No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Inside the meditation chamber.

Zhang Yu lightly tapped his fingertips, causing the clump of metallic powder before him to ripple and float through the air, shifting under the vibrations of his mana—sometimes forming a sphere, sometimes dispersing like mist.

Soil-to-Gold Transmutation, the sixth of the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes, was a (Technique) that allowed one to refine metals using mana.

However, for Zhang Yu, cultivating this (Technique) was far less troublesome than it was for others. Simply manipulating the metallic powder into various shapes repeatedly was enough to continuously rack up practice repetitions.

Several hours later, Zhang Yu finally pushed Soil-to-Gold Transmutation to level 10 and let out a long breath.

Just then, a knock came at the door, followed by Xiao Yunji’s voice from outside.

“Zhang Yu, are you done? We’re about to head out.”

Zhang Yu opened the door and said, “Yeah. Let’s go.”

As they walked side by side, Xiao Yunji suddenly asked, “Zhang Yu… Why do you cultivate using only your physical body instead of a Law Husk?”

“If it’s inconvenient to say, you don’t have to answer.”Zhang Yu thought for a moment and replied casually, “I want to keep honing my body. Later, I’ll get a custom-made Law Husk. That way, I can forge my well-tempered flesh into both a Law Husk and a treasure, controlled entirely by my own will. Wouldn’t that be stronger?”

Xiao Yunji said, “But that path… is really expensive.”

Zhang Yu smiled. “One step at a time. I’ll refine as much as I can afford.”

Xiao Yunji looked at him with a complicated expression. Suddenly, a sharp pain flared along her nerves. The medicine within her Law Husk automatically injected itself.

Zhang Yu noticed the change in her expression and said, “Still can’t raise the synchronization rate with your Law Husk? Have you thought about switching to a lighter one?”

Xiao Yunji was momentarily stunned. It was the first time anyone had suggested she use a weaker Law Husk.

She replied, “That would lower my power. My score, my ranking, my income… all of that would drop.”

“True,” Zhang Yu said. “But if you keep this up, you won’t last long.”

Xiao Yunji bit her lip. Her original plan had been to earn her military license so she could ditch the current transforming Law Husk and gain more investment to focus on the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes.

But without the military license, she needed this transforming Law Husk more than ever to boost her strength.

Especially with the upcoming inter-academy tournament—this was her best shot at proving herself to her teachers and her school.

When Zhang Yu reached the door, he noticed Su Yanyang still hadn’t arrived. As the others repeatedly urged him on, beams of divine light suddenly descended from the sky—several Righteous Gods had arrived at the clubhouse.

“Why are the Righteous Gods here?” Zhang Yu wondered. “They’re not here to bust this place, are they?”

Moments later, one of the Righteous Gods stepped forward and asked, “Is Su Yanyang your classmate?”

Mo Shangjin’s projection answered, “Yes, he came with us for the competition. Is something wrong?”

The Righteous God replied, “Nothing major. It’s just that his dual cultivation partner experienced a Yin Artifact malfunction.”

“I’m only here to confirm the details with you.”

Despite their divine status, the Righteous God was quite polite with the students from Wanfa University. Smiling, he added, “Don’t worry. Once the upper ranks finish their check, he’ll be cleared and released. It won’t delay you too long.”

…

Inside the room, Su Yanyang stood off to the side, face clouded with irritation. His mind was still replaying what had just happened.

“Damn it… How did the Yin Artifact blow up halfway through?”

“It felt like the soul cultivator inside the artifact did it on purpose, but…”

Su Yanyang frowned. The soul inside that Yin Artifact hadn’t returned to the Spiritual Realm—it had been completely obliterated.

“The soul was scattered. That’s way beyond a normal artifact failure. That’s a soul cultivator martyrdom case.”

Su Yanyang had seen his fair share of soul cultivators and corpses, but a soul utterly annihilated… this was a first.

Meanwhile, two Righteous Gods were scanning the remains of the exploded Yin Artifact, exchanging thoughts through the Spiritual Realm at high speed.

The male Righteous God said gravely, “The artifact was forcefully overloaded before it exploded.”

The female Righteous God responded, “So… the soul cultivator inside did it? Blew up the artifact they were working in? Why? Did they really want to die that badly?”

The man replied, “Under normal circumstances, there should be no reason for such a martyrdom.”

“Check the chat logs. See if something pushed him over the edge.”

A flood of messages and images appeared before him.

So tired, so tired, so tired…

I want to die!

I can never pay off this debt!

Why won’t you let me die?!

As the deranged messages scrolled by, the male Righteous God frowned even more deeply. “As expected—his mind was disturbed. This reeks of outside influence.”

