“Do you believe in reincarnation?”

This was the first question Kuang Tianqing asked Dao Qiankun that night when they met.

Dao Qiankun merely smiled at Kuang Tianqing’s question and didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked curiously, “Oh? Asking me this question on the last night before the competition, have you encountered a reincarnated person?”

Kuang Tianqing folded her arms across her chest, her long hair swaying in the wind, and spoke indifferently, “I was just wondering… if the legends about rebirth and reincarnation are true, what impact would the widespread adoption of life-extension technology have?”

Dao Qiankun walked to the window, looked at the moon in the sky, and said calmly, “In this world, even if there is reincarnation, it must be under the control of the Immortals.”

“If it’s under the Immortals’ control, then how everyone reincarnates and how long their lifespan is… that becomes a matter of profit, a matter of governing Kunxu.”

“In this hypothesis, the longer the lifespan, the fewer times people reincarnate; the shorter the lifespan, the more times people reincarnate. From the most extreme scenario of universal immortality to the other extreme of universal death, different developmental directions stem from the setting of average lifespan.”

“How long one lives and how long it takes to reincarnate will determine the interests of all parties, and even more so, the direction of Kunxu’s development in Immortal Dao technology…”

Listening to Dao Qiankun’s words, Kuang Tianqing’s gaze sharpened slightly, and she said coldly, “You’re right. So, if there is reincarnation, then there would be a Reincarnation Group.”

“And the Reincarnation Group wouldn’t allow the average lifespan of society to easily increase.”

Kuang Tianqing walked up to Dao Qiankun, her eyes fixed on him, as if trying to see through his every secret.

Kuang Tianqing: “If the Reincarnation Group exists, then facing the promotion of life-extension technology, they would certainly suppress it in every way possible.”

Dao Qiankun looked at Kuang Tianqing calmly: “Perhaps.”

Kuang Tianqing continued to stare at him, saying, “The Huashen of Wanfa Four Schools haven’t agreed to the acquisition and promotion of life-extension technology until now. Is it because they considered the existence of reincarnation?”

Dao Qiankun looked directly at her and said, “Are you asking if the Reincarnation Group is behind me?”

“Kuang Tianqing, you’re taking this too seriously. What we’ve just discussed are all just hypotheses. Whether reincarnation exists… who can say for sure?”

“You can trace all the sources of my wealth, and you should be perfectly clear about who I am.”

Kuang Tianqing sneered, “Reincarnation is a forbidden topic. Even if the Reincarnation Group truly exists, it cannot be openly publicized. So, if the Reincarnation Group were to interfere in the world, it would never do so openly, always operating in the shadows, existing only in rumors and hearsay.”

Dao Qiankun didn’t directly address Kuang Tianqing’s question, but suddenly said, “Do you know what Immortal Sect cultivation method the three Huashen of Wanfa hope I choose?”

Kuang Tianqing asked, “What method?”

Dao Qiankun said, “Fajie Shenzao Zhang.”

Kuang Tianqing’s body trembled, and she asked in surprise, “Fajie?”

“Is this Wanfa University’s choice? Or…”

“Wanfa Sect’s choice?”

Inside the mourning hall.

Kuang Tianqing snapped out of her memories of that night and looked again at Dao Qiankun’s corpse, sitting cross-legged in front of her.

She thought to herself, “Dao Qiankun, if you really are dead, you’re truly at peace, not as tired as I am now.”

“Do you know that since your death, I’ve become a complete target, and one misstep could lead to eternal damnation?”

Although everyone in the world seemed to be watching her now, hoping she would win the championship, hoping she would choose an Immortal Sect cultivation method, and choose the future direction of development for the world.

And although under such scrutiny, her finances, security, and other conditions were all rising.

But Kuang Tianqing could feel like she was sitting on a powder keg, and the slightest misstep would blow her to pieces.

Rubbing her increasingly aching forehead, Kuang Tianqing thought to herself, “Damn it… I need to make the old geezers pay more.”

As she pondered, Kuang Tianqing began to walk around Dao Qiankun, as if observing something.

Zhang Yu, who was nearby, asked, “What are you looking for?”

Kuang Tianqing turned to look at Zhang Yu and asked, “Do you think Dao Qiankun is really dead?”

Zhang Yu was slightly stunned: “Huh?”

Kuang Tianqing didn’t miss any change in Zhang Yu’s expression and said word by word, “Do you believe he’s the kind of person who would choose to commit suicide before the competition, giving up his chance to compete?”

Zhang Yu frowned and said, “What are you trying to say? Do you think Brother Dao isn’t dead? For you, whether he’s dead or not, not being able to participate in the competition is a good thing, isn’t it? At least you can confidently extend everyone’s lifespan.”

Kuang Tianqing snorted coldly, looking at Zhang Yu, and said, “It seems you’re on the side that opposes universal life extension? Do you think I don’t know the downsides of life extension? Reduced population mobility, decreased innovation, the whole world becoming increasingly stagnant… But it’s still much better than Wanfa’s choice.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes narrowed, and he said, “Wanfa’s choice? You know what it is?”

Kuang Tianqing smiled, “You don’t know? Dao Qiankun didn’t tell you?”

Curiosity surged in Zhang Yu’s heart. To get an answer from Kuang Tianqing, he deliberately said, “No matter what Wanfa’s choice is, it’s always better than life extension, isn’t it?”

