Chapter 211: Bodhi Tree

‘Is the competition held by the Flowery Sect this fancy?’

Lin Yao looked skeptical as he watched the video. He was not to be blamed. What was shown in the video had really exceeded his expectations.

He had thought that the competition would be a harsh fight against opponents and a bloody life-and-death duel.

However, the scene before him had proved him wrong. Based on the video, people seemed to be playing and having fun at the competition. Nearly a hundred handsome men and women gathered on the square, flexing their muscles and displaying their skills as they avoided the paint bullets shot from outside.

There were five consecutive hairpin, turn-like running obstacle races, and there was even a race to search for objects.

These games were funny, but what he saw in the video was unlike the competition that he had in mind. He had many burning questions.

In response, Qin Ya only replied, “How do you think the Flowery Sect got its name?”

“…”

Lin Yao thought about the fancy games and the Flowery Sect, and it actually fit very well. In fact, it seemed as if their competition should be like this.

However, he quickly recovered from his speechlessness and shook his head.

“No, didn’t the opposing dojos participate in this competition as well? How could they… how could they agree to participate in such a nonsensical game?”

“Of course they would agree. One reason is that this kind of competition is only a knockout match, and the final winner is still decided through the arena competition. The other reason is that the arena competition can only cultivate warriors who fight head-on and restricts some people from displaying their abilities. The battling mode with a fixed structure is very unfavorable for martial artists who will enter society in the future. After all, martial artists face a variety of situations. It is insufficient to have strong combat abilities alone. The evasion of paint bullets is meant to train one’s agility and ability to dodge attacks. The object-searching game is meant to train one’s detection ability, and the obstacle-running competition is meant to train one’s comprehensive ability… In short, the Flowery Sect claims that it is assessing the overall quality of the martial artists.”

Speaking of this, Qin Ya stopped for a while and said helplessly, “It’s true that all of us think that they want to attract attention with such a fancy game.”

“But will this convince other dojos?”

Lin Yao still could not understand. Qin Ya coughed a little, as she did not know how to voice this. In the end, Yan Yu’er tugged at Lin Yao’s clothes and clarified his doubts.

“One arena competition alone cannot assess all their abilities. It is not the Flowery Sect who says this. Instead, most of the powerhouses in the country believed this. If the conditions permit it, there will be such assessments in major competitions. Ninghai No. 1 High School will hold several comprehensive assessments every year.”

Qin Ya added this after Yan Yu’er was done explaining.

“Exactly. The arena competition does not represent everything. The youth competition held by Shanghai will be coming soon. If you want to get a lot of money, this is a good opportunity, and this competition will be held in this format. Of course, it’s not as fancy.

“Everyone can participate in the youth competition in Shanghai. There will be a lot of contestants. The qualifying matches will not be arena competitions but a standard for one’s cultivation level, strength, and speed. One must be qualified in these three aspects to be selected in the qualifying matches and enter the knockout round.

“The contestants won’t fight against each other in the knockout round. In the past, Shanghai would put the contestants into a mystic realm with a poor environment. The results would be decided based on how long the contestants lasted in the mystic realm, as well as their scores… There are treasures in the mystic realm, and whoever finds them will get to keep them. Even if they fail the assessment, they will benefit from the trip in the mystic realm. This is the reward given to young people by Shanghai.”

After Yan Yu’er’s and Qin Ya’s explanation, Lin Yao felt helpless, as he realized that a match without an arena competition was not a violation of the rules but a very common practice. In fact, this was the norm.

Although they did not explain the reason he had never seen such competitions before, based on their expressions, he could guess the reason.

‘Poverty. Ninghai No. 4 High School is too poor. The mystic realm is the best place to hold this kind of assessment. Besides, there must be a large number of teachers around to prevent any mishaps from happening during the assessment. No. 4 High School is too poor to hold this kind of assessment!

‘Damn! There is a huge gap between bad schools and good schools… Forget it. There is no need to fret. No matter the format of the assessment, the final game is still a test of one’s strength.’

Lin Yao took a deep breath and calmed down. While inhaling, he glanced around.

In the end, he felt depressed due to what he saw.

He could not help but be skeptical of the video sent by Qin Ya. However, Qin Xue and Yan Yu’er were watching it with gusto. Upon seeing them break out in uncontrollable laughter, Lin Yao had to admit that the Flowery Sect was indeed good at coming up with fancy games. If the competition was really held according to what they had in mind, it would indeed be more interesting than pure competition.

The few girls who were watching the games noticed that Lin Yao looked depressed and instantly turned serious.

After all, Lin Yao had a higher priority, and they had to be mindful of his emotions as well. Lin Yao shook his head at their behavior.

“Watch them if you like.”

“No…”

“Well, I am not that small-minded.”

Seeing that Lin Yao was serious, the girls continued to watch the games, and he also watched some of the clips.

In order to attract attention, the Flowery Sect would come up with different games and assessment methods. There were new games almost every year, and this was also why Qin Ya could not discover the specific assessment this time.

Since they could not find out what the assessment method would be, Lin Yao could only play it by ear. This time, the two of them ended the talk after a short while.

After ending the video call, Lin Yao and his four assistants returned to their rented apartment.

The sky had just darkened. If he had been in Ninghai City, he would have been undergoing weaker electric current development at Professor Li’s research institute, but the temporarily rented apartment did not have these facilities. Lin Yao could not help but feel bored.

