A moment later, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had each arrived in a cubicle in the men’s and women’s restrooms. They pulled out their phones and clicked the confirmation button on the webpage.

Immediately, the webpage flashed, revealing a Kunxu First High School Foundation Establishment Exam Registration Form.

Zhang Yu silently filled in his details and then clicked “Login”.

“Login fee: 1000 yuan. Please confirm.”

Zhang Yu cursed under his breath but still clicked “Confirm”.

As 1000 yuan was deducted directly from his bank account, wisps of divine power filled the air.

The next moment, Zhang Yu felt the ground beneath him give way. A large hole had appeared in the restroom floor, and he fell through it.

“Holy crap!”

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

Zhang Yu felt his body traversing countless indescribable things.

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

Zhang Yu sensed a faint divine power emanating from her, thinking, “Human? Or deity?”

Seeing Zhang Yu nod, the woman handed him a contract, saying, “Registration fee is 30,000 yuan. And here are the rules that must be followed during the Foundation Establishment Exam.”

“After paying the registration fee and signing this contract under the witness of the Great God of Heavenly Contracts, you cannot violate the exam rules. Otherwise, you will never be able to take the Foundation Establishment Exam again in this lifetime.”

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

“Also, there will be no refund of the registration fee for withdrawing mid-exam.”

At the thought of the 30,000 yuan registration fee, Zhang Yu felt a pang of anguish in his heart.

Adding this to the train ticket and the earlier login fee, he now only had a little over 10,000 yuan left in his account.

“I wonder if Ah Zhen’s money is enough. If not, will she have to take out a loan to register?” Sighing inwardly, Zhang Yu carefully examined the contract.

The contract contained many regulations, such as not disclosing any specific information about the exam content, not disclosing any information about the exam participants, and not recording or taking photos of the exam site…

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

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

“Don’t even think about resorting to tricks or underhanded tactics.”

“Once discovered by the Eight Divine Generals, both the examinee and any related personnel will be severely punished. At best, they will be bankrupted; at worst, their path to immortality will be severed, and all their potential for the immortal path will be stripped away…”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly, understanding that this was a warning to examinees not to cheat or engage in off-field operations to eliminate competitors.

After carefully reading through all the rules and asking a few clarifying questions, Zhang Yu signed the contract under the witness of the Great God of Heavenly Contracts and then paid the 30,000 yuan registration fee with a heavy heart.

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

“We need to test your basics to screen out some of the weaker candidates, so as not to waste exam resources.”

With that, she stuck exam number 55 on Zhang Yu’s body.

Hearing her words, Zhang Yu’s heart sank. He hadn’t heard Zhang Pianpian mention anything about a test during registration.

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

The middle-aged woman said casually, “The Foundation Establishment Exam has been reformed this year. This is a new addition.”

Zhang Yu complained, “Didn’t you say the first round of exams would start in August?”

“There are still two months left. I have a lot of room for growth. You can’t test my true strength right now.”

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

Zhang Yu sighed helplessly, “Where is the test?”

The middle-aged woman pointed to the door behind Zhang Yu, saying, “The test site is just outside the door.”

Zhang Yu opened the door and walked out. He turned around and saw that the door he had just opened was gone, leaving only a pure white wall.

He walked along the corridor and soon came to a hall.

At the end of the hall, a metal door stood tall, and a group of people were standing in front of it, seemingly looking at something.

Zhang Yu approached and soon saw a familiar person playing on his phone.

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

Li Xuelian: Are you sure you need 100,000?

Yu Xinghan: I can’t reveal how the money will be used, you understand, but I need 100,000 to continue.

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

Looking at the 100,000 yuan that Li Xuelian had transferred, Yu Xinghan couldn’t help but smile. “The Foundation Establishment Exam is really great.”

He thought to himself, “Besides saving money, the most important thing to go further on the path of immortality is the way of money. You can’t go far without it.”

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

“After all, you don’t have a Golden Core master like me.”

“You can only blame the master for being too poor, unable to support both of us. She can only choose the stronger one to nurture…”

Just then, Yu Xinghan looked at the familiar person who had 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 exam number on the other party’s body and smiled slightly. “Here to participate in the Foundation Establishment Exam. Aren’t you?” Having thoroughly read the rules and consulted on the spot, Zhang Yu knew that the exam rules restricted external disclosure and external interference with the order of the exam site, but, like other competitions, they did not prohibit contestants from understanding each other.

In fact, judging from the situation, Zhang Yu strongly suspected that the exam would encourage contestants to understand each other and increase the intensity of the competition.
“You!” Jade Starfrost stared at Zhang Yu in astonishment. Initially, he was taken aback, worried that an acquaintance had discovered his participation in the Foundation Establishment examination. But he quickly realized Zhang Yu was also a examinee, and relaxed. Yet, he couldn’t fathom how the other could be here. How *could* he be here?

This was a gathering of the most elite high school students from the First Layer, a competition among the strongest, a channel only Golden Core cultivators like himself had access to. How could such a pauper have gotten in?

