No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Bai Zhenzhen asked again, “By the way, what about that Evil God’s little treasury? Did you find it?”

Fu Ji replied, “That’s not so easy. The moment he realized he was going to lose, he wiped all the data and records from his own mind.”

“And even if he did leave anything behind, you should never touch the inheritance of an Evil God.”

“Our operation stirred up quite a commotion—there’s no doubt a lot of people noticed.”

“The Inspectorate might already be investigating the incident, so you both need to be very careful.”

As she spoke, a trace of cold, sinister Evil God power emerged from Fu Ji’s body. She said proudly, “But after devouring that guy, I’ve now restored my position as a Level 1 Lesser Evil God. Covering for you in the First Floor of Kunxu is more than doable.”

From Fu Ji’s explanation, Zhang Yu learned that Evil Gods also had a tier system—and that the key to this system was something called a rank.

Fu Ji explained, “From Level 1 to Level 9, there are nine ranks of Evil Gods. The higher your rank, the higher the level of divine power networks you can infiltrate.”

“For instance, the 36 Floors of Kunxu—the higher you go, the more advanced the networks, and the harder they are to breach.”

“But now that I’ve returned to being a Level 1 Lesser Evil God, getting into the divine power network on the First Floor of Kunxu shouldn’t be a problem.” Zhang Yu knew that all the networks in Kunxu were essentially divine power networks—conduits used by the Righteous Gods to transmit information and power, though they had gradually been opened up for public use over time.

Hearing Fu Ji’s words, Zhang Yu asked, “So what exactly can you do?”

As if eager to make Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen recognize her worth, Fu Ji launched into a pitch like a salesperson, explaining the powers she regained as a Level 1 Evil God.

“First of all, I can now perform all sorts of Rituals.”

“A Detection Ritual to locate surveillance cameras.”

“A Shielding Ritual to block them.”

“An Anti-Monitoring Ritual to take control of them…”

“And that’s not all…”

Zhang Yu couldn’t help but interrupt, “What the hell is your beef with cameras? Why are all your rituals aimed at dealing with them?”

“That’s because you don’t understand the trade,” Fu Ji said with a hint of superiority. “The lower you go in Kunxu, the less developed the divine power networks are. The First Floor is the least developed of them all, so the Righteous Gods use the most primitive and basic tools for surveillance.”

“On the First Floor, cameras are the eyes of the Righteous Gods—their most important method for observing the world and monitoring society.”

“If you can avoid all the cameras, it’s almost like becoming invisible to most Righteous Gods. You’re essentially a ghost.”

“So among the rituals available to a Level 1 Evil God, the ones targeting cameras are the most common.”

Bai Zhenzhen recalled how she’d used cameras to monitor Song Xu and the others, then asked, “But didn’t Song Xu’s group skip using these rituals?”

Fu Ji chuckled. “Even Evil Gods can’t use rituals indefinitely.”

“Each Level 1 Evil God can only maintain a limited number of rituals.”

“For example, my colleague had to maintain wish-granting rituals for eight followers, keep the apartment building’s shielding ritual active to block cameras, and also used a Shadow Parasite to monitor you. He was already stretched thin—no leftover power to let his followers cast whatever rituals they wanted.”

“But I’m not like him, investing in a bunch of junk stock.”

“I only have the two of you as followers, so I can afford to place Detection Rituals on both of you, letting you always sense the location of nearby cameras.”

“And there’s also the Anti-Detection Ritual. Once that’s performed on you, unless a Righteous God is overseeing the scan directly, any attempt to measure your mana or physical strength will return only partial data.”

“Hehe, your stats have been rising fast lately—this ritual should help you both lie low for a while, yeah?”

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen both nodded. In their current state, with no one to back them, their rapidly improving stats were a major liability.

Especially with the Foundation License exam coming up, overly high test scores had little benefit and could easily draw dangerous attention.

Like how Chairman Long took a special interest in Zhang Yu when he sold those seeds.

Seeing the two of them so intrigued, Fu Ji finally revealed her true motive. “So as long as you get me the materials and a proper site for the rituals, we can start anytime…”

But when Zhang Yu saw the list of materials she kept adding, he frowned. “What’s with all these antiques? This adds up to over a hundred thousand. Do the rituals really need antiques this expensive?”

Fu Ji had clearly anticipated the question and explained, “My Evil God rank is just the entry ticket for performing rituals and accessing the divine power network.”

“But each ritual still consumes Evil God power.”

“Of course, I can siphon a little bit of divine power each day from the Righteous Gods’ network. In maybe half a year, I’d have enough power to cast all the rituals.”

Zhang Yu stared at the shopping cart on his phone—full of statues, incense burners, candle holders—and asked, “So these antiques can recharge your Evil God power?”

Fu Ji replied, “Before the divine power network even existed, the gods already stood tall in Kunxu, worshiped by countless followers who offered incense and prayers.”

“That incense and prayer—also known as faith power—was the original form of divine power.”

