Yu Xinghan occasionally observed Ying Xin refining materials, then watched Gongshu Jin’s construction movements, and finally scanned the other students. With the help of his Three-Eyed Divine Ability, which granted him an all-encompassing view, he could clearly observe each student’s actions and condition.

“My construction ability… it’s not particularly strong.”

“After all, I haven’t been on a construction site for most of my time; instead, I’ve been giving massages to people who come off them.”

Yu Xinghan memorized, imitated, and repeated his classmates’ movements. At this moment, Yu Xinghan was like an excellent tailor, taking individual construction steps and stitching them together on his own site. But in the next moment, he was slightly startled. “This kid Zhang Yu…”

He observed Zhang Yu sitting still, stuffing rebar and cement into his stomach, mouthful after mouthful.

“What is this guy doing? Is he freeloading food and drinks during the exam?”

“Is this the time for such things?”

Meanwhile, on his construction site, Zhang Yu felt the building materials in his stomach and thought to himself, “Ying Xin’s choice was correct.”

“The quality of the building materials truly needs to be improved by us.”

Zhang Yu’s magical power surged throughout his body, his muscles expanding and contracting with unparalleled elasticity.

Mountain and River True Form Scripture—Propel!

The next moment, with an infusion of magical power, Zhang Yu’s muscles and internal organs suddenly expanded like an inflatable balloon, transforming him into a colossal giant. Then, he opened his mouth wide and swallowed large quantities of building materials. However, Zhang Yu was not digesting these materials; instead, he was using his stomach and intestines, forged from Secret Steel No. 15, to reprocess them, drastically increasing their strength.

Even as he felt the building materials transform within him, Zhang Yu’s gaze remained intently focused.

“This alone isn’t enough…”

Zhang Yu muttered to himself, “In this examination hall, there are people stronger than me in terms of Dharma Skeletons, wealth, experience, and even Daoist techniques and similar abilities.”

“If I want to win, I must fully leverage my strengths, using the most fundamental, civil engineering power within me to build this bunker into an indestructible fortress!”

With a low roar from Zhang Yu, his protective aura surged dramatically, and numerous formless laborers emerged behind him. They caught the building materials he spat out and began to lay the foundation on the construction site.

Ji Yuanxu had been observing Zhang Yu’s progress; after all, Zhang Yu was the student whose strength was closest to his own in this exam. However, upon seeing Zhang Yu conjure humanoid protective auras, Ji Yuanxu felt a tinge of disapproval. “What a… waste of magical power.”

As rebar and concrete walls rose from the ground, Zhang Yu’s formless laborers moved through them, and his construction team gradually became difficult to discern. Time quickly passed amid the sounds of knocking and collision within the examination hall. Every student gave their all, showcasing the essence of what they had learned in their first year and pouring it unreservedly into the construction site before them. As he watched the bunkers gradually rise and observed each student’s actions, Tuli Shan’s curiosity and anticipation for the final result grew.

With the three hours of construction time nearing its end, fewer and fewer students were still working. Most students had already completed all construction tasks. Observing the frantic hammering still coming from Zhang Yu’s bunker, Gongshu Jin thought to himself, “Could it be that his magical power consumption was too severe earlier, leading to a decline in construction efficiency and causing him to fall behind?”

As the three hours of construction time concluded, the activity within Zhang Yu’s construction site also ceased. He emerged from the bunker with a hint of regret on his face. Everyone witnessing this scene speculated that Zhang Yu might not have fully completed the bunker’s interior.

At the same time, a faint flash appeared in Tuli Shan’s eye-sockets, and a youth dressed in a Daoist robe, like an ancient scholar, appeared before him. It was Director Gao’s spirit realm projection appearing.

Director Gao calmly inquired, “How are things going?”

Tuli Shan respectfully replied, “Construction has just been completed; we are now about to conduct an inspection.”

Assistants and other civil engineering teachers overseeing the exam entered each bunker, inspecting and recording the conditions within. Watching this, Director Gao nodded slightly and casually remarked, “Hmm, I’m here to see the first-year students’ results.”

