No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Outside the Wanxing Group headquarters.

A series of shimmering Divine Power barriers lit up both inside and outside the building, sealing off every access point and encasing the entire structure in a glowing cocoon of warning sigils.

Inside the Security Division, every member—including the Head of Security—had been gathered into the main hall, guarded by two heavily armed Inspectors.

Even though over a hundred of these were company security staff, not one dared make a false move in front of the two Inspectors.

The Inspectors themselves looked completely at ease. With just the two of them and their military-grade Flying Swords, watching over hundreds wasn’t even a challenge.

But suddenly, murmurs began to ripple through the crowd.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? No funny business!” one Inspector barked.

“Keep moving and I’ll let this sword fly—”

Right then, one employee pointed to the timer hovering over their head and shouted, “Sir! We’ve been away from our posts too long—we’re going to get docked!”

Another yelled, “If this goes on, I’ll need another loan just to keep working!”Someone else whispered, “If you get stabbed by a Flying Sword, does the company pay compensation?”

The crowd broke into unrest, clamoring to get back to work.

Raising his hands, the Head of Security stepped forward to calm them down. “Everyone, don’t panic. The company understands the situation. For the duration of the investigation, this will all count as off-duty time. It won’t affect performance reviews, and you can make up the lost hours later with overtime.”

Hearing that it would be treated like time off, the tension in the room finally eased.

Yue Jincheng was among the crowd. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, he eyed the floating Divine Notifications outside, each one pulsing with warning lights.

His heart sank. “What happened? Why seal off the whole building?”

“Did one of the execs commit tax fraud?”

“Don’t tell me the company’s finished…”

To him, only something like tax evasion on a massive scale could trigger such a response—enough to mobilize a Righteous God and shut the place down.

The thought of the company collapsing—and his job vanishing with it—tightened like a vice around his chest.

He then heard voices from the front of the room. Turning his head, he saw the same Head of Security who had kicked him not long ago bowing and scraping to one of the Inspectors.

“Sir,” the Head of Security said with forced courtesy, “Wanxing Group has always had a good relationship with Songyang City’s Inspectorate. We’ve been copyright enforcement partners for years.”

“Could you tell us what the investigation’s about? Maybe there’s something we can assist with?”

The Inspector only cast a frosty glance his way and said nothing.

It was the other one who replied, “Don’t bother asking. Even we don’t know the purpose of this operation. You think you’d be allowed to know?”

The first Inspector shot him a warning look. “Don’t say anything unnecessary.”

He then turned to the Head of Security. “Back to your place. Someone will be along to question you soon.”

Seeing he wouldn’t get any answers, the Head of Security returned to the group, unease etched across his face.

His mind raced. “Could it be we’ve been pirating cultivation Techniques? Or smuggling from other cities?”

The scale of the operation convinced him something huge had gone wrong—something celestial-level.

He tried to reassure himself: “Sigh… this can’t be about us low-level grunts. Must be some bigwig up top risking everything for profits again.”

A moment later, beams of Divine Light descended, and Huang Zichou’s projection materialized before them.

As the projection’s gaze swept the crowd, files and dossiers streamed through his Sea of Consciousness, pulled in through the Divine Power Network.

Seeing a projection of a Grade-Nine Divine Overseer appear in person, everyone stiffened and bowed in unison, performing the Worship Technique.

Yue Jincheng’s heart thumped. “A Righteous God, here in person? Could this really be about tax fraud? But what’s it got to do with us in Security?”

Huang Zichou’s gaze locked onto Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu. “You two, come with me. I have some questions.”

They exchanged a startled glance.

Following the projection into a side office, they racked their brains trying to think what might’ve caught a Righteous God’s attention.

“Besides tailing Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen these past few days… we haven’t done anything else, have we?” Yue Jincheng thought.

“Is this… about Zhang Yu?”

“But those two are just broke students. Could they really cause this kind of commotion?”

Looking again at the flashing seals that wrapped the entire skyscraper, he shook his head. No way.

Beside him, Si Zhouyu had similar thoughts, both wondering if they’d accidentally stumbled into something far bigger.

But Huang Zichou’s next words crushed their hopes.

“How long have you been monitoring Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen?”

Yue Jincheng hesitated. “I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”

Huang Zichou gave a cold smile. With a flick of his fingers, a light screen appeared beside him. It showed security footage of Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu entering the Protected-Zone Breeding Facility under false identities. 𝐑Аℕộ฿Èṣ

“You changed your appearance repeatedly, but your payment records don’t lie,” he said flatly. “Don’t bother denying it. And don’t expect Wanxing Group to shield you.”

