No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

After saying his piece, Director Lin of the Peace Faction turned his head away, no longer engaging in debate with Director Gao of the War Faction.

His gaze settled on the examination field not far away. In his perception, an immense flow of spiritual energy was continuously converging toward Ji Yuanshu’s bunker from deep beneath the earth.

With absolute support from the spirit veins, and torrents of spiritual energy rushing in, the operation of Ji Yuanshu’s array had reached a peak state.

Thanks to the multi-layered augmentation of the array, a faint radiance seeped from the outer walls of the bunker, forming a kind of force field that enveloped the entire structure.

Not only did it make the bunker glow brilliantly, but even after the sixth wave of attacks, the structure remained spotless under the array’s protection—standing like a sacred sanctuary amid the ruins of the exam field.

By contrast, most of the spiritual energy had been siphoned away by Ji Yuanshu’s bunker, leaving Zhang Yu’s array sluggish and its reinforcement nearly paper-thin.

After enduring six waves of bombardment, Zhang Yu’s bunker, though structurally intact, was scorched and battered. Its outer walls were pocked with burn marks, explosions, and impact scars—the outermost layer had nearly peeled off.

Next to Ji Yuanshu’s immaculate stronghold, it looked like a beggar standing beside a corporate executive.

Anyone witnessing this would conclude that Ji Yuanshu’s bunker was undoubtedly superior in construction quality and would last longer in the coming onslaught.

Gongshu Jin sighed inwardly. “No wonder the Finance Department is one of the Big Three. While the Civil Engineering Department is still grinding out raw labor, the Finance Department has already transcended us in scope.”

“No matter how hard you toil on the site, how can it compare to mobilizing resources across the entire battlefield?”

Meanwhile, Ying Xin glanced between the two bunkers and thought to herself, “One’s a well-funded site where overtime is paid. The other looks like... a project that’s still owed back-pay.”

She silently concluded, “The outcome’s clear.”

Just as similar thoughts surfaced in everyone's mind, the seventh wave of assault descended.

Blue bolts of lightning began to flicker in the air.

Even before the strikes began, the stray charges in the atmosphere made every Foundation Establishment student’s hair stand on end.

Those with keen perception could feel a massive electromagnetic force gathering above the exam hall’s ten-meter-high ceiling.

Gongshu Jin mused, “Are they channeling power from the Magnetic Channel? As expected, each wave ramps up in intensity. The increasing variation between waves also allows for finer distinctions in student performance.”

“But it also means the top scorers will be miles ahead. There won’t be any more of that ‘everyone scores 100 because the max is 100’ nonsense.”

“With this lightning barrage, Zhang Yu’s bunker is probably done for...”

As the thought passed through his mind, streaks of lightning, bright and blinding, fell like thunderous pillars toward the two remaining bunkers.

A cacophony of crackles and explosions followed. The blinding lightning engulfed both structures, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

When the light faded, the air reeked of ozone and charred earth. The ground at the center of the arena had been scorched black, and much of the sand and soil had melted into a viscous fluid under the heat, now cooling into glass-like formations.

Ji Yuanshu’s bunker still stood amidst the rising steam, seemingly unscathed.

But to everyone’s shock, Zhang Yu’s bunker—though its walls were charred black—had also held firm, its structural integrity untouched.

And when the eighth wave of attacks rolled through—heralded by blinding fire and thunder—something finally changed.

A section of Ji Yuanshu’s array-lit exterior dimmed, and at its weakest point, a massive crack appeared, revealing part of the interior.

Zhang Yu’s bunker, on the other hand, remained the same—just blacker and more scorched, with no further damage.

“What!” Gongshu Jin stared in disbelief. “How is this possible?”

A perfectly functioning array bunker had cracked, yet the one with spotty reinforcement was untouched?

It wasn’t just Gongshu Jin. Nearly every student on-site was struggling to make sense of what they had just witnessed.

Director Lin of the Peace Faction was also surprised, though unlike the students left guessing, his spiritual projection blinked—and suddenly appeared inside Zhang Yu’s bunker.

“This is...”

As he took in the extra-reinforced concrete pillars inside the structure, his brows furrowed. A suspicion stirred in his heart.

Without wasting another moment, Director Lin waved his hand, summoning the inspection data for analysis.

