On the way back to his dorm, Zhang Yu ceaselessly experimented with various gravitational combinations.

Ultimately, he opted for the custom mode.

Since his physical exertion was minimal during daytime studies and classes, he applied a 20-fold gravity enhancement to his entire body. This allowed him to temper his physical form to the extreme without suffering damage, a state Zhang Yu termed the “Daytime Study Mode.”

Paired with his construction site labor, he utilized a 10-fold gravity mode, along with intensified 12, 15, and 18-fold gravity on specific fortified regions – what Zhang Yu called “Nighttime Labor Mode.”

Zhang Yu understood that as his physical fortitude constantly improved, he would gradually increase the gravity multiplier, striving to maintain a state as near to the limit as possible!

In the raging inferno, Zhang Yu felt his muscles gradually transform in the intense heat, his powerful physique slowly turning to ash!

Under immense pressure, Zhang Yu sensed his bones cracking inch by inch, his entire being gradually crushed into a puddle of mud!

Amidst excruciating pain, Zhang Yu felt blood gushing from his seven orifices, his internal organs gradually decaying, feeling himself step-by-step toward death!

Inside the classroom, Zhang Yu abruptly awoke, removing the spirit realm helmet. A glance at his ocular implant revealed only 10 seconds remaining before class!

Zhang Yu took a deep breath, attempting to fully recover from his spiritual realm ordeal!

Through purchasing the Hammerheart Dwelling’s monthly spirit realm service, combined with the consciousness acceleration function, Zhang Yu could experience over a dozen deaths each class break!

Under that extreme pressure of mortality, Zhang Yu felt his Rank 20 Abandoning Life for the Stubborn Ox Art surge into action, ceaselessly hammering his Dao Heart!

“Damn it… truly suffering for money!”

Zhang Yu’s account balance: 7.3 spirit coins. With the assistance of spirit coins, his Dao Heart, Mana, Physical Strength, Spiritual Root Integration, and Mana Quality all experienced rapid growth!

It made him marvel at the power of wealth!

A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye. As the end of October arrived, Zhang Yu’s Dao Heart had reached Level 12 (51.5), Mana at 379.3, and Physical Strength at Level 12.01!

Furthermore, his Spiritual Root Integration had reached 80%, granting him enhanced control over his mana and physical strength, while also boosting the efficiency of body refinement and mana extraction!

His Mana Quality, after repeatedly absorbing high-quality mana, reached 127. This made his mana more durable when performing martial techniques, and the power of his Stellar Qi increased as well!

The rapid increase in his base stats also propelled Zhang Yu’s ranking upwards in the past month and a half, rising from seventh to fourth!

Standing before Zhang Yu now were only Ying Xin, Gongshu Jin, and Ji Yuan Shu!

And as all aspects of his being comprehensively improved, coupled with Zhang Yu’s gradual revelation of higher-level body refinement techniques, his labor efficiency at the construction site naturally increased as well!

This day, returning from the construction site, he had earned 0.049 spirit coins in a single night!

“0.049 a day, 1.47 a month!”

Zhang Yu muttered to himself, “Still too slow. I need to be faster!”

Although his strength increased rapidly, and he was earning more spirit coins, Zhang Yu knew that he had spent even more in the past month and a half!

Currently, only 2.69 spirit coins remained in his account.

Income and expenditure were not balanced!

“But it should be enough to last until next month!”

“I should be able to borrow another sum of money then, enough to last another month or two, perhaps.”

“By then, it should be about time!”

Besides the increase in his base stats and his daily wages, Zhang Yu’s greatest achievement was the Earth and Wood Sacred Body!

After cultivating for a month and a half, in addition to pouring concrete at the construction site, he also worked on arranging steel bars, filling templates, transporting materials, and other tasks!

During this time, by changing jobs and searching for suitable body refinement techniques, he had pushed three of the techniques required for the Earth and Wood Sacred Body to Level 20!

