No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Watching Zhang Yu in the video, Tu Lishan thought to himself, “That whole set of artifacts must’ve cost a fortune. Director Gao really has high hopes for this kid.”

Just then, Director Gao messaged back after finishing the video: Once it’s confirmed that he got first place, let him finish early.

Tu Lishan curled his lip and grumbled inwardly, “Playing favorites again? Can’t the kid do a bit more free labor?”

Tu Lishan: Understood.

Tu Lishan: Don’t worry, I’ve been watching the whole time.

Not long after, Gongshu Jin—still hard at work—noticed something strange on the leaderboard: Zhang Yu’s salary stats had stopped moving.

“Huh? Zhang Yu stopped working?”

At first, Gongshu Jin thought something had gone wrong. But soon, word came through: Zhang Yu had submitted his paper early and left.

“He handed it in this early?!”

But before long, Gongshu Jin understood Zhang Yu’s move. Even though Zhang Yu had stopped working and his salary stats had frozen, his total was still crushing everyone else.Watching this, Ji Yuanshu let out a bitter smile. “It’s just a simple math problem.”

“No matter how we use the remaining time to multiply our work efficiency and hourly rate, we still can’t catch up to Zhang Yu.”

In that moment, the students across the testing hall felt the weight of Zhang Yu’s name and number towering over them on the leaderboard. It was like a sky-darkening hand pressing down, utterly unshakable no matter how hard they fought.

…

Soon after, the final exam rankings were tallied. Once converted into composite scores, the new class rankings came out.

Ji Yuanshu saw that Zhang Yu was still first, followed by Gongshu Jin in second, Ying Xin in third, and Yu Xinghan in fourth. He exhaled slowly.

“Competition…”

Even though he’d known from the start that, without competition points, he could never overtake those four, seeing it in black and white still made his heart twist.

Especially since Zhang Yu’s overall departmental ranking had shot up from 95 to 62 after this exam.

The others—Gongshu Jin, Ying Xin, and Yu Xinghan—had also made the board, landing in the 80s and 90s.

“Hoo…”

“It’s not my fault,” Ji Yuanshu told himself. “It’s the War Faction pushing behind the scenes, flooding Zhang Yu with resources I couldn’t even imagine. That’s what let him and the others rise beyond their true level.”

“As long as I win the upcoming Civil Engineering Competition.”

This year’s Civil Engineering Competition was approaching fast. Ji Yuanshu had joined a powerhouse team—formed through the alliance of Ma Xuan and Su Yanyang.

Now that they were in their junior year, last year’s senior ‘Top 10’ students had already graduated.

“This year’s team is stronger than last year’s, and those old seniors are gone. We might actually break into the top five.”

He firmly believed he could win a placement in this competition—and he had to.

After all, the seven credit cards floating in his mind had already stretched him to the limit. If he didn’t make a breakthrough before year’s end and attract more fortune…

“No problem, just a technical adjustment. This time, it’ll work.”

“Once I get a result, I can show it off and gather fortune again.”

More than anything, Ji Yuanshu wanted to use the Finance Department’s tried-and-true method—flexing—to gather his own fortune.

Unfortunately, he didn’t yet have the rank or score to flex with.

…

In his luxury dorm, Zhang Yu scrolled through messages in all the group chats, the corners of his mouth lifting every so often into a smile.

“Zhang Yu’s a beast. Already ranked 62 as a sophomore. I bet he’ll master the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes one day.”

“Wealth, talent, physique… Any one of the three makes you a once-in-a-generation genius. I didn’t expect someone in the Civil Engineering Department to have all three. Too strong—absurdly strong—monstrously strong!”

“My Dao Heart’s in pieces. I look at Zhang Yu’s scores, then at my own, and all I see is trash.”

Yu Xinghan walked into the dorm and saw Zhang Yu smiling at thin air. He couldn’t help but ask, “What are you looking at?”

Zhang Yu licked his lips and calmly replied, “Had a minor epiphany in my cultivation. My heart is filled with joy.”

The only thing he regretted right now was that all he could do was read other people’s praise—he didn’t really have a reason to go out and brag himself.

“If I flex unprovoked, it just feels kind of low-level.”

“Fine, I’ll just post something on my Moments.”

“Sigh, the Finance Department’s got it good. Once you’re strong, you can show off all you want, and people will just say it’s for cultivation, for fortune.”

Soon, Zhang Yu received a flood of congratulatory messages. He skimmed through them all, replying only to the ones from people he knew. The rest he ignored.

Che Yufei: Beast!

Shi Yunxiang: Me and Old Che talked. If you want to recruit someone else, just let us know.

Shi Huaiyu: Congrats, junior. Your name’s really catching fire in the Civil Engineering Department. Our professor even mentioned you in class today.

Li Xiao: [0.1 spirit coin] Bro, can you carry me in the next competition?

Ying Xin: Senior Brother, I saw all those artifacts on you today. Need a Soul Cultivator?

