Chapter 204: Zhang Yu Discusses Strategy, Orthodox God Secrets (Thanks to 'rap Yanchang')

Chapter 204: Zhang Yu’s Counsel, the Mysteries of Zheng Shen (Thanks to ‘Rap Concert Chief Sign Language Interpreter’ for the Patronage)

Shortly after the second round of the Foundation Establishment exam.

On the 1.5th layer of the Immortal Capital.

Ye Lingxiao stood before the floor-to-ceiling glass window of the high-rise, gazing at the Central Cloud Sea Park ahead, and spoke into the phone: “Yes, that Dao-Release Slow-Release Capsule is quite intriguing.”

“I can’t disclose the specifics, but if there’s a chance… I think we could try to have the lab analyze it. I’d be willing to participate in the relevant research…”

After discussing with the elder of his family on the other end for over ten minutes, Ye Lingxiao suddenly brought up another matter.

“Uncle, there’s something else I’d like you to look into.”

“In other cities on the first layer of Kunxu, have any companies developed technology related to drug metabolism?”

“Characteristics?” Ye Lingxiao recalled Zhang Yu’s performance in the Foundation Establishment exam, and without revealing any exam-related information, he carefully said: “In short, something that can greatly enhance the user’s drug metabolism ability.”

“I appreciate your help.”

…

On the train.

Yu Xinghan was sending a message to Li Xuelian: Senior Sister.

Li Xuelian: Purpose, time, how much?

Yu Xinghan looked at the funding application form she sent back, feeling his fists clench again, and thought to himself: “When I get back to Red Tower, I’ll teach you a lesson.”

He typed back: I want to take more supplementary lessons from Zhang Yu. I feel I can learn a great deal from him.

Li Xuelian: Zhang Yu? Isn’t his grades dropping badly? If you get too close to him, won’t he harm you?

Yu Xinghan frowned, momentarily at a loss.

He couldn’t mention the content of the Foundation Establishment exam. How could he convince Li Xuelian?

He couldn’t exactly say that he and Zhang Yu had sold seeds together, that they knew each other inside out, and that Yu wouldn’t harm him.

But just as Yu Xinghan hesitated, Li Xuelian unexpectedly replied with understanding: Alright, if you want to take lessons from him, go ahead.

Yu Xinghan’s eyes flickered, and he thought: “Could Senior Sister have guessed? Also, this is exactly the time I took the Foundation Establishment exam. Suddenly making such a request must have tipped her off that it’s related to the exam.”

Yu Xinghan knew that such a process—where someone inadvertently or unintentionally guesses exam information—was something even the True Gods couldn’t detect.

That’s why intimidation was necessary before and after signing the contract.

It could be said that what truly kept the examinees safe wasn’t the contract, but the True Gods’ might and the Heavenly Court’s resolve.

“Senior Sister is truly sharp.”

Yu Xinghan quickly replied: Zhang Yu raised his price to 50,000. 50,000 an hour.

Li Xuelian: So expensive? Wasn’t it just 15,000 before?

Yu Xinghan: How can that compare to now?

After a long pause, Li Xuelian replied: Have him add me. I’ll talk to him myself.

Yu Xinghan cursed inwardly: “Did I quote too high?”

After thinking, he quickly replied: After much persuasion, he agreed to lower it to 30,000 an hour for my sake.

Seeing that Li Xuelian finally relented and began discussing lesson times with him, Yu Xinghan breathed a slight sigh of relief.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were also sitting on the return train.

Bai Zhenzhen sighed: “The gap between me and the top Immortal Capital elites is still considerable.”

Recalling Yun Jing’s performance on the arena, Bai Zhenzhen unconsciously clenched her fists.

At first, she thought he was just mindlessly overpowering with force, possessing a kind of beauty in crushing people with money.

But after a more detailed analysis, Bai Zhenzhen realized it might not be that simple.

“He was targeting me.”

“After discovering I excel at high-speed close combat, he used large-scale strength-based techniques to forcibly push me off the arena.”

“This was using the arena environment, leveraging space and strength to completely suppress my high-speed tactics, leaving me unable to leverage any advantage, forcing me to compete with him in raw power.”

“This guy isn’t just strong and rich; he also fights by exploiting his opponent’s weaknesses.”

Thinking this, Bai Zhenzhen’s expression grew more solemn: “To beat that guy in three months, I not only need to keep improving my physical stats but also learn a few more powerful techniques for deduction.”

She sighed: “After all the calculations, it feels like I’ll need to spend at least a few million more.”

Zhang Yu nodded in agreement, comparing himself to Ye Lingxiao, and thought: “In the remaining three months, I need to push my Dao heart, mana, and physical strength all to the limits of Qi Refinement.”

“I also need to continue learning techniques.”

“It would be best to assemble another Chain Diagram, one even more powerful than the High School Saint Body.” Zhang Yu knew that the Chain Diagram from the Feather Book could only incorporate ten techniques, and a set required six techniques to activate, with ten achieving the ultimate effect. This meant that within the same period, the Chain Diagram could only activate one set.

So unless it was a set stronger than the High School Saint Body, it would be meaningless for Zhang Yu.

