Chapter 530: God Transformation Conflict, Heaven Collapses and Earth Rends

Chapter 530: Clash of the Deified, Heaven Collapses and Earth Shatters

The Deified disciple, merged with his blade, swept across the firmament, tearing the atmosphere asunder and grinding all of Bai Zhenzhen’s offensives into dust with his own physical form.

Yet, the deeper she sank into adversity, the more resilient Bai Zhenzhen became.

Watching her sword momentum swell, Wen Wuyai mused to herself: "Zhenzhen’s Divine Root is perfectly suited for flying swords; it hides not only her presence but the weapon itself. Against an inferior opponent, she ends the fight in a turn or two."

"But against an equal, the fiercer the battle, the more her fighting spirit ignites. Her Seven Emotions Sword Path blooms perfectly, allowing her to transcend her limits and ultimately claim victory."

"And if she encounters someone stronger..."

Observing the Deified disciple from White Bone University, Wen Wuyai knew they had reached that very threshold.

"When she cannot win, the negative emotions within her accumulate, and the power of her Extreme Emotion Sword Path surges exponentially."

"If she then recalls Zhang Yu, or the promise between them, that power erupts with even greater ferocity."

"The stronger the opponent, the greater Zhenzhen’s elevation in the heat of battle."

Reflecting on this, Wen Wuyai found the tactic—or rather, the Extreme Emotion Sword Path itself—utterly shameless.

It made her prefer fighting anyone but Bai Zhenzhen.

After all, a strong opponent’s strength could be measured, but Bai Zhenzhen’s style made her entirely unpredictable.

Wen Wuyai thought: "If she called a timeout mid-fight just to chat with Zhang Yu, heaven knows how much her combat power would skyrocket."

As she pondered, the situation on the field suddenly inverted; bloody mists erupted from the Deified disciple as Bai Zhenzhen tore through his protective sword aura.

"She won," Wen Wuyai thought. "At this rate, Zhenzhen might actually make the top ten this year."

But just as the outcome was settled and the match declared over, a sudden anomaly occurred.

Streaks of scarlet sword light pierced the Deified disciple’s body, hacking his physical form into oblivion.

Witnessing this, Wen Wuyai froze, whispering to herself: "Zhenzhen was too excited, did she lose control?"

Regardless, Wen Wuyai knew trouble was brewing.

Following the death of his physical body, a dispute over compensation erupted between Heavenly Sword University and White Bone University.

Before long, seven-colored sword lights and White Bone Divine Radiance detonated across the ten-thousand-mile sky.

Wen Wuyai gasped: "Both the Seven Emotions Divine Lord and the White Lotus Divine Lord have arrived?"

She knew the White Lotus Divine Lord was the master of the Deified disciple whose body had just been destroyed.

The clash between the Seven Emotions and White Lotus Divine Lords acted like a fuse.

Days later, Joyous Union University accused Myriad Dharma University of cheating in the Treasure-Fighting Tournament, sparking a conflict between the Myriad Transformation Divine Lord and the Nectar Divine Lord.

As the Top Ten League progressed, one Divine Lord after another emerged, and every brief skirmish they engaged in sent shockwaves through the world.

Over the next month, stock market volatility, currency crashes, hyperinflation, corporate bankruptcies, and waves of unemployment followed one after another.

Only then did countless cultivators realize that a financial crisis—a great calamity—had already unfolded in silence.

...

Outside the arena, within a temporary cave dwelling built by Myriad Dharma University.

Ye Xingli was filming her legs.

She had never been this diligent with her videos before.

But as the Deified clashed, the stock market plummeted in violent tremors, causing her assets to shrink and severely impacting her combat performance in the arena.

She had to film more videos during the gaps in the league to subsidize her cultivation and competition.

Zhang Yu: Senior Sister, how is the situation? Are you alright?

Ye Xingli was about to answer when she remembered she hadn't opened the "Poor Man Simulator," so she tapped it open.

Poor Man Simulator: The user is asking how to respond to Zhang Yu’s question again. Hmm... it seems she is still indulging in the joy of roleplaying a poor person, hoping to further increase his favor.

Poor Man Simulator: Considering the backdrop of the financial crisis, a poor person should respond to his concern with useless worry, mindless comfort, and hollow mutual encouragement, showcasing the incompetence and stupidity of the impoverished.

Poor Man Simulator: Junior Brother, I am fine.

Poor Man Simulator: How are you holding up?

Ye Xingli: I fear this financial crisis won't end quickly; you must be careful.

Ye Xingli: If you have any problems, come find me anytime.

Zhang Yu: Understood, Senior Sister. You take care, too.

Seeing her concern, Zhang Yu felt a flicker of warmth; this Senior Sister seemed more human than the Magnetic Pole Divine Lord.

"It’s a pity that Senior Sister doesn't seem to understand the conflicts between the Deified, and knows even less about what’s happening with Zhenzhen."

"The Deified..."

From the mere ripples of their clashes, Zhang Yu felt a terrifying destructive force. The stock market volatility, the currency collapse, the soaring prices... it seemed far more than just a financial storm.

He felt the impact deeply: first, his company couldn't receive payments or secure new projects.

Then, Wen Wuyai’s 10-spirit-coin monthly fee and his sister Zhang Pianpian’s monthly repayments were both suspended.

Wen Wuyai: Sorry, I don't know if this storm is large or small, long or short. Let’s pause the monthly subscription for now.

