No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

There was no way Zhang Yu wasn’t tempted when Yin Jiurao offered him 30 spirit coins.

But to hand over the goods without reservation… he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“After all, a Divine Spirit Root is a serious matter. If something goes wrong, it’ll be a huge problem.”

Naturally, the first person he thought of was Bai Zhenzhen.

That night, during their usual call, Zhang Yu casually asked, “Ah-Zhen, if you hadn’t revealed your Divine Spirit Root back then, do you think it would’ve been discovered after you reached the Second Floor?”

Bai Zhenzhen replied offhandedly, “Probably not…”

Through this deliberate probing, Zhang Yu confirmed once again the incredible concealment abilities of the Divine Spirit Root—ordinary physical exams couldn’t detect it at all.

However, the physical enhancements granted by the Divine Spirit Root were very real. The changes it brought to the body were impossible to completely hide.

After hearing Bai Zhenzhen’s account, Zhang Yu began to feel more confident.

The next day, he rented a lab with Le Mulan, planning to personally test his own ”material” to see if there was anything unusual.Of course, this was done while switching his Greenlotus Sword Embryo to the Three-Eyed Divine Sight.

…

Inside the laboratory.

Le Mulan channeled her mana, and in the mirror suspended mid-air, Zhang Yu’s sample appeared magnified countless times.

Zhang Yu scratched his cheek awkwardly. “So… how is it?”

Le Mulan tilted her head and said, “It’s… kinda different from before.”

She lifted a measuring cup, swirling it. “This is my first time working with such fresh stuff. It’s really active. The temperature’s staying high too. Does that have to do with how you handled it?”

Zhang Yu muttered, “You’re not here to play around!”

Le Mulan looked at him. “I’m not playing. What’s so fun about this?”

Zhang Yu looked away. “Anyway… with the methods you learned, did you find anything?”

Le Mulan continued analyzing. She pursed her lips and said, “There’s a clear improvement in quality. All indicators—strength, activity—are higher than before…”

As she repeated the tests, Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Just as I thought—the unique traits of the Divine Spirit Root don’t show up in the material.”

“But my body has definitely changed, enhanced from top to bottom.”

Zhang Yu asked again, “What about your mentor? She’s way more skilled than you. Could she find something deeper?”

Le Mulan nodded. “Professor Yin’s a pharmaceutical tech expert. Her body itself is practically a full-scale drug factory and lab.”

“Even without equipment, she could absorb your material and generate a report over 200 pages long. She’s definitely way ahead of me in that regard, but…”

Although Yin Jiurao’s Immortal Dao technology far surpassed Le Mulan’s, in her view, Zhang Yu’s material hadn’t undergone any fundamental change. Even if Professor Yin could extract more data, it likely wouldn’t lead to anything groundbreaking.

“She’s more interested in fertility rights.”

Le Mulan turned to Zhang Yu. “She might secretly breed descendants from your bloodline to gain further research data. Are you sure you’re not selling the fertility rights?”

…

Faced with this unsettling possibility, Zhang Yu realized he couldn’t go toe-to-toe with Yin Jiurao on his own. He needed someone heavyweight to back this deal.

So he went to find Director Gao.

When Zhang Yu laid it all out, Director Gao’s eyes lit up in surprise. “30 spirit coins?”

“She only wants yours?”

What crossed Director Gao’s mind was that if a professor from the Pharmacology Department needed this sort of thing, he could organize a whole team of Civil Engineering students to sell theirs. This kind of scientific work paid way better than construction—and was a lot more legit.

Zhang Yu shook his head. “Just me.”

Director Gao nodded slightly. Probably Zhang Yu’s performance had caught her eye.

He too had consulted a professor from the Breeding Department at Demon-Beast University, who confirmed that Zhang Yu’s special physique couldn’t be simply studied through flesh or bloodline expression.

“Yin Jiurao’s going to regret offering such a high price.”

Looking at Zhang Yu, Director Gao felt proud of his disciple’s ability to sell trash for sky-high prices.

“You did great. That kind of sales talent? Put it to use in the civil engineering industry—it’ll take you far.”

As for the fertility rights, Director Gao saw no need to sell them.

Zhang Yu was no ordinary student anymore. He had real potential. Leaving bloodline traces on the Second Floor could become a liability, a hindrance to his cultivation later on.

“I’ll handle the contract negotiations with her.”

…

When Yin Jiurao saw Director Gao, she frowned. “A contract witnessed by a Righteous God?”

Director Gao replied, “Professor Yin, let’s be honest. Zhang Yu is a very promising student of our Civil Engineering Department. I don’t want him leaving behind any descendants prematurely and getting tangled in unnecessary karmic ties.”