“And most of the chat history has been deleted. Nothing left about today’s incident.”

“Hmph. It was premeditated.”

“He planned to kill himself—and maybe injure the students from Wanfa University in the process?”

At those words, the female Righteous God’s eyes gleamed. “Senior, you seem familiar with this kind of thing.”

The man nodded. “A case where a soul self-destructs and leaves behind nothing of value… It’s likely the work of the Feathered Cult.”

“The Feathered Cult?” she asked, surprised.

“A cult that corrupts people’s minds and drives them to self-destruction, obliterating their souls.”

“When Nectar Coin was surging, the Rest-and-Relaxation Cult gained followers. Now that Nectar Coin has crashed and they’ve faded, the Feathered Cult is resurging.”

The male Righteous God sighed. “University conflicts are happening more often—and these evil cults are growing bolder.”

The woman was more focused on the cult itself. “A cult that promotes soul suicide? Who would believe in something like that? Are they all idiots?”

The man nodded. “There are always people who can’t endure hardship—who don’t want to work, take responsibility, repay debts, or contribute to Kunxu’s growth. And that’s when the cults worm their way in, poisoning their minds with dark teachings.”

“Every year, the Feathered Cult leaves Kunxu with more bad debts and fewer capable individuals. They’re even worse than the Rest-and-Relaxation Cult or the Unemployed Devil Sect.”

She glanced at Su Yanyang. “What about him? Could he be involved?”

“I checked his records,” said the man. “Driven, tireless, never once wavered on the Immortal Path. Doesn’t fit the profile of a cultist.”

“But he might have been affected,” the man added. “The Feathered Cult’s methods are insidious—easy to imitate.”

“Who knows, maybe someone from the cult will try to contact him again.”

“But the most important lead is the owner of that Yin Artifact. They could’ve been brainwashed too. Start there.”

After a bit more discussion, the man turned to Su Yanyang, whose face was still dark. “Are you alright, student?”

Su Yanyang nodded. “I’m fine. I have to get to the competition. When can I leave?”

The man smiled. “We’ve already figured out what happened. Once we wrap things up here, you’ll be free to go. It won’t take long.”

Su Yanyang pressed, “So it was a Yin Artifact explosion? Is the owner going to compensate me?”

“That’s between you and them,” the Righteous God replied. “If you can’t reach a deal, take it to court. That’s outside our jurisdiction.”

“What I need to discuss with you is confidentiality.”

“You’re a top student at Wanfa University. You should know that this kind of self-destruction incident isn’t meant to be publicized. Officially, we’ll report it as an artifact malfunction.”

Su Yanyang nodded. He knew such acts were harshly criticized and punished in Kunxu.

The man continued, “To prevent imitation, the incident must remain confidential. We’ll need you to sign a nondisclosure agreement.”

Su Yanyang hesitated. The image of the soul’s final obliteration lingered in his mind. So this is why?

He nodded. “No problem.”

“Also,” the Righteous God said, “since it was an artifact malfunction and you were in direct contact, if you notice any problems with your body, report them immediately.”

…

More than ten minutes later.

Outside the clubhouse, Zhang Yu, Xiao Qingxuan, and the others were growing restless.

Li Zhen muttered, “What’s taking him so long? If we wait any longer, we’ll be late for the tournament.”

Xiao Yunji said, “Maybe we should go first. Even with five of us, we’re more than enough to crush Golden River University.”

As they discussed, a loud bang came from above. Su Yanyang leapt out a window and landed smoothly in front of them.

Zhang Yu eyed him and said, “Finally. What took you so long?”

Su Yanyang replied helplessly, “The other party’s Law Husk malfunctioned. The Yin Artifact exploded. We had to talk compensation.”

Zhang Yu was startled. “The Yin Artifact exploded?”

He’d only asked in passing, but now it seemed serious enough to warrant a proper explanation.

“Come on,” Zhang Yu said, intrigued. “Give me the full story.”

“It’s almost competition time,” Su Yanyang said.

“We can talk while we walk,” Zhang Yu said eagerly.

So on the way to the tournament, Su Yanyang recounted the version of events he and the Righteous Gods had agreed upon.

When he finished, he concluded, “...Basically just a Law Husk failure. Nothing special.”

Mo Shangjin asked, “Were you hurt?”

Su Yanyang shook his head. “Not at all. I stayed alert the whole time. I made damn sure they didn’t get a single spirit coin out of me.”

“That’s why I bailed the moment the explosion started.”

“But the compensation talks aren’t over yet.”

As they spoke, Zhang Yu, Su Yanyang, and the others arrived at the competition venue.