Zhang Pianpian: Repayments are suspended. I need the spirit coins to get through this period. You be careful too; don't spend your coins recklessly.

Then, the 30-spirit-coin monthly reimbursement from the Magnetic Pole Divine Lord and Director Gao was also halted.

The cumulative effect left Zhang Yu with only the 40 spirit coins per month from the Deified Laboratory.

"As expected of a project involving Deified remains, it seems largely unaffected."

Zhang Yu felt lucky to have joined the project.

Zhang Yu sighed: "But how long will this financial storm last? Does it have to wait until the Top Ten League ends? That’s two more months!" He couldn't imagine the suffering Myriad Dharma University would endure if this continued for two months.

Fu Ji remarked: "I fear it’s not just a simple financial storm."

"The last financial storm was just the Nectar Divine Lord’s family crashing."

"This time, multiple Deified Divine Lords are involved."

"If their conflict continues to escalate, they will be refining the elements of wind, water, earth, and fire all over again, turning heaven upside down and shattering the earth."

Zhang Yu asked: "Refining the elements?"

Fu Ji said: "When ordinary cultivators fight, they mobilize their mana from their dantian to their limbs, right?"

"When Deified cultivators fight, they mobilize their own power. And what is their power?"

"It is stocks, companies, the countless assets and personnel under their command, and the infinite spirit coins in your accounts."

"Not to mention that every clash between the Deified shakes the public’s confidence in investment."

"Like now, the simultaneous crash of stocks and currency has triggered a financial storm, causing countless people to be liquidated or go bankrupt, turning men into ghosts. This financial storm is the disaster of wind."

...

On the streets, beams of divine light descended from time to time, dissolving the bodies of bankrupt debtors and dragging their souls into the depths of the Spirit Realm.

On the spirit-realm network, reports chimed incessantly: [Storm Warning] Emergency! A financial tempest triggered by the clash of the Ten Great Leagues’ Deified-Soul masters is expected to reach magnitude 1.8; small-scale debt collection events are anticipated in your sector. Please avoid crowds, limit travel, and safeguard your account assets. Exercise caution with post-disaster investments and ignore rumors. — University of Ten Thousand Dharmas

……

Fu Ji sighed, continuing: "The flood is the wave of unemployment. As the Deified-Soul masters mobilize power for their confrontation, vast resources are siphoned toward them, causing projects to stall and corporate cash flows to seize, which in turn triggers mass layoffs."

"Once unemployment rates soar and the tide of joblessness surges, poverty will deepen, forcing countless cultivators to fall from the path of immortality as their cultivation bases plummet."

……

At the construction site on the 670th level, the latest project.

A multitude of high-cultivation graduates swarmed in, scrambling for work.

Watching the scene, Xiao Qingxuan was bewildered: "Why are so many people fighting for temporary labor jobs here?"

Xiao Qingxuan even spotted several seniors who had graduated years ago and established their own engineering teams, now competing for menial, temporary tasks.

Seeing the wages falling lower and lower, Xiao Qingxuan could not help but feel the urge to quit.

Yet, thinking of his own post-graduation unemployment, he gritted his teeth, submitting resumes while waiting outside the site, desperate for any work at all.

"Our class is cursed; this is truly the most difficult graduation season."

……

Fu Ji lamented to Zhang Yu: "Next is the earth disaster. The power of spirit veins will be extracted by the Deified-Soul masters, leaving many civil projects abandoned and arrays lacking maintenance. This leads to a failure in spirit-energy supply, causing rents in stable zones to skyrocket and a market-wide mana famine."

……

Ji Yuanshu walked out of his dormitory with a bag on his back.

Because the rent had spiked overnight, he had been forced to vacate.

Feeling the spirit energy in the air growing ever thinner, Ji Yuanshu headed toward the underground.

He planned to use a cemetery tour as a pretext to siphon the spirit energy from the Huilong Garden’s veins.

On the way, he met Li Xiao, and the two traveled together to the gates of Huilong Garden, only to find a line already stretching out of sight.

……

Fu Ji sighed: "Finally, there is the fire."

"As bankruptcy, poverty, and mana famine spread, social order crumbles, requiring the deployment of the True Gods to maintain control."

"Beyond that, the True Gods must handle an increasing mountain of debt, which will cause the basic services of the divine-power network to be throttled."

"Crime rates will skyrocket, and violent clashes and conflicts will multiply."

"The Dark Realm, the Dark Mana Sect, the Dual-Cultivation Sect, the Ascension Sect, the Unemployed Sect... all will emerge desperately, spreading like wildfire, setting the entire world ablaze."

Listening to Fu Ji, Zhang Yu could almost see the four disasters of wind, water, earth, and fire erupting in unison, feeding off one another and throwing the world into utter chaos.

"This..." Zhang Yu thought, "it couldn't be that bad, could it?"

Fu Ji replied: "If the Deified-Soul masters remain indifferent, the situation will only worsen."

"Of course, it is unlikely they will remain indifferent."

"The trajectory of this world is ultimately determined by the collective will of the high-level powerhouses; they cannot risk bankruptcy by clashing indefinitely."

"Therefore, what we must do is hide well, observe all of this quietly, and pray only to survive this calamity unscathed."

"Fortunately, you have little debt and a monthly income of 40 spirit coins; you should have no trouble weathering this storm."

"In short, hold onto your spirit coins, and for heaven's sake, do nothing unnecessary."