No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Technique had finally reached Level 10. Zhang Yu was now planning to switch the specialization in his Feathered Tome and upgrade a different technique.

Ever since he decided not to sign the contract with the Student Council and committed himself to breaking through the competition and getting into one of the Ten Great Academies, Zhang Yu had come to some realizations.

First off, without the Student Council’s investment, the resources at his disposal would inevitably become even more limited.

Yet, to get into the Ten Great Academies, the pressure he’d face in the future would only grow heavier.

Scarcer resources, but greater pressure.

So Zhang Yu had no choice but to carefully calculate how to allocate and utilize his resources—maximizing every second to develop faster and better.

To achieve that, he had to fully leverage his greatest strengths: absolute self-discipline and astonishing potential.

Put simply, it meant cultivating stronger, more difficult techniques.

For the master of the Feathered Tome, Zhang Yu, it only made sense that the more powerful the technique he trained, the better the results.

It was like this—if one Zhang Yu was grinding away at the Desolate Heaven-Imprisoning Finger, while another Zhang Yu was practicing Basic Long Palm, you could tell from the names alone which one had a future.Zhang Yu thought to himself, “...But it’s not something you can just do on a whim.”

The stronger the technique, the higher its entry requirements.

Just like how even a dog can learn doggy paddle, but underwater ballet? Not everyone can pull that off.

Take expert-level techniques, for example. Zhang Yu still hadn’t met the Level 3 Dao Heart requirement for the Celestial Martial Heart-Forging Technique he possessed.

So, to cultivate a powerful technique, the first step was to meet its prerequisites.

Zhang Yu’s eyes swept across his phone screen, reading over the demanding requirements that accompanied each powerful technique…

“Dao Heart! Mana!”

Just like the high school teachers always said: Dao Heart and Mana were the foundations of the Immortal Path.

Your Dao Heart level represented your control over and capacity for immortal power.

Mana was the fundamental force that fueled all techniques.

The vast majority of high-level techniques had prerequisites tied to these two attributes.

So to train powerful techniques, you had to have high Dao Heart and Mana.

“As for Mana, I already have Level 10 in Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Technique. I’m basically refining Mana passively every second.”

“It’s really my Dao Heart that I’ve been neglecting.”

Zhang Yu checked his balance. After rent, utilities, food, and other miscellaneous expenses, he was down to 62,000 yuan.

Even if he blew it all on raising Mana, that’d only be enough to rent a Heavenly Spiritual Root for a few hours—like booking a night at an internet café. The gains would be minimal.

After turning it over in his mind for days, Zhang Yu decided he should invest in a stronger heart technique to push his Dao Heart to Level 3. Once he achieved that, he could switch to the Celestial Martial Heart-Forging Technique and accelerate his Dao Heart growth even further.

After all, going from Level 1 to Level 10 in the Qi Refining Realm’s Dao Heart was akin to leveling Mana from 1 to 100.

Reaching Level 3 would take time. A heart technique stronger and better suited to him than the Basic Heart-Forging Method could save him a lot of it.

Once his Dao Heart and Mana both rose, that’s when he could truly begin training more powerful techniques efficiently. It was the fastest and most cost-effective path forward.

As for which heart technique to buy—Zhang Yu had done his research.

Basic, Intermediate, Expert...

Among those he could afford, the basic ones were cheapest but offered little improvement.

Expert-level techniques were impressive, but too expensive and with requirements too high—out of reach for him right now.

Oddly enough, the intermediate-level ones—often dismissed as awkward and unnecessary by most freshmen—were just right for Zhang Yu.

From a practical standpoint, the first year of high school was all about laying foundations. The basic techniques promoted by the major sects were developed precisely for this: neutral, stable, and ideal for beginners.

Learning an extra intermediate heart technique at this stage seemed like extra stress for no benefit. It was often better to just focus on upgrading a basic one.

Even wealthy students mostly focused on basics in year one, only branching out into pricier techniques in year two.

This was one reason why at Songyang High, rich kids usually didn’t start pulling ahead until sophomore year—while genius poor kids often began to fall behind.

From a price perspective, intermediate techniques were far cheaper than expert ones, but their follow-up costs were still steep.

Self-learning a technique was hard. It wasn’t like you could just get a manual and wing it. Most people needed teachers, classes, and tutoring.

The technique might only cost a few hundred or thousand yuan, but lessons and guidance? That could run you tens of thousands.

It reminded Zhang Yu of games in his past life: the base game was free, but the skins and characters could bankrupt you.

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But for Zhang Yu, that made it perfect.

Tutoring? Not happening.

Zhang Yu relied on himself. With peerless talent, he could master divine techniques solo.

Opening his favorites tab on the shopping site, Zhang Yu looked at the heart technique he’d chosen.

An intermediate-level technique: Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique.

The name alone screamed strength—ferocious and unyielding, overwhelming and awe-inspiring.

But reading closely, he found that the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique required a matching mindset: tireless, dutiful, long-suffering, and endlessly hard-working—like an ox plowing a barren field.

Most importantly, the technique performed best when someone else was constantly pressuring, ordering, and assigning tasks to the practitioner—like a manager or boss.

The more orders, the more pressure, the longer the working hours—the stronger the technique’s effect.

Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique: voted Best Construction Site Heart Technique ten years in a row. Most beloved Heart Technique among bosses.

Also, a heart technique whose user rating had stayed below 1.2 stars for years—a true beast-of-burden technique.

