Chapter 124: Cultivation Technique, Renting, and Le Mulan
Compared to the initial hostility with the evil god, Zhang Yu’s current relationship with Fu Ji had become much calmer. One could even say he was gradually getting used to having this thing attached to him.
Of course, this was largely due to Fu Ji’s repeated displays of weakness and her desire to invest in Zhang Yu by constantly showcasing her own value.
For now, Zhang Yu bookmarked the Great Sun Qi Sea and then asked Fu Ji, “What about heart arts? Do you have any recommendations?”
Fu Ji was prepared for this.
After all, having observed Zhang Yu up close for so long, she had already given much thought to his strengths and suitable future development paths.
Fu Ji said, “You’ve practiced the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra before, right?”
“That heart art has an upgraded version, an expert-level technique suitable for the mid-stage of Qi Refinement. It’s called the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art.”
Although the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra had a poor reputation and a rating of 1.2, Zhang Yu had always found it quite effective.
Now, hearing that there was an upgraded version, he immediately searched for it.
Zhang Yu read the technique’s description in detail.
Still worried about your employees’ irregular diets? Unhealthy schedules? The harm of sitting too long? The harm of standing too long?
Worried about toxic work environments? Worried that years of handling alchemical enhancers have damaged your employees’ brains? Worried about severe wear and tear on your employees’ organs?
Just have your employees cultivate the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, and you’ll never have to worry about such work-related injury claims again!
No matter how much their bodies are damaged for the sake of work, your employees will face it with optimism and positivity, freeing bosses from any concern over their employees’ health!
Even with Zhang Yu’s current experience in Kunxu, he couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer level of devil incarnate in this technique.
Scrolling down, he saw the technique’s 1.1 rating and lamented that the platform didn’t allow for 0-star ratings; otherwise, the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art would probably be infinitely close to zero.
Even though Zhang Yu had practiced the Desolate Ox Soul-Suppressing Mantra, he couldn’t help but ask, “Is this Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art really reliable?”
Fu Ji’s clear voice once again entered Zhang Yu’s mind.
“The Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, the philosophy contained within this heart art is that the more one suffers, the happier one becomes, using mental pleasure to resist physical pain.”
“The original intent of this heart art was likely to encourage the crippled to remain strong-willed. It was a technique meant to inspire hope in the most downtrodden, to give hope to disabled cultivators who had none.”
Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback and sighed, “This was created for disabled people who couldn’t afford treatment?”
Fu Ji spoke eloquently, “Although this heart art’s original purpose was for disabled cultivators, it is just as useful for able-bodied ones.”
“After all, it’s perfectly normal for cultivators to encounter physical pain, and this heart art can help you resist it.”
“And if you cultivate this heart art to level 10, you can even accelerate injury recovery and physical strengthening by reducing mental energy consumption and boosting your metabolism.”
“It can be considered one of the few heart arts at the Qi Refinement stage that can affect the physical body.”
“Most importantly, this heart art can improve your Dao heart through mere mental visualization, making it perfect for your continuous 24-hour cultivation.”
A thought stirred in Zhang Yu’s mind. “It’s that amazing?”
Fu Ji, like a child showing off a toy, said smugly, “But of course! This one has roamed Kunxu for so many years. Could a heart art I recommend be wrong?”
Zhang Yu thought for a moment and added the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art to his bookmarks.
Speaking of which, although this expert-level heart art had an extremely low rating, its sales were not low, and its price was as high as 30,000.
Zhang Yu glanced at the user reviews and found that the technique was a prerequisite for many hazardous jobs in factories, construction sites, laboratories, and other places, forcing many job seekers to learn it.
Seeing this, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but sigh softly.
A cultivation technique meant to bring hope to disabled cultivators was ultimately used to compel healthy cultivators to work in dangerous environments, turning them into disabled individuals step by step.
“Sigh, this is Kunxu.”
…
The cafeteria.
After temporarily deciding on the next two cultivation techniques to practice, Zhang Yu began to prepare his application for the intercity travel permit.
At this moment, he was scooping the mush in his bowl while looking at the application requirements.
Whether it was education, savings, or bank statements… he believed that with his current status, he could meet all of them with a bit of time and preparation.
There was only one thing that would require some effort, and that was housing.
“Without my own home, I’ll need a rental.”
“I never thought that after all this, I’d still have to find a place to rent.”
Just then, Bai Zhenzhen sat down with her tray, a look of annoyance on her face.
“They’ve cut the number of windows for pre-made food by half again.”
Bai Zhenzhen had planned to eat a bit more pre-made food today to celebrate her placement in the competition.
But when she went to look, she found that half the windows were gone, and the variety of dishes offered was less than a third of what it used to be.
She looked around and only then realized that, without her noticing, most of the students in the school were now eating synthetic food, and the sales of pre-made meals were getting worse and worse.
Bai Zhenzhen sighed inwardly, “Sigh, it seems it’s going to be harder and harder to get a decent pre-made meal in the future. Maybe I should just get the taste-removal surgery.”
