No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Early March.

At Demon-Beast University.

Xiangshan of the Civil Engineering Department was walking through the breeding center of the Breeding Department.

His massive frame resembled a walking mountain. With each step he took, the ground trembled, causing panic among the nearby juveniles.

But upon seeing the academic star of the Breeding Department ahead, Xiangshan curled his trunk slightly, reining in his oppressive aura.

The figure before him was a Pig Demon over eight meters tall, with a body like a mound of flesh. Around his neck hung a string of Buddhist prayer beads. His body pulsed with immense blood vitality, and beneath his skin, the faces of countless demon creatures squirmed and howled in anguish.

With a sudden heave, the Pig Demon spewed out a mass of fresh juveniles, each covered in slime, landing in the pen where they began to wriggle and feed.

Xiangshan knew this Pig Demon’s name—Zhumianseng. Not only was he the prodigy of the Breeding Department at Demon-Beast University, he had also been a contestant in the Ten Grand Leagues multiple times and wielded no fewer than three military-grade powers.

Zhumianseng exhaled heavily, then slowly spoke. “Xiangshan, shouldn’t you be preparing for the competition? What are you doing here?”

If it had been a regular Civil Engineering student, or even a top student, Zhumianseng might not have bothered responding.But Xiangshan was no ordinary elite. He was a rare prodigy who had mastered two military-grade powers—eligible for the Ten Grand Leagues.

In this year’s Civil Engineering finals, if Xiangshan could defeat both Zhang Yu and Mo Shangjin—users of military-grade Techniques—he might be granted a special exception to join the school team as a Civil Engineering student.

To many demon-kin at Demon-Beast University, that would be revolutionary—upending professional and racial boundaries.

Zhumianseng, however, understood that this was part of a reform push by the demon-kin leadership—an effort to break the tradition of assigning studies by race and unlock greater potential among students.

He didn’t particularly care. All that mattered to him now was the upcoming Grand League. If Xiangshan could prove his strength, Zhumianseng didn’t mind having him on the team.

Xiangshan said coolly, “I want to borrow your bio-sim Law Husk.”

Zhumianseng’s pig snout twitched. “You want to defeat them and simultaneously breed a batch of their bloodline offspring on the spot?”

Xiangshan replied, “I know the university has been secretly running human breeding centers. Like how you breed demon-kin—we’ve already raised a batch of humans for production and research.”

“The Breeding Department must be quite experienced in this by now, right?”

Zhumianseng scoffed. “I can lend you my bio-sim Law Husk. But the techniques of Lord Nectar—those involve Law Husks, bloodlines, breeding, Techniques, and multiple strands of Immortal Dao tech.”

“It’s hard to say how much usable data you’ll really get out of just Zhang Yu.”

Xiangshan smiled faintly. “There are plenty of buyers for his genetic material. Once I breed his offspring, I can immediately use them as Foundation Stakes. That way I won’t be violating the Human Livestock Act, and I can still sell the material for a profit.”

“Besides…”

His trunk curled and his tusks extended with a glint. “Unless I utterly crush them, how will the demon-kin understand my strength? How will they accept me breaking tradition and joining the team?”

Taking the bio-sim Law Husk from Zhumianseng, Xiangshan left the breeding center. His gaze sharpened—he had just received updated details on the final match.

Amid the various arrangements, one thing seized his attention: the prize for the champion.

“A design for military-grade armor… Is this the Biyue Goldcrystal Armor?”

…

At the simulated worksite of Wanfa University City—

Under the control of Earthfiend Gravity, a mass of mud and sand floated suspended midair.

Behind Zhang Yu, three Goldfilament Jade Disks hovered like miniature suns. As each lit up in sequence, the left and right disks shot out beams of crimson light into the central one.

The center disk blazed even brighter, erupting with a sunbeam as thick as a man’s arm, striking the suspended earth.

Instantly, the sand began to crystallize under intense heat, transforming into panes of glazed glass.

Then Zhang Yu tested the Goldfilament Jade Disks with Deep Chill mana, releasing a freezing ray to cool the sand again.

He also tried channeling a Level 2 Deep Chill Mana Vein, seeing if he could siphon his body’s heat into the disks.

Watching the beams fire in succession, Zhang Yu thought, So it really works. I can use the Deep Chill Mana Vein and Goldfilament Jade Disks together to offload my heat from range.

That means in combat, as long as I keep this cycle going, I can cool myself while raising the enemy’s temperature.

A self-buff and a debuff in one. Over time, the gap in power will widen.

