No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

As Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao exchanged glances, the figures of the five Righteous God proctors—Deng Bingding, Huang Zichou, and the others—appeared one after another.

Looking at the five examinees present, Deng Bingding spoke mildly. “The advancement rules for the second round of the Foundation Establishment exam, physical cultivation track, are quite simple.”

“In the upcoming test, the top two ranked examinees will advance to the next round and compete for the Foundation License in the final round three months from now, in January.”

“The third-ranked examinee will receive a recommendation bonus, adding points to their application for the Foundation License when taking the university exams.”

“The fourth-ranked examinee will get bonus points for the college entrance exam…”

Upon hearing this, the students immediately perked up.

Especially those like Yu Xinghan, who had little hope of victory—just hearing about the potential bonus points for Foundation Establishment or the college entrance exam was enough to reignite their fighting spirit.

But just then, Zhang Yu raised his hand and asked, “Proctor, aside from the chance to compete for the Foundation License, do first and second place get any additional rewards?”

Deng Bingding smiled faintly at him. “The opportunity to vie for the Foundation License… isn’t that enough?”

“If you think it’s not, don’t worry. After the final round in January, regardless of whether you win the license or not, there will be additional rewards.”“Alright,” Deng Bingding continued. “Let’s go over the specific exam items now.”

“Today’s test is split into two parts.”

“The first part is all about taking your medicine…”

…

While Zhang Yu, Ye Lingxiao, and Yu Xinghan listened to the introduction of the exam items…

Elsewhere, in another test arena, Bai Zhenzhen opened her eyes and noticed Zhang Yu was nowhere to be seen.

Sweeping her gaze around, she realized she was standing on a vast underground plaza. Aside from herself, there were four other examinees present.

Bai Zhenzhen thought to herself, “The second round of the Foundation Establishment exam splits us into different tracks.”

“Looks like Zhang Yu and I were assigned to separate arenas right from the start.”

Her gaze landed on the number 11 badge on Yun Jing’s chest. “That guy must be the second-place finisher from last round—one of the top elites from Xiandu.”

Feeling the surge of volatile, leaping thunder Mana within her, Bai Zhenzhen thought, “He’s my biggest obstacle if I want to win the Foundation License.”

Over on Yun Jing’s side, under Bai Zhenzhen’s gaze, he suddenly felt a faint sting in the air—like a static shock brushing past him.

Turning to glance at Bai Zhenzhen, he mused, “That number 56 from the last round? Seems like she’s with number 55—Zhang Yu. Outsiders, both of them.”

Yun Jing remembered how both of them had held back in the first two phases of the first round, only to burst into the third phase and take third and fourth place. It showed strong learning ability when it came to Techniques. Ꞧα𝐍ȎBËȿ

But Yun Jing remained confident. After all, his family had invested far more in him over the past two months than ever before.

With such ample financial backing, he had improved at a breakneck pace, experiencing one qualitative leap after another.

“It’s only because of the Yun family’s funding that I’ve been able to keep breaking through even though my Dao Heart, Mana, and physical body were already at the peak of Qi Refinement.”

“And once I get the Foundation License, I might be able to reverse my family’s decline. All those resources they poured into me won’t be in vain.”

“I can’t afford to lose.”

He was especially relieved that Ye Lingxiao wasn’t in his group.

As a fellow native of Xiandu, he knew all too well that Ye Lingxiao, the inheritor of a perfect bloodline, was currently in a rapid growth phase in high school. Who knew how far his strength had risen by now?

Not having to compete directly with Ye Lingxiao made Yun Jing feel nearly guaranteed to pass and win that Foundation License.

At that moment, a flash of light appeared before them, and the projections of Deng Bingding, Huang Zichou, and the other proctors materialized once again.

The five Righteous Gods had split their divine projections across four exam arenas, managing the different tracks simultaneously.

For Deng Bingding, it was like operating four bodies, four sets of vision—multitasking across all of them.

But she was already used to this. Ever since becoming a Righteous God, juggling overtime, meetings, gift-giving, and more all at once had become second nature. Multitasking—even to the point of a hundred tasks—was just basic operation.

Deng Bingding began, “The content of this martial path exam is simple: actual combat.”

“You will each take turns fighting one-on-one in a round-robin tournament. Every match will be scored based on win, loss, or draw.”