Beside her, Zhao Tianxing heard Bai Zhenzhen’s sigh and lamented as well, “Ever since Oasis Group entered the Songyang City market, more and more shops selling pre-made food have been crushed. After all, synthetic food is just so cheap.”
“What about Red Pagoda Husbandry?” Zhang Yu asked. “They should be a major producer of pre-made food, right? Have they been affected?”
Zhao Tianxing said, “I heard that after incorporating Oasis Group’s technology, Red Pagoda Husbandry has started to move into the high-end market. They’ve even launched something called dragon meat…”
Zhang Yu thought of the True Dragon Bloodline of those top students from Red Pagoda High School at the competition field, and wondered if Red Pagoda had started injecting dragon blood into their cattle and sheep.
But wasn’t the dragon blood from one of Red Pagoda’s directors?
This felt… as if the upper management of Red Pagoda was constantly selling their own vital energy, bloodline, and descendants just to make money.
“All I can say is… this is Kunxu, after all,” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “Bosses will sell anything to make a profit.”
Just then, Qian Shen, who was beside them, asked Zhang Yu curiously, “Zhang Yu, are you guys looking to rent a place?”
Zhang Yu nodded. “I need to leave Songyang City for something, so I have to apply for an intercity travel permit. The application requires a rental contract.”
“Sigh, it’s such a hassle. There are even requirements for the rental; it can’t be in the sewers or a construction site shack.”
“I think my dad has a few apartments for rent. I can ask him for you later. Actually, you know so many people now, you could post on your social feed and ask. Maybe someone happens to have a vacant place to rent? With your good grades, they might rent it to you for cheap.”
Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up; he felt that Qian Shen had a point.
“I have quite a few wealthy people on my friends list now. They should have plenty of properties to rent out, right?”
Zhang Yu immediately used his phone to post on his feed about looking for a place.
A moment later, his phone vibrated. He looked, but it wasn’t someone offering to rent him a house. It was a message from Mo Tianyi.
Mo Tianyi: Congratulations on defeating Yu Xinghan and taking first place in the athletics meet.
Zhang Yu was slightly surprised to see the message from this soul cultivator of the Alliance of the Rich-Haters.
“They stopped contacting us a long time ago, after they found out we signed with Zhang Pianpian. Why are they suddenly reaching out now?”
Just then, Mo Tianyi sent another message: The boss wants to see you. Do you have time?
Zhang Yu was somewhat surprised to hear this. He hadn’t expected that the leader of the poor, whom he and Bai Zhenzhen had tried so hard but failed to find before, would now request a meeting.
At that moment, Fu Ji spoke, “Don’t meet this person.”
She explained, “I heard you and Bai Zhenzhen talk about this person before. It’s suspected that all of his students signed contracts with the school. But it’s impossible for an ordinary person, under the witness of the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods, to both promise the poor to get into one of the Ten Greats and take them to the second layer, and also promise the rich to sign a contract that restricts their university and major.”
“This leader of the poor is very likely the evil god hiding in White Dragon High School.”
“Since you don’t want to get involved with that evil god too early, you should avoid getting close to this leader of the poor.”
Zhang Yu was a little surprised. Is this Fu Ji getting more and more sensible? She’s not tempting me to hunt evil gods anymore. Or has her perspective just become more long-term?
Speaking of White Dragon High School, Zhang Yu thought of his sister, the strongest high school student in Songyang. On their way out of the cafeteria, he lowered his voice and asked, “What about my sister? Do you think she’s connected?”
Regarding his sister’s formidable strength, Zhang Yu had once wondered if she, like him, had her potential unlocked by an evil god.
“Your sister?” Fu Ji sighed. “She’s likely walking the Divine Dao. Even I would only dare to speak softly in her presence. The evil god from White Dragon High School wouldn’t dare to show its face in front of her and reveal its tracks unless absolutely necessary.”
“The Divine Dao?” Zhang Yu asked curiously. “What kind of path is that?”
Fu Ji said casually, “The path to godhood. If she graduates from university smoothly, she’ll probably join the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods.”
Although her tone was casual, Fu Ji was not telling the whole truth.
A good person like Zhang Yu is better off not knowing about the Divine Dao, lest he gets worried about this Zhang Pianpian and can’t focus on staying here for the Foundation Establishment exam.
After all, the Divine Dao…
In Fu Ji’s view, if… for the vast majority of high school students, excluding monsters like Zhang Yu… the college entrance exam was a matter of nine deaths and one life, and the Foundation Establishment exam was ten deaths and no life, then the Divine Dao…
“The moment you set foot on that path, you’re already a dead person.”
…
Before school ended that day, the 300,000 prize money from the athletics meet, after taxes, finally arrived.
With a wave of his hand, Zhang Yu sent Bai Zhenzhen to the hospital to have her scars removed, with all expenses covered by him as a thank you for borrowing her spiritual root all this time.
He had originally wanted to personally take Bai Zhenzhen to the hospital and treat her, but he had work after school today.
Arriving at the gate of Purple Cloud High School, Zhang Yu once again passed through the disinfection channel and, in a training room, met this session’s client—Le Mulan.