Mid-October.

In the dormitory.

Shortly after Zhang Yu emerged from his spiritual practice in the Taiqing Realm, he saw the good news from Wanfa University.

Looking at the content, Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Have the Ten University Leagues ended?”

“This year’s competition seems to have ended earlier than usual.”

“Dao Qiankun from the Dao Arts Department placed second in the Combat competition. Jiutian Liu from the Finance Department secured first place in the Luck competition. And from our Artifact Forging Department, Yan Qianji took second place in the Treasure competition, while Senior Sister Ye Xingli finished tenth…”

Zhang Yu thought: “While Senior Sister’s artifact design skills are formidable, allowing her to rank among the top five nationwide, her direct combat prowess with artifacts appears to be slightly inferior to that of top students from other universities.”

However, this only made Zhang Yu appreciate his Senior Sister’s talent in artifact design even more, increasing his desire to replicate her Dao Seed.

Zhang Yu also thought: “Yan Qianji, as a Deity Transformation disciple and the face of our Artifact Forging Department, actually lost a match this time and didn’t get first place?”

Zhang Yu then looked at the remaining rankings and concluded: “This year, first place in Combat and first place in Treasure were taken by Heavenly Demonic University and Underworld University, respectively.”

Heavenly Demonic and Underworld universities truly live up to their reputation as two of the three strongest universities among the Top Ten, alongside Wanfa University.

As Zhang Yu looked at the names on the leaderboard, he couldn’t help but sigh, “The Ten University Leagues are truly a gathering of masters.”

And when he thought about having to overcome so many top academic talents, defeating them one by one to obtain immortal sect cultivation methods, Zhang Yu felt a mix of worry, nervousness, and excitement.

Just then, he also saw Bai Zhenzhen’s ranking: 7th in the Sword competition.

“Zhen did quite well this time, achieving such a rank while only in her senior year.”

Zhang Yu sent a congratulatory message to Bai Zhenzhen. After a moment’s thought, he sent another congratulatory message to Ye Xingli.

Ye Xingli: “Thank you! I was quite lucky this time, but I still need to work harder.”

Looking at Ye Xingli’s reply, Zhang Yu thought, “Sigh, Senior Sister used to include transfers with her messages. Why hasn’t she sent any spirit coins recently?”

Zhang Yu even had a strange illusion that recently, talking to Ye Xingli felt like talking to someone from the Songyang Hometown group chat.

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen’s invitation appeared. With Zhang Yu’s consent, his consciousness crossed through various spirit realms and entered a room.

This was the secret room that the Seven Emotions Divine Lord had opened for him and Bai Zhenzhen in the spirit realm, and it was where they had met daily for some time.

The moment they met, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen embraced tightly.

Feeling Zhang Yu’s arms tightly around her, Bai Zhenzhen softly said, “Yu Zi, I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your messages. My mom wouldn’t let me contact you.”

Zhang Yu felt Bai Zhenzhen resting quietly against his chest, and seeing his usually energetic good friend in such a rare tranquil state, he smiled and said, “It’s good that you’re alright.”

Bai Zhenzhen asked, “What about you? Did you encounter any demonic cultists?”

The two remained embraced, recounting their experiences to each other.

Of course, in the room opened for them by the Seven Emotions, Zhang Yu couldn’t recount his true experience of a deadly battle with a demonic cult’s Golden Core cultivator. He simply repeated the version he had already told the Righteous Gods.

When they talked about the Ten University Leagues, Bai Zhenzhen also shared the news about the reforms scheduled for next year.

Hearing what Bai Zhenzhen said, Zhang Yu was startled and asked, “So, starting next year, the results of the Ten University Leagues will determine a greater distribution of benefits among the Ten Universities, and the competitions will become even more intense?”

“And there’s the option to choose immortal sect cultivation methods,” Bai Zhenzhen said gravely. “Being able to select a cultivation method from the Daoist Canon is an incredibly appealing reward.”

“It’s also hard to say if future Ten University Leagues will offer such a benefit; it’s highly probable that this opportunity will be unique to this one session.”

Whenever she thought about this, Bai Zhenzhen couldn’t help but exclaim, “The Daoist Canon was created by the Ten Great Sects specifically to record various immortal path data in the world, in order to build a new immortal cultivation system. It’s said to contain all cultivation methods in existence.”

“Even if that’s an exaggeration and it doesn’t list all methods, or if the Ten Great Sects impose some restrictions on the selection range, the number of cultivations available for choice would still be immense, and they’re all at the immortal sect level.”

“If expert-level cultivation methods are conventionally powerful, and military-grade methods start becoming unreasonably strong, then immortal sect-level methods can fundamentally change the landscape, allowing for a dimensionality-reduction strike against methods below their level—they belong to an entirely different tier of cultivation.”

Zhang Yu nodded repeatedly at this, his heart filled with immense longing.

But as Bai Zhenzhen spoke, her voice dropped again: “Unfortunately, next year… the time is too tight.”

Zhang Yu asked, “Will the competition format change?”

Bai Zhenzhen nodded: “The specifics haven’t been finalized yet, but according to unofficial sources, all military competitions will be combined into a single event.”

“A single event?” Zhang Yu’s heart jolted.

“Wouldn’t that mean students from combat, treasure, luck, sword, and other competitions would all have to compete on the same track?”

Bai Zhenzhen nodded, then sighed softly: “It’s a pity. If we had two or three more years, we could definitely contend.”

