No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

A flicker of light flashed before Zhang Yu’s eyes as a black-and-gold scroll slowly unfolded within his ocular husks. An ancient aura emanated from it, noble and mysterious, as if a hidden world was revealing itself before him.

“Welcome to Gold Core Direct.”

“Gold Core Direct is a well-known free Gold Core guidance tool that provides complimentary services including Gold Core scoring, cultivation analysis, flaw detection, Law Husk testing, Artifact Spirit optimization, energy efficiency tuning, and smart upgrades.”

“Would you like to use the Gold Core Direct Premium Edition?”

Below were two options—log in with an existing premium account, or purchase a premium license. Naturally, Zhang Yu clicked the × in the upper corner.

In an instant, that noble aura vanished, and the black-and-gold scroll dulled into something resembling a student’s workbook. Some of its former functions seemed to have disappeared too.

It felt, to Zhang Yu, as if a top-tier cultivation manual like the Nine Yang Divine Technique had suddenly turned into a generic boxing guide.

Still, he didn’t care. “Ugly is fine, fewer functions are fine—but paying? Impossible.”

Just as he opened the “workbook,” a prompt appeared in his ocular interface:

Foreign service request detected. Grant access? Yes/No.Gold Core Direct: Detected that your Law Husk has not been granted inspection permissions. Please allow access for a more accurate score.

Zhang Yu, unwilling to let the system probe his Law Husk, clicked No, then pressed the largest button on the workbook—Start Gold Core Simulation Scoring.

During the test, Gold Core Direct repeatedly flashed requests, asking for access to all parts of Zhang Yu’s body.

Zhang Yu, of course, denied every single one.

That led to yet another page of registration forms, requiring him to manually fill in details about his Law Husk, cultivation techniques, and basic stats.

If he could provide school verification, the data would even be officially recognized.

Zhang Yu filled in the forms one by one. He only listed a small fraction of his actual techniques—some, like the Limitless Heart: Inner Incarnate Body, were too sensitive to include.

Naturally, secrets such as his Chain Diagram and Dao Seed Codex could not be entered either.

Once he finished, the results appeared:

You scored 81,372 points in the Gold Core Simulation, surpassing 86% of students. [Click to share]

Gold Core Direct: During scoring, 37 cultivation flaws were detected. Please correct them promptly. [Click one-click repair]

Curious, Zhang Yu opened the list.

He found entries such as “missing hand Law Husk,” “missing organ Law Husk,” “missing spinal Law Husk,” and others—each followed by a list of recommended replacements.

Evidently, because Zhang Yu’s body lacked many Law Husks, he had lost a lot of points.

The system also suggested surgery to improve mana circulation, Dantian optimization, and muscle responsiveness upgrades—each paired with recommendations for surgical, pharmaceutical, or Dao Technique-based corrections.

Then came another page: “Cultivation Technique Optimization,” “Technique Upgrades,” and “Version Updates,” encouraging him to switch to newer techniques to compensate for his deficiencies.

Seeing all these “flaws,” Zhang Yu suddenly felt as though he was full of holes from head to toe.

“Still,” he mused, “I really do have a lot of room for improvement.”

“Military-grade techniques, military-grade Law Husks, military-grade Artifacts… not just for the Top Ten League, but also for forming my Gold Core in the future.”

“Once I win the Top Ten League, I’ll finish my credits early and graduate ahead of schedule.”

“The sooner I finish, the sooner I graduate, and the sooner I reach Gold Core…”

When he closed the score page, another tab appeared.

“Gold Core Seed Ranking? Updated daily?”

He raised an eyebrow. “So this is the Foundation Establishment students’ ranking?”

There was another chart for actual Gold Core cultivators, but that was still far off for him, so he ignored it.

“Looks like it automatically detected that I’m a university-level Foundation Establishment cultivator,” he noted.

The top entry caught his attention. “First place—Heavenly Demon University? 510,000 points?”

“Second place—Wanfa University, Dao Techniques Department, Dao Qiankun, 509,881 points. That’s close.”

As Zhang Yu scrolled, he saw that the top 500 names were almost all students from the Ten Great Academies.

He tried clicking Dao Qiankun’s profile but found only basic data—university, department, degree level.

Everything else—cultivation flaws, revision history, techniques, Law Husk list, Spirit Root details, news—was locked.

Gold Core Direct: Purchase premium access to view full data.

“I said I’m not buying,” Zhang Yu muttered.

He kept scrolling and soon saw his own entry—listed as “500+,” meaning he hadn’t made it into the actual top 500.

The system didn’t even show his precise rank.

