No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

The moment Zhang Yu stepped into the dimensional isolation array, his connection to the Spiritual Realm Network was severed. He could no longer see messages in the competition group, nor stay in touch with his teammates. Even the world around him had changed drastically.

The marks his teammates had placed on the EyeNet interface vanished.

All the constantly updating intel and signals disappeared.

Even the lighting of the entire arena dimmed. The floating warnings, competition rules, and ads that once filled the air were gone.

Turning to glance past the barrier, he saw the neon dazzle that once wrapped the arena’s perimeter had also faded, as if swallowed into nothingness.

Without his connection to the Spiritual Realm, all that remained were drab, lifeless buildings, a primitive, desaturated world that had lost the vibrant pulse of the Spiritual Realm. Reality itself now seemed pale and tedious.

Only now did Zhang Yu realize how accustomed he had become to syncing with the Spiritual Realm at all times. Without its overlay, even the simplest tasks felt clumsy and off.

Just then, Tian Yang struck him squarely in the chest with an open palm. A sharp, cutting Sword Aura surged into Zhang Yu’s body as if descending from the heavens, cleaving through all resistance. The burst reconnected him to the Spiritual Realm—and suddenly, the world regained its vividness and clarity.

At the same time, Shi Huaiyu’s message popped back into everyone’s EyeNet view.

Shi Huaiyu: Where are you guys?Tian Yang: Just used the Sky-Piercing Flying Sword to break the dimensional isolation array.

Tian Yang: Don’t send anything data-heavy.

Tian Yang: If I go into data debt and turn into a mana-deprived husk, we’re screwed.

While they exchanged messages, Zhang Yu, Xiao Qingxuan, and Tian Yang were already charging deeper into the defenses constructed by Su Yanyang.

The further they went, the more this hive-like structure twisted and tangled.

Spiritual energy in the air thinned, and their mana regeneration continued to slow.

Shi Huaiyu warned: As Su Yanyang’s array nears completion and his control over the Spirit Veins grows, ambient spiritual energy will keep dropping.

Shi Huaiyu: The deeper you go, the worse it gets. Conserve your mana from here on out.

At that moment, Zhang Yu halted mid-step, frowning. “Are we going in circles?”

He had just reviewed footage from his Time-Wrecking Demon Pupil and clearly saw they’d already walked this path.

But Xiao Qingxuan shook his head. “I cross-checked our route—we’ve never been here.”

Shi Huaiyu: Zhang Yu, did you misread it?

Zhang Yu blinked. “Did I?”

He posted the comparison footage to the group.

Tian Yang: Dude, don’t upload something this high-res!

Xiao Qingxuan studied the image. “Maybe your EyeNet is glitched? This spot—we haven’t been here.”

Zhang Yu furrowed his brows. A deep unease began to take root.

…

Inside the Spiritual Realm.

During the previous three-hour rest period, the faculty hadn’t just left their manifested minds idling.

Now that the next competition round had begun, the Civil Engineering Department’s teachers were filing back in.

True Lord Magneto was, as usual, the last to arrive, but no one dared criticize him.

Director Gao let out a quiet breath of relief. He had worried the man might just skip the round altogether.

Director Gao (private message): What took you so long? Where were you?

True Lord Magneto: My new student pulled something interesting. Got curious, looked into it a bit.

Director Gao: That backdoor admission you told me about?

True Lord Magneto: That’s the one. Turns out, backdoor students do have their edge.

Director Gao: Of course. It’s not like the old days. Back then, only the incompetent needed a backdoor. Now, if you can get in that way, you must be good.

Director Gao: What’s the student’s name?

True Lord Magneto didn’t respond. Instead, his eyes drifted to the five competitions playing in front of him. “Hmm? Someone at Wanfa University is still using the Sky-Piercing Flying Sword?”

Very few teachers were watching Zhang Yu’s match against Su Yanyang. After all, the power gap was considered too wide to be interesting—a guaranteed crushing defeat.

But True Lord Magneto’s comment drew attention immediately.

Seeing Zhang Yu unsheath the Green-Silk Flying Sword and channel the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Sky-Piercing Flying Sword to tear open the dimensional isolation array, Lang Yougong raised an eyebrow. “Zhang Yu has access to the Sky-Piercing Flying Sword? When did he get clearance from the Heavenly Sword Sect?”

Another instructor remarked, “It’s a commercial connection, most likely. That Green-Silk Flying Sword must be linked to a Sky-Piercing token. Looks like someone important from the Heavenly Sword Sect gave it to him.”

Director Lin’s face remained impassive, but his mind raced.

