Li Xuelian: There are a few civil engineering jobs; accepting them may lead to encountering familiar faces.

Yu Xinghan: Accept.

Li Xuelian: You wouldn’t want your classmates to know you work as an underground masseur, right?

Yu Xinghan: Understood, I will conceal my identity.

Gazing upon the message from Li Xuelian, Yu Xinghan mused that the civil engineering domain harbored a vast market for massage, a market he could not easily relinquish.

Yu Xinghan recalled his time on the first floor, where he and Zhang Yu practiced the art of outer form transformation under the guidance of True Man Xinghuo. He sighed with emotion, “Master indeed possessed foresight, knowing that ascending above would inevitably necessitate engagement in hidden deeds!”

Yu Xinghan speculated, “Perhaps he too began by offering massages!”

As he beheld the address of the ensuing task sent by Li Xuelian, Yu Xinghan’s form rippled, already morphing into the semblance of a stranger!

“Alas, ’tis a pity that Senior Sister dislikes massage!”

In bygone days, when learning his craft at the massage parlor, Yu Xinghan yearned daily for his Senior Sister’s touch! Now that he himself had become an underground masseur, he yearned only to massage his Senior Sister in repayment of her kindness! Yu Xinghan mused that this might be the mark of a man’s maturity!

He journeyed to the target location, then commenced the session, performed his work, and concluded… Finally, with a smile, Yu Xinghan addressed the client, “Brother, if satisfied, summon me again!”

Having completed his sideline, Yu Xinghan hastened without delay to the underground tomb, to continue his labors on the construction site for the day! This time, he was fortuitously assigned to the same area as Zhang Yu, and from afar, he beheld a figure of human-shaped Qi tirelessly toiling!

“This fellow Zhang Yu’s manipulation of Qi is becoming ever more refined!”

As Yu Xinghan inwardly marveled, the human-shaped Qi suddenly sprinted towards him! He heard Zhang Yu declare, “It is a rare encounter; let us, brothers, engage in some practice!”

Yu Xinghan chuckled, saying, “You intend to spar with me using naught but this single strand of Qi? Is that not overly presumptuous?”

In recent times, Yu Xinghan believed his own progress had been immense; his part-time massage work had increased his income, his Three-Eyed Divine Vision had greatly enhanced his cultivation efficiency, and the tomb work allowed him to continuously absorb spiritual energy from the ley line!

Upon seeing Zhang Yu’s human-shaped Qi assault him, he let out a low cry, his right palm imbued with fierce Qi, striking out! With a thunderous boom, the human-shaped Qi shattered!

Just as Yu Xinghan believed this single strike had routed the human-shaped Qi, from within the shattered Qi, a skeletal frame emanating chilling cold burst forth, likewise striking towards his chest with a palm!

“Hmm?” Yu Xinghan, witnessing this scene, was slightly taken aback! In his recollection, Zhang Yu’s human-shaped Qi, while capable of borrowing strength to strike, was not resilient and easily shattered, requiring constant expenditure of spiritual power to regenerate new human-shaped Qi!

But at this very moment, the assaulting human-shaped skeletal frame exhibited an unexpected degree of fortitude! Amidst crackling sounds, Yu Xinghan and the skeletal frame collided several times, and he felt that this skeletal frame was not only incredibly hard but also exuded an icy chill! After several exchanges, surging Qi was once again channeled by Zhang Yu into the skeletal frame, filling it and restoring it to the semblance of its initial human-shaped Qi!

Having undergone this round of testing, Yu Xinghan inwardly grasped the situation. “This fellow Zhang Yu has frozen the Qi, using it as a ‘skeleton’ to increase the overall resilience of the human-shaped Qi!”

“And the exterior of the ‘skeleton’ is filled with ordinary Qi, forming a layer resembling ‘flesh and skin’!”

“Ordinary attacks, even if they shatter the superficial layer of ‘flesh and skin,’ cannot break the ‘skeletal’ structure beneath!”

“Then, one need only refill the ‘flesh and skin’ with Qi to restore it!”

“His tactical approach is becoming increasingly sophisticated…”

Yu Xinghan immediately understood that to destroy Zhang Yu’s human-shaped Qi, one must shatter both the ‘skin’ and the ‘bones’ in a single assault!

“Hmph, let me demonstrate the martial art I’ve recently cultivated to the 15th level!”

He abruptly circulated his Qi, unleashing the Dragon-Elephant Vajra Palm, a technique originating from the same lineage as the Dragon-Elephant Collapse Mountain Palm! Unlike the Dragon-Elephant Collapse Mountain Palm, which relies solely on physical strength, the Dragon-Elephant Vajra Palm utilizes explosive Qi to augment the outburst of physical strength! When striking, the Qi does not burst forth from the body but remains contained within, reinforcing physical strength and resilience. It is a purely close-combat martial art, and one of the techniques that True Man Xinghuo planned for Yu Xinghan to cultivate!

Yu Xinghan let out a low cry, threads of Qi filling every muscle fiber of his right arm, dyeing the entire limb with a golden hue! The next instant, as he struck with his palm, fierce winds howled, and the very air before him seemed to be evacuated by the strike! And the human-shaped Qi likewise struck with a palm, within which was contained the power of Yu Xinghan’s previous strike!

With a resounding boom, their palms fiercely collided! Beneath Yu Xinghan’s strike, the ‘flesh and skin’ of the human-shaped Qi, centered around the palm, fragmented inch by inch, and the entire form violently exploded! The ‘skeleton’ beneath the ‘flesh and skin’ also creaked and groaned, revealing dense cracks, seemingly on the verge of shattering the next instant!

Just as Yu Xinghan intended to deliver another strike to utterly pulverize the human-shaped Qi before him, he saw the fractured skeletal frame raise its right arm, preparing to unleash a Dragon-Elephant Vajra Palm of its own!

