Chapter 450: Seven Absolutes Opportunity, Wave of Anti-Intellectualism

Chapter 450: The Seven Absolutes Opportunity, The Anti-Intellectual Wave

Level 669.

In a corner of the construction site.

Shi Yunxiang called out to the white-haired Che Yufei, asking in confusion, "Old Che, why have you aged so much again?"

"And lately on the site, why do I feel like you've been avoiding me and Zhang Yu and the others?"

Che Yufei paused, turned to look at Shi Yunxiang, and smiled helplessly: "I just... I don't have the face to see you all."

Through Che Yufei's slow recounting, Shi Yunxiang learned that he had bought Qiongjiang Coins.

Shi Yunxiang couldn't help but scold: "Didn't I tell you to sell? Didn't you promise you would?"

Che Yufei sighed: "But I watched the price keep rising... and rising..."

"I had just earned a sum from selling my spot on the competition team, and in the end, I couldn't resist pouring it in."

"I only intended to pull out after three days of gains..."

Shi Yunxiang asked: "Did you use leverage?"

Che Yufei nodded with a bitter expression: "It had been rising for so long, why did it have to crash the moment it was my turn?"

"Yunxiang, the path of immortality is truly so difficult."

"I have cultivated bitterly for nearly thirty years. I held on for so long, avoided so many calamities on the immortal path, endured so many temptations, and yet, just once... just that one time I couldn't resist, and all my efforts were wasted."

Listening to Che Yufei, Shi Yunxiang opened his mouth, but found nothing to say.

He recalled his own journey, sleepless and frugal, dedicating everything to the path of immortality.

Why must such a person, for failing to resist temptation just once, see their immortal path shattered, with no chance to climb higher ever again?

Che Yufei patted Shi Yunxiang on the shoulder and said: "Yunxiang, do not be like me."

"On this path of immortality, either hold on until the very end, until the moment your soul dissipates, or simply do not walk this path at all. Do not be like me, unable to withstand temptation and ending up a quitter halfway."

The next moment, a divine light descended abruptly.

Watching the light fall, Che Yufei sighed: "The True God has come to collect me."

Watching Che Yufei vanish into the divine light, Shi Yunxiang remained silent for a long time, finally letting out a sigh.

Not long after, the others in the competition group learned the news of Che Yufei and attended his memorial service in the Spirit Realm.

...

Shi Huaiyu looked at the price trend of Qiongjiang Coins and sighed helplessly.

"Sigh, all the money I earned has been lost again."

"At least I didn't use leverage."

Shi Huaiyu intended to continue investing, but she no longer looked at Qiongjiang Coins, instead turning her gaze to other currencies, especially those issued by the three Transformation Gods of Wanfa University.

"I must speculate on more stable coins."

Suddenly, she scanned the news about Che Yufei on her skull-interface, stunned for a moment, then shook her head helplessly: "Indeed, one must not play with leverage."

"If I hadn't lost so miserably before, I might have used leverage this time and ended up just like Old Che."

...

Su Yanyang watched the people in the competition group discussing Che Yufei, but he did not join in; after all, he was not familiar with Che Yufei, and his heart remained entirely unmoved.

However, after glancing at the content and thinking of the Qiongjiang Coin affair, Su Yanyang suddenly felt a sense of relief.

He had previously listened to Zhang Yu and cashed out early, earning a bit of money, but later, seeing the coins continue to rise, he couldn't help but invest a little more.

He had been secretly annoyed at his losses, but seeing Che Yufei's fate, he suddenly felt fortunate that his own situation was relatively better.

...

Watching the news of Che Yufei turning into a soul cultivator after bankruptcy, Gongshu Jin thought to himself: "Sigh, it's a good thing I spent almost all my money to buy a spot for the Seven Absolutes."

Ying Xin sighed softly: "It's a good thing my father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all stopped me from investing."

At the same time, others who hadn't made money from Qiongjiang Coins were in a good mood.

"It's a good thing I'm too poor to speculate on coins," Li Xiao laughed, thinking: "Now there are fewer opponents for the exam, and my class ranking has jumped up by two spots."

...

In the days that followed, Zhang Yu studied and cultivated every day, training from time to time with Mo Shangjin's team members in preparation for the inter-university league starting next month.

In the blink of an eye, it was already the beginning of December.

On this day, Zhang Yu was using the 30 spirit coins he had reimbursed, placing a refining order for himself to craft a new Taiyi Golden Liquid Pill.

Just then, he suddenly received a message from Zhang Pianpian.

Zhang Pianpian: Mo Shangjin from your department, and another one of his teammates, were both seriously injured in the wilderness.

Zhang Yu was shocked: Didn't Mo Shangjin go to the wilderness site to start a project? He possesses military-grade martial arts, how could he be seriously injured?

Zhang Pianpian: A conflict broke out at the site, Golden Core cultivators participated, and Mo Shangjin was caught in the crossfire.

Zhang Pianpian: There are shadows of other universities involved; Mo Shangjin might have been caught in some retaliatory actions.

Zhang Yu's gaze tightened: Retaliation?

Zhang Pianpian did not answer Zhang Yu's question, only saying: In any case, you will certainly become a main member of the Civil Engineering representative team.

Zhang Pianpian: Be careful.

Zhang Pianpian: But this is also an opportunity.

Several days later, Zhang Yu indeed heard more news about Mo Shangjin's injury.

It was said that he and the other teammate were severely wounded and would not recover for two or three months.

Suddenly, because two people were hit by the Qiongjiang Coin crash and two were seriously injured, the Civil Engineering department's original representative team was left with only Zhang Yu and one other official member.

... In the Spirit Realm.