“And within artifacts from that old era, there’s usually some trace of that faith power left behind. By absorbing it, I can replenish my Evil God power.”

She went on to persuade them. “Your progress is about to skyrocket, so this is the perfect time to conceal your strength. Song Xu’s case might alert the Inspectorate—they could start watching you via camera at any time. What if they catch something they shouldn’t?”

“With all the secrets you’re carrying, concealment is absolutely vital.”

“Spending a hundred grand for peace of mind? Totally worth it.”

“And don’t worry about too many active ritual effects being detected during the Foundation License exam. When that time comes, I’ll help you temporarily deactivate everything except the wish-granting ritual. With my technical skills, I can mask everything—no Righteous God will detect a thing.”

Bai Zhenzhen thought for a moment and said, “Yuzi, she has a point. Maybe we shouldn’t cheap out on this.”

“Alright,” Zhang Yu nodded. “Let’s get it ready.”

Thankfully, since returning to Songyang, Zhang Yu had made some decent money selling seeds and earning broker fees, so he could afford a good round of online shopping.

Then he and Bai Zhenzhen went right back to their cultivation.

Zhang Yu twisted his body and circulated his mana, running through one movement after another to temper his muscles and speed up the expulsion of toxins and impurities.

Ever since coming back from Xiandu City, Zhang Yu had been urgently cultivating the top-tier body-refining Technique, Endless Spring and Autumn Meditation.

Over the past few days, not only had he rapidly leveled it up and felt his body growing stronger, but he could also sense residual pill toxins being gradually purged from his system.

In the past few months, he had abandoned natural body forging entirely in order to pass the Foundation License exam—injecting himself non-stop and chugging Hunyuan Pills like candy.

That method had indeed rocketed his cultivation forward, but it also left behind all kinds of impurities that began affecting his internal organs.

He even felt that dull organ pain right before his last exam.

Now, with the help of Endless Spring and Autumn Meditation, his body felt progressively cleaner. His organs were becoming light and relaxed again.

After one more round of practice, Zhang Yu felt refreshed and glanced at his Feathered Tome.

Endless Spring and Autumn Meditation Lv. 6 (14/60)

“Once this reaches Level 10, I’ll start practicing those basic high school Techniques and see what the Saint Body from the chain diagram is really all about.”

…

In the following days, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen continued their training while preparing the ritual materials and location.

One day at White Dragon High School—

Just after finishing a two-hour match with Yu Xinghan and Song Hailong, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were heading out.

Zhang Yu was still thinking about how pale Yu Xinghan looked during the match and wondered, “Is that guy okay? Hope he doesn’t drop dead from overwork someday…”

Just then, several people in Inspectorate uniforms strode through the school corridors, making the surrounding students quickly get out of the way.

“The Inspectorate…” Zhang Yu remembered the intel he’d just gathered from Yu Xinghan and Song Hailong.

Song Xu, the White Dragon High School genius, had gone missing—but there wasn’t much of a stir, likely because the case was being deliberately suppressed. Students only knew Song Xu hadn’t shown up in days, unaware that he had died due to ritual backlash.

Seeing the Inspectorate appear, Zhang Yu immediately suspected they were investigating that incident. He and Bai Zhenzhen quickly stepped aside, trying not to draw attention.

But as the group walked past, the woman leading them stopped and turned to Zhang Yu.

“Hm? You’re Zhang Yu, right?” She looked at him and smiled. “You’re Zhang Pianpian’s… heh.”

Seeing this beautiful woman greet him, both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen tensed up.

But the woman went on, “I’m Yun Ni, the Inspectorate Captain.”

“We talked before—don’t you remember?”

Zhang Yu was caught off guard. This woman looked way too young—not at all how he imagined the captain of the Inspectorate.

What he didn’t know was that Yun Ni came from a family of ten generations of inspectors, a household famous in Songyang for its lineage.

As a gifted daughter of the clan, Yun Ni joined the Inspectorate in high school and, right after graduation, skipped college entirely—appointed directly as captain by her family’s arrangements.

Yun Ni seemed about to say more, but after glancing at the White Dragon students nearby, she frowned and muttered, “Ugh, White Dragon smells like blood these days. Everyone looks like some kind of monster.”

Zhang Yu was momentarily confused, then realized she was referring to how many students had taken on Demon-Kin traits after synthetic tendon-muscle surgery.

Yun Ni sighed, “Back in the day, if someone looking like that ran around campus, they’d get skewered by a Flying Sword, no questions asked.”

“Who’d have thought… high school would turn into this freak show.”

One of her subordinates quickly whispered, “Captain, someone might report you for saying stuff like that again…”

Zhang Yu got the picture. This Yun Ni clearly had deep prejudice against Demon-Kin.

“Forget it, no point talking about that,” Yun Ni shook her head, then turned back to Zhang Yu with a smile. “Let’s chat somewhere else.”

Zhang Yu told Bai Zhenzhen to go on ahead while he followed Yun Ni.

As they walked, Yun Ni asked, “Zhang Yu, have you been in contact with Song Xu recently?”