When Zhang Yu asked his question, Zhang Pianpian paused slightly before replying, “Who in this world isn’t short of money?”

“I am indeed saving up a sum, and while I’m still a bit short, it shouldn’t take much longer to gather it.”

Upon hearing her answer, Zhang Yu secretly wondered, “Could she be just 50 Spirit Coins short?”

However, he wasn’t sure if the 50 Spirit Coins reflected by the Dao Seed were related to the money Zhang Pianpian was saving, and he couldn’t just ask directly. He could only temporarily bury his doubts. At the same time, Zhang Yu felt that the Spirit Coins he possessed were becoming increasingly insufficient.

“Sigh, it seems that the spirit-body integration is indeed challenging. I should try it myself first; if it doesn’t work, then I’ll spend money.”

Over the next few days, Zhang Yu and the other three continued to study, cultivate, and work as usual, as if nothing had happened.

One day, Zhang Yu was cultivating his breathing technique in the graveyard as he always did. After days of diligent practice, he had completed the seventh breathing technique of the Qi Meridian Flow and was now practicing the eighth: Spirit Guiding Body Tempering Art. At this moment, his magic power circulated, and a dense spiritual energy flowed through his meridians, continuously diffusing and subtly tempering his muscles and tendons. During his time working and cultivating in the graveyard, Zhang Yu spent more time meditating and breathing each day. Therefore, he specifically chose a breathing technique that could temper his muscles and tendons during practice, ensuring his body tempering progress wouldn’t fall too far behind.

However, as he practiced the seventh and eighth breathing techniques, he noticed his cultivation efficiency had slowed down. This slowdown wasn’t due to the environment or any change in his condition; it was simply because the breathing techniques Zhang Yu was practicing were becoming increasingly difficult.

“But there’s nothing I can do about it,” Zhang Yu mused. “There are only about a dozen breathing techniques in the Qi Meridian Flow set. I’ve already completed the simplest ones; the remaining ones are quite complex. Each full circulation takes a significant amount of time.”

“At this rate, even I will likely need more than half a month, or even a full month, to raise a breathing technique to Level 20.”

Zhang Yu knew that if anyone heard his current lament, they might want to punch him. But for someone accustomed to rapidly improving cultivation techniques, taking a month to raise a technique to Level 20 indeed felt a bit slow.

A long while later, Zhang Yu felt the effects of his last dose of medicine dissipate. He slowly ceased his cultivation and took the opportunity to check the accumulated messages in his eye-bone device.

First, he replied to the shared medicine information in the dormitory group, then quickly scanned through some homework assignments from class groups. After that came a variety of miscellaneous messages from various other groups.

There was a forging group that Ye Xingli from the Forging Department had invited him into, where two factions were arguing over whether Vajra Profound Forge or Heavenly Craft made better leg tendon Dharma-bones. Then, more bad news came from the Songyang Hometown Group: a student from Shuizhou Demonic Descendant Vocational College, trying to save money, had skipped medication and consistently pushed through sleepless nights. He nearly died from cardiac arrest and was now borrowing money in the group to buy energy capsules so he could safely stay up late.

Chu Qiuhe from Vajra University: “No borrowing money in this group. First warning, second time you’re out.”

Xiong Wenwu from Heavenly Demon University: “We’re all from the same hometown. He just wants to borrow some money to stay awake. Isn’t that a bit too strict?”

Chu Qiuhe from Vajra University: “If you don’t have money, go to sleep.”

Another demonic descendant student chimed in, replying: “What’s the difference between telling him to sleep every day at university and telling him to die? He’s a university student, he just doesn’t want to sleep, he wants to get up and study. What’s wrong with that?”

Chu Qiuhe from Vajra University: “Who knows if it’s a scam. If you’re so poor you can’t even afford to stay up late, then what kind of immortal cultivation are you doing?”

After a quick glance at the group’s argument, Zhang Yu turned his attention to other accumulated messages. He then noticed a message from Cong Na of the competition team.

Cong Na: “Everyone else in the team has agreed. I’ll send you the competition materials and add you to the group.”

Zhang Yu first accepted the competition materials, quickly scanned them, then agreed to her invitation to join the group.

Zhang Yu: “Hello everyone, I’m new here. Please take care of me in the future.”

Cong Na: “Welcome.”

Ma Xuan: “Welcome to the team.”

Zhang Yu greeted them, but besides Cong Na and Ma Xuan, no third person welcomed him, and their three-person chat history was quickly buried by other messages.

Zhang Yu glanced around and noticed three other people in the group chatting enthusiastically about Daoist magic, completely oblivious to others. Lines of text scrolled rapidly, filling the entire chat window. Zhang Yu then checked the profiles of the other five members in the group, besides himself. He discovered that while Cong Na’s profile only showed her as fifth in her class, the others displayed their ranking within the entire department in addition to their class ranking. Among them, Ma Xuan was ranked 35th in the department, and the remaining three were all ranked in the 40s or 50s. Including Zhang Yu, the six of them comprised the competition team. Zhang Yu also checked their academic years and found that none were beyond their fifth year of university. Zhang Yu understood that to reach the top 50 in the entire department at this stage, these individuals were clearly elite academic talents from the Civil Engineering Department.

“No wonder no one bothered to acknowledge me,” Zhang Yu thought. He completely understood this; after all, it was common for high-ranking students to even humiliate lower-ranking ones. Ignoring them, on the other hand, was actually quite polite.

Just then, a student named Bu Ziran sent a short video showing a newly unboxed lung Dharma-bone.

