No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Xu Lingzi was a Gold Core cultivator over six meters tall, his entire body constructed from a golden-jade Law Husk. His face always carried a proud expression.

As Zhang Yu looked up at him, a low-interest loan application form had already appeared in his EyeNet display.

Xu Lingzi said flatly, “I’ve already prepared everything. Honestly, you didn’t need to come in person. Remote processing works just as well.”

Tu Lishan chuckled. “I brought him over to get familiar with the place. We’ll be troubling you quite a bit in the future.”

Xu Lingzi gave a slight nod and looked at Zhang Yu. “Seems like you’re planning to cultivate this student.”

Tu Lishan explained, “Zhang Yu, Teacher Xu Lingzi is in charge of loan services for our Civil Engineering Department.”

“Before the project payments come in, your wages basically come from him.”

While the two spoke, Zhang Yu had already completed the low-interest loan process.

He’d taken out a loan of 10 spirit coins, with a monthly interest of 0.01 and principal repayment in ten years.

Looking at the freshly credited 10 spirit coins and his balance now soaring to 22.6, Zhang Yu thought to himself, “This is practically charity.”

After leaving the Finance Department’s teaching floor, Tu Lishan told Zhang Yu to take the next half-month to rest up and prepare for the upcoming construction project.

With the Ritual stirring within his body, Zhang Yu planned to unwind with some overtime at the 666th floor site.

At the same time, feeling the incredible potential of 22.6 spirit coins, he’d already started plotting how to spend them.

So during the latter half of November, Zhang Yu burned through his spirit coins with increasing ferocity—and his cultivation rose accordingly.

…

The dorm room door burst open with a bang.

Le Mulan rushed in, visibly excited. “Zhang Yu, I’ve reached Foundation!”

Zhang Yu, who had been taking pills, looked up at her and became excited too. “Foundation? Really?”

He wasn’t surprised that Le Mulan passed the Foundation Establishment exam.

After all, from the perspective of someone who’d already established Foundation ages ago, the differences between Qi Refinement students in college weren’t all that significant.

Even when it came to Spirit Roots—any student who got into the Ten Great Academies basically had Heavenly Spirit Roots, so there wasn’t much of a gap between them.

Recently, under Zhang Yu’s guidance, Le Mulan had improved her pill-popping abilities immensely.

Especially thanks to ingesting Zhang Yu’s blood, she’d absorbed a large volume of semi-finished pharmaceuticals from the pill companies, allowing her body to surpass its previous peak at the end of Qi Refinement.

With her brother Le Jingchen’s support, she’d poured quite a bit of money into her cultivation.

Of course, in Zhang Yu’s view, there was another crucial factor—Wanfa Sect University, as one of the top ten, offered far more Foundation License slots than regular universities.

After passing the Foundation Establishment exam, Le Mulan immediately broke through.

She’d been hovering at the peak of Qi Refinement for a long time, just waiting on that license to make the leap.

Zhang Yu pulled her to sit beside him, clasped her hands in his, and said expectantly, “Now that you’ve established Foundation, we can continue what we talked about earlier.”

Le Mulan looked at Zhang Yu’s eager face and recalled his previous words. “You… want to do it?”

Zhang Yu smiled. “Of course. We made a deal, didn’t we?”

Holding her hands, he infused streams of high-quality mana into her body, intending to improve her mana quality using his own.

Before she could respond, Le Mulan was already absorbing his mana. She thought to herself, “But… but we haven’t discussed the price yet.”

After a while, Zhang Yu stopped. “Alright, that’s it for today. Take your time to digest it.”

Le Mulan blinked. “That’s all?”

After hearing Xuange talk about dual cultivation, she’d gone to the school’s library to do her own research. She distinctly remembered there being a lot more steps afterward.

Zhang Yu said, “You just broke through. No need to rush. We’ll take it slow.”

Le Mulan thought, “That’s true. I can’t afford to pay him right now. Even though Zhang Yu might be willing to help me for free, I don’t want to take advantage of him.”

Thinking back to the expenses around her Foundation Establishment, she continued, “Even though I’m broke right now…”

“But the second branch of the Le family agreed to lend me some money after hearing I got my license.”

“And I’ve got the upcoming pharmacology internship. Once I save enough, I’ll come back to him…”

Zhang Yu looked at the Dao Seed of frost embedded in her chest and thought, “To replicate that Frost Abyss Technique bloodline, I’ll need to boost her mana quality to 150%. Looks like it won’t happen anytime soon.”

…

On the 666th floor construction site.

Zhang Yu darted around, blasting out waves of martial qi like dragons as he rapidly laid down entire sections of steel rebar mesh.

