Chapter 386: Intelligent Architecture
Within the Spirit Realm Space, each participating team’s contest group shared its communication logs with the judges and teachers throughout the competition, showcasing their internal decision-making processes.
Zhang Yu’s team was no exception.
Observing Zhang Yu’s messages in the contest group, one teacher remarked, “Zhang Yu seems to have discovered something.”
Another teacher added, “His conversation with the substitute member was likely a probe.”
“The formation was deployed hastily, without sufficient data collection. The Myriad Ghosts Bewildering Great Formation couldn’t perfectly simulate various scenarios, and now he’s found its flaws.”
Lang Yougong chuckled. “Who would have thought? Zhang Yu, who appears so bold and daring, can also be as meticulous as a fine-toothed comb.”
Wei Huai countered, “But Su Yanyang’s team was still focused on construction earlier and hadn’t fully engaged. Now that Zhang Yu’s team has exposed the formation’s weaknesses, Su Yanyang’s team will soon unleash the true power of their intelligent architecture.”
In the arena, Su Yanyang’s gaze seemed to pierce through layers of barriers, spotting Zhang Yu and his companions who had already entered his formation.
Yet the trio, whose every move should have been under his observation, suddenly vanished without a trace.
The Soul Cultivator currently serving as the Formation Spirit sent a message: “They dug a tunnel and went underground.”
Su Yanyang: “Useless! How did you let them discover it?”
Formation Spirit: “We’re short-handed.”
Su Yanyang: “Do you want a bad review?”
Seeing the other party fall silent, Su Yanyang shook his head slightly. “That’s the problem with Soul Cultivators, they always make excuses. Artifact Spirits are much more obedient by comparison.”
Su Yanyang had the privilege of testing high-intelligence Artifact Spirits. In his view, their obedience, work efficiency, self-motivation, and learning capabilities far surpassed those of most Soul Cultivators.
“But unfortunately, they’re too expensive.”
After considering the vast price difference between high-intelligence Artifact Spirits and Soul Cultivators, Su Yanyang decided to make do with the latter.
Dragon-shaped Gang Qi surged forth, tearing through the earth and rapidly excavating a half-human-height tunnel.
Zhang Yu and Tian Yang followed behind Xiao Qingxuan, their surprise growing as he dug faster and faster.
“This isn’t the Star Firmament Meridian-Rushing Grand Art, is it?” Zhang Yu exclaimed. “What martial arts technique is this? How can he dig so quickly?”
Xiao Qingxuan didn’t answer, thinking to himself, “I can’t exactly tell them… this is the tomb-raiding excavation technique accumulated by that Ancient Golden Core after years of tomb raiding, can I?”
Instead, he said, “They’ve likely set up the Myriad Ghosts Bewildering Formation, but they were rushed in deploying it. As long as we escape the building’s perimeter, we’ll be unaffected.”
“But underground, it’s hard to discern directions… Zhang Yu, can you sense where the spiritual energy is converging?”
Using his Third Eye Mystic Power, Zhang Yu could sense the direction of spiritual energy convergence. At Xiao Qingxuan’s question, he marked the location within his Bionic Eye to guide Xiao Qingxuan.
Xiao Qingxuan thought, “Even if the direction where spiritual energy converges isn’t the formation core, it must be a crucial node. Disrupting it should significantly delay their construction progress.”
Meanwhile, Zhang Yu was researching the Myriad Ghosts Bewildering Formation mentioned earlier. He asked curiously, “So the Formation Spirit was impersonating Shi Huaiyu and Yu Xinghan to send us messages?”
Having temporarily escaped the formation’s influence, Zhang Yu had reestablished contact with Shi Huaiyu and the others on the other side.
Shi Huaiyu replied in the contest group chat, “They call it a Formation Spirit, but Su Yanyang usually uses Soul Cultivators for these tasks.”
“Soul Cultivators?” Zhang Yu asked, puzzled. “Are Soul Cultivators allowed to participate? Does that mean they’re exceeding the six-person limit?”
Shi Huaiyu countered, “Why would Soul Cultivators count toward the limit?”
She felt Zhang Yu’s question was as absurd as asking if artifact spirits should be considered contestants, utterly pointless.
Zhang Yu fell silent. He realized that since entering Myriad Laws University, this was the first time he truly understood the status of Soul Cultivators in others’ eyes.
“Still, this probably only applies to Soul Cultivators without money,” Zhang Yu mused inwardly. “For wealthy Soul Cultivators, it’s likely a different story altogether.”
Su Yanyang smiled faintly. “Three little mice.”
Although the Formation Spirit had lost track of the trio after they began digging, Su Yanyang had a map of the entire arena floating before his eyes.
The map displayed various data points: temperature fluctuations, spiritual energy flows, construction progress, Spirit Vein parameters, underground seismic sources, and more.
This comprehensive view was compiled from the diverse detection methods employed by the six members of their team, providing a relatively complete picture of the arena’s conditions.
At this moment, Su Yanyang watched a rapidly moving seismic source on the map and knew it must be Zhang Yu and his companions.
Bang!
Amidst the swirling dust and sand, Zhang Yu and his companions plunged headfirst into an underground space.
The moment they materialized, a series of data usage notifications materialized before them.
“Your account is 35 Spirit Coins in arrears. Service will be suspended in 1 minute. Please recharge immediately to restore access…”
Tian Yang stared at the message, his heart skipping a beat.
Beside him, Xiao Qingxuan shouted, “We’ve stumbled into the formation again! Various illusory formations… Do not become entranced!”
Su Yanyang felt the earth tremble beneath him and watched the video feed from the Formation Spirit. He snorted coldly, “They’ve arrived?”