Gongshu Jin: [1 spirit coin] Grateful to the friend who’s always quietly been there. Wishing you lasting happiness and eternal friendship!

Director Gao: Same place tomorrow. I’ll teach you the Third Absolute.

Seeing Director Gao’s message, Zhang Yu’s heart jumped. “Finally, the Third Absolute.”

“With this, I can complete Small Threefold Harmony.”

He’d been envious the first time he saw Ma Xuan use Small Threefold Harmony.

After all the brutal battles in the Civil Engineering Competitions, he’d realized that in Kunxu’s civil engineering world, Small Threefold Harmony was a must-have technique for any expert.

“Once I master it, I’ll have a much better shot at passing the military certification.”

In the meantime, Zhang Yu kept going to class and working part-time, silently waiting for tomorrow’s technique session.

…

With the end of finals, scores were released across departments and grade levels. Naturally, Zhang Yu wasn’t the only one making waves.

Every department had its own legend. Every grade had its own number one.

In the Civil Engineering Department, aside from Zhang Yu, another name suddenly rose to prominence.

It was Ping Han—newly advanced to senior year after the graduation of the previous Top 10—and now ranked second in the entire department.

Feng Tingting: Junior, I heard someone named Ping Han in your department struck it rich?

Feng Tingting: Said he made it big trading coins.

Feng Tingting: Showed up to exams decked out in top-grade artifacts and Law Husks.

Feng Tingting: And then went back to everyone who refused to lend him money and rubbed it in.

Just then, Zhang Yu noticed that Ping Han had already messaged him.

Ping Han: Crypto profit screenshot – image file

Zhang Yu blinked at the number on the image. “Over 400 spirit coins in profit?”

“He made that much?”

Ping Han: Sigh, junior, when I asked to borrow money, I really was broke.

Ping Han: Broke to the point I couldn’t even afford my pills.

Ping Han: If you’d lent me money back then, you’d be rich now too.

Reading the messages, Zhang Yu finally understood what Feng Tingting had meant.

Soon, he saw Ping Han’s messages flooding all the group chats.

…

Ping Han: Mo Shangjin, see how much I made?

Ping Han: Regret not lending me money now?

Ping Han: If you had, you’d have made more than this.

…

Ping Han: Xiao Yunji, don’t you regret it now?

Ping Han: If you’d backed me then, I could’ve made you 1,000 spirit coins, easy.

Ping Han: But now it’s all mine. I’m definitely nabbing that military cert. You’re out.

…

Ping Han: @everyone Crypto profit screenshot – image file

Ping Han: Where are all the people who told me not to trade coins, huh?

Ping Han: The truth is, my coin-trading skills are top tier in the Civil Engineering Department.

Ping Han: My ability to make money already surpasses 99.99% of you.

Ping Han: I won’t be going back to the worksite.

Ping Han: Because there’s a bigger world waiting for me—it’s called the investment circle.

…

Reading Ping Han’s arrogant posts, Su Yanyang clenched his fists in frustration.

“That bastard… he really made that much money?”

“Damn it!”

He knew Ping Han’s base strength had always been high. The only thing holding him back was crushing debt and lack of Law Husks and artifacts.

Now that Ping Han was flush with over 400 spirit coins, his strength was likely skyrocketing—for real, he could be the department’s number two.

Thinking about competing with a monster like that for next month’s military certification made Su Yanyang feel sick.

He sighed deeply and thought, “This cert… probably hopeless now.”

…

“Brother Ping, can you teach me how to trade coins?”

“Ping Han-senpai, I want to learn crypto from you!”

“Senpai, take my money—if we lose, it’s on me!”

Reading message after message from classmates, Ping Han’s lips curled upward. The frustration he’d bottled up for so long was finally being released.

One by one, he replied and began adding everyone into his investment group.

“Mo Shangjin, Xiao Yunji… and Zhang Yu. None of them replied?”

Ping Han thought to himself, “Hmph. I bet they don’t even know what to say.”

“Just wait until I get that military cert next month. I’ll show them again.”

“Then I’ll ask them to invest. Let’s see if they bite.”

…

Zhang Yu skimmed through the screenshots circulating in the group chats and muttered, “Was Ping Han really that repressed before?”

Fu Ji chimed in: “Some people are just like that. Especially the crypto types. When they’re broke, they feel looked down on, like everyone despises them. But the moment they strike it rich… they go all out flexing.”

“And the more they show off, the more spirit coins they attract, and the more capital they get to snowball with…”

Zhang Yu’s eyes flicked with interest. “So you think he can keep making money?”

Fu Ji shrugged. “I’m not a Nascent Soul cultivator or a financial bigwig. How would I know?”

“We don’t even know how he made that much this time.”

“But if he’s really trying to pull in more capital, he’ll definitely hype up his method.”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly and sighed. “Why’d he have to get rich now, of all times?”

“That means next month’s military cert… we can’t underestimate Ping Han.”