Feeling the explosive Qi contained within the opponent’s palm, Yu Xinghan hurriedly retreated, shouting, “Stop, stop, stop!”

“This kind of sparring is too injurious; no more, no more!”

Yu Xinghan had no desire to receive the force of his own Dragon-Elephant Vajra Palm; any minor injury would be a significant loss for him! He lamented, “Your Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force was already enough of a scoundrel technique!”

“Now, combined with this human-shaped Qi tactic, not only can you engage in life-and-death exchanges with every move, but you can also borrow strength to strike, while your own body remains safely hidden to the side!”

“It’s a pity you don’t work as a security guard!”

At the same time, Yu Xinghan could imagine that once someone engaged in battle with Zhang Yu, believing that shattering or bypassing the human-shaped Qi would lead to victory…

“They would discover that this fellow is infuriatingly tough, and it would be better to turn back and directly confront the Qi!”

Yu Xinghan mused inwardly, “The only weakness might be that Zhang Yu’s fighting style requires a continuous supply to maintain the human-shaped Qi, leading to significant expenditure of spiritual power!”

He silently summarized in his mind, “To fight the main body is not as good as fighting the human-shaped Qi; and to fight the human-shaped Qi, one cannot use fierce moves, or it is easy to be struck by borrowed strength and injure oneself instead!”

“In other words, the most suitable method to combat this fellow is to slowly wear down his human-shaped Qi. Any frantic assault will only increase one’s medical expenses and skeletal frame repair costs!”

“But if it takes a long time, he loses Qi and spiritual power, while I risk my own flesh and blood, so I must also use Qi to contend with him, which will increase my own Qi depletion!”

“And…” Yu Xinghan thought of another point: “This fellow has also made some unsavory deal with Le Mulan; now, their strikes can carry a chilling aura!”

“If I try to wear this fellow down, prolonged engagement will require worrying about the accumulation of cold energy within my body…”

“Disgusting!”

The more Yu Xinghan thought about it, the more his head ached, and the tighter his brows furrowed. He felt that any way he fought Zhang Yu would result in a loss, his eyes filled with various deficits and expenses. Just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable, and he no longer had any interest in engaging in combat with the other party!

“Fortunately, he is a good brother to whom I have given money and lent money!”

“From now on, whoever I want to disgust, I should make them fight Zhang Yu!”

Zhang Yu was quite pleased with today’s test, thinking, “Not bad, not bad. My human-shaped Qi, after being frozen, can withstand Yu Xinghan’s full-powered palm strike!” From the initial Qi arm, to the human-shaped Qi, and now to this frozen Qi forming a skeletal framework for the human-shaped Qi, the work efficiency has continuously increased. These are all the results of Zhang Yu’s continuous attempts in recent days!

As it is formed by the Formless Cloud Qi, he refers to the simple human-shaped Qi as Formless Strongman! And the human-shaped Qi that utilizes the Deep Chill Ley Line to create a skeleton is referred to by Zhang Yu as Deep Chill Strongman!

Among them, the Formless Strongman has faster movement speed, but lower Qi transmission efficiency and weaker strength tolerance, and is relatively easy to shatter and dissipate. It can be generated instantly! The Deep Chill Strongman has higher Qi transmission efficiency and stronger strength tolerance, but slower movement speed and greater consumption of spiritual power, and is slow to generate. It takes at least 5 seconds for her to create one!

Zhang Yu silently calculated, “With my current spiritual power, if I release it all, I can create about 6 Formless Strongmen, or some Deep Chill Strongmen!”

“But those would just be for show. If I were to work at full capacity, I could at most maintain 1 Deep Chill Strongman, or 3 Formless Strongmen!”

“However, as the effect of the Unending Qi Channel is enhanced in the future, this number should correspondingly increase!”

While contemplating, Zhang Yu smiled slightly at Yu Xinghan, saying, “You are afraid of injury, so let’s change the practice method!”

“I will help you stimulate your spiritual root. Your spiritual root has not yet reached 100% fusion, has it?”

Thereupon, Zhang Yu expelled a burst of Qi, transforming into a Formless Strongman, and once again engaged in battle with Yu Xinghan! However, this time, it was the same as his past sparring sessions with Yu Xinghan, continuously stimulating the opponent’s body and spiritual root to enhance the opponent’s cultivation effect!

In the following days, Zhang Yu seized the opportunity of working in the same area as Yu Xinghan, taking advantage of the time to occasionally assist the other party in improving the fusion degree of his spiritual root! On this day, Yu Xinghan let out a roar, and the third eye in his mind vibrated, causing the muscles throughout his body to twitch!

“My spiritual root fusion degree has reached 100%!”

Yu Xinghan felt his body, only feeling an unprecedented clarity in the control of his entire flesh and blood. The mobilization of both physical strength and spiritual power was more than ten percent faster than before!

Zhang Yu nodded in satisfaction from the side, thinking, “To upgrade the Three-Eyed Divine Vision to level 2, in addition to 100% spiritual root fusion, the remaining requirement is over 500 spiritual power!”

“Yu Xinghan will definitely achieve this before the end of this semester!”

Zhang Yu’s only regret was that the accumulation of spiritual power primarily depended on Yu Xinghan himself; he could at most feed him a little blood! As for giving Yu Xinghan money? Giving money is impossible; he himself doesn’t have enough money, so how could he give it to Yu Xinghan!

And as time gradually approached the end of June!

The tomb project officially concluded, and Zhang Yu’s Unending Qi Channel finally reached the 8th layer!

Advanced Unending Qi Channel (8/8): Master the Nascent Breath technique, reducing the extra loss of spiritual power and its derivatives when operating!