True Monarch Qiyun looked at Director Gao, Director Lin, and the Old Director before him, saying indifferently: "Mo Shangjin cannot recover in the short term; what shall we do now?"

Looking at the three silent men, True Monarch Qiyun snorted coldly: "No one speaking? Then I shall appoint the members."

"Besides Zhang Yu, let Xiao Yuji and Su Yanyang, who are taking the military certification exam this time, join the team as well. You all can scrape together the rest."

"Don't talk to me about this faction or that faction this time."

"If you can't gather enough people and end up being eliminated by the Thirty-Six Colonels' Civil Engineering team, you might be able to afford the shame, but I won't be able to hold my head up before the three Divine Monarchs."

The Old Director smiled faintly: "As long as Old Gao agrees; I'm just afraid he doesn't want our students to take the spots for extra credit."

Director Gao snorted coldly and said: "Principal, now that Mo Shangjin is seriously injured, and Zhang Yu has yet to master the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power, I fear he will be unable to hold the fort alone."

"I think we should speed up the process and let Zhang Yu cultivate the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power sooner."

Director Lin raised an eyebrow and said: "The Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power is a major matter; each of the Seven Absolutes of Civil Engineering must follow the established process."

Director Gao waved his hand in annoyance toward Director Lin: "Is this the time for such things? For the honor of the school, for the honor of the Civil Engineering department, shouldn't we take extraordinary measures in extraordinary times?"

Director Lin said: "Zhang Yu is only a junior, and he has already mastered five of the Seven Absolutes."

"I hear you have already arranged the sixth absolute art for him, Director Gao?"

"Heh, if we include the seventh, conferring four absolute arts within half a year might invite some gossip."

"People might start thinking the Civil Engineering Department belongs to the Zhang family."

Director Gao barked, "Director Lin! My conscience is clear regarding the Civil Engineering Department. It is you who keeps stalling—are you so eager to see our team eliminated? Does your heart still belong to Civil Engineering, or has it already flown off to the Finance Department?"

Director Lin retorted angrily, "Gao Chongguang! Do not change the subject! What does this have to do with Finance? It was your disciple who stirred up trouble outside and was severely wounded; you bear full responsibility for this."

The old director stood to the side, listening to their bickering without a movement, his consciousness seemingly drifting into the depths of the spirit realm to attend to matters elsewhere.

The very next moment, a silence talisman flared, and the two men who had just been speaking were rendered mute.

Director Gao and Director Lin stopped in unison, turning their gaze toward True Monarch Qiyun.

True Monarch Qiyun, having retracted the talisman, said calmly, "Conferring four absolute arts in such a short time does indeed deviate from protocol."

"As it happens, the Civil Engineering League is being restructured this time; it begins in December and will last several months, will it not?"

"Old Lin, make the arrangements. Have Zhang Yu participate in your seven civil engineering trials in January and bestow the seventh absolute art upon him then."

"This way, the four arts will be spread across two years. That should settle it, yes?"

Director Lin opened his mouth, staring at the intense lightning swirling within the cloud-form of True Monarch Qiyun, before finally nodding. "I have no objections."

Director Gao breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that if Zhang Yu mastered the sixth art in December and the seventh in January, he would soon command the Heaven Kunlun power to move mountains.

...

Mid-December.

A flying vessel rose from the Wanfa University City, piercing the vast sky in the blink of an eye as it sped toward the distance.

On board, Zhang Yu was silently practicing the sixth absolute art, Turning Earth to Gold, which he had mastered only days prior.

He did not need to perform it perfectly; even if his attempts were distorted or flawed, they still counted toward the practice tally in the Feather Tome.

Before long, the vessel arrived at its destination—Jinhe University, one of the thirty-six elite institutions and the first opponent for Wanfa University in the inter-school civil engineering league.

Unlike the sprawling campus of Wanfa, Jinhe University resembled a conventional city, with dense skyscrapers forming square blocks that stretched across the plains.

Yet, seeing the vast swaths of demolished teaching buildings below, a look of surprise crossed Zhang Yu's face. "What is going on here?"

Xiao Qingxuan remarked from the side, "The last financial storm reached level three here at Jinhe University."

"I heard many assets and properties were dismantled and sold off."

Zhang Yu asked in astonishment, "A level three financial storm?"

Xiao Qingxuan nodded. "It must be because Jinhe University has a Dual Cultivation Department; the financial storms are always more violent there."

He looked down at the vast, ruined cityscape and sighed, "A level three storm is considered mild. If it reached level eight, even a Spirit Transformation expert would risk falling."

As the vessel descended, Zhang Yu began to see more of the landscape within Jinhe University.

"So many people are missing limbs," Zhang Yu observed.

Just then, the spirit realm projection of Mo Shangjin appeared beside him. "After a level three financial storm, it is quite normal for parts of one's body to be dismantled and sold."

"Look over there!"

Zhang Yu watched a crowd gathered in the distance, seemingly burning something, and asked curiously, "What are they doing now?"

"Smashing spirit tools," Mo Shangjin replied.

Zhang Yu was stunned. "Smashing what?"

"The recent incident with the Qiongjiang currency has sparked an anti-tool wave in many universities with Dual Cultivation departments," Mo Shangjin explained.

"Some students are protesting in the streets, burning and smashing intelligent spirit tools and yang tools."

"Others are taking advantage of the chaos, falsely accusing people of using such tools to force them to remove and surrender them for 'verification,' only to seize them..."

Zhang Yu gasped, "Is no one stopping them?"

Mo Shangjin shook his head. "I suspect there is a soul-cultivation corporation behind this anti-tool movement; the waters run very deep."

Zhang Yu asked again, "If we enter Jinhe University, will we be searched?"

Hearing this, Mo Shangjin burst into laughter. "In this pathetic school... who would dare to search us?"