Chapter 294: Earning Spirit Coins, Spending Spirit Coins
As Zhang Yu activated Limitless Vibration Zen, he felt a resonant hum course through his body. The repeated vibrations tempered his flesh and blood, while the Gang Qi-encased Coagulated Earth expelled air bubbles at an efficiency several times greater than before.
“Excellent…” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “This way, I can both improve my work efficiency and cultivate the Civil Engineering Sacred Body.”
“From now on, I should approach all my work on construction sites with this mindset.”
“Many of the cultivation arts within the Civil Engineering Sacred Body should synergize well with construction site tasks.”
However, as he continued working and maintaining Limitless Vibration Zen, Zhang Yu began to feel his body grow sore and weak.
He recalled the side effects described in the Limitless Vibration Zen manual:
“Prolonged use can damage nerve endings, joints, and muscles in the limbs, leading to Muscle Vibration Syndrome.”
“In severe cases, it can even cause gangrene in the fingertips, limb deformities, and severe impairment of physical mobility…”
“But…”
Zhang Yu took a deep breath. While maintaining Limitless Vibration Zen, he focused on controlling his body’s vitality, continuously repairing the damaged areas.
While Zhang Yu worked tirelessly, Yu Xinghan lay on a wooden plank nearby, quietly gazing at the starlight in the night sky.
“Ah, this work is exhausting. I need to rest or I’ll damage my body.”
“In Immortal Dao cultivation, balancing income and health is crucial.”
“I can’t spend half the day earning money only to spend it all on medical bills later.”
Across from him, Li Xiao watched Yu Xinghan lying down and secretly chuckled at Yu Xinghan’s inability to endure hardship.
“If he can’t handle this little bit of hardship, how can he ever work in Civil Engineering?”
As Li Xiao watched the Spirit Coin balance in his Bionic Eye gradually increase, his motivation surged. The soreness in his muscles seemed to fade into insignificance.
Looking at the massive construction site on the 666th floor, Li Xiao felt as if he were surrounded by mountains of gold and silver, just waiting for him to collect the riches.
Yu Xinghan watched Li Xiao working so frantically and thought, “How can he keep this up? This guy really has been hiding his true strength, just like Zhang Yu said.”
Then Yu Xinghan turned his gaze to Zhang Yu and saw that Zhang Yu’s body had subtly expanded, his strength now even more astonishing.
Zhang Yu channeled his Gang Qi, pouring Coagulated Earth into vast networks of steel reinforcement bars, moving like a giant dragon twisting and turning through rivers of steel.
To accelerate his work, Zhang Yu had already activated a portion of the Battle Demon Life-Shattering Art, increasing his physical strength by 0.2 points.
Thanks to the body-vitalizing effects of the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, he could fully withstand the physical strain caused by the Battle Demon Life-Shattering Art and the Limitless Vibration Zen.
As Zhang Yu watched the Spirit Coin counter on his work pay steadily climb to 0.01135 Spirit Coins, he couldn’t help but intensify the circulation of his cultivation art.
Seeing Zhang Yu’s pace quicken again, Yu Xinghan thought to himself, “What a monstrous physique.”
He recalled the First Layer, where Zhang Yu had repeatedly collapsed under True Person Starfire’s training, only to quickly recover and rise again. A hint of envy flickered in his eyes.
Meanwhile, behind the construction site’s surveillance cameras, Tu Lishan was observing the new students’ work performance.
“Yu Xinghan… he’s quite the slacker.”
“Li Xiao is diligent and hardworking, a promising talent for Civil Engineering.”
As Tu Lishan watched, he mused inwardly, “And Zhang Yu… he truly possesses the Civil Engineering Sacred Body. His efficiency alone rivals that of twenty Qi Refining Laborers, yet his wages are only ten times higher.”
“Poor martial dao aptitude, but diligent and hardworking, able to endure hardship, decent physical strength, and from a rural area on the First Layer, so he’s likely short on money…”
Poor aptitude, good physique, willing to endure hardship, poor family, from the countryside… To Tu Lishan, this wasn’t just a Civil Engineering Sacred Body, it was the very definition of one! A natural-born civil engineering seed.
Meanwhile, Ying Xin and her companions, accompanied by a senior quality control inspector, had also arrived at Zhang Yu’s work area.
Seeing them, Yu Xinghan immediately stood up and resumed working.
As Ying Xin watched the trio laboring, she thought to herself, “Construction work is incredibly taxing on the body. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators would eventually fall ill if they endured this daily grind.”
For example, Zhang Yu’s concrete pouring work, requiring constant Gang Qi circulation and high-frequency vibrations year after year, could easily lead to Meridian Expansion Syndrome.
And prolonged physical vibration could cause Muscle Vibration Syndrome.
Construction workers were riddled with ailments… Ying Xin had witnessed and heard about such cases countless times since childhood.
She vowed to herself that once she entered the Civil Engineering Department, she would never do such grueling work.
She hoped that starting with her generation, future generations of her family would never have to endure such hardship again.
“Let the First Layer People earn this backbreaking money.”
“I’m destined to be a management talent.”
Ying Xin’s primary goal for this construction site internship was to excel in the upcoming evaluation, catch the attention of a leader, and be selected for a field project.