Bu Ziran: “The latest lung Dharma-bone from Myriad Dao Craftsman Sect. Breathing with it allows you to accumulate and refine Lung-Gold Sword Qi.”

Bu Ziran: “Subscribe to Myriad Dao Craftsman Sect’s monthly service, and you can switch between 23 types of Sword Qi.”

Bu Ziran: “Got it for 18.88 Spirit Coins.”

When Zhang Yu saw the price, he thought it was expensive, but then he saw another student named Yang Yan reply: “That’s cheap! Did you get a discount?”

Bu Ziran: “My uncle works at Myriad Dao Craftsman Sect, so I got it at an internal price this time.”

Watching the subsequent conversations in the group about Dharma-bones, medicine, Daoist magic, and magic artifacts, Zhang Yu thought of the flour brick he had just recently fought tooth and nail to secure. He felt increasingly out of place in this group, unable to participate in these topics even if he wanted to.

And seeing that even these fourth and fifth-year academic elites in the group hadn’t ranked in the top 20 of the entire department, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly: “True Man Xinghuo, that old geezer… he told me to transfer to the Forging Department after getting into Civil Engineering. Does he even know how difficult it is to transfer departments in university now?”

“To climb into the top 20 of the entire department before the end of the third year… that’s tough.”

Zhang Yu knew that to surpass middle and upper-year students in overall scores during his early years, he would need to study middle and upper-year courses in advance. This demanded not only extraordinary talent but also a substantial amount of money. Ji Yuanzhu from his class, for example, was a prodigy aiming for a department transfer. During this time, Zhang Yu had gradually come to understand the typical cultivation plans of these transfer-oriented prodigies.

“During the first and second years, they primarily lay the foundation, pushing their basic stats to the peak of Foundation Establishment.”

“In the third year, they begin advanced study, accelerating through the Spirit Realm to complete numerous upper-level courses in their current department and pass exams.”

“Finally, in that third year, they accumulate significant overall scores, pushing their rank into the top 50. Only then can they transfer departments.”

“And for transferring from Civil Engineering to Forging, the requirements are even stricter, needing at least a top 20 rank.”

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Old Man Xinghuo might have been out of university for too long.”

“And my sister believes… even if I can’t transfer now, I can always transfer to forging later through postgraduate studies.”

“But…” Zhang Yu’s gaze sharpened, and he resolved firmly, “I want to enter the Ten Great Sects. I need to seize the time… to get into one before their entry channels close.”

“And the Ten Great Sects do not accept Civil Engineering students.”

Zhang Yu thought, “I must join the Forging Department sooner and start cultivating forging techniques earlier.”

“Transferring to the Forging Department after postgraduate entrance exams… that’s too slow, far too slow.”

Looking at the rankings of Ma Xuan and the others, a sense of urgency welled up in Zhang Yu once more, and he quickly resumed his cultivation. However, the effects of his previous dose of medicine had worn off, significantly lowering his breathing technique efficiency. Zhang Yu decided to use this time, before taking his next dose, to attempt spirit-body integration.

“According to Teacher Feng Jiu from the Dao Heart class, the cultivation of mental techniques… 24-hour operation is just the basic level.”

“Above that is the semi-instinctual realm.”

“And beyond the semi-instinctual realm is the fully instinctual state of spirit-body integration.”

Zhang Yu felt the mental technique circulating in his mind at that moment, recalling the sensation of entering a state of suspended animation when the building collapsed and he was buried on the first floor.

“At that time, from the outside, I appeared completely unconscious, but in reality, I retained a faint flicker of a will to survive.”

“I wasn’t thinking or pondering anything then; I just felt myself in a dark world of consciousness, fully activating my body to maintain the regeneration of my flesh and blood.”

“This state, where a last shred of clarity is maintained in the mind, is roughly the semi-instinctual level.”

“The state of spirit-body integration, however, means that even if one truly loses consciousness and is completely comatose, the mental technique continues to operate, just like breathing.”

Zhang Yu tried to activate the suspended animation state of the Spring and Autumn Endless Meditation, continuously clearing his mind of distracting thoughts. But no matter how he tried to eliminate the myriad thoughts in his mind, there was always that one final thought remaining, preserving his last shred of clarity.

“It’s really difficult, as expected,” Zhang Yu muttered inwardly. “Maintaining a mental technique even when unconscious… that’s practically superhuman.”

In the following days, whenever Zhang Yu cultivated, he would try to achieve the state of spirit-body integration whenever he had time. Although he hadn’t succeeded yet, he could feel the mental technique flowing slightly more smoothly. In particular, his speed of entering that state where only a last shred of thought remained in his mind became increasingly fast.

As time flew by, it was suddenly early June. More than a month had passed since Zhang Yu first set foot in the graveyard project. During this period, he initially had funding from CEO Wang, and although that stopped later, Zhang Yu still made significant progress in his magic power, thanks to daily potent elixirs and the unique environment of the graveyard. His magic power soared to 661.3. As the numerical value increased, the efficiency of improving his magic power quality slowed, but it still reached 168. His Dao Heart also steadily improved under the constant operation of his mental technique, reaching Level 14 (64.8). His physical strength, due to his focus on breathing techniques and reduced exercise time, only increased to Level 15.18. Meanwhile, his Qi conductivity rate and maximum conduction distance steadily increased with the improvement of his basic stats, reaching 42 and 44 meters respectively.

On this day, Ma Xuan contacted Zhang Yu again, inviting him to participate in the competition team’s joint training session.