Chapter 346: The Inevitable Tide, Civil Engineering’s Righteous Path
Yu Xinghan occasionally glanced at Ying Xin refining materials, then at Gongshu Jin’s construction movements, before shifting his gaze to the other students.
Aided by his Third Eye Mystic Power, which granted him an all-encompassing perspective, he could clearly observe each student’s actions and progress.
“My construction skills… aren’t particularly strong.”
“After all, I’ve spent most of my time away from construction sites, massaging workers instead.”
Yu Xinghan committed the students’ movements to memory, mimicking their techniques, and repeating their actions.
At that moment, Yu Xinghan resembled a master tailor, meticulously stitching together individual construction steps and seamlessly integrating them into his own project.
But then, he suddenly paused, slightly taken aback. “Zhang Yu, that kid…”
Through his observation, Zhang Yu was actually sitting in place, voraciously stuffing rebar and cement into his mouth.
“What’s he doing? Mooching food in the examination field?”
“Is this really the time for that?”
Meanwhile, at his own construction site, Zhang Yu felt the building materials settling in his stomach and thought to himself, “Ying Xin’s choice was the right one.”
“We truly need to improve the quality of our building materials ourselves.”
Zhang Yu’s Magic Power surged violently as his muscles swelled and contracted, unleashing unparalleled elasticity.
Mountain True Form Manual — Propulsion!
In the next moment, fueled by the influx of Magic Power, Zhang Yu’s muscles, organs, and viscera swelled violently like an inflating balloon, transforming him into a colossal giant.
Then, with a wide-open maw, he devoured massive quantities of building materials in one gulp.
But Zhang Yu wasn’t trying to digest these materials. Instead, he was using his Secret Steel No. 15-forged digestive system to reprocess the materials, drastically enhancing their structural strength.
Even as he sensed the materials undergoing transformation within his body, Zhang Yu’s focus remained unwavering.
“This alone isn’t enough…”
Zhang Yu murmured inwardly, “In this Examination Field, there are others stronger than me in Bionics, wealth, experience, even daoist arts and other abilities.”
“To win, I must fully exploit my advantages, harnessing the raw, primal power of Civil Engineering within me to forge this fortress into an indestructible Vajra!”
With a low roar, Zhang Yu’s Gang Qi erupted violently. Formless Warriors materialized behind him, catching the building materials he spat out and beginning to lay the foundation at the construction site.
Ji Yuanshu had been observing Zhang Yu’s progress closely, knowing the student was his closest rival in the examination.
Watching Zhang Yu condense humanoid Gang Qi figures, Ji Yuanshu couldn’t help but scoff inwardly: “What a waste of Magic Power.”
As reinforced concrete walls rose from the ground, Zhang Yu’s Formless Warriors weaved through them, gradually obscuring his construction team from view.
Time slipped by rapidly in the Examination Field, accompanied by the constant clanging of hammers and the crash of materials.
Every student poured their heart and soul into their work, showcasing the essence of what they had learned in their freshman year, holding nothing back in the construction site before them.
Watching the bunkers gradually rise from the ground and observing each student’s movements, Tu Lishan grew increasingly curious and eager to see the final results.
As the three-hour construction time drew to a close, fewer and fewer students remained actively working. Most had already completed their assigned tasks.
Gongshu Jin, observing the frantic hammering still coming from Zhang Yu’s bunker, thought to himself: “Could it be that he exhausted too much Magic Power earlier, slowing his efficiency and putting him behind?”
With the expiration of the three-hour time limit, the hammering within Zhang Yu’s bunker abruptly ceased.
A hint of regret lingered on Zhang Yu’s face as he emerged from the bunker.
Watching the scene unfold, the crowd speculated that Zhang Yu hadn’t fully completed the interior of the bunker.
At that moment, a faint glow flickered within Tu Lishan’s Bionic Eye, and a young man dressed in ancient Daoist robes materialized before him — Director Gao’s Spirit Realm Projection.
Director Gao asked coolly, “What’s the situation?”
Tu Lishan replied respectfully, “Construction has just been completed. We’re about to begin the inspection.”
One by one, assistants and supervising Civil Engineering Department teachers entered the bunkers to inspect their interiors and record their findings.
Observing this, Director Gao nodded slightly and said casually, “Hmm, I’m just here to check on the freshman grades.”