Earlier, based solely on observing the array performance, Director Lin had believed Ji Yuanshu was already set for victory.

But the current circumstances made it clear: things weren’t so simple.

A stream of data, images, videos, and inspection records now floated before his eyes.

Thirty layers of explosion-resistant armor...

A shock-isolating layer between the foundation and the bedrock, to reduce seismic transmission...

Multilayered kinetic energy absorption using sand, rubble, and alloy...

Densely packed reinforced concrete pillars, forming multiple parallel load-bearing systems...

Viscous dampers at key nodes to absorb and mitigate explosive force...

Reading line after line of these details, even Director Lin was briefly stunned. “So many redundant structures?”

“His three-hour workload was over twice that of any other student.”

“This kid... did he build all this purely through civil engineering?”

At that moment, Director Gao appeared beside him, eyes on the solidly built bunker. He chuckled, “Director Lin, as you said, the strongest fortresses are always breached from within.”

“On paper, the Finance Department can throw around clout. But on the exam field, it’s still down to cold, hard steel and concrete—our Civil Engineering craft holds the final say.”

Director Lin waved away the floating data with a sneer. “Don’t celebrate too soon, Director Gao.”

“Zhang Yu’s construction speed is impressive, sure. But no matter how tough the steel, it has limits. Sooner or later, it’ll hit fatigue.”

“Meanwhile, with fortune, momentum, and spiritual convergence on his side—those are the powers of heaven and earth. They’re limitless.”

His gaze pierced through space toward Ji Yuanshu’s bunker.

With spirit vein infusion, the weakened array swiftly recovered—back to peak performance in no time.

“Arrays can be restored again and again. But can that bunker?”

Director Lin’s voice turned cold. “With money comes fortune, and with fortune, countless chances. No matter how skilled you are, or how tough your concrete, how many defeats can you afford?”

Director Gao met his gaze without backing down. “No one is invincible forever. I only need to win this

match.” “Very well. Let’s see who’s still standing in the end,” Lin growled.

In that instant, their wills clashed—crossing layers of spiritual realms and colliding midair with invisible force.

At the same time, the ninth wave of attacks descended from above.

Streaks of dark thunder roared down, their ominous black light sweeping outward.

Under the assault, Ji Yuanshu’s array flickered violently. Layer after layer of protection collapsed under the yin thunder, and cracks began to appear on the outer wall.

Then came the tenth wave—the strongest of all.

Thunder dragons plummeted from the heavens, triggering explosions, searing heat, and electromagnetic bursts that forced even nearby students to stagger back.

Ji Yuanshu’s bunker trembled violently, and finally began to collapse under the tsunami-like shockwaves.

When the final strike faded, the once three-story bunker was reduced to a single surviving floor.

Zhang Yu’s bunker, on the other hand... aside from partial collapse on one outer wall, its core structure remained intact.

Seeing this, Director Lin’s brows furrowed deeply. “Even with twice the reinforcement workload, this shouldn’t be possible. What else did he do?”

With a single thought, Zhang Yu’s construction log appeared before him.

Director Gao smiled and said to Tu Lishan, “Take the students in for a look. Let them learn something real.”

Led by Tu Lishan, Gongshu Jin, Ying Xin, Li Xiao, Yu Xinghan, and others stepped onto the still-scorching earth, approaching Zhang Yu’s bunker.

Upon seeing the dense redundancy in the structure, Gongshu Jin exclaimed, “He built all this in just three hours?”

Tu Lishan replied, “That’s the brilliance of student Zhang Yu.”

“Today’s walkthrough is to show you the real gap between yourselves and him.”

As he spoke, he tapped his fingertip, and a video materialized before them.

To ensure inspection, records, and oversight, every student’s exam was recorded in full.

What played now was Zhang Yu’s entire construction process.

At first, the students were only mildly impressed by the sight of humanoid qi constructs running around like a full construction crew.

But Tu Lishan’s next words struck like thunder.

“Zhang Yu maintained this pace of work for a full three hours.”

As they recalled the footage of Zhang Yu downing pill after pill during the build, even Tu Lishan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, “Such medicinal absorption, endurance, and sheer physical resilience... truly a natural-born Earth-Wood Saint Body.”

That thought passed quickly, and he added, “Of course, even that wouldn’t have been enough to endure ten waves.”

“The real key lay in his building materials.”