Tuli Shan could sense that Director Gao was in a bad mood, and considering the date, he suspected it was related to the final exam results. Director Gao was indeed dissatisfied with the final exam results across all grades. Currently, among the students of the Civil Engineering Department’s War and Peace Factions, the War Faction had five grades whose scores were lagging, causing them to lose first place. If Ji Yuanxu took first place among the first-year students, that would mean six grades overall were falling behind.

Director Gao asked, “What are Zhang Yu’s and Gongshu Jin’s chances of winning?”

Tuli Shan hesitated for a moment before replying, “It’s hard to say.”

Director Gao frowned. “Then I’ll see for myself.”

Meanwhile, many students gathered outside the construction site, nervously awaiting the inspection phase and the subsequent 10 waves of attacks.

The inspection was quickly completed. Ying Xin looked at her 100% completion rate and breathed a slight sigh of relief. “Now it just depends on how many waves of attacks it can withstand.”

Spirit realm projections rose around the construction site, appearing in everyone’s eye-sockets as shimmering bands of light that encircled the area and displayed “no entry.” As Tuli Shan announced the start of the final phase of the exam, the first wave of attacks commenced.

As the surrounding partitions rose, massive pipes unfolded from underground. The next moment, like a torrential mountain flood, angry waves resembling giant dragons slammed into the bunkers. Terrifying power surged within the giant waves, which repeatedly crashed against the bunkers like battering rams. Many students felt anxious, fearing their bunkers would be swept away.

Ten minutes later, the tide gradually receded. Tuli Shan nodded slightly and initiated the second wave of attacks.

Amidst booming sounds, all bunkers vibrated slightly. As the simulated examination hall’s array activated, the ground beneath the bunkers undulated violently, as if creating tumultuous waves within the earth. With the ground’s violent tremor, each bunker seemed to be experiencing a magnitude 7 or 8 earthquake.

Some students looked at the cracked walls of their creations with concern. Others breathed a sigh of relief as they observed their rock-solid creations. One minute later, with the simulated earthquake concluded, not a single bunker on site had collapsed.

For the third wave of attacks, violent explosions erupted, and visible shockwaves swept over the bunkers. It was during this wave that bunker walls finally began to collapse. By the end of the fourth wave of attacks, only four bunkers on the field still maintained their complete shape. However, the exterior wall of one had already cracked, exposing large patches of bloodstains within the structure.

Tuli Shan was slightly surprised to witness this. “Ying Xin actually lasted until this wave?” Noticing the bloodstains in the wall, his gaze shifted. “Is it a blood sacrifice?”

Ying Xin’s data appeared in Director Gao’s eye-sockets. He nodded slightly and said, “During the process of re-refining the materials, she added her own vital blood and the ancestral ashes stored within her body, completing a blood sacrifice.” Director Gao smiled slightly, and in his eyes, he seemed to see students resembling Ying Xin—her father, grandfather, and even earlier ancestors. “Truly a sixth-generation civil engineer, mastering the technique of construction site blood sacrifice in her first year.”

In the fifth wave of attacks, massive fireballs rose, engulfing the remaining bunkers one by one. As Ying Xin’s bunker was mostly pulverized, Gongshu Jin’s bunker also burst open with a large hole, revealing a segment of backbone within. Blood vessels and nerves from the backbone spread throughout the entire wall, absorbing and exhaling the spiritual energy within the array, as if becoming the heart of the structure.

Tuli Shan’s gaze shifted. “He inserted his Vajra Profoundly Forged Spinal Dharma Skeleton into the array’s core?”

Director Gao nodded appreciatively. “Oh? Is that ‘living pile driving’? This is a construction technique typically taught in the second year; I didn’t expect him to have already mastered it and even embed his Dharma Skeleton within.”

In the sixth wave of attacks, accompanied by flashing lightning, bolts of thunder fire covered the entire construction site. Amidst continuous explosions, waves of energy swept in all directions, leveling all shattered walls and ruins. Watching his spine disappear in the explosion, Gongshu Jin felt his heart bleed and roared wildly in his mind, “My Vajra Profound Forge!” Yet, realizing that even using his own spine for the living pile only secured him third place, he couldn’t help but stare intently at the two remaining bunkers, as if to discern what civil engineering techniques they had employed to remain so sturdy.

