No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Another minor deity commented, “This Meng Tao swallows fast, but without the support of a Gluttonous Spirit Root, his body alone can’t keep up with digestion. He’s just going to slow down the more he eats.”

Huang Zichou nodded. “Exactly. This round is all about eating and digesting at the same time. Just swallowing fast doesn’t cut it—it’s about who can digest the fastest.”

As they spoke, Dai Xingzhi suddenly stood up, rubbed his swollen belly, and asked, “Proctor, where’s the restroom?”

With a flash of light, a row of over a dozen restroom doors lit up along a previously inconspicuous wall of the exam arena.

Dai Xingzhi took a deep breath. In the next instant, his muscles flexed and he shot toward the restroom like a missile.

In the first second, he burst into the restroom.

In the second second, a series of deafening noises echoed from within.

By the third second, he was already walking back out, tightening his waistband.

All of that in just three seconds.

His astonishing speed, powerful digestive tract, and incredible gut strength shocked many students in the arena.To defecate that fast—what kind of monstrous constitution did that require?

Looking at his own name sitting comfortably at 10th place, Dai Xingzhi returned to his station, picked up a massive tub of synthetic food, and began gorging himself once more.

He thought to himself, “Hmph. Most students don’t seem to realize this—your appetite directly reflects your metabolism and digestive power.”

“And digestion… isn’t just about swallowing food.”

Not far off, Meng Tao watched this unfold and his heart sank. “Crap.”

As a long-time user of the Gluttonous Spirit Root, Meng Tao was the kind of student who could literally grow stronger by eating garbage.

To maximize his strength, he had trained himself to eat constantly every day.

This had given him a digestive system highly adapted to mass consumption, letting him devour food at alarming speeds.

But without the aid of the Gluttonous Spirit Root now, he couldn’t digest like he used to.

Worse still, he realized just how much he had relied on that root—his untrained gut might actually be weaker than other students’.

He watched several students sprinting to the restrooms while his own belly felt absolutely nothing. Meng Tao grew increasingly frantic.

“Damn it!”

“I don’t even feel the urge to use the restroom!”

“How am I supposed to win like this?”

He watched his ranking drop from fifth to sixth, then lower. A wave of helplessness washed over him.

Meanwhile, another student felt the same growing urgency.

Zhang Yu frowned. “Damn it. Even going to the bathroom—rich people are faster? This world is way too unfair.”

Thanks to the circulation of Crimson Marrow Primordial Energy, Zhang Yu’s digestive system churned like a massive millstone, grinding down every bite of synthetic food with brutal efficiency.

Even though the stuff was nauseating, he’d fought his way up to a respectable 17th place. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on noⅴelfire.net

But as the leftover sludge in his gut built up, his digestion slowed, and so did his eating pace.

Soon he slipped to 18th, then teetered on the edge of 19th as the pressure mounted.

Zhang Yu didn’t panic. Instead, he chose to observe how his opponents were handling things.

He glanced back at whoever was chasing him in 19th place and saw it was none other than Li Tongyun, his rival from the last round.

Li Tongyun was gulping down food with abandon, her skin oozing a thick, milky-white substance that evaporated rapidly under her feverish body heat, leaving chalky residue behind.

Huang Zichou commented, “Looks like digestive tract modification surgery. She’s rerouting waste through her sweat glands.”

Another deity chimed in, “Under normal conditions, you wouldn’t see this kind of discharge.”

“This much protein in her sweat—sticky and viscous—means her body can’t break it down fast enough. She’s got indigestion.”

Huang Zichou added, “She’s forcing her body to dump undigested waste so she can keep eating. In other words…”

Deng Bingding concluded, “She’s got diarrhea.”

Was that cheating? Every god turned toward Deng Bingding, awaiting judgment.

After a pause, Deng Bingding said, “It’s still a form of physical control. Let’s go by the rankings.”

Li Tongyun finished her tub of food and, seeing herself in 18th place, felt a surge of confidence.

She thought, “Good thing I could afford that digestive tract upgrade back then. I should land in the top twenty this round.”

“If I keep pushing, I might even climb a few more spots. No need for restroom breaks.”

Watching Li Tongyun eat while practically leaking from the other end, Zhang Yu knew he couldn’t imitate that trick.