Zhang Yu browsed the user reviews.

One star:

“Company made me learn it. Works, unfortunately.”

One star:

“Five-star rating coming soon—maybe.”

One star:

“Boss chewed me out again today.”

Zhang Yu skimmed the page, and a thick wave of resentment practically burst out at him. Clearly, most cultivators who had practiced this Cattle-and-Horse Technique had done so under duress. That alone meant they all fit its requirements perfectly.

He looked over the configuration recommendations.

Recommended Prerequisites:

1. Forced to work 18+ hours a day

Zhang Yu thought about it. Technically, he was under round-the-clock coercion by Ritual forces. That checked out.

He looked at the next one.

2. Forms of coercion must include at least verbal pressure. Salary-based threats preferred. The harsher, the better.

Zhang Yu thought again. He was being threatened with death. Definitely qualified.

“This Cattle-and-Horse Technique really does suit my current situation. And the price…”

He glanced at the listing for the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique. A user license was just 588 yuan.

It was one of the cheapest advanced-tier techniques Zhang Yu had ever seen.

The catch was that to get started, the practitioner needed a “boss” to cooperate. That’s why the platform also recommended a daily guidance service priced at 1,000 yuan per day.

After all, a lot of jobs required this technique just to get hired. But you couldn’t cultivate it without a boss to begin with. To solve this employment paradox, the platform offered a paid boss-matching service.

Paying to hire your own boss. Fantastic.

Zhang Yu silently cursed. Luckily, he didn’t need that. He already had something coercing him 24/7.

When it came to compatibility—price, effect, and configuration—the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique was the perfect match for Zhang Yu’s current state.

At 588 yuan, it wasn’t enough to bankrupt him or leave him feeling scammed. Even if his mindset didn’t match the technique, the loss would be minor.

The only part he disliked was its underlying philosophy.

But this Zhang Yu was no longer the same soul who had first transmigrated. After being ground down again and again by Kunxu’s brutality and relentless Ritual forces, he’d learned how to adjust his mindset to survive.

Zhang Yu took a deep breath.

“Fine. Call it cattle-and-horse if you want. Desperate times, desperate measures.”

“If you have to bow your head, then bow it. I’ll be a beast of burden for now.”

“With my potential, even if I spend some time slogging away in silence, one day I’ll punch a hole through the heavens.”

He knew clearly: cultivating this technique wasn’t surrender—it was temporary storage. Saving up for a better future.

Order placed. Payment processed. Digital manual received.

Moments later, the technique appeared in his Feathered Tome.

Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique 0 (0/1, Dao Heart Level 1/1)

Zhang Yu sat cross-legged and began practicing.

He emptied his mind, trying to maintain mental clarity, and began to visualize the technique’s meditative image.

It was a picture of an old ox lowering its head, quietly plowing the land.

But after a moment of trying to construct it, Zhang Yu felt something was off.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he stopped cultivating and sat frozen.

Moments later, a wave of dread rose from his chest, and a countdown echoed in his mind.

This time, when he resumed cultivating the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique, it instantly felt right.

A few minutes later, the image of the ox quietly plowing was fully sketched out in his mind.

In that moment, Zhang Yu felt like he’d become the ox—tireless, uncomplaining. Much of his earlier irritation quietly dissipated.

As he completed the image, countless fragmented memories of training the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique surged through his mind, granting him instant mastery.

Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique Level 1 (0/3)

“Only takes three rounds to level up?”

Zhang Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Is it just because this technique fits me too well?”

He waited a bit. When the countdown in his mind rang again, he resumed cultivating, sketching the ox image once more.

Back and forth, he cycled through the practice three times. After ten minutes, he felt a subtle shift in his spirit. His understanding of the technique had deepened. The ox image became clearer and more vivid.

Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique Level 2 (0/6)

Now that it had reached Level 2, cultivating didn’t even feel that painful anymore. It wasn’t so hard to endure.

“So this is what the technique does? Makes you better at enduring hardship… better at grinding…”

It wasn’t until Zhang Yu stopped circulating the technique that fatigue, boredom, and laziness returned all at once.

Moments later, as Ritual forces descended again, he reactivated the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique. His anxious, avoidant thoughts vanished instantly, and he began cultivating earnestly.

“This technique… isn’t as awful as I thought.”

He suddenly remembered a line from the introduction, supposedly from the technique’s creator, the self-styled Oxheart Sage.

“May all who face hardship suffer less in spirit, and carry more hope in their hearts.”

A strange idea stirred in Zhang Yu’s mind.

“Maybe the one who created this didn’t think of it as a mere ‘cattle-and-horse’ technique after all.”

Nearly half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Yu drew a deep breath as his Sea of Consciousness trembled.

His Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique had reached Level 3 (0/9).

And after cultivating for a while longer, he felt his mana and physical strength grow easier to control—more responsive, more tangible.

“My Dao Heart just advanced to Level 2.”

Zhang Yu had already suspected he was close to a breakthrough. But still, he had to admit: the pace of improvement after cultivating this technique was staggering.

It really did suit his current condition.

“Guess I’ll keep being a beast of burden then. As long as the pay’s good, who cares?”

So he threw himself back into cultivating the Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique. With every cycle, the grind felt less miserable, the struggle more bearable. A quiet sense of fulfillment welled up in him.

Like a loyal old ox plowing away—step by steady step—turning barren soil into fertile earth.