Tuli Shan’s gaze shifted slightly, and Ji Yuanxu’s construction and inspection records appeared in his eye-sockets. Tuli Shan had been surprised when he first saw them. And now, reviewing them again, he couldn’t help but feel amazed once more.

“This is truly astounding…”

The inspection records showed Ji Yuanxu’s corpse sitting cross-legged in the bunker’s underground chamber. “He actually buried himself inside, using his own body to suppress luck, gather spiritual energy, and strengthen the array to its limit.”

“No… it’s more than that.”

“As early as when he was drawing the spiritual ley lines, he was already constructing an auspicious burial site, intending to bury himself there.”

Tuli Shan’s gaze swept over the shattered walls, ruins, and the simulated spiritual ley lines underground. “Initially, he merely used the auspicious burial site and his buried body to suppress luck, seizing most of the spiritual energy from the ley lines.”

“But after each bunker collapsed, Ji Yuanxu’s bunker gathered an additional portion of spiritual energy.”

“This is the essence of the Finance Department’s Way of Luck: for every additional resource, more can be moved, eventually accumulating into an ever-growing mass, even influencing the world’s great trends…”

“By this moment, ninety percent of the spiritual energy in the simulated ley lines has already gathered in Ji Yuanxu’s bunker.”

Tuli Shan looked outside the examination hall at Ji Yuanxu’s figure. At this moment, Ji Yuanxu’s divine soul was preserved within the spirit realm; what appeared here was merely his spirit realm projection. However, most of the surrounding students, accustomed to observing the world through their eye-sockets, did not notice this.

At the same time, Tuli Shan could feel that the medical company’s emergency rescue team was already waiting outside the examination hall. One of the young doctors asked, “Captain, how much longer do we have to wait?”

The leading doctor calmly replied, “We can go in and save people once the exam ends.”

The young doctor asked curiously, “How can people who can afford to hire us still die in the examination hall?”

The leading doctor casually replied, “It’s normal for wealthy people to die a few times a year; it’s not like the poor who can’t afford to.”

“In our line of work, remember this: don’t worry about how the client died; just revive their physical body every time.”

Director Gao coldly watched Ji Yuanxu’s bunker, feeling the stability of the structure and its array under the blessing of luck. Just then, a proud voice emerged: “Old Gao, how well has my student mastered the Way of Luck?”

A spirit realm projection appeared before Tuli Shan and Director Gao; it was Director Lin, Ji Yuanxu’s master and the representative of the Civil Engineering Department’s Peace Faction.

Director Gao gave him a cold glance and calmly stated, “That’s not the orthodox path of civil engineering.”

Director Lin sighed, “What orthodox path is there in civil engineering? No matter how skilled your construction, how meticulous your materials, or how ingenious your design, how can it compare to luck? How can it defy fate?”

“You should know that throughout history, even the most impregnable fortresses have fallen due to human calamity; which one was truly battered down?”

“No matter how refined your civil engineering, if you don’t integrate with finance and understand luck, you’ll ultimately just be someone else’s foot cloth, discarded after use.”

Director Gao snorted coldly, “The Finance Department just turns the world into a series of grand casinos. If everyone is gambling, who will truly build Kunxu? The sect aims to build and prosper Kunxu; that is the true trend.”

“Stop trying to pressure me with grand words. Are you someone who builds Kunxu? And you’re talking about the great trend with me? Whoever has the money holds the great trend in their hands.”

Director Lin sneered, looking at the two bunkers finally remaining on the site. “I have more excellent disciples than you, more projects in hand than you, and my company has more bank loans than yours. If the great trend isn’t with me, then with whom can it be?”

“Just like in this examination hall now, all spiritual energy has gathered around Ji Yuanxu. He is favored by luck, the inevitable trend.”

“How long can your civil engineering’s orthodox path hold out?”