No Money to Cultivate Immortality?

Zhang Yu had been eagerly awaiting Yu Xinghan’s third-level Dao Seed.

After all, every bit of strength his companions gained became nourishment for his own advancement.

As Yu Xinghan’s Three-Eyed Divine Sight advanced to level three, Zhang Yu ran a few tests and gradually figured out the new changes.

Previously, the Three-Eyed Divine Sight mainly allowed one to copy others’ movements, observe the flow of spiritual energy, see the buildup of a move, perceive in all directions, and observe the human body in extreme detail.

Now, however, this upgraded Divine Sight possessed a photographic memory for all martial techniques.

Whether it was fist arts, swordsmanship, or blade forms—once the Divine Sight witnessed them, they were etched firmly into memory.

Moreover, if one understood the mana circulation patterns of a given martial technique, simply watching others practice it could produce actual cultivation progress.

In other words, under the blessing of the Three-Eyed Divine Sight, even without personal training, merely observing others could raise one’s mastery.

Realizing this, Zhang Yu immediately thought of combining the Divine Sight with the Feathered Tome.

“If watching others cultivate counts as cultivation, could that increase the Feathered Tome’s practice count? If that works…”But after testing, he soon discovered—it didn’t.

“Sigh, so the Three-Eyed Divine Sight doesn’t affect the Feathered Tome’s cultivation progress?”

He mused, “Well, it makes sense. No matter how many manuals I read or how many teachers I listen to—those things might improve my theoretical understanding, but they can’t push the Feathered Tome’s progress forward.”

“The Feathered Tome’s cultivation must be earned through real, hands-on practice.”

Though slightly disappointed, Zhang Yu quickly found the real benefit of the upgraded Divine Sight.

“Its micro-level perception has improved, and my sensitivity to mana flow and spiritual circulation has grown.”

He thought, “When it comes to artifact refinement, this means I can process mana circuits more precisely—improving the efficiency and success rate of rune engraving.”

He nodded slightly. “If any artifact’s mana circuits act up during refinement, I can temporarily swap out the Greenlotus Sword Embryo (spirit root) for the Three-Eyed Divine Sight (spirit root) to fix circuit issues.”

As for using the Divine Sight daily to watch martial practice—that was too inefficient. It was better to keep the Greenlotus Sword Embryo active and let that divine-grade spirit root’s adaptability improve further.

Meanwhile, Yu Xinghan, having grasped his upgraded Divine Sight, grew ecstatic.

“Watching is cultivating?”

He immediately opened a martial arts video recording through his ocular interface. Each time he watched, his understanding deepened, as if he had practiced it himself several times.

“Perfect!” he thought. “From now on, I can just work while watching training videos—I’ll be cultivating martial arts every moment!”

Zhang Yu glanced at Yu Xinghan’s level-three Dao Seed and mused, “Level three already allows learning through observation. If it keeps advancing… will he one day master others’ techniques just by looking once?”

A trace of unease stirred in his heart. “If it reaches that point, it might not be a good thing. For something like the Extreme Sentiment Swordsmanship—if someone can master it after one glance… that’s dangerous.”

“And if it evolves into a divine spirit root…”

“If Yu Xinghan is discovered to have grown a Divine Spirit Root…”

He frowned slightly, recalling Le Mulan.

Whether it was Yu Xinghan’s potential evolution into a divine spirit root or Le Mulan’s life-extending Deepcold Mana Vein—both carried hidden dangers.

He then calculated, “To reach level four, the Three-Eyed Divine Sight will need 8,000 mana—that’s at the Gold Core stage.”

“There’s still time.”

“But regardless, I need to earn more money and grow stronger before safely advancing Dao Seed levels.”

…

Late May.

That day, Zhang Yu had planned to rent a lab with his senior sister Ye Xingli—but she told him she now had her own artifact refinement lab.

When he stepped inside, he was awestruck by the rows of equipment. “Senior Sister, how much did this lab cost you?”

Zhang Yu knew that for artifact refiners, having one’s own lab was a game-changer—a completely different tier of existence.

Owning a personal lab not only saved rent but also spared the constant hassle of competing for space or tools, letting one focus entirely on refining.

The next step up would be to have one’s own production line—like True Lord Magneto—capable of mass-producing artifacts and Law Husks.

Ye Xingli smiled. “Didn’t cost me much. The Myriad Artisans Sect funded most of it.”

“They hired me to improve several of their products.”

Hearing this, Zhang Yu grew even more envious. “As expected, my senior sister is a true prodigy in artifact refinement. No wonder she ranked top five among the Hundred Academies’ Design Tournament.”