Yu Xinghan sat nearby, speaking into the camera. “Hi everyone, uh… I’m Yu Xinghan, a first-year in Civil Engineering.”

“Um… I’m making this video to document what real construction site life is like.”

“Just finished a whole night’s work. Finally time to eat.”

“Today’s meal is No. 92 cement…”

Li Xiao watched as Yu Xinghan shoveled down cement and asked, “Massage later?”

Yu Xinghan waved him off. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Li Xiao had to wait. Ever since they’d gone for a massage together, he realized just how effective it was.

The next day, his muscles didn’t ache, his joints didn’t creak, and both work and cultivation seemed to go smoother.

Nearby, Ying Xin passed by and scoffed internally at Li Xiao.

Ever since Zhang Yu rose to third place in class, she’d noticed Li Xiao shifting from orbiting them to orbiting Zhang Yu instead.

“Try-hard all you want. Let’s see how long you can keep it up.”

After filming, Yu Xinghan leapt up. “Alright, let’s go—massage time!”

Grinning, he led Li Xiao toward the massage room. His EyeNet kept flashing with projections of Li Xuelian, ready to pick one for his massage session.

Though he was interested in his senior sister, he could tell she wasn’t into him.

He used to feel indignant about that, but he’d since made peace. After all, in his EyeNet projections, his senior sister had no say.

…

Back in the dorm.

Yu Xinghan, Le Mulan, and Zhang Pianpian each handed Zhang Yu a batch of pills they’d bought.

Then they shared in the drop of blood that trickled from his fingertip.

Feeling the triple-layered medicinal power within, Zhang Pianpian was shocked. “This kind of drug metabolism… and he’s only at early Foundation?”

Remembering his performance at the pharmaceutical plant, Zhang Pianpian thought, “This little brother of mine keeps surprising me.”

“Maybe in a few years, he’ll be able to help me out in a big way.”

Zhang Yu’s heart stirred. He glanced at Zhang Pianpian and noticed that her Dao Seed sigil, Supreme Purity Sigil, seemed to flash again.

…

At the worksite.

Zhang Yu struck again and again, each wave of martial qi molding concrete and speeding up the curing process.

Meanwhile, the Third Eye behind his brow observed every move he made—analyzing, mimicking, perfecting.

Every one of his motions became textbook perfect, as if drawn with a ruler.

And with each repetition, he grew faster.

Zhang Yu thought, “Using the Three-Eyed Divine Sight like this really helps with cultivation.”

“It lets me replicate my own forms precisely—train faster without losing form.”

“This way, I can meet the required reps for my Techniques, while also turning each one into body refinement.”

Just then, his EyeNet pinged with a message from the Songyang group.

Jinzhou Academy’s Liu Ben: Liu Ben was severely injured in a bombing and temporarily deceased due to insufficient medical funds. His last wish was to broadcast this message—Save me! I’m only 3.2 spirit coins away from revival! Please send anything! I swear I’ll work to repay it!

Shanhe University’s Lan Ling: Scammer?

Fengdu University’s Zhao Tianxing: Not a scam. His body’s dead, but his consciousness is intact. If he gets the funds, he can really be revived.

Reading the chat flood, Zhang Yu thought, “Bombing?”

He recalled the explosion in Wanfa University City and what Zhang Pianpian and Tu Lishan had said about university warfare.

He mused, “Outside of the Ten Great Academies, any school could get caught up in university wars. Nowhere near as safe.”

…

Back in the dorm.

Watching Bai Zhenzhen's projection, Zhang Yu said, “In a few days, I’ll be heading to an outdoor worksite. Might be gone two or three months. Not sure if the signal’s any good out there, so I might not be able to call every day.”

Bai Zhenzhen smiled. “I asked my mom. Being able to go to a construction site in Civil Engineering is a big deal. I’ll wait for you.”

“But the place you're going might be in a conflict zone. Make sure you don’t leave the site.”

“And also…”

She leaned closer to Zhang Yu. “Hold out your hand.”

Zhang Yu extended his hand, and she delivered a string of glowing characters into it.

He blinked. “What’s this?”

“Flying sword code,” Bai Zhenzhen said.

“Son, I can’t send you money right now, but I prepped a flying sword for you. It should arrive in a few days. Just input this code, and you’ll gain control of the artifact spirit.”

Zhang Yu blinked in surprise. “Ah-Zhen, you should keep the sword for yourself. I’m Civil Engineering—what do I need a flying sword for?”

Bai Zhenzhen said, “I’ve got plenty. Just take this one.”

Zhang Yu looked curious. “Didn’t the Divine Overseer say you weren’t allowed to give things away like that? This sword…”

Bai Zhenzhen smiled faintly. “This one’s… special. You’ll understand when it arrives.”