Now in 19th, the pressure was mounting fast.

Still, he didn’t rush or panic. He continued observing others in search of inspiration.

“Whoa, what’s up with Ah-Zhen?”

Bai Zhenzhen’s belly was inflating at a terrifying rate. Zhang Yu blinked, then realized: “Her Thunderquake True Body was refined for high-speed flexibility—so her body’s insanely durable.”

“She’s just stuffing herself without digesting? Did she give up on speed?”

Seeing her ranked 20th, Zhang Yu felt concern but had no solutions to offer.

Then he looked at Yu Xinghan in 16th place. Yu Xinghan’s stomach puffed up and deflated rhythmically, letting out croaking sounds.

Huang Zichou noted over the divine network, “That’s probably the Great Toad Qi. He actually trained a (Technique) specifically for digestion?”

Deng Bingding added, “He’s a Gold Core Disciple. Not exceptional in any one area, but incredibly well-rounded. Many students think eating’s just about volume.”

“But if you’ve trained a digestion-enhancing body (Technique), each meal offers more bodily nourishment. Bit by bit, you gain an edge.”

“Over time, that tiny edge becomes a chasm.”

Zhang Yu couldn’t understand what Yu Xinghan was doing, so he turned his gaze to Yun Jing, ranked second—top student from Xiandu City.

Yun Jing was pouring food into the massive hole in his chest. His entire body glowed red, the air around him warping from the heat.

From his mouth and pores, thick black smoke poured out in waves, leaving Zhang Yu stunned.

Huang Zichou said, “His digestive system works like a pill furnace. Everything gets refined in his gut. Impurities burn off as smoke.”

“If he wants, he can just keep eating until his body gives out.”

“These top-tier students don’t even need restrooms.”

Another deity cut in, “Not always. Look at Ye Lingxiao.”

Ye Lingxiao maintained the same calm eating pace from the start. Even transformed into a small giant, his stomach didn’t swell in the slightest.

The deity explained, “The Ye Clan’s perfect bloodline absorbs food with near-complete efficiency. Hardly any waste.”

“Some say they only need to use the restroom once a year.”

“The time and stamina that saves—it’s enviable.”

“Plenty of researchers would kill to study that bloodline.”

Zhang Yu didn’t understand Yun Jing’s smoke trick, but Ye Lingxiao’s silent efficiency gave him a new idea.

“This guy’s bulked up, but he’s eaten way more than his stomach should hold... Is he holding it all in?”

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. His brain buzzed with sudden clarity.

“If he can hold it, so can I.”

Zhang Yu engaged his gut, compressing food waste to free up space for more.

At first, it helped. He perked up.

But the space filled quickly.

“No good… my gut strength isn’t enough.”

“Then—”

He slammed his palm onto his own belly. With a boom, the strike penetrated flesh and organs, smashing directly into the food inside.

Dragon Elephant Mountain-Crushing Palm, Level 10—activate!

Zhang Yu began pummeling himself repeatedly, using the Dragon Elephant Mountain-Crushing Palm to aid digestion.

Other students soon noticed.

Meng Tao, now down to ninth, blinked in shock, then grinned. “You can do that?”

He copied Zhang Yu, slapping his belly with palm strikes.

At first, it worked—food was pulverized and compacted, letting him eat faster.

But soon, internal pain flared. He couldn’t keep it up.

“No good…” Meng Tao glanced at Zhang Yu in disbelief. “How tough are this guy’s organs? He can still go on?”

Zhang Yu, however, was fully focused.

He could feel every muscle, every bone, every organ as if guided by a thousand masters in sync.

With each palm strike, his body channeled, deflected, and redirected the force, concentrating the power onto the food in his stomach.

Within his gut, the stomach and intestinal walls bloomed with invisible palm prints, crushing and compressing the contents again and again.

“Pulverize… compress…”

“Then pulverize again… compress again…”

Every Level 10 martial (Technique) he knew, every bit of physical control he’d honed through countless breakthroughs, was now turned inward.

“Hmph. Maybe I haven’t progressed in Mana Control lately.”

“But when it comes to body control—among everyone here, even the immortals from Xiandu—who could possibly be stronger than me?”

At that moment, Zhang Yu pushed his digestive ability far beyond the limits of his physical strength through sheer mastery of his own body.