Amidst the fierce battle on the field, discussions about the current situation continued among Zhang Yu, Shi Huaiyu, and others in the competition group chat.

Shi Huaiyu: Zhang Yu, you indeed slowed down their progress. But Su Yanyang and his team have incredibly strong construction capabilities; their spiritual vein occupancy has already exceeded 50%.

Che Yufei: Then why hasn’t he launched his offensive yet?

Shi Huaiyu: Given Su Yanyang’s personality, he will likely accumulate the formation’s power and unleash a devastating attack at the very last moment before the match ends. This way, he can inflict maximum damage without leaving us any time to repair.

Xiao Qingxuan: He probably wants to suppress our final completion rate to below 20%, or even 10%. After all, the outcome of this battle indirectly determines who makes it into the top seven.

Hearing Xiao Qingxuan’s words in the group chat, Yu Xinghan still didn’t quite understand, so he turned to Ying Xin, who was also sitting on the substitute bench, and asked for clarification.

Ying Xin explained, “Among the top ten, the strongest teams are undoubtedly Mo Shangjin’s and Xuan Liangtian’s. They possess the Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power, and their teammates are incredibly powerful. However, their opponents in this round will likely fare poorly and end up at the bottom of the rankings.”

“Among the remaining teams facing off, the biggest disparity in overall strength is probably between our team and Su Yanyang’s team. If our completion rate is pushed below 20%, there’s a high probability that we’ll fall into the bottom three, along with Mo Shangjin’s and Xuan Liangtian’s opponents.”

Yu Xinghan immediately understood: “I see! Once the bottom three positions are determined, the remaining teams naturally make up the top seven. Su Yanyang and his team can then guarantee themselves the rewards for the Seven Wonders of Civil Engineering.”

Ying Xin nodded. “That’s right, Su Yanyang will definitely go all out to suppress us.”

As for what Ying Xin said, the team’s official members had either already figured it out or had been reminded during the competition. Everyone knew that Su Yanyang was operating the formation, absorbing spiritual energy, and continuously accumulating power, like a spring being compressed tighter and tighter, building up for one final, most powerful attack. Zhang Yu and his team naturally wouldn’t just wait passively; they were also preparing their defenses.

When the match reached its final three minutes, the entire arena suddenly began to tremble.

Shi Huaiyu felt the simulated spiritual vein beneath the ground vibrating, and his gaze sharpened instantly. “Here it comes!”

At the same time, the ground surged like rolling waves. Su Yanyang floated on the crest, standing on air with the help of his Dharma skeleton, positioned at the forefront and highest point of the surging mud. At this moment, he had complete control over the entire grand formation. The immense spiritual energy accumulated within the formation erupted at his command, the underground spiritual vein slowly activated by his will, and the terrain gradually shifted according to his intentions. He aimed to completely crush the fortress built by his opponents, push their completion rate below 10%, and definitively secure his team’s place in the top seven.

“Shi Huaiyu, Zhang Yu, Xiao Qingxuan…” Su Yanyang looked towards the opposing team’s construction site and said coldly, “Your defeat today isn’t a defeat by me, but a defeat by new technologies: smart construction and financial innovation. Your defeat is a technological one, and more importantly, a defeat of outdated concepts.”

Zhang Yu’s figure flickered as he sped towards their construction site to offer support, thinking to himself, “This guy… he must know that many teachers are watching this match, which is why he’s deliberately saying all this.”

In the spirit realm, a teacher immediately nodded in agreement, saying, “Su Yanyang is right. Only through interdisciplinary integration, using smart technology, information technology, and financial technology to empower traditional industries, can new vitality be unleashed.”

Wei Huai also nodded repeatedly. “Without financial innovation for funding and smart technology for reserves, how can we develop smart construction? How can we achieve the next generation of civil engineering reform?”

Listening to the teachers from the Peace Faction and Neutral Faction praise each other, Tu Lishan inwardly sneered.

He knew that True Monarch Lingyue, a member of the Neutral Faction, had actively promoted cooperation between the Civil Engineering and Talismanry departments when he was more involved in school affairs. He championed smart buildings, smart factories, and smart cities, aiming for urban redevelopment across entire levels 2 to 6, and even 7 to 10.

However, after True Monarch Lingyue became preoccupied with his lifespan issues, he largely ceased overseeing these matters. While the school offered related courses, there were very few practical application projects.

Meanwhile, the Finance and Talismanry departments had always maintained extensive cooperation, annually producing numerous innovations in finance and spirit realm finance.

“Could it be that after the Peace Faction and Neutral Faction teamed up, they also invited the Talismanry Department to join the fray? Are they planning to continue promoting smart construction together with the Neutral Faction?”

At this thought, Tu Lishan’s brows furrowed. He looked at the duel between Zhang Yu and Su Yanyang as if he were witnessing the War Faction fighting the Neutral Faction and Peace Faction single-handedly.

Just then, Su Yanyang, who had been poised to strike, suddenly stopped.