“The true masters of Civil Engineering aren’t in University City; they’re out on real-world projects,” she thought to herself. “Otherwise, how could the limited projects in University City possibly sustain so many Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators in the Civil Engineering Department?”
“Especially now, with the University Wars raging, this is the Civil Engineering Department’s golden age, a time of unprecedented opportunity for countless Civil Engineering talents to rise and thrive. How could I waste my time earning meager wages in University City?”
“If I can just get selected by the Vice Director of the Civil Engineering Department for that project…”
Ying Xin’s mind drifted to the information she had gathered about the Seven Absolutes of Civil Engineering.
She knew she was no Gongshu Jin, let alone a match for Ji Yuanshu. There was no way she could compete with them in the rankings.
“But who says you need to be the top student for seven consecutive years to master all Seven Absolutes of Civil Engineering, combine the seven energies, and grasp the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power?”
As a Sixth-Generation Earthmover, Ying Xin understood that the vast information she possessed would be key to her future meteoric rise.
Unbeknownst to him, Zhang Yu had been working through the night.
Thanks to the body activation effect, he remained as energetic as a dragon and full of vigor.
Limitless Vibration Zen (4th-tier)
Earnings: 0.038 Spirit Coins
Zhang Yu thought, “At this rate, I’ll earn 1.14 Spirit Coins a month, or 13.68 Spirit Coins a year… True Person Starfire wasn’t lying, civil engineering really is lucrative.”
Nearby, Li Xiao watched Zhang Yu, thinking to himself, “Zhang Yu’s workload today seems much heavier than mine. No wonder he’s my formidable rival, he can endure even more hardship than I can.”
On the other side, Ying Xin shook her head inwardly. “If Zhang Yu keeps pushing himself like this, he’ll burn out within six months.”
Just then, Huang Yun, a Yellow Turban Warrior, noticed the three students leaving work and cautioned them, “Don’t mind my saying so, but…”
“While this line of work pays well, it takes a toll on your body. You need to take good care of yourselves after each shift.”
“There’s a massage parlor near the construction site entrance. The technicians there are skilled, the service is excellent, and it can alleviate a lot of physical strain…”
With that, Huang Yun departed, knowing that as a Yellow Turban Warrior, massage was no longer effective for his maintenance.
Zhang Yu paid little attention to Huang Yun’s words. After all, he possessed the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, and if his body’s vitality waned, he could switch to the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo for self-healing.
At least for tonight’s work, he hadn’t pushed himself to his limits to avoid drawing attention.
He had already decided how to use the money he earned from the construction site.
“I’ll buy high-quality magic power.”
“Not only can I use it to improve Le Mulan’s magic power quality in the future…”
“I can even sell my own high-quality magic power later and make money!”
Zhang Yu deeply envied those who earned money by selling magic power. It seemed far easier than the grueling work at the construction site.
Li Xiao, on the other hand, dismissed Huang Yun’s suggestion entirely. He’d rather spend the money on studying and cultivation.
“We should take physical strain seriously,” Yu Xinghan said gravely. “I’ll go check out the massage parlor first. If it’s good, we can go together after work in the future.”
Zhang Yu waved his hand dismissively. “No interest. Go yourself.”
Inside the massage parlor, Yu Xinghan waited anxiously for a few minutes. When he saw the massage technician, a muscular figure even more robust than himself, he asked, his voice dry, “You…”
The technician grinned, patted his chest, and thumped it loudly. “Don’t worry, young man,” he boomed. “We’ve been serving the construction site for ages. We know exactly how to help you maintain your muscles.”
Yu Xinghan wanted to get up and leave, but remembering the Spirit Coins he’d already paid, he forced himself to endure.
“Do you have any female technicians?” he asked.
The technician chuckled. “I am a woman.”
Yu Xinghan took a deep breath. “Alright, let’s begin.”
For the next week, Zhang Yu worked tirelessly, pushing himself to his limits.
Each day began with his morning medicinal dose, followed by classes covering Immortal Dao knowledge such as formations, engineering, and kinetic energy, as well as training in the basic cultivation arts of the Civil Engineering Department.
After a full day of classes, he would receive a high-quality magic power infusion. Once he had digested it, he would work through the night at the construction site, pouring Coagulated Earth while cultivating Limitless Vibration Zen.
By morning, he would receive another high-quality magic power infusion before rushing back to class without rest.
To sustain this grueling schedule, he invested an additional 0.5 Spirit Coins per month in high-quality magic power. Before his monthly earnings from the construction site had even arrived, he had already spent nearly half of them.
Before he knew it, a week had passed. His dao heart had reached Level 11 (93.6%), his magic power had increased to 320.5, his physical strength had reached 11.37 points, and his magic power quality had reached 115%.
He had also continuously advanced Limitless Vibration Zen, now at Level 13.
Upon breaking through Level 10, he gained the Level 10 effect of synchronizing the vibrations of his physical body and Gang Qi to unleash even higher vibrational frequencies.
However, this also increased the strain on his body, accelerating wear and tear and raising the risk of illness.
During his rare moments of downtime, Zhang Yu studied the descriptions of various cultivation arts under the Civil Engineering Sacred Body. He grew increasingly convinced of one thing:
“The cultivation arts of the Civil Engineering Sacred Body either have severe side effects, or the working conditions at the construction site are problematic. Pneumoconiosis, Muscle Vibration Syndrome, cancer… each one is worse than the last.”