Combined with the previous Soil Devouring Divine Art, War Demon Meteor Longevity Art, and Limitless Vibration Zen, he had finally gathered all six techniques required for the Earth and Wood Sacred Body!

[Preliminary Earth and Wood Sacred Body (6/6)] Tremendous boost to resistance against earthquakes, dust, poison, noise, pressure, cancer, radiation, pollution, high temperatures, low temperatures, impacts, slashing, piercing, and starvation!

You, with your extraordinary resilience, are a natural-born Sacred Body for earth and wood construction. Even suicide would be a time-consuming endeavor for you!

Looking at the effects of the preliminary Earth and Wood Sacred Body, Zhang Yu knew that this would negate many of the side effects of the earth and wood techniques, resisting various vibration syndromes, dust lung disease, radiation sickness, noise-induced deafness, cancer, and the like!

“But… is it just to negate the side effects of the techniques?”

Although the Sacred Body seemed to resist various side effects, most of its resistances were currently unnecessary for Zhang Yu, who possessed powerful self-healing abilities. It was perhaps less effective than using his current University Sacred Body to improve the efficiency of technique training!

“Speaking of which, the preliminary Sacred Body has so many resistances… is there really any construction site that dangerous?”

Zhang Yu shook his head and swallowed a small piece of steel bar protruding from his sleeve. With the operation of the Soil Devouring Divine Art and the enhanced digestive power provided by the University Sacred Body, it was instantly converted into nutrients to strengthen his bones!

After finishing this bite, Zhang Yu sighed, “Only cement bags are edible at this construction site. Other materials are really hard to find!”

In the following days, Zhang Yu continued to study diligently during the day and work tirelessly at night. But one evening, accompanied by a strong tremor, Zhang Yu felt the floor beneath him slightly undulating!

Although the tremor came and went quickly, it still surprised Zhang Yu. “This is… an earthquake?”

Moments later, Zhang Yu saw an announcement stating that an accidental explosion of hazardous materials had occurred in the underground levels of the University City, but with the implementation of rescue measures, everything would soon return to normal!

Just as Zhang Yu thought it was just a common accident!

Half an hour later, all the construction workers on the 666th floor were gathered together!

The figure of Tu Lishan appeared in everyone’s ocular implants!

He said, “Everyone, we have an urgent mission that requires manpower!”

“An accidental explosion occurred in the underground levels, and we now need a group of workers to go there and carry out repairs!”

“This work is quite urgent and somewhat dangerous, but we are willing to offer five times the salary, for a period of about half a month!”

Hearing about the five-fold salary, some people were already excited. Li Xiao clenched his fists, an impatient look on his face!
However, some furrowed their brows, already discreetly retreating. Ying Xin shook her head, thinking, “The university isn’t a charity!”

“Five times the pay! What exactly happened down there?”

Yu Xinghan hesitated, saying, “Zhang Yu, should we go for this five-times pay…?! One day equals five, but paying this much… I feel like something isn’t right!”

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and contacted Zhang Pianpian directly, wanting to inquire about the situation!

Zhang Pianpian replied: “The underground alchemic factory suffered an explosion. The fires have been extinguished through the combined efforts of several teachers, but the damage to the site is considerable, and there has been a significant leakage of raw materials. They likely need you to go and repair the damage!”

After inquiring with his sister, Zhang Yu saw the registration notification pop up. Considering the resistance granted by his Earthenwood Sacred Body, he ultimately chose to register!

He told Yu Xinghan beside him: “Don’t rush to register yet. I’ll go down and check things out first. If the situation is bad, we’ll withdraw!”

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Yu followed the guidance of the Eye Socket art and arrived at the second underground level of the Myriad Dharma University City!

He saw the shattered, twisted, and lopsided gate lying on the ground not far away!

Behind it was a vast expanse of ruins, unrecognizable from its original appearance!