After some back-and-forth, Yin Jiurao finally agreed to the contract—but the price dropped from 30 to 25 spirit coins, and she insisted on collecting the material herself.

“I don’t trust him to do it. I’ll harvest the goods personally.”

Director Gao had no objections. For 25 spirit coins, it made perfect sense for her to pick her own fruit.

Still, he added, “I’ll supervise the whole process. Just to ensure you don’t overharvest Zhang Yu’s material.”

So under Director Gao’s watchful eye, Yin Jiurao reached out…

The entire time, Zhang Yu felt like a slab of meat on a butcher’s block. With Director Gao supervising, Yin Jiurao collected various samples from different parts of his body.

Blood, saliva, urine, skin tissue, hair, seeds…

Each sample, once verified by Director Gao, earned Zhang Yu a deposit directly into his account.

At that moment, Zhang Yu felt with startling clarity the exact price of his own body.

But once it was all over, and his account balance shot past 55 spirit coins, any discomfort he’d felt vanished into thin air, leaving only pure joy and satisfaction.

He was already imagining burning through this windfall on Artifact Refinement, pushing his skills to the next level.

On the way out, Director Gao said, “Next time something like this comes up, make sure you sign a contract witnessed by a Righteous God.”

“If the profit is high enough, people will take risks.”

“How’s the construction project going? Once this pharmaceutical plant wraps up, I’ve got another one lined up for you. I’ll send the materials—start prepping.”

“Alright, get back to the site.”

After parting ways, Director Gao hummed a little tune and messaged True Lord Magneto.

Director Gao: Zhang Yu’s material sold for 25 spirit coins.

True Lord Magneto: Your disciple’s a genius.

Director Gao smiled.

True Lord Magneto: [Artifact Refinement Screenshot]

The screenshot showed someone refining Azure Sand, but only a blurry half-body was visible—shot from behind in the lab.

Director Gao: Who’s this?

True Lord Magneto: Told you I took in a backdoor student, right?

True Lord Magneto: He just started learning Artifact Refinement. I had another student mentor him.

True Lord Magneto: Progress is slow, but he’s got some talent.

Director Gao: Sounds promising.

True Lord Magneto: Yeah, I plan to give him more chances.

True Lord Magneto: If he manages to craft something decent, I’ll let you try it.

Director Gao: Deal.

Not long after Zhang Yu and Director Gao left…

Yin Jiurao picked up the measuring cup.

With a gulp and a flick of her tongue, her mana surged, and massive amounts of data from Zhang Yu’s blood lit up in her EyeNet interface.

In the next moment, her pupils dilated sharply.

“This is…”

After a long pause, Yin Jiurao smiled faintly. “Looks like this year’s paper is in the bag.”

…

Zhang Yu returned to the pharmaceutical factory and headed to the production floor for data measurements.

With the expansion of the base-level worker line complete, he now had to oversee the construction of the new production workshop.

His appearance caused a ripple of excitement among the otherwise numb and bored line workers.

“Is that a Foundation Establishment student from Wanfa University?”

“One of the top ten, huh? Wonder how much he makes here.”

“Gotta be at least 0.1 spirit coin a day.”

“Damn… that’s enough to get injections daily and stream vids without counting data.”

“Ugh. Just goes to show—study hard and get into the Top Ten if you want a future.”

Meanwhile, after taking measurements, Zhang Yu moved on to the target site. With a surge of martial qi, energy exploded outward in all directions.

His Azure Cloud Sand-Pouch soared into the sky, unleashing a host of Formless Golems along with torrents of Azure Sand.

Artifact Spirit Zhao Tianxing, piloting the Level-3 Azure Cloud Sand-Pouch, immediately sensed the improved throughput and smoother operation. The upgrades also boosted the golems’ performance by another tier.

Zhang Yu nodded in satisfaction. “With this artifact boost, my work efficiency has really gone up.”

He did the math—over the past half-month on this pharmaceutical factory project, he’d earned over 5 spirit coins.

“Earn on the site, invest in Artifact Refinement.”

“Refine artifacts, then use them to boost site productivity.”

Zhang Yu mused, “This really is the right path for a broke guy like me to learn Artifact Refinement.”

He understood clearly—until his Artifact Refinement reached the level where he could earn money selling artifacts, construction site income would remain his lifeline.

The next moment, clouds of Formless Cloud Qi wrapped around his entire body as he began cultivating the 9th technique of the Martial Saint Body.

“When I’ve mastered all ten techniques to Level 20, I won’t need to rely on the site for cultivation anymore.”

“Then I can channel the Martial Saint Body into work, make even more spirit coins, and…”

“Burn it all into Artifact Refinement!”