No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Che Yufei hadn’t competed much before, so he couldn’t make sense of Su Yanyang’s actions. Puzzled, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“Aren’t they going to attack?”

“Shouldn’t the attackers be racing against time to push forward?”

Shi Huaiyu let out a slow breath and explained, “Rushing in is only what you do when there’s a huge gap between the two sides. That’s a last resort. Matches between the top ten usually don’t go that way.”

“Since this is a Civil Engineering Competition, the focus is naturally on civil engineering abilities. Combat is just the setting.”

“Otherwise they wouldn’t have made a rule against killing.”

“Su Yanyang is being extremely cautious. He’s not giving us any chance for a direct fight. He wants to crush us outright using what they’re best at.”

“The first thing they’ll do next is probably lay down an armored layer…”

As Shi Huaiyu spoke, the ground beneath them began to tremble violently.

In the distance, the earth surged and buckled. Layers of black barriers rose up like walls, rapidly expanding across their field of vision.Shi Huaiyu murmured, “He’s using Small Threefold Harmony, enhanced with Earthshaker Reconstitution Technique, then layering it with Ground-Hardening and Soil-to-Gold Transmutation. First they shift the sand, then mold and reinforce it, and finally extract metallic elements to further boost its strength. Next should be the array…”

The moment she said this, everyone felt a change in the spiritual energy of the air, and their expressions shifted.

Underground tremors grew in volume and number, spreading outward like the entire arena had turned into one colossal construction site.

Shi Huaiyu continued, “The armored layer protects the arrays. Once the arrays are up, they’ll start consuming the spirit veins, churning the foundation, and altering the terrain…”

“Once they drain the spirit veins, it’ll be hard for us to recover mana.”

“When they control the terrain, they’ll reshape the geological structure to make it unsuitable for building. Our bunkers will deform and collapse…”

Che Yufei sighed. “Their skills are just too strong. I don’t think we stand a chance.”

The magnitude of the scene unfolding before them made everyone feel a rising urge to give up.

Zhang Yu frowned. He couldn’t let his teammates’ morale keep spiraling down.

He quickly spoke up. “Do you all realize how many teachers are watching us right now?”

“Most of the department’s instructors, and all three directors—they’re all watching this match.”

“If we just surrender in front of all of them… how do you expect to show your faces in the Civil Engineering Department again?”

His words jolted Che Yufei and the others who had been about to quit.

Zhang Yu continued, “And have you thought about this? What a rare chance this is to show yourselves off?”

“How hard would it have been for you to get this kind of opportunity to show your skills to this many professors?”

“Whether we win or lose, we have to give it our all. Show them our best.”

Che Yufei had to admit Zhang Yu made a solid point.

Especially when he thought about how much his life had changed since breaking into the top ten… If he quit now, he’d definitely leave a bad impression on the department heads.

But if he could showcase his skills in this round—even if they lost—it might be worth more than any resume.

And with Zhang Yu being a named disciple under Director Gao, Che Yufei, Shi Yunxiang, and the others naturally had even more trust in his words.

“Hahaha!” Che Yufei burst out laughing. “You’re right, Zhang Yu! This is a golden chance to show what we’ve got—how can we back down now?”

With a tiger-like roar, his muscles shuddered violently. Steam burst from his body, and he visibly aged by a few years, new wrinkles deepening on his face.

Che Yufei grinned. “One last push.”

Even as he aged, his aura kept climbing. A blur of motion, and he was already at the construction materials.

His body flickered back and forth, and the bunker foundation began transforming at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Watching Che Yufei rapidly age, Zhang Yu opened his mouth and said, “You really don’t have to go that hard…”

Shi Yunxiang chimed in from the side. “Don’t worry. It’s just a bit of lifespan shaved off—Old Che knows his limits.”

“Besides, you’re right. We’re finally on stage in front of the higher-ups. We can’t waste it. If we don’t burn a little lifespan, how else do we embody the spirit of civil engineering?”

With a thunderous roar, Shi Yunxiang activated a volatile technique, then unleashed his arm-based Law Husk, slamming out a deep pit with just a few blows.

The two of them weren’t just good at foundation-building or mixing cement—they were clearly practiced in array setup too, as if they’d done it hundreds of times.

Because when they took on real construction jobs, they were used to setting up the arrays themselves—just to earn a bit more from the array installation fee. They’d already memorized the department’s standard array formulas.

Watching them work, Zhang Yu summoned a squad of Formless Golems behind him. Xiao Qingxuan was cloaked in roaring dragon-shaped Martial Qi. Everyone threw themselves into the work, accelerating the bunker’s progress.

Seeing the team hard at work, Shi Huaiyu touched her waist and addressed the artifact inside her Ghost Kidney. “Run a time estimate for me.”

The soul-cultivator inside replied, “I’m here to suppress your Ghost Kidney, not do extra calculations.”