Even if his talent and grades were exceptional… he was, after all, a pauper! A pauper whose patron, Zhang Pianpian, had already abandoned him.

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen walked up to Zhang Yu, patted him on the shoulder, and looked at Jade Starfrost in surprise, saying, “Oh? You’re here too?”

“How is Bai Zhenzhen *also* here?” Jade Starfrost even began to wonder if he was in the wrong place.

At that moment, a red envelope fluttered down, landing at the feet of the three of them.

Jade Starfrost hesitated for a mere tenth of a second, but Zhang Yu had already stomped on the red envelope. He squatted down and reached for it…

But the red envelope was like a phantom image, vanishing directly as Zhang Yu moved.

Jade Starfrost chuckled. “That red envelope was obviously fake…”

Zhang Yu, holding his vibrating phone, exclaimed in astonishment, “My account just got credited with a thousand spirit stones! This red envelope is a direct transfer?”

Jade Starfrost’s face stiffened, immediately regretting his brief hesitation.

Bai Zhenzhen gestured forward with her chin, saying, “That person is the one handing out the red envelopes.”

They saw a bare-chested man in the distance, constantly practicing talismans.

As he practiced, red envelopes would occasionally leap out from the talisman book, landing around him.

The man’s name was Ye Lingxiao. For the past half-month, he had neither cultivated his physical body, nor practiced the art of Qi absorption, nor tempered his Dao heart. Instead, he had been quietly researching talismans.

The reason he dedicated most of his energy to talismans was twofold. First, he had been deeply intrigued by talismans after witnessing a certain woman’s skill with them.

Second, his physical body, Qi capacity, and Dao heart had all reached a bottleneck, requiring no further cultivation. He was also absolutely confident in passing the Foundation Establishment qualification examination.

Ye Lingxiao was considered to possess the most perfect physical body and bloodline of any high school student in the entire Kunxu First Layer.

This was both his self-assessment and the Green Oasis Group’s evaluation of him.

The talisman he was currently practicing was a “red envelope talisman,” which that woman had guided him to learn. Only by mastering this red envelope talisman could he learn the advanced “favor talisman.”

As he focused intently on his practice, a figure suddenly approached him, saying, “I’ve collected all your red envelopes.”

Ye Lingxiao looked up at Zhang Yu, puzzled. “Hm?”

Zhang Yu said, “Are you scattering money? Why not just transfer it directly to my bank account?”

Hearing this, Ye Lingxiao shook his head and said, “I’m practicing the red envelope talisman, but unfortunately, I haven’t broken through yet. The red envelopes only contain, at most, a thousand spirit stones.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up as he looked at Ye Lingxiao, thinking, “So this is what a top-tier rich heir from Kunxu is like? He practices talismans by scattering money like this?”

Compared to Jade Starfrost and Song Hailong, he felt that he and… this good brother, whose name he didn’t even know, were true friends.

Zhang Yu quickly patted his chest and said, “It’s fine, you can use me as practice! Go ahead and practice on me!”

Jade Starfrost, watching this scene, felt a tinge of admiration.

“It seems I was wrong. Zhang Yu’s way of getting money has long been perfected, even surpassing mine.”

With a smile, Jade Starfrost walked over and said, “Ah Yu, who is this good friend? Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“I heard you want to practice talismans? Use me as practice!”

Ye Lingxiao looked at the two in bewilderment and asked, “Are you sure?”

Zhang Yu: “Sure, sure!”

Jade Starfrost pushed Zhang Yu aside and whispered, “You picked up several thousand, didn’t you? It’s my turn now!”

Ye Lingxiao said blandly, “You two are strange. No one has ever wanted to accept my red envelope talisman before. Are you sure the interest rate isn’t too high?”

Hearing the significant term “interest rate,” Jade Starfrost’s movements gradually slowed down.

Zhang Yu asked in confusion, “Interest rate?”

Ye Lingxiao said, “The red envelope talisman is the precursor to the favor talisman.”

“Those who receive this talisman will have their backup funds taken from the Department of Wealth bank.”

“You bastard…” Zhang Yu roared, “Why are you throwing this broken thing around? Do you have any public spirit? Practicing such a vicious thing in public? What if it hits a poor person?”

“Oh? Are there still poor people here?” Ye Lingxiao asked in surprise. “I thought everyone was above picking up money from the ground.”

Zhang Yu was furious. He felt insulted once again.

Bai Zhenzhen reminded him from the side, “Yu, hurry and pay back the money! You’ll accrue interest if you’re late!”

Zhang Yu quickly walked to the side, opened his phone, logged in, and immediately went to the Department of Wealth bank’s website to repay the money.

After Ye Lingxiao’s words, the examinees who hadn’t cared much before now silently moved away from him, creating a large empty space around him.

Ye Lingxiao continued to draw talismans without concern. Soon, another red envelope jumped out and landed on the ground around him.

But at that moment, a hand gently picked up the red envelope. No matter how hard this hand tried to squeeze or rub it, the red envelope did not disappear.

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