Within the Spirit Realm.

During the competition, each participating team’s communication group shares its chat information with the judges and teachers, demonstrating their internal communication process. Zhang Yu’s team was no exception.

Observing Zhang Yu’s messages in the competition chat, a teacher commented, “It seems Zhang Yu has discovered something.”

Another teacher added, “His conversation with the substitute player was likely a probe.”

“The formation was set up hastily, without sufficient data collection. The Myriad Ghosts Bewitching Formation can’t perfectly simulate all situations, so he must have found a flaw now.”

Lang Yougong chuckled, “Who would have thought Zhang Yu, who seems so daring and competitive, could also be meticulous in his work?”

Wei Huai remarked, “However, Su Yanyang’s team was likely still focused on construction and hadn’t launched a serious attack. Now that Zhang Yu’s team has found a weakness, Su Yanyang’s team should be about to truly demonstrate the power of intelligent architecture.”

***

In the arena.

Su Yanyang’s gaze seemed to penetrate layers of obstacles, seeing Zhang Yu and his two teammates who had already entered his formation. But the three, whose every move should have been under his observation, suddenly vanished without a trace the next moment.

The soul cultivator currently serving as the formation spirit sent a message: “They dug their own hole and went underground.”

Su Yanyang: “Useless! How did he find out?”

Formation Soul Cultivator: “We are too understaffed.”

Su Yanyang: “Do you want a bad review?”

Seeing the other party fall silent, Su Yanyang shook his head slightly. “That’s the problem with soul cultivators; they always make excuses. Compared to them, artifact spirits are much more obedient.” Su Yanyang had the good fortune to test highly intelligent artifact spirits, and in his opinion, they surpassed most soul cultivators in terms of obedience, work efficiency, conscientiousness, and learning ability.

“But it’s a pity they are too expensive.” Considering the price difference between highly intelligent artifact spirits and soul cultivators, Su Yanyang decided to make do with soul cultivators.

***

Under the sweep of dragon-shaped aura, soil flew everywhere as a half-person-high tunnel was rapidly opened. Zhang Yu and Tian Yang followed behind Xiao Qingxuan, both surprised as they watched him dig faster and faster.

Zhang Yu asked in surprise, “This isn’t the Starfall Meridian Surging Art, is it? What kind of martial art is this? How can it dig so fast?”

Xiao Qingxuan didn’t answer, merely thinking, “I can’t possibly tell them… that this is the grave-robbing tunnel excavation technique accumulated by that ancient Golden Core cultivator after years of tomb raiding.”

So, Xiao Qingxuan didn’t reply, but instead said, “The opponent has likely set up the Myriad Ghosts Bewitching Formation, but they must have done it hastily in this short time. As long as we escape the building’s range, we won’t be affected.”

“But underground, directions are hard to discern… Zhang Yu, can you sense where the spiritual energy is converging?”

Through his Third Eye ability, Zhang Yu could sense the direction of spiritual energy convergence. Upon hearing the question, he marked it in his eye socket, guiding Xiao Qingxuan.

Xiao Qingxuan thought to himself, “The direction where spiritual energy converges, even if not the core of the formation, must be an important node. If we can cause damage there, it should significantly delay their construction progress.”

***

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu was also looking up information on the Myriad Ghosts Bewitching Formation the other party mentioned, and curiously asked, “So, was it the formation spirit impersonating Shi Huaiyu, Yu Xinghan, and the others, sending us messages earlier?”

Having temporarily escaped the formation’s influence, Zhang Yu re-established contact with Shi Huaiyu and the others on the outside.

Shi Huaiyu, in the competition chat, said, “They call them formation spirits, but Su Yanyang typically uses soul cultivators.”

“Soul cultivators?” Zhang Yu questioned, bewildered. “Soul cultivators are also helping them compete? Then their team size isn’t limited to six people?”

Shi Huaiyu looked puzzled. “Why would soul cultivators count towards the team size?” She felt Zhang Yu was asking if artifact spirits counted as contestants… wasn’t that pure nonsense?

Zhang Yu fell silent upon hearing this. He realized this was perhaps the first time since entering Myriad Arts University that he truly understood the standing of soul cultivators in others’ eyes.

“But this must only apply to poor soul cultivators,” Zhang Yu secretly thought. “Wealthy soul cultivators are probably a different story altogether.”

***

Su Yanyang smiled faintly. “Three little mice.”

Although the formation spirit had lost track of the three after they started digging, a map of the entire arena appeared before Su Yanyang’s eyes. The map displayed various data points: temperature changes, spiritual energy flows, construction progress, spiritual vein parameters, underground seismic sources, and so on. This data was integrated from the various detection methods used by the six members of his team, providing a relatively comprehensive view of the entire arena.

At this moment, Su Yanyang looked at a rapidly moving seismic source on the map, knowing it must be Zhang Yu and his two teammates.

***

Amidst flying mud and sand, Zhang Yu and his two teammates suddenly broke into an underground space. As soon as they appeared, a series of data usage notices floated before them.

“Your account is overdue by 35 Spirit Coins. Service will be suspended in 1 minute. Please recharge immediately to resume usage…”

Tian Yang stared at the message, slightly stunned, feeling his heart skip a beat.

Xiao Qingxuan, standing nearby, shouted, “We’ve re-entered the formation! These are all formation illusions… don’t get lost in them!”

***

Su Yanyang felt the tremors from the ground and looked at the video message sent by the formation spirit, letting out a cold snort. “Are they there?”