“Among the sets I can currently see, the Heavenly Martial War Heart, Great Saint Heir, Martial Dao Sacred Fetus, and Dragon Bloodline all seem potentially stronger than the High School Saint Body.”

“But I haven’t yet found all ten techniques for the Heavenly Martial War Heart or the Great Saint Heir.”

“So the only ones I can complete are the Martial Dao Sacred Fetus or the Dragon Bloodline.”

And thinking of the techniques required for these two sets, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

He didn’t worry about being unable to learn them; with the triple cultivation efficiency of the High School Saint Body, the next three months could be stretched into nine months of training.

Zhang Yu’s worry was the same as Bai Zhenzhen’s… money.

“In the next three months, I’ll need at least a few million to have a chance of beating Ye Lingxiao, maybe even tens of millions to be safe.”

A few million or tens of millions in cultivation expenses meant nothing to the truly wealthy, like Ye Lingxiao or Yun Jing, and might even be considered frugal.

But for poor people like Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, it was a colossal sum they had never dared to imagine before.

As if hearing their sighs, the awakened Fuji spoke in their minds: “Ordinary work won’t cover your cultivation costs.”

“You’ve also borrowed and loaned about as much as you can.”

“The only path left for you now is to continue delving into the dark supplementary education world.”

“Fortunately, your strength has grown rapidly these days, and with my guidance, even getting involved in gang conflicts won’t be too dangerous.”

To avoid eavesdroppers on the train, Bai Zhenzhen typed back: “But I’m worried that when we return, the Zhou family will continue to send people to follow us.”

“If we’re still under surveillance, we won’t be able to do anything in the supplementary education world.”

She recalled the time she went to find Zhou Chechen and encountered Zhou Hao, who had driven her back.

According to him, Zhou Hao was a graduate of the 72nd Lower School, a solid Qi Refinement peak.

And from Bai Zhenzhen’s several covert tests while delivering food, the people following and monitoring her were also strong, likely on par with Zhou Hao.

Bai Zhenzhen: “These people are not weak and have various tracking methods. Shaking them off won’t be easy, and it will only alert them.”

Zhang Yu typed back: “So we don’t just need to shake them off; we need to find a way to deal with them completely, at least to make the Zhou family temporarily give up their 24-hour surveillance on us.”

Bai Zhenzhen: “Do you have a plan?”

Zhang Yu looked at his newly added friend, the sixth-rank Wandering Spirit of the Four Directions, Deng Bingding.

Zhang Yu realized that the key to breaking this deadlock might lie with this righteous deity.

The Zhou family would never know he had befriended such a deity, so how to exploit this information gap was crucial.

But he was still unclear about many intricacies of righteous deities; fortunately, he had Fuji, a seasoned evil deity, right before him.

So Zhang Yu immediately told them about adding a righteous deity as a friend, planning to discuss with Fuji and Bai Zhenzhen how to deal with the Zhou family’s tracking.

Upon hearing this, Fuji laughed heartily and said, “Oh? A sixth-rank Wandering Spirit of the Four Directions?”

“That is indeed worth careful planning.”

“If we can make good use of this deity’s power, it will be enough to make the Zhou family suffer a great loss, leaving them no time to deal with you two.”

Bai Zhenzhen said, “But righteous deities aren’t easy to use, are they? Are you planning to use this exam matter? But from the Zhou family’s last reaction, they know the depths involved and won’t fall for it easily.”

Although Bai Zhenzhen didn’t mention the Foundation Establishment exam, Fuji and Zhang Yu naturally understood her meaning.

And from the fact that the Zhou family didn’t send anyone to track them when they left the city last time, it was clear the other side knew about the Foundation Establishment exam intelligence and, being wary, wouldn’t be easily tricked.

Fuji chuckled softly and continued to transmit her voice into their minds: “So there’s no need to lure the Zhou family into investigating the Foundation Establishment exam; we just need to give this sixth-rank Wandering Spirit an opportunity to intervene in this matter.”

“Do you know why all the deities of Kunxu are so greedy for money?”

Zhang Yu had long been curious about this and immediately asked, “Why?”

Fuji said, “Naturally, because if the Eightfold Righteous Deities want to raise their rank, increase their divine power, or advance their talismans, they also need money.”

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were both astonished; they never expected that even deities needed to spend money to advance—wasn’t that just like mortals using talismans?

Fuji continued, “Making money, or rather, reclaiming wealth from all levels of Kunxu, is a major mission for all righteous deities.”

Fuji sighed, “From this perspective, the Ten Great Sects are indeed far-sighted; they aren’t just forcing you all to climb upward one by one.”

A thoughtful look appeared in Zhang Yu’s eyes, while Bai Zhenzhen frowned and asked, “What exactly do you mean?”

Fuji said with emotion, “Back then, after the Ten Great Sects unified the thirty-six layers of Kunxu and wiped out all dissent, they found Kunxu difficult to manage, so they created the Eightfold Righteous Deities, shaping a group of deities to govern the world for them…”

Thanks to ‘Zhuo Guang Ren’ for the gift to Le Mulan—Zhang Yu

Thanks to ‘nixwxypm’ for the ten-thousand reward

(The chapter ends)