No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

"Doesn’t your Wanfa University teach any battlefield first aid?" said Bai Zhenzhen.

Zhang Yu blinked. "You guys have first aid classes?"

Bai Zhenzhen replied, "Might be because no insurance company’s willing to cover our department."

"Tch, forget it. I’ll just project myself over. Give me full-perspective access, and follow my movements."

The moment she finished speaking, Bai Zhenzhen’s projection shimmered into view before Zhang Yu.

With full-perspective access granted, her image appeared lifelike, as if she were physically present in the dorm room.

She squatted down beside Le Mulan and said to Zhang Yu, "Stick out your hands. Follow my movements."

Zhang Yu aligned his hands with her projected ones and gently brushed across Le Mulan’s lower abdomen, checking for internal injuries.

A moment later, Bai Zhenzhen nodded. "Not bad. Nothing serious—just a bit of internal damage."

"This kind of thing? Easy fix. Just do as I say and we’ll have it patched up before she wakes."

Zhang Yu's fingertips once again mirrored Bai Zhenzhen's, pressing gently on a few points along Le Mulan’s abdomen.

"You’ve still got that cold-type mana, right?" Bai Zhenzhen said. "Inject it. Freeze the wound."

As the cold-type mana surged into her body, Le Mulan’s eyelids fluttered, and she slowly came to, sensing a wave of icy chill from within.

"What… what happened to me?" she murmured, frowning.

She only remembered texting her brother, then a loud boom—then everything went black.

Still half-conscious, Le Mulan looked at Zhang Yu’s hand pressed to her stomach, felt the steady mana infusion, and instinctively began absorbing it—just like she did every day.

"Mana infusion started already?"

The cold in her gut made her shiver. She instinctively reached out and hugged Zhang Yu.

Watching Le Mulan cling to Zhang Yu for warmth, Bai Zhenzhen circled them, filming while nodding in satisfaction. "Good, good. She looks fine. Yuzi, you don’t have to worry about paying compensation now."

But as Zhang Yu felt Le Mulan squirming in his arms—her smooth, icy limbs brushing against him—he couldn’t help but shake her slightly. "Stop wriggling."

Le Mulan’s head was still foggy from the impact. Pressed against Zhang Yu, she mumbled, "Not warm enough."

Bai Zhenzhen chimed in, "Didn’t you hear her? ‘Not warm enough.’ Get heating, or she’ll end up with frostbite."

With no other choice, Zhang Yu activated his muscles to raise his body temperature.

But as Le Mulan kept moving, and his sweat started sticking them together, Zhang Yu found himself getting increasingly distracted.

Especially with his mind split four ways—each thought branch creating its own distractions like a game of mental whack-a-mole. Snowflake thoughts flitted everywhere, and he couldn’t calm down at all.

Bai Zhenzhen reminded him, "Why’s your hand placement changing?"

"Zhang Yu, when we were fighting earlier, I noticed something—you’ve got very active thought patterns. Your attacks are wildly creative, but disconnected. There’s no unifying command behind them."

"I don’t know why your mind’s like that now, but listen: no matter how many thought-branches you have, they must obey a single will. The more scattered your thoughts, the more useless they become. They’ll only drag you down…"

As her words sank in, Zhang Yu felt like a bolt of lightning had struck his brain.

"A single will…"

The scenes from his earlier fight with Bai Zhenzhen replayed in his head.

"Right. If I’m going to multitask, I need a hierarchy. Otherwise, they’ll just contradict each other."

Since the last upgrade of his Limitless Heart: Inner Incarnate Body to Level 20, the two-headed white ox in his mind had grown into a four-headed beast.

With a focused thought, one of the heads suddenly swelled, taking the lead role. The other three heads shrank slightly, encircling the lead ox-head like guards.

Roar!

The main head bellowed, “You—control the hands, compress the wound!”

“You—handle the mana, maintain infusion!”

“You—move the muscles, generate heat!”

“And me? I’ll suppress the distractions!”

Though this seemed like a massive inner reorganization, in the real world it all happened in the blink of an eye.

In that instant, Zhang Yu’s multitasking reached a new level—not four minds working side-by-side, but one core directing three subordinates.

Moments later, though Zhang Yu still sensed faint distractions, his hand on Le Mulan’s abdomen was rock steady. Mana flowed without a hitch, and his body temperature remained high.

Feeling Zhang Yu’s heat like a furnace, Le Mulan finally relaxed.

Zhang Yu had an epiphany. "So this is how multi-threaded thinking is supposed to work. Each branch must have a rank—if they’re all equal, they’ll only trip over each other."

He said, "Ah-Zhen, thank you. You helped me break through a bottleneck."

Bai Zhenzhen smiled and waved it off. "Just doing a mom’s job, giving her son some pointers."

"And don’t forget today’s injury assessment procedure—I’ll send you the video later. Study it. Next time you crash into someone, just replay it."