At that moment, the grand formation beneath his feet seemed to become an extension of his mind. Su Yanyang launched a palm strike through the air towards Zhang Yu’s group, then suddenly clenched his fist.

Zhang Yu and his two teammates felt the surrounding earth come alive, instantly transforming into high-strength alloy that converged upon them. Feeling the terrifying pressure from all directions, Zhang Yu unleashed a punch, and a series of dragon roars erupted. Earlier, as he and Xiao Qingxuan were digging their way through, Xiao Qingxuan had successively infused 20 strikes of the Nine Dragons Heavenly Gang Palm into his body. At that moment, 20 strikes erupted simultaneously. The air seemed to boil, transforming into waves of energy that swept through the entire underground space, tearing apart and shattering the converging earth.

With one strike, Zhang Yu and his two teammates retreated back into the tunnel, following Xiao Qingxuan as he quickly dug their way out.

***

Zhang Yu: “He seems to have been prepared.”

Tian Yang: “It must be that our digging was too noisy, and he detected us.”

Xiao Qingxuan: “Split up.”

Su Yanyang observed the sudden increase in seismic sources on the map and thought to himself, “Did they split up?”

“No, not just the three of them dispersing. They’re probably using human-shaped and dragon-shaped aura to throw me off.”

As a cautious person, Su Yanyang never fought a battle unprepared. He had thoroughly questioned Ma Xuan about the course of their battle and was very familiar with Zhang Yu’s methods. He knew Zhang Yu excelled at using a human-shaped aura technique, with a maximum range of over sixty meters. He also knew Xiao Qingxuan was proficient in the Nine Dragons Heavenly Gang Palm, with aura conduction up to nearly a hundred meters.

“They’re probably using long-distance aura conduction to create seismic sources and interfere with my detection now.”

“So be it.” Su Yanyang checked the construction progress. “Is it at 50%?” He sent a message to his competition chat: “Deploy the spirit stakes.”

***

Simultaneously, in five corners of the construction site, a dried corpse was implanted underground in each, then connected to the Spirit Realm and infused with souls from there.

Within the Spirit Realm.

Jiao Lei’s eyes lit up. “Intelligent spirit stakes? Building stewards?”

Wei Huai, beside him, nodded repeatedly. “More than that. This integrates spirit stake technology, intelligent architecture technology, and blood sacrifice technology.”

“If I’m not mistaken, those five spirit stakes are likely original bodies transformed into original souls.”

“This will greatly accelerate the formation’s progress, make its operation more refined, and significantly enhance the building’s strength.”

Under everyone’s observation, a large amount of spiritual energy began to gather along the spiritual veins, converging towards the building being constructed by Su Yanyang’s team. The spiritual vein utilization instantly reached 40%.

Watching this scene, Lang Yougong thought to himself, “This won’t be easy now. What will Zhang Yu and his two teammates do?”

“Hmm? Will they continue to split up? With the formation and building strength increased, it will be difficult for them to cause damage if they remain dispersed, won’t it?”

***

But the next moment, Lang Yougong was slightly surprised. “Eat?”

He saw Zhang Yu open his mouth and swallow a large amount of building material, then quickly circulate his energy and continuously pat his body to digest it.

Watching this scene, Lang Yougong nodded slightly and thoughtfully said, “Eating… that is indeed a good method.”

“Eating is the best way to hide building materials, tools, and even fellow workers on a construction site; it’s practically an essential skill for every worker.”

“If Su Yanyang is fighting with large-scale projects and grand engineering, taking a holistic approach… then Zhang Yu is countering with minor tactics, small tricks, like a worker.”

However, Lang Yougong did not underestimate Zhang Yu’s strategy, for he knew that a dike can collapse from an ant hole. Many vast and crucial projects have been ruined by such gradual erosion. Especially now, in the arena, where building materials cannot be replenished, ‘eating’ them is a very effective way to hinder the opponent’s construction.

“But Zhang Yu can only eat a few bites before having to leave. That’s too slow. What will you do next?”

However, Zhang Yu’s team’s mode of operation soon changed again.

***

Tu Lishan, standing nearby, his eyes moved as he thought, “Zhang Yu is hiding in the deepest part, focusing on digesting building materials. Hmm? Not just digesting, he’s also starting to process the materials. Is he going to build something on the spot?”

“Xiao Qingxuan is digging tunnels, establishing a vast underground network, and simultaneously locating and marking material storage areas.”

“Tian Yang is moving around, transporting building materials to Zhang Yu for him to consume and process.”

In Tu Lishan’s eyes, the three seemed to have transformed into a production line, continuously picking up and transforming building materials on the site to slow down Su Yanyang’s team’s construction progress.

A teacher nodded, sighing, “Zhang Yu and his two teammates quickly figured out the site layout, established a transport network, carried materials at high speed, distinguished materials, and then consumed and processed them. Their civil engineering skills are truly excellent.”

Hearing the analysis from some civil engineering teachers, True Monarch Ciji, who was nearby, asked, “That’s impressive. Does this mean your disciple is going to win again?”

Director Gao privately messaged: “They’re going to lose. Don’t ask.”

True Monarch Ciji: “Oh? Why?”

Director Gao: “Su Yanyang has already won. Now he wants to make Zhang Yu’s team’s building completion rate low enough.”

Director Gao: “If their building completion rate is low enough, Zhang Yu’s ranking in the top ten will also be low.”

Director Gao: “This makes it more likely for Su Yanyang to place in the top seven.”

Director Gao: “And the overall ranking of the War Faction will also be lower.”