August.

Yu Xinghan’s ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’ ability finally upgraded to Level 2.

With his hands moving in blurs, Yu Xinghan repeatedly tapped, kneaded, and pressed the massive slab of flesh before him, constantly adjusting its stress points and relaxing the overworked muscle. Under his ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’, the internal structure of the flesh became incredibly clear. Every point of wear, damage, or weakness appeared precisely before his eyes, significantly enhancing his massage effectiveness.

With a single touch, his client’s body trembled violently, letting out a long moan.

A flicker of pride appeared in Yu Xinghan’s eyes as he witnessed this. “I’ve made another breakthrough,” he thought. “Now… I can raise my massage fees.”

But the next moment, looking at the messages in the Songyang Hometown Group chat, Yu Xinghan suddenly frowned. “It’s that guy, Lian Tianji, again,” he muttered.

In the group, Lian Tianji from Hehuan University was once again posting video links, asking for likes from his fellow townsfolk. While massaging and watching Lian Tianji’s videos, Yu Xinghan couldn’t help but marvel that the other person’s achievements were more than ten times better than his own.

“Hehuan University truly has a unique advantage in video creation.” Videos like ‘The Class Teacher’s Temptation,’ ‘Secret Searches by the Patrol Team,’ and other ‘ultimate,’ ‘sensitive,’ ‘aphrodisiac,’ ‘chastity’ themes made Yu Xinghan feel a vast chasm between them. “Myriad Law University has been left too far behind by Hehuan University in this area of technology.”

“And that guy Lian Tianji… it seems he started making videos back in high school. Could he have been preparing to debut in college all along?”

“As expected, no one from Songyang City who gets into the top ten universities is simple. Not only was Zhang Yu selected for the outdoor construction site, and I successfully joined the underground massage scene, but Lian Tianji’s videos are also doing remarkably well.”

Lost in thought, Yu Xinghan sent Lian Tianji a message: ‘Tianji, could we collaborate on a video? Or perhaps you could help share mine?’

Lian Tianji replied: ‘For business collaborations, please send a private message to…’

Yu Xinghan twitched his lips, thinking, “This guy, back in high school, he could only be found trailing behind Le Mulan, and now he won’t give me any respect.”

***

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu was also researching his ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’ after upgrading it to Level 2. With his eyes tightly closed, his ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’ seemed capable of piercing through his flesh to see various parts of his own body.

Zhang Yu saw his intestines and stomach, slowly writhing, encased in No. 15 Secret Steel. He saw the blood flowing throughout his body. He saw the meridians, subtly damaged after a day’s work, slowly repairing themselves under activation. He also saw the No. 20 Secret Steel unevenly distributed across his bones.

“Using ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’ for external observation is just seeing other people’s weaknesses; it’s not very interesting,” he thought. “However, when used for internal viewing, it allows me to detect all sorts of subtle changes within my body.”

If Zhang Yu’s previous self-healing through body activation was like a blind man feeling an elephant, relying purely on sensation, then now, with the assistance of his Level 2 ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’, he felt his self-healing become more precise and effective.

“Back when I was digesting the No. 20 Secret Steel, if I had this ability, my bone reinforcement could have been more balanced and effective,” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “The Level 2 ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’, for me right now, primarily helps me better avoid physical wear and tear during daily activities, further improving self-healing efficiency. Secondarily… it’s for the future.”

“In the future, when I transfer to the Artifact Forging Department and begin refining my body into a Dharma Skeleton, this ability might prove very useful.”

***

Inside the construction site on floor 667.

Zhang Yu sat cross-legged, breathing in spiritual energy, refining mana, and pushing the 10th Breathing Technique of ‘Qi Pulse Long Flow’. Around him, several humanoid ‘Gang Qi’ figures flickered back and forth, continuously advancing the work on the construction site under Zhang Yu’s command, completing task after task.

Until Zhang Yu’s breathing technique also reached Level 20, and his ‘Qi Pulse Long Flow’ finally achieved its ultimate realm.

**Ultimate Qi Pulse Long Flow (10/10):** Converts physical stamina and essence within the body into mana. The more breathing techniques mastered, the higher the conversion efficiency.

Gazing at this final effect, Zhang Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he mused, “Is this… exchanging health for mana?”

Zhang Yu attempted a slight activation and immediately felt strands of power seemingly squeezed from his entire body’s flesh and blood, then converted into mana, gathering in his Dantian. “So, this is how stamina converts to mana?”

During the conversion, Zhang Yu felt as if the flesh and blood throughout his body were undergoing intense exertion, and a sense of fatigue gradually began to set in. As Zhang Yu’s intent deepened, the essence he had been accumulating in his body through eating and taking medicine over the past few days also seemed restless, ready to be converted into mana at any moment.

However, he naturally didn’t do so. These reserves formed the foundation of his physical prowess, crucial for advancing his cultivation and enhancing his physical strength, not to be easily tapped into.

Next, Zhang Yu simply continued converting his stamina into mana, experimenting with this ability. Zhang Yu thought, “This is an ability that allows me to instantly unleash far more mana, making my total available mana far exceed my own limit. So, if I combine it with my…”

With a thought, another humanoid ‘Gang Qi’ appeared behind him. And as his stamina continuously converted into mana, the mana Zhang Yu consumed was quickly replenished, causing yet another ‘Formless Warrior’ to appear behind him.