Over the past few days, aside from upgrading to three Goldfilament Jade Disks, Zhang Yu had begun cultivating his third Technique in the Chain Diagram set for refining—Divine Fire Mirror.

This Technique required the fusion of various fire seeds to condense a stream of True Fire Qi. It allowed control over many flames and boosted smelting efficiency and quality.

Combined with his other refinement Techniques, it had drained his savings—he now had less than ten spirit coins to his name.

Thankfully, he’d rented the three Goldfilament Jade Disks out for manual work, earning a passive income of 0.03 to 0.04 coins per day.

Good thing the more artifacts I own, the more production tools I have. Otherwise, this multi-artifact strategy really isn’t something a broke cultivator like me can afford.

Of course, Zhang Yu hadn’t upgraded the disks just to make money. He had the upcoming final in mind.

In his Mountain-Moving Titan state, if he used the Nine Heavens Cloudstride Force to unleash dual Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might, the power was overwhelming—but not sustainable.

Against weaker opponents, that was fine. But against someone stronger, it could backfire.

At that moment, Zhang Yu recalled something Mo Shangjin had told him recently.

…

After recovering from injury, Mo Shangjin had trained with Zhang Yu and offered some pointers.

“Zhang Yu, the true power of Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might lies in environmental transformation.”

“The broader the range, the greater the effect. But in tight quarters, Earthfiend Gravity becomes harder to leverage.”

“So when fighting single targets—if brute strength isn’t enough—this Technique becomes more of a battlefield control skill.”

Mo Shangjin sighed. “Take our next opponent—Xiangshan. To beat him, we’ll have to both use Mountain-Moving Might together. Gradually wear him down.”

Zhang Yu was surprised. “Xiangshan is that strong? Even with both of us, we can’t beat him head-on?”

Mo Shangjin nodded. “Aside from the Civil Engineering Department’s military-grade Sutra, the Sumeru Mountain King Codex, he’s also likely to have a military-grade Law Husk this year.”

Zhang Yu: “A military-grade Law Husk?”

Mo Shangjin said, “He won the military license lottery shortly after passing the exam. Drew a military-grade Law Husk blueprint.”

Zhang Yu cursed, “A lottery? And he pulled a military-grade Law Husk? Damned cheat.”

Mo Shangjin said, “Ever since then, he’s been grinding cash and hiring people to craft it for him.”

“When I fought him last year, it wasn’t even complete—but he still overpowered me.”

“And now, after a year of nonstop money-making? It’s probably finished.”

He proceeded to share Xiangshan’s fighting style, Techniques, and Law Husk details with Zhang Yu—along with footage from last year’s match.

The more Zhang Yu learned, the more he understood how even someone like Mo Shangjin had lost.

“Two military-grade powers? That’s just unfair in the Civil Engineering Department.”

“But this year, with me and Mo Shangjin both going in… we have a real shot.”

As Zhang Yu was mulling this over, new updates on the final arrived.

He scanned the times, locations, and matchups. Then his gaze settled on the prize: a blueprint for military-grade armor.

At first, he didn’t think much of it. He might be on the refining path, but he was more familiar with artifacts than armor.

“Biyue Goldcrystal Armor?”

But as he opened the blueprint and read the details, a small line of text flashed before his eyes.

Heir of the Great Sage?

Zhang Yu froze.

He read the line again, exited the page, then opened it again multiple times.

Heir of the Great Sage?

Why would a military-grade armor blueprint trigger a Chain Diagram set?

Zhang Yu knew that Chain Diagram sets were formed from interconnected Techniques.

The Heir of the Great Sage set, for instance, included Soul-Stabilizing Oxheart Technique, Sacrificial Oxheart Technique, and Limitless Heart: Inner Incarnate Body.

Could the Biyue Goldcrystal Armor blueprint… also contain a Technique?

He wasn’t sure—but a glimmer of hope flickered in his heart.

For the longest time, he had only managed to gather two of the three known components of the Heir of the Great Sage set.

The last one—Limitless Heart: Inner Incarnate Body—had only been found deep within the Spiritual Realm as a blacklisted Technique.

Beyond those, what else completed the set? Zhang Yu had no clue.

He had long suspected the remaining Techniques were either lost or, like Limitless Heart: Inner Incarnate Body, unlisted in the Dao Canons of the Ten Major Sects.

If this blueprint had been passed down from above, then perhaps it had never existed in the university archives—until now.

Until this Civil Engineering final.

Now it had re-emerged.