A teacher asked curiously, “Why did he stop? Is there a malfunction?” Another teacher was surprised, “Did the formation overload?” True Monarch Lingyue said calmly, “It’s nothing. Smart construction has self-diagnosis capabilities; it will quickly identify the problem.”

On the competition screen, Su Yanyang indeed found the problem through the construction’s self-diagnosis: numerous spiritual energy circuits had malfunctioned.

Lang Yougong used the replay function and, with a shift in his gaze, remarked, “Haha, so that kid Zhang Yu, after digesting construction materials, expelled high-strength digestive matter. Then Tian Yang used it to block some critical points in the spiritual energy circuits. It functions normally under standard operation, but malfunctions under full power.”

Seeing Zhang Yu’s digested waste, which he had stolen, eaten, and then expelled, scattered all over Su Yanyang’s construction site, many teachers had a thought: “This kid can really eat… If he ever comes to my construction site, I must keep a constant eye on him.”

Wei Huai shook his head. “It’s just a momentary delay; it doesn’t mean much.”

In a blink of an eye, after the building’s self-diagnosis and Su Yanyang’s command for repairs, only two minutes remained until the end of the match.

Despite the interruption, no emotion showed on Su Yanyang’s face; he simply continued his previous actions.

With a lift of his hands, accompanied by a violent tug on the spiritual veins, the entire arena ground began to intensely shake. Terrifying shockwaves traveled through the earth, from the spiritual veins all the way to Zhang Yu’s fortress. Wherever they passed, the ground cracked, and mud and sand flew, as if everything within the arena would be razed to the ground. Zhang Yu and his team’s fortress also began to violently tremble.

Inside and outside the fortress, Zhang Yu and his team’s figures moved swiftly, their protective qi swirling as they desperately tried to stabilize the structure.

In the spirit realm, Lang Yougong nodded slightly. “Some of the high-strength materials Zhang Yu produced have been transported by Tian Yang to reinforce the fortress. The fortress also used a blood sacrifice method, incorporating ashes to enhance its strength. With them continuously making repairs on the side, this wave of tremors shouldn’t be enough to destroy the fortress.”

Wei Huai said calmly, “This is merely Su Yanyang’s prelude.”

Twenty seconds later, as the intense tremors subsided, 100 seconds remained until the end of the match.

And with that, Su Yanyang’s true offensive began. Following the spiritual vein manipulation and terrain alteration, vast expanses of mud and sand transformed into raging torrents, roaring and sweeping towards the fortress with a force capable of rending the heavens and splitting the earth, threatening to completely engulf Zhang Yu and his team along with their stronghold. From a distance, it looked as if black dragons, with fangs bared and claws extended, were crashing into the fortress.

Amidst roars, Zhang Yu and the five others’ muscles swelled, and their bodies stretched and transformed, instantly becoming giants ranging from six or seven meters to over ten meters tall. As giants, they unleashed streams of protective qi, blasting them towards the oncoming torrent. Under their cover, the mudslide’s offensive was significantly weakened, but the residual impact still caused the fortress to shake repeatedly.

Wei Huai stated, “They’ve already expended a great deal of their spiritual power; they won’t last much longer under such continuous assault.”

As their strength was continuously depleted, and with some mudslides becoming unstoppable, causing the fortress to shake more and more violently, Che Yufei’s body shrank, his aura rapidly diminishing, and he slipped into the fortress.

Lang Yougong’s gaze shifted as he said, “False Death Pile? Putting oneself in a state of suspended animation to temporarily act as a living pile, used to reinforce the structure.”

The teachers nearby raised an eyebrow slightly but offered no further comment. Tu Lishan knew that “false death piles” involved temporarily hiring workers with weaker life forces to act as living piles on construction sites, primarily to pass quality inspections. This was knowledge not taught in civil engineering textbooks, and something teachers implicitly agreed not to mention.

Despite their combined efforts to resist, under the overwhelming assault of the mudslides, one and a half of the three-story fortress quickly became submerged.

Su Yanyang, witnessing this scene, said coldly, “Look at the methods you’re resorting to! Stealing materials, eating materials, littering and vomiting all over my construction site, and now even using something like false death piles. Do you really think you can oppose me with such despicable tactics? No funding, no technology, just relying on outdated tricks, and you believe you can contend with the latest smart construction techniques?”

Listening to Su Yanyang’s words, many teachers from non-war factions in the spirit realm nodded repeatedly.

With 60 seconds remaining, Su Yanyang had already launched his next wave of offense.

As the terrain shifted, the underground structure beneath the fortress underwent drastic changes. With a loud crash, massive sinkholes began appearing around the fortress, indicating the ground was collapsing.

Shi Huaiyu roared, “Rise!” As the Small Tri-Convergence was activated, mud and sand surged and loosened, detaching from the fortress’s foundation.

Concurrently, Shi Huaiyu and Zhang Yu simultaneously activated the Xuanhuang Mountain-Suppressing Seal, infusing streams of Xuanhuang energy into the fortress, continuously reducing the weight of its various materials. Then, with their combined efforts, the entire fortress was forcefully lifted from the ground.