Chapter 339: The Spirit-Flesh Union Journey
“The first destination for your Spirit-Flesh Union Journey has been generated.”
“This simulated environment is based on the Spirit-Flesh Unity breakthrough big data model, combined with vast historical archives and user data, resulting in an extremely realistic experience. Individuals with a Dao Heart Level below 13th-tier and those with the following conditions should consult their physician before proceeding…”
“Please confirm that you have read and agreed to the User Agreement.”
“All generated data in this scenario remains the property of Hammerheart Pavilion. Unauthorized commercial use is strictly prohibited.”
“Would you like to begin your Spirit-Flesh Union Journey now?”
Zhang Yu opened his eyes, a wave of confusion washing over him.
“I am…”
Gradually, his memories returned. He was Zhang Yu, an employee at a Bionics Factory in Tianya City.
The factory provided room and board. Work began at 8 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m., with a one-hour lunch break.
The cafeteria served three meals a day. Breakfast consisted of eggs and milk, while lunch and dinner featured two or three meat dishes. Afternoon tea and snacks were also available.
Zhang Yu had a habit of going to bed at exactly 9 p.m. every night. In his dormitory, he would drift off to sleep listening to light music from the jukebox, waking up refreshed at 7 a.m. to greet the new day.
For every five days of work, employees received two days off.
During these days, Zhang Yu would sometimes hike in the nearby mountains or go swimming, activities that brought him inner peace.
Recently, he had also developed a new trendy hobby: surfing the internet in the factory library.
However, many workers were interested in this new technology, so Zhang Yu didn’t always get a chance to use it.
Life continued in its uneventful rhythm, day after day. Zhang Yu’s greatest wish was for it to stay this way until his retirement, after which he planned to live out his remaining years peacefully on his pension, just like his father.
Today marked the annual physical examination day.
Zhang Yu lay on the operating table, silently circulating the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art in his mind as he felt the scalpel slice across his abdomen. The factory doctors extracted the ‘impurities’ from his body.
The object resembled a tangled mass of tree roots, covered in strange tendrils.
Zhang Yu had once overheard the doctors referring to it as a Spirit Root.
Whatever it was, it was definitely not a good thing. Every year after their physical exams, Zhang Yu and his fellow workers had to undergo surgery to remove these Spirit Roots.
Yet whether due to the Root’s resilience or incomplete surgical removal, it always grew back anew each year.
Zhang Yu was grateful that the factory covered their medical expenses, providing free physical examinations, treatments, and surgeries each year.
Just then, he overheard the doctors’ conversation beside him.
“Have you heard? The Netherworld Palace’s Artificial Spirit Root Synthesis Technology has hit the market.”
“I heard. Looks like our factory won’t last more than a few years. Sigh… how can breeding ever compete with their industrialized production?”
“Just shave it, right?”
“Yeah, shave it. It’s been hot lately, and the factory director wants to save on air conditioning costs.”
As Zhang Yu watched his fur being sheared off, he instinctively struggled.
“Why is he awake?”
“Increase the dosage.”
In his dazed state, Zhang Yu only felt waves of pain radiating from his wounds.
Instinctively, he circulated the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art to resist the pain.
But over the following years, his condition seemed to worsen. The factory doctors cut away more and more parts of his body, leaving him in constant agony that kept him awake every night.
To finally get a decent night’s sleep, he had no choice but to continuously circulate the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, relentlessly cultivating the mental technique.
Finally, one day, when Zhang Yu found himself silently cultivating the technique even in his sleep, he was finally able to temporarily forget the pain and get a proper night’s rest.
“Fucking hell…”
Zhang Yu removed his Spirit Realm Mask, his mind replaying the recent experience, his eyes filled with a strange light.
“I was a monsterfolk, constantly harvested in a Spirit Root Cultivation Farm. Driven by the fear of pain, I ran the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art day and night, until the agony finally forged me into Spirit-Flesh Unity.”
Zhang Yu temporarily suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart, focusing on recalling the gradual fusion of the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art into his instincts amidst the relentless pain.
“I think I’m starting to get a feel for it.”
“But have I really made any progress?”
Fu Ji, observing Zhang Yu’s expression, remarked, “Mental cultivation techniques often evoke ambiguous and hazy sensations. Don’t overthink it; the more you dwell on it, the more confused you’ll become. Just cultivate steadily, step by step. As they say, ‘Merit achieved naturally bears fruit.’”
Zhang Yu had heard similar words from his Dao Heart Class teacher, understanding the underlying principle. Yet, as he recalled his experience in the Spirit Realm, he couldn’t help but ponder.
“That factory… could it have been the Kunxu from before? The Kunxu where even the internet wasn’t widespread and Spirit Roots still needed to be cultivated?”
“The company must have collected data on monsterfolk who achieved Spirit-Flesh Unity in the Breeding Ground and used that data as one of the reference points to create the simulated environment.”
“But the problem is…” Zhang Yu frowned slightly. “The Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art I broke through in the simulated environment isn’t the complete version from my memory.”
“Am I not going to make it?”
“Oh well, at least Hammerheart Pavilion said I can apply for a refund if I fail. I’ll just keep trying.”
With renewed resolve, Zhang Yu cleared his mind and headed to the 667th floor to start his day’s work.
On the construction site, Formless Warriors flickered back and forth, twisting, cutting, and erecting steel bars.
Today, Zhang Yu wasn’t using the Qi Meridian Everflow technique. Instead, he had chosen the University Sacred Body and continued practicing the Ninth Gate Breathing Technique.
Even so, Ying Xin, who was inspecting the work from nearby, was still startled by the sight. “In just over two months since I last saw him, Zhang Yu’s work efficiency has improved so much?”