The figure of Earth Mountain manifested in the Eye Sockets of many workers. He said: “Everyone, due to the explosion, the spiritual conduits inside the factory are severed, and the formation is temporarily cut off.”

“So now, the factory blueprints and your respective tasks will be sent to you!”

“Please follow the markings on the blueprints and proceed to your designated locations to work!”

“Although the fires within the factory have been extinguished, there is still some danger. Please be careful!”

“Also, everything within the alchemic factory is a university and company secret, and you need to sign a confidentiality agreement!”

On the other side, before entering the factory ruins, Zhang Yu had already switched the art to Earthenwood Sacred Body. Looking at the various resistances on the Sacred Body, he felt a sense of security rise within him!

Then, while looking at the map, he stepped into the alchemic factory grounds. Looking at the collapsed factory buildings and smelling the burnt, charred smell in the air, he wondered what had exploded with such power!

Just then, Zhang Yu suddenly stared at a wall in a daze, only because there was a huge palm print on it!

Continuing deeper, Zhang Yu discovered that the ruins were filled with palm prints, fist marks, sword scars, and the like!

Zhang Yu thought in surprise: “This is an accidental explosion? This is freaking someone fought here, right?”

Fuji said, “Hehe, looks like it wasn’t an accidental explosion, someone attacked this alchemic factory!”

Zhang Yu exclaimed: “Attacked? Who attacked? Someone can attack the Myriad Dharma University City’s alchemic factory?”

Fuji: “Who knows!”

Just then, with a booming explosion, a heatwave erupted not far away, engulfing several workers!

Zhang Yu watched as those Qi Refining laborers were quickly dehydrated by the high temperature, their skin charred, and they ultimately fell to the ground, seriously injured.

At the same time, plumes of thick purple smoke billowed from the site of the explosion!

Someone shouted: “The alchemic factory’s toxic substances are leaking!”

Just as some workers were about to flee, a Foundation Establishment cultivator whose height had swollen to five meters coldly snorted and said: “What are you afraid of? Don’t move rashly, repair the site according to the plan!”

“As long as the spiritual circuits are restored and the factory area is returned to the formation, the situation will soon be under control!”

Under his command, the scene quickly stabilized, and Zhang Yu joined in, beginning to clear the rubble!

Then Zhang Yu quickly discovered that the factory area was simply full of danger!

Explosions and heatwaves appeared from time to time, and various toxic substances were leaking everywhere like a concentrated soup of chemicals!

Outside the factory area, Ying Xin thought to herself, “As expected, nothing good comes of this!”

She had come down out of curiosity to see the situation, thinking, “I wonder if this five-times pay is enough for medical expenses!”

As the high temperature and toxic environment intensified, a large number of Qi Refining workers were the first to choose to withdraw, followed by a small number of Foundation Establishment workers who also chose to give up!

Ying Xin looked at Zhang Yu and Li Xiao, who were still rushing in and out, constantly transporting materials, and continuing to participate in the repair work under these circumstances, and thought to herself, “A bunch of try-hards! They’re really going all out!”

“But this is simply gambling!”

Ying Xin dismissed the desperate efforts of Zhang Yu and Li Xiao. In her opinion, this kind of desperate effort was too degrading, a last resort for those who were too poor. In any case, she would definitely not participate in this kind of dangerous work that might result in a loss!

However, thinking about the recent progress in Zhang Yu and Li Xiao’s rankings, a flash of understanding flashed in Ying Xin’s eyes!

“In five months, Zhang Yu has gone from being in the teens to seventh, and now to fourth in the class, only one place behind me!”

“It seems he has indeed invested a lot of money, like Li Xiao!”

“But Li Xiao has been running out of money for some time and is about to give up!”

Thinking of the clumsy excuses Li Xiao had made to refuse her recent invitations to cultivate together, Ying Xin shook her head: “Now it seems… Zhang Yu is also about to run out of money, so he’s working so hard to earn money!”