He knew that every artifact, once created, had vast room for improvement.

The first person to invent a flying sword was impressive—but that sword’s technology couldn’t compare to any expert-grade model on the market today.

As companies competed, they constantly sought innovations—sometimes by hiring top university talents for collaborative research.

Ye Xingli was clearly one such favored student.

She continued, “There are six workbenches here. I only use five.”

“If you’d like, I can rent one to you. You can also borrow my unused equipment, just check my lab schedule. I’ll charge you the lowest rent.”

In Zhang Yu’s eyes, Ye Xingli was a talented genius with a Dao Seed.

But in her eyes, Zhang Yu too was a rare prodigy—one blessed by True Lord Magneto himself, with the fortune of a Nascent Soul Law Husk encounter.

Over the past two months, Zhang Yu had accepted many artifact orders through her, showing that he’d mastered several new refinement techniques. She had grown to respect her junior even more.

As they spoke, Ziyun Zhen—wearing a Law Husk badge—entered with two other students.

Zhang Yu privately messaged Ye Xingli: “Senior Sister, are those your assistants?”

He knew many refiners hired assistants to improve efficiency.

After all, refining wasn’t just about profound theory—it involved a lot of menial, repetitive labor.

Cleaning, material refining, extracting elements, organizing documentation—all of it was time-consuming and exhausting.

By delegating those chores, a refiner could focus on what mattered most.

And for students, assisting was an invaluable opportunity—no lab fees, free practice, and guidance from seniors.

Ye Xingli nodded and messaged back: “This project involves Earthfiend Qi—you know how troublesome that is.”

“For poor refiners, handling Earthfiend Qi means doing it all yourself. Wealthier ones buy specialized artifacts—but honestly, even the best artifact can’t replace a good assistant.”

She winked at him playfully. “Against insidious qi contamination, assistants are the best defensive artifact.”

Then she asked, “I heard from Master you’re skipping the design tournament and going straight to building the Heaven-Sun Radiance Divine Prototype?”

Zhang Yu replied, “Yes. I’ve already started researching the schematics.”

Ye Xingli frowned slightly. “Isn’t that a bit ambitious? Entering the design tournament first could earn you access to military-grade techniques. Once you have those, crafting military-level artifacts would come naturally.”

“Jumping straight to a prototype means much more work.”

In her eyes, even someone as gifted as Zhang Yu couldn’t possibly master all the necessary technologies without the foundation of military-grade techniques. It would take years of painstaking accumulation.

Having those techniques would let him skip countless steps, saving time and effort.

And the design tournament itself was full of hidden shortcuts.

Zhang Yu only smiled. “Don’t worry, Senior Sister. I know what I’m doing.”

Ye Xingli shook her head and dropped the subject.

She herself had once been that confident—until half a month of failure humbled her.

Zhang Yu was the same. He’d learn once he hit the wall.

She turned to Ziyun Zhen and the others. “You all know today’s task, right?”

“Prepare for tomorrow’s experiment—clean and sort all materials.”

Ziyun Zhen asked curiously, “Senior Sister, is Zhang Yu here to assist too?”

Ye Xingli replied calmly, “No. He’s renting a workbench and some equipment. Don’t mind him.”

From then on, Zhang Yu often came to Ye Xingli’s lab to train his artifact refinement techniques.

By the end of May, he successfully completed the sixth and final technique of Primary-Stage Artifact Refinement Prodigy.

Primary-Stage – Artifact Refinement Prodigy (6/6): Doubles the practice efficiency of artifact production skills.

Zhang Yu’s eyes gleamed. “Excellent.”

He knew that “artifact production skills” referred not to techniques like the Divine Fire Mirror that improved refinement ability, but to practical manufacturing crafts—the techniques used to produce specific artifacts according to blueprints.

Things like Azure Sand and Taiyi Liquid Gold Pill fell under that category.

Doubled practice efficiency meant that for every training session on a given blueprint, the Feathered Tome would record two sessions’ worth of progress.

“Wonderful. The University Saint Body only increases cultivation efficiency—but this improves blueprint learning too.”

“With this, crafting a level-20 artifact will take half the time—and only half the materials. That’s effectively saving half the cost!”

“Though with the Supreme Purity Realm, I can simulate blueprint practice without consuming materials anyway.”

“But halving the time—that’s a real gain.”

Looking at the benefits from just the first tier of the Refinement Prodigy, Zhang Yu felt his confidence surge for one day completing the Heaven-Sun Radiance Divine Prototype.

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