He felt slightly feverish while watching the girls who were studying and playing around.

After thinking about it, he did not waste the night having fun. Instead, he read up on electromagnetics, fluid mechanics, and optics.

Learning made him happy.

He studied in silence for an hour. After an hour, Lin Yao, who had finished flipping through the books, rested his head on Qin Xue’s knees and pointed to his head.

“Massage my head for me.”

“Is this okay?”

“Yes, this is just right. Your massage technique is getting better and better.”

“It’s good that Ah Yao likes it.”

He rested after studying for an hour and was served by others. Qin Xue massaged his head, Yan Yu’er fed him grapes, and the beautiful twins were massaging his legs. Lin Yao did not seem to have a good learning attitude and seemed depraved.

Well, he was indeed depraved, and he was used to others taking care of him. Although he casually flipped through a book and only read through it for an hour, this was not considered having a poor attitude toward studying.

Lin Yao studied very hard and did not hate reading. In fact, he had read the books thoroughly and was resting now.

His fast learning speed was related to the Bodhi Tree.

After becoming a warlord, he’d naturally obtained the third tree species. Therefore, as soon as he had advanced to the next level, he had planted the Bodhi Tree, also known as the Tree of Enlightenment, right away.

Everything had happened as expected. The tree species successfully sprouted and gave Lin Yao a surprise. This was also a sacred tree that had the qualities of a king.

This sacred tree lived up to its name as the Tree of Enlightenment and gave him a great surprise.

After the fusion, Lin Yao obtained his first talent—Photogenic Memory.

No explanation was needed for this talent. One could understand its meaning from its name. This talent also greatly enhanced his learning ability. He could finish a difficult physics book in half an hour and was able to recite the content.

There was more to it. Lin Yao had just exchanged 120 million yuan for about 400,000 grams of energy when he’d planted the Bodhi Tree. Since he had a lot of energy, he was not stingy and spent more than 100,000 grams of energy right away, advancing the Bodhi Tree to a Gold Person.

As a result, he obtained two additional talents. The new talents aside, the advancement of the hypostasis of the Bodhi Tree also strengthened his first talent.

After obtaining the Photogenic Memory talent, he was able to finish a book in half an hour. Upon strengthening it, Lin Yao would need an hour to finish the book.

The duration seemed to have increased, but Lin Yao’s way of reading had also changed. Before, he’d merely written down notes, not understanding the contents of the book, but now, he could understand the content of the book.

Photogenic Memory—Agile Mind was the name of the talent after it was enhanced.

Such a talent was very useful, and it had shortened the time Lin Yao needed to pick up new knowledge. Now, he could recite and understand the contents of a book within an hour.

Lin Yao was engrossed in learning new things in the shortest time possible. With such an ability, he would grab a book to study whenever he had time. Now, he had become a scholar.

However, a lot of brain work required nourishment as well. Literary works were still manageable. Lin Yao needed to think and analyze while studying advanced knowledge like physics. Therefore, he needed to take a break after studying continuously for an hour.

After feeding Lin Yao grapes, Qin Xue took out some high-energy snacks at his signal and put them in his mouth as brain nourishment.

Half an hour later, Lin Yao, who had recovered, continued to study.

Lin Yao was engrossed in reading and studying.

The reason why he was so engrossed in reading was that he knew that knowledge was power and it was always good to learn more. Besides, the other reason was related to the Bodhi Tree.

The Bodhi Tree was now a Gold Person, and the talents it provided Lin Yao with had also increased to three.

None of these three talents had offensive abilities, but Lin Yao had undergone tremendous changes.

He became smarter after obtaining the first talent, Photogenic Memory—Agile Mind, and could easily pick up new knowledge and was a knowledgeable person now.

This was a very powerful talent. It was extremely difficult to gain wisdom. In order to gain wisdom, Odin, the head god of northern Europe, had been willing to sacrifice an eye and hang himself on the World Tree for nine days and nine nights. Lin Yao did very little and still gained wisdom. He was indeed very lucky.

The first talent provided by the Bodhi Tree was already very good, and the second talent was even more amazing. It was called Light-Bulb Moment.

[Light-Bulb Moment LV1: When the host is thinking hard, there is a 3% chance of entering the state of a sage. In this state, the host’s own mental realm will be elevated and will enter a state of enlightenment.]

The Light-bulb Moment might not sound as powerful, but it was super-amazing when it was used. Ever since he had planted the Bodhi Tree, Lin Yao’s comprehension ability had become better. As for what he had planned in the past, he started to practice the diamond combat skills, the Super Electromagnetic Gun and the Phantom Clone Slash. He also intended to comprehend the profound meaning of Clear Mirror Swordsmanship and Deafening Thunder Roar.

He used to feel that it was difficult to cultivate combat skills. But this time, he spent very little time mastering them. With the talent Photogenic Memory—Agile Mind, he was different from the past. The combination of the two allowed him to write down notes and understand a book within an hour. He was also able to watch a silver combat skill in an hour and comprehend it as soon as he finished watching it. He would need a few more hours to learn the gold combat skill. Given this comprehension ability and the accelerated thinking that he’d occasionally activated, he could already be regarded as a genius with an extraordinarily powerful comprehension ability.

In fact, when he combined the first talent of the Bodhi Tree with his original talents, as well as Project Thunder God, he could be considered a king seedling.