Not long after the second Foundation Establishment exam concluded.

On the 1.5th floor of Xiandu, Ye Lingxiao stood before the building’s floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the Central Cloud Sea Park ahead, and said into the phone, “Yes, that Dao-Solution Extended-Release Capsule is very interesting.”

“I can’t reveal the specifics, but if there’s an opportunity… I think we could try having the lab analyze it. I’d be willing to participate in related research…”

After discussing for over ten minutes with the family elder on the other end of the line, Ye Lingxiao suddenly brought up another matter. “Uncle, there’s something else I’d like to trouble you to look into.”

“Are there any companies in other cities on Kunxu’s first floor that have developed technology related to drug metabolism?”

“Characteristics?” Ye Lingxiao recalled Zhang Yu’s performance in the Foundation Establishment exam, and, carefully choosing his words without revealing any information about the exam, he said, “In short, it’s something that can significantly enhance the user’s drug metabolism.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

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 expense application form sent by the other party, feeling his fists clench, and thought to himself, “Once we’re back at Red Tower, I’m going to teach you a good lesson.”

He typed on his phone in reply: “I want to get more tutoring from Zhang Yu. I feel like I can learn a great, great deal from him.”

Li Xuelian: “Zhang Yu? Hasn’t his performance declined significantly? If you get too close to him, won’t he harm you?”

Yu Xinghan frowned, feeling a momentary dilemma.

He couldn’t mention the contents of the Foundation Establishment exam, so how could he persuade Li Xuelian?

He couldn’t exactly say that his relationship with Zhang Yu stemmed from selling seeds together, that they knew each other inside out, and that “Yu-zi” wouldn’t harm him.

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

Yu Xinghan’s eyes shifted, and he thought to himself, “Did Senior Sister guess? It makes sense. This is exactly when I went to take the Foundation Establishment exam, so my sudden request must have led her to guess it’s related to the exam.”

Yu Xinghan knew that even a True God couldn’t detect this kind of unintentional or intentional process where exam information was inadvertently guessed by others.

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

One could say that what truly kept the examinees safe wasn’t the contract, but the True Gods’ martial power and the Heavenly Court’s determination.

“Senior Sister truly is remarkably intelligent.”

Yu Xinghan quickly replied: “Zhang Yu has raised his price to 50,000. It’s 50,000 per hour.”

Li Xuelian: “That expensive? Wasn’t it only 15,000 before?”

Yu Xinghan: “How can that compare to now?”

After a long pause, Li Xuelian finally replied: “Have him add me. I’ll talk to him personally.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Xinghan cursed inwardly, realizing, “Did I quote too high a price?”

After a moment’s thought, he quickly replied: “After much persuasion, he’s willing to lower it to 30,000 an hour out of respect for me.”

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

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

Bai Zhenzhen sighed, saying, “The gap between me and the top Xiandu master is still quite significant.”

Recalling Yun Jing’s strength displayed in the arena, Bai Zhenzhen instinctively clenched her fists.

At first, she thought her opponent was mindlessly overpowering people, with a certain beauty in crushing them with sheer force and wealth.

However, after a careful analysis, Bai Zhenzhen realized it might not be that simple.

“He was targeting me.”

“After realizing I specialized in high-speed close combat, he used wide-range, power-based moves to literally push me off the arena.”

“He used the arena environment, space, and power to completely suppress my high-speed combat style, preventing me from gaining even the slightest advantage and forcing me to compete with him solely on strength.”

“This guy isn’t just powerful and wealthy; he also fights by targeting his opponents’ weaknesses.”

At this thought, Bai Zhenzhen’s expression grew more solemn: “To surpass that guy in three months, I’ll not only need to continue improving my physical stats but also learn several more powerful cultivation techniques for practice.”

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

Zhang Yu, standing nearby, nodded in deep agreement. Comparing the gap between himself and Ye Lingxiao, he thought to himself, “In these remaining three months, I must push my Dao Heart, magic power, and physical strength all to the limits of Qi Refinement.”

“And I need to continue learning cultivation techniques.”

“Ideally, I should also acquire a complete set of Chain Dharma Diagrams, and it needs to be more powerful than the High School Sacred Body.”

Zhang Yu knew that Yu Shu’s Chain Dharma Diagrams could only incorporate ten cultivation techniques, and a set required six techniques to take effect, with ten techniques to achieve its ultimate effect. This meant that at any given time, the Chain Dharma Diagrams could only activate one set.

Therefore, unless a set was more powerful than the High School Sacred Body, it would be meaningless for Zhang Yu.

“Among the sets I’ve seen so far, Heavenly Martial Battle Heart, Great Sage Descendant, Martial Dao Sacred Embryo, and All Dragon Bloodline feel like they might be stronger than the High School Sacred Body.”

