and snow to school.
At noon, right after lunch, Li Zhiyuan saw Principal Wu driving the school’s car, stopping by the fields.
Getting into the car, Principal Wu cheerfully pointed at the other seat: "Xiao Yuan, there are snacks and drinks inside."
"I’ve already eaten, Grandpa Principal."
"Then wait a mont, I’ll first drop these off at your house."
Principal Wu got out of the car, took a large bag of snacks to Li Sanjiang’s house, and then drove the car back.
After arriving at the school, in the principal’s office, all the departnt heads were waiting.
Li Zhiyuan sat down to start the final exam papers.
Though the exams for two subjects had begun in the morning, no one suspected that the boy would cheat by leaking questions.
While writing the Chinese essay, Li Zhiyuan pointed at the recorder on the principal’s desk.
"Play the English listening."
"Now?"
Principal Wu imdiately urged, "If he tells you to play it, just play it. Are you the teacher, or is he?"
"Okay."
Principal Wu made a grammatical error, but no one present laughed because of it.
The tape was inserted, and the listening began:
"Excuse ... The price of the shirt is £9.15.
So you choose [B], and mark it on your paper..."
After finishing the essay, Li Zhiyuan started on the physics paper, and by the ti he’d finished, the English listening had long ended. He then picked up the English paper.
"Let play it again..."
Li Zhiyuan swiftly finished the listening questions.
The teacher wisely remained silent.
Indeed, after mastering the Yin Family’s Twelve Techniques, Li Zhiyuan found his multitasking ability had further strengthened.
After finishing the exams, many subjects were imdiately marked with full scores.
Principal Wu’s old face smiled like a blooming flower, coming over to massage the boy’s sore wrists.
"Xiao Yuan, the national competition is about to start, is there anything inconvenient for you?"
"I can go."
"That’s great."
At this mont, the math departnt head, Mr. Yan, also smiled and said, "Let’s go early so Xiao Yuan can have fun in Beijing."
Wu Xinhao glared at Mr. Yan, scolding, "Have you gone silly, Xiao Yuan grew up in Beijing."
"Oh, right," Mr. Yan slapped his receding forehead, "I forgot."
"Grandpa Principal, are we taking the train there?"
"Taking the train is too tiring, we’ll fly."
Wu Xinhao and the other teachers accompanied Li Zhiyuan out of the office, all the way to the school gate.
At that mont, an exam had just ended, and the senior students stretched and walked out of the examination room.
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