“Maintaining a humanoid form with Gang Qi while working shows a significant improvement in his Gang Qi Conduction Rate, total Magic Power, and recovery speed compared to before.”
“Could he actually become the top student in our class?”
The thought made Ying Xin instinctively shake her head. “Impossible. Ji Yuanshu is too wealthy. There’s no way anyone in our class can surpass him.”
Inside the 100-square-meter suite on the 450th floor, a notification from the Qi Luck monitoring system popped up in Ji Yuanshu’s Bionic Eye.
The Qi Luck had shifted again, with Zhang Yu’s odds of victory increasing slightly over the past period.
Ji Yuanshu immediately investigated the source of the change, quickly reviewing Zhang Yu’s recent work performance.
“Significant progress,” he remarked.
“For a traditional Civil Engineering student, you’ve done quite well.”
“But unfortunately, those in Civil Engineering who only seek advancement on construction sites will never break free.”
“The gap between us… is dimensional.”
The next day after school, Zhang Yu embarked on another Spirit-Flesh Union Journey.
When he opened his eyes, he recalled his identity.
He was Zhang Yu of Clearwater County, one of the four young masters of Clearwater who collectively monopolized the county’s seed, water, agricultural machinery, and money lending businesses.
Zhang Yu owned the largest medicinal field in the county, overseeing over a hundred monsterfolk slaves.
His greatest daily pleasure was watching his vast army of monsterfolk slaves toil tirelessly in the boundless medicinal field.
His second greatest pleasure was hunting in the mountains.
One day, during a hunt, another wealthy young master surpassed him and mocked him mercilessly.
In a foul mood, Zhang Yu returned to the county and purchased a magical artifact from a traveling merchant, manufactured by a major city corporation.
Legend had it that carrying this artifact year-round would prolong life, sharpen hearing and vision, and enhance agility, making it the most popular health-enhancing magical artifact in the city.
Whether by coincidence or sheer luck, Zhang Yu triumphed in his next hunt, defeating all his rivals.
From that moment on, he became a devout believer in the magical artifact’s health benefits, buying them in bulk and filling his room with them.
Years passed. Zhang Yu’s health deteriorated steadily. During a routine checkup, doctors discovered that his internal organs had been completely permeated by Earthly Fiend Qi.
Over the next few months, his body rapidly withered away. To halt the fiend energy’s corrosive effects, his organs, eyes, and limbs were surgically removed one by one.
To endure the physical and mental anguish, he cultivated the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, circulating the mental cultivation technique day and night, desperate to forget his agony.
Whenever he felt he was at his breaking point, the voices of his family members sustained him, urging him to persevere.
“Zhang Yu! Open your eyes! This is your father’s remittance information. We’re all transferring money for your treatment. You must hold on!”
“Son, can you feel it? The entire family’s savings are pouring into you like an endless stream! Don’t underestimate the strength of our family ties!”
“Hang in there, little brother! You’ve already spent so much on treatment. Are you really going to die now, letting all that money go to waste?”
Watching his savings fluctuate, Zhang Yu felt as if countless hands of his family were pushing against his back, trying to drag him back from the clutches of King Yama.
Beyond his family, countless doctors’ hands were also pulling him, as if trying to drag him back to the living world.
But the pain was unbearable.
Zhang Yu felt as if his flesh, blood, and bones had turned to rotten mud, and only one thought lingered in his mind: “It would be better to just die.”
“What’s the patient’s condition?”
“Hopeless.”
“Keep him alive as long as possible. His family is paying a fortune, and the entire hospital is relying on his revenue. Drag it out as long as we can.”
“This case of Earthly Fiend Qi corrosion is extremely rare. I didn’t realize the fiend energy could cause such severe damage to the body.”
“Document his data as thoroughly as possible until death. We can sell it to the company later…”
Amidst the boundless agony, Zhang Yu gradually lost the ability to hear or see the outside world.
In the pitch-black darkness, he could only repeatedly circulate the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, desperately hoping to forget the pain and never wake up to it again.
“Fucking hell…”
Zhang Yu ripped off his Spirit Realm Mask again, feeling a phantom pain coursing through his entire body.
“It hurts… it fucking hurts so much.”
“Is this simulated environment tailored to me because I’m cultivating the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art?”
“Are all the stages of this Spirit-Flesh Union Journey going to be like this?”
“Doesn’t this Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art have a normal method for achieving Spirit-Flesh Unity?”
Though his mind was a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts, Zhang Yu forcefully suppressed them, focusing instead on recalling the sensation of breaking through to Spirit-Flesh Unity in the Spirit Realm.
He sensed the White Ox within his mind growing slightly more animated, but there was still no sign of Spirit-Flesh Unity.
Just then, Zhang Yu received a message from Tu Lishan.
Tu Lishan: “Ji Yuanshu joined the team, and then Ma Xuan benched you?”
Zhang Yu: “Yes.”
Zhang Yu knew that Tu Lishan had originally recommended him to join Ma Xuan’s team. Now that Tu Lishan had heard about the competition team news, he had clearly come to inquire about the situation.
However, Tu Lishan wasn’t there to advocate for Zhang Yu or anything like that; he simply wanted to confirm the information.
Looking at Zhang Yu’s reply, he thought to himself, “Ma Xuan is from the Old Director’s faction. The Old Director has always maintained a neutral stance between our two sides, neither supporting nor opposing us. This move… is it just Ma Xuan prioritizing competition results, or does the Old Director have something else in mind?”
Meanwhile, in another dormitory, a figure swiftly passed through the door and rushed to Zhang Yu’s side.
“Zhang Yu, let’s hurry and make the most of our time.”
Le Mulan rushed in and plopped down in front of Zhang Yu.