At that moment, the great formation beneath his feet seemed to become an extension of his will. Su Yanyang hurled a palm strike through the air toward Zhang Yu and his companions, then clenched his fist abruptly.
Zhang Yu, Tian Yang, and Xiao Qingxuan felt the earth around them come alive, instantly transforming into a high-strength alloy that began closing in on them.
Sensing the overwhelming pressure from all directions, Zhang Yu unleashed a punch, and a thunderous dragon’s roar erupted.
Earlier, while tunneling alongside Xiao Qingxuan, the latter had struck Zhang Yu with twenty strikes of the Nine Dragons Heavenly Gang Palm.
Now, those twenty strikes detonated simultaneously, causing the air to boil and erupt into shockwaves that tore through the underground space, shattering the closing earth.
Striking once and retreating, the trio retreated into the tunnel, following Xiao Qingxuan as he rapidly dug deeper.
Zhang Yu: “He seems to have been prepared for this.”
Tian Yang: “Our tunneling must have been too noisy. He detected us.”
Xiao Qingxuan: “Let’s split up.”
Su Yanyang stared at the sudden surge of seismic sources on the map, muttering to himself, “They’ve split up?”
“No, it’s not just three of them dispersing. They’re likely using Humanoid and Dragon-Shaped Gang Qi to create diversions.”
As a cautious man, Su Yanyang never engaged in battles without thorough preparation.
He had meticulously questioned Ma Xuan about the details of their previous encounter, gaining a comprehensive understanding of Zhang Yu and his companions’ tactics.
He knew Zhang Yu specialized in Humanoid Gang Qi techniques, with a maximum range of approximately sixty meters.
He also knew Xiao Qingxuan excelled in the Nine Dragons Heavenly Gang Palm, capable of transmitting Gang Qi nearly a hundred meters.
“They’re probably using long-range Gang Qi transmission to create these seismic sources, disrupting my detection.”
“Very well.”
Su Yanyang glanced at the construction progress. “Fifty percent complete?”
He sent a message to his contest group: “Deploy Living Stakes.”
Simultaneously, in five corners of the construction site, desiccated corpses were buried underground, connected to the Spirit Realm, and infused with souls from the Spirit Realm.
Within the Spirit Realm Space, Scorching Thunder’s eyes lit up. “Intelligent Living Stakes? A Building Steward?”
Wei Huai nodded vigorously beside him. “And more! This integrates Living Stake technology, intelligent construction techniques, and blood sacrifice rituals.”
“If I’m not mistaken, those five Living Stakes are likely Original Bodies transformed into Original Souls.”
“This has greatly accelerated the formation’s progress, refined its operation, and significantly enhanced the building’s structural integrity.”
As the observers watched, vast amounts of spiritual energy began flowing along the Spirit Veins, converging on the structures being built by Su Yanyang and his team. The Spirit Veins’ energy allocation had already reached 40%.
Lang Yougong observed the scene, thinking to himself, “Things are about to get tricky. What will Zhang Yu and his companions do?”
“Hmm? Are they still splitting up?”
“With the formation and building’s enhanced strength, it’ll be much harder for them to cause any damage if they remain scattered.”
But then Lang Yougong was slightly surprised. “Eat?”
Zhang Yu opened his mouth and swallowed a large quantity of ingredients, then rapidly circulated his energy and vigorously patted his body to digest them.
Watching this, Lang Yougong nodded thoughtfully. “Eating… that’s actually a clever approach.”
“Eating is the best way to hide construction materials, tools, and even fellow workers on a construction site. It’s practically an essential skill for every worker.”
“If Su Yanyang is fighting with grand strategies and large-scale projects, focusing on the overall picture, then Zhang Yu is countering with small tricks and worker-style tactics.”
But Lang Yougong didn’t underestimate Zhang Yu’s strategy. He knew that even the mightiest dam could crumble from a single ant’s burrow, and many massive, critical projects had been destroyed through such gradual erosion.
Especially now, in the arena where construction materials couldn’t be replenished, eating proved to be a highly effective method of disrupting the opponent’s progress.
“But Zhang Yu can only take a few bites before moving on. This method is too slow. What’s your next move?”
Soon, the trio’s tactics shifted again.
Tu Lishan’s eyes flickered as he observed, “Zhang Yu is hiding deep within, focused solely on digesting construction materials. Hmm? Not just digesting, he’s also processing them. Is he planning to build something right here?”
“Meanwhile, Xiao Qingxuan is excavating tunnels, creating an intricate underground network while simultaneously locating and marking material storage points.”
Tian Yang scurried around, transporting construction materials to Zhang Yu, who consumed and processed them.
To Tu Lishan, the trio resembled a production line, constantly gathering and transforming materials from the construction site to slow down Su Yanyang’s team’s progress.
A teacher nodded in admiration, remarking, “Zhang Yu and his team have quickly grasped the site’s layout, established a transportation network, and are moving materials at high speed. They can even identify materials, consume them, and process them. Their civil engineering skills are truly impressive.”
Hearing the Civil Engineering Department teachers’ analysis, True Monarch Magnetic Pole asked, “If they’re doing so well, does that mean your disciples are about to win again?”
Director Gao replied privately, “They’re going to lose. Don’t ask.”
True Monarch Magnetic Pole: “Oh? Why?”
Director Gao: “Su Yanyang has already won. Now he’s trying to reduce the completion rate of Zhang Yu’s team’s structure to the absolute minimum.”
Director Gao: “By lowering their completion rate, Zhang Yu’s team’s ranking in the top ten will also drop.”
Director Gao: “This increases Su Yanyang’s chances of securing a spot in the top seven.”
Director Gao: “And it will further lower the overall ranking of the War Faction.”