Shi Huaiyu retorted, “I subscribed to the Ghost Kidney Suppression and Portable Computation Package. It clearly states the Ghost Kidney includes computation services.”

“I know you can access the Spiritual Realm’s processing pools—don’t play dumb.”

The soul-cultivator sighed and gave in. Moments later, it responded, “At your current pace, you’ll complete the bunker and array in about 40 minutes.”

Shi Huaiyu asked, “What about the other side?”

The soul-cultivator replied, “Based on current data, in about 20 minutes, their control over the spirit veins will exceed 50%.”

Shi Huaiyu’s eyes narrowed. “That fast?”

The soul-cultivator said, “My projections show their final share will be around 74%, and yours will be 26%.”

“They’ll have full control of the terrain. If they change the geological structure, all your work will be wasted.”

Shi Huaiyu frowned and sent the calculation data to the team chat.

Everyone immediately understood—if they kept competing on construction speed, they’d lose.

…

Inside the Spiritual Realm.

One instructor watching the match between Zhang Yu and Su Yanyang’s teams nodded. “Now this is what a Civil Engineering Competition should look like. Su Yanyang is steady and methodical—laying arrays, waging a hard-fought battle. He’s dominating with sheer presence.”

Wei Huai from the Peace Faction added, “It’s just a matter of financial difference. No matter how hard Zhang Yu’s team works, how can they outbuild that kind of budget?”

Neither Tu Lishan nor Lang Yougong from the War Faction offered any rebuttal.

Su Yanyang’s team was simply overwhelming in their capabilities.

Tu Lishan didn’t respond to Wei Huai and instead tried to steer the discussion toward Mo Shangjin’s dominant performance elsewhere.

But Wei Huai shook his head again. “Wrong again.”

He kept shaking his head. “Charging in now would be a fool’s move—rushing into someone else’s grand array? That’s security department behavior.”

Tu Lishan turned just in time to see Zhang Yu, Xiao Qingxuan, and Tian Yang break away from the worksite and charge straight at the defensive structures built by Su Yanyang’s team.

…

Huge, winding, metal-sheened barriers loomed larger and larger in the eyes of Zhang Yu’s trio.

At the same time, Shi Huaiyu’s voice continued feeding into their comms.

Shi Huaiyu said, “With Earthshaker Reconstitution Technique and their arrays, they’ve completely suppressed my Small Threefold Harmony. I’ll stay here with Che Yufei and Shi Yunxiang to finish the construction.”

“But no matter how fast we are, we can’t outpace Su Yanyang’s team.”

“To gain an edge in this match, there’s only one option—slow down their progress.”

“Steal materials, sabotage structures… do whatever it takes to cause trouble.”

Zhang Yu thought grimly, “We’re supposed to be defending this round, yet we have to counterattack. Is this what it means to lose in construction skills?”

Once inside the barriers, they realized these overlapping layers were like twisted, metallic city walls—stacked one atop another, concealing the sky, winding in a maze-like structure like a warped insect nest.

Shi Huaiyu’s voice disappeared completely the moment they entered.

Xiao Qingxuan frowned. “We’ve lost connection.”

Tian Yang shook his head. “It’s a Dimensional Isolation Array. It severs communication between the physical world and the Spiritual Realm network.”

Zhang Yu said, “Shi Huaiyu has tons of intel on Su Yanyang’s team—and she can keep us updated on both teams’ progress. We can’t afford to lose that connection.”

He glanced at the Green-Silk Flying Sword wrapped around his finger and asked, “If we use the Sky-Piercing Flying Swords from Heavenly Sword Sect University, could we reestablish the link with the Spiritual Realm network and bypass the Dimensional Isolation Array?”

“Sky-Piercing Flying Swords?” Tian Yang’s eyes lit up. “This Split Array was slapped together by Su Yanyang’s team during the match. A Sky-Piercing Flying Sword can definitely punch through it.”

“But there’s three of us. If all of us use that method to break through, the mana cost will be huge.”

Zhang Yu nodded. The data charges on a Sky-Piercing Flying Sword were much steeper than regular network fees.

Xiao Qingxuan sighed. “Of course breaking into someone else’s array burns resources. If you’re low on spirit coins, you don’t even get to enter.”

“Like me—I’m already in debt. I can’t even use a Sky-Piercing Flying Sword.”

Tian Yang looked at the Green-Silk Flying Sword in Zhang Yu’s hand and said, “I have an idea. I’ll interface with the Sky-Piercing Flying Sword and transfer the sword intent from the Spiritual Realm into your bodies. That should break through the array.”

The Green-Silk Flying Sword perched on Tian Yang’s head like an antenna. As a pained expression crossed his face, he slapped both palms onto Zhang Yu and Xiao Qingxuan’s shoulders.

“Catch it. This is all my data for the year…”

“It’s yours now. Make it last.”

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