“But next year…”

Thinking of the top three students in the Sword competition this time, and the other prodigies from previously separate categories, Bai Zhenzhen sighed again.

With her current strength, she already had a gap compared to these senior students.

However, Bai Zhenzhen was confident that with a little more time, she could definitely catch up to these senior students in the future.

Yet, one year was still too short. Especially with the recent conflict between the Ten Universities and the lure of self-selected immortal sect cultivation methods next year, these senior students would undoubtedly receive full support from their universities and various assistance from Deity Transformation Divine Lords.

This would make it even harder to catch up to these senior students within a year.

Zhang Yu nodded slightly upon hearing this, but a fighting spirit ignited within him.

He looked at Bai Zhenzhen and said, “No matter what, it would be a huge waste to give up such an opportunity.”

“For the next year, let’s fight with all our might for it.”

Feeling the earnestness in Zhang Yu’s eyes, Bai Zhenzhen also nodded in agreement.

Just then, the voice of the Seven Emotions Divine Lord echoed around them: “In this year’s Ten University Leagues, a total of 11 students died across all military competitions. Every single one of them was stronger than you.”

“Next year’s Ten University Leagues will only be more intense and more brutal.”

“Furthermore, the participants in the next session will be even stronger. It’s highly probable that this will be the strongest cohort of students on average since the Ten University Leagues began.”

“Zhang Yu, if you participate rashly, you might die.”

“And your death could trigger a backlash from Zhenzhen’s Extremity-Emotion Sword Dao.”

Zhang Yu was slightly stunned upon hearing this, then looked at Bai Zhenzhen and said to her, “Zhen, don’t worry. I won’t die. Neither you nor the top students from other universities can kill me.”

Bai Zhenzhen nodded slightly, but thought to herself, “During next year’s competition, if Yu Zi is truly in danger, I will intervene and protect him, even if it means being disqualified.”

The two continued their conversation, and before leaving, Bai Zhenzhen reminded Zhang Yu: “Yu Zi, try to take fewer off-campus projects from now on.”

“After this economic crisis, the demonic cult’s power has significantly grown. Especially since you know they possess techniques to hijack spirit realms, they will surely become more active.”

“Moreover, conflicts between the universities are severe, so for the next year leading up to the Ten University Leagues, there will likely be no shortage of overt and covert struggles.”

“The wilderness will definitely become more dangerous.”

After ending his connection with Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Yu dedicated himself even more to his studies and cultivation in the following days.

After all, with less than a year remaining until the next Ten University Leagues, even with his exceptional talent, time was extremely tight. He had to make the most of every second.

Several days later, just as he had anticipated, Zhang Yu successfully advanced the production techniques for over a dozen magical artifacts to level 20 through simulated cultivation in the Taiqing Realm.

The various artifact-forging techniques contained within these artifacts covered precisely what was needed to forge the prototype of the Heavenly Sun-Radiant God.

With this, Zhang Yu could finally begin the official forging of the prototype machine.

Zhang Yu did not intend to continue immersing himself in simulated practice within the Taiqing Realm for this process.

“The forging of the Heavenly Sun-Radiant God prototype must be done step-by-step, meticulously recording every forging attempt, every improvement, and every refinement.”

“Only then will it be easier for me to pass the review.”

“If I were to directly advance the production technique of the Heavenly Sun-Radiant God prototype to level 20 within the Taiqing Realm and then astonish everyone by forging the artifact to level 20 on my very first attempt in reality, it would indeed be astonishing. However, with no trace of the process in reality, it might be seen as fraud, causing me considerable trouble.”

“Even if, after much hassle, it’s proven that I didn’t commit fraud, it would likely attract unnecessary attention from many people, who would wonder why I could reach level 20 on my first attempt at forging the prototype.”

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “I can’t simply attribute the Heavenly Sun-Radiant God prototype’s creation to the Qiongjiang Divine Lord’s methods. Instead, I should let everyone witness firsthand that I’m gradually improving the prototype through my sheer talent.”

Zhang Yu resolved to first forge a Level 1 Heavenly Sun-Radiant God.

Then, in the laboratory, he would repeatedly forge and refine it, raising the Heavenly Sun-Radiant God to Level 20.

And during this iterative forging process, he could also utilize the convenience of the Feather Tome to improve his mastery of the design blueprints to Level 20.

However, before starting the forging, Zhang Yu first calculated his finances.

Due to the economic crisis, Zhang Yu’s income had sharply declined recently. Apart from a 40 spirit coin subsidy from the laboratory, he had virtually no other work income and had even used his savings to pay his company’s employees.

Fortunately, his cultivation during this period was all completed through simulations in the Taiqing Realm, costing Zhang Yu no money, unlike the substantial expenses incurred previously while practicing artifact-forging cultivation methods.

Even so, his current bank balance was less than 120 spirit coins, clearly insufficient to complete the prototype’s forging.

Zhang Yu secretly thought, “Forging the prototype will require at least 300 spirit coins. Considering potential overruns and the costs of repeated modifications and forging, it would be safer to have at least 400, or even 500, spirit coins.”

“Of course, that’s for others. For me, an artifact-forging prodigy, I might be able to save a good amount of spirit coins.”

“But all in all… I definitely don’t have enough spirit coins right now.”

“I need to earn money.”

Although he was significantly short on spirit coins, Zhang Yu still felt confident.

On one hand, 120 spirit coins were enough for him to start working; he could entirely earn money while forging artifacts.

On the other hand, with the economic crisis over, there were now ample opportunities to earn money throughout the university city.