No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

“Loans were always meant to help each department expand their production. Some people, however, treat it like their personal piggy bank…” said True Lord Magneto.

True Lord Lianshu let out a cold snort. “Magneto! Your departments only know how to blindly expand. When you lose money, you expect the university to bail you out. And who’s the one covering the deficit? Isn’t it us in the Finance Department? So tell me, who’s really thinking about their own pockets, and who’s thinking about the university, about Wanfa?”

“I really don’t get it. The Finance Department dedicates itself to the university, bleeding itself dry to cover your losses. And somehow, the more we spend, the more we’re the ones being wronged?”

Their clash ignited the spirit realm with thunderous bursts of light and sound.

The Nine Heavens Solar Yang Pagoda stabilized the spiritual information field, freezing what had been a free-flowing sea of data like amber in ice.

Meanwhile, torrents of spirit coins roared across the networks, bulk-buying entire segments of the spiritual realm’s infrastructure. Network usage fees surged exponentially.

The Nine Heavens Solar Yang Pagoda and the radiant spirit coins mirrored each other like opposing forces of ice and fire, splitting the banquet hall in two.

Everyone within felt their spiritual intent frozen, unable to move or send even a single message in the spiritual realm.

No one dared to resist.

Watching the confrontation between the Artifact Refinement Department and the Finance Department, the crowd held their breath, terrified of attracting the attention of these two heavyweight departments.At that moment, layers of cloud sea emerged from the spiritual realm, and everyone felt as if they had been lifted tens of thousands of meters into the air, standing upon dense, shifting clouds.

True Lord Qiyun gave a slight cough. In the projection of clouds and mist, his gaze flashed like lightning and blasted toward the two True Lords.

“Enough,” said True Lord Qiyun. “This is the Civil Engineering Department’s celebration banquet. What kind of example are you two setting with all this bickering? If you have something to say, then speak—don’t start throwing hands.”

Glancing at his own bandwidth charges, he silently cursed the two for causing a spike in his communication costs.

Unlike the others who could be cut off from external contact, as Vice Chancellor and a spiritual realm projection, he couldn’t afford a second of downtime.

Meanwhile, deep within the spiritual realm, the old director looked at the disconnected projection and cursed, “Who jacked up the network fees?”

He quickly messaged Su Yanyang: What’s going on at the scene?

Back in the banquet hall—

True Lord Lianshu gave a small nod. “The Vice Chancellor is right. Magneto, I won’t stoop to your level today.”

True Lord Magneto simply replied, “Heh.”

Turning to Zhang Yu, Chainsnare said mildly, “Zhang Yu, no need to rush your decision.”

He opened his palm, and rays of light streamed from the spiritual realm, forming a golden, shimmering invitation in his hand.

“This is an official invitation signed just now by Divine Lord Jin Que. You’re invited to tour the Finance Department.”

Zhang Yu opened his mouth to decline again, but a hand clapped down on his shoulder.

A message appeared in his eye-network from Director Gao: Don’t offend him too much. It won’t be good for your future on the Immortal Path at Wanfa University.

Silently, Director Gao sighed: If this were only about Zhang Yu himself, it wouldn’t be such a big deal… but clearly, it’s about that Nascent Soul Law Husk.

Not far away, True Lord Qiyun saw the invitation and, though he frowned slightly, still said, “Zhang Yu, since it’s signed by a Divine Lord, you might as well accept it.”

Everyone stared at the projected image of the invitation in Chainsnare’s hand, more and more surprised—none had expected him to secure a Divine Lord’s signature.

It was clear to all now: Chainsnare was determined to get Zhang Yu.

Watching as Zhang Yu accepted the invitation through his eye-network, Chainsnare gave a satisfied smile.

“Once you receive the invitation, your intent can use the spiritual realm to directly access the Finance Department. All fees are covered by us. You won’t spend a single coin…”

As the invitation shattered into golden fragments, Zhang Yu’s senses were overwhelmed. The world trembled, and his consciousness was whisked away.

…

Zhang Yu opened his eyes.

Looking around at the somewhat familiar scenery and the spirit stone-paved ground beneath his feet, he murmured to himself, “So this is the Finance Department.”

It wasn’t his first time here—some of the surroundings were still recognizable.

Before him appeared a figure: Jiu Tianliu, the top student of the Finance Department and ranked second in the entire university.

“Zhang Yu,” Jiu Tianliu said with a soft smile. “Long time no see. Today, I’ll be showing you around.”

Without waiting for a reply, he led Zhang Yu deeper into the department.

“This is the virtual coin trading center. Want to try a round?”