Tu Lishan sensed Director Gao’s displeasure and, given the date, suspected it was related to the end-of-term results.
Director Gao was indeed dissatisfied with the overall end-of-term performance across all grades. Among the Civil Engineering Department students, the War Faction had lost first place in five grade levels to the Peace Faction. If Freshman Ji Yuanshu would also take first place, that would mean the War Faction had fallen behind in a total of six grades.
Director Gao asked, “What are Zhang Yu and Gongshu Jin’s chances of winning?”
Tu Lishan hesitated before answering, “It’s hard to say.”
Director Gao frowned. “Then I’ll inspect it myself.”
Meanwhile, a crowd of students had gathered outside the construction site, their hearts pounding with nervous anticipation for the inspection and the ten waves of simulated attacks to follow.
The inspection concluded swiftly. Ying Xin glanced at her 100% completion rate and breathed a small sigh of relief. “Now all that’s left is to see how many waves we can withstand.”
Spirit Realm Projections materialized around the site, appearing in the students’ Bionic Eyes as shimmering bands of light encircling the area, clearly marking it as off-limits.
As Tu Lishan announced the start of the final phase of the exam, the first wave of attacks surged forth.
With a grinding hiss, the surrounding barriers rose, and massive pipes unfolded from beneath the ground.
In the next instant, a deluge like a mountain flood erupted, and colossal waves, resembling raging dragons, crashed against the bunkers.
Terrifying power surged through the waves, each impact slamming into the bunkers with the force of a battering ram. The students watched anxiously, fearing their bunkers would crumble under the onslaught.
Ten minutes later, the floodwaters gradually receded.
Tu Lishan nodded slightly and initiated the second wave of attacks.
Amidst thunderous roars, the bunkers shuddered slightly as the simulation exam arena’s formation activated. In the next moment, the ground beneath the bunkers heaved violently, as if a seismic tsunami were surging through the earth.
As the ground convulsed, the bunkers shook like buildings caught in a magnitude 7 or 8 earthquake.
Some students watched anxiously as cracks appeared in the walls of their creations. Others breathed sighs of relief as their bunkers remained as steadfast as Mount Tai.
A minute later, the simulated earthquake subsided, leaving not a single bunker collapsed.
The third wave of attacks erupted in massive explosions, visible shockwaves sweeping across the bunkers.
It was during this assault that the first walls finally began to crumble.
By the end of the fourth wave, only four bunkers remained intact. However, one of them had suffered severe cracks in its outer wall, revealing large patches of bloodstains within.
Tu Lishan watched the scene with mild surprise. “Ying Xin actually withstood this wave?”
His gaze shifted to the bloodstains within the wall. “Is this… a blood sacrifice?”
Director Gao’s Bionic Eye displayed Ying Xin’s profile. He nodded slightly and said, “During the material refining process, she added her own vital essence and the ancestral bone ashes stored within her body, completing a blood sacrifice.”
Director Gao smiled faintly, his eyes seeming to conjure up the faces of students who resembled Ying Xin — her father, grandfather, and even more distant ancestors.
“Truly a Sixth-Generation Earthmover,” he remarked. “She mastered the construction site blood sacrifice technique by her freshman year.”
The fifth wave of the assault saw massive fireballs surge upward, engulfing the remaining bunkers one by one.
As most of the bunker that Ying Xin had built were shattered, a gaping hole was torn through one of Gongshu Jin’s bunkers, revealing a section of spinal bone within.
Blood vessels and neural tendrils from the spinal bone had spread throughout the entire wall, pulsating with the spiritual energy of the formation like a beating heart for the structure.
Tu Lishan’s gaze sharpened. “He inserted his Vajra Profound Creation spinal bionic into the formation core?”
Director Gao nodded approvingly. “Oh? A Living Stake? That’s a second-year construction technique. I never imagined he’d master it so early — and even manage to drive his own bionic into the core.”
The sixth wave of attacks, accompanied by flashing thunderlight, blanketed the entire construction site with Thunderfire.
Amidst the continuous explosions, shockwaves swept outward in all directions, flattening every broken wall and remaining ruin.
Watching his Spinal Bionic disappear in the blast, Gongshu Jin’s heart bled as he roared inwardly, “My Vajra Profound Creation!”
