Chapter 553: Ye Xingli's Dao Seed

Chapter 553: The Dao Seed of Ye Xingli

Inside the laboratory, the Heavenly Sun Radiant God erupted with golden flames, which swirled around its form like radiant clouds, allowing the puppet to hover in mid-air.

"Yunzhen, record the following tests."

Hearing Zhang Yu’s command, Zi Yunzhen nodded repeatedly.

The next moment, the Heavenly Sun Radiant God contracted, shrinking to a third of its original size in the blink of an eye, before expanding violently once more.

As she filmed, Zi Yunzhen wrote down her observations: This is the Heavenly Sun Radiant God’s ability of Ruyi Transformation; it can currently shrink to one-third of its base size and expand to three times its original volume.

Immediately after, Zhang Yu struck the puppet with several bursts of gangqi.

Amidst a crackling explosion, visible ripples burst across the surface of the Heavenly Sun Radiant God, dispersing the incoming energy.

Zi Yunzhen continued to record: Shadowless Sonic Thunder, utilizing directional sonic pulses to form a defensive barrier against kinetic attacks.

The puppet then shrank again, while several streams of True Fire erupted from the adjacent workbench.

The Heavenly Sun Radiant God flickered and leaped through the flames at high speed.

Zi Yunzhen noted: Fire Evasion Transformation; the Heavenly Sun Radiant God can convert parts of its body into True Fire, utilizing the flames for high-speed displacement.

A moment later, Zi Yunzhen stood beside Zhang Yu, assisting him in testing the efficiency of his control over the puppet and the exchange of information between them.

Watching the lines of data scrolling across his ocular implant, Zi Yunzhen mused: "This 'Heavenly Sun Empathy' ability exchanges massive amounts of data every second, transmitting all sensory input from the puppet to the human body. The efficiency of this information transfer is comparable to dual cultivation—it’s as if he is in a state of constant, connected dual cultivation..."

Meanwhile, under the influence of the Heavenly Sun Empathy, Zhang Yu felt as if he had gained an extra body.

The sensation was miraculous; the Heavenly Sun Radiant God and his original flesh were like a left hand and a right hand. Zhang Yu could control both simultaneously, feeling the visual, auditory, and tactile sensations transmitted from both sides at once.

After completing the tests, Zi Yunzhen said with excitement: "Boss, every basic attribute and function has reached the limit of Level 11, hitting the Foundation Establishment level."

"Should we submit the report?"

Zhang Yu shook his head and said: "No rush. Let’s spend another half-month to further improve its level."

Although Level 11 met the minimum requirement for a military certification, Zhang Yu did not want to risk passing by the skin of his teeth. What if he failed? Wait another year?

That was a failure Zhang Yu could not accept.

He intended to spend another half-month refining the level to ensure a higher success rate for the military certification review.

And so, in the days that followed, Zhang Yu continued to refine the Heavenly Sun Radiant God, improving its performance and adding new functions step by step.

...

On this day in the laboratory, Zhang Yu, who was undergoing simulated training in the Taiqing Realm, was also browsing various news from the Spirit World.

When he saw several videos posted in the hometown group, a look of curiosity appeared on his face.

Lan Ling of Shanhe University: [Video]

Lan Ling: It’s a pity I’m broke, otherwise I’d definitely support Ye Xingli.

Lian Tianji of Hehuan University: These influencers are all scammers. Even if you pay, you can’t really get close to them. With that money, you’d be better off giving it to our Hehuan University influencers; they can actually drop in for dual cultivation.

Lan Ling: You don’t understand. Ye Xingli is especially kind to her fans; she doesn’t even discriminate against those junior college students.

Mo Tianyi of Fengdu University: That’s right, that’s right. Even if a fan is very poor, she never looks down on them.

Chu Qiuhe of Jingang University: She is truly very different from other influencers.

Glancing through the messages, Zhang Yu realized that many students in the hometown group were actually fans of Ye Xingli.

He opened the video link posted by Lan Ling and discovered it was a clip of one of Ye Xingli’s livestreams.

In it, Ye Xingli’s long, starlit legs were perched atop a flying sword.

At the same time, countless other flying swords circled around her, all vying to crowd beneath her feet.

"Is she selling flying swords?"

After watching for a while, Zhang Yu realized this wasn't just ordinary product promotion.

Because as long as the audience paid, they could connect their consciousness to the flying swords on site, manipulating them like sword spirits and testing the various performance capabilities of the blades in the process.

For instance, being stepped on by Ye Xingli allowed them to experience the product’s capabilities in sword-flight.

Watching the scene beneath Ye Xingli’s feet, reminiscent of the "Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Ancestor," Zhang Yu couldn't help but sigh at how profitable being an influencer was.

The content of the video also reminded Zhang Yu of the school’s training for Ye Xingli during this period.

For such a prodigy—ranked 3rd in the Artifact Refining Department, 10th in the entire school, and set to participate in the Top Ten Leagues—how should she be cultivated?

Bring her into an advanced laboratory to accumulate refining experience? Hone her technique?

Have master teachers guide her to improve her capabilities in all aspects?

Join a company to be tempered and refined under extreme pressure and life-or-death situations?

Students at ordinary schools might think so.

But Zhang Yu knew they were all wrong.

Only ordinary universities would focus on teaching students how to improve their skills, limiting their vision to mere professional techniques. But top-tier universities like Wanfa University, when it came to cultivating prodigy students, would spare no effort in guiding their ability to earn money. With the goal of significantly increasing the students' income and assets, they provided the broadest possible space for development.

Regarding Ye Xingli’s situation, especially her status as an Artifact Refining major and an influencer, the school continuously funneled traffic and investment toward her, requiring her to livestream for more than eight hours a day in addition to filming videos.

In just over a month, Ye Xingli’s follower count had skyrocketed from 3 million to over 6 million. Her strength, financial resources, and potential in the Immortal Dao were all surging, making Zhang Yu incredibly envious.

"As expected of Wanfa University; they’ve truly mastered the art of 'teaching according to wealth.' Isn't the most superior education in Kunxu supposed to include teaching how to make money?"

"If I could also join the school team and become a key focus of the school’s cultivation, I wonder how they would train me?"

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "Give me more construction projects? Probably not, since I’ve already transferred to Artifact Refining."

"Would they grant me more outsourced refining projects?"

"Or perhaps... because of my reputation as a dual cultivation genius, make me engage in frantic dual cultivation?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu couldn't help but worry: "How would I refuse that when the time comes? I wonder what kind of trials I would face?"

While Zhang Yu was buried in his laboratory refining the prototype, the research of Magnetic Pole True Monarch and several other Nascent Soul True Monarchs was also full of turmoil.

Feng Tingting: The experimental competition this time is quite intense. I don't know when three students from North Sea True Monarch’s project team got infected with dual cultivation, but they actually joined the Dual Cultivation Sect.

Feng Tingting: One of Yuan Mo True Monarch’s papers was proven to be fraudulent; he’s now mired in lawsuits and has voluntarily withdrawn from the project.

Feng Tingting: Jin Deng True Monarch was reported for tax issues and is currently under investigation; no one knows when he’ll be able to work normally again.

Feng Tingting: Dong Ming True Monarch got caught up in a counterfeit goods scandal; his social media accounts have been silent for half a month. Out of the five Nascent Soul True Monarchs, only Xian Yin True Monarch is left to compete with Magnetic Pole True Monarch.

Zhang Yu: How are you so well-informed about the news in the Artifact Refining Department now?

Feng Tingting: Don’t underestimate my connections in the Artifact Refining Department [smug]. Besides, now that the Civil Engineering Department is experiencing a revival, studying civil engineering is no worse than the Artifact Refining Department.

Zhang Yu thought to himself that it seemed after the great rise of civil engineering, Feng Tingting had money again, and thus her connections in the Artifact Refining Department had recovered significantly.

Regardless, Magnetic Pole True Monarch squeezing out four opponents in a row was a good thing for Zhang Yu; at the very least, it reduced his related workload, allowing him to focus more on the Heavenly Sun Radiant God prototype project.

...

In the blink of an eye, another week passed.

On this day, Zhang Yu was busy integrating the Nine-Luminary Thunder Shuttle function into his prototype, watching as arcs of lightning coiled around the machine, occasionally snapping and intertwining in brilliant flashes of electric light.

Just then, Ye Xingli stepped into the laboratory, offered a brief greeting to Zhang Yu, and immediately set to work on the design and verification of a new magical artifact.

Zhang Yu paid little mind at first, figuring that spending time in her company would only facilitate his eventual replication of her Dao Seed.

A few days later, the requirements for copying Ye Xingli’s Dao Seed were finally met.

"From last year until now, has it finally come to pass?"

Zhang Yu mused to himself, "The requirement for the Spiritual Rhyme Artifact Heart is to complete the design of a forging project alongside the target."

He glanced at the (Dao Heart) tag following the entry for the Spiritual Rhyme Artifact Heart, thinking, "Senior Sister’s Spiritual Rhyme Artifact Heart, much like Master’s 'Tiangong Kaiwu,' falls under the category of a Dao Heart; surely, both must provide a significant boon to the art of forging."

Had he not already possessed the Tiangong Kaiwu, Zhang Yu would have painstakingly sought a way to collaborate with Ye Xingli on a design.

But with the Tiangong Kaiwu at his disposal, he merely tapped into the power of the Dao Seed, and felt his mind accelerate with frantic intensity, accompanied by a deluge of information converging, assembling, and manifesting within his consciousness.

"I shall design a magical artifact suited for Ye Xingli."

As if by instinct, a series of intricate design blueprints began to materialize in his mind’s eye.

Simultaneously, his Dao Heart, strained by the violent operation of the Tiangong Kaiwu, regressed to Level 19 (84%).

Staring at the stockings depicted on the blueprints, Zhang Yu thought, "Wait... why on earth are these stockings?"

"It must be because I share the Tiangong Kaiwu with the Magnetism Monarch; Master’s decades of profound accumulation have seeped into this, coloring the results of my design."

Reflecting on this, Zhang Yu nodded to himself, "After all, his depth of knowledge far outweighs my own; it is surely the decisive factor in steering the direction of the design."

Suddenly, it occurred to him that beyond the immortal knowledge he had acquired in Kunxu, his mind was also filled with a wealth of information from Earth.

Zhang Yu pondered, "The knowledge and data Master possesses are far more vast than mine; we are not even on the same order of magnitude."

"The knowledge of Earth bleeding into the Tiangong Kaiwu... it shouldn't have too much of an impact."

"It shouldn't... right?"

He then reasoned, "That’s right... the design goal I set was an artifact suitable for Senior Sister Ye Xingli. Master’s understanding of her must surely surpass my own; these stockings must still be Master’s influence."

"It couldn't possibly be that my own meager scraps of knowledge have corrupted the Tiangong Kaiwu, could it?"

Shaking his head, Zhang Yu walked toward Ye Xingli, intending to discuss the blueprints with her.

——

P.S. The Myriad Dharma Flying Sword (the same model stepped upon by Senior Sister) has been forged; I will post the image tonight.

(End of chapter)