“I’ll lend you ten spirit coins. If you lose, it’s on me. If you win, it’s yours. The market’s just about to move. Follow my lead, and in ten minutes, you should be able to net a few coins.”

Though Zhang Yu didn’t join in, he watched as Jiu Tianliu easily earned a few spirit coins through a series of quick trades, and his emotions stirred.

When he saw the surrounding traders dealing in the hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of spirit coins, his heart grew increasingly conflicted.

Noticing his reaction, Jiu Tianliu smiled slightly.

“I remember the first time I visited Wanfa University back in high school—this trading center left the deepest impression on me.”

“You get what I mean, right?”

“Especially when someone scrapes by every month to earn ten or twenty coins, maybe fifty. Then they come here and see these traders making hundreds, even thousands of coins a day, win or lose. You start to feel like… money isn’t even real.”

Jiu Tianliu sighed. “You even begin to wonder—what’s the point of working so hard?”

“A lifetime of labor might not match the gains or losses of a single investment here.”

“And I think that feeling is right.”

“On the Immortal Path, there are two kinds of people.”

“One kind believes that grinding, overworking, and diligence will help them inch forward step by step.”

“The other kind? They don’t bother with scraping by. They just use their brains to make money multiply—and leave the first kind in the dust.”

“The first kind are fools. The second kind are smart.”

Next, Jiu Tianliu took Zhang Yu to another grand hall.

“This is the Fortune Monitoring Center. The entire Wanfa University—and even most of Kunxu’s second floor—feeds data here. All intelligence and information is funneled into this hub.”

“We can monitor the fate of anyone with strong fortune.”

“If we wish, we can concentrate fortune on a nobody, help them rise step by step, from associate degree to full university degree, until they become one of the most elite students in the Top Ten.”

“Or, we can drain the fortune of a genius and reduce them to nothing—a worthless associate degree holder.”

Floating around them were projection cases of students’ life trajectories.

Their lives, as shown in Jiu Tianliu’s hands, rose and fell like stock charts, each fluctuation bringing profit to the Finance Department.

He then brought Zhang Yu to a display gallery.

The outer walls were made entirely of massive floor-to-ceiling windows, revealing endless fields of medicinal herbs stretching to the horizon.

Inside University City, it was rare to glimpse the real outside world—Zhang Yu himself had only ever seen it from the top of construction sites.

This was his first time seeing it from within the city.

Jiu Tianliu smiled lightly. “What do you think? Doesn’t the world look different from here?”

Zhang Yu replied calmly, “Looks about the same as from a rooftop.”

Unbothered, Jiu Tianliu laughed and led him further into the exhibit.

“You know, the Finance Department’s history actually predates Wanfa University itself.”

“We’re not just Wanfa’s Finance Department. In fact, we’re not just a Finance Department.”

“Long before Wanfa University existed, we were already here—as financial firms, aristocratic houses, officials, even royal families.”

“In ancient times, we manipulated sects and toyed with fate. We’ve witnessed countless sects rise and fall.”

“In the feudal era, we invested in promising forces, steered wars and dynasties, and decided the fate of entire nations.”

“Today, we span every sector and every school. Our power is everywhere. We shape the futures of countless people across Kunxu.”

He led Zhang Yu to a massive portrait.

“These are the founders of the Kunlun Industrial Research Institute, also known as the Kunlun Society—jointly established by the financial departments of many schools.”

“Besides our own Divine Lord Jin Que, there are seven other Divine Lords from outside universities.”

“Zhang Yu, maybe you used to think a university was just a university—and that at Wanfa, school came before all else.”

“But I’ll tell you this: the power of spirit coins can bypass school boundaries, even transcend the barriers between sects.”

“Finance is finance. Wanfa is Wanfa.”

He turned to Zhang Yu and asked with a smile, “Do you want to toil your whole life on a construction site or in the Artifact Refinement labs, grinding endlessly like a fool? Or do you want to be smart, use your mind, and earn the kind of spirit coins those departments can’t even dream of?”

Sensing Zhang Yu’s gaze, Jiu Tianliu shook his head and said, “Your intention to transfer into the Artifact Refinement Department isn’t a secret. I know it. Director Gao knows it.”

Zhang Yu suddenly asked, “You’re so powerful—can you get me into a sect?”

Jiu Tianliu fell silent.

Zhang Yu chuckled. “Guess the Finance Department isn’t as all-powerful as you claim.”

Jiu Tianliu replied coldly, “It’s not that we can’t. It’s that you can’t. The sects aren’t for people like you.”

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