"Alright, time’s up. I’m off."

As she faded away, Zhang Yu thought about the footage she’d recorded and muttered, "These Kunxu people… do they even see others as human anymore? Just totally industrialized the whole person."

"So hot…" Le Mulan, overwhelmed by the rising heat from Zhang Yu’s body, was jolted fully awake.

Seeing she was okay now, Zhang Yu said, "Feeling better? If so, get up."

Le Mulan stood, confused. "What just happened?"

Zhang Yu blushed. "I, uh, accidentally knocked you out."

"But I checked—you’re fine. Totally healthy."

Le Mulan’s eyes flicked over her sweaty body. Her outer clothes were folded on the floor. Sensing her internal state, she realized he’d used cold-type mana to treat her.

She sighed inwardly. "Zhang Yu checked me over and treated the wound… Technically I should thank him."

"But he also caused it in the first place…"

Le Mulan pouted. "No more roughhousing in the dorm, alright?"

Zhang Yu nodded quickly. Inwardly, he thought, "Now that I understand how to properly use multi-threaded thinking, I’ll always keep one thread in charge. I won’t mess up like that again."

…

After school the next day.

Zhang Yu arrived early at a training hall in the Civil Engineering Department, as promised.

Nascent Soul cultivator detected within 10 meters. Please remain calm and refrain from projecting advertisements.

Moments later, as the domain of a Nascent Soul cultivator emerged, Director Gao appeared in his Daoist robes.

He wasted no time. "Today, I’m teaching you the first of the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes—Xuanhuang Mountain-Suppressing Seal."

"This seal is the foundation of the Seven Absolutes. It also massively aids many of our large-scale construction techniques."

He raised a single finger. A wisp of black-gold mana shimmered at its tip.

"This is the Xuanhuang Qi, essential to cultivating the Mountain-Stabilizing Seal."

"This qi mimics Earthvein gravity. Once attached to an object, it alters its weight—making metal light as feathers or fluff heavy as mountains."

Zhang Yu’s heart stirred. He remembered Mo Shangjin’s Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might, which used raw Earthvein gravity to yank an entire flying vessel to the ground.

"Mountain-Stabilizing Seal might not control gravity directly, but it can still alter weight—no wonder it’s the foundation of the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes."

As Director Gao continued explaining, Zhang Yu better understood how this seal differed from Mo Shangjin’s power.

Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might could apply gravity from afar, manipulating people and objects directly.

But Mountain-Stabilizing Seal required the Xuanhuang Qi to be affixed first—only then could weight be adjusted.

Moreover, if the target countered with mana, the Xuanhuang Qi could be purged, rendering it ineffective.

Though weaker than Mo Shangjin’s technique, it remained the essential base of their entire civil-engineering magic system. Zhang Yu listened with utmost focus.

Especially since adjusting weight clearly had construction applications—it could boost his work efficiency and raise his pay. No surprise he was extra attentive.

Director Gao patiently walked him through the seal’s mana circulation path. "If the Mountain-Stabilizing Seal is the root of the Seven Absolutes, then Xuanhuang Qi is the root of the seal."

"But this qi forms only through balancing yin and yang, cycling the five elements—it takes long, careful grinding to condense even a trace."

"Most students need weeks to get started. Even the top of the class usually takes a few days."

A few minutes later, Zhang Yu clumsily completed the circulation path for the first time—and knew he’d already learned it.

Of course, he wasn’t about to blurt that out.

"If I said it now, who knows what Director Gao would think?"

"Besides, rare chance to spend time with a department head. Why not?"

So he proceeded with deliberate slowness, following the cultivation insights in his mind and making visible progress.

After all, as long as he made any attempt, his Feathered Tome would automatically log it as practice. Whether he looked good doing it or not didn’t matter.

An hour later.

"Master," Zhang Yu asked, "this Mountain-Stabilizing Seal is really tough. What’s the record for fastest entry-level mastery?"

Director Gao replied coolly, "Told you it’s profound and difficult. A few days of practice is normal."

"As for fastest? Maybe thirty minutes."

"Took me about an hour myself."

Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Yu condensed his first trace of Xuanhuang Qi.

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Official entry-level mastery of Mountain-Stabilizing Seal.

As he looked at the black-gold wisp at Zhang Yu’s fingertip, Director Gao realized he’d exaggerated his own record a bit. In truth, he’d taken closer to two hours.

This kid…

Zhang Yu looked over. Director Gao gave a solemn nod. "Not bad. The Mountain-Stabilizing Seal relies on steady accumulation. Keep at it—no slacking off."

As Zhang Yu left, Director Gao took a deep breath and sent a message to True Lord Magneto.

Director Gao: Guess how long my new disciple took to master the Mountain-Stabilizing Seal?

Director Gao: 1 hour 15 minutes!

True Lord Magneto: Your disciple is amazing! [smiling emoji]