But realizing that even after using his own spine as a Living Stake, he had only managed to secure third place, he couldn’t help but stare intently at the two remaining bunkers, as if trying to decipher the civil engineering techniques that had allowed them to endure this far.
Tu Lishan’s gaze flickered, and Ji Yuanshu’s construction records and acceptance reports appeared in his Bionic Eye.
When Tu Lishan had first seen these records, he had been astonished.
Now, rereading them, he couldn’t help but marvel again.
“Truly…”
In the acceptance reports, Ji Yuanshu’s corpse sat cross-legged in the bunker’s underground chamber.
“He actually buried himself inside, using his own corpse to suppress Qi Luck, gather spiritual energy, and amplify the formation to its absolute limit.”
“No… it’s more than that.”
“As early as when he began channeling the Spirit Vein, he was already constructing the Auspicious Burial Site. That’s when he planned to be buried there.”
Tu Lishan’s gaze swept across the shattered walls and ruins, and the simulated Spirit Vein beneath the ground. “Initially, he used the Auspicious Burial Site and his buried corpse to suppress Qi Luck and seize the majority of spiritual energy from the Spirit Vein.”
“But with each fortress that collapsed, Ji Yuanshu’s fortress accumulated more spiritual energy.”
“This is the essence of the Finance Department’s Financial Fortune Dao. Each additional resource allows him to mobilize even more resources, creating a snowball effect that eventually allows him to influence the world’s fate itself…”
“By now, over ninety percent of the spiritual energy in the simulated Spirit Vein has converged into Ji Yuanshu’s fortress.”
Tu Lishan looked beyond the Examination Field at Ji Yuanshu’s figure.
Currently, Ji Yuanshu’s spirit was preserved within the Spirit Realm, and what appeared here was merely his Spirit Realm Projection. However, most students, accustomed to observing the world through their Bionic Eyes, failed to notice this distinction.
Simultaneously, Tu Lishan sensed that the medical company’s emergency response team was already waiting outside the Examination Field.
One of the young doctors asked, “Captain, how much longer do we have to wait?”
The lead doctor replied calmly, “We can go in and start rescuing this person as soon as the exam ends.”
The young doctor asked curiously, “If they can afford to hire us, how could they end up dying in the Examination Field?”
The lead doctor answered casually, “For rich people, dying a few times a year is normal. They are not like poor people who can’t afford to die.”
“Remember this in our line of work: it doesn’t matter how the clients die. Just focus on saving their physical bodies each time.”
Director Gao coldly observed Ji Yuanshu’s bunker, sensing its reinforced stability under the enhancement of Qi Luck and the formation.
Just then, an arrogant voice echoed, “Old Gao, how well has my student mastered the Dao of Qi Luck?”
A Spirit Realm Projection materialized before Tu Lishan and Director Gao, revealing Director Lin, Ji Yuanshu’s master and a representative of the Peace Faction within the Civil Engineering Department.
Director Gao shot him a cold glance. “Not the righteous path of Civil Engineering,” he said flatly.
Director Lin sighed. “What righteous path is there in Civil Engineering? No matter how meticulously you construct, how refined your materials, or how ingenious your designs, how can you rival Qi Luck? How can you defy Heaven’s Will?”
“Remember, throughout history, every fortress, no matter how impregnable, has fallen to human folly, not by being physically breached.”
“No matter how skilled you are in Civil Engineering, without allying with Finance and understanding Qi Luck, you’ll ultimately be nothing more than someone else’s doormat — used and discarded.”
Director Gao snorted coldly. “The Finance Department turns the world into one giant casino. If everyone’s gambling, who will truly build Kunxu? The sect must build Kunxu and ensure its prosperity — that’s the true course of destiny.”
“Spare me your lofty rhetoric. Are you one of Kunxu’s builders? You dare lecture me about destiny? Whoever controls the money controls destiny.”
Director Lin chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the final two remaining bunkers in the Examination Field. “My disciples are more outstanding than yours. I have more projects under my control. My company has secured more bank loans. If destiny isn’t with me, then who does it favor?”
“Just look at this Examination Field now. All the spiritual energy is converging on Ji Yuanshu. He is the darling of Qi Luck, the embodiment of the inevitable trend.”
“How long can your Civil Engineering Righteous Path possibly hold out?”