Waves of Divine Power crashed down like a storm, pinning them to the wall.

“This incident is enormous,” Huang Zichou continued. “It’s already drawn the attention of a Grade-Six Righteous God. If things go wrong, Wanxing Group could be completely dismantled.”

The two men were stunned, unable to fathom how two dirt-poor students like Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had drawn attention from a Grade-Six deity.

Huang Zichou waited, but neither reached for a Favor Charm.

He sighed internally. “Ugh. Not even a basic Favor Charm? And they call themselves college graduates? What kind of people are companies hiring these days?”

With the investigation in full swing, Wanxing Group’s operations came to a screeching halt. Every passing second bled money.

Investors, executives, and board members scrambled to use every connection they had to uncover what was happening and what the Righteous Gods were after.

But the deeper they dug, the more stunned they became.

No matter how hard they tried, no one could learn the operation’s purpose—not even from Divine Assistants or other Righteous Gods.

The confidentiality level far exceeded anything they’d anticipated.

Still, they gleaned one thing.

From the people being questioned and the data being collected…

“Zhang Yu? Bai Zhenzhen? Who are they? Why do the Righteous Gods keep focusing on them?”

“This whole mess… is about those two?”

…

As the investigation expanded, factions across Songyang City began catching wind.

Yun Ni, one of the city’s Inspectorate captains, got hold of part of the intel.

“It’s probably about the Foundation Establishment exam,” she thought.

Yun Ni had already suspected something about Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s departures from the city. Now, hearing about Wanxing Group’s troubles, she mused:

“But no matter how bold the Zhou Family is, they wouldn’t dare interfere with the Foundation Establishment exam.”

“This must be that Grade-Six deity seizing a chance to take a bite out of Wanxing Group and the Zhou Family.”

“So what role do Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen play in all this?”

“With an excuse like the Foundation Establishment exam, even a minor altercation could justify intervention from a high-ranking god. Could they, like Zhang Pianpian, also have a deity backing them?”

The more she considered it, the more plausible it seemed. In her mind, Zhang Pianpian, Zhang Yu, and Bai Zhenzhen now loomed even larger.

She also foresaw the impact this would have on Songyang.

“The Righteous Gods will center their investigation around Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, inevitably protecting the two Foundation Establishment candidates.”

“To outsiders unaware of the exam, it’ll look like a Grade-Six Righteous God has personally stepped in to shield them and punish Wanxing and the Zhou Family.”

“For insiders who do know, it won’t take much to deduce that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are exam participants. But at this critical moment, no one will dare say a word.”

“If questioned, insiders will just claim Zhang Yu has a powerful backer. That’s the only way to prevent any leaks.”

Then she thought of the Zhou Family. “What will they do?”

“They’ll need to prove they had no intention of probing the Foundation Establishment exam.”

“Now that they’ve been caught red-handed, they’ll frame their actions against Zhang Yu as a mere public security matter.”

With a faint smile, Yun Ni concluded, “So the key is feeding the visiting Righteous God enough... and seeing whether Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are willing to play along—and at what price. The Zhou Family’s already working both sides.”

…

Inside Songyang High.

Zhou Chechen sat in meditation, slowly absorbing Spiritual Energy and refining his Mana.

But Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen kept creeping into his thoughts.

“The company moved, and those two were taken away instantly…”

“Sigh. An individual is so powerless in the face of corporate machinery…”

Just then, his phone began to vibrate.

He ignored it at first, immersed in cultivation. But when it wouldn’t stop, he finally picked it up.

Seeing the caller ID, his eyes widened. “Father?”

As one of many sons, Zhou Chechen rarely heard from his father, even though he was among the more accomplished.

Now, reading the message, one bombshell after another exploded in his mind.

“Wanxing Group was sealed off by the Righteous Gods?”

“Our family’s being investigated too?”

“A Grade-Six Righteous God?!”

“Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen have backing?!”

The final warning left him reeling. “Their backer… is a Grade-Six Righteous God?”

“No wonder! No wonder they’ve risen so fast, so confidently!”

“Maybe even Zhang Pianpian’s backer is the same deity…”

Suddenly, everything clicked.

And now he began to worry—what would happen to someone like him, caught in the middle?

Just then, Zhou Hao approached. As the family’s head of security, he had a message to relay.

“There are some things best not said over the phone,” Zhou Hao said. “Your father asked me to tell you in person.”

He added, “He knows this operation was led by your uncle. You weren’t involved.”

“But… since we’ve been caught in this mess, there are still things you’ll need to do…”