“The top two in total points will advance to the final round three months from now, in January.”

“Third place… earns Foundation bonus points…”

“Fourth place… gets college entrance bonus points…”

Bai Zhenzhen understood at once: “So it’s just fighting everyone once.”

She started stretching, and with crackling sparks dancing around her, began her warm-up.

…

While Bai Zhenzhen was warming up…

Back in the physical test arena, Deng Bingding continued her briefing.

“As everyone knows, taking medicine is the cornerstone of sports performance.”

“If you can’t handle the trials of medicine, you’ll never walk the Immortal Path.”

“For a long time, a cultivator’s ability to withstand and absorb medicinal substances has been a key indicator of how far they can go on the path of immortality.”

“In the upcoming first half of the test, you’ll have one hour to inject as much medicine into yourselves as possible.”

“You may choose any of the available medicines.”

“Of course, you’re not allowed to use your Spirit Roots or mobilize your Law Husk…”

As she spoke, massive light screens appeared, displaying a list of medicines. Each one had a corresponding point value.

“There are 23 medicines available.”

“Each has different effects. We’ve ranked them based on how taxing they are on the body—from highest to lowest burden—and assigned scores accordingly.”

“In short, the more strain a medicine puts on your body, the higher the score.”

“The gentler the medicine, the lower the score.”

“At the end of the hour, your total points will be calculated based on the medicines you’ve injected. That will be your score for this half of the test.”

Hearing this, Zhang Yu felt a wave of anxiety.

Do they charge for these meds?

“If this damned exam costs money for medicine… I’m gonna have to borrow again.”

He looked at the list of names. “So many of these… I’ve never even used. I don’t know what they do.”

The three highest-scoring medicines were especially baffling to him—he’d never even heard of them. Total knowledge gap.

Thankfully, Deng Bingding’s next words answered his concern.

“All medicines for this exam are provided free of charge. No need to worry about fees.”

“I know many of you may not be familiar with all 23 types.”

“So next, we’ll play a review video introducing the effects of each medicine…”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up. “Free? So it’s an all-you-can-inject buffet? The Righteous Gods actually did something useful for once.”

Off to the side, Huang Zichou listened to Deng Bingding’s explanation, thinking to himself:

“So the pharma companies really pulled it off. Pushing this ’test-by-medicine’ model, using drug intake to assess students’ potential…”

“But in the end, isn’t it all going to be billed to the Divine Department? Letting the Divine Department cover the medicine tab?”

“Isn’t the Heavenly Court footing the bill? Doesn’t this eat into Kunxu’s resources?”

“And I didn’t get a damn cent.”

“Those corporate bastards… they really don’t treat a Ninth-Rank God like a god.”

But then he remembered: this test-by-medicine policy was just the surface layer—it reached through more than ten levels of exams above.

That they managed to close such a deal while reducing Heavenly Court expenses… the deeper layers of interests involved chilled even his divine guts. He could only grumble silently.

Meanwhile, the screen showing the medicine list flickered. A video had begun playing.

On screen, a man said cheerfully, “Hey everyone! Today I’ll be reviewing 20 common medicines used in daily cultivation…”

Zhang Yu blinked. “Wait, isn’t this a influencer video?”

The old Zhang Yu had watched tons of these—medication reviews, Technique reviews, nutritional supplements, training gear, Spirit Root unboxings…

Even now, the current Zhang Yu retained much of his predecessor’s memory.

And he remembered this particular influencer very well—not just for the reviews, but for a viral series: the Coffin Unboxing videos.

It started with a tour of his family’s ancestral tomb, showcasing corpses at 10, 30, 100, and 300 years of “maturation.”

After it went viral, he shot tours of other rich clans’ ancestral graves—showing off parks, underground palaces, towers, even artificial mountains built into the tombs…

Those videos were Zhang Yu’s first real exposure to the vast gulf between himself and the wealthy.

He learned that some people’s family tombs were bigger than his entire school. That even in a coffin, the rich accrued wealth faster than he could earn it alive.

That memory passed in a flash, and Zhang Yu turned his focus back to the video.

He had to admit: the influencer’s explanations were clear, professional, and accessible. Each medicine’s effects and drawbacks were laid out in plain, practical terms.