While he browsed, his ocular interface continued to flash messages:

Gold Core Direct: Detected 37 cultivation flaws [Click to view]

Gold Core Direct: Your friends may have scored higher. Pay to view their results

Gold Core Direct: Detected unencrypted Law Husk data

“Unencrypted?” Zhang Yu frowned.

Fu Ji’s voice chimed in, “Ignore it. They’re just trying to trick you into giving access.”

“Your ocular husks were encrypted by Zhang Pianpian. With her talisman mastery, you’re fine.”

“Damn thing never shuts up,” Zhang Yu muttered as another pop-up appeared:

Gold Core Direct: Share your score data to receive a free premium skin!

…

Meanwhile, deep within the Spiritual Realm, in a small, private chat group that outsiders couldn’t access—

[Artifact Refinement Class, Rank #4 – Ziyun Zhen]: “They really transferred him over.”

[Ziyun Zhen]: “That Zhang Yu’s been in Civil Engineering for three years—what does he know about Artifact Refinement?”

She sounded frustrated. “And he’s ranked 48th in the entire department already, 2nd in the class? What kind of joke is that?”

“Did they seriously convert his Civil Engineering credits into Refinement credits?”

“He should’ve started from freshman year! Why’s he joining us in third year?”

[Rank #8 – Rong Xuan]: “No idea what the director was thinking, taking in a Civil Engineering student.”

“Feels like the whole class group smells of concrete now.”

“Ugh. I don’t even want to post there anymore.”

[Ziyun Zhen]: “You just welcomed him in the chat.”

[Rong Xuan]: “Had to, for True Lord Magneto’s sake.”

[Ziyun Zhen]: “That experiment subject who was paired with a Nascent Soul Yin Artifact in the lab—fine to keep him for testing, but bringing him here openly? I heard he only has one ocular Law Husk and no others. Honestly…”

At that moment, the class’s top student spoke up.

[Su Yunni]: “Watch your words.”

[Ziyun Zhen]: “I’m just speaking for everyone. We’ve spent three years and tons of spirit coins here, and now some concrete worker’s above us?”

The group fell into uneasy silence—most shared her resentment toward Zhang Yu’s transfer.

Then, Rong Xuan suddenly said, “Hey, check the class group! Zhang Yu just posted his Gold Core Simulation score!”

[Zhang Yu]: I scored 81,372 points in the Gold Core Simulation, surpassing 86% of students [Click to share]

That was the highest score in their entire class.

The small group went silent.

After a long moment, Ziyun Zhen muttered, “How’s that possible? He must’ve faked it.”

Someone replied, “It’s verified. Faking would just embarrass himself.”

[Su Yunni]: “I used my premium account to check his detailed score.”

[Su Yunni]: “The main boost came from the military-grade technique Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might.”

[Su Yunni]: “He also had a solid foundation and several strong techniques.”

[Su Yunni]: “If he had more Law Husks equipped, his score could be even higher.”

[Ziyun Zhen]: “So that’s it then.”

“He got military-grade techniques early because Civil Engineering is easy and less competitive.”

“But even if Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might scores high, it won’t help with refinement work.”

“Let him show off for now—once finals come, his Artifact Refinement scores will tank.”

Although many shared her sentiment, Zhang Yu’s score silenced their mockery for now. They decided to wait until finals to see him fail at actual refinement.

“What does a construction guy know about Artifact Refinement, anyway?”

Then Su Yunni sent a private message to Ziyun Zhen: “When will you come help at my company?”

Ziyun Zhen: “I still have to think about it.”

Su Yunni: “No rush. The position’s open anytime.”

Su Yunni’s Artifact Service Company specialized in secondhand Artifact recycling and maintenance.

Working there meant losing a cut to commissions, but it offered steady income.

Ziyun Zhen then messaged Ye Xingli: “Senior Sister, are you still taking orders for the Dragonvein Treasurecasting Sutra?”

…

After finishing his Gold Core simulation, Zhang Yu returned to the lab to continue his cultivation.

Flames roared as his Dao Technique transformed, burning and refining a secondhand Artifact before him.

Hours passed. The flames shifted colors, flickering around him like living fish.

Fire-Taming Divine Mirror – Level 10.

Zhang Yu’s eyes brightened. The third Technique in his Refinement Specialist chain had finally reached level ten. One step closer to completing his Chain Diagram.

“This Fire-Taming Divine Mirror is such a pain to train. Every Artifact I burn costs me money, and poor refinement work barely sells. It’s been draining my wallet.”

“But now that it’s level ten, I can finally make better sales—either refined Artifacts or refinement services.”

Just then, a message appeared.

[Ye Xingli]: “Junior Brother, are you still taking Dragonvein Treasurecasting Sutra orders?”

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