But Kuang Tianqing didn’t tell Zhang Yu what Wanfa’s choice was. Instead, she changed the subject, “The older generation of Huashen living a few more years, you all say this is bad, that’s bad.”

“But have you ever thought about what would happen if the older generation of Huashen died and the new generation of Huashen came up?”

Seeing Zhang Yu’s bewildered look, Kuang Tianqing pursed her lips and said, “You should read the Yuanying theses of Tianmo Four Schools from recent years, especially those by the Huashen candidates.”

“Although if I were in their position, I would probably make the same choices as them.”

“After all, only by being more radical, by creating more exorbitant profits, and by maintaining growth, can one gain the support of Tianmo Sect and become the new generation of Huashen at Tianmo University.”

Kuang Tianqing sighed, “But from a student’s perspective, if I had to choose a Huashen, I’d rather the older generation of Huashen continue to live, at least they aren’t so radical.”

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “No… you’ve already turned into a woman to get eight Huashen to give you extra lessons, isn’t that radical? How radical can the Huashen candidates of Tianmo Four Schools be?”

Kuang Tianqing sensed Zhang Yu’s expression, changes in his posture, and fluctuations in his spiritual power and aura. Various analytical results kept appearing in her eye sockets. She thought, “This kid seems to know nothing.”

As Zhang Yu watched Kuang Tianqing begin to check around Dao Qiankun again, he quickly said, “What are you doing? If you mess around again, I’ll call for help!”

As he spoke, Zhang Yu took the opportunity to circle behind Dao Qiankun, wanting to see if there was anything wrong with the corpse.

“Nothing happening?”

Standing behind Dao Qiankun with a hint of nervousness, feeling nothing was happening, Zhang Yu thought, “Right, if something could be triggered so easily, it would have been discovered during the autopsy.”

Just then, Kuang Tianqing’s hand pressed onto Dao Qiankun’s shoulder.

The next moment, a figure suddenly emerged from the corpse and said coldly, “Who disturbs my peaceful slumber?”

Zhang Yu, seeing the figure, was shocked and said, “Brother Dao?”

Kuang Tianqing looked at the figure but frowned and said, “Doesn’t seem like the real Dao Qiankun.”

The figure looked at Kuang Tianqing and said, “If I’m not Dao Qiankun, then who am I?”

Kuang Tianqing talked with the figure for a few sentences and then, after another examination, said directly, “Hmph, just a tool spirit with some memories. It probably appears when the corpse is touched. What a boring thing.”

After searching and finding no clues, Kuang Tianqing left the mourning hall, leaving only Zhang Yu staring at the tool spirit, both wide-eyed.

Zhang Yu spoke a few words to the tool spirit but found that it only repeated the same things over and over. Feeling bored, he continued his cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, a night passed. Zhang Yu’s demonic blood was completely refined, and his Yaosheng Wanbian Shenjing advanced to a higher level.

Although no secrets were found on Dao Qiankun’s corpse, the “Immortal Descendant” Dao seed flashed again, which strengthened Zhang Yu’s resolve to continue cultivating here.

So, in the following days, while acquiring demonic blood daily, Zhang Yu cultivated the Yaosheng Wanbian Shenjing in the mourning hall, accompanying Dao Qiankun’s corpse.

During this period, the “Immortal Descendant” Dao seed on the corpse flashed more and more frequently, from once a day to several times a day.

Zhang Yu had a hunch that as long as he continued to stay, he would eventually get a chance to replicate the Dao seed.

With the purchase of demonic blood and the maintenance of various magical artifacts and skeletal remains, Zhang Yu’s spiritual coin balance steadily declined, soon reaching around 260 spiritual coins.

“Next, I need to cultivate Dao arts to level 20 and continue to buy demonic blood. Subsequent competitions also require maintenance of magical artifacts and skeletal remains. If replicating the Dao seed costs money, and if I need to modify magical artifacts later…”

Zhang Yu quickly calculated in his mind and felt that the money he had now, though seemingly a lot, was still insufficient.

Especially if his goal was to win the championship, no amount of spiritual coins would be too much.

However, with the exposure of the final’s content and rules, the subsequent fees also changed significantly.

Although he could earn fees from every battle, the one-on-one format, the distribution of popularity, and the reduced duration all led to a decrease in Zhang Yu’s fees.

Especially in one-on-one combat competitions, audiences paid more attention to powerful players like Kuang Tianqing, Yan Xiang, Tiansheng Gong, and Cang Shenyu, who were the top students of their respective schools.

If Zhang Yu hadn’t gained significant popularity from his previous battle with Ling Pojun, his fees would probably have dropped even further.

“Currently, after negotiations, the next match fee company is willing to offer around 70 spiritual coins.”

“It would be great if it could be more.”

While Zhang Yu was pondering these matters, Ye Xingli sent him a message.

Ye Xingli: Junior Brother, aren’t you going to live stream?

Zhang Yu: What’s wrong?

Ye Xingli: More and more Jihu fans have been scolding you these days. It’s a good opportunity for you to make money through live streaming.

Zhang Yu: But I’m cultivating.

Ye Xingli: Isn’t making money the best cultivation? What cultivation could be better than live streaming to make money?