However, he quickly dispelled these two ‘Formless Warriors’. Zhang Yu thought, “I need to find an excuse to cover this up, otherwise my mana levels will be too conspicuous.”

So, on the construction site the next day, Zhang Yu held a bottle of ‘Life-Reducing Heavenly Mystery Powder’, pretending to have just consumed it, while quietly converting his stamina into mana. As his abundant stamina was converted into surging mana within his Dantian, Zhang Yu felt his entire body’s flesh and blood burning fiercely, constantly refining waves of mana that poured into his Dantian.

Feeling the swelling sensation from his Dantian, Zhang Yu directly summoned five ‘Formless Warriors’. However, under the combined effect of ‘Qi Pulse Long Flow”s mana recovery rate and the continuous conversion of stamina into mana, he soon felt a faint swelling sensation in his Dantian again.

Thus, Zhang Yu continued to summon one ‘Formless Warrior’ after another. In a flash, a full ten ‘Formless Warriors’ materialized before him. With a shift of Zhang Yu’s thoughts, they surged forward with a roar, clearing away all the construction debris around them.

“Through stamina-to-mana conversion, I can maintain a maximum of ten ‘Formless Warriors’…” Zhang Yu secretly estimated, “At full power, for about half an hour.”

“If I purely aim for quantity, then dozens of ‘Formless Warriors’ might be maintainable for a few minutes.”

“This way…” A hint of excitement flashed in Zhang Yu’s eyes. “I alone can effectively be an entire construction crew! How much will this boost work efficiency?”

“I’m essentially my own foreman now.”

Zhang Yu knew that much of the work on the construction site was paid by the piece, meaning more work led to more pay. This was also why his income from the site had steadily risen as his cultivation improved. And now, this further increase in work efficiency meant his income could rise even higher.

However, when Zhang Yu summoned the seventh ‘Formless Warrior’, he found himself already struggling to control them all, making it difficult for all seven to perform intricate movements. By the time he had ten ‘Formless Warriors’, getting them all to move meant they could only perform rough, imprecise operations. He could only barely control three or four of them to execute martial arts techniques; the rest could only perform basic human movements.

Zhang Yu thought, “I still need to practice.”

“As my cultivation continuously improves and my stamina and mana increase, my actual usable mana will keep growing, and the number of humanoid ‘Gang Qi’ figures I can create will also increase.”

“That means I’ll need stronger control to manage more ‘Formless Warriors’. Otherwise, having more of them will be useless.”

***

As Zhang Yu controlled his ‘construction crew’ at work, Li Xiao, who was passing by nearby, was filled with shock.

“Zhang Yu alone can now manifest so many ‘Gang Qi’ figures to work?”

“How many times my income must that be?”

But that was only his initial thought. Upon further observation, what truly shocked Li Xiao wasn’t this, but the pill bottle Zhang Yu held in his hand.

“No, wait, Zhang Yu is taking that kind of potent medicine again. Is he forcibly extracting mana from his body to refine ‘Gang Qi’? Just for work?”

“Even if his wages increase, the physical damage is significant. For everyday work… does he really need to risk his life like this?” This was what truly astounded Li Xiao.

He felt his mindset crumbling: “Working like this, even if he earns more, how much more will it really be after deducting future medical expenses? It’s too competitive… Dammit, it’s too competitive!”

After work concluded that day, Zhang Yu checked his income, a wave of satisfaction rising within him. From an initial 0.05 spirit coins per night, then over 0.07 spirit coins per night, to today… his nightly wage directly surpassed 0.1 spirit coins.

“In civil engineering, if you’re willing to endure hardship, you can truly save money.”

***

After Zhang Yu successively completed ‘Qi Pulse Long Flow’ and ‘Three-Eyed Divine Vision’ in August, his journey of ‘Spirit-Flesh Unification’ had, at one point, fallen into a predicament. Day after day of attempts, he always felt a breakthrough was imminent, yet he consistently failed.

On this particular day, as Zhang Yu logged into ‘Hammer Heart Residence’ again and entered the simulated environment, the backend management staff of ‘Hammer Heart Residence’ began observing him.

In a pure white Spirit World control room, You Chuan, manager of Hammer Heart Residence, spoke to a nearby customer service representative: “He’s back again?”

The representative replied, “The user has entered the simulated environment.”

Looking at Zhang Yu’s data, You Chuan couldn’t help but frown repeatedly. Starting a few days ago, relevant user alerts regarding Zhang Yu’s delayed breakthrough had been sent to You Chuan. To increase the user’s breakthrough success rate, You Chuan had to raise his permissions, allowing him to log into the simulated environment three times a day. But even with triple the efficiency, the user still showed no signs of a breakthrough.

“If this Zhang Yu drags on much longer, our team’s average customer breakthrough time for this month will increase again.”

“And this kid… he hasn’t broken through for so long, I think he has the potential to surpass the 29-day record.”

At this thought, Zhang Yu, in Manager You Chuan’s eyes, had transformed into an unprecedented formidable adversary.