“However, I haven’t been able to find all ten cultivation techniques for Heavenly Martial Battle Heart or Great Sage Descendant yet.”

“So, what I can complete are either the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo or the All Dragon Bloodline sets.”

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

He didn’t need to worry about being unable to learn them all; with the High School Sacred Body’s three-fold cultivation efficiency boost, he could essentially turn the next three months into nine months of practice.

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

“Over the next three months, it will likely cost at least several million to have a chance against Ye Lingxiao, and tens of millions would be safer.”

Spending several million or tens of millions on cultivation might be insignificant to truly wealthy individuals like Ye Lingxiao or Yun Jing; in fact, it might even be considered thrifty for them.

But for less affluent people like Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, those were colossal figures they wouldn’t have dared to dream of in the past.

As if sensing Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu’s laments, the awakened Fu Ji spoke into their minds: “Ordinary work won’t be enough to cover your cultivation expenses.”

“You’ve almost exhausted all available loans and borrowed funds.”

“Now, your last remaining path is to continue your endeavors in the underground tutoring world.”

“Conveniently, your individual strengths have rapidly improved recently, and with my guidance, even if you get caught up in gang conflicts, the danger won’t be significant.”

To prevent eavesdropping on the train, Bai Zhenzhen typed a reply on her phone: “But I’m afraid that once we go back, the Zhou family will continue to send people to follow us.”

“If they continue to monitor us, we won’t be able to do anything in the tutoring world.”

Bai Zhenzhen recalled the last time she went to see Zhou Chechen and encountered Zhou Hao, the one who repelled her.

According to him, this Zhou Hao was a university graduate from one of the 72 lower academies, undoubtedly at the peak of Qi Refinement.

And based on Bai Zhenzhen’s several discreet probes while delivering takeout, the people who later tracked and monitored her were also very strong, likely on par with Zhou Hao.

Bai Zhenzhen: “These people are not weak; they have various tracking methods. It won’t be easy to shake them off; in fact, it might just alert them.”

Zhang Yu typed back, “So, it’s not just about shaking them off, but finding a way to completely deal with them, or at least making the Zhou family temporarily abandon their 24-hour surveillance of us.”

Bai Zhenzhen: “Do you have a plan?”

Zhang Yu looked at his newly added friend, Deng Bingding, the Sixth-Rank Four-Directional Wandering God.

Zhang Yu realized that the key to breaking this deadlock might lie with this True God.

The Zhou family would never know he had befriended such a True God, so leveraging this information asymmetry would be crucial.

However, he wasn’t very clear about many of the True God’s ways. Fortunately, he had Fu Ji, an experienced Evil God, right there.

Zhang Yu immediately revealed that he had added a True God as a friend, intending to discuss with Fu Ji and Bai Zhenzhen how to deal with the Zhou family’s surveillance.

Upon hearing this, Fu Ji laughed, “Oh? A Sixth-Rank Four-Directional Wandering God?”

“That’s certainly worth planning out carefully.”

“If you can effectively utilize the power of this True God, it will be enough to make the Zhou family suffer a great loss and leave them with no time to deal with the two of you.”

Bai Zhenzhen: “True Gods aren’t easy to exploit, are they? Are you suggesting we use this exam as leverage? But given the Zhou family’s previous reaction, they know how deep the waters are and won’t easily fall for it.”

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

And judging by the Zhou family not sending anyone to track them last time they left the city, it was clear that they knew about the Foundation Establishment exam and were wary, so they wouldn’t easily be tricked.

Fu Ji, however, chuckled and continued to transmit her thoughts into their minds: “So, there’s no need to lure the Zhou family into investigating the Foundation Establishment exam. You just need to give this Sixth-Rank Wandering God an opportunity to intervene in this matter.”

“Do you know why the Gods of Kunxu are so greedy for wealth?”

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

Fu Ji explained, “It’s naturally because the Eightfold True Gods also need money if they want to improve their rank, increase their divine power, or refine their talismans.”

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were both surprised to hear this. They never imagined that even True Gods needed to spend money to advance? Wasn’t that just like mortals using talismans?

Fu Ji continued, “Earning money, or rather, recovering wealth from across all of Kunxu, is a major mission for all True Gods.”

Fu Ji sighed, “From this perspective, the Ten Great Sects are indeed far-sighted. They’re not just forcing you all to climb higher.”

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

Fu Ji elaborated, “After the Ten Great Sects unified the thirty-six layers of Kunxu and eradicated all dissent, they deeply realized that Kunxu was difficult to manage. Therefore, they created the Eightfold True Gods, establishing a group of True Gods to govern the world for them…”