Especially when he recalled Zhang Yu’s recent meeting with the Nascent Soul cultivator Wen Wuya from the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Director Lin: “So that old fox Gao Chongguang really did link up with someone from the Heavenly Sword Sect… Did they cut a deal over the Sky-Piercing system?”

True Lord Magneto shot Director Gao a curious look. “You partnered with the Heavenly Sword Sect for Sky-Piercing Flying Sword access?”

The Spiritual Realm… was indispensable to every cultivator.

Cut off from it, everything—daily life, training, work, even study—became a slog.

Maintaining stable access outside of University City was a top priority.

True Lord Magneto’s mind conjured the image of Wanfa University’s twin “Sun and Moon” satellites. He muttered, “Those are good tech, but too damn expensive.”

“If we could get the Sky-Piercing network in here, we’d cut operational costs significantly.”

He knew very well—departments like Artifact Refinement and Civil Engineering burned through huge volumes of spiritual bandwidth. Even a month’s usage was a heavy expense.

“That bastard Gao really found himself a lever.”

“From the angle of cost-saving and efficiency, Sky-Piercing integration is far more practical than any war-versus-peace policy debate. It’s a clean entry point for the Heavenly Sword Sect.”

Director Gao received the message but didn’t reply. His expression remained unreadable.

His thoughts turned to the rapport between Wen Wuya and Zhang Yu.

“That Green-Silk Flying Sword… could it be forged from Wen Wuya’s own hair and gifted to Zhang Yu?”

“Have they really gotten that close?”

Director Gao was stunned. Did young cultivators in Kunxu still do things like this?

A Nascent Soul disciple meeting a freshman from Floor One and immediately forming a bond, severing his hair to forge a sword, and even opening a channel into the Sky-Piercing system…

He almost wondered whether Zhang Yu had defected and leaked intel.

But he quickly dismissed the idea. “I’ll ask him later. This disciple of mine keeps surprising me.”

…

Back in the arena.

Watching Zhang Yu advance deeper into the defensive labyrinth, Peace Faction teacher Wei Huai commented, “Looks like they’ve triggered the Ten Thousand Ghosts Bewitching Array.”

Another teacher nodded. “Definitely. Probably got hit while syncing through the Sky-Piercing link.”

“Now all their EyeNet feeds are showing illusions—real and fake images mixed together. Even their messages are being intercepted and spoofed. Su Yanyang can see their every move.”

A neutral teacher praised, “Su Yanyang’s team deployed that Ten Thousand Ghosts array really well. Shows they did their homework in Smart Architecture.”

Tu Lishan knew—upperclass Smart Architecture courses taught how to integrate structures with arrays, giving buildings sentience, data processing, and smart capabilities.

Wei Huai added, “Their cost control is impressive too. Only took three soul cultivators to fully power the array. High yield for low input.”

…

On the battlefield.

Fu Ji suddenly said, “Zhang Yu, you’ve been hit. Visuals are spoofed, and even your EyeNet messages are being tampered with.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes sharpened. “Someone tampered with my EyeNet?”

Because his eyes couldn’t keep up with his continually strengthening body, Zhang Yu alternated which eye wore the ocular husk.

That meant his Time-Wrecking Demon Pupil wasn’t always at peak performance—but it also meant he could still rely on his unaided eyes for cross-reference.

He tried blinking one eye at a time. But no matter which eye he closed, he couldn’t spot anything off.

Fu Ji said flatly, “Don’t bother. If they can fool your EyeNet, they can trick your actual eyes too.”

“These sensory arrays were all based on ancient formations designed to deceive the physical senses. Once EyeNet came along, those old versions became obsolete—so they were upgraded. Now they interfere with both tech and the body.”

“Know why your visuals are different from Xiao Qingxuan and Tian Yang’s? Because you’ve got the Time-Wrecking Demon Pupil. It held up longer than their standard ocular husks.”

“If you want to test it, try sending a message. Even your comms are probably compromised.”

Zhang Yu gave it some thought and then sent a message to the group.

Zhang Yu: @Yu Xinghan, remember what Red Xiao’s latest work was?

Yu Xinghan: Last month’s Blooming Secrets of a Bud.

Zhang Yu scoffed silently. “Yeah, right. Yu Xinghan would never admit that so openly in a public chat.”

“For those of us who genuinely appreciate such works for their artistic value—not for, uh, dual cultivation—it’s always been taboo in Kunxu.”

“The real Yu Xinghan would either ignore the message or pretend he had no clue.”

“Looks like Fu Ji was right. The messages are fake too.”

With that, Zhang Yu grabbed Xiao Qingxuan and got straight to the point: “We’ve been visually deceived. Our messages are spoofed too…”

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