A moment later, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen each entered a cubicle in the men’s and women’s restrooms respectively. They then opened their phones and clicked the confirmation button on the webpage.

The webpage screen flashed, revealing a registration form for the Kunxu First Layer High School Foundation Establishment Exam.

Zhang Yu quietly filled in his information and then clicked ‘Login’.

“Login fee: 1000 yuan. Please confirm.”

Zhang Yu cursed under his breath but still clicked ‘Confirm’.

As 1000 yuan was directly deducted from his bank account, divine power rippled through the air.

The next moment, Zhang Yu felt the ground give way beneath his feet. A large hole appeared in the restroom floor, causing him to fall.

Holy shit!

After Zhang Yu’s figure completely vanished, the floor returned to normal, leaving no trace of his recent presence.

Zhang Yu felt as if his body was traversing through countless indescribable things.

When he regained his senses, he found himself standing in an office. A middle-aged woman was looking at him calmly, saying, “Here to register for the Foundation Establishment Exam?”

Zhang Yu sensed a faint trace of divine power emanating from her. He wondered, “Is she human? Or a god?”

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, the woman handed him a contract and said, “The registration fee is thirty thousand yuan. These are also the rules you must follow for the Foundation Establishment Exam.”

“Once you pay the registration fee and sign this agreement under the witness of the Heavenly Covenant Deed God, you cannot violate any of the exam rules. Otherwise, you will be barred from taking the Foundation Establishment Exam for the rest of your life.”

The middle-aged woman added, “And once you sign the contract, outsiders will not be able to find out that you participated in this exam.”

“Also, if you withdraw halfway, the registration fee will not be refunded.”

The thought of a thirty-thousand yuan registration fee made Zhang Yu’s heart ache.

Adding the train ticket and the recent login fee, his balance was now just over ten thousand yuan.

“I wonder if Zhenzhen has enough money. If not, she’ll have to take out a loan to register,” he sighed inwardly, then lowered his head to meticulously read the contract.

The contract contained many stipulations, such as not disclosing any specific exam content, any information about the participants, or recording/photographing the exam venue.

In addition, there was a warning in the contract that the middle-aged woman had emphasized.

“The Foundation Establishment Exam is highly valued by the Heavenly Court. It is organized by the Ten Great Sects to select talented individuals capable of achieving Foundation Establishment.”

“Don’t think about trying any dishonest tricks or external maneuvers.”

“Once discovered by the Eight Divisions of Righteous Gods, both candidates and related personnel will face severe penalties. Minor offenses may lead to bankruptcy, while serious ones could result in their path to immortality being severed and all immortal potential stripped away…”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly, understanding this was a warning to candidates against cheating or attempting to eliminate competitors through external means.

After thoroughly reviewing all the rules and clarifying a few points of confusion, Zhang Yu signed the contract under the witness of the Heavenly Covenant Deed God, then reluctantly paid the thirty-thousand yuan registration fee.

After confirming the contract was in order, the middle-aged woman continued, “Alright, registration is complete. Next is the enrollment test.”

“We need to test your fundamentals to filter out some weaker candidates, so as not to waste exam resources.”

With that, she pasted a candidate number, ’55’, onto Zhang Yu.

As Zhang Yu listened, his heart sank. He had never heard from Zhang Pianpian that there would be a test as part of the registration process.

Zhang Yu asked, “Isn’t today just for registration?”

The middle-aged woman replied casually, “The Foundation Establishment Exam was reformed this year. This is new content.”

Zhang Yu complained, “Didn’t they say the first round of exams wouldn’t start until August?”

“There are still two months. I have a lot of room for growth; my true strength can’t be measured now.”

The middle-aged woman said impatiently, “Are you going or not? If not, I’ll send you away now, but the registration fee won’t be refunded.”

Zhang Yu sighed helplessly, “Where do I go for the test?”

The middle-aged woman pointed to the door behind Zhang Yu and said, “The testing location is through that door.”

Zhang Yu opened the door and walked out. When he turned around, he found that the door he had just opened was gone, replaced by a pure white wall.

He walked along the corridor and soon arrived at a large hall.

At the far end of the hall stood a metal door, with a group of people gathered in front of it, seemingly observing something.

Zhang Yu approached a little closer and quickly spotted an acquaintance playing on his phone.

Yu Xinghan was replying to Li Xuelian’s message on his phone: “Transfer me 100,000.”

Li Xuelian: “Are you sure about 100,000?”

Yu Xinghan: “I can’t disclose how the exact funds are used, you understand, but it requires 100,000 to proceed.”

Li Xuelian: “I understand, there’s a confidentiality agreement, right?”

Looking at the 100,000 yuan transferred by Li Xuelian, Yu Xinghan couldn’t help but smile. “The Foundation Establishment Exam is truly great,” he thought.

He mused, “Besides the path of saving money, to go further on the path of immortality, the most important thing is the path of earning money. Without it, one won’t get far.”

Yu Xinghan suddenly thought of Zhang Yu. “It’s a pity, Zhang Yu. Although I taught you the path of saving money, I can’t teach you the path of earning money.”

“After all, you don’t have a Gold Core master like mine.”

“If anyone’s to blame, it’s my master for being too poor to support both of us. He can only choose the stronger one to cultivate, I suppose…”

Just then, Yu Xinghan glanced at the familiar face that suddenly appeared before him and was slightly stunned.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, exclaiming in surprise, “Zhang Yu? What are you doing here?”

Zhang Yu looked at the candidate number on Yu Xinghan’s body and smiled slightly. “To take the Foundation Establishment Exam, aren’t you?” Having thoroughly read the rules and inquired about them on the spot, Zhang Yu knew that the exam rules restricted external disclosure and external interference with exam order. However, like other competitions, they did not prohibit participants from getting to know each other.

In fact, judging by the situation, Zhang Yu strongly suspected that the exam would encourage participants to interact, thereby intensifying the competition.

“You!” Yu Xinghan stared at Zhang Yu in astonishment. He was initially startled, worried about being discovered by an acquaintance participating in the Foundation Establishment Exam. However, he quickly realized that Zhang Yu was also a candidate and relaxed. Still, he couldn’t fathom how or why Zhang Yu was there.

This was a gathering for the elite high school students of the First Layer, a competition for the strongest. It was a channel only accessible to disciples of Gold Core masters like himself. How could such a pauper also be here?

Although Zhang Yu was talented and had good grades… he was still a pauper! A pauper whose benefactor, Zhang Pianpian, had even left him.

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen also walked up to Zhang Yu. She patted his shoulder, then looked at Yu Xinghan in surprise and said, “Oh? You’re here too?”

“How is Bai Zhenzhen here too?” Yu Xinghan even started to wonder if he had come to the wrong place.

Just then, a red envelope suddenly floated down and landed at their feet.

Yu Xinghan hesitated for only 0.1 seconds, but Zhang Yu had already stepped on the red envelope, squatted down, and reached out to grab it…

However, the red envelope was like an illusion; it dissipated instantly with Zhang Yu’s movement.

Yu Xinghan chuckled, “That red envelope is clearly fake…”

Zhang Yu pulled out his vibrating phone and exclaimed in surprise, “I suddenly have an extra thousand yuan in my account! Did this red envelope transfer money directly?”

Yu Xinghan’s expression froze. He immediately regretted his brief hesitation.

Bai Zhenzhen gestured forward with her chin and said, “That person is sending red envelopes.”

Ahead, a shirtless man was continuously practicing talismans.

As he practiced, red envelopes would occasionally jump out of his talisman book and land around him.

The man’s name was Ye Lingxiao. For the past half month, he hadn’t cultivated his body, refined his mana, or tempered his Dao heart. Instead, he had quietly dedicated himself to studying talismans.

He focused most of his attention on talismans partly because he had developed a great interest in them after witnessing a woman’s spell.

The other reason was that his physical body, mana, and Dao heart had reached their peak, requiring no further time for cultivation. He was also absolutely confident he could pass the Foundation Establishment qualification exam.

Ye Lingxiao was considered to possess the most perfect physique and bloodline among all high school students in the entire Kunxu First Layer.

This was both his self-perception and the evaluation given to him by the Oasis Group.

The talisman he was currently practicing was a ‘red envelope talisman,’ which a woman had guided him to learn. Only by mastering this red envelope talisman could he then learn the advanced ‘favorability talisman.’

As he focused intently on his practice, a figure suddenly appeared beside him and said, “I’ve picked up all your red envelopes.”

Ye Lingxiao looked up at Zhang Yu in front of him, puzzled. “Hm?”

Zhang Yu said, “Are you throwing money around? Or would you prefer to just transfer it directly to my bank account?”

Ye Lingxiao shook his head upon hearing this. “I’m practicing the red envelope talisman. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to make a breakthrough yet, so the red envelopes contain a maximum of 1000 yuan.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up as he looked at Ye Lingxiao. *Is this what a rich second-generation from the top of Kunxu is like? Do they practice talismans by throwing money around like this?*

*Forget Yu Xinghan, Song Hailong; this good brother, whose name I don’t even know yet, and I are the real friends.*

Zhang Yu quickly patted his chest and declared, “No problem, just use me for practice, practice as much as you want!”

Witnessing this, Yu Xinghan felt a momentary surge of admiration.

“It seems I was wrong. Zhang Yu’s path of earning money is already masterful, no less than mine.”

Smiling, Yu Xinghan also walked over. “A’Yu, who is this good friend? Aren’t you going to introduce him?”

“I heard you need to practice talismans? Just use me for practice.”

Ye Lingxiao looked at the two in front of him with some surprise and asked, “Are you sure?”

Zhang Yu: “Absolutely sure!”

Yu Xinghan tried to push Zhang Yu away and whispered to him, “You just picked up a few thousand yuan, it’s my turn now!”

Ye Lingxiao said indifferently, “You two are strange. No one has ever been willing to accept my red envelope talismans, yet you’re fighting over them. Don’t you think the interest rate is too high?”

Hearing the word ‘interest rate,’ Yu Xinghan’s movements gradually slowed.

Zhang Yu, however, was confused. “Interest rate?”

Ye Lingxiao explained, “The red envelope talisman is a prerequisite for the favorability talisman.”

“Those who receive this talisman draw from your reserve funds at the Treasury Bank.”

“You damn it!” Zhang Yu raged. “Why are you throwing this garbage around? Do you have any public morality? Practicing such malicious things in broad daylight? What if a poor person picks it up?”

“Huh? Can you still see poor people here?” Ye Lingxiao asked in surprise. “I thought no one would ever pick up money from the ground.”

Zhang Yu was furious, feeling insulted by the other person yet again.

Bai Zhenzhen reminded him from the side, “Yuzi, hurry and pay it back! There will be interest if you’re late!”

Zhang Yu quickly moved aside, opened his phone, logged in, and immediately went to the Treasury Bank’s website to repay the money.

Following Ye Lingxiao’s recent words, the surrounding candidates, who had initially not paid much attention, now silently moved away from him, instantly creating a large empty circle around Ye Lingxiao.

Ye Lingxiao, however, continued drawing talismans indifferently. Soon, another red envelope jumped out and landed on the ground around him.

But just then, another hand gently picked up the red envelope. No matter how hard this hand squeezed or rubbed, the red envelope did not disappear.

This time, surprise flashed in Ye Lingxiao